Federal Judge Recuses Herself from WVU Degree Lawsuit

U.S. District Judge Irene Keeley has disqualified herself from hearing a lawsuit filed over a 6-year-old degree scandal at West Virginia University, citing a federal statute that requires judges to step aside if their impartiality could be questioned.

The order entered Tuesday doesn’t offer specifics, but Keeley is a past member of the WVU Board of Advisors, the predecessor to today’s Board of Governors. She has also served on the WVU Alumni Association’s board of directors and on the College of Law’s visiting committee.

Judge John Preston Bailey will now hear the case brought by former business school dean Stephen Sears and former associate dean Cyril Logar. They say WVU has ignored an academic integrity policy requiring “diligent efforts” to restore the reputations of people cleared of misconduct.

The lawsuit stems from a 2007 decision to award Heather Bresch an executive master of business administration degree that she hadn’t earned.

Bresch is the chief executive officer of Pennsylvania-based Mylan Inc. and the daughter of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin. She was also a friend of then-WVU President Mike Garrison, who ultimately resigned over the scandal.

Last summer, Special Academic Integrity Officer Nigel Clark said there would be no further action against anyone involved in altering transcripts, creating grades and awarding Bresch the degree.

But Sears and Logar say WVU is ignoring an academic integrity policy that requires it to “undertake diligent efforts” to restore the reputations of people cleared of misconduct. They’re now alleging breach of contract and demanding damages.

WVU has said it won’t comment on pending litigation.

G-Comm™: Hoppy’s Commentary - IRS Scandal Another Indication of Activist Government

The widening IRS scandal has caught America’s attention. People of all political stripes are generally united in the correct belief that one of the most powerful government agencies should not be able to target Americans for closer scrutiny, and in some cases harassment, because of their political beliefs.

The collective response from America’s coal industry could be, “Welcome to our world.”

Coal has had a target on its back since President Obama took office. Some groups, the United Mine Workers Union in particular, blithely believed that since Obama was from a coal state (Illinois) that he would be in their corner.

What they failed to consider was the President’s adherence to the environmental movement’s mission to erase coal from the country’s energy portfolio. The result has been an Environmental Protection Agency that has been openly hostile toward a legal and long-standing American business that provides about 40% of the nation’s electric needs.

The warning signs were there. Consider then-candidate Obama’s statement to the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board in January 2008: “If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them.”

Back then, Obama was set on cap-and-trade legislation. When that failed in Congress, his administration’s EPA took over, imposing its own carbon reduction standards. Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune has said those new limits “will make it nearly impossible to build a new coal plant.”

Meanwhile, the EPA has made it more difficult for the coal industry to get the necessary permits. One of the worst examples of EPA overreach has been its revocation of necessary permits for a mountaintop removal mine in Logan County, after they had been lawfully issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

And who can forget Al Armendariz. The former EPA regional administrator once referred his enforcement philosophy to Roman crucifixions. He was fired for that, but only after the video went viral and there was a public outcry.

Armendariz landed on his feet. He’s now — surprise — the head of the Sierra Club’s anti-coal effort in Texas.

Many of us in West Virginia have been complaining since Obama took office about the EPA’s open hostility toward coal, but the arguments have not resonated much beyond the coal fields. After all, who really cares about coal except those of us who are directly impacted by the industry? The average homeowner only cares that the lights come on when they throw the switch.

But the IRS scandal comes along and now the rest of country is finally paying attention to how sprawling and intrusive the federal government can be. As folks in the coal industry know, this is nothing new.

Honoring EMS Responders during National EMS Week

This week, our nation honors emergency medical service (EMS) professionals for their dedication to public service. As the HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response, I know how important their role is in disasters. As a primary care physician, I know how important their work is every day. People rely on EMS in disasters and other public health emergencies, as well as for personal emergency care.

We know that our health care system must be ready at a moment’s notice to respond to threats to the public’s health. Time and time again, disaster after disaster, EMS responders across the country have risen to that challenge, whether the community is impacted by a hurricane, wildfire, flood, bombing, chemical plant explosion, or pandemic flu. In recent disasters, we have witnessed EMS responders providing triage on the scene in Boston after the bombing, helping evacuate nursing homes in New York state after Hurricane Sandy, and caring for injured or ill patients as they were transported to hospitals in Texas after a plant explosion. Dozens of EMS responders give their lives every year in the service to our communities and our nation. Those who remain continue to take pride in being the people we can depend on even in difficult and dangerous situations.

To become better prepared, the nation is moving increasingly toward building coalitions bringing together EMS providers, public health agencies, hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis centers, health care providers, home health agencies, emergency management agencies, and local businesses. EMS is a critical partner in our health care system, so I encourage EMS professionals to take an active role in helping communities forge and strengthen these partnerships. Given the regular interaction EMS responders have with these organizations in the community, EMS is uniquely positioned to bring potential partners together to plan for and minimize the impact that disasters have on health.

Disaster response and recovery requires a whole community working together. It’s one mission, one team. EMS is a crucial part of that team, there when every minute counts.

Congressman Nick Rahall: Honoring our Nation’s Promises to its Veterans

On Memorial Day, many in the Mountain State and across our Nation spend time in somber poses – remembering those who have given their lives in behalf of our country and in the name of protecting our freedom and democracy.
West Virginians proudly fly their flags and solemnly visit cemeteries, war monuments, and battlefields, laying wreaths in memory of family and friends lost in past and present wars.  We honor their patriotism and final sacrifices by supporting our troops serving around the world, as well as those who have returned home.
In Congress, I have always strived to ensure that our veterans know the heartfelt appreciation we hold for them and their service.  I am therefore very concerned about the backlog of disability claims at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Currently, there is a backlog of almost 850,000 claims, forcing veterans to wait, on average, up to 305 days for their benefits to be processed.  It is outrageous that the men and women who have served and sacrificed in defense of our Nation are threatened by financial ruin and even death while waiting for their claims to be acted on.

I have consistently supported and voted in favor of additional resources for the VA to reduce the backlog.  I am encouraged by the VA’s increased focus and its recent announcement that it would require employees to work overtime as part of a renewed effort to get ahead of the problem.
Still, in part, because the number of new claims continues to increase as our service members return home, and, in part, because claims submitted are more complex than ever before, the backlog continues to be a serious, ongoing problem.
In order to help expedite the filing and adjudication of claims for our veterans, I have advocated increased funding and cosponsored legislation that would enable and require the VA to develop a better system of electronic measurements to track the backlog of claims, expedite disability examinations, and facilitate information sharing.
Most recently, I have urged passage of legislation that would require the VA to provide a course of action for each VA Regional Office with claims pending an average of 200 days or more.  With more funding must come increased accountability.
I also have cosponsored legislation that would require the VA to develop a system of electronic measurements to better track the backlog in order to quickly identify shortfalls and potential solutions.
Also, because lengthy wait times for a medical disability examination at a VA Medical Center is a common hurdle a veteran faces in filing for disability and adjudicating a claim, I have supported legislation that would extend the VA’s authority to contract with private facilities to expedite disability examinations.
I know that our VA employees in West Virginia care deeply about our veterans – especially since many of them are veterans themselves – and that they are on the front lines of confronting this crisis.  I want to ensure that the VA and the Department of Defense provide them with the necessary guidance and support they need to help.  That is why I cosponsored legislation that would require the Department of Defense to provide certified, complete, and electronic service treatment records within 21 days of military discharge or release.
Our wounded warriors deserve to have their claims processed accurately and expediently; not doing so unnecessarily prolongs the physical and mental suffering of those who have already sacrificed so much.  I will ardently continue to seek ways to address the claims backlog.
As a nation, we rightly thank our veterans by helping to ensure access to affordable health care, educational and job opportunities, and other benefits and services which I proudly support. 
On Memorial Day, as we strive to articulate what their service means to our country, let us begin by ensuring that we honor our promises to them, and remembering our world is safer and the ideals of democracy and freedom endure thanks to their service.

Governor Sees WV as Leader in Natural Gas Industry

The 2013 Appalachian Basin NGV Expo and Conference in Charleston has drawn to a close and now it’s time for West Virginia to take the lead in the industry.

“We have all this energy sitting right underneath the ground here and we could really be a leader in saying that the United States can be independent of the foreign imports that we are having to depend on right now,” said Governor Earl Ray Tomblin.

For three days, hundreds of natural gas and automotive industry professionals from across the nation pooled their ideas together in regards to the future of natural gas use in the U.S.

“It brings a lot of good people together to exchange ideas so I think it’s very important for us with a lot of natural gas,” said Tomblin.

The event concluded with the Governor’s Luncheon, which featured a panel discussion with special guests Jim Bruce, vice president of corporate public affairs with UPS, and Donald Itzkoff, executive counsel, government affairs and policy with GE Transportation.

The discussion focused on where the industry sits right now and the obstacles it would need to overcome to continue to grow in the future.

One of those obstacles pertains to the cost associated with converting a vehicle to natural gas, something Tomblin is working to address.

“I along with about twenty other governors around the country have kind of banned together to ask the automobile manufacturers to see how they can, I guess, lower the price and build vehicles with the natural gas motors already in them,” said Tomblin.

Tomblin believes that would cut down the costs considerably.

Not only is cost a big obstacle at this time, but also the lack of stations where someone could fill their natural gas vehicle.

Tomblin hopes to have three natural gas fueling stations built along I-79 in West Virginia by the end of the year which will greatly help the industry in the state.

“That will make the fueling sources more available which also would encourage private businesses to convert their fleet as well as individuals to convert their personal automobiles,” he said.

It is estimated that it would cost someone with a natural gas vehicle 50% less to fill up as it does for someone with a gasoline vehicle.

Tomblin said he wants to see the state in the next four years become a leader in this industry.

~~  Travis Brinks - WVMN ~~

G-Fin™: U.S.A.: Economic Brief – 05.20.13

Regional and State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly)

In April, 40 states and the District of Columbia had over-the-month unemployment rate decreases, 3 states had increases, and 7 states had no change.

Non-farm payroll employment increased in 30 states, decreased in 18 states and the district, and was unchanged in 2 states.

Real Earnings

Real average hourly earnings rose 0.5% in April, seasonally adjusted.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% and the CPI-U fell 0.4%.

Real average weekly earnings was unchanged over the month.

