Senate Democrats Abandon Comprehensive Climate Bill : New Patriot Journal

Senate Democrats Abandon Comprehensive Climate Bill : New Patriot Journal

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Published: 7/22/2010 

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By Perry Bacon Jr. - Reprinted from The Washington Post
Conceding they can't find enough votes for the measure, Senate Democrats will announce Thursday they are abandoning for now efforts to put together a comprehensive energy bill that would seek to limit greenhouse gas emissions, ending the immediate prospect for a key legislative priority ofPresident Obama and congressional Democrats.
Instead, Democrats, according to sources, will push for a more limited bill that would seek to increase liability costs that oil companies would pay following spills such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico and would create additional incentives for the purchase of both natural gas vehicles and products that can be used to reduce energy use in homes.
And they have not ruled out pushing for a more comprehensive bill during the session Congress will have after the November election.
Efforts to put together a major bill to limit carbon emissions and encourage the use of alternative energy sources had long been considered doomed in the Senate, even though the House has approved a bill that would set a limit on overall emissions of greenhouse gases while allowing utilities and other emitters to trade pollution permits.
Senate Democrats had remained deeply divided on the issue over the past year for both political and policy reasons... read more HERE

BOOKMARK NEW PATRIOT JOURNAL HERE

N. Korea Reportedly Executes Official Over Policy Failures

Published July 21, 2010  Associated Press

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea executed a former Cabinet official who was in charge of talks with South Korea, a news report said Tuesday, the latest reported death sentence for a North Korean official over policy failures.

Kwon Ho Ung — Pyongyang's chief delegate from 2004 to 2007 for high-level talks with the South's then liberal government — was executed by firing squad, Seoul's mass-circulation Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said, citing an unidentified source in Beijing knowledgeable about the North.

South Korean Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said she could not confirm the report, and the National Intelligence Service, South Korea's top spy agency, said it was checking it.

The two Koreas held Cabinet-level talks — the highest regular dialogue channel between them — several times a year to discuss boosting exchanges and easing tension across the world's most heavily fortified border. The last round was held in 2007.

Kwon was the former chief councilor of the North's Cabinet, but it was not clear what about his policy would have prompted his execution.

Relations between the Koreas have been particularly rocky since a pro-U.S., conservative government took office in Seoul in early 2008 with a tough policy on Pyongyang.The reported execution comes as tensions between the two Koreas simmer over the March sinking of a South Korean warship that has been blamed on North Korea. North Korea has denied involvement in the sinking, which killed 46 South Korean sailors.

The newspaper report said it had not confirmed when and where Kwon was executed. The allegation follows other reported executions of North Korean officials for policy blunders.

In March, the North executed two senior economic officials over a botched currency revamp that forced markets to close temporarily and fueled social tensions, according to Daily NK, a Seoul-based media outlet that specializes in the North.

The North redenominated its won in December as part of efforts to fight inflation and reassert control over its burgeoning market economy. That reportedly sparked unrest after many North Koreans were stuck with piles of worthless bills.

It is not unprecedented for the communist regime to execute officials for policy failures. In the 1990s, North Korea publicly executed a top agricultural official following widespread famine.

North Korea is regarded as having one of the worst human rights records, characterized by public executions, camps for political prisoners and torture. North Korea claims it has no human right problems and treats outside criticism of the issue as a thinly veiled attack on the regime.

