Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Arlington National Cemetery marked the 'reconciliation' of the North and South.

Confederate Memorial at 
Arlington National Cemetery












The Reconciliation at Arlington
settled on the honor or 'the 
soldier,' not the treason against
the USA.  I would think that 
was reconciliation that would 
settle all grievances.

There are NO MORE Confederate States. There is no more slavery, it has been abolished.


Someone want to tell Texas that?


Confederate Texas license plate a vote away from approval  (click title to entry - thank you)


Confederate Texas plate is one vote short

Controversial logo awaits approval from the DMV

Published 05:30 a.m., Saturday, June 25, 2011


A local division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is just one vote away from gaining approval of a Texas specialty license plate bearing its logo, which prominently features the Confederate flag.
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicle license board voted on the group's request in April, but it was a tie vote. One of the nine members was absent, so the board decided to reconsider the request at its next meeting June 9.
The meeting, however, didn't take place because a board member from Houston died June 3.
Now, the Sons of Confederate Veterans must wait until Gov. Rick Perry appoints a new board member, and that might not happen until fall, said DMV spokeswoman Kim Sue Lia Perkes.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans is a nonprofit that preserves and honors the history and legacy of Confederate soldiers. Formed in 1896, it is the oldest hereditary organization for male descendants of Confederate soldiers, according to its website....
There is NO LEGACY of Confederate solders.  Their legacy ENDED.  Robert E. Lee, pictured to the right, SURRENDERED !!!!!


Below Lee is in the grey colored uniform and signing the surrender.  Ulysses S. Grant is in the Blue Uniform sitting in the chair watching Lee sign the surrender.  I betcha there are no pictures of the surrender hanging in the halls of the Sons of the Confederacy, now are there?


The War is Over!

American Civil War: Lee’s surrender to Grant (click here)










Voting is a RIGHT, not a priviledge. There is no such thing as an 'inactive' voter.

In the USA voting is guaranteed to citizens.  It is not like a driver's license or paying taxes, it is a RIGHT.  


Colorado actually believes there is such a thing as an inactive voter?  No.  Either a person is a voter or is not a voter and that is the end of it.  The only thing that makes a registered voter inactive is death.  Relocation is a concern, but, there is dearly little voter fraud in the USA in this new millenium.


Colorado and states like Colorado that are putting all kinds of restrictions on voting to EFFECT and OPPRESS election results are doing unconstitutionally.  


Voting is a Right.  Every available means to INSURE the vote to citizens has to be executed in order to provide a constitutional result to any election, otherwise, the election has to be declared null and void, especially, IF THERE IS A PATTERN.


States such as Colorado are defrauding the laws to uphold voting rights.


If Secretarys of State are willing to defraud voter laws to oppress an election outcome, what does that say about the people placed in that office?  They know they won't be re-elected?  



Rep. Charlie Gonzalez wants Justice Department to probe military ballot controversy  (click title to entry - thank you)



A Texas congressman urged the Justice Department to investigate actions by the Colorado secretary of state that he says will deny active duty military personnel the right to vote.
Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, said failure to send out ballots to eligible voters prior to the Nov. 1, 2011 state election could be a violation of the Voting Rights Act.
“It is the responsibility of every public official to ensure that eligible citizens are not denied that right,” said Gonzalez, a member of the House Administration subcommittee on elections.
Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler said his decision was “an order from the Secretary of State not to send mail ballots to inactive – failed to vote UOCAVA electors.” Translated into English, that means “Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act” — referring to military or overseas voters who did not vote in the last general election.
Gessler says he is seeking a court injunction to voter fraud. But Gonzalez, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is not convinced....

The Republicans tried some of this stupid stuff in Wisconsin and it back fired.  As a general rule, most citizens don't like to have their rights toyed with.


Road to the White House runs through Colorado  (click here)

Shifting demographics put Colorado in national spotlight
By Scot Kersgaard | 09.30.11 | 12:00 pm


Experts say Colorado could be the state that tips the 2012 presidential election. “It will be hard to win a close election without winning Colorado,” said Colorado College political science professor Bob Loevy.
It’s not just local political observers who think Colorado will be key. In a front page story today, The New York Times reports that Obama’s hopes for a second term may come down to Colorado and a couple of other states....