Consumer Price Index

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers decreased 0.4% in April after decreasing 0.2% in March.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.1% in April, the same increase as in March.

Producer Price Index

The Producer Price Index for finished goods decreased 0.7% in April.

Prices for finished goods fell 0.6% in March and increased 0.7% in February.

The index for finished goods less foods and energy advanced 0.1% in April.

U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes

U.S. import prices fell 0.5% in April, following a 0.2% decrease in March.

Lower prices for fuel and nonfuel imports contributed to the declines in each month.

Prices for U.S. exports decreased 0.7% in April after a 0.5% decline in

Extended Mass Layoffs (Quarterly)

In the first quarter of 2013, 914 extended mass layoff events involved 154,374 worker separations, both measures down from first quarter 2012 levels.

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey

There were 3.8 million job openings on the last business day of March, little changed from February.

The hires rate (3.2%) and the separations rate (3.1%) were also little changed in March.

Senator Manchin Staff to Visit Area Counties

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) is pleased to announce that his office will launch its fifth “Commonsense Connections” Week beginning Monday, May 20, 2013.

Representatives from Senator Manchin’s office will make more than 95 stops across West Virginia – traveling to all 55 counties – to meet with constituents, hear their commonsense priorities and concerns, and gather their feedback.

“Bringing the government directly to our citizens and knowing their concerns and ideas have always been top priorities for me as a former governor and now as U.S. Senator,” Senator Manchin said. “West Virginians should have access to assistance and that is what ‘Commonsense Connections’ is all about – my staff travels to every corner of the state, to every county, and meets with West Virginians to hear about their personal challenges and suggestions for Washington.”

Senator Manchin launched his first-ever “Commonsense Connections” Week in February 2011, when representatives from his office traveled to all 55 counties in the state. This is the fifth time the staff has crisscrossed the state for “Commonsense Connections.”

A list of stops is included below (Area Counties):

Braxton
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Location: Braxton County Senior Citizens Center, 33 Senior Center Drive, Sutton.

Calhoun
Date:  Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Location: Calhoun County Public Library, 250 Mill Street North, Grantsville.

Clay
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Location: Clay Town Hall, 956 Main Street, Clay.

Doddridge
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013
Time: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Doddridge County Courthouse, 118 East Court Street, West Union.

Doddridge
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013
Time: 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: Doddridge County Senior Center, 403 West Main Street, West Union.

Gilmer
Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
Time: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Location:  Gilmer County Courthouse, 10 Howard Street, Glenville.

Gilmer
Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
Time: 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
Location:  Gilmer County Library, 214 Walnut Street, Glenville.

Harrison
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Location:  Harrison County Courthouse, 301 West Main Street, Clarksburg.

Harrison
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013

Time: 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Location: Harrison County Library, 404 West Pike Street, Clarksburg.

Jackson
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Location: Ripley Town Council Chambers, 203 South Church Street, Ripley.

Jackson
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
Time:  6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Location: Gino’s, 201 Washington Street, Ravenswood.

Lewis
Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Location:  Lewis County Commission Office, 18 Garton Plaza, Weston.

Lewis
Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
Time: 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Location:  Lewis County Senior Center, 171 W 2nd Street, Weston.

Nicholas
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Nicholas County Courthouse, 700 Main Street, Summersville.

Ritchie
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Time: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Pennsboro Branch Library, 411 Main Street, Pennsboro.

Ritchie
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Time: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Harrisville Town Hall, East Main Street, Harrisville.

Roane
Date:  Thursday, May 23, 2013
Time:  11:00 AM – Noon
Location: Roane County Library, 110 Parking Plaza, Spencer.

Upshur
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
Time: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Location:  Upshur County Courthouse – Room 302, 38 West Main Street, Buckhannon.

Upshur
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
Time: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Location:  Upshur County Library, RR 6 Box 480 Tennerton Road, Buckhannon.

Upshur
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
Time: 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Location: CJ Maggie’s Restaurant, 16 East Main Street, Buckhannon.

Webster
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Location: Webster Springs Town Hall, 146 McGraw Avenue, Webster Springs.

Wetzel
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013
Time: 11:30 AM –1:00 PM
Location: Quinet’s Court Restaurant, 217 Main Street, New Martinsville.

Wetzel
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013
Time: 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Location: Paden City Town Hall, 208 West Main Street, Paden City.

Wirt
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013
Time: 11:00 AM – Noon
Location: Wirt County Committee on Aging, Inc., 74 Senior Circle, Elizabeth.

Wood
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 11:00 AM – Noon
Location: Williamstown Town Council Chambers, 100 West Fifth Street, Williamstown.

Wood
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Location: Wood County Commission Room, 1 Court Square, Parkersburg.

Wood
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Location: Vienna Public Library, 2300 River Road, Vienna.

Manchin’s Message from the Hill to the Mountains: SALUTING OUR VETERANS AND THE HONOR FLIGHT NETWORK

I am filled with so much pride every time I meet our military veterans.  They remind us just how patriotic West Virginia is.  We are a state of people with courage, nobility and valor.

This week, I met with 31 veterans from West Virginia, representing three generations of warriors, who came to the nation’s capital to see the memorials that commemorate their sacrifice and courage.

I am so deeply grateful to these special Americans who helped keep this nation free and made the world safer for liberty-loving people across our country and beyond our borders.

I also am grateful to the Honor Flight Network, which arranges for World War II, Korea and Vietnam veterans from all over America to visit the memorials in Washington – free of any cost to the veterans.

In West Virginia, the driving forces behind the Honor Flight Network are the Denver Foundation and Little Buddy Radio in Princeton.  They have arranged three Honor Flights for West Virginia veterans so far, and I look forward to many more.

The veterans I met this week ranged in age from 63 to 94.  And while their step has slowed, their spirit is keen, their pride is undiminished, and their patriotism is unbridled.

These brave West Virginians served this great country in a wide variety of ways – as a B-24 pilot over Italy in World War II; in a heavy mortar company at “Heartbreak Ridge” in Korea; as a helicopter door gunner in Vietnam.

They stitched up wounds in hospitals; they assembled bombs; they inspected combat aircraft; they operated radios and radars; they cooked; and they built roads through jungles and bridges over rivers.

They won the Bronze Star, the Soldier’s Medal, the Purple Heart and Presidential Citations. Some were lieutenants, some sergeants, some corporals. Some served abroad, some stateside. But every one of them answered this country’s call in its time of need.

These heroic West Virginians came to Washington to tour our beautiful Capitol, the World War II Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial. But this tour included a special “Flags of Our Heroes” ceremony to honor World War II veterans who passed away before they could visit the memorial commemorating their service. Sadly, we are losing World War II veterans at the rate of approximately 800 per day – members of what we have come to recognize, and rightly so, as the “Greatest Generation.”

This generation of Americans was united by a common purpose and by common values – duty, honor, courage, service, integrity, love of family and country.  And their triumph over tyranny will be remembered forever.

This Memorial Day, when we honor all of America’s fallen warriors, let us offer a special salute to the “Greatest Generation” of warriors who inspire us still with the physical and moral courage that made them heroes.

May it ever be so, and may God always bless the United States of America and all the men and women who keep Her free.

HHS Announces Actions to Improve Safety and Quality of Child Care

Helping to answer President Obama’s call to ensure quality early education for every American child, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed today a new regulation for public comment that will better ensure children’s health and safety in child care and promote school readiness. Under the proposed rule, states, territories and tribes would be required to strengthen their standards to better promote the health, safety and school readiness of children in federally funded child care.

Millions of working parents depend on child care and assume certain safety requirements are already in place for their children, but standards vary widely across the states.  Many states do not enforce even basic standards such as fingerprinting, background checks and first aid training for providers. This puts our children at risk.

“Many children already benefit from the excellent care of high-quality child care providers who are meeting or exceeding the proposed requirements,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  “However, too many children remain in settings that do not meet minimum standards of health and safety. These basic rules ensure that providers take necessary basic steps to shield children from an avoidable tragedy.”

The proposed rule would only apply directly to child care providers who accept Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) funds. More than 500,000 providers serve about 1.6 million low-income children through CCDF. Many more children would benefit, however, because the providers also serve non-CCDF children.

Under the proposed rule, states would require that all CCDF-funded child care providers:

•  Receive health and safety trainings in specific areas
•  Comply with applicable state and local fire, health and building codes
•  Receive comprehensive background checks (including fingerprinting)
•  Receive on-site monitoring

The rule would also require states to share information with parents through user-friendly websites about provider health, safety and licensing information. While some states already post health and safety reports online, the new rule would bring all states up to this standard.

“Parents know the needs of their own children,” said Shannon Rudisill, director of the Office of Child Care. “However, parents don’t always have enough information to help them make the right choice when choosing a child care provider. This proposal would give parents the necessary tools to choose quality care that fully meets their needs.”

While the proposed rule establishes new minimum standards, it also recognizes the need for innovation and flexibility and allows states and communities to tailor their specific approaches to best meet the needs of the children and families they serve.  The rule would not change or impede a state’s ability to license child care providers as they see fit.

The administration continues to work with Congress to reauthorize the Child Care and Development Block Grant, which was last reauthorized in 1996.  This rule does not take the place of reauthorization, but rather proposes long overdue reforms to better ensure that low-income working families have access to safe, high-quality child care that is essential for healthy early childhood development.

HHS is requesting the public’s input on this proposed regulation. The comment process, which lasts for 75 days, allows for feedback on the proposed rule.

The proposed rule will be on public display today at www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection.  Once it is published in the Federal Register, the public can view it and submit comment at: www.regulations.gov.

For more information about HHS’ child care programs, please visit www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ.

Where are the Nonviolent Alternatives to the Nine Proposed Military Bases in Afghanistan?

Earlier this week, Hamid Karzai confirmed that the United States will build nine new military bases in Afghanistan, including a strategic base at the border with Iran, with Whitehouse spokesman Jay Carney assuring us that these nine new bases will not be permanent. Their role will mainly be to strengthen and train the Afghan military; our only question is whether they even entertained any non-military options? With our media, it’s hard to tell.

One of the disservices done to the American public by the corporate media is the framing of this recent decision. As in numerous other reports, we are fed a series of top-down decisions like this one with language suggesting that they are in the best interest of American families and the strength of the nation, and that they are not open to discussion. As usual, the implicit bias from the top is that we citizens are ignorant and powerless; if they do not provide a violent, armed, militarized solution, the US has nothing else to offer. But it is their ignorance and powerlessness that we are seeing, not our own.

