May 2009
T HE OFFICIAL NEW SLE T T ER OF THE S HELB Y C OU NTY REPUB LI C AN PARTY
The Great Non Sequitur The Sleight of Hand Behind Obama’s Agenda - page 8
4 6 9 Next Quarterly Meeting May 12 - 7 pm County Services Bldg.
How We Fight Chapman, Erwin & Ward Announce Candidacy Mark Levin’s Liberty and Tyrrany Reviewed
12 Grocery Tax Cut Really an Increase in Disguise
14 Opposing the Employee Free Choice Act
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2
Chairman’s Corner
3
Quarterly Meeting Info.
4
How We Fight - Taking on the Obama administration the right way
6
Cam Ward & Hank Erwin Announce Candidacy
8
The Great Non Sequitur
9
Book Review
10
Events Calendar
12
Grocery Tax Cut: A Tax Increase in Disguise
13
About the GOP Club Seen & Noted: Tea Party
14
The True Purpose of the Employee Free Choice Act
16
And The Winner Is . . .
17
Seen & Noted: Gov. Riley
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Green Bubbles Bursting
20
In The Kitchen - Kay Ivey
Editor-in-Chief Freddy Ard
Executive Editor Matt Fridy
Copy Editor Associate Editor Alan Reyes-Guerra Bob Hess Features Editor Jessica Breland
Creative Editor Laura Joseph
Calendar Editor Gene Weingarten Managing Editors Jeff Vreeland, Andrew Plaster Photographers Tom Fridy, Jessica Breland Contributing Editors Beth Chapman, Kimberly Fridy, Ann Leopard, Andrew Plaster, Cam Ward, Joe Sarver Paid for by the Shelby County Republican Party 1920 Valleydale Road, Suite 154 Birmingham, AL 35244 205-994-6497 • www.shelbycountygop.org
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Chairman’s Corner by
Freddy Ard
April 15 – perhaps the most dreaded and notorious day on the American calendar - has come and gone once again. The 2009 version, however, proved to be an exception to the routine. All across our country, rallies sprang up to voice protest of the excesses of our tax burden and unprecedented spending practices by our government.
County Republican Party, I will neither marginalize nor diminish the concerns expressed by thousands that attended the Tea Party rally in our own county. While the “event” is meaningful to rally attention and resources, I encourage you to engage in the “process” as we attempt to return sanity and common sense to our government.
“Tea Parties” were common in To each of you who were among communities large and small. Each that throng who expressed concerns rally was organized and attended over the direction our government is by masses of disaffected taxpayers, headed, I extend a welcome invitation. many of whom have little of no The Shelby County Republican Party political background, involvement, is a meaningful, viable, and effective or experience. Truly a “grass roots” way for you to become part of the movement, the process. Our 2009 events of 04/15/09 Political Plan contains were marginalized, multiple components Tax Day Tea Party accommodating a minimized, or variety of interests, and disparaged by virtually reflects the significance every outlet of the left. our county has to each While the left election. The Shelby dismissed these rallies County vote is critical as events trumped up to every statewide by Fox News or the office on the ballot. Republican Party, the Consequently, the most ridiculous of all effects of our efforts assertions was that voiced by House extend beyond our county borders. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Some of you came by our table at the Speaker Pelosi stated: “This initiative Tea Party and completed our volunteer is funded by the “high end”- we call it information form. For those of you Astroturf. It’s not really a grass-roots that did not have that opportunity, movement –it’s Astroturf – by some call or drop by our headquarters, or of the wealthiest people in America to visit our website. We would love to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich.” have you join forces with us as we For such an “insignificant” event, utilize the time we have in 2009 in it took fifty-five minutes for me to preparation for an important election make the short drive from US 31 in 2010. in Pelham down Valleydale Road to Veteran’s Park to attend the event staged at that location in Shelby County. As chairman of the Shelby
The Red State Review is published quarterly by the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee
Truly a
“grass roots” movement
USAF General, Pentagon Survivor on 9/11 to Speak at Quarterly Meeting, May 12 Join us on Tuesday evening, May 12, for our Quarterly Executive Committee Meeting as Major General (ret) Larry Northington will be our guest speaker. General Northington served in the U.S. Air Force for 29 years including multiple tours in the Pentagon. He was in the Pentagon when it was hit on 9/11. General Northington is a Command Pilot and has been responsible for globally deployed B-1 bomber and C-130 airlift crews. He has also served as an Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the terrorist events of the mid-1980’s, working with federal organizations such as the FBI, CIA, NSC, State Department, and others addressing national security and terrorism issues. In his last assignment, General Northington was the Deputy Chief Financial Officer of the Air Force and Director of Budget. His primary responsibility was for the $90 billion dollar budget used
to operate the Air Force worldwide, and in this position he helped build and present the first Congressional terrorism funding following 9/11. Currently he is the owner and managing partner of two firms working in the federal aerospace and defense sectors. He recently returned from Israel, where he examined security and global terrorism issues. General Northington and his wife, Linda, are both Alabama natives and currently reside in the Birmingham area. He holds an MBA and a BS in economics from the University of Alabama along with graduate studies at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., and at Syracuse and Johns Hopkins Universities. Please join us at our next quarterly meeting for a meaningful discussion of national security and other pressing issues as we welcome General Northington as our special guest. Our meeting will be held May 12, 2009,
at 7:00 pm in the Community Room of the Shelby County Services Building. The Shelby County Services Building is located at 1123 County Services Drive, right off of Interstate 65 in Pelham.
Executive Committee Quarterly Meeting May 12 at 7:00 p.m. Shelby County Services Building, Community Room 1123 County Services Drive Pelham, Alabama
seen
Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos with Shelby GOP Chairman Freddy Ard.
Chairman Ard speaking with Shelby County Probate Judge Jim Fuhrmeister
A reception honoring Mayor Petelos followed the meeting.
A patriotic tablescape at the reception honoring Mayor Tony Petelos
& noted:
First Quarter Executive Committee Meeting The Shelby County Republican Executive Committee held its quarterly meeting on February 10, 2009. It was an honor to have Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos as our special guest speaker. After hearing from Mayor Petelos, we elected several new members to the Executive Committee and enjoyed a time of food and fellowship.
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How We Fight:
The Right Way to Take on the Obama Administration by
Ramesh Ponnuru
FAIRNESS DOCTRINE
FEDERAL JUDGES The Republican party is now consolidated in its opposition to President Obama. Most of its members have decided that his central political project is to bring social democracy to these shores. While bipartisanship may be possible on a case-by-case basis, Republicans cannot cooperate in that project. The party’s congressmen were nearly unanimous in rejecting the ObamaPelosi stimulus, and Republican voters’ approval of the new president has dropped quite a bit. The consolidation of the opposition party is not enough to guarantee its success. Republicans are a minority
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in the country and the Congress. Independents and disaffected Democrats would have to join them for Obama to suffer legislative or electoral defeats. But broad Republican unity is a precondition for those outcomes. If a sizable minority of congressional Republicans had voted for the stimulus, the party’s odds of making gains in this year’s elections or next year’s would be much lower. So too if the passage of the stimulus had been accompanied by rising support for Obama among Republican voters. In either scenario, division and demoralization would have fed on each other.
