One Foot Forward: REPEAT: Quote of the Day

One Foot Forward: REPEAT: Quote of the Day: "In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future ...

City Retiree's Plan to sue Stockton

A group of Stockton retirees is seeking a restraining order against the bankrupt city's efforts to cut their health benefits, part of the city's "pendency plan" aimed at keeping it solvent while it seeks protections from creditors.

The city informed retirees by letter they must pay their premiums by July 30 or "medical coverage will be canceled retroactive to July 1."

Promises of lifelong health benefits have been blamed in part for Stockton's failure, which was also brought on by the housing bust, unemployment and borrowing for downtown development that did not bring expected results.

PHOTOS: California cities in bankruptcy

Dwane Milnes, who was Stockton's city manager from 1991 to 2001, has been widely criticized for giving retirees full retirement healthcare in return for agreements from unions not to seek raises. The unfunded liability for those benefits is $417 million.

Milnes now represents the retirees in bankruptcy-related negotiations.

"It is not unfair to make changes in the retirement plan," Milnes said. "The world changes and when the world changes you have to adapt. But the question is, how do you change it in a way that is respectful of those most in need?"

Plaintiff Alfred Seibel, 58, a retired parks worker, said he can't afford the premiums and can't afford to lose coverage.
With the city's cuts, Seibel's health insurance costs would be $1,126.66 per month, or about 51% of his net income.

"I am already taking generic meds for cholesterol and triglycerides against my doctor's advice, I can't afford the $70 co-pay. My wife cries all the time. She don't understand how when they promise you all this stuff, then they [can] just take it away," he said in court documents.

A retired parks caretaker who worked for the city for 31 years, Seibel also suffers from a work-related herniated disc and enlarged lymph nodes that doctors say are from chemicals he used on the job.

The suit seeks class-action status covering all retirees, but Milnes said he and other managers with higher incomes would be willing to give up their benefits.

"The ones we're talking about are the ones who worked for us for years. For crying out loud, we know them, we know their families. We know about their breast cancer, their husband's diabetes," he said.

The budget the Stockton City Council adopted slashed contributions to current employee and retiree health benefits and eliminated benefits for employees with fewer than 10 years of city service. It eliminates city-funded medical benefits for retirees by July 2013.

There are about 2,400 city retirees, about 1,000 of whom receive health benefits. Two-thirds of the city retirees do not meet poverty requirements for California's low-income healthcare program but cannot afford private insurance, Milnes said. Those who are over 65 can get Medicare, but they must pay for medications and doctor's office visits.

Stockton Vice Mayor Kathy Miller said the lawsuit was not unexpected.

"All I can say is that there is a group of retirees who think it's more important for the taxpayers to pay 100% of their retirement than to keep police officers on the street," she said. "They know the situation. They know 80% of our discretionary income is for public safety. There is no way we can close the budget gap without these cuts. But they think they should come first."

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— Diana Marcum

U.S. Sells Citizenship to Wealthy Immigrants

By Sarah McBride | Reuters – Fri, Jun 29, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shera Bechard, the Canadian-born former girlfriend of Playboy Enterprises founder Hugh Hefner, would not be an obvious candidate for the special visas that the U.S. government reserves for "individuals with extraordinary ability."

Playboy magazine named Bechard Miss November in 2010, and she also started an online photo-sharing craze called "Frisky Friday." Neither seems quite on the level of an "internationally recognized award, such as a Nobel Prize," which the government cites as a possible qualification.

But Los Angeles immigration lawyer Chris Wright argued that Bechard's accomplishments earned her a slot. The government ultimately agreed.

That kind of success has put Wright on the map as the go-to visa fixer for both Hollywood and Silicon Valley. It also highlights the use of so-called genius visas known as O-1s and EB-1s, which have largely escaped political controversy and are now the immigration solution of choice for many entrepreneurs.

[Related: 102-year-old man becomes U.S. citizen]

As many immigration lawyers see it, the paucity of immigration options for the most entrepreneurial foreigners mean they must use any avenue they can. This approach, along with seeming flexibility in Washington on what constitutes "extraordinary ability," means the O-1 is gaining traction in technology circles. Wider use could ultimately land it in political trouble.