There is a Zen saying about a reed in the wind, how it bends while a ‘strong’ tree can break. This truth is echoed by the prolific folksinger, Ani Difranco when she notes in her inimitable way that “buildings and bridges are made to bend with the wind/ what doesn’t bend breaks.” It’s practical wisdom, and very pertinent. As more everyday citizens become interested in exploring nonviolent solutions worldwide, this short-sighted and deadly dichotomy between violence or passivity of the U.S. government exposes its fatal flaw—an inability or an unwillingness adapt and evolve with the growing consciousness of people around the world. Structures simply have to evolve as people grow in consciousness if they do not want to face obsolescence; we created them to serve us, after all, and we are an adaptive species. In other words, if our systems are rigid and violent, it is our responsibility to see that they adapt, or step aside. There is a growing consciousness of a co-creative, life sustaining spectrum that encourages empathy and solidarity and makes everyone safer. Our growing awareness of our interconnection, if only through technology and climate/ecological understanding, points a way out to us from destruction to restoration, from harming to healing, and from profiteering to peacebuilding. Acting on this consciousness of nonviolence, and creating institutional structures to serve it will be a major step forward for everyone; and it is more than just a reprioritization of our values: it’s a rediscovery of who we are.

Just as the consciousness of separation and force is embodied in military systems, with their ever more fantastic equipment and trained (that is, unfortunately, desensitized) men and women, the consciousness of peace and human solidarity is beginning to be embodied in cross-border ‘peace teams’, truth and reconciliation commissions, international courts, peace communities (like the few who are holding on right now in Colombia), peace research institutions, and more. If you haven’t heard about them, we are not surprised—they are not the stuff of today’s media. Or today’s policy.

But they are working. Behind the scenes, peace teams, for example, are bringing children abducted by paramilitary units back to their families, protecting the lives of threatened individuals or whole villages, monitoring historic peace agreements (as recently in Mindanao), and stanching rumors—those prolific causes of intercommunal violence. What if our government were instead to set up nine peace operation centers in Afghanistan, at a cost of just nine percent of the proposed bases, with training and jobs available for nonviolent conflict intervention? What if it were to create nine centers for women’s empowerment instead of forcing many Afghan women into prostitution, as inevitably happens around military bases? They could happily employ retrained military people who sense this far nobler use of their courage along with the veteran peacekeepers of Nonviolent Peaceforce, Peace Brigades International, and the other groups—all still at a small fraction of the cost of the proposed bases. What if, with the rest of those resources, we were to set up nine high-tech, free hospitals, nine Afghan-centered universities and libraries, and throw in nine hundred village schools into the bargain, still totaling less than nine military bases with US arms and trainers?

Economist Kenneth Boulding was one of the great pioneers of peace research, and he often communicated his important findings with a sense of humor. According to Boulding’s First Law, “if something exists, then it is possible.” Our privilege and responsibility as citizens is to uphold the possible and bring these alternatives to the attention of the media, of policymakers, and everyone we can get ahold of. It is our duty to our country—if not to the rest of humanity—to make it perfectly clear that if our key institutions do not bend in this direction they will surely break.

~~  Stephanie Van Hook & Michael N. Nagler ~~

G-Comm™: Hoppy’s Commentary - Tomblin’s Window of Opportunity

A recent survey by Republican pollster Mark Blankenship found that Governor Tomblin is riding a remarkable crest of popularity.

Tomblin’s job approval rating is at 69%, unchanged from March.  That’s higher than Senator Joe Manchin (63%) and Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito (54%).

Perhaps more importantly, voters don’t blame Tomblin for the state’s economic problems, and the Governor can thank President Obama for that.  When asked who is most responsible for job losses in West Virginia, nearly half said the President.  Fifteen percent said the West Virginia Legislature, ten percent said Congress and only three percent blamed Tomblin.

That’s amazing, especially since West Virginia has lost jobs over the last year and Republicans criticized Tomblin and the Democratic majorities in both houses for not doing more this past session for job creation.

So, Tomblin has this bank of political capital.  What’s he going to do with it?

One challenge for the Governor is to figure out a way West Virginia can take full advantage of the enormous Marcellus Shale reserves.  The gas boom has cooled a bit because of over-supply and the drop in prices, but West Virginia is going to be pumping gas for years to come.

The key to maximizing the economic benefit to the state is to make sure that industries that use natural gas as a feedstock locate here.  How do we do that?  Tax reform?  Tort reform?  A better infrastructure for natural gas shipping and storage?

The state has made progress on the tax front in recent years with the lowering of the corporate net and the elimination of the business franchise tax, but there is still work to be done.  West Virginia has an onerous personal property tax on the inventory machinery and equipment of a business that could be eliminated (Republicans have been pushing for that).

Tomblin could tackle the state’s crumbling roads and bridges.  The state’s gas tax no longer keeps up with highway construction and repair needs.  Taxes and/or fees would have to be raised.  Tomblin may be reluctant to go there, especially in 2014 since many Democrats, who are most likely to support an increase, will be up for re-election.

The Governor will also face pressure next legislative session to raise teacher salaries.  The teacher unions believe they are due, especially after they compromised on the Governor’s major education reform legislation this year.

The trick will be finding money for a raise, while also paying the rest of the state’s bills, including rising Medicaid costs.  Tomblin has kept in his back pocket a cigarette tax increase.  West Virginia’s per pack tax (55 cents) is among the lowest in the nation, and sin taxes are usually the easiest to raise.

Tomblin had a couple of significant accomplishments in the last session, including education reform and a new law to relieve prison overcrowding.  He has an opportunity to do more, but that window will close quickly.

Next year, politics will play an even bigger role under the capitol dome because it will be an election year and Republicans believe they have a chance to take over the House of Delegates.

And it won’t be long afterward that lawmakers will begin to see Tomblin, who cannot run again in 2016, as a lame duck.

A Minute with Jay: National Police Week

Senator Rockefeller marks National Police Week, a time to honor the men and women who serve our communities as police officers, thank them for their hard work, and remember the families of those who have lost loved ones.

G-Comm™: THE OVERCRIMINALIZATION OF AMERICA

G-Comm™: Hoppy’s Commentary - The IRS Scandal Undermines Trust

We don’t trust the federal government much anymore.

Since 1958, Pew Research has being asking the question, “How much of the time do you trust the government?”  Fifty-five years ago, 73 percent of Americans said they did just about always or most of the time, while 23 percent said some of the time or never.

In 2013, the numbers are reversed.  Only 26 percent trust the government, while 73 percent are distrustful.

The precipitous decline in trust began during the Vietnam War and continued through Watergate.  We briefly regained our confidence in the federal government after 9/11 as Americans rallied together, but that has faded.

The developments of the last few weeks will add to the cynicism.

Yesterday, I wrote about Benghazi and the apparent failure of the Obama Administration to level with the American people about the attack that left four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, dead. Now, in an unrelated story, we’re finding out that the IRS targeted conservative groups for greater scrutiny.

The IRS scandal has resonated with Americans perhaps even more than Benghazi because anyone who gets a W-2 and fills out a tax form can relate.  We all live with a certain amount of fear that we’ve made a mistake on our taxes that will trigger an audit.

Our expectation is that the IRS has no agenda; that as the powerful collector of taxes, as well as the arbiter of the meaning of a byzantine tax code, the IRS will carry out its responsibilities fairly and impartially.

But an investigation by the Treasury Inspector General for the Tax Administration found that the IRS gave particular scrutiny to conservative groups applying for 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status.  The finding reinforces complaints that Tea Party groups had been making for some time.

According to a timeline from the Treasury Inspector, IRS Tax-Exempt Organizations Division Director Lois Lerner, was told in June 2011 that the unit was more closely scrutinizing groups that had the words “Tea Party” or “Patriots” in them.

However, then-IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, a Bush appointee, vehemently denied to Congress at a March 2012 hearing that organizations with conservative political leanings were being singled out.

Even liberal columnist Maureen Dowd of the New York Times had to concede, “Maybe some of the paranoia is justified.”

The outrage is bipartisan, as it should be.  From West Virginia, both Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Republican Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito called the IRS’s actions “un-American.”

President Obama, during a news conference Monday, called the scandal “outrageous” and said he learned about it the same time everyone else did.

According to the IRS website, the agency’s mission is to “Provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all.”

The disconnect between the latter portion of that mission statement and the conduct of the IRS means that the next time Pew Research asks the trust question, the numbers may be even more abysmal.

USDA Seeks Applications for Grants to Provide Technical Assistance to Help Rural Businesses Grow

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is seeking applications from qualified organizations to provide technical assistance to rural businesses to help them expand and create jobs. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty. Today’s announcement is one part of the Department’s efforts to strengthen the rural economy.

“These grants will help businesses get access to planning, mentoring and other services that can help ensure their success,“ Vilsack said. “This assistance will provide development and managerial services that often are not readily available to businesses in rural areas, part of the Obama Administration’s effort to accelerate the resurgence of manufacturing and create jobs across the country.“

Funding will be provided through USDA Rural Development’s Rural Business Opportunity Grant (RBOG) program. Up to $2.6 million is available through this notice. The maximum grant is $100,000.

Grants may be used for feasibility studies, strategic planning, leadership training and other types of business development activities. Eligible applicants include public bodies, non-profit corporations, institutions of higher education, Indian tribes and rural cooperatives.

USDA Rural Development is also soliciting RBOG applications to support a new Obama administration initiative called Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP). USDA is partnering with the Commerce Department, the Small Business Administration and Environmental Protection Agency to promote development of new manufacturing jobs. RBOG applicants, for example, could seek grants to help rural communities develop long-term strategic plans for their manufacturing sectors or to provide training to entrepreneurs who want to create manufacturing businesses in rural areas. Applicants who receive RBOG funding complementing the IMCP initiative may later be eligible for larger grants directly through the initiative.

Some of the funding available under this RBOG notice will be made available for projects benefitting federally recognized Indian tribes and projects benefitting Rural Economic Area Partnerships. The remaining funds are open for national competition.

The RBOG program and other USDA business and cooperate development programs have had a significant impact on rural communities. In 2012 alone, they helped almost 10,000 rural small business owners or farmers improve their enterprises. Business and cooperative program funding created or saved an estimated 53,000 rural jobs in 2012.