CAP AND TRADE
HEALTH CARE As it is, Republican officeholders are no longer worried that voters will punish them for taking on Obama’s agenda. But they are acutely aware that they have to pick their battles. “One has to do triage on bad ideas,” says conservative activist Grover Norquist. “A bunch of bad ideas are just going to happen because [Democrats] have the votes.” On some issues, though, Obama might have to withdraw or moderate his proposals. On others, Republicans might lose but still help their long-term prospects. Republicans have achieved nearunanimity on two items. If Democrats try to bring back the “Fairness
Doctrine,” Republicans will respond furiously. That regulation would require radio stations to present politically balanced commentary, which, given the long-running failure of liberal talk radio, would mean the end of the only medium that conservatives have dominated. Leading Democrats know that raising this issue would stir up more trouble for them than enthusiasm, but bureaucratic attempts to achieve the goals of the Fairness Doctrine under a different name cannot be ruled out. Senate Republicans are also united against labor’s number-one priority this year: a set of labor-law changes that, among other things, would make it possible for unions to start representing workforces without secret-ballot elections. Moderate Republicans who oppose the bill will draw attacks from unions. But defense of the secret ballot gives them a powerful argument. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania moderate, was the last Senate Republican to hold out the possibility of supporting the bill. But he is facing a conservative primary challenge--he was one of three Republicans to support the stimulus-and announced his opposition. If the Republicans hold firm, they can successfully filibuster the bill. Even though Republicans are slightly less unified on the president’s proposal to cap carbon emissions, it too is in serious danger. Some Republicans, such as Sen. John McCain, support the idea. But industrial-state Democrats are balking. A prolonged debate on the subject probably would not help the bill’s chances. Even voters who fear global warming are unwilling to see their energy bills rise a lot to mitigate far-off risks. The recession is also making the environment a lower priority for voters. Selling emissions permits would raise a lot of money for the government, so losing on capand-trade might force Obama to scale back some of his spending promises. If Congress also rejects Obama’s proposal to raise taxes on charitable
donations and mortgage interest, Obama’s hole gets deeper. On three other issues, Obama is more likely to get his way. The most consequential of these issues is health care. Republicans worry that liberal health-care reform would make voters more dependent on government and thus better disposed toward liberal policies and politicians. But voters and businesses are unhappy with the current system, Democrats are united, at least at the moment, and some Republicans are tempted to compromise. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah has recently said that he would like to get a health-care bill enacted as a tribute to his ailing friend, Sen. Ted Kennedy. Chuck Grassley, the leading
“Broad
Republican Unity”
Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, has expressed interest in a deal. And several Republicans-including Bob Bennett of Utah and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina-have endorsed a bill that purports to deliver universal health coverage through the private sector. It does this by turning private insurers into heavily regulated public utilities and forcing people to buy their products. Most Republicans will find it hard to embrace that position. But Republican strategists nearly uniformly believe that Republicans cannot get by without presenting a big health-care reform of their own. To be attractive, that alternative must help more
people buy insurance, make that insurance cheaper, and make it easier for people to take their insurance with them from job to job. It need not, however, cover absolutely everyone-and probably should not, given the mandates and costs associated with universality. There is nothing Republicans can do to keep taxes from rising. The Bush tax cuts are already scheduled to expire. Republicans can, however, resist any tax increases beyond the restoration of the late-Clinton-era tax code. States are already raising taxes to deal with their budget crunches, and not just taxes on high earners. “If people get mad about taxes, they don’t sit back and carefully think through if they’re mad at the state legislature or the county assessor or the federal government,” says influential former Republican congressman Vin Weber. “They just get mad about taxes.” Which is likely bad news for Democrats. Another thing Republicans cannot do is to keep liberal activists off the federal bench. In the Bush years many of them went on record saying that it is unfair, and maybe even unconstitutional, to deny confirmation to judicial nominees who had the support of 51 senators. They cannot all credibly flip-flop now. What Republicans can do, however, is to spotlight the most outrageous nominees, particularly the ones who have shown a proclivity for using judicial power to promote liberal social values, and use adverse publicity to block them. They can also spend time making the case for a judiciary confined to its proper constitutional role. An extended, slowed-down debate on judicial nominees is in the party’s interest. (And if it takes time away from the rest of Obama’s agenda, so much the better.) Republicans should beware of getting bogged down in procedural arguments. Because centrist pundits are questioning whether Obama has continued, page 6
5
How We Fight, continued
put too many issues on his plate, Republicans are echoing that concern. They are also criticizing Democrats who suggest using procedural maneuvers to enact sweeping legislation on health care and the environment with a simple majority vote of the Senate. The more they make these arguments, though, the more Republicans will come across as mere obstructionists rather than as principled opponents of Obama’s agenda. The public will not follow inside-the-Beltway debates about the proper scope of “budget reconciliation” in congressional rules. Republicans should not let such wrangling overshadow their case on the merits against Obama’s plans. Surprising issues will pop up between now and the 2010 elections. Nobody would have predicted in January 1993 that President Clinton’s choice of a surgeon general would become a serious political liability, and nobody much remembers that appointee,
Joycelyn Elders, now. But she became a high-profile illustration of the administration’s determination to push the envelope on cultural liberalism. Republicans should keep an eye out for such issues. The conventional wisdom is that Republicans cannot take either the House or the Senate in 2010, and that in the Senate in particular “the map” will work against them: More Republican seats will be up for grabs than Democratic ones. But “the map” didn’t favor Democrats in 2006, and few people thought they would take the Senate as well as the House, and yet they did. We don’t know what the political environment in the fall of 2010 will be. But credible Republican candidates are considering Senate races to take Democratic seats in Connecticut, North Dakota, Delaware, Illinois, Nevada, and New York. (In Delaware, Republican congressman Mike Castle leads Beau Biden, the vice president’s son.) If Republicans
take a few of these seats--all currently or formerly held by high-ranking Democrats, none of them Southern-the party’s revival will be well underway. One test for Michael Steele, the new party chairman, will be whether he gives these candidates the resources they need. “This is a good environment for recruiting [candidates],” says former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie. “There’s a sense out there for Republicans of rising fortunes. The pendulum may be about to swing soon.” Gillespie (like other Republican strategists I consulted) does not overstate the Republican recovery. He understands that President Obama and the Democrats are not in serious political danger. Yet. © 2009 by National Review, Inc., 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016. Reprinted by permission.