For example, the H-1B visa, which allows employers to hire foreigners temporarily in certain specialized fields like technology, has drawn accusations from union groups and others that companies use it to bring in lower-skilled labor.

The O-1 visa allows individuals of "extraordinary ability" to come to the United States for up to three years, and can be extended. British journalist Piers Morgan used one when he replaced Larry King on his late-night TV show, Wright said.

The EB-1 is similar, but leads to a green card and permanent residency rather than a temporary stay, with "extraordinary ability" being one of the ways to qualify - along with being an outstanding professor or researcher, or a multinational executive.

[Related: Ariz. implements immigration law as feds push back]

Foreign entrepreneurs have another option - the Immigrant Investor Program, or EB-5 visa - but it requires a capital investment of at least $500,000 and the creation of at least 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers.
By contrast, no proof of personal wealth or investment in the United States is required for the O-1 or the EB-
1.

There is also no cap on the number of O-1s that the government can award each year; about 12,280 were approved in 2011, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said, up from 9,478 in 2006. It issued about 25,000 EB-1s last year, below their cap of 40,000.

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CA: Pushing welfare recipients to work

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown wants to shift the safety net protecting California's most vulnerable residents pressured by a $16 billion budget deficit, the governor is proposing a major overhaul of the state's welfare-to-work program with the strategy of slashing people's benefits to motivate them to get jobs faster.

The move, if approved by the state Legislature as part of the 2012-13 budget package, would save $880 million, but beyond the savings, analysts say it represents a shift in the philosophy of how the Golden State helps its neediest residents.

"It's a reversal of the state's historic commitment to these families and children," said Scott Graves, senior policy analyst with the California Budget Project. "It's a very significant change."

California is the national leader in welfare recipients. About 3.8 percent of state residents were on welfare in 2010, the highest percentage in the country. In fact, California houses about a third of the nation's welfare recipients, while only housing one-eighth of the national population.

Most of the recipients, however, are children — more than three-quarters of the 1.5 million in the welfare-to-work program CalWORKs, which stands for California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids. The rest are mostly single mothers who must work or participate in job training and related activities to receive cash assistance.

The state has traditionally held a relatively generous attitude toward welfare. For instance, CalWORKs gives cash grants to children even when their parents are ineligible for benefits for various reasons, such as being illegal immigrants, receiving disability, or failing to abide by the program's rules. Only three other states — Indiana, Oregon and Arizona — have such an expansive policy.

California also allows parents to receive job services and cash grants for up to four years. Before last year, the limit was 60 months.

The policies have made the program an expensive budget line — the state spends $2.9 billion on CalWORKs and related programs — and an easy target for lawmakers looking for costs to trim with little political fallout. In years past, lawmakers have proposed doing away with benefits to children with ineligible parents and even slashing the whole CalWORKs program.

The state's budget woes have given renewed impetus to whittle away at CalWORKs. Last year, the maximum five-year benefit period shrunk to four years and monthly grants were diminished 8 percent. A family of three currently receives $638 a month, less than the rate in 1988.

For the next fiscal year, the governor is proposing more sweeping cutbacks, including a 27 percent cut in cash assistance to children with ineligible parents and further slashing the time limit for full benefits from four years to two years.

Other rule changes would restrict benefits to mothers of younger children and families earning poverty-level wages and increase sanctions on those who violate program terms.

"We felt the program was losing its focus of welfare-to-work," said Todd Bland, deputy director the state Department of Social Services' welfare-to-work division. "The reason we wanted to refocus is because of the very difficult budget environment."

The changes also come at a time when California is appealing federal penalties of $160 million because it failed to move enough welfare recipients to private sector jobs of at least 30 hours a week in 2008 and 2009, a requirement to receive federal money that helps pay for CalWORKs. Many California recipients are given part-time, publicly subsidized jobs so they get work experience.

CalWORKs recipients say getting a regular job that pays enough to support a family is not easy as lawmakers think.

Sarah Smith, a 31-year-old divorced mother of four in Los Angeles County, had been a stay-at-home mother since the age of 18, only working sporadically between having children. She was forced to turn to CalWORKs a year ago after her husband stopped paying child support. She received $850 a month in cash aid and $700 in food stamps.

