independentsforkerry.org

                                          “SKIPPER“
                                           Mr. R. Fitts
                                              and
                                     President Obama

              Extend Their Inviaion to YOU

As a Committee Member, your primary responsibility will be to help endorsed candidates win with your vote and your support.


Attending monthly meetings to discuss strategy, and receive updates from candidates and elected officials.     If you can’t come every month but can attend occasionally, thats OK we want you.


At campaign time you could Volunteer to place yard signs, work phone banks, and help with mailings.


Helping with fundraising efforts is good if you are comfortable doing it.    Working as a greeter and representative at local festivals (Apple, Garlic) and handing out campaign literature and answering questions is fun if you like it.


Or Doing Anything You Are Comfortable With.    Nothing, if thats your comfort level.    We Want You and We Need You.

Attend monthly or just the occassional meeting.    Come as you are.     Pick Your Own Level of Participation.


Make no mistake about it.   We are Democrats.    In Amherst County we are the underdogs and we must work harder.    Your ideas and help will be appreciated.


With your help, Democrats will have a stronger future here in Amherst County.

If you’re interested in the Amherst County Democrats and know any of the Precinct Reps listed, please discuss it with them.    If you know where the Food Lion Grocery Store just below the traffic circle on Route 60 is,  then you can find us.

We meet at the Central Virginia Community College, Amherst Branch which is next to the Food Lion.    We meet at 7pm on
the second tuesday of every month.     If this ever changes check the Amherst County Democratic News for up to date info.


You are invited to attend the monthly meeting.    We will happily welcome you on board.

The folks listed below are Precinct Reps.


101 – Wright Shop – Magnolia Braxton


102 – New Glasgow – Ned Kable, OPEN


103 – Coolwell – OPEN


201 – Court House – Mary Anne Hostetler, Alix Ingber, OPEN


202 – Temperance – Marvin Gilbert


301 – Monroe – OPEN


302 – Elon – Marita Taylor, Mary Truitt, OPEN


303 – Plsnt View – Curtis Johnson


401 – Amelon – Robert Perry, Jason Fleshman, OPEN


402 – Lonco – Francis Wayne


501 – Madison Hts – Jeff Price, Dan Hughes, Allen Freeman

If you are reading this, Thank You from ACVDN

Republicans Attempt Repeal of Health Care

A Republican drive to repeal the year-old health care law ended in party-line defeat in the Senate on Wednesday, leaving the Supreme Court to render a final, unpredictable verdict on an issue steeped in political and constitutional controversy.     The vote was 47-51.


Moments earlier, the Senate had agreed to make one relatively minor change in the law, voting to strip out a paperwork requirement for businesses.

President Barack Obama, who has vowed to veto any total repeal of his signature legislative accomplishment, has said he would accept the change.    It does not directly affect health care.

Republicans conceded in advance their attempt at total repeal would fall short.      But they also said they had accomplished an objective of forcing rank and file Democrats to take a position on an issue that reverberated in the 2010 campaign and may play a role in 2012.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the vote marked an opportunity for Democrats who voted for the bill last year “to listen to those who have desperately been trying to get your attention.”


“To say, yes, maybe my vote for this bill was a mistake, and that we can do better,”  McConnell said.


Democrats worked to minimize any political repercussions, a concern for a party already acutely aware it must defend 23
seats – and its shrunken Senate majority – in the 2012 elections.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Republican repeal movement would “take away a child’s right to get health insurance and instead give insurance companies the right to use asthma or diabetes as an excuse to take away that care.”

“It would kick kids off their parents’ health insurance,”  Reid said. “It would take away seniors’ rights to a free wellness check.”
Democrats also countered with the proposed repeal of the law’s requirement that businesses, charities, and state and local governments file income tax forms every time they purchase 0 or more in goods.


It was approved 81-17, after Republicans pointed out it had originally been their idea.

Across the street from the Capitol, Democrats convened a Judiciary Committee hearing to solicit testimony on the constitutionality of the law they passed and Obama signed months ago.

“Many who argue the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional are the same people who condemn judicial activism,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who presided.      “They are pushing the Supreme Court to strike down this law because they could not defeat it in Congress.”


Republicans were scathing in response.

“The sensible process would have been to have . held a hearing on the law’s constitutionality before the bill passed, not after,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.     “Like Alice in Wonderland, sentence first, verdict afterward.”


Two federal judges have ruled the law is unconstitutional, partially or in its entirety, citing a requirement for individuals to purchase coverage and pay a penalty in taxes if they fail to do so.     Two other judges have upheld the law.

The controversy has yet to reach the Supreme Court, but it is widely expected to, and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., announced he would file legislation urging the justices to act quickly.