Secretary of State Beth Chapman to Run for Re-Election On April 6, 2009, Secretary of State Beth Chapman announced her intention to seek reelection in 2010. Chapman was elected Alabama’s fifty-first Secretary of State in 2006 after being elected and serving a four year term as State Auditor. During her two years as Secretary of State, Chapman has achieved numerous historic accomplishments. She established the first Voter Fraud Task Force as a division of the office, and oversaw the largest election in Alabama’s history, which was labeled as “virtually flawless,” despite having to overcome the negative effects of a Federal lawsuit she inherited from her predecessor. Chapman has brought the Secretary of State’s Office into the 21st century, using technology to provide a more efficient and effective website viewed
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by thousands of businesses daily. UCC financing statements and amendments, which were once an issue of grave concern for Alabama businesses, were greatly improved and operating online for the first time in history in less than one year of Chapman’s taking office. Chapman has been an outspoken advocate for the implementation of electronic voting for members of the military. She chaired Alabama’s Military and Overseas Voting Task Force and she has addressed Congress on the need for improved military voting. She has appeared on the National Armed Forces network and the Pentagon Broadcast to advance these efforts. Under her leadership, Alabama became the first of only three states to join the Overseas Vote Foundation in providing online
voter registration assistance for military and overseas voters. “Serving as Alabama’s Secretary of State has been a tremendous honor for me,” Chapman said. “My staff and I will continue our efforts to stop voter fraud, provide fair and honest elections, computerize Alabama’s business filings and simplify the military’s right to vote.” Chapman serves as the co-chairman of the National Association of Secretaries of State’s International Relations Committee. She is a member of the Executive Board of the Standards Board of the United States Election Assistance Commission and the PEW Charitable Trust Military Voting Alliance. She is a recipient of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Distinguished Public Leadership Award.
State Senator Hank Erwin Announces Candidacy for Lieutenant Governor On April 19, 2009, State Senator Hank Erwin launched his bid for Lt. Governor in 2010 before a cheering crowd of supporters at the Pelham Civic Center. “I chose April 19th to announce my candidacy because of history,” said Erwin. “Sixty-four years ago on April 19th, my late father received the Congressional Medal of Honor,” he said. Henry E. “Red” Erwin was awarded the nation’s highest military award because of heroic actions in saving his crew aboard a B-29 bomber over Japan in 1945. When a bomb malfunctioned and exploded in the plane, Erwin picked it up with his bare hands, carried it through the plane, and threw it out the co-pilot’s window. Although he suffered grave burns and was not expected to live, he survived his wounds and returned to Alabama. He passed away in 2002 at age 80.
“My father was approached years ago about running for Lt. Governor,” said Senator Erwin. “He turned down the opportunity so that he could help my mother raise our family of four children. Now I want to fulfill his dream.” Erwin plans on a campaign of higher standards. “I am pro-life, pro-gun, pro-family,” said Erwin. “I want higher standards to protect the unborn, to protect our homes, and to protect our families from the downward secular spiral in our culture. I intend to hold the line for the family.” Erwin expressed outrage over the 62% pay raise the Legislature passed for itself without a vote of the people. Erwin turned it down. “The manner in which that pay raise for legislators was passed was atrocious and Lt. Gov. Folsom bears
full responsibility for that,” said Erwin. “Folsom was the one person with the power to stop the pay raise. But, instead of standing up for the taxpayers, he gaveled the pay raise through.” Erwin continued, “If I am elected, no one will ever steal the taxpayers’ money again!” Erwin also expressed concern about the economy. He wants more jobs, but not through expanded gambling. “I intend to build a first class motion picture industry in Alabama,” said Erwin. “It will produce clean money that we can use to keep our teachers on the job.” Erwin is in his second term as a Senator. He and his wife Sheila have been married for thirty-seven years. They have two grown married sons and two grandchildren.
State Representative Cam Ward Announces Candidacy for District 14 Senate Seat On April 20, Republican State Representative Cam Ward announced that he wil run for the Alabama Senate in District 14. The seat is currently held by Senator Henry “Hank” Erwin who announced April 29 he will be a candidate for Lieutenant Governor next year. Representative Ward, an attorney working in economic development, has represented District 49 in the Alabama House of Representatives since being elected in November 2002. He is currently Vice Chairman of the House Republican Caucus andhas been active in the Republican Party on the state and national levels for nearly two decades. “The Republican Party and the State of Alabama are at a pivotal point where tremendous decisions must
be made about our future. Running for the Senate is an opportunity to continue listening to the concerns of the citizens and be an even stronger advocate for them in Montgomery. I am excited to throw my hat into the ring with a goal of providing conservative, proactive leadership for the citizens of Senate District 14,” Rep. Ward said. Ward made his announcement during visits throughout the district in Clanton, Centreville, Helena and also an online interview at the popular Alabama Political Blog, Doc’s Political Parlor. Ward’s current legislative district includes parts of Shelby and Bibb Counties. Senate District 14 encompasses all of Chilton County and parts of Bibb, Jefferson and Shelby Counties.
Ward has been recognized by multiple organizations for his work in the Alabama Legislature. He was recently named State Elected Official of the Year in 2008 by Easter Seals of the United States, a Legislator of the Year forthe Rural Conservation and Development Council, and ARC of Alabama’s Public Advocate Award for 2008. Rep. Ward is married to the former Julie Cain, and they have a daughter, Riley. They are members of Westwood Baptist Church in Alabaster.
Ward’s daugher, Riley, proudly supports her father’s candidacy
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The logic of Obama’s address to Congress went like this: “Our economy did not fall into decline overnight,” he averred. Indeed, it all began before the housing crisis. What did we do wrong? We are paying for past sins in three principal areas: energy, health care and education -- importing too much oil and not finding new sources of energy (as in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Outer Continental Shelf?), not reforming health care, and tolerating too many bad schools. The “day of reckoning” has arrived. And because “it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we’ll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament,” Obama has come to redeem us with his far-seeing program of universal, heavily nationalized health care; a cap-and-trade tax on energy; and a major federalization of education with universal access to college as the goal.
The Great Non Sequitur
The Sleight of Hand Behind Obama’s Agenda by
Charles Krauthammer
Forget the pork. Forget the waste. Forget the 8,570 earmarks in a bill supported by a president who poses as the scourge of earmarks. Forget the “2 trillion dollars in savings” that “we have already identified,” $1.6 trillion of which President Obama’s budget director later admits is the “savings” of not continuing the surge in Iraq until 2019 -- 11 years after George Bush ended it, and eight years after even Bush would have had us out of Iraq completely.
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Forget all of this. This is run-of-themill budget trickery. True, Obama’s tricks come festooned with strings of zeros tacked onto the end. But that’s a matter of scale, not principle. All presidents do that. But few undertake the kind of brazen deception at the heart of Obama’s radically transformative economic plan, a rhetorical sleight of hand so smoothly offered that few noticed.