She's also been able to make herself more marketable through the job services the program offers. She's beefed up her clerical skills, self-confidence and resume with a minimum-wage, temporary job as a customer service assistant with the county Department of Social Services, but the job ends this month.
She's hoping she now will be able to find a permanent job. If not, she will try for a subsidized job program where the county pays half her salary and the private employer pays the rest.

Policymakers don't realize that people need a chance to rebuild their lives, Smith said, adding that CalWORKs aid is far from enough to live on.
"It's still a juggling act," she said. "People are trying to get jobs. No one really wants to be on welfare. Most people are trying to get off it."

Nearly half of CalWORKs families move off the program within two years, but about 18 percent are long-term. Those families are often have very young children and headed by parents who lack a high school diploma or job skills, or have a family member with a disability, according to a report by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Brown's reforms aim to get parents off welfare before they become entrenched. The plan calls for parents to be hired or employable within two years of entering the program by providing job training and counseling, mental health, substance abuse and domestic violence support services, and child care. They must either work or participate in those activities to get the cash aid.

After two years, the services and some money would be cut off if they do not find a private sector job — a move that would affect about 130,000 parents, according to the state Legislative Analyst's Office.

Those parents could still receive a much-reduced cash benefit for child maintenance. A parent with two children would receive $375 a month, a drop of $263.

If parents do find employment, they could still be eligible to receive services such as child care for another two years and some cash aid if their income remains below a certain level.

Social service providers say it's overly optimistic to expect the private sector to absorb tens of thousands of people, many with minimal job skills, with California's unemployment rate the second highest in the nation at 10.9 percent in April. Only 11 percent of CalWORKs parents had private sector jobs of at least 30 hours week in 2009, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

"CalWORKs recipients are living on a shoestring as it is," said Frank Mecca, executive director of the County Welfare Directors Association of California. "This is going to plunge many children into poverty and likely increase homelessness. You're shredding the safety net at a time when it's needed most."

Republicans say it's about time California pushed harder to get people to self-sufficiency, and say more is needed. Halving the time limit is a good move, but continuing to give parents cash for children with no strings attached defeats the purpose of welfare-to-work.

"It removes the responsibility from the parent. You're taking away the accountability from the oversight of the program," said Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, vice chairman of the Assembly Human Services Committee.

Instead of focusing on half measures of welfare reform, the governor should concentrate on job-stimulation strategies so people have a place to go, he said. "If there's no regulatory reform, he's wasting his time," Jones said.

The debate over CalWORKs' mission is likely to continue, especially if state revenues continue to fall short, said Caroline Danielson, policy fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.

"The interest is in reorienting the program toward work," she said.

Contact the reporter http://twitter.com/ChristinaHoag.

Ron Paul, will be TIME Magazines person of 2012

Age: 76
Occupation: Republican presidential candidate
The leader of a vibrant libertarian movement, Paul has drawn huge, passionate crowds throughout the Republican presidential campaign. But on his third and final bid for the White House, Paul is again poised to come up short. Even so, the retiring 12-term Congressman has reshaped the national political debate and left behind his imprint on his party — not to mention an heir, Senator Rand Paul, to inherit his army.




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West Coast leaders launch plan to create a million new jobs by 2020

By: Pacific Coast Collaborative

VANCOUVER, March 13, 2012 - Gathering on the eve of the GLOBE Conference on Business and the Environment, leaders from British Columbia, California, Oregon and Washington today endorsed a bold new action agenda to grow the clean economy along the West Coast.

"B.C. is proud to host this year's Leaders Forum," said British Columbia Premier Christy Clark. "The Pacific Coast Collaborative is a unique and innovative vehicle for West Coast leaders to identify collaborative strategies in a face-to-face setting. Today's meeting is the culmination of months of work within our four jurisdictions on an action plan to create jobs and strengthen the economy of our shared mega-region."

To guide the 2012 West Coast Action Plan on Jobs, Pacific Coast Collaborative Leaders commissioned an economic analysis of the clean economy to identify the most promising markets for job creation, including energy-efficient buildings and advanced transportation. All told, the new report, West Coast Clean Economy: Opportunities for Investment & Accelerated Job Creation, released today, found that the $47-billion clean economy sector could triple in size by 2020, given the right policies and partnerships.