For example, in 2011 USDA Rural Development awarded a $50,000 Rural Business Opportunity Grant to the Scott County Economic Development Corporation to improve economic conditions in rural southeastern Indiana. USDA’s RBOG funds are helping support the Mid-America Science Park, which is a business incubation and workforce development center in Scottsburg, Ind.

The application deadlines for Rural Business Opportunity Grants are June 30 for partnership funds and June 28 for all other requests. For additional information on how to apply, see the May 14 Federal Register, page 28184, or visit www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-05-14/html/2013-11451.htm.

President Obama’s plan for rural America has brought about historic investment and resulted in stronger rural communities. Under the President’s leadership, these investments in housing, community facilities, businesses and infrastructure have empowered rural America to continue leading the way, strengthening America’s economy, small towns and rural communities. USDA’s investments in rural communities support the rural way of life that stands as the backbone of our American values. President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack are committed to a smarter use of Federal resources to foster sustainable economic prosperity and ensure the government is a strong partner for businesses, entrepreneurs and working families in rural communities.

USDA, through its Rural Development mission area, has a portfolio of programs designed to improve the economic stability of rural communities, businesses, residents, farmers and ranchers and improve the quality of life in rural America.

USDA has made a concerted effort to deliver results for the American people, even as USDA implements sequestration, the across-the-board budget reductions mandated under terms of the Budget Control Act. USDA has already undertaken historic efforts since 2009 to save more than $828 million in taxpayer funds through targeted, common-sense budget reductions. These reductions have put USDA in a better position to carry out its mission, while implementing sequester budget reductions in a fair manner that causes as little disruption as possible.

Plans to Increase Exports of Liquefied Natural Gas Could Accelerate Fracking Boom, Critics Say

A domestic natural gas boom already has lowered U.S. energy prices while stoking fears of environmental disaster.

Now U.S. producers are poised to ship vast quantities of gas overseas as energy companies seek permits for proposed export projects that could set off a renewed frenzy of fracking.

Expanded drilling is unlocking enormous reserves of crude oil and natural gas, offering the potential of moving the country closer to its decades-long quest for energy independence.

Yet as the industry looks to profit from foreign markets, there is the specter of higher prices at home and increased manufacturing costs for products from plastics to fertilizers.

Companies such as Exxon Mobil and Sempra Energy are seeking federal permits for more than 20 export projects.

MANCHIN Staff to Visit Area Counties

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) is pleased to announce that his office will launch its fifth “Commonsense Connections” Week beginning Monday, May 20, 2013.

Representatives from Senator Manchin’s office will make more than 95 stops across West Virginia – traveling to all 55 counties – to meet with constituents, hear their commonsense priorities and concerns, and gather their feedback.

“Bringing the government directly to our citizens and knowing their concerns and ideas have always been top priorities for me as a former governor and now as U.S. Senator,” Senator Manchin said. “West Virginians should have access to assistance and that is what ‘Commonsense Connections’ is all about – my staff travels to every corner of the state, to every county, and meets with West Virginians to hear about their personal challenges and suggestions for Washington.”

Senator Manchin launched his first-ever “Commonsense Connections” Week in February 2011, when representatives from his office traveled to all 55 counties in the state. This is the fifth time the staff has crisscrossed the state for “Commonsense Connections.”

A list of stops is included below (Area Counties):

Braxton
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Location: Braxton County Senior Citizens Center, 33 Senior Center Drive, Sutton.

Calhoun
Date:  Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Location: Calhoun County Public Library, 250 Mill Street North, Grantsville.

Clay
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Location: Clay Town Hall, 956 Main Street, Clay.

Doddridge
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013
Time: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Doddridge County Courthouse, 118 East Court Street, West Union.

Doddridge
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013
Time: 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: Doddridge County Senior Center, 403 West Main Street, West Union.

Gilmer
Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
Time: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Location:  Gilmer County Courthouse, 10 Howard Street, Glenville.

Gilmer
Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
Time: 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
Location:  Gilmer County Library, 214 Walnut Street, Glenville.

Harrison
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Location:  Harrison County Courthouse, 301 West Main Street, Clarksburg.

Harrison
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013

Time: 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Location: Harrison County Library, 404 West Pike Street, Clarksburg.

Jackson
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Location: Ripley Town Council Chambers, 203 South Church Street, Ripley.

Jackson
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
Time:  6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Location: Gino’s, 201 Washington Street, Ravenswood.

Lewis
Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Location:  Lewis County Commission Office, 18 Garton Plaza, Weston.

Lewis
Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
Time: 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Location:  Lewis County Senior Center, 171 W 2nd Street, Weston.

Nicholas
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Nicholas County Courthouse, 700 Main Street, Summersville.

Ritchie
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Time: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Pennsboro Branch Library, 411 Main Street, Pennsboro.

Ritchie
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Time: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Harrisville Town Hall, East Main Street, Harrisville.

Roane
Date:  Thursday, May 23, 2013
Time:  11:00 AM – Noon
Location: Roane County Library, 110 Parking Plaza, Spencer.

Upshur
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
Time: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Location:  Upshur County Courthouse – Room 302, 38 West Main Street, Buckhannon.

Upshur
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
Time: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Location:  Upshur County Library, RR 6 Box 480 Tennerton Road, Buckhannon.

Upshur
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
Time: 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Location: CJ Maggie’s Restaurant, 16 East Main Street, Buckhannon.

Webster
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Location: Webster Springs Town Hall, 146 McGraw Avenue, Webster Springs.

Wetzel
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013
Time: 11:30 AM –1:00 PM
Location: Quinet’s Court Restaurant, 217 Main Street, New Martinsville.

Wetzel
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013
Time: 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Location: Paden City Town Hall, 208 West Main Street, Paden City.

Wirt
Date: Friday, May 24, 2013
Time: 11:00 AM – Noon
Location: Wirt County Committee on Aging, Inc., 74 Senior Circle, Elizabeth.

Wood
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 11:00 AM – Noon
Location: Williamstown Town Council Chambers, 100 West Fifth Street, Williamstown.

Wood
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Location: Wood County Commission Room, 1 Court Square, Parkersburg.

Wood
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Location: Vienna Public Library, 2300 River Road, Vienna.

G-Comm™: Hoppy’s Commentary - Bungling Benghazi

Abraham Lincoln, regarded as one of America’s greatest Presidents, said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

We ask much of our Presidents.  We want people of character who possess a strong will.  They must also be charismatic individuals who challenge and inspire.  Above all, they must be leaders.

Even great leaders will fail, but we can forgive them if we know that they did their best, that their sense of duty was greater than personal safety, popularity or political expediency.

What we don’t like is deception.

President Richard Nixon is the poster child for deception at the highest levels.  He put himself above the law during the Watergate scandal and obstructed justice.  Indeed, the cover-up was worse than the crime and the duplicity and obfuscation forever changed the way we view the presidency.

President George W. Bush did not set out to deceive about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but in hindsight we know there was an unhealthy disregard for legitimate questions about the evidence.  The confidence with which the Bush Administration pushed the war, combined with the failure to prepare adequately for post-Saddam Iraq, caused many Americans to question his leadership.

Now we have the September 11, 2012 attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.  Gregory Hicks, Stevens’ deputy in Libya, testified on Capitol Hill last week that they knew immediately that the attack was a coordinated terrorist assault, not a spontaneous demonstration triggered by a YouTube video.

Yet the Administration adopted and perpetuated the video explanation.

We now know, via reporting by ABC News and The Weekly Standard, that the State Department extensively edited the talking points from the CIA to take out any references to the Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group Ansar al-Sharia.

When “the-video-caused-it” explanation crumbled, the Administration blamed the CIA.  When questioned during the Vice Presidential debate, Joe Biden said the Administration attributed Stevens’ death to the video because “that was exactly what we were told by the intelligence community.”

As Michael Gerson wrote in the Washington Post, “In some cases, the fog of war is initially thick, then it dissipates… (in the Benghazi attacks) the fog was a later addition.”

But why?

Was the Administration worried that a resumption of terrorism would damage President Obama’s chances of being re-elected in two months?  Gerson suggests it was “an effort to obscure negligence and incompetence, not criminality.”

One of the great mistakes people in power often make is that they become too clever by half; they allow perceptions of their own importance to beguile them into thinking the truth can be managed.

Now Americans must sort out the controversy, and that task is made even harder by the hyper-partisan atmosphere in Washington that is fanned by talk shows and cable channels.

Deception, obfuscation and ineptitude undermine the institution of government and breed mistrust.  The truth in the beginning would have been simpler for all. Americans can handle it, and they deserve it.

G-Comm™: Round the Clock Surveillance: Is This the Price of Living in a ‘Free, Safe’ Socie

Immediately following the devastating 9/11 attacks, which destroyed the illusion of invulnerability which had defined American society since the end of the Cold War, many Americans willingly ceded their rights and liberties to government officials who promised them that the feeling of absolute safety could be restored.

In the 12 years since, we have been subjected to a series of deceptions, subterfuges and scare tactics by the government, all largely aimed at amassing more power for the federal agencies and extending their control over the populace. Starting with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, continuing with the torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, and coming to a head with the assassination of American citizens abroad, the importing of drones and other weapons of compliance, and the rise in domestic surveillance, we have witnessed the onslaught of a full-blown crisis in government.

Still Americans have gone along with these assaults on their freedoms unquestioningly.

Even with our freedoms in shambles, our country in debt, our so-called “justice” system weighted in favor of corporations and the police state, our government officials dancing to the tune of corporate oligarchs, and a growing intolerance on the part of the government for anyone who challenges the status quo, Americans have yet to say “enough is enough.”

Now, in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, we are once again being assured that if we only give up a few more liberties and what little remains of our privacy, we will achieve that elusive sense of security we’ve yet to attain. This is the same song and dance that comes after every tragedy, and it’s that same song and dance which has left us buying into the illusion that we are a free, safe society.

The reality of life in America tells a different tale, however. For example, in a May 2013 interview with CNN, former FBI counterterrorism agent Tim Clemente disclosed that the federal government is keeping track of all digital communications that occur within the United States, whether or not those communicating are American citizens, and whether or not they have a warrant to do so.