The maneuvering occurred around a law as ambitious as any in recent years, and as controversial.      According to the Congressional Budget Office, it would expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it, crack down on insurance industry abuses and cut federal budget deficits.     At its core, the bill would require most Americans to purchase insurance, a so-called individual mandate that has become one of the principal points of opposition among Republicans and the tea party activists who propelled them to gains last fall.
The bill’s critics argue the law gave government too large a role in the health care system, will harm Medicare and raises taxes and fees that will burden the economy.     They also sharply dispute the CBO estimate that deficits will fall once the bill takes effect, arguing that the forecasts rest on spending cuts to Medicare and other programs that will not materialize.


Either way, the day’s events shaped up as the latest maneuvering in a struggle that has spanned more than two years.

Republicans said a proposal by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., to eliminate the reporting requirement to the Internal Revenue Service was legislative pilferage, noting that Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., filed a bill to that effect last year.

The measure calls for billion in spending cuts to offset the revenue loss from the change, but unlike Johanns’ earlier measure, Stabenow’s specifies that none of the funds can come from Social Security.


Under federal law, Social Security benefits are generally guaranteed.     As a result, the provision Stabenow advanced
assures merely that no administrative costs can be cut at the agency.

No similar protection was included for the agency that oversees Medicare.

The House approved legislation repealing the health care law last month on a party-line vote, ignoring a veto threat from Obama and Reid’s blunt statement the bill would never see the light of day in the Senate.     McConnell responded quickly that he would look for an opportunity to force a vote.


All 47 Republicans voted to repeal the law, but no Democrat joined them.

At a news conference shortly after the vote, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the chairman of the party’s campaign committee, said the vote marked the “first steps in a long road that will culminate in 2012 whereby we will expose the flaws and the weaknesses in this legislation.”

The law that passed a year ago had the support of 58 Democrats and two independents aligned with them.    All 40 Republicans voted against it.


Democratic ranks have been thinned since then, and their current majority is 53-47.


Of those 53 seats, 23 are on the ballot in 2012, including several that Republicans are targeting.     One on the list, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, said in advance he would oppose the Republican repeal proposal.

“There are a lot of good parts in the bill and some that I will work to improve,”  Nelson told reporters in his home state.     “The repealers already have health care.     But they’re ready, willing and eager to take it away from hundreds of thousands of Nebraskans.”

ACVDN Botom Line.     Now that Republicans have tried a repeal vote maby they can settle down and start working on Jobs-Jobs-Jobs and quit wasting time.      

                                                                         ACVDN

 

Amherst County Virginia Democratic News

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders from the US have joined Green elected officials and leaders from countries throughout Latin America and Europe in Cancun, Mexico, to participate in the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (http://www.cc2010.mx/en/index.php).
Greens are calling on the [...]
Green Party Watch

Amherst County Democratic Committee

To All Amherst County Democrats:

Dear Friends,


The Committee will meet at Amherst Library on Main Street in Amherst, tomorrow, Tuesday 10/12, 7PM. Everyone is welcome.


It is especially important for Precinct Reps to attend (see list below). Skipper Fitts, Vice Chair, will preside.


At last month’s meeting the committee voted to offer more support to Tom Perriello’s campaign by sponsoring a booth for him at the Virginia Wine & Garlic Festival, and to collaborate with the Nelson County Dems in that effort.

With only three weeks until Election Day, this is the time when we must “Get Out The Vote” (GOTV).    As our president said yesterday, the opposition is depending on our voters staying home Nov 2nd. If we get people to the polls, we win.


GOTV efforts are ongoing at Perriello’s campaign office in Lovingston, and Skipper is organizing phone banks closer to home. Please call or write him (fitts@sbc.edu 946-7792) to offer your support – just an hour or two will help.


You are the backbone of the Democratic Party in Amherst County. Please show your support by attending the meeting tomorrow night.

Amherst County Democratic Committee

101 – Wright Shop – Magnolia Braxton


102 – New Glas – Ned Kable, OPEN


103 – Coolwell – OPEN


201 – Court House – Mary Anne Hostetler, Alix Ingber, OPEN


202 – Temperance – Marvin Gilbert


301 – Monroe – OPEN


302 – Elon – Marita Taylor, Mary Truitt, OPEN


303 – Pleasant View – Curtis Johnson


401 – Amelon – Robert Perry, Jason Fleshman, OPEN


402 – Lonco – Francis Wayne


501 – Madison Hts – Jeff Price, Dan Hughes, Allen Freeman
 
 
Three Top Officials Leaving In DOE Management Exodus
 
In a major management exodus, three top officials at the Energy Department—including Under Secretary Kristina Johnson—are resigning after little more than a year in their positions.