Amazing. As an explanation of our current economic difficulties, this is total fantasy. As a cure for rapidly growing joblessness, a massive destruction of wealth, a deepening worldwide recession, this is perhaps the greatest non sequitur ever foisted upon the American people. At the very center of our economic near-depression is a credit bubble, a housing collapse and a systemic failure of the banking industry. One can come up with a host of causes: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pushed by Washington (and greed) into improvident loans, corrupted bond-ratings agencies, insufficient regulation of new and exotic debt instruments, the easy money policy of Alan Greenspan’s Fed, irresponsible bankers pushing (and then unloading in packaged loan instruments) highly dubious mortgages, greedy houseflippers, deceitful home buyers. The list is long. But the list of causes of the collapse of the financial system does not include the absence of
universal health care, let alone of computerized medical records. Nor the absence of an industry-killing cap-and-trade carbon levy. Nor the lack of college graduates. Indeed, one could perversely make the case that, if anything, the proliferation of overeducated, Gucci-wearing, smart-ass MBAs inventing ever more sophisticated and opaque mathematical models and debt instruments helped get us into this credit catastrophe. And yet with our financial house on fire, Obama makes clear both in his speech and his budget that the essence of his presidency will be the transformation of health care, education and energy. Four months after winning the election, six weeks after his swearing-in, Obama has yet to unveil a plan to deal with the banking crisis. What’s going on? “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” said chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. “This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before.” Things. Now we know what they are. The markets’ recent precipitous decline is a reaction not just to the absence of any plausible bank rescue plan, but also to the suspicion that Obama sees the continuing financial crisis as usefully creating the psychological conditions -- the sense of crisis bordering on fear-itself panic -- for enacting his “Big Bang” agenda to federalize and/ or socialize health care, education and energy, the commanding heights of post-industrial society. Clever politics, but intellectually dishonest to the core. Health, education and energy -- worthy and weighty as they may be -- are not the cause of our financial collapse. And they are not the cure. The fraudulent claim that they are both cause and cure is the rhetorical device by which an ambitious president intends to enact the most radical agenda of social transformation seen in our lifetime. Reprinted with permission.
Book Review: Liberty and Tyranny
Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin was released on March 24, 2009 and immediately became number #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. This book is one that I believe to be timely as well as a timeless description of the ideas that define the conservative movement. At a time when our nation’s government is teetering on the brink of socialism, Levin’s book offers an intellectual look at the conservative values on which this country was founded and the efforts of the modern liberal to undermine them. Levin focuses on the individual versus the statist (the modern liberal), rather than Republican versus Democrat or even Right versus Left. He defines conservatism as a way of understanding life, society, and governance as the Founders of our nation intended. He describes the Founders as guided by the political philosophies of Adam Smith and John Locke, among others, and he explores in some detail the Founders’ belief in the dignity of the individual and in our rights, as human beings, to live freely and pursue our own destiny as we see fit, not because any man-made government says so, but because these are God-given natural rights. The theory of Liberty and Tyranny is that the conservative believes in the protection of these rights of the individual, who is a unique, spiritual being with a soul and a conscience; and that the individual must be guided by morality to respect the rights of others in order to flourish in a civil society. Furthermore, he contends, the conservative views government as a necessary evil that must be kept in check. The liberal, on the other hand, believes in the supremacy of the state and that the individual is
Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin
Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Threshold Editions (March 21, 2009)
an impediment to the objective of a utopian state. The liberal, which Levin labels a “statist,” pursues what Alexis de Tocqueville described as a “soft tyranny” through growth of the state, eventually leading to a hard tyranny through some form of totalitarianism. The book follows the struggle of Liberty versus Tyranny through the Founding Fathers and the Constitution, followed by the statist’s counterrevolution of the New Deal, to the collapse of the economy due to government intervention, and other issues of today. He tackles such topics as the free market and welfare, environmentalism, and immigration to illustrate the beliefs of the conservative and the tactics of the statist to gain power and undermine the individual. The final portion is about what the reader can do, and what we can do as a party, to slow the advance of tyranny and restore the country to the ideals of liberty on which it was founded. While Levin is a constitutional scholar and the material covered in his book is rather technical at times, he writes in such a manner that the common man (namely me) can understand and enjoy. It explains the conservative ideals in a manner that is scholarly yet accessible to all. Andrew Plaster is Secretary of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee and Managing Editor of the Red State Review.
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CALENDAR OF AREA REPUBLICAN EVENTS CALENDAR KEY
State and County Parties
ALGOP Alabama Republican Party - www. algop.org - For information about the State Party, log on to its website or contact Phillip Bryan (pbryan@algop.org).
Local Republican Clubs
Jefferson GOP Executive Committee - www. jeffco-gop.com – Meets quarterly on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm at the Homewood Library. Contact Gilbert Douglas (ke4nrl@bellsouth.net) for more information. Shelby GOP Executive Committee - www. shelbycountygop.org – Meets quarterly on the second Tuesday of the month at 7pm at the Shelby County Services Building.
3
10
17
Republican Women - www. greaterbirminghamrepublicanwomen.com - Meets second Monday of every month at 11:30am at B&A Warehouse. Contact Holly Lollar (shepherd_holly@hotmail.com) for more information.
RWOT Republican Women of Trussville www.republicanwomenoftrussville.org - Meets second Thursday of every month at 10:30am at the Grayson Valley Country Club. May meeting is at 6pm. Contact Leigh Ann Corvin (lacorvin@republicanwomenoftrussville.org) for more information.
GBYR Greater Birmingham Young
WARC Western Area Republican Club -
- Serves Jefferson and Shelby Counties. Meets second Saturday of every month for breakfast and program at 8:30am at Piccadilly Cafeteria in Hoover. Contact Paul DeMarco (pauldemarco@pljpc.com) for more information.
TUES
WED
4
11
18
WARC Meeting
THURS
5
6
12
13
Tuscaloosa GOP Meeting
GBRW Meeting
Meets third Monday of every month at 11:30am at Home Plate Diner in Hueytown. Contact Gerald Hicks (hickssg9@aol.com) for more information.
MARC Mid-Alabama Republican Club
Tuscaloosa GOP Executive Committee - www. tuscaloosagop.org – Meets first Monday of every month at 7pm at the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse Annex. Contact John Merrill (john@tuscaloosagop.org) for more information.
MON
GBRW Greater Birmingham
- www.rwos.org - Meets fourth Wednesday of every month at 10:30am at the Vestavia Hills Country Club. Contact Cindy Douglas (candouglas@bellsouth.net) for more information.
Republicans - www.gbyr.us - Meets second Thursday of every month at 6pm at the Fox and Hound Restaurant in the Colonnade. For more information, contact Chris Brown at cb@ southerninsights.com.
Talladega GOP Executive Committee - www. talladegacountygop.com - Meets third Thursday of every month at 6pm at the Golden Eagle Restaurant in Talladega.
SUN
RWOS Republican Women of the South
Serves eastern area of Jefferson County. Meets last Thursday of every month at 6pm at the Golden Corral in Roebuck. Contact Wayne Turner (fwayne0216@aol.com) for more information.
Bibb GOP Executive Committee - Meets third Thursday of every month at 7pm at the Saw Mill Restaurant in Brent. Contact Bob Jameson (rsj4@bellsouth.net) for more information.