Sections 231 and 241

SEC. 231. BUY AMERICAN.


Section 1605 of division A of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5) applies to funds made available under this title.


Law Cited:  
Public Law 111-5 (click here)
111th Congress

SUBTITLE E – IMMEDIATE TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCURE 
INVESTMENTS

SEC. 241. IMMEDIATE TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE 
INVESTMENTS.

(a) GRANTS-IN-AID FOR AIRPORTS.--
(1) IN GENERAL.--There is made available to the Secretary of Transportation $2,000,000,000 to carry out airport improvement under subchapter I of chapter 471 and subchapter I of chapter 475 of title 49, United States Code.

Cited Law:

TITLE 49 > SUBTITLE VII > PART B > CHAPTER 471 > SUBCHAPTER I > § 47108

§ 47108. PROJECT GRANT AGREEMENTS (click here)

(a) Offer and Acceptance.— On approving a project grant application under this subchapter, the Secretary of Transportation shall offer the sponsor a grant to pay the United States Government’s share of the project costs allowable under section 47110 of this title....


TITLE 49 > SUBTITLE VII > PART B > CHAPTER 471 (click here)

SUBCHAPTER I—AIRPORT IMPROVEMENT Sec. 47101. Policies. 47102. Definitions. 47103. National plan of integrated airport systems. 47104. Project grant authority. 47105. Project grant applications. 47106. Project grant application approval conditioned on satisfaction of project requirements. 47107. Project grant application approval conditioned on assurances about airport operations. 47108. Project grant agreements.47109. United States Government’s share of project costs....

The distribution of funds in The American Jobs Act is based on need and project 
and not according to any formula as stated for education building projects.  The
Secretary of Transportation will distribute the funds according to lawful
standard.

(3) DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.--Funds provided to the Secretary under this subsection shall not be subject to apportionment formulas, special apportionment categories, or minimum percentages under chapter 471 of such title.

(4) AVAILABILITY.--The amounts made available under this subsection shall be available for obligation until the date that is two years after the date of the enactment of this Act. The Secretary shall obligate amounts totaling not less than 50 percent of the funds made available within one year of 
enactment and obligate remaining amounts not later than two years after enactment.

There are time constraints on these monies.

(b) NEXT GENERATION AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL ADVANCEMENTS.--
(1) IN GENERAL.--There is made available to the Secretary of Transportation $1,000,000,000 for necessary Federal Aviation Administration capital, research and operating costs to carry out Next Generation air traffic control system advancements.

(c) HIGHWAY INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT.--

(1) IN GENERAL.—There is made available to the Secretary of Transportation $27,000,000,000 for restoration, repair, construction and other activities eligible under section 133(b) of title 23, United States Code, and for passenger and freight rail transportation and port infrastructure projects eligible for assistance under section 601(a)(8) of title 23.

Cited law:

Search 23 U.S.C. § 601 : US Code - Section 601: Generally applicable provisions (click here)

(a) Definitions. - In this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(8) Project. - The term "project" means -
(A) any surface transportation project eligible for Federal assistance under this title or chapter 53 of title 49;
(B) a project for an international bridge or tunnel for which an international entity authorized under Federal or State law is responsible;
(C) a project for intercity passenger bus or rail facilities and vehicles, including facilities and vehicles owned by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation and components of magnetic levitation transportation systems; and
(D) a project that -
(i) is a project -
(I) for a public freight rail facility or a private
facility providing public benefit for highway users;
(II) for an intermodal freight transfer facility;
(III) for a means of access to a facility described in subclause (I) or (II);
(IV) for a service improvement for a facility described in subclause (I) or (II) (including a capital investment for an intelligent transportation system); or
(V) that comprises a series of projects described in subclauses (I) through (IV) with the common objective of improving the flow of goods;
(ii) may involve the combining of private and public sector funds, including investment of public funds in private sector facility improvements; and
(iii) if located within the boundaries of a port terminal, includes only such surface transportation infrastructure modifications as are necessary to facilitate direct intermodal interchange, transfer, and access into and out of the port.
(3) AVAILABILITY.-- The amounts made available under this subsection shall be available for obligation until the date that is two years after the date of the enactment of this Act. The Secretary shall obligate amounts totaling not less than 50 percent of the funds made available within one year of enactment and obligate remaining amounts not later than two years after enactment.