In addition to Johnson, who is to leave the agency this month, Warren “Pete” Miller, assistant secretary for nuclear energy, and Jim Markowsky, assistant secretary of fossil energy, are departing in early November.


Resigning at the end of last month was Matt Rogers, who has served for the past 19 months as Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s senior advisor for implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which provided DOE with billion in clean energy funding.

None of the resignations was publicly announced by DOE. Instead, DOE officials Thursday confirmed the departure of those officials to The Energy Daily by providing internal memos recently sent by Chu to DOE staff.


Perhaps most surprisingly, the memos revealed that Chu has named Cathy Zoi, DOE’s assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, to fill Johnson’s shoes as acting under secretary for energy—another top management change that was not publicly announced by DOE in any press release or Internet posting.


Zoi’s elevation is somewhat unusual in that in past administrations, the DOE deputy secretary—the agency’s No. 2 officials—has typically stepped in on an acting basis for any departing under secretaries because of the broad management responsibilities held by the under secretary.


Johnson oversaw a large swath of DOE’s civilian programs, including Zoi’s rapidly expanding efficiency and renewable energy program; the Office of Environmental Management, which manages DOE’s huge and complex nuclear cleanup program; the Office of Nuclear Energy; the Office of Fossil Energy; and the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.


Zoi’s appointment also is surprising in that her Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy received the lion’s share of the massive new DOE funding provided under the ARRA—and it has been struggling to effectively oversee the disbursement and expenditure of billions of dollars in recent months.


Among other problems, Zoi’s office has been criticized in internal audits by the DOE inspector general for failing to adequately supervise state spending of ARRA efficiency and home weatherization money.    More recently, the IG cited irregularities and possible favoritism in the hiring of a contractor employee by one program office under Zoi’s purview.


Chu announced Johnson’s resignation and Zoi’s elevation in a September 16 memo that thanked Johnson for her service to the department but otherwise provided no details about why she was leaving, saying only that she planned to “return to academic life.”

Johnson took her post in May 2009 after Senate confirmation, and had a relatively low profile in her 16 months at DOE.    Some industry and congressional sources questioned her appointment, saying her previous academic posts had not given her the management skills needed to handle DOE’s far-flung and often politically sensitive operations.    Prior to coming to DOE, Johnson was the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs of Johns Hopkins University and dean of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering.


In regard to Miller’s departure, some industry sources suggested he was leaving because of growing controversy over the department’s handling of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.    Sources said a key concern may have been that a GOP takeover of the House in the upcoming elections could lead to more aggressive congressional oversight and investigation into DOE’s effort to kill Yucca, which was under Miller’s office.    Many critics say DOE’s actions on Yucca are an ill-considered and politically motivated effort by the Obama administration to please Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who strongly opposes the facility’s siting in his home state.

Miller, a nuclear engineering professor at Texas A&M University and previously a longtime Los Alamos National Laboratory executive, took over DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy in August 2009.


In an October 1 internal memo announcing Miller’s departure, Chu praised him for being “at the forefront of the Obama administration’s effort to revitalize the American nuclear power industry,” citing in particular his work in promoting small modular reactors.


Replacing Miller as acting assistant secretary for nuclear energy will be Pete Lyons, a Republican who came to DOE after serving on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Markowsky, previously a senior manager with American Electric Power, took over DOE’s fossil energy program in August 2009 following Senate confirmation. Chu also announced his resignation in the October 1 internal memo, which lauded Markowsky for leading DOE efforts to help develop carbon capture technology deemed vital to the future of the coal, oil and natural gas industries, which are major greenhouse gas emitters.


Markowsky’s tenure was relatively low-key, but he did draw attention—and criticism—from environmentalists for floating an idea in December 2009 to relax certain federal air pollution controls on power plants that were increasing efficiency and also good candidates for carbon capture and storage. Specifically, he proposed that the Environmental Protection Agency might relax “new source review” (NSR) requirements for certain U.S. coal-fired power plants that are boosting efficiency through retrofits if the plants also were well-situated for installation of carbon capture and storage systems.    However, Markowsky’s trial balloon quickly popped after environmentalists blasted it.

Chu said Victor Der, a senior deputy in the fossil energy office, will replace Markowsky as acting assistant secretary.



In regard to Rogers, Chu announced his departure in the same September 16 internal memo that disclosed that Johnson was leaving.    The secretary said Rogers was leaving because he had made a longstanding promise to his family in California that he would return home by September 30. Chu said he had asked Rogers to join the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board so he could continue to advise DOE on ARRA implementation and other issues.

The Energy Daily and GEORGE LOBSENZ,
thank you for the information.

Amherst County Virginia Democratic News