MAY
EARC Eastern Area Republican Club -
Shelby GOP Meeting
19
FRI
1
SAT
2
7
8
14
15
16
22
23
29
30
GBYR Meeting
9
MARC Meeting
RWOT Meeting special time: 6pm
20
21
Bibb GOP Meeting Talladega GOP Meeting
25
24 31
10
26
Jefferson GOP Meeting
27
RWOS Meeting
28
EARC Meeting
JUNE SUN
MON
1
TUES
2
Tuscaloosa GOP Meeting
WED
3
THURS
4
FRI
5
SAT
6
Jefferson GOP Golf Tourament*
7
14
8
GBRW Meeting
Shelby GOP Steering Committee Meeting
15
9
10
12
13
MARC Meeting
RWOT Meeting
16
WARC Meeting
11
GBYR Meeting
17
18
Bobb GOP Meeting
19
20
26
27
Talladega GOP Meeting
21
22
23
28
29
30
24
RWOS Meeting
25
EARC Meeting
ALGOP Summer Dinner
ALGOP Summer Meeting
* For more information on the Jefferson County GOP’s Annual Goft Tournament, visit www.jeffco-gop.com
JULY SUN
MON
5
12
19
26
TUES
6
Tuscaloosa GOP Meeting
13
GBRW Meeting
WED
7
8
2
9
GBYR Meeting
FRI
3
10
SAT
4
11
MARC Meeting
RWOT Meeting
14
Shelby GOP Steering Committee Meeting
20
21
27
28
WARC Meeting
1
THURS
15
16
17
18
23
24
25
30
31
Bibb GOP Meeting Talladega GOP Meeting
22
RWOS Meeting
29
EARC Meeting
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Grocery Tax Cut Really a Tax Increase in Disguise by
Cam Ward
I have long supported cutting taxes as an effective means of stimulating the economy and providing citizens the financial relief they deserve, and Republicans in the legislature are no different. In the past few years, we have successfully promoted the first state income tax cut in more than 70 years and pushed an historic small business tax deduction that assists employers in providing affordable health insurance coverage to those who work for them despite opposition from well entrenched special interests. Given this history of tax reform, you may ask yourself why House Republicans voted as a group this week to block a bill that would remove the state sales tax from groceries and food items. To be honest the answer is that the bill was just too good to be true. Rep. John Knight (D – Montgomery), did make an honest effort to remove the four percent state sales tax from groceries, but it paid for the measure by repealing the state tax exemption on federal income taxes that you pay to the government. The net result would
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be one group of Alabama citizens reaping most of the benefits while another group of taxpayers absorbs all of the pain. If this legislation were enacted, approximately one-third of taxpaying families in the state would see their taxes increase dramatically, and small businesses organized as limited liability companies would experience substantial increases at this time of unprecedented economic turmoil. When coupled with the upcoming expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the new federal income tax increases will occur under President Obama’s budget in 2010-2011, many Alabama families and small business owners would find their personal finances crippled under the plan that came before the House. We are in the worst economic crisis in generations. Wall Street is on a rollercoaster ride, and small business owners are worried about simply keeping the doors open at their current level of taxation. Now is simply not the time to raise taxes on any segment of the economy.
There are alternative methods to removing the sales tax on groceries, and if can just sit down in a true bi-partisan manner then I believe we could agree on a plan that does not require their $100 million tax increase. In Idaho for example a tax program has been created that provides citizens who file state returns with a year-end rebate for the grocery taxes they pay. This system of would allow for Alabama to give as meaningful tax break to those who deserve it the most- those who annually make less than the state or federal poverty level for income. Everyone agrees that there is a real need to reform our tax code by slashing state taxes on groceries, but a multi-million dollar tax increase is definitely not the way to achieve this goal. A real, bi-partisan discussion on this issue would help all of our citizens get beyond the rhetoric and into solving real problems facing our state. Cam Ward is the State Representative for District 49, which covers western Shelby County and Bibb County. He is also a contributing editor to the Red State Review.
Joining the Shelby GOP Club A common misconception exists that the only means of affiliation with the Shelby County Republican Party is through membership on the executive committee. While that is certainly a meaningful position, it is not the only way to identify with the Party. There are considerably more functional ways, and in wide variety, of contributing to the Shelby County Republican Party as a volunteer and/or financial contributor. We encourage you to participate as a sustaining financial supporter by joining the Shelby County GOP Club. Membership in the Shelby County GOP Club provides affiliation with and information about our Party and its activities, yet, unlike membership on the executive committee, requires no meeting attendance (though attendance at all Party meetings and activities is certainly welcome!). The three levels of membership, detailed at right, provide a variety of benefits for club members. Please
consider becoming a financial supporter by joining the Shelby County GOP Club. To join, you may visit our website and click the “donate” bar on the menu (this section is presently under construction and should be fully functional by the evening of our next executive committee meeting on May 12), email SCGOP Chairman Freddy Ard at fredard@charter.net for a copy of the registration form, or complete your registration in person at the headquarters. As a political organization, the Shelby County Republican Party relies on your financial generosity so that it can continue to help elect Republican candidates, both here in Shelby County and across the State of Alabama. Please help us spread the conservative message of small government, low taxes, and family values. Please become a contributor today as a member of the Shelby County GOP Club!
PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP ($300 annually or $25/month) • Invitations to, and discounted tickets for, Shelby County Republican Party (SCGOP) events • Subscription to the Red State Review, the SCGOP’s quarterly newsletter . Email updates about SCGOP events and activities • Membership card • Membership in the Alabama Republican Party (ALGOP) Capitol Club • ALGOP lapel pin • Email updates from the State Party Chairman • Invitation to ALGOP events STANDARD MEMBERSHIP ($120 annually or $10/month) • Invitations to, and discounted tickets for, Shelby County Republican Party (SCGOP) events • Subscription to the Red State Review, the SCGOP’s quarterly newsletter • Email updates about SCGOP events and activities • Membership card SUSTAINING MEMBERSHIP ($60 annually or $5/month) • Invitations to Shelby County Republican Party (SCGOP) events • Subscription to the Red State Review, the SCGOP’s quarterly newsletter • Email updates about SCGOP events and activities • Membership card
seen
& noted:
Tax Day Tea Party Outreach Director Jessica Breland with intern Alex Cobb at the Tax Day Tea Party.
Over 7000 people were reported to have attended the event at Veteran’s Park.
Local radio hosts Rick Burgess and Bill “Bubba” Bussey were among those who addressed the crowd.
This attendee dressed in period clothing and stood before an enlarged copy of the U.S. Constitution.
April 15, 2009, was National Tea Party Day. Over 7,000 people came together on a chilly night at Veteran’s Park on Valleydale Road to show their solidarity against high taxes and irresponsible government spending. It was truly a high energy event! The Shelby County Republican Party was on hand conducting voter registration and volunteer recruitment.