As revelatory as the disclosure was, it caused barely a ripple of dismay among Americans, easily distracted by the torrent of what passes for entertainment news today. Yet it confirms what has become increasingly apparent in the years after 9/11: the federal government is literally tracking any and all communications occurring within the United States, without concern for the legal limitations of such activity, and without informing the American people that they are doing so.

Clemente dropped his bombshell during a CNN interview about authorities’ attempts to determine the nature of communications between deceased Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his widow Katherine Russell. In the course of that conversation, Clemente revealed that federal officials will not only be able to access any voicemails that may have been left by either party, but that the entirety of the phone conversations they had will be at federal agents’ finger tips.

“We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation,” stated Clemente. “All of that stuff [meaning phone conversations occurring in America] is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not.” A few days later, Clemente was asked to clarify his comments, at which point he said, “There is a way to look at all digital communications in the past. No digital communication is secure.”

In other words, there is no form of digital communication that the government cannot and does not monitor—phone calls, emails, text messages, tweets, Facebook posts, internet video chats, etc., are all accessible, trackable and downloadable by federal agents.

At one time, such actions by the government would not only have been viewed as unacceptable, they would also have been considered illegal. However, government officials have been engaged in an ongoing attempt to legitimize these actions by passing laws that make the lives of all Americans an open book for government agents. For example, while the nation was caught up in the drama of the Boston bombing and the ensuing military-style occupation of the city by local and federal police, Congress passed a little-noticed piece of legislation known as the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). The legislation, which the House of Representatives approved by an overwhelming margin of 288-127, will allow internet companies to share their users’ private data with the federal government and other private companies in order to combat so-called “cyber threats.”

In short, the law dismantles any notion of privacy on the internet, opening every action one undertakes online, whether emailing, shopping, banking, or just browsing, to scrutiny by government agents. While CISPA has yet to clear the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the spirit of it is alive and well. In fact, officials in the Obama administration have for some time now been authorizing corporate information sharing and spying in secret through the use of executive orders and other tactics.

The Justice Department, for instance, has been issuing so-called “2511 letters” to various internet service providers like AT&T, which immunize them from being prosecuted under federal wiretapping laws for providing the federal government with private information. Despite federal court rulings to the contrary, the Department of Justice continues to assert that it does not require a warrant to access Americans’ emails, Facebook chats, and other forms of digital communication.

While it may be tempting to lay the full blame for these erosions of our privacy on the Obama administration, they are simply continuing a system of mass surveillance, the seeds of which were planted in the weeks after 9/11, when the National Security Agency (NSA) began illegally tracking the communications of American citizens. According to a Washington Post article published in 2010, the NSA continues to collect 1.7 billion communications, whether telephone, email or otherwise, every single day.

The NSA and Department of Justice are just two pieces of a vast surveillance network which encompasses and implicates most of the federal government, as well as the majority of technology and telecommunications companies in the United States. For the past two years, the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has approved literally every single request by the federal government to spy on people within the United States. There have been some 4,000 applications rubberstamped by the court in the past two years, applications which allow federal officials to monitor the communications of any person in the United States, including American citizens, if they are believed to be in contact with someone overseas.

These government-initiated spying programs depend in large part on the willingness of corporations to hand over personal information about their customers to government officials. Sometimes the government purchases the information outright. At other times, the government issues National Security Letters, which allow the government to force companies to hand over personal information without a warrant or probable cause.

Some web companies, such as Skype, have already altered their products to allow government access to personal information. In fact, government agents can now determine the credit card information and addresses of Skype users under suspicion of criminal activity. Aside from allowing government agents backdoor access to American communications, corporations are also working on technologies to allow government agents even easier access to Americans’ communications.

For example, Google has filed a patent for a “Policy Violation Checker,” software which would monitor an individual’s communications as they type them out, whether in an email, an Excel spreadsheet or some other digital document, then alert the individual, and potentially their employer or a government agent, if they type any “problematic phrases” which “present policy violations, have legal implications, or are otherwise troublesome to a company, business, or individual.” The software would work by comparing the text being typed to a pre-defined database of “problematic phrases,” which would presumably be defined on a company-by-company basis.

The emergence of this technology fits in well with Google chairman Eric Schmidt’s view on privacy, which is that “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” Unfortunately, this is not just the attitude of corporate benefactors who stand to profit from creating spy technology and software but government officials as well.

Additionally, police officials throughout the country have become increasingly keen on monitoring social media websites in real time. Rob D’Ovido, a criminal justice professor at Drexel University, has noted that, “The danger of this in light of the tragedy in Boston is that law enforcement is being so risk-averse they are in danger of crossing that line and going after what courts would ultimately deem as free speech.”

For example, Cameron Dambrosio, a teenager and self-styled rap artist living in Metheun, Massachusetts, posted a video of one of his original songs on the internet which included references to the White House and the Boston bombing. While the song’s lyrics may well have been crude and ill-advised in the wake of the Boston bombing, police officers exacerbated the situation by arresting Dambrosio and charging him with communicating terrorist threats, a felony charge which could land him in prison for twenty years.

Unfortunately, cases like Dambrosio’s may soon become the norm, as the FBI’s Next Generation Cyber Initiative has announced that its “top legislative priority” this year is to get social media giants like Facebook and Google to comply with requests for access to real-time updates of social media websites. The proposed method of encouraging compliance is legal inquiries and hefty fines leveled at these companies. The Obama administration is expected to support the proposal.

The reality is this:  we no longer live in a free society. Having traded our freedoms for a phantom promise of security, we now find ourselves imprisoned in a virtual cage of cameras, wiretaps and watchful government eyes. All the while, the world around us is no safer than when we started on this journey more than a decade ago. Indeed, it well may be that we are living in a far more dangerous world, not so much because the terrorist threat is any greater but because the government itself has become the greater threat to our freedoms.

~~  John Whitehead ~~

Funding from Health Reform Law to Help Uninsured West Virginians Get Affordable Health Coverage

Senator Jay Rockefeller today announced $2,483,778 in federal funding from the health reform law to give community health centers the ability to help uninsured West Virginians enroll in affordable health plans. This announcement comes as advocates and health care professionals gather in Flatwoods, West Virginia for the Enroll West Virginia Conference to discuss expanding Medicaid and enrolling West Virginians in the new health insurance marketplace.

“Community health centers play a critical role in keeping West Virginians healthy, which is why I pushed to increase funding in the health reform law to boost their services,” said Rockefeller. “West Virginia’s community health centers serve thousands each year, and can help even more by making sure consumers have the guidance and education they need to choose a health plan that works for them. This funding will provide more resources for our local health workers so they can meet with more families in need of affordable care.”

Rockefeller has worked in the Senate to make health care more affordable and accessible. He played a strong role in making sure the health reform law secures robust investments in community health centers so they can continue to provide primary and preventive care and help the uninsured get coverage. The health care law provides $150 million for enrollment assistance nationwide. The 27 eligible community health centers in West Virginia provide care for over 380,000 West Virginians.

This funding was made available through the health reform law, and is disbursed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). It will give health centers the opportunity to hire new staff, train existing staff, perform community outreach, and hold educational events to help consumers better understand coverage options and eligibility, and to enroll uninsured West Virginians in new affordable health insurance plans. The in-person assistance and education is part of the Obama Administration’s efforts to make applying for health insurance easier and more understandable. The funding is given to the state to distribute to community health centers that apply for state-administered grants.

Below are the 27 eligible community health centers in the state:

•  Belington Community Medical Services Association—Belington, WV

•  Bluestone Health Association—Princeton, WV

•  Cabin Creek Health Center—Dawes, WV

•  Camden-On-Gauley Medical Center—Camden-on-Gauley, WV

•  Change—Weirton, WV

•  Clay Battelle Health Services Association—Blacksville, WV

•  Community Care of West Virginia—Rock Cave, WV

•  Community Health Systems—Beckley, WV

•  E. A. Hawse Health Center—Baker, WV

•  Lincoln County Primary Care Center—Hamlin, WV

•  Minnie Hamilton Health Care Center—Grantsville, WV

•  Monongahela Valley Association—Fairmont, WV

•  Monroe County Health Center—Union, WV

•  New River Health Association—Scarbro, WV

•  Northern Greenbrier Health Clinic—Williamsburg, WV

•  Pendleton Community Care—Franklin, WV

•  Preston-Taylor Community Health Centers—Grafton, WV

•  Rainelle Medical Center—Rainelle, WV

•  Ritchie County Primary Care Association—Harrisville, WV

•  Roane County Family Health Care—Spencer, WV

•  Shenandoah Valley Medical Systems—Martinsburg, WV

•  St. George Medical Clinic—St. George, WV

•  Tug River Health Association—Gary, WV

•  Valley Health Care—Mill Creek, WV

•  Valley Health Systems—Huntington, WV

•  Wirt County Health Services Association—Elizabeth, WV

•  Womencare—Scott Depot, WV

G-Comm™: Rotten to the Common Core

Common Core, an education program developed with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve academic standards in public schools, will fall far short of its stated objective.

Its promoters tout it to be a “state-led effort to establish a single set of clear educational standards for English-language arts and mathematics…” to provide teachers, parents and students with a set of well defined expectations and “[h]igh standards that are consistent across states…”

Underlying these statements is the proposition public schools are not performing very well or completely failing to educate students to a necessary standard.

Based on the fact SAT scores, since 1962, have twice been adjusted downward to artificially depict higher scores among students taking the exam but have continued to decline and national literacy scores continue to decline as a percentage of the United States population it is difficult to refute the dysfunctional public school proposition. Their solution to this very real problem, however, is like putting a gangrene infected band aid on a gangrenous open wound.

Common Core is just another Johnny-come-lately, one-size-fits-all national standard that attempts to fix a problem created by the original national standard; our public school system.

America’s modern public school system is the manifestation of its founder’s vision, the father of American public education, Horace Mann. Horace Mann, a Unitarian Massachusetts school board member in the 1840s, wrote twelve annual reports on public education that was to become the foundation of every public school in America. Mann prototyped his “Common Schools” in his reports on the Prussian school system.

Prussia was the first European state to institute public schools, from which every other country in Europe modeled their public schools. So it is no coincidence Mann modeled his “Common Schools” off the ones he observed in Prussia while visiting schools in Europe.  Neither is it a coincidence Prussia, known for its autocratic and dictatorial society that ultimately unified the other German states under its control, would impose an uncompromising uniform standard upon its population.