The funds are to be distributed by a 50-50 split of two years with 50% of the funds set aside for this project distribution in the first year, etc.

The Transportation Secretary is to distribute the monies within 30 days of availability and if those funds are not used or subapportioned within the states those monies are to be returned to the Transportation Secretary for redistribution to other states.

(10) FEDERAL LANDS AND INDIAN RESERVATIONS.--Of the funds provided under this subsection, $550,000,000 shall be set aside for investments in transportation at Indian reservations and Federal lands in accordance with the following:.

(A) Of the funds set aside by this paragraph, $310,000,000 shall be for the Indian Reservation Roads program, $170,000,000 shall be for the Park Roads and Parkways program, $60,000,000 shall be for the Forest Highway Program, and $10,000,000 shall be for the Refuge Roads program....

New Category

(11) JOB TRAINING.--Of the funds provided under this subsection, $50,000,000 shall be set aside for the development and administration of transportation training programs under section 140(b) title 23, United States Code.

(A) Funds set aside under this subsection shall be competitively awarded and used for the purpose of providing training, apprenticeship (including Registered Apprenticeship), skill development, and skill improvement programs, as well as summer transportation institutes and may be transferred to, or administered in partnership with, the Secretary of Labor and shall demonstrate to the Secretary of Transportation program outcomes, including—

We know for a fact the nation's jobs require training.  There are jobs lost permanently from the economy as it existed before the 2008 economic collapse.  All those workers have to be retrained for jobs that exist today.  It is just the way it is.  These jobs are a part of the Airport section of the bill.  It can be debated to some extent as to whether their is duplication of funds the FAA funding, but, Secretary Ray LaHood could speak to that.  However, there are no job training funds that I am aware of in the FAA funding.  So, this section is probably necessary for job creation.

This section goes on for more pages than just one or two, so I'll pick up with it here tomorrow, page 28.

PART III – GENERAL PROVISIONS

SEC. 230. DEFINITIONS


The definitions are derived from recognized sources, most of which we have or will cover in established law.  There is one term used that may be unfamiliar so I wanted to list it here.


(2) CHPS CRITERIA. The term “CHPS Criteria” means the green building rating program developed by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools. (click title to entry - thank you)



CHPS and Trane Team Up to Optimize K-12 Learning Environments


San Francisco, June 6, 2011 – High performance design and maintenance positively impacts K-12 schools with higher test scores, increased average daily attendance, lower operational costs and improved teacher satisfaction and retention .
To support the K-12 education market and the development of high performance schools, Trane, a leading global provider of indoor comfort systems and solutions and a brand of Ingersoll Rand, has become a national sponsor of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools.  (CHPS).
CHPS is a non-profit organization focused on making schools better places to learn by facilitating the design, construction and operation of high performance schools. High performance schools provide environments that are energy and resource efficient, while linking the physical environment to the educational mission of the building....

CHPS has developed a best practices manual to help schools, districts and practitioners to achieve high performance design, construction and operation. The following titles are available:...

What is a High Performance School? (click here)


Good teachers and motivated students can overcome inadequate facilities and perform at a high level almost anywhere, but a well-designed facility can truly enhance performance and make education a more enjoyable and rewarding experience. A high performance school is:...


This is a measuring stick to apply to the funds being distributed.  It serves to standardize the quality of the work being done in a direction determined by a cooperative of business and government..  I have some objections to cooperatives between government and business, but, for the sake of this bill it is appropriate to cite standards to insure the grants are utilized efficiently and with a direction that is recognized as modern and seeing the future as changing and valuable.


Many people are familiar with the "Energy Star" ratings.  This is one of the standards noted in the bill.  It is in the definition section.


In writing a bill and seeking to have it pass quickly to benefit the nation, the President did not reinvent the wheel when it came to definitions .  He used recognizable standards of today's world.  In other words, why create controversy when funds need to be expedited to the States.