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The True Purpose of the Employee Free Choice Act by Joe
Sarver
Congress is once again debating the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act,” or EFCA, as it is better known. The EFCA has been Big Labor’s number one priority for the last few years. Its impact, if passed, will forever change the landscape of labor-management relations to the detriment of our nation’s economic well-being. Packaged in, and sanitized by, a phony label (who could really be against workers having choices?), the real purpose of the EFCA is not to protect and aid workers. To the contrary, its purpose is to increase the wealth and political clout of Big Labor bosses and fill the coffers of the Democrat Party. Historically, unions were about worker safety and improved working conditions. Over the last eighty years, however, those traditional functions of labor unions have been outsourced to the federal government in the forms of the various labor oversight agencies such as the Occupational Safety and
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Health Administration, better known as OSHA. The result of increased government involvement in workplace oversight? Union membership has declined to 12.4 percent of employed wage and salary workers in 2008 from its peak of 32.5 percent in 1953. What growth there is occurs largely in the public sector. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 36.8 percent of government employees belong to unions, compared with just 7.6 percent of workers in the private sector. Typically, state and city officials do not fight unionization efforts, while private-sector employers, fearing higher labor costs, often vigorously resist organizing drives. With much of their original purpose having disappeared over the last century, how do unions strive to remain relevant today? A visit to the website of the AFL-CIO, the godfather of the labor movement, answers that question. The mission
statement located on the website provides: “The mission of the AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families—to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation. To accomplish this mission we will build and change the American labor movement. “We will build a broad movement of American workers by organizing workers into unions. We will recruit and train the next generation of organizers, mass the resources needed to organize and create the strategies to win organizing campaigns and union contracts. We will create a broad understanding of the need to organize among our members, our leadership and among unorganized workers. We will lead the labor movement in these efforts.
“We will build a strong political voice for workers in our nation. We will fight for an agenda for working families at all levels of government. We will empower state federations. We will build a broad progressive coalition that speaks out for social and economic justice. We will create a political force within the labor movement that will empower workers and speak forcefully on the public issues that affect our lives. “We will change our unions to provide a new voice to workers in a changing economy. We will speak for working people in the global economy, in the industries in which we are employed, in the firms where we work, and on the job every day. We will transform the role of the union from an organization that focuses on a member’s contract to one that gives workers a say in all the decisions that affect our working lives—from capital investments, to the quality of our products and services, to how we organize our work. “We will change our labor movement by creating a new voice for workers in our communities. We will make the voices of working families heard across our nation and in our neighborhoods. We will create vibrant community labor councils that reach out to workers at the local level. We will strengthen the ties of labor to our allies. We will speak out in effective and creative ways on behalf of all working Americans.” Apparently, the AFL-CIO is no longer interested in worker safety or working conditions. Instead, its focus is on building political clout to advance the cause of “economic and social justice,” which, of course, is liberal-speak for wealth redistribution through punitive taxation and other socialistic mechanisms. Karl Marx would be proud. So how does the EFCA advance the new purpose of unions? Simply put, the EFCA seeks to force unionism on the workplace. It will allow union organizers to know which workers
are blocking efforts at unionizing in a workplace so that they will be able to intimidate them. Daniel Griswold, director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Trade Policy Studies, recently summed up the changes imposed by the EFCA in an article appearing in Investor’s Business Daily: “The so-called Employee Free Choice Act would ease the task of union organizing by essentially jettisoning the secret ballot for union elections. Instead, workers will be asked to sign cards until a majority in a given workplace agrees to be represented by a union. Without a formally announced election date, the socalled ‘card check’ process could be conducted largely in secret. “This would deny dissident workers as well as management any meaningful opportunity to present alternative views that would give workers a more complete picture of what is at stake, and limit the information available to workers. “This process also strips anonymity. Workers who refuse to sign will be known to union organizers and obviously open to intimidation. The secret ballot, long a pillar of representative government, would be abolished in the workplace. “…. “Under the imperfect but workable system currently in place, Americans who want to join a union can do so, but they also enjoy the protection of a secret ballot after hearing both sides of the argument, all administered by the National Labor Relations Board.” Why on earth would the “party of the little man,” as the Democrat Party fancies itself, support Big Labor in its quest to silence the “little man” who does not want a union? Power and wealth are the obvious answers. The true effect of the EFCA will be to increase the flow of union dues to the union hierarchy for whatever mischief it wants to make. It will also guarantee a never ending flow
of campaign money and workers to Democrat candidates. Presently, we are witnessing the dangers of a government completely in the control of the Democrat Party. However, we can hold out the realistic hope that the American people will realize, just as they did in 1994, that liberal governmental policies are antithetical to both the economic and social well-being of our country. Imagine, however, a Democrat Party supported by a Big Labor machine that doubles in size. Imagine Democrat candidates up and down the ballot with “blank-check” funding for their campaigns. Imagine an unending supply of electoral support workers for every Democrat candidate. That’s the political wilderness in which Republicans will find themselves should the EFCA be enacted. At a time when our manufacturing and service industries need to become more efficient and productive, the EFCA will do the opposite. As GM, Chrysler, and Ford have shown, the burden of onerous and uncooperative unions can destroy an entire industry. The union worker may indeed average 30 percent more in wages, but that assumes that he or she has a job. What happens to an industry’s workers, union and nonunion, when that industry disappears? No, the EFCA is not about protecting the American worker, nor is it about protecting America’s economic engine. It is about increasing the power, wealth, and protection of the Big Labor bosses and their political lap dog, the Democrat Party. For the sake of our economy, for the sake of workers’ rights, and for the sake of our Republican Party, the EFCA must be defeated. Joe Sarver is a member of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee and a Contributing Editor to the Red State Review.
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in three budgets that are cut in the middle of a school year. According to a recent report, in the first five months of this fiscal year, tax collections for the state’s Education Trust Fund are down $173.1 million, or 7.3 percent, as compared to last year. This would require budget cuts, or proration, of 12 percent. Gov. Riley mitigated this year’s tough cuts by moving $221 million from a rainy day account to boost education funding to about $5.7 billion. This move reduced the proration rate to 9 percent. However, having to reduce state spending by 9 percent on education will leave many classrooms in need. That’s real money, even in Montgomery. It should be clear to everyone that our current Education Trust Fund budget process needs an energetic overhaul for these volatile times.