GOP Lawmaker Blasts White House for $23M Spent on Kenya Constitution Vote

By Tess Civantos
Published July 21, 2010
 | FoxNews.com

Reuters
May 15, 2010: Kenyan supporters cheer at a rally to launch campaigns for the constitution referendum, in the capital Nairobi.
A Republican lawmaker is accusing the White House of “unconscionable” and “illegal” acts for its role in Kenya's referendum on a new constitution, which would legalize abortion in the country for the first time.
Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey cited a report by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, which estimated that more than $23 million in U.S. taxpayer funds have been spent on the referendum, and Smith and other conservatives have complained that at least some of that money has been spent in sport of the proposed constitution, possibly violating U.S. law.
“Under no circumstances should the U.S. government take sides,” Smith said at a news conference Wednesday. “Yet that is precisely what the Obama administration has done.”
He and other lawmakers accuse the Obama administration of offering incentives to Kenya to approve the controversial new constitution, promising that passage would “allow money to flow” into the nation's coffers. A federal law known as the Siljander Amendment makes it illegal for the U.S. government to lobby on abortion in other countries.
“We were unable to get any information prior to asking for those (USAID) reports,” Smith said. “There’s been no transparency in this process.”
Smith had been joined by Reps. Darrell Issa of California and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida in requesting the federal investigation into the administration's spending on the referendum.
“U.S. law is being violated with impunity,” Smith told FoxNews.com. “We shouldn’t be pushing for other the ‘yes’ or the ‘no’ camp, but instead, we’re bankrolling the ‘yes’ campaign.”
One group that has received almost $3 million from the U.S. government, Development Alternatives, openly supported “advocating for efforts to eventually legalize abortion in Kenya,” Smith said. Another group, The Committee of Experts on Constitutional Review in Kenya, changed the wording of the Kenyan constitution’s abortion clause to make abortion more widely accessible – and has received over $180,000 from the U.S.
Thanks to these findings, nine of the more than 200 organizations in Kenya that received money from the U.S. have been suspended from receiving assistance, the U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Katya Thomas in Nairobi told the AP Friday.
But the congressmen are asking for more. They want the White House to be held accountable for its role.
“If violations of the law have occurred, which on the face of it they have, the information must be brought before law enforcement,” Smith said. “Not even presidents are above the law.”
The federal probe also found that the Kenyan constitution was not actually written by Kenyans, but by “U.S.-funded NGOs, working in concert with Planned Parenthood,” Smith said.
According to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s website, Planned Parenthood supports the Kenyan groups that wrote the abortion clause – the Kenyan Federation of Women Lawyers and its parent organization the Kenyan Reproductive Health and Rights Alliance.
Planned Parenthood’s website states that it sought “to improve maternal health conditions in Kenya by securing reproductive health laws and policies that promote women's health,” its motivation for becoming involved in the constitutional revision process.
But some Kenyans think that the role of American organizations like Planned Parenthood in drafting the Kenyan constitution compromises Kenyan sovereignty and assaults its cultural heritage.
Theresa Okafor, CEO of Kenya’s Life League, said in a speech that the proposed constitution is “a conspiracy to strip Africa of its cherished values by international organizations like Planned Parenthood and the United Nations.”
“Africans regard every child as a blessing,” Okafor said. “Amidst biting poverty, the birth of a child is celebrated with pomp and pageantry. Children are treasures in Africa.”
Because abortion has never been an issue in Kenya until now, the country lacks an organized anti-abortion movement on the scale seen in the United States. But a number of church groups are mobilizing against the proposed constitution, as are some Kenyans who want to preserve the traditional culture of family values.
In March 2003, a group of young professionals formed the Life League, one of Kenya’s first pro-life organizations. In 2009, the Life League and 20 other Kenyan pro-life and pro-family groups united to form the Foundation for African Cultural Heritage – a heritage which they believe the abortion provision attacks

Agriculture Secretary Offers to Rehire Ousted Civil Servant

Published July 21, 2010

FoxNews.com

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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday he has offered to rehire the civil servant he forced to resign two days ago over her comments about race that were taken out of context in a brief video clip.

Vilsack said he offered Shirley Sherrod, who was the state director of rural development in Georgia, a unique new position at the agency but wouldn't go into details. Sherrod told The Associated Press she is considering the offer. 

"I accept full responsibility with regret," Vilsack said at a news conference. "She's been put through hell. I could have and should have done a better job."

Vilsack said he extended his "profound apologies" to Sherrod and added that the experience has been a "teachable moment for me, a teachable moment for all of us."

