Editorial: Coal and Our Future
by Mike Stuart, President, West Virginia Conservative Foundation
It is hard times for the future of coal mining in West Virginia in part because it is difficult for the industry to know who its friends are.
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A Rally in Support of Coal and a Protest Against Big-Government
The West Virginia Conservative Foundation is hosting a rally in support of coal on Wednesday, October 7th at noon on the grounds of the State Capitol. The Rally will be in support of the coal industry, which employs tens of thousands of local families, and will also be a protest against big-government and the recent actions taken by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Last week, the EPA announced that it was holding up 79 surface mining permits across the country, with 23 of them being right here in West Virginia. While some local elected officials like Congressman Nick Jo Rahll defended the actions of President Obama’s EPA, Governor Joe Manchin spoke strongly against the actions of the EPA: “Right now, my belief is that they’re trying to kill off surface mining through regulation what they cannot get done through legislation.”
The West Virginia Conservative Foundation has held several pro-coal events, with the main focus being against Cap and Trade legislation currently being debated in Congress. Our series of town hall meetings and rallies have attracted over 500 here in Charleston, over 200 in Beckley and almost 125 in Huntington. Future events are planned for Morgantown and Princeton.
Mr. President, where are the details?
Last evening, the President again delivered his speech sweetly and with passion but, again, we are left to wonder as to the details or the reliability of his assertions. In fact, the President himself indicated that all we need for healthcare reform are the details. Is this really such a small point?
Although the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has clearly stated that the plan to overhaul healthcare will actual substantially increase the cost for healthcare rather than control costs, the President again continues to maintain that the nation will realize literally $3 to $4 trillion in savings from his plan. My friends, saying it is so simply doesn’t make it so. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is probably a duck.
Again, the President continued to offer promises for which he cannot deliver. More specifically, the President promised that no person or company would be forced away from their insurer if they are satisfied with their coverage. Unfortunately for most Americans, the reality is that companies – not individuals – make the decisions on plans and insurers. The fact is that if a public option is more cost effective for your company and it opts to force you into a government plan, you, my friend, will have no choice but to get in line.
The President assured us that not a single dollar would be taken away from seniors or Medicare but, more than once, he claimed that substantial savings could be realized through cost efficiencies and the elimination of waste and fraud in, of all things, Medicare and Medicaid programs. Hmmmm…
Although our healthcare system is in need of common sense reform, we cannot throw the baby out with the bath water. We cannot sacrifice the good of the current health system to remedy the bad. We need to deal with the challenges of pre-existing conditions, financial ruin of families that face a medical catastrophe, and portability – these are issues for which we agree. Where, however, is tort reform and other solutions that clearly demand reform?
The WV Conservative Foundation urges you to contact your congressman and tell him/her that you support common sense reform but not a government run system and not a system that sacrifices the good to simply repair the bad. How can a system that runs the post office, Medicare, Medicaid and social security actually maintain that it can run a national healthcare system more efficiently than the private sector?
My friends, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Don’t be the fool. Stand up and fight to protect your family’s and this nation’s healthcare system.
Cap and Trade Town Hall in Huntington
The West Virginia Conservative Foundation will be sponsoring a Cap and Trade Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, August 25th from 6 pm to 7:30 pm at the Alumni Lounge of the Memorial Student Center at Marshall University in Huntington.
The event is free and open to the public to help encourage as many people as possible to find out how the current Cap and Trade legislation moving through Congress will affect West Virginia families.
Speakers the event include: Dr. Margo Thorning, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist with the American Council for Capital Formation; Dean Cordle, Executive Vice President with A C & S, Inc, in Nitro, and Delegate Kevin Craig (D-Cabell).
The even will be moderated by Mike Stuart of the West Virginia Conservative Foundation.
Can We Really Afford the Risk of a Complete Overhaul of Healthcare in America?
The WV Conservative Foundation strongly opposes the massive proposals to overhaul healthcare that are being debated in the House and Senate and promoted by the White House. After studying the facts and reading the proposals, the risks that our healthcare system will actually be worse after passage of either of the massive bills is simply too great to warrant the risk. West Virginians cannot afford the risk of the proposals. While we could support an effort focused squarely on state-based and state-specific reform, tax equity for families with insurance, and sound financing, the proposals being debated provide none of the three.