"We have proof that our actions are already working," said Washington Governor and Pacific Coast Collaborative Chair Chris Gregoire. "Now we want to go even faster – and create up to one million jobs in the next decade through the 2012 Action Plan on Jobs. Through collaboration and low-carbon innovation, we have developed a win-win competitive strategy that will continue to work well for all of our jurisdictions."

The 2012 West Coast Action Plan on Jobs outlines a series of measurable commitments by each jurisdiction for retrofitting state-owned buildings, fleet purchasing of advanced technology vehicles, and creating world-class energy standards to incentivize private sector leadership and advanced manufacturing.

For example, each of the four jurisdictions has pledged to implement strategies to move the public building stock toward net-zero energy building performance, beginning with a commitment to achieve at least a 20 per cent improvement in energy use by 2020, within the context of programs within each jurisdiction.

"We have come together here in Vancouver to reject the myth that jobs and the environment are in conflict," said Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber. "More than 500,000 Pacific Coast residents are cashing clean economy paychecks right now. And job creation rates in the clean economy are well above those for other shrinking sectors of the economy, pay better, and have been more resilient to the recent economic downturn."

"California already gets 20 per cent of our energy from renewables, and by 2020 we'll achieve 33 percent or more," said California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. "Our policies are building new markets and spurring creativity globally. By working collaboratively with our Pacific Coast neighbours, we can set the terms for long-term job growth and economic strength."

Move by Lodi Unified official signals curriculum transition

By Keith Reid
Record Staff Writer
March 23, 2012 12:00 AM
LODI - Lodi Unified School District Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Odie Douglas filed a request for reassignment last week, opening a window for the district to transition into a new philosophical mind-set at the high school level under new leadership.

Douglas, 54, was hired in Lodi Unified seven years ago as associate superintendent - second in command to then-Superintendent Bill Huyett. He has worked much of this time introducing a new level of "academic rigor" in Lodi Unified high schools under an all-college preparation model, meaning all students are enrolled in the courses colleges want to see on transcripts.

The Board of Trustees has declared recently that the district is to transition from an all college-prep model to the introduction of more career and technical education courses for students who believe a trade school or the work force is more likely to fill their needs than college readiness.

Douglas will be reassigned in July. The job he moves to could be within Lodi Unified, but Douglas said he has an open mind.

"I am looking forward to a new opportunity," Douglas said. "It's known that I've been pursuing a superintendency. I am going to continue searching for new opportunities."

Douglas was a finalist for Stockton Unified's superintendent search in 2010 before the district decided to hire the retired Carl Toliver on a two-year contract. Douglas also interviewed for the top spot in the Natomas Unified School District.

Superintendent Cathy Nichols-Washer said Douglas submitted his letter requesting reassignment within his credential area. She said the district has posted the assistant superintendent job without any replacement candidates in mind.

The position will pay between $105,000 and $135,000 annually according to an online classified advertisement. Douglas, who has his doctorate degree, is earning $164,000 annually.

Douglas was one of several administrators who were "re-shuffled" into new positions in 2010 after Nichols-Washer pledged to streamline services at the district office to coincide with other layoffs and budget cuts. The associate superintendent's office was purged in that shuffle. Douglas stayed in the superintendent's cabinet as an assistant superintendent.

"(Douglas) has a wealth of experience and knowledge. He's a very good person and a good administrator," Nichols-Washer said. "He is always going to do very well."

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House GOP unveils budget blueprint

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative Republicans controlling the House unveiled a budget blueprint Tuesday that combines slashing cuts to safety net programs for the poor with sharply lower tax rates in an election-year manifesto painting clear campaign differences with President Barack Obama.

The GOP plan released by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan would, if enacted into law, wrestle the deficit to a manageable size in short order, but only by cutting Medicaid, food stamps, Pell Grants and a host of other programs that Obama has promised to protect.

To deal with the influx of retiring Baby Boomers, the GOP budget reprises a controversial approach to overhauling Medicare that would switch the program — for those under 55 today — from a traditional "fee for service" framework in which the government pays doctor and hospital bills to a voucherlike "premium support" approach in which the government subsidizes purchases of health insurance.

Republicans say the new approach forces competition upon a wasteful health care system, lowering cost increases and giving senior more options. But Democratic opponents of the idea say the new system — designed by Ryan and liberal Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon — cuts costs too steeply and would provide the elderly with a steadily shrinking menu of options and higher out-of-pocket costs.