The Green Globes (click here)  system is a revolutionary building environmental design and management tool. It delivers an online assessment protocol, rating system and guidance for green building design, operation and management. It is interactive, flexible and affordable, and provides market recognition of a building’s environmental attributes through third-party verification



Sustainable Sites 1
Prerequisite 1 Erosion & Sedimentation Control 1
Credit 1 Site Selection 2
Credit 2 Development Density 3
Credit 3 Brownf i e ld Rede v e l opment 4
Credit 4 Alternative Transportation 5
Credit 5 Reduced Site Disturbance 9
Credit 6 Stormwater Management 11
Credit 7 Heat Island Effect 13
Credit 8 Light Pollution Reduction 15


Water Efficiency 16


Credit 1 Water Efficient Landscaping 16
Credit 2  Innov a t i v e  Wa s t ewa t e r  Te chno l o g i e s 18
Credit 3 Water Use Reduction 19


Energy & Atmosphere 21
Prerequisite 1 Fundamental Building Systems Commissioning 21
Prerequisite 2 Minimum Energy Performance 22
Prerequisite 3 CFC Reduction in HVAC&R Equipment 23
Credit 1 Optimize Energy Performance 24
Credit 2 Rene wabl e  Ene r g y 26
Credit 3 Additional Commissioning 29
Credit 4 O z one  Depl e t i on 30
Credit 5 Measurement & Verification 31
Credit 6 Green Power 32


And the Table of Contents to LEED continues from there to include topics of storage, building reuse, construction waste management, etc....



(6) MODERNIZATION, RENOVATION, AND REPAIR. The term modernization, renovation and repair" means—


(A) comprehensive assessments of facilities to identify—


(i) facility conditions or deficiencies that could adversely affect student and staff health, safety, performance, or productivity or energy, water, or materials efficiency; and


(ii) needed facility improvements;...


Time for a true story about my own experience with building materials for schools and air quality.


The year was somewhere around 1968.  I believe I was in the eighth grade at that time.  The city was Manville, New Jersey and the town was building a long sought after Middle School.  I was in English class and sitting next to the wall to the hallway when I heard a large dump truck backing up.  It was very close to the OPEN classroom windows.  It was Spring and the High School, which also housed the Junior High students was not air conditioned.  We had individual hot air heaters in each room, but, no AC.  


The noise all of a sudden met with a loud scream.  The dump truck has backed over a construction worker.  It was before the legislation by OSHA to put back alarms on trucks.  (click here)  That occurred in 1973.  As fate would have it the man died and some say it was a warning as to what would come to the first class to attend the Middle School.  


The next year the Middle School opened, I was in the ninth grade and my second sister was in the 7th grade and was the first class to attend there.  The class would go through their two years in the school, be advanced to the High School and graduate in 1975.  Approximately, 11 years later my sister was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  She is alive today, but, with deficits.  Some of her classmates are not.  After my sister was diagnosed many people called about at least nine other young women in that graduating class that had brain tumors as well and one other young woman in the next class to graduate.


There was never a lawsuit, but, only an informal investigation by people that cared about the issue and it was decided by a highly qualified chemist that the girls were exposed to formaldehyde from the new building materials.  All the girls were also either cheerleaders or drill team members.  Why was it that these women were a 'cluster' of brain tumor sufferers while no men were involved?  It was decided they all drank larger than normal amounts of diet soda  to enhance their figures.  My sister would be suffering from anorexia at the age of 22 after graduating college.  


So, was it just the saccharine that caused these tumors?  There was not epidemic reflecting that fact by any government institution.  Princeton University had a team circulating through the town, door to door, to ask about illness and cancers.  It was a toxic soup over time.  That was the conclusion our scientists came to.  The informal study didn't cost us anything because it was conducted by friends that had gone on to college and were practicing with some of the most successful pharmaceutical companies in the State of New Jersey.  They knew their business and they knew organic chemistry and what chemicals could do to the human body.


My sister is very cognitive, she lives alone and is able to conduct her personal life with a few exceptions.  Not all the girls have been so lucky.  The new Middle School had new desktops and wall boards with components of formaldehyde.  During the first year of use those chemicals would still be in the air and breathed by the students.


The point is the environment a child is growing in and incorporating while they breath can effect cells in the body.  While the effects of these chemicals are not immediately evident, they will be as time goes by.  It is imperative schools have clear air and not just for asthma sufferers.  Those standards have to be uniform as every human body is not so different as their fingerprints.  The environmental standards for buildings should be tough because we spend so much time in them away from home.  It is a human rights issue and it is necessary.