Admittedly, our healthcare system is not perfect. Fixes are needed to ensure that families are not forced into bankruptcy as the result of an unanticipated catastrophic illness, to ensure that insurance is portable from one employer to the next, and to ensure that a pre-existing condition cannot preclude a person’s ability to obtain insurance. What we do not need, however, is a massive and complete overhaul of the healthcare system, the growth of new and expensive government programs, and the insertion of government between me and my doctor.
A public health care plan would not improve the current health care situation and would likely make matters worse. In fact, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the proposals being debated in the House and Senate would cost at least $1 trillion over ten years and one Democrat aide suggested the total cost may exceed $1.5 trillion. Far from saving enough to cover the uninsured, it would increase the cost of covering even the presently insured at the current standard of care. A public plan could reduce overall spending only at the cost of substantial harm to patients.
All of us, including physicians, want to see the American health care system become as good as it can be, and most are willing to make sacrifices to achieve that goal. However, according to the Heritage Foundation, at least a dozen state, local, and specialty societies — representing more than 45,000 physicians — have expressed opposition to the current House and Senate reform proposals, and others remain undecided pending further discussion of key issues.
According to a non-partisan health care consulting firm, when fully implemented the number of enrollees in the public plan is likely to be 103.4 million, and an estimated 88.1 million of these enrollees would be shifted out of their current employer-based coverage and into the public plan. Between Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, and a large enrollment of Americans in the new public plan, the government could control the health care of well over 200 million Americans.
In West Virginia, the average employer subsidizes the costs of the uninsured. If a government sponsored plan were available for West Virginia companies, why wouldn’t every company shift their employees to the government system at a lower cost? While the Obama Administration promised that no citizen would be forced out of their current insurance plan, most Americans are at the mercy of the decisions of their employer despite promises from Washington.
Although the current administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress seem determined to overhaul healthcare, before throwing the baby out with the bathwater, shouldn’t we at least consider the advice of experts that have reviewed the plans? According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), none of the bills contain “the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount.” This sentiment has been echoed by Michael O. Leavitt, the former secretary of health and human services, and a former official in the Clinton Administration who worked on the ill-fated Clinton health plan.
In addition to the absolute uncertainly of any cost-containment from the current proposals, as unemployment continues to rise, it is unfortunate and surprising that the House version of the bill would actually reduce employment. The large tax increases in the healthcare overhaul proposed by House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) would harm over a million small businesses, making them less likely to expand and hire new workers. The surtax included in the bill is 1 percent for joint filers over $350,000, 1.5 percent for joint filers over $500,000, and 5.4 percent for joint filers with over $1 million in adjusted gross income ($280,000, $400,000, and $800,000 for individuals, respectively). The House Joint Tax Committee estimates that the Rangel surtax will raise $543.9 billion over the next 10 years. That’s $543.9 billion out of the economy, unable to be invested in growing business, and at a time when unemployment is soaring.
While our healthcare system is not perfect, rather than a complete overhaul through a 1,000 plus page bill filled with sweeteners for the special interests, doesn’t it make more sense to deal with the shortfalls in the system on a case by case basis in smaller, more limited proposals? There is bipartisan support for ensuring family’s a financial safety net due to an unexpected catastrophe, to allow for portability, and to protect the insurability of those with pre-existing conditions. Let’s start with the basics before possibly destroying the most remarkable health system the world has ever known.
Please contact your representative in Congress today and tell them to leave your insurance alone and to stop spending your money on unproven plans.
Senator Rockefeller – 202-224-6472
Senator Byrd – 202-224-3954
Congressman Mollohan – 202-225-4172
Congressman Rahall – 202-225-3452
Congresswoman Capito – 202-225-2711
Bus Trip To DC
March on Washington D.C.
September 12, 2009
Join others at the national tea party And the Glenn Beck 9-12 Project
If you are interested in attending Glen Beck’s 9-12 event and march in D.C., please let Gary Rugel, Transportation Director for the Glen Beck 9-12 trip to D.C. in September, know your intentions ASAP.
Gary’s e-mail address is:
gdr1098@aol.com
The cost of the bus is $50.00 per person round trip. Checks should be made out and mailed to:
Gary Rugel
2741 Washington Ave.
Saint Albans, WV 25177
Once Gary receives your check, he will give you instructions on how to make reservations at the Hampton Inn in D.C.. We have 75 rooms reserved.
