EPA materials
November 23, 2010
Note: As energy costs go up, including gasoline prices, here are some materials from our beloved EPA with comments from API.
Here is a video that provides an overview of three of EPA’s proposals, including the ozone standard, the E15 fuel blend, and the greenhouse gas regulations.
Second, we have an updated briefing paper that outlines our concerns with these proposals. For example, under the EPA’s proposed ozone standards, even Yellowstone National Park would be out of attainment.
And finally, check out the OMB Watch graph in my blog post about last month’s EPA-themed blogger conference call. It shows that, in the first 18 months of the second Bush administration, the EPA proposed 16 significant regulations with an annual economic impact of $100 million or more. In the first 18 months of the current administration, EPA has proposed 42 significant regulations.
Jane Van Ryan
Senior Manager, Communications
E: vanryanj@api.org
T: 202-682-8181
American Petroleum Institute (API)
OPINION – Why “Decline to State” is cowardly
November 6, 2010
After Tuesday night’s election, someone came up to me and told me how corrupt the California Republican Party has become. There is no doubt about that.
With representatives like Morgan Kelley from Marin being sent to guide our politics in Sacramento and RINO Abel Moldonado being the GOP’s choice to run against Gavin Newsome (I call him Gavin Nuisance) there is no question why Republicans are in the minority in this state and Decline to States and Independents are becoming more common. Having Governor Arnold representing the GOP was another reason Republicans didn’t fare well. However, what I heard this person say next gave me the shivers.
“…That is why I re-registered as Decline to State,” they proudly announced.
It’s true I went on a rant to my wife about leaving California when I got home Tuesday night. Though heartened by the “red” wave across the country, I was discouraged that there were no major changes made for California. Then I realized the brave thing to do is stay and fight to change it. So that is what I am going to do… or die trying. Now is the time to double down.
I feel it is this frustration that causes people to leave the GOP and choose Decline to State. But is it not cowardly to say, “The Republican Party in California is corrupt and full of Democrat plants so I am leaving the party.”? How does the GOP get changed if everyone leaves it? Form a third party? Hell no! That makes sure the Democrat party remains the ONLY party in California.
So while I understand the frustration many people feel about the GOP choosing squishy RINOS, now is not the time to leave the party. Even more, now is the time to stand and fight back.
The MCRCC (Marin County Republican Central Committee) has already begun to clean house by removing the former “moderate” chair and replacing her with a more conservative member; a far better choice, in my opinion. And that is how it must be done all over the state, from the bottom up.
This year Decline to State voters were allowed to participate in either party’s primary election. But that may not always be so. It is important to be a part of the selection process if we are to get good solid conservative candidates to run. The only way to ensure that is to register Republican.
As many of you have pointed out in your responses to my Marin IJ letter, now that California is completely run by Democrats, perhaps we will have our New Jersey moment too. Let’s hope so for the sake of our state and our country.
FedUpEditor
California – Stuck on Stupid
November 6, 2010
The state is deeply in debt. Strict regulations and high taxes are chasing businesses out of state. People are following them in order to keep their jobs. What voters don’t seem to realize is the only place government can fund the government is with tax revenue they get from the tax base. Yet it’s shrinking while spending is going up. So what is California’s solution?
Vote to return the same group of people back into office… the ones who got us here in the first place. Jerry Brown should be saying, “Fooled you once, shame on me. Fooled you twice shame on you. Fooled you three times… what are you, stupid?”
After all, the man has failed as Governor, as Mayor of Oakland and now as Attorney General. In his latest role, responsible for enforcing immigration laws, he slams Meg Whitman for having an illegal alien work for her. Huh? Whose fault is that? Now he’s Governor again? Stupid is as stupid does.
Don’t be surprised if we see unemployment skyrocket as our state sinks deeper into debt. But we deserve it for re-electing the same fools who brought us to this place. The rest of the country got the message. It’s a shame California no longer leads the way.
FedUpEditor
Reaction to Mehserle sentencing mixed in Vallejo
November 6, 2010
Mixed reactions in Vallejo greeted a Los Angeles judge’s controversial decision to sentence a former BART officer to two years for the shooting death of an Oakland man.
For some members of Vallejo’s African-American community, the sentence was just the latest example of another white man, Johannes Mehserle, getting away with killing a black man, Oscar Grant III.
Yet for others, while voicing regret over the tragedy, justice was served for a man who made a fatal mistake in a case that has polarized the Oakland community and the Bay Area.
Former BART police officer Mehserle was sentenced Friday to two years in prison with credit for 292 days of time served for the shooting death of Grant.
“If you reverse the roles, without question, it’s almost automatic for African-American men — especially if he had killed a cop — his life would automatically be taken,” said Anthony Summers, pastor of Impact Bible Ministries in Vallejo’s Country Club Crest neighborhood.
But for others, like former Vallejo police officer Burky Worel, justice was fairly meted out.
“It went through the process, and the judicial system worked, like it always does,” said Worel, former head of the Vallejo Police Officers Association.
Race was not an issue in the case, argued Matthe Abinante, a student at Touro University whose father was killed in the line of duty while working as a deputy for the Colusa County Sheriff’s Department.
“We’re trying to move
past (race). … The juries are made to be representative of the public, and I don’t think race had anything to do with this,” said Abinante, who is white.
Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter with a gun enhancement in July, making him eligible for up to 14 years in prison.The Los Angeles trial judge dismissed the gun enhancement on Friday, lowering the maximum prison sentence to four years. The judge ultimately gave him two years with time served.”I’m disturbed about that,” said Lydia Pitchford, an African-American.
Pitchford, a former Vallejo Police Department chaplain, said it was disconcerting to know Mehserle would get off relatively lightly for killing someone.Pitchford said her son served five years in prison for a domestic violence charge in which no one died.Abinante expressed regret that Grant died, but defended law enforcement officers as men and women willing to put their lives on the line on a daily basis for public safety.
No one could know what Mehserle was thinking and whether he thought Grant was reaching for a gun during the 2009 New Years Day incident.”I’m really upset thatMr. Grant lost his life — for me, that’s a tragedy. But it’s even more tragic for (Mehserle’s) family that he has to go to jail for two years. … I think he was trying to do his job, and we don’t know what exactly went down.” Abinante said.
Both Pitchford and Summers expressed hope that the sentence would not lead to a repeat of the violent disturbances that tore through downtown Oakland in July after the involuntary manslaughter verdict was announced.
The Oakland Police Department has summoned mutual aid from other agencies, though none from Solano County were contacted to be among the primary responders Friday night, said Lt. Gary Faulkner of the Solano County Sheriff’s Office.
Frank Jackson, president of the Vallejo chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said police officers get out of line in the Bay Area all the time.Summers agreed.”It’s frustrating, seeing the repetition of how law enforcement has a tendency to be able to get away with major mistakes like that,” said Summers, who added there was no equity between taking a man’s life and the two-year sentence.
Read the entire article and opinions here.