(C) repairing, replacing, or installing heating, ventilation, or air conditioning systems, or components of those systems (including insulation), including by conducting indoor air quality assessments;


(F) abatement, removal, or interim controls of asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls, mold, mildew, or lead-based hazards, including lead-based paint hazards;



(H) measures, such as selection and substitution of products and materials, and implementation of improved maintenance and operational procedures, such as "green cleaning" programs, to reduce or eliminate potential student or staff exposure to—
(i) volatile organic compounds;
(ii) particles such as dust and pollens; or
(iii) combustion gases;


(N) other modernization, renovation, or repair to—
(i) improve teachers' ability to teach and students' ability to learn; (ii) ensure the health and safety of students and staff; or
(iii) improve classroom, laboratory, and vocational facilities in order to enhance the quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction; and
(O) required environmental remediation related to facilities modernization, renovation, or repair activities described in subparagraphs (A) through (L).


(7) OUTLYING AREA. The term ‘‘outlying area’’ means the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Republic of Palau.


(8) STATE. The term “State” means each of the 50 States of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.


I believe this section is written for protecting our children and their teachers, staff and parents.  It is well done.

"Occupy Wall Street" is where people have come to oppose exploitation of American Values for profit.

The sign says:

"I was deployed to Iraq 4X"


"5 of my friends are dead."


"1 of my friends is missing his arm."


"1 of my friends killed himself."


"I have been blown up twice by a roadside bomb."


"Hearing fireworks makes me nervous"


"I can't sleep at night,"


"All so bankers and war profiteers could get richer."


"I am the 99%"


www.occupywallst.org


The message use to attempt to dilute the movement is that the protesters have somewhat of an aimless goal.  No clear message.  It sounded like those speculations were attempting to create an air of 'druggies' that followed the movements in the sixties.  The message from the Occupy Wall Street movement is very clear, there has been exploitation of American values by corporations that seek profits over responsible leadership.  In carrying out huge profits to corporations the CEOs have literally destroyed the Middle Class economy that has made a global economy possible.  


The wars, the poor, the unemployed, the uninsured, the working poor, the pollution, the Climate Crisis, the trashing of the educational system and the list goes on and on and on.


The outsourcing of jobs do real damage, not just to the USA labor market, but, to children when no law in third world countries stop the CEOs from exploiting them.  Americans get complaints that there labor is too expensive.  Well.  I guess so, especially when they are trying to make a living wage.



A photo from US National Labor Committee's report on conditions inside a Microsoft supplier's Chinese factory





By Stephen Foley
Computing giant Microsoft is investigating claims that Chinese factory staff are working in sweatshop conditions to make its products.
A three-year undercover investigation by a workers' rights campaign group found that teenagers lived and worked in cramped conditions at factories in the Guangdong province of China, earning just a few dollars a day.
And while the factory owner, KYE, said that it complies with child labour laws and with Microsoft's code of conduct, the investigation was told that many of the students at the factory on so-called "work-study" programmes were in fact aged 14 or 15.
The Pittsburgh-based National Labor Committee (NLC) published photographs smuggled out of the factory, showing workers slumped asleep at factory lines during a half-hour break.
It said that workers were forbidden to talk or go to the lavatory during production hours, and workers who dropped products were punished by being made to clean the bathrooms…


Depending on where one receives information, the children are as young as 12 years old in China's factories where nearly 50% of all tech companies have their manufacturing plants.  And it isn't as if they don't know it.  The child labor problem with companies that OUTSOURCE is enormous and has been for a long time.  This is not new.  Yet, Americans tolerate poverty conditions for their families in a growing percentage and our country carries debt when corporations and the wealthy should be paying higher taxes.


Peter Clarke

2/21/2011 8:59 AM EST


LONDON – Apple, the company that has set mobile phone and computer trends with its iPhone and iPad, has reported it has a growing problem with its Chinese suppliers using workers under the legal age of 16 years.

Apple has published it latest annual report into the employment practices of its suppliers and revealed rising underage labor, despite its own efforts to address the problem....


There are many, many reasons for the protests by "Occupy Wall Street" and all are valid and real.