Single occupancy is $119.00 plus tax and Double+ is $129.00 plus tax.
The Buses will leave from St. Albans, WV early in the morning on Friday September the 11th and return home Late Saturday September the 12th.
For those leaving from Saint Albans, parking arrangements have been made next door to the Police Station in Saint Albans.
Again, time and seats are short (149 total )so make your reservations soon or miss out on this experience with some nice, like minded people.
For more information on Glen Beck’s 9-12 Project, goto http://theglennbeck912project.com/
For more information on 9-12-09 March on DC, I don’t know if there is an “official” site but there are several sites and articles as the rally gains momentum.
http://912dc.org/2009/06/july-4th-protests-build-momentum-for-9-12/
http://dev.www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/43438942.html
4th of July Tea Parties
Please check out events page. We are going to be updating it more frequently to let you know about conservative events coming up in your area.
Here is a list of event for this upcoming Saturday, the 4th of July.
Ohio Valley July 4th
Wheeling, West Virginia
3:30
Steps of WesBanco Arena
Cherie Mezynski 412 475 4497
http://www.wethepeopleov.com
Independence Day Tea Party
Parkersburg, West Virginia
12:00PM – 1:30PM
Bicentennial Park
Market Street City Building
Sandy Staats 304-424-6127
http://www.wvtea.org
July 4th Tea Party
Huntington, West Virginia
12:00-3:00 p.m.
Ritter Park
8th Street and 13th Avenue
Jackie Courts 304-453-1771
Patriots’ Picnic & Salute to Veterans
Martinsburg, West Virginia
12:00 noon – 2:00pm
Rotary Pavilion at Poor House Farm Park
Poor House Farm Road
Barb Miller 304-229-6939
www.martinsburgteapartymovement.com
Independence Day Tea Party
Bridgeport, WV
Noon
Bridgeport City Park
http://teapartyncwv.weebly.com/
WESTON TEA PARTY
WESTON, West Virginia
12:00 NOON
TRANS ALLEGHENY LUNATIC ASYLUM
S. RIVER AVE. (71 ASYLUM DR)
ERNIE BENNETT 800-881-4110
Speakers, singers, starts at noon, 3-4 hours
So this is how liberty dies…
Sorry, I couldn’t help but be reminded of this scene from one of the Star Wars movies, “Revenge of the Sith.” One of the most stirring lines of any movie recently was this quote during the peaceful granting of imperial status to Emperor Palpatine by its equivalent to Congress, “So this is how liberty dies… with thunderous applause.” Unfortunately for us, the quote from the movie mirrors a seriously scary scenario facing the United States – the assumption of unprecedented powers by the federal government.
So far under President Obama, if spending is any measure, he has been a great success as President. Unfortunately for us, because spending is a measure, our children and our childrens’ children faces generations of debt that their pocketbooks simply cannot easily repay.
Spending is, however, only a deceptive act at permanently nationalizing so many former private activities. As recently as Friday, the Obama Administration proposed eliminating private education loans in favor of, you guessed it, the federal government assuming the responsibility. In just a little more than four months, the Obama Administration has become the owner of many storied and famous American companies, has ordered the firing of private executives, is developing pay guidelines for private companies, is proposing a vast take-over of many banking activities, and has appointed more than 21 new “czars” that will have unfettered power to regulate additional formerly private activities.
The following article – a shocking editorial to appear in a former communist newspaper – appeared in the Russian newspaper Pravda. Imagine Ronald Reagan’s response to the current assumption of federal powers. Could we face any greater crisis to our personal liberty, our personal freedom, and our tradition of limited government? Our current age is unprecedented and potentially irreversible without immediate citizen action and leaders willing to stand-up and be counted.
REMARKABLY, AS PUBLISHED IN PRAVDA:
American capitalism gone with a whimper . . . . .
It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.
True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.
Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.
First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather than the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas than the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their “right” to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us (Russia) about our rights and about our “democracy”. Pride blinds the foolish.
Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different “branches and denominations” were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the “winning” side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the “winning” side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox (Russian Orthodox) churches are scandalously liberalized in America.
The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America’s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more than another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.
These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more than ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have b eat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?
These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.
Then came Barack Obama’s command that GM’s (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of “pure” free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.
So it should be no surprise that the American president has followed this up with a “bold” move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK’s Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our “wise” Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.
Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper…but a “freeman” whimper.
So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set “fair” maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.