Vilsack also emphasized that the White House applied no pressure to his decision to sack Sherrod. 

July 21, 2010: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack speaks to reporters about the controversial ouster of a state-level official over racial remarks.

The offer comes after White House spokesman Robert Gibbs apologized to Sherrod on Wednesday "on behalf of this entire administration."

Gibbs said a "disservice" and an "injustice" had been done to Sherrod. 

"Members of this administration, members of the media, members of different political factions on both sides of this have all made determinations and judgments without a full set of facts," he said. "Without a doubt, Ms. Sherrod is owed an apology."

Though the video clip showed Sherrod telling a story about how she didn't give a white farmer her "full" help, she later said the incident happened 24 years ago and that the story was meant to show how she learned from her mistakes. The full video, released Tuesday night, appeared to bolster her account.

Vilsack initially stood by the decision to ask for Sherrod's resignation, but overnight he announced he was reviewing the incident. Though Sherrod said the White House wanted her out on Monday, Gibbs said to his knowledge the White House was not involved in that decision. 

Subsequent news reports in which Sherrod explained the full context of her remarks -- later substantiated by the wife of the white farmer in an interview with FoxNews.com -- sparked growing calls for the administration and Vilsack to reconsider the ouster. 

The extended video released by the NAACP on Tuesday night showed Sherrod explaining how she initially didn't help the farmer with "full force," but realized she was wrong and went on to help him save his farm. 

Sherrod, who is black and was working at the time for a nonprofit group, said she learned that the plight of poverty goes beyond race. 

"When I made that commitment I was making that commitment to black people and to black people only," she said in the video released Tuesday. "But you know, God will show you things. ... You realize that the struggle is really about poor people." 

The video excerpt published Monday online by the website Biggovernment.com, which is run by Andrew Breitbart, focused on Sherrod's admission that she was reluctant to help the white farmer in part because so many black farmers were suffering. 

The Monday excerpt excluded the end of Sherrod's story, seen Tuesday, in which she talks of helping save the white farmer's property from foreclosure. 

"Working with him made me see that it's really about those who have versus those who don't," she said later in the video. "And they could be black, they could be white, they could be Hispanic -- it made me realize that I needed to help poor people." 

NAACP CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous originally released a statement calling Sherrod's comments "shameful" and saying the group was "appalled by her actions." But the NAACP later said Tuesday it would conduct an "investigation" and review the full tape, which was shot for the NAACP by mediacompany DCTV. 

Late Tuesday, Jealous effectively retracted his earlier statement and blamed the media for the confusion. 

"With regard to the initial media coverage of the resignation of USDA official Shirley Sherrod, we have come to the conclusion we were snookered by Fox News and Tea Party activist Andrew Breitbart into believing she had harmed white farmers because of racial bias," he said. 

"Having reviewed the full tape, spoken to Ms. Sherrod, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans." 

FoxNews.com was among several media organizations that carried the story of the initial video released Monday. 

It remains unclear who edited and released the shorter video. 

Breitbart, who initially reported the story on Monday, said in an interview Tuesday with Fox News' Sean Hannity, that he received the video from "an individual in Georgia." He said he decided to post it on his website as an example of hypocrisy at the NAACP, which recently condemned racism within the conservative Tea Party movement. 

Sherrod, in a TV interview Tuesday morning, said she lost her job because the Obama administration overreacted to the original story. 

"They were not interested in hearing the truth. No one wanted to hear the truth," she said. 

As for the white farmer Sherrod helped, his wife told FoxNews.com on Tuesday that there was no discrimination. She said the administration should not have forced out Sherrod. "She'll always be my friend," Eloise Spooner said. 

She said the incident Sherrod was referring to happened more than two decades ago and that she and her husband Roger worked together closely to keep the farm out of foreclosure. 

"I don't think they gave her a chance to tell really what happened," Spooner said. "I don't think they'll find anybody that can fill the job any better than she did. That's my opinion."

Source 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.