In his seventh report, Mann ironically claimed, “we do not desire to copy or to study the systems of foreign nations, usually so different from our own,” but then he went on to say “surely we may copy his [the Prussian school system’s] modes of teaching these elements, without adopting his notions of passive obedience to the government[.]” Evidence of Mann’s lack of success in adopting the Prussian model without instituting its passive obedience to the government is found in America’s modern myopic obedience to the national government.

That America has become passively obedient to the national government can be seen throughout the 20th and the 21st Century in that Americans sit passively by or actively cheer when: Congress passes laws violating the Constitution, Presidents exceed their limited authority by issuing orders not supported by any law passed by Congress and the Supreme Court, when asked to interpose on behalf of we the people, uphold these things through the most ridiculous, convoluted, humanistic and illogical arguments a human mind can conjure. One only need compare the grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence to similar modern occurrences to see contemporary American society does not have the political will of its forefathers.

For America, that was founded on and has celebrated its diversity of ideas, extensive government control and standardization of any kind seems counter intuitive. The framers of the Constitution were careful to preserve the independence of the States by only delegating finite powers to the national government. This allowed the citizens of each State to preserve their cultural diversity and pursue their own happiness.

Now, control over students in what and how they learn has been institutionalized in America by Mann via public schools. Mann, through his Common School system, was able to undo what so many sacrificed in the War of Independence to acquire and the founders carefully guarded in both the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. This centralized control over public school students continues to grow and its latest adaptation is the voluntarily imposed Common Core curriculum.

Strips parental oversight of what children should be taught

Common Core is rotten to the core, because no one can justify its expense by any potential gains in scholastic improvement, it strips parental oversight of what children should be taught, and it is a one-size-fits-all program that will not serve any child to their maximum potential.

First, according to the Pioneer Institute and the American Principles Project, which conducted a state by state comprehensive cost analysis[1] of implementing Common Core, in Pennsylvania alone the extra cost of implementation was estimated to be $645 million.  As of January 2012, Pennsylvania was set to receive only $40 million in Obama’s Race to the Top funds, which were contingent upon adoption of Common Core standards, student Longitudinal data collection, and a teacher evaluation program.

Adding this up, for the adoption of a national standard, Pennsylvania might receive up to 6% of the extra costs from the government, but will have to foot the bill for over a half a billion dollars on their own. None of this makes fiscal sense when considering if Pennsylvania did not adopt any other new program their education costs would remain relatively constant.

Second, if parents allow the government or any other entity to dictate how their children must be educated or what they must learn, the parents might as well just give their children to the government or entity to raise. Even now, parents have limited control over what children are taught in public schools and everyone has to pay for public schools whether they have children or not. Common Core will add more of the same to an already burdensome tax system through another layer of bureaucracy whose standards, if history is any indication, have limited hope of being achieved.

Third, children are not ginger bread men to be cut out of common dough; they are unique individuals with unique learning talents, interests and needs. A common standard may fit everyone, but it will not fit anyone very well and its results will be as disappointing as the results from the public schools system, which the program is intended to fix.

Furthermore, children in America do not belong to any government, community, business, or labor consortium. They belong to their parents and to them alone. Parents, therefore, must decide the values, morals and information from which their children will most benefit to live in society. To abdicate this responsibility is to allow someone else to make decisions that will not always be to the benefit of the children or the parents.

Like every other aspect of life, the Bible provides guidance on whose responsibility it is to teach children. Any government; national, State, or local that dictates what children must be taught and extorts money through taxation to pay for their vision has overstepped the bounds of their biblical jurisdiction. Romans 13:3-5 describes the purpose of government: to wield the sword of justice against evil doers, but nowhere in the Bible will you find education as one of its functions.

In Proverbs 22:6, one will find the Bible giving responsibility of a child’s education to parents. The Bible also states in Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,” and since public schools have completely pushed Christ out of the classroom it is no wonder their academic performance has gone with Him.

Mann’s utopian pursuit of standardized universal “free education” was the European totalitarian bridgehead into America and it has turned into the coercive failed public school system America has today. Like all utopias, the only way to achieve them is through coercion.

This coercion is nearly absent from non-publicly funded schools and these schools most always cost less to operate and produce better educational results in nearly every measurable way than their publicly funded counterparts. A 1997 study[2] found home schooled children, on the average, outperformed their public school counterparts by 30 to 37 percentile points on all subjects. These findings were further supported by Dr. Lawrence Rudner who found children that were homeschooled all their school aged years had the highest academic achievement.

Since uniformity and top down imposed standards have not worked, the solution to deteriorating performance in America’s public schools is simple, return responsibility for education to parents by defunding public schools and restoring parents’ right to decide where and how to educate their children.

Some may argue defunding public schools would deprive many “under privileged” children of an education, but considering what they receive now, it might actually be an improvement. Besides, violation of property rights, through taxation for public schools, or any other violation of the rights specifically mentioned in the Declaration of Independence is never justified, no matter how noble the cause. Additionally, it is an individual’s responsibility to be charitable to the under privileged, because when a government does it through taxation it is called theft or extortion, not charity.

Much of the resistance to defunding public schools comes from the fact most people living today, who grew up in America, are a product of a public school, have known no other system of education, and cannot imagine how another system would work. Those who think this way are oblivious to the fact that prior to 1840, all American schools were non-public, biblically based, and produced the founding culture, which in turn established the most successful nation in the history of the world. The secularized standardization of Common Core, by contrast, is rotten to the core just like the seed of “Common Schools” from which it was germinated that produced the culture who voted for the politicians America has today. If people were to take the time to compare the results of the two systems they too would see for themselves what Mann has done to education.

[1] Pioneer Institute and American Principles Project, National Costs to Aligning States and Localities to the Common Core Standards, No 82, February 2012.
[2] Dr. Brian Ray, Strengths of Their Own: Home Schoolers Across America.

~~  Matt Shipley ~~

G-Comm™: Standards of Conduct

In 1974 a young female attorney help draw up the rules under which Richard M. Nixon would be tried by the Congress for impeachment.

“Impeachment,” she wrote, “did not have to be for criminal offenses – but only for a “course of conduct” that suggested an abuse of power or a disregard for the office of the President of the United States.”

She wrote, “that a person’s ‘course of conduct’ while not particularly criminal could be of such a nature that it destroys trust, discourages, allegiance, and demands action by the Congress.”

She wrote that “the office of the President is such that it calls for higher level of conduct than the average citizen in the United States.”

This young female attorney who helped write the standard under which Presidents are to be judged by the House of Representatives has a unique perspective about the present situation in the White House.

You see, that female attorney who said that an unethical “course of conduct” could overthrow a president was the First Lady for two consecutive terms with her husband Bill Clinton,

Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Truth IS stranger than fiction.

Unknown – 1999

~~  Submitted by a Reader ~~

Congressman Nick Rahall: Celebrating Trains in our State and Nation

In May, National Train Day serves to remind us that just as trains have helped fuel our Nation’s history, they are poised to help forge our future.

Southern West Virginia knows firsthand the importance of passenger- and freight-rail to our local and national economies.  In recognition of that fact, Amtrak made the former Chesapeake & Ohio passenger station in the City of Huntington one of twenty national designations to celebrate all things train-related on National Train Day.

Amtrak and our State have had a long, happy, and fruitful association for 42 years – except, as my train encyclopedic friends at the Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society reminded me, in late 1981 and early 1982, when budgetary troubles interrupted service for 100 days.

Thanks to the efforts of the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Cardinal service was restored to its current three-day-a-week schedule, enabling West Virginians now at eight stops in the State to travel to every point in Amtrak’s national network.  And with continued passenger growth, thanks, in part, to the Boy Scouts of America’s new reserve, we hope to see daily Cardinal service.

Passenger rail is as essential to our Nation’s economic health as is freight rail.  With the $1 million I announced in 2011, West Virginia is designing a statewide rail plan.  It will not only focus on freight and passenger rail coexisting in a productive partnership, but it will fully explore the advantages of connecting rail to roads, rivers, and aviation.  A seamless transportation system saves time and money, making us more competitive in the world market.

National Train Day serves as a grand opportunity to thank the corps of dedicated volunteers who work tirelessly to preserve and promote our State’s rail history and heritage.  These individuals create and sustain all manner of annual events to celebrate our roots in the railways.

The dedicated members of the Collis P. Huntington Society have operated the popular New River Train excursion every October since 1995.  Bringing to trackside as many as 4,400 tourists from around the world to ride through the scenic New River Gorge, the Train aims to enrich Amtrak’s bottom line and boost our region’s economy.

Besides the Society activities, among southern West Virginia’s offerings are: Hinton’s Railroad Days, Talcott’s John Henry Days, and the Pocahontas National Railway Historical Society Model Train Show.

Want some additional scenic time on the rails?  Try the Cass Scenic Railroad, the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad, or the Ridge Runner.  Our historic train stations in Alderson, Prince, and Bramwell, just to name a few, recall the graceful, charming architecture of times past.  And they make great tourism hubs for our future:  train and railroad workers’ memorabilia and collections, from museums to home garages, abound along our rail lines and many points in between.

Train Day is a great time to recognize the contributions of Amtrak and all of its 19,000 employees to our State.  As well, CSX and Norfolk Southern are two dynamic engines in our economy.  Both are committed to tomorrow’s research and training through the Rahall Transportation Institute and Marshall University and committed to keep driving our economy.  The Heartland intermodal project at Prichard, a major $12 million federal investment, is just one example of engaging the rail industry’s cutting-edge opportunities with container freight to serve existing and future key markets to generate jobs.

Congratulations to everyone for helping mark the history, heritage, and promise of trains to our State and Nation, not only on National Train Day, but all year round.   

G-Comm™: Hoppy’s Commentary - The Miscalculation of ‘Climate Justice’

Last month, several Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a resolution with a rather unique take on the environmental debate.  According to a report in The Hill, the resolution stated that climate change is hurting women more than men.

“Food insecure women with limited socioeconomic resources may be vulnerable to situations such as sex work, transactional sex, and early marriage that put them at risk for HIV, STIs, unplanned pregnancy and poor reproductive health,” read the resolution.

And so we have the latest absurdity under the relatively new and ever broadening category of “climate justice.”

The radical environmental movement is in transition.