The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.
The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.
Stanislav Mishin
Why the GOP needs to be conservative to advance its causes
West Virginians deserve a strong two-party system. Our state is ranked last in nearly every economic category and has been for quite some time. The Democrats have been effectively swayed by liberal special interest groups for decades, yet the Republican Party has failed far more often than it has had succeeded in West Virginia. The status quo clearly doesn’t work. In order for the people of West Virginia to receive the opportunities that they truly deserve, we must have a viable two-party system in this state.
The only way for the Republican Party to become successful is to have new ideas, new methods, and new people to help move it forward. We need true conservative leadership that will help build a winning majority. The Republicans don’t need a new message. The Republicans need a clear conservative message being sent by effective, respected messengers.
The majority of West Virginians identify themselves as conservatives, yet for some reason the Republican Party has not been able to persuade these conservatives to vote for their candidates. While a few conservative Democrats have been able to work their way through a tough primary system, the majority of elected officials in our state are not conservatives. We have decades of legislation and bad public policy to prove it.
There are many reasons that the Republican Party has been unable to achieve success, but there are just as many opportunities that are before us now to actually help the Republican Party achieve success and to help the conservative movement in West Virginia.
And for those who think the tea party movements are a distraction to the goals of the Republican Party, perhaps we just have different goals. Those who attended tea parties are true conservatives who want to help advance the cause, not just maintain a working permanent minority. Tea parties are the result of failures of the Republican Party both locally and nationally.
Giving time and energy and throwing money down the same holes is not going to help the conservative movement in West Virginia and it will not lead the Republican Party to any victories. Now more than ever, West Virginia needs true conservative leadership that will help recruit qualified candidates for office and then work to elect these individuals, regardless of political affiliation. In most instances, this will come from challenger Republican candidates. There is absolutely no way that Republican candidates will win unless they clearly show voters the difference between conservatism and what West Virginia has been getting for the past few decades. And there is absolutely now way Republican candidates will win without the help of new ideas, new methods, and new people. These ideas and people will be conservative.
But success is defined differently by everyone. Perhaps we just have different goals.
It is time for the Coal Industry to stand-up for coal
In late March this year, the Environmental Protection Agency put hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold Tuesday to allegedly evaluate the projects’ impact on streams and wetlands. Between 150 and 200 applications for new or expanded surface coal mines, many of them mountaintop removal operations, are pending before the federal government.
The permits are issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, which has been criticized by environmental groups and has been sued on allegations of failing to thoroughly evaluate the environmental impact of mountaintop removal. In February, a three-judge appeals panel in Richmond, Va., overturned a lower court’s ruling that would have required the corps to conduct more extensive reviews. That decision cleared the way for a backlog of permits that had been delayed until the lawsuit was resolved.
The EPA’s action could leave those permit requests in limbo a little longer. The EPA’s actions will certainly continue the siege against coal mining that is occurring by United State regulatory authorities against an industry that is responsible for “keeping the lights on” across the United States. The biggest loser of the EPA’s new found power – the American consumer.
The EPA action stunned the coal industry, which had been breathing easily since the mid-February ruling by the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. It shouldn’t have stunned any observer including the mining industry.
Why? Because during the campaign of 2008, then candidate Barack Obama told us that coal would play little in our energy future.
“No coal plants here in America,” Biden said on a campaign trip through Ohio. “Build them, if they’re going to build them, over there [meaning China]. Make them clean. We’re not supporting clean coal,” he said of himself and Obama.
Obama himself was quoted in undisputed, audio-taped remarks, which include comments from then-Senator Obama like ‘I haven’t been some coal booster’ and ‘if they want to build [coal plants], they can, but it will bankrupt them.”
Well, my friends, the coal industry can either choose to get bowled over and decimated by an Administration that is clearly and certainly against it or it can begin the process of mounting a reasonable defense in support of the hundred of thousands of jobs that rely on the coal industry for their livelihood. The mumbo jumbo by the environmentalist whackos carries little legitimate scientific evidence to support their crazy claims. Unfortunately, however, the general public has been bamboozled into believing the propaganda and the coal industry has failed to effectively mount a reasonable campaign against those trying to destroy its foundation.
It is certainly hard to try to defend a proud industry that cannot stop apologizing for its actions. If it will not stand up to defend itself, how can it expect those of us that understand the industry to do so?