And The Winner Is … by
Michael Ciamarra
With the 2009 legislative session nearly half over, the early award to the most innovative and thoughtful reform proposal has to go to the Rolling Reserve Budget Act sponsored by Rep. Greg Canfield. If adopted, it would dramatically change the way the state’s education dollars are budgeted, save taxpayers money, ensure quality educational outcomes, meet future capital needs for construction and renovation of schools and be a simple end to proration. Spend a few moments with state Rep. Greg Canfield of Vestavia Hills and you’ll quickly realize this is a man on a mission. His contagious enthusiasm for seeking real solutions sets him apart from many others in public life. As a freshmen legislator, he works tirelessly for reforming the state’s budgeting process; his knowledge of the true fiscal condition of the state is remarkable. Tough, real-world fiscal insights make him even more
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formidable for the opponents of real change as well as those who have rigged the rules for special interests. Rep. Canfield comes from a world of numbers, finances, and actuarial tables (his background is in financial services and insurance) and he went to Montgomery to change an inefficient budgeting process which has become dependent on income and sales taxes. As Rep. Canfield points out, proration and budget reform aren’t abstract policy discussion points. This issue profoundly touches the lives of children in public schools and higher education. To protect current and future taxpayers, proration is a measure which forces the state to make budget cuts rather than spend more money than it has -- unlike the federal government which just this year started with $3.6 trillion and added from there. Over the last 30 years, proration has been declared nine times. That’s almost one
The current budget process is based on projecting the annual change in Education Trust Fund (ETF) revenues. The revenues directed to fund the ETF are subject to changes in the economy and the range of total revenue varies widely from year to year making such projections not as secure as it should be. Rolling Reserve Budgeting is based on averaging the growth rate in the ETF revenues over a 15 -year period of time. The revenues that fund education are in the economy and annual revenue growth rates. As Rep. Canfield points out, revenues can vary as much as -3.1 percent reported in Fiscal Year (FY) 1982 to +13.7 percent reported in FY 1983. There’s no question, as many reformers over the years have observed, these extreme revenue fluctuations make forecasting ETF revenues difficult on a yearly basis. Rep. Canfield’s idea would be to model Rolling Reserve Budgeting from FY 1996 through FY 2009. His model shows that the Rolling Reserve would have produced annual ETF revenues that would have grown in a range of 4.2 percent to almost 7 percent while
setting aside built-in reserves and ensuring proration did not occur. As Rep. Canfield explains, each year modeled in his new budget process grew funding at a rate that consistently beat inflation. And it gets better. Rep. Canfield’s Rolling Reserve Budget Act would also sets aside funds to pay towards the $17.1 billion worth of unfunded liabilities which are related to securing the future of the Teachers’ Retirement System and the health insurance plan for retired educators. As Rep. Canfield quickly points out, it is time to come to the rescue of our schools, our teachers and Alabama’s public education system. I should also add that it is time for legislative budget chairs to become more responsive to the realities of change and adopt the Rolling Reserve Budget Act. The Rolling Reserve Budget doesn’t address all budget and spending ills in Montgomery. For example, the state’s General Fund, which will be cut by 10 percent this year, still needs much
attention to move it from perpetual budget shortfalls to predictable and steady revenue. That is another battle for another day, hopefully soon. Moreover, rational education budgeting is one reform of the many needed to create an education system for the 21st century. The recent Report Card on American Education, published by the bi-partisan legislative group the American Legislative Exchange Council, ranks Alabama 47th in the nation in terms of educational inputs versus educational results. Rolling Reserve will maximize accuracy, sustain long-term growth in education funding and eliminate proration in the future. If we don’t act soon, Montgomery budget writers will effectively fall behind in adopting the pro-growth solutions necessary to meet the extreme fiscal challenges confronting the nation and Alabama. Rep. Canfield exudes the entrepreneurial, innovative and optimistic motto of Rear Admiral
Eugene Fluckey of WWII fame who said “we don’t have problems, just solutions.” Viewing the world, even at the state legislative level, in terms of solutions that are achievable and not in terms of problems, is what makes Rep. Canfield’s Rolling Reserve Budget up to that challenge. So, first place for the 2009 Alabama Legislature Reform Award goes to House Bill 509. We need more leaders like Rep. Canfield who can make us all believe that “we don’t have problems, just solutions.” Michael Ciamarra is a vice president of the Alabama Policy Institute and Alabama chair of American Solutions. He can be reached at michaelc@ alabamapolicy.org. Read his blog on Alabama’s Legislature, policy and politics. You can also follow Michael on Twitter @MichaelCiamarra Note: This column is a copyrighted feature distributed free of charge by the Alabama Policy Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and API are properly cited. For information or comments contact: David Sawyer, API Director of Communications, 402 Office Park Drive, Suite 300, Birmingham, Alabama 35223, (205) 870-9900, e-mail davids@alabamapolicy.org. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this column, please e-mail joannel@alabamapolicy.org.
seen
& noted:
Gov. Riley Visits Shelby County Governor Riley addresses the audience, speaking out against pending gambling legislation.
Rep. Ward, Rep. McClurkin, Rep. Hill, and Sen. Erwin voice their opposition to gambling legislation.
Over a hundred people turned out on a moment’s notice to rally against gambling.
There was standing-room only as the crowd awaited Governor Riley’s address.
Governor Bob Riley paid a visit to Shelby County on Tuesday, February 24, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. He chose Shelby County to present an update and call to action against legislation that would significantly increase gambling throughout the State of Alabama.The short notice did not prevent Shelby County Republican leaders from leaping into action. Standing room only, a cheering crowd warmly and excitedly welcomed the Governor and First Lady Patsy Riley.
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Green Bubbles Bursting by
With the selling of President Obama’s economic agenda now in full gear, this is a good time to take stock of his energy plans against the background of energy trends worldwide. Alas, even a brief glimpse reveals that Obama’s focus on renewable energy and the introduction of a cap-andtrade regime runs counter to both economic rationality and current energy trends to the point of guaranteeing its inevitable failure, which will result in serious economic harm to the United States.
now the largest carbon-dioxide emitter in the world and can, at best, slow down but not stop carbon-emissions growth for the foreseeable future. As far as renewable energy proper is concerned, its share of total energy production not only is minuscule, but has actually declined over the past two years, according to Beijing’s State Electricity Council. There is, however, one clean-energy sector in which China is making a lot of progress and has even more ambitious plans for the future: nuclear power.
The president is imposing his green agenda on America, even as the renewable energy bubbles of the Left are bursting, and the world is witnessing the astounding comeback of the kind of energy Obama scrupulously avoids mentioning: nuclear power. To understand this surprising reality, the best place to start is to look at the record of the three countries Obama specifically mentioned in his address to Congress as leading the United States in the renewable-energy revolution: China, Japan, and Germany.
What about Japan? It does produce a lot of solar panels for export and subsidizes rooftop solar installation, but its renewable-energy production target for 2010 is only 3 percent. Instead, Tokyo plans to boost the share of nuclear power to 41 percent from the current 30 percent in less than a decade.
China, he said, “has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient.” True enough, but that effort has nothing to do with renewable energy, and it’s not even clear that it’s working. To the Chinese, energy efficiency means more efficient coal-burning equipment, co-generation, coal liquefaction, and other improvements of their primarily coal-based energy industry. Despite marginal improvements in this area, China is
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Alex Alexiev
This leaves Germany as a model for our green future. At first glance, it is a renewable-energy success story and, to no one’s surprise, it has become the poster child of the green fantasy universe. In just a few years, the country has become the world’s powerhouse of green energy, currently generating nearly 15 percent of its electricity from wind power and solar energy, which already exceeds the EU target of a 12.5 percent renewable share for 2010. A heartwarming story, it seems — until one starts asking questions as to how a country that has neither much sun, nor much wind, got there; how much it cost; and where it is going from here.
