May 24, 2006

Workplace hazards
True story: My boss just came back from the supply room with a spray bottle of generic window cleaner. He told me that he had to sign a release for it because it contains isopropyl alcohol, which is flammable and therefore it was being treated as a hazardous item...I understand that it can be flammable and toxic... but give me a break... I think pointy pencils are much more of a hazard/risk therefore we need a release for them... now that I think about it, paper clips are a choking hazard... D.B.

Panel: Legislators Shouldn't Work Drunk

May 22 - Oregon legislators and staff members should not be drunk while performing their official duties, a citizen panel says.

The Public Commission on the Oregon Legislature adopted that recommendation Monday, although the panel decided to leave it to House and Senate leaders to draft rules against intoxication and possible penalties.

...The new policy was suggested by Steve Doell, president of Crime Victims United, who said he and another member of the group noticed alcohol on the breath of at least one legislator at the end of the 2005 session while they were advocating tougher drunken-driving penalties. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/22/D8HP52V00.html

ACLU Wants Gag Rule for Board Members
May 24, 2006 - The American Civil Liberties Union, which prides itself on its defense of free speech, is considering new standards that would discourage its board members from publicly criticizing the organization.

"Where an individual director disagrees with a board position on matters of civil liberties policy, the director should refrain from publicly highlighting the fact of such disagreement," the committee that compiled the standards wrote in its proposals. The reason?

"Directors should remember that there is always a material prospect that public airing of the disagreement will affect the ACLU adversely in terms of public support and fund-raising," the proposals state.

Nat Hentoff, a writer and former ACLU board member, declared: "For the national board to consider promulgating a gag order on its members — I can't think of anything more contrary to the reason the ACLU exists.”
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/5/24/160224.shtml?s=ic

Co-op Brings New Hope to Iraqi Farmers
By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika: 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/may2006/a052406ms1.html

Housing sector shows resilience in April
5/24/2006 Sales of new homes rose unexpectedly in April to the fastest pace this year as the housing sector showed resilience in the face of rising mortgage rates... The Commerce Department reported that sales of new single-family homes increased by 4.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.198 million units, the highest rate since last December.

The pace of activity caught economists by surprise. They had been expecting a decline in sales, reflecting the fact that mortgage rates have been climbing in recent weeks and now stand at the highest level in nearly four years.

...The median price of a new home sold in April rose to $238,500, a gain of 2.8 percent from the March level...

...For April, home sales were strong in all parts of the country except the Midwest, where sales fell by 1.1 percent, the second straight monthly declines. Sales were up 8.2 percent in the Northeast, reflecting a rebound after a drop of 7.6 percent in March. Sales were up 7.8 percent in the South and 2 percent in the West.

...U.S. manufacturing companies, the hardest hit sector in the 2001 recession (which started under Clinton's presidency), are expected to continue posting sizable gains this year, driven by efforts to rebuild lean inventories and continued strong business investment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060524/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy

Barry Bonds has not been Barry, Barry good to baseball: The Babe vs. the Baby
http://spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=9861

Liberal Clergy's Opposition to Marriage Amendment No Surprise, Say Conservatives
May 23, 2006 (AgapePress) - Clergy opposed to a constitutional ban on same-sex "marriage" say religious conservatives who support the proposed federal marriage amendment are bigots. But those conservatives don't appear to be overly concerned about the left-leaning clergy's lobbying efforts to derail the proposed constitutional amendment.

Several dozen Christian and Jewish leaders held a news conference on Capitol Hill, where they are lobbying senators to reject the amendment when it comes up for a vote about two weeks from now. Involved in that coalition were United Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans, United Church of Christ, Reformed Jews, and others.

... the president of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty says churches and Christian schools that oppose same-sex marriage will face government pressure if it is legalized. Anthony Picarello says they could be barred from firing employees with same-sex spouses, forced to give them marital benefits, or lose charitable and property tax exemptions if they refuse....

...Maggie Gallagher, a columnist who heads the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, offered grim predictions about people and churches who oppose same-sex unions, should they be legalized.

"Once a court goes to rule gay marriage is a civil right, people who have a vision of marriage as inherently the union of husband and wife are going to be treated like racists in the public square," she offered.

And as for churches that believe homosexual marriage is immoral? "The temptation will be ... [to] simply mute your marriage theology," said Gallagher, opining that many people will find it hard to resist that temptation. "If you are just quieter about it ... as long as you're not too loud about this and keep your nose clean, you'll stay out of trouble."

She believes recent events have shown why a federal marriage amendment is needed. "Leaving it to the states right now is leaving it to state judges, not to the people in states," she noted. "We've already had judges in two states overturn state marriage amendments that were passed by more than 70 percent of the people."

In essence, said Gallagher, unless the U.S. Constitution is amended to protect traditional marriage, judges will probably force states to legalize homosexual marriage....

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/232006a.asp

IOWA PAPER: Hillary Clinton Flip-Flopped On Ethanol...

May 23, 2006 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Hillary Clinton, who once opposed requiring motorists to use corn-based ethanol in their cars, proposed Tuesday to dramatically boost use of the alcohol fuel.

...Clinton...was one of 26 senators who opposed the energy bill passed by Congress last year mandating the use of 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol by 2012. Clinton opposed both the ethanol mandate and lawsuit protections for ethanol.

...Many farm-state lawmakers have proposed increasing the ethanol mandate to as much as 15 billion gallons by 2012 and for extending the 51-cent-gallon ethanol tax subsidy that is scheduled to expire in 2010. Clinton did not mention either issue.

...[Clinton] focused on speeding development of cellulosic ethanol and making it easier for motorists to buy fuel that is 85 percent ethanol, a product known as E85. Ethanol is primarily used as a 10-percent additive to conventional gasoline.