Even as Ryan was describing his plan to reporters, it became election-year fodder for both parties.

"The House budget once again fails the test of balance, fairness, and shared responsibility," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in a written statement charging that the GOP proposal would dole out tax cuts to rich while protecting tax breaks for oil companies and hedge fund managers.

"What's worse is that all of these tax breaks would be paid for by undermining Medicare and the very things we need to grow our economy and the middle class — things like education, basic research, and new sources of energy," Pfeiffer said.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, predicted strong support for Ryan's budget. He also defended Ryan's proposal to cut agency spending below an amount that both parties agreed to in last year's compromise that extended the government's authority to borrow money.

"We all know that we've got a real fiscal problem here in Washington, and frankly we think we can do better," Boehner told reporters.

This year's GOP measure would produce deficit estimates that are significantly lower than a comparable measure passed by the House a year ago, claiming deficit cuts totaling $3.3 trillion — spending cuts of $5.3 trillion tempered by $2 trillion in lower taxes — below Obama over the coming decade. The deficit in 2015, for example, would drop to about $300 billion from $1.2 trillion for the current budget year. Last year's GOP draft called for a 2015 deficit more than $100 billion higher.

The measure would cut spending from $3.6 trillion this year to the $3.5 trillion range in 2013 and freeze it at that level for two more years.

The GOP plan doesn't have a chance of passing into law this year but stands in sharp contrast to the budget released by Obama last month, which relied on tax increases on the wealthy but mostly left alone key benefit programs like Medicare.

The resulting political battle is sure to spill beyond the Capital Beltway into the presidential race and contests for control of the House and Senate this fall. As if to underscore that reality, Ryan released a campaign-style video Monday evening telling viewers that "Americans have a choice to make" in a none-too-subtle appeal to voters.

"It's up to the people to demand from their government a better budget, a better plan, and a choice between two futures," Ryan said. "The question is: which future will we choose?"

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Oh Zee's Words of Wisdom: Quote of the Day

Oh Zee's Words of Wisdom: Quote of the Day: "Some days we need to get out on the towns, and release the Hounds!" - Vern Scott 2010

Ron Paul Is Really Way ahead, He has Won Maine

Official defends 'lethal force' against US citizens

US Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday defended the government's use of "lethal force," even against American citizens abroad, as part of the effort to protect the nation against terror attacks.

The speech marked the first time a senior US official has publicly justified in legal terms the drone attacks that are believed to have killed at least three US citizens on foreign soil in recent months, including key Al-Qaeda figure Anwar al-Awlaqi.

"Given the nature of how terrorists act and where they tend to hide, it may not always be feasible to capture a United States citizen terrorist who presents an imminent threat of violent attack," Holder said in a speech at a law school in Chicago.

"In that case, our government has the clear authority to defend the United States with lethal force."

Holder said there were circumstances under which "an operation using lethal force in a foreign country, targeted against a US citizen who is a senior operational leader of Al-Qaeda or associated forces, and who is actively engaged in planning to kill Americans, would be lawful."

Such circumstances included that a thorough review had determined the individual posed "an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States" and that "capture is not feasible."

Thirdly, the "operation would be conducted in a manner consistent with applicable law of war principles," Holder told the audience at the Northwestern University School of Law.

"Some have called such operations 'assassinations.' They are not... assassinations are unlawful killings," Holder said.

"Our legal authority is not limited to the battlefield in Afghanistan... We are at war with a stateless enemy, prone to shifting operations from country to country," he added.

"Our government has both a responsibility and a right to protect this nation and its people from such threats." Civil rights groups have cried foul since the killing of Awlaqi in Yemen in September in a US raid.

Some argued it was illegal for the US military to kill an American citizen on the battlefield, following no attempt to indict him. US intelligence officials believed Awlaqi was linked to a US army major charged with shooting dead 13 people in 2009 in Fort Hood, Texas, and to a Nigerian student accused of trying to blow up a US airliner on December 25, 2009.

President Barack Obama said in September that Awlaqi's killing was a "major blow" to Al-Qaeda's Yemeni branch, and marked "another significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat Al-Qaeda and its affiliates."