Chris Foreman, a progressive writing for The Breakthrough Institute, says the more leftist environmentalists have taken a cue from advocates of the social and economic justice movements.  This incarnation of environmentalism links the impacts of climate change with global poverty.

The theory goes that if the effects of global warming create an even greater hardship on the worlds’ poor, there is an even more critical moral imperative to replace carbon-based energy with green alternatives, while imposing a more even global economic playing field.

Foreman quotes Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo from South Africa as saying, “Look, 1.6 billion people have no access to energy and yet live in regions that are blessed with an abundant solar, wind, wave and geothermal energy.  If we can address that problem, we can alleviate poverty and create jobs and move into a green energy future.”

Foreman says the logic is dubious. “Demands for climate justice too often ignore basic practicalities of energy, poverty, and climate change,” he writes.

Foreman isn’t alone.  Two more progressives at The Breakthrough Institute, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, say the climate justice movement disregards history and the successes of carbon-fueled capitalism to bring people out of poverty.

“Hundreds of millions of desperately poor people went from burning dung and wood for fuel (whose smoke takes two million souls a year) to using electricity, allowing them to enjoy refrigerators, washing machines, and smoke-free stoves.”

In short, those who truly care about the impoverished of the world should be worried more about how to get cheap, reliable electricity to a remote village rather than using the plight of the poor to advance the nebulous notion of “climate justice.”

Don’t get Foreman, Shellenberger and Nordhaus wrong; they’re environmentalists, but they’re also realists who are interested in practical solutions to global poverty and climate change.  In doing so, they avoid the pie-eyed convenience of extremist groups who have co-oped the justice movements.

The great miscalculation of the climate justice movement is that it is rooted in reparations and redistribution, and based on the concept that the industrialized world has benefited at the expense of the rest of the planet, which still has to pay the environmental cost.

What they miss entirely–which Foreman, Shellenberger and Nordhaus get–is that what the world really needs is more development with the cheapest, best available fuel, to help elevate people out of poverty.

Now that would be justice.

Manchin’s Message from the Hill to the Mountains: TIME FOR THE FDA TO STOP STALLING ON PAIN KILLERS

Fourteen years is a long time to wait for anything.  When you need help, 14 years is a really long time to wait. And yet 14 years is how long it’s been since drug experts first asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for help in stopping an epidemic of prescription drug abuse in America.

And still we wait.

Well, I’ve waited long enough.  So have other Members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike.  This week, nine of us sent a letter to the FDA urging immediate action to combat an epidemic that is devastating families and communities all across the country, including West Virginia.

Specifically, we urged the FDA to tighten restrictions on some of the most powerful, addictive narcotics on the market, which have fueled the epidemic we see today – hydrocodone painkillers, such as Vicodin and Lortab.

It’s not like we came up with this idea overnight. And it’s not like we came up with it on our own.

The petition for greater restrictions on hydrocodone was originally filed with the FDA in 1999. The petition suggested that hydrocodone be reclassified from a Schedule III drug, the category for less addictive drugs like barbiturates and amphetamines, to Schedule II, the category for opium and morphine.

For over 14 years, the FDA has refused to make this commonsense change, even as hydrocodone abuse has taken its toll on our country, reaching the point where police officers in our home state speak today of a “lost generation” of Americans – lost to the lure and easy access to these prescription drugs.

But last January, things started changing dramatically.

After listening to days of testimony from witnesses, including mine, and after reviewing all the evidence, the FDA’s own panel of experts recommended – for the first time – that hydrocodone be reclassified a Schedule II drug.

Under federal drug laws, the FDA is granted “a reasonable time” to respond to recommendations from its own advisory panel. But winter has turned to spring and summer is just around the corner. It seems to me, and to the Members of Congress who joined me in writing the FDA this week, that the federal agency charged with the safety of our food and drugs has exceeded the “reasonable time” requirement.

The fact that we’ve already waited 14 years for the FDA to do the right thing makes this latest delay that much more intolerable.

Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control underscores the urgency of action by the FDA. The CDC reports that drug overdose deaths increased for 11 straight years since 1999. Sixty percent of those deaths (22,134) involved pharmaceutical drug products.  And prescription drug products containing oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone and others represented three-quarters of those deaths (16,651).

Our great state is not immune from this epidemic. In 2010 alone, 512 West Virginians died from drug overdose – a 353 percent increase since 2000.  And painkillers now result in more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.

Ignoring this drug abuse epidemic is unacceptable.  A lot of families, doctors, law enforcement officers and public officials have been on the front lines battling this crisis for years.

The time has come for the FDA to stop stalling and step up to give us a hand. This is one of those fights that is going to take everybody’s help to win.

Caring for Our Mothers Just as They Care for Us

Throughout our lives – whether as children or adults – our mothers look out for us.  They help us take our first steps, send us off for our first day of school, and watch over us as we grow up.

When we get a cold, twist an ankle, or have a more serious illness, they are the ones right by our side, taking our temperature, bringing us chicken soup to make sure we feel better, and calling to find out what the doctor said.  And Mother’s Day is the perfect time to thank our mothers for all that they have done and continue to do for us every single day.

Just as our mothers care for us, they also deserve to be cared for.  I fought for the health reform law so that we could get more affordable health care to more families.  As part of that goal, this law also makes long strides to better protect women’s health and make it a priority.

Too often, when women go to the doctor regular exams aren’t covered and they have to pay out of pocket.  These expenses add up and have a real impact on families working hard to get by.  The health reform law fixes many of these problems by offering women free annual checkups.  These visits include crucial preventive services to protect women’s health, such as free mammograms to test for breast cancer, cervical cancer screenings, screenings for high blood pressure and diabetes, prenatal services, and much more.  The law allows women to go to an obstetrician/gynecologist without a referral, and they are free to choose their children’s pediatrician.

For too long, the majority of health plans charged women higher premiums than men for the same health benefits, increasing costs on families, individuals, and single mothers.  But the health reform law is changing that and making premiums the same across the board.

Health insurance companies often discriminated against those with pre-existing conditions, such as asthma or diabetes.  And many insurance companies specifically discriminated against women by treating pregnancy, Cesarean sections, and medical treatment for domestic violence and sexual assault as pre-existing conditions.  Because of the health reform law, starting in 2014, insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.  We need to help women and mothers when they need it most, not turn them away.

And just over a week ago, I was incredibly proud to stand with our Governor as he announced that West Virginia will expand Medicaid eligibility – a key piece of the health reform law that is up to each state to approve.  This means that 91,500 more West Virginians are expected to get affordable health care, and 67,000 women in West Virginia could be eligible for coverage.  These are women and mothers of all ages who too often have to choose between seeing a doctor when they’re sick or putting food on the table for their families.  The health reform law means they don’t have to make that awful choice – they can have both, as they deserve.

Mother’s Day reminds us how important our mothers are in our lives and it’s a moment thank and celebrate them, maybe with a handmade card or breakfast in bed.  West Virginia’s own Anna Jarvis understood that when she created Mother’s Day to recognize her mother’s lifesaving work to treat Civil War soldiers.

On Mother’s Day this year, I give thanks for mothers across West Virginia making countless sacrifices every day for the families they love – and for the difference I know a strengthened health care system can make in their lives.

Funds to Help West Virginia Health Centers with Insurance Signups

More than $2.4 million in federal funds is being made available to help West Virginia health centers enroll uninsured individuals into health insurance coverage.

The federal health officials said funding of about $150 million nationwide will expand efforts of community health centers to provide in-person help to enroll in Affordable Care Act coverage.

Officials say the funds will allow health centers to hire new staff, train existing staff, and conduct community outreach events and other educational activities.

Health centers will help consumers understand their coverage options, determine their eligibility, and enroll in new affordable health insurance options.

National Train Day 2013

On Saturday, May 11, 2013, the sixth annual National Train Day will inspire train enthusiasts from more than 200 communities across America to gather at their local train stations, to share their commitments to train travel and celebrate the ways train connect us all. Amtrak encourages current and future passengers to host their own events or attend a local one with one simple message: trains matter.

Huntington’s Train Day will be celebrated at the C & O Depot, 937 7th Avenue, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM and includes a special live performance by the 1937 Flood (the band).

National Train Day will showcase that in addition to simply move people and freight, trains are powerful catalysts for local and national economic growth. They are also an instrumental part of the American story, connecting towns and cities,employing thousands, and supporting local businesses and communities nationwide. In 2012, Amtrak welcomed 31.2 million riders, employed 20,000 people and produced $2 billion in sales.

In addition, the more than 500 stations around the country through which Amtrak serves generated millions in local economic impact. National Train Day celebrates this positive impact in communities across the country by inviting current and future passengers to tour equipment, enjoy family-friendly activities, and hear from local dignitaries.

A Minute with Jay: Preventing Diabetes

Senator Rockefeller talks about his bill to reduce the prevalence of diabetes in our state, and help many West Virginians avoid it altogether.

West Virginia has some of the highest rates of diabetes in the country, as more than 1 in 10 West Virginia adults have this disease.

G-Fin™: Jobless Claims Fall to Lowest Level in Almost Five-and-Half Years

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to its lowest level in nearly 5-1/2 years last week, signaling labor market resilience in the face of fiscal austerity.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 323,000, the lowest level since January 2008, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Claims for the prior week were revised to show 3,000 more applications received than previously reported. Economists had expected first-time applications to rise to 335,000 last week.

U.S. stock index futures pared losses on the report, while Treasury debt prices trimmed gains. The dollar trimmed losses against the yen.

The third straight weekly decline in claims pushed them further below the 350,000 mark, which economists normally associate with a firming labor market.

Claims are showing no sign of a pick-up in layoffs even as other parts of the economy such as manufacturing start to show strain from tighter fiscal policy.

A Labor Department analyst said no states had been estimated and there was nothing unusual in the state-level data.

The four-week moving average for new claims, a better gauge of job market trends, dropped 6,250 to 336,750 - the lowest level since November 2007.

Coming on the heels of data last week showing surprising strength in the labor market, the claims report could further assuage fears of an abrupt slowdown in the economy.

Employers added 165,000 new jobs to their payrolls in April and hiring in the previous two months was stronger than initially reported. The unemployment rate dropped to a four-year low of 7.5%.

The improvement in employment contrasts sharply with other data, including retail sales and manufacturing, that have suggested a cooling in the economy at the end of the first quarter, which persisted early in the April-June period.