The reality, of course, is that it doesn’t matter how much sun or wind there is as long as the government provides huge subsidies at the expense of the taxpayer and of the economy’s future prospects. In Germany, through a scheme innocuously called “feed-in tariff,” this has meant guaranteeing solar producers, for instance, a price seven times higher than the wholesale rate for 20 years. No wonder every entrepreneur-for-the-dole promptly lined up to feed at the public trough and created an artificial industry overnight. Yet, with Germany’s electricity bill going up by 38 percent in just one year (2007 over 2006), this is hardly a sustainable proposition. If that’s not enough, several years of operational experience have proven what experts have known or feared for a long time: that renewable energy is not only very expensive but also highly inefficient and unreliable. Solar panels, for example, seldom convert more than 25 percent of sun energy into electricity, while wind power’s “load factor” — i.e., electricity produced per installed capacity — seldom exceeds 20 percent in Germany. The intermittent nature of both of these sources makes them completely unsuitable for baseload-grid consideration, meaning that they have to be backed up by conventional energy — which, of course, defeats the purpose of green energy as an alternative. Nor does the German and overall European experience with capand-trade provide any reason to be optimistic about the prospects of Obama’s plan to raise $646 billion through a similar scheme. Four years
after its introduction, the EU carbontrading scheme has failed to create a functioning emissions-permit market, to generate revenues, or to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions as promised, even as it led to large electricity-rate increases and windfall profits for some of the worst polluters on the Continent. The bottom line is that for the foreseeable future renewable energy will remain a pie-in-the-sky green fantasy, not feasible economically without huge public subsidies. Engaging in such economically irrational policies may have been understandable on the part of politically correct Western elites seeking to appease their hysterical environmental lobbies, especially when the stakes were small, energy prices were skyrocketing, and economic prosperity seemed assured. But those days are now gone and probably won’t be back for quite some time. Instead, under the perfect storm of collapsing energy prices, the worst economic crisis in decades, a severe credit crunch, and mass unemployment, the greenenergy bubble has burst. Around the world, Germany included, green subsidies are being slashed, renewableenergy projects are being canceled or postponed, private capital and credit institutions have abandoned the sector, and many of the once high-flying green companies are on the brink of bankruptcy. Green energy, long touted as our salvation from environmental doom, now appears doomed itself. This should be a cause for celebration, for out of the ruins of this irrational fantasy, a new, powerful trend toward clean, inexpensive, and reliable power is gathering steam, and it may finally bring some economic rationality to energy policy worldwide. It has taken the form of a remarkable economic comeback–cum–political rehabilitation of the much-maligned nuclear-power industry. Though Americans will hear neither their president nor his devoted claque in the “mainstream” media discuss this, it is already a powerful reality that may yet make the 21st century the century of nuclear power.
What is most remarkable about the nuclear-power revival is that it is a worldwide phenomenon that includes Western countries that until recently were staunch fellow travelers in the anti-nuclear bandwagon. Italy and Sweden, both of which had moratoriums on building nuclear reactors dating back to the 1980s, have now reversed course, and Germany will almost certainly follow shortly. Italy now plans to get 25 percent of its future electricity needs from eight new nuclear plants and has already contracted with a French company for the construction of the first four. Great Britain envisages not only refurbishing eight aging reactors, but also building ten new ones. France, which never succumbed to the anti-nuclear frenzy and already derives 80 percent of its electricity from 58 reactors, has become a world leader in nuclear technology — eclipsing the U.S. — and is aggressively moving forward with third-generation reactors at home and abroad. Farther east, Ukraine, despite its Chernobyl legacy, plans eleven new reactors by 2030, while Russia, an exporter of nuclear technology, wants to double its electricity output from nuclear power by 2020. Not to be left behind, Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Romania are either planning or already building new nuclear plants. In short, Europe, until recently a citadel of anti-nuclear fervor, is being transformed into a gigantic nuclearpower construction site. Elsewhere, the nuclear-power steamroller is making even more impressive inroads. India and China, likely economic superpowers of the future alongside the U.S., have both opted for nuclear energy in a decisive way. India, which today produces a meager 4,100 megawatts, or 3 percent of its electricity, from nuclear power, aims to boost that 15-fold, to 63,000 MWs, with 40 new reactors by 2032. It is already constructing five new plants and has just signed a contract with the French company Areva for up to six more third-generation reactors. China, which currently has a
nuclear-generating capacity of 9,000 MWs, plans to increase that to 40,000 MWs by 2020 and 63,000 MWs ten years later. Finally, Japan, which alongside France is a world leader in nuclear-electricity technology, is fully committed to nuclear power and intends to double its share of electricity production from the current 30 percent by mid-century. So where does this leave the U.S., and President Obama’s energy agenda? It leaves us in the unenviable position of being the only major economic power led by a president dogmatically wedded to yesterday’s make-believe universe of green energy that has already been debunked by reality in the rest of the world. Much as in Europe, renewable energy in America is in a dire predicament. By the end of 2008, American solar- and wind-power stocks had lost some four-fifths of their value — twice the loss rates of the general market — inflicting catastrophic losses on investors who had bought into the green hype. Investment and credit have both dried up and, despite the brave rhetoric of President Obama, there isn’t enough government money to make much difference in the absence of private capital. In just one example of the parlous state of renewable affairs, California, where sunlight is nearly as abundant as lack of environmental common sense, produces but 0.2 percent of its electricity from solar power after three decades of heavy subsidies. Worse may be in store. If Obama’s dubious energy agenda is rammed through Congress, as seems likely, not only are Americans going to be saddled with a crushing tax burden, courtesy of the bogus cap-and-trade scheme, but the country’s economic competitiveness could suffer lasting if not irreparable damage. Such are the wages of our renewable delusions. © 2009 by National Review, Inc., 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016. Reprinted by permission.
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Tuna Veggie Salad 3 envelopes Knox gelatin 2/3 cup mayonnaise 1 tbsp mustard 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 large can of white tuna 3/4 cup chopped celery 2 tbsp chopped onion 3 hard boiled eggs, finely chopped
with
Kay Ivey
1 cup LeSeur English peas, drained 1/2 cup pimento, chopped 1/2 cup salad olives w/ pimento, chopped
In this edition we are in the kitchen with Kay Ivey, State Treasurer of Alabama. “This is one of my most favorite concoctions by my late mother, Barbara N. Ivey of Camden. Tuna-veggie salad--perfect for a luncheon salad or a light lunch with crackers for those on the go. Keeps well refrigerated and available for nourishing light lunches even after using as a luncheon salad. Thank you for including me and this favorite recipe in the Shelby County Republican Newsletter�, said Ivey.
Shelby County Republican Party Mailing and Headquarters Address: SHELBY COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY 1920 Valleydale Road Suite 154 Birmingham, AL 35244 Phone: 205-821-5916 info@shelbycountygop.org Visit us online at: www.ShelbyCountyGOP.org
Paid for by the Shelby County Republican Party
1/4 cup sweet pickles, chopped 1/2 tsp salt 1. Dissolve gelatin in 1/2 cup of water. 2. Add all other ingredients and mix well. 3. Pour into individual salad molds or into a 10 x 6 inch Pyrex dish and cut into desired squares. 4. Serve on lettuce and garnish with parsley.