...Clinton proposed increasing the tax credit for E85 pumps to 50 percent and called for requiring oil companies to install the E85 pumps at the filling stations they own... http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/NEWS/60523014/1001/NEWS

'Hillary for president' rally draws 20 instead of hoped-for 200

05/24/06 -A Hillary Clinton rally drew critics of President Bush, nonpartisan voters looking for a strong leader, and people who want to elect a female president.

...Organizers hoped to have 200 people at the event in Nashville, a city selected to show that Democrats can win in Southern states.

...Miami Beach-based activist Bob Kunst, the founder of Hillarynow.com, said Clinton needs the help of energized grass-roots supporters, not the Beltway consultants who tripped up the campaigns of John Kerry and Al Gore...http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20060524&Category=NEWS0206&ArtNo=605240377&SectionCat=&Template=printart

Another fake soldier tale debunked
May 24, 2006
http://townhall.com/opinion/columns/michellemalkin/2006/05/24/198572.html

US economy firing on all cylinders: data
May 4, 2006 - Activity in both the vast US services sector and at factories accelerated more than expected, according to data that pointed to fresh economic vigour and the risk of more interest rate hikes.

Most economists are expecting economic growth to slow from a torrid first-quarter pace of 4.8 per cent, yet the latest figures showed no hints of slowing...

The Institute for Supply Management's services index rose to 63.0 in April from 60.5 in March, with new orders hitting a two-year high, confounding Wall Street estimates for a slowdown to 59.2.

In addition, the government reported new factory orders rose a stronger-than-expected 4.2 per cent in March, beating estimates for a 3.5 per cent gain, as demand for transportation equipment, computers and electronics proved robust.

Treasury debt prices fell and the dollar firmed against the euro after the data.

"It does suggest that the overall economy is improving and for the market it is part of the recent theme - all the numbers are coming in on the stronger side of expectations," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates in St Petersburg, Florida.

...Separate government data showed March's gain in factory orders was caused in part to a 14.7 per cent jump in new orders for transportation equipment, while civilian aircraft and parts orders soared 71.3 per cent.

Orders for non defence capital goods climbed 12.9 per cent, the strongest increase since November. Stripped of aircraft, orders for non defence capital goods - a proxy for business spending - advanced a still-strong 3.9 per cent.

Orders for durable goods, expensive items meant to last three years or longer, advanced an even stronger 6.5 per cent in March, revised up from a 6.1 per cent gain reported last week.

The report also contained information on factory inventories that implied a small upward revision to first quarter GDP of around 0.2 percentage point, economists said, which combined with other revisions point to a pace above five per cent.

...ADP Employer Services, a private firm, estimated the 178,000 private jobs were added in April, based on a survey sample of 14 million workers. It also estimated 22,000 government jobs were added, which would bring the month's total payrolls increase to 200,000, in line with current Wall Street consensus...
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Business/US-economy-firing-on-all-cylinders-data/2006/05/04/1146335833470.html

Marriage amendment struck down in Georgia
Judicial activism struck Georgia in a big way with a judge’s recent scrapping of a constitutional amendment preserving marriage as being between one man and one woman on the grounds that it was "presented incorrectly to voters." The amendment was on the ballot in November 2004, and the wording of the question--"Shall the Constitution be amended so as to provide that this state shall recognize as marriage only the union of man and woman?"--was apparently so confusing that almost 76 percent f Georgians were "fooled" into voting for it.

Instead of directly addressing the issue of gay marriage itself in her ruling, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance Russell decided to throw out the amendment on the perceived technicality that its ballot presentation violated the state constitution’s single-subject rule ("When more than one amendment is submitted at the same time, they shall be so submitted as to enable the electors to vote on each amendment separately") because it required voters to decide on marriage and civil unions in a single amendment.

In digging up and dusting off the "single-subject" guideline, Russell ruled that Georgia’s voters must decide whether same-sex relationships should have any legal status before they can decide whether gay marriage should be banned. "People who believe marriages between men and women should have a unique and privileged place in our society may also believe that same-sex relationships should have some place — although not marriage," she wrote.

Apparently of the opinion that banning both gay marriage and civil unions in one fell swoop is lumping together two completely unrelated subjects, Russell wrote that "the single-subject rule protects the right of those people to hold both views and reflect both judgments by their vote." This ruling, which was incomprehensibly called "a victory for voters" (apparently referring to the 24 percent who voted against it) by an attorney for gay rights organization Lambda Legal...

Georgia currently recognizes marriage as being only between one man and one woman, as provisioned in a state law passed by the legislature in 1996. Ironically, the 2004 amendment, which was worded almost identically to the existing law, was created in large part due to the unfortunate knowledge that an activist judge would one day find that law "unconstitutional."

...Without a permanent amendment to the state’s constitution, the assault on traditional marriage will continue...

This incident is only the latest entry in the state's (and the nation's) ever-lengthening list of judicially activist judgments. Judges who legislate from the bench, and who violate their sacred oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States (and their own state), must be checked. Fortunately for Georgians, Judge Russell is an elected official, and can be voted out of office at the end of her four-year term.

In many other cases, though, activist judges have lifetime appointments. This has apparently caused many of them to believe that they are so far above the law and the citizenry that they no longer even have to pay lip service to either. These people must be held accountable by allowable legal process, and new, non-activist (constructionist) judges must be appointed at as quick a rate as possible to fill the vacancies on benches across America.

Amending the constitution is the only sure way to avoid often-abused judicial review; therefore, judges in the state of Georgia (and elsewhere) must at the very least be rendered less easily able to declare unconstitutional amendments to the constitution itself, as this ability gives them all but uncheckable power...
http://townhall.com/opinion/columns/JeffEmanuel/2006/05/24/198356.html

David Bennett <><
http://www.freewill-predestination.com
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