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) last month filed a lawsuit seeking the release of documents authorizing targeted drone strikes, such as the one on Awlaqi.

US citizen Samir Khan was killed in the same attack on Awlaqi, and Awlaqi's US-born teenage son was killed in October in a separate suspected US air strike in Yemen.

San Jose meth bust: 750 lbs

A Palo Alto police investigation into stolen iPads has led to one of the largest methamphetamine busts in the country's history, federal investigators said Saturday.

Police and federal agents seized 750 pounds of methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of $34 million, from a San Jose apartment Thursday after Palo Alto investigators spotted the drugs while following up on stolen iPads, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The bust "is one of the largest we are aware of," DEA Special Agent Casey Rettig said.

Investigators found "boxes and boxes and boxes containing bags and bags and bags of methamphetamine" inside the apartment, Rettig said.

The 750 pounds, or 340 kilograms, of methamphetamine confiscated in San Jose is equal to about 16 percent of all methamphetamine seized across the country last year, according to figures on the U.S. Department of Justice website.

Three people were arrested on state drug violations after the raid on an apartment in the 4400 block of Woods Drive, authorities said. They have not released their identities. Rettig described the investigation as "very fluid" and said "there is definitely the potential for more arrests."

The home is part of the Woods, a subdivision in south San Jose that its website highlights as a "park-like setting of mature trees, formal landscaped gardens, greenbelts and tranquil ponds maintained to award-winning standards."

Palo Alto detectives pursuing the electronics theft conducted a preliminary search of the apartment and saw "a large quantity of methamphetamine," according to the DEA. They then called in help from San Jose police and the Santa Clara County district attorney, who called the DEA.

Investigators believe the home was being used both as a residence and as a laboratory where powdered methamphetamine was converted into a crystal form, also referred to as "ice." Such methamphetamine has an appearance often described as that of broken glass or shattered ice and is ingested by smoking, federal officials said.

Rettig said it was too early in the investigation to link the lab to known drug cartels or trafficking networks, but she indicated that the trend in large methamphetamine busts in Central and Northern California involves ice conversion labs for drugs primarily smuggled in from Mexico.

Last month, the Mexican army seized 15 tons of pure methamphetamine with an estimated U.S. street value of $4 billion. The sheer size of the haul from that raid in western Mexico "could potentially put a huge dent in the supply chain in the U.S," DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said at the time.

Investigators in the San Jose raid also found stolen items that had initially led Palo Alto police there, Rettig said, including iPads.

Chronicle news services and San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Jill Tucker contributed to this report.

John Coté is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

Gas prices climb again, topping $3.76

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The nationwide average for gasoline prices rose for the 26th straight day Sunday, topping the $3.76-a-gallon mark, according to the motorist group AAA.

The average price of regular unleaded gasoline climbed 0.7 cent in the latest 24-hour period. The price of gas is up from $3.47 a month ago and $3.69 a week ago. Last year at this time, gas was $3.49 a gallon.

The average price is 35 cents, or about 8.5%, lower than the record high of $4.114 set on July 17, 2008.

Average prices for regular gasoline top $4 a gallon in California, Alaska and Hawaii. At $4.38 a gallon, Hawaii ranks as the nation's high. Prices are within a nickel of the $4 mark in Connecticut, New York and Oregon, according to AAA.

Wyoming became the last state to reach the $3.20 mark, but still has the nation's lowest gas prices, about 3 cents a gallon lower than Colorado.
Gas prices have been rising on the back of soaring oil prices, which have surged 10% over the past month amid fears that tensions with Iran will lead to an all-out war that causes a disruption in oil supplies.

Signs of an improving economy have also boosted oil prices, as has the stock market. All three major indexes hit multi-year highs this week, and the S&P 500 (SPX) has risen by more than 8% in 2012.

But some economists worry that high gas prices could be the tipping point that brings on a new economic downturn. "I don't think for a minute consumer confidence levels can be sustained in the face of sustained high gas prices," said Bernard Baumohl, head of the Economic Outlook Group, a Princeton, N.J., research firm.

As gas prices soar, Republican presidential candidates have tried to tie President Obama's policies to the increase.