The slowdown in activity after the economy expanded at a 2.5% annual pace in the first three months of the year has been blamed on higher taxes which went into effect on January 1 and $85 billion in government budget cuts known as the “sequester.“

The claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid dropped 27,000 to 3.0 million in the week ended April 27. That was the lowest level since May 2008.

G-Comm™: Hoppy’s Commentary - Poll Numbers Show Manchin, Capito, Tomblin, Tennant Strength

One of the persistent political questions over the last couple of months has been whether Democratic Senator Joe Manchin’s push for more gun control has cost him in his home state.  A just-released poll by Republican strategist Mark Blankenship finds that Manchin’s overall approval ratings have dropped from 70% last March to 63% now.

The simplistic conclusion is that Manchin’s advocacy for expanded background checks for gun purchases has dug into his substantial support in a strong gun rights state.  However, Blankenship insists that a closer look at his numbers doesn’t necessarily bear that out.

First, Blankenship maintains that a swing of five to ten points in approval, particularly at a time when there’s no campaign underway, may just be a temporary blip.  The true test will be if the next poll shows Manchin’s approval numbers continuing to slide.

Additionally, Blankenship says that Manchin’s approval to disapproval ratio remains at nearly three to one, and there’s been no notable rise in the percentage of voters who strongly or somewhat disapprove of the job he’s doing.

Meanwhile, 67% of those questioned either strongly support or somewhat support Manchin’s gun control legislation, while only 30% somewhat oppose or strongly oppose.  Blankenship believes the high approval numbers in West Virginia for additional background checks mean Manchin does not appear to be paying a high political price.

“It’s a scratch,” Blankenship told me. “You can’t use these numbers to conclude that gun control hurt Manchin.”

The poll also found a ten point drop (64% to 54% from March to now) in the approval rating of Republican Congresswoman and U.S. Senate candidate Shelley Moore Capito.  Again, Blankenship is reluctant to attach too much significance to the shift.

“Capito should be cognizant of the dip, but her disapproval (number) is not dramatically higher,” Blankenship said.  Both Capito and Manchin show a “consistency of strength.”

For the first time, Blankenship included Democratic Secretary of State Natalie Tennant in his questions about the 2014 Senate race.  The MBE numbers show a 40% plurality for her in that race with state Supreme Court Justice Robin Davis getting 12%.  Neither Tennant nor Davis has decided whether to run for the Senate.

Charleston attorney Nick Preservati and Wheeling attorney Ralph Baxter each picked up only 1%, but that’s not surprising.  Neither is very well known, even in tight political circles, nor has either entered the race yet.

If anybody should be doing the victory dance after the MBE poll, it’s Earl Ray Tomblin. The Democratic Governor has a job approval rate of 69%, unchanged from the March poll.

Even more comforting to Tomblin is that West Virginian’s don’t blame him for the state’s economic challenges.  When asked which elected officials are most responsible for job losses in West Virginia, only three percent said Tomblin.  49% blame President Obama.

Census Survey: WV Had Worst Turnout Among Citizens Eligible to Vote in November 2012

New U.S. Census Bureau figures suggest that West Virginia saw the lowest voter turnout among states in November.

Survey results released Wednesday rank the state last for the number of 2012 General Election voters measured against citizens eligible to vote.

The Census Bureau surveyed households across the country. It also found that blacks nationally voted in 2012 at higher rates than whites, in a historic first.

Despite increasing population, the number of white voters declined for the first time since 1996.

West Virginia has among the smallest non-white populations among the states.

As a result, Census Bureau officials could not calculate a reliable turnout rate for those voters.

U.S. non-white voters aided President Barack Obama’s re-election.

The Democrat received less than 36% of the West Virginia vote.

G-Fin™: U.S. Senate Passes Bill to Collect Internet Sales Tax

The U.S. Senate passed legislation to force Internet retailers to collect sales taxes for state and local governments.

The vote was 69-to-27 in favor, and included senators from both major parties. The vote sends the issue to the House of Representatives, where it must be passed in the same form before it can be presented to the president to be signed into law.

The 11-page bill, called the Marketplace Fairness Act, allows U.S. states to force online retailers with more than $1 million in annual out-of-state sales to collect sales taxes from customers and remit them back to state and local governments. States will be required to provide software to help calculate the taxes.

You can read the actual bill, introduced in the Senate as S.743, here. The House version is H.R.684.

Today, U.S. states can impose a sales tax on products or services sold in that state, including those offered online; most do, some do not. Court rulings around the issue have required retailers to have a physical presence in the state to be subject to taxation.

The new legislation is interesting because it is a tax-related measure that divides the usual base of support for such things. Ideologically speaking, Republican legislators have long opposed most taxation efforts; on the other hand, the lack of taxation on Internet transactions comes at the expense of brick-and-mortar retail businesses, another area of support for that party.

Supporters see the measure as a way to protect government’s right to collect taxes; opponents see the measure as yet another tax. Either way, it represents a major change in the way that the online marketplace has been functioning to date, and could trigger audits as businesses that engage in e-commerce come under further scrutiny.

President Barack Obama has indicated that he supports the measure, leaving House lawmakers with the final hurdle.

USDA ANNOUNCES NEW RULES TO FUND BROADBAND SERVICE IN UNSERVED RURAL COMMUNITIES

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced new rules to better target Community Connect broadband grants to areas where they are needed the most. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty. This announcement is one part of the Department’s efforts to strengthen the rural economy.

“These rules give communities better access to the benefits that broadband service provides,“ Vilsack said. “The Obama Administration is working to ensure that rural residents share in the opportunities provided by modern Internet service.“

USDA Rural Development’s Community Connect Grant program serves rural communities where broadband service is least likely to be available, but where it can make a tremendous difference in the quality of life for citizens.

The changes:

  • Simplify the application process by requiring a single project summary and map.

  • Allow grant applicants to use a USDA web-based mapping tool to define their proposed service area. The old rules did not accommodate some of the most rural communities, which often are not Census-designated places or were not recognized by a commercial atlas.

  • Give grant applicants more flexibility on the types of resources, in-kind services and monetary contributions that can be used to meet the 15 percent matching fund requirement.

  • Allow USDA to consider giving funding priority to projects in:

        » persistent poverty counties;

        » communities experiencing population declines;

        » the most rural areas.

USDA’s Rural Utilities Service plans to publish information on Community Connect funding opportunities, including application deadlines and the amount of assistance available, in the Federal Register soon.

In addition to Community Connect grants, USDA Rural Development provides loans and loan guarantees to help finance the construction of rural broadband networks. For example, USDA Rural Development awarded a Community Connect grant to the Texas County Rural Area Informational Network (TRAIN) to install and operate a Fiber-to-the-Home network in Raymondville, Texas. The grants helped fund a Community Center called the Public Access Community Room. TRAIN also is providing broadband service to community residents and businesses.

Since its inception, the Community Connect program has funded 229 projects with USDA investments of $122 million. In 2012, USDA assistance led to improved broadband service nationwide for nearly 65,000 rural households, businesses, and community institutions (such as libraries, schools and first responders). Information about the rules is available at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-05-03/pdf/2013-10502.pdf.

President Obama’s plan for rural America has brought about historic investment and resulted in stronger rural communities. Under the President’s leadership, these investments in housing, community facilities, businesses and infrastructure have empowered rural America to continue leading the way, strengthening America’s economy, small towns and rural communities. USDA’s investments in rural communities support the rural way of life that stands as the backbone of our American values. President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack are committed to a smarter use of Federal resources to foster sustainable economic prosperity and ensure the government is a strong partner for businesses, entrepreneurs and working families in rural communities.

USDA, through its Rural Development mission area, has a portfolio of programs designed to improve the economic stability of rural communities, businesses, residents, farmers and ranchers and improve the quality of life in rural America.

USDA has made a concerted effort to deliver results for the American people, even as USDA implements sequestration, the across-the-board budget reductions mandated under terms of the Budget Control Act. USDA has already undertaken historic efforts since 2009 to save more than $828 million in taxpayer funds through targeted, common-sense budget reductions. These reductions have put USDA in a better position to carry out its mission, while implementing sequester budget reductions in a fair manner that causes as little disruption as possible.

G-Comm™: Hoppy’s Commentary - Tomblin’s Medicaid Gamble

At first glance, the Tomblin Administration’s decision last week to sign up for the Medicaid expansion portion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) seems like good deal.  Almost 92,000 West Virginians who don’t have health insurance and make up to 138% of the poverty level will get Medicaid coverage and Washington will pay for it.

But as with every deal, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

First, there are legitimate financial concerns for the state.  The federal match will drop to 90% of the total cost by 2021, with West Virginia taxpayers picking up the rest.  The state share will be $66 million by 2023.

West Virginia, and all the other states buying into the expansion, have to be concerned that the federal government’s share will drop even more as Washington faces increased pressure to get its budget under control.

Governor Tomblin said during last week’s announcement that if Washington doesn’t hold up its end of the bargain, then West Virginia may be forced to cut benefits.  But that’s much easier said than done.  Can you imagine the political outcry if the state tried to eliminate a health benefit for the poor?

That leads to another problem with expansion.  None of the participating states knows what all the rules are.  The Obama Administration is running behind on crafting many of the specifics that will ultimately impact the bottom line.

As Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam (R) said, “Every day we find out a different way that our numbers are going to be impacted.”  Tennessee decided against expansion.

Tomblin says West Virginia will try to get waivers from the federal government for “maximum flexibility” to run Medicaid.  The Governor has some good ideas, such as expanding managed care for Medicaid and adding co-pays.

Those moves and others would be helpful, but typically the more money Washington provides, the more strings that are attached and the less likely Washington is to let states go their own way.

Also, it’s possible the entire ACA will just be too complicated to work.  Even a few strong supporters of the law are now expressing concerns.

West Virginia’s Jay Rockefeller recently criticized the sluggishness in putting the new law in place saying, “The law is so complicated and if it doesn’t get done right the first time, it will simply get worse.”  And Senator Max Baucus called implementation a “train wreck.”

The Tomblin Administration did its due diligence.  An independent actuarial report produced enough arguments in favor of expansion to tilt Tomblin in favor of it.  It’s also worth noting, however, that Tomblin will be out of office by the end of 2016.  If Medicaid expansion turns out to be a fiscal and regulatory nightmare, another governor will have to worry about it.