On Thursday, Mitt Romney said Obama "should be hanging his head" over his energy policies and accused the president of slowing domestic production. Romney advocated opening federal lands to drilling and easing regulations on fracking, a controversial policy that involves pumping water into rocks to harvest gas.

Also on Thursday, Obama delivered a speech in New Hampshire that stressed that domestic oil and gas production is at its highest point since 2003. But he also emphasized the need to develop new energy sources, as domestic production alone is not enough to keep up with U.S. demand.

The president called on Congress to end the $4 billion in subsidies to the oil industry so as to better incentivize companies to seek out clean-energy technologies.

Ron Paul Wins in Michigan, After East Lansing Vote Counted

Associated Press - AP 2012
The Republican Party has just announced, "This was a Long Sought win for Ron Paul, he has been running a robust campaign so far, and this State was well deserved," just reported on A Nationally Syndicated Web-Cast minutes ago. I would have to agree, the number of delegates Ron Paul will accumulate here definately helps his bid at the Oval Office. Mitt Romney came just 1,408 votes short of Paul thanks to an overwhelming turnout from East Lansing. In this heavily populated City in the heart of Michigan, leaves covering the landscape as do Ron Paul Supporters.

Tuesday finished with 3,430 votes for Ron Paul, beating both Santorum and Romney, by almost a thousands of votes, nobody came close. Let's see if he can win California which is going to give him his highest number of Delegates in a single state. "He is poised for Super Tuesday," is what I have been hearing a lot from his campaign director.

After Michigan being announced a win for Ron Paul, Rick Santorum said this, "Come Convention We'll be having tea, watching March Madness, ready to not be there, and still praying for a win!"

America For Ron Paul

Sunday, February 26th, marked an exciting day for Ron Paul Supporters, when A new Coalition was formed, America For Ron Paul. Supporters of all ages, and ethnicity joined forces, in Mountain House, CA, amassing 4,000+ people in attendance. All of his loyal supporters were enjoying a day in America, with music, games, and speakers to entertain the large crowd. Ron Paul was not scheduled to show, he is struggling with the media, and the voter fraud that seems to be encompassing the nomination for the Republican Party.

Ron Paul Supporters look to convention

By Aaron Gould Sheinin

They are full-throated and full-throttle for the Texas congressman and Republican presidential hopeful.

Paul’s fans here are easy to spot and plan to stay busy through Super Tuesday. Though many aren’t traditionally associated with the Republican Party, their activities are common: sign waving in Cherokee and DeKalb counties, a rally in Marietta, a potluck dinner in Gwinnett. In cyberspace, Paul’s following is legion, and from Facebook and Twitter to Meetup.com, his supporters are voracious in their championing of the candidate.

Their attraction to the libertarian-leaning Paul is varied. Some love his record as a strict fiscal conservative who eschews tax increases and fights to lower the national debt. Others are drawn to his interest in moving the country’s currency back to the gold standard and still others love his foreign policy, which is centered around a withdrawal of most U.S. troops from around the world.

The same enthusiasm for Paul was there in 2008, when Paul also ran for president, yet he finished a distant fourth in the Georgia primary. This year, he again trails — polls show him in single digits — in the race for Georgia’s March 6 primary, but his supporters hope their influence in the state won’t end March 6.

Paul has a plan to remain relevant through the Republican National Convention this summer in Tampa. The blueprint goes beyond the primary to the GOP state convention in May, when Paul supporters will try to get themselves elected delegates to the national convention. If that happens, they could try to crash the party and force a floor fight for the GOP nomination.

In a strategy that’s being employed in other states, too, Paul’s Georgia supporters lay out the idea right on their website: “Take back the GOP from the ne’re-do-wells by becoming a Georgia GOP Delegate!” the site implores, complete with instructions on how to navigate the party’s rules.

Christopher Wall, a Johns Creek firefighter, is a Paul supporter seeking a ticket to Tampa.

“I’ll go as far as I can,” he said.

Wall, who will be a delegate to his county convention, said if the nomination comes down to a fight at the convention, anything can happen.

“It’s likely we’ll have a brokered convention,” he said.

Georgia’s Paul-backers are not alone. Paul has not campaigned in Georgia and is not expected to. Instead, he has focused on states that are awarding their delegates through caucuses, rather than primaries, because they are a higher payout for candidates who rely on grass-roots support.
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