From:  The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact:  Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032

 

TAX TALK MAY 29, 2010

 

BREAKING NEWS!!!!

TOP KILL NOT WORKING!!!!

 

BP's top kill effort fails to plug Gulf oil leak

 

 

SEE LIVE PRESS CONFERENCE…..

 

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/29/us.gulf.oil.spill/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

 

 

ASSOCIATED PRESS, By BEN NUCKOLS,   2 mins ago  ROBERT, La. – BP has failed in its latest attempt to plug the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico with mud and cement.  BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said Saturday that the maneuver known as a top kill had failed. It was the latest setback for the company trying to stop the crude from further fouling waters, wildlife and marshland.  The spill is the worst in U.S. history and has dumped between 18 million and 40 million gallons into the Gulf, according to government estimates. BP's top executive had put the chances of success for the top kill at 60 to 70 percent, but officials had cautioned that it had never been done 5,000 feet below the sea.

BP says it's already preparing for the next attempt to stop the leak. Under the new plan, BP would cut off the damaged riser from which the oil is leaking and cap it with a containment valve.   Online: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/

MORE:   http://news.blogs.cnn.com/category/latest-news/gulf-coast-oil-spill/

http://www.bp.com/bodycopyarticle.do?categoryId=1&contentId=7052055&nicam=USCSBaselineCrisis&nisrc=Google&nigrp=Non_Branded_Crisis_Management-_General&niadv=General&nipkw=oil_spill

 

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Congress Blocks Larson's Attempt To Strip Funding For Alternate Jet Engine  By ERIC GERSHONCongress on Thursday night rejected an attempt by U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1, to strip funding from a defense bill for an alternate jet engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.  Had his proposed amendment passed, it would likely have given Pratt & Whitney a monopoly on the engine work, worth an estimated $100 billion over decades. http://www.courant.com/business/hc-larson-jet-engine-20100528,0,5899446.story

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ARE YOUR CONGRESSMEN/WOMEN BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY SPECIAL INTERESTS?  YOU DECIDE!  CHECK IT OUT!

 

A GREAT RESOURCE TO TRACK CONGRESS

http://www.govtrack.us/

 

Through http://www.govtrack.us/congress/legislation.xpd     you have the opportunity to track bills in congress and to also link to  http://maplight.org/us-congress/legislator    to see if campaign contributions from employees of these organizations looking for Congressional votes are linked to  members of congress.  When in maplight, click the name of the legislator to see the campaign contributions received. 

 

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ARIZONA LEGISLATURE ADOPTS SWEEPING EDUCATION REFORMS

Arizona lawmakers recently enacted some of the most far-reaching K-12 education reforms in the state's history.  Several of the bills that Gov. Jan Brewer has signed into law are modeled on Florida's successful reforms implemented a decade ago, says Goldwater vice president of research Matthew Ladner. 

For example: 

Ø      Arizona now will annually issue schools a letter grade of A, B, C, D or F.

Ø      The state now will have a robust program for experts in math, science and other areas to teach their subjects without first getting a teaching certificate from a college of education.

Ø      Lawmakers have curtailed social promotion by holding back some third graders who have yet to learn the basics of reading.

Ø      Legislators expanded the sources available to launch new charter schools.

Ø      Lawmakers increased the size and transparency of the state scholarship tax credit program and changed the date for claiming the tax credits from December 31 to April 15.  

The Legislature also specified that school districts cannot use "years on the job" as the only criteria when deciding which teachers to keep.  The Arizona Department of Education will be required to develop teacher and principal evaluations that include how well students score on specific tests.   Continued at ….. http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=19399&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

 

 

 

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The following illegal immigration issue is confirmed by Snopes…

Parkland is also home to the second busiest maternity  ward in the country with almost 16,000 new babies arriving each year.   (That's almost 44 per day---every day)!   A recent patient survey indicated that 70 percent of the women who gave
 birth at Parkland in the first three months of 2006 were illegal
 immigrants. That's 11,200 anchor babies born every year just in Dallas
 !!!    According to the article, the hospital spent $70.7 million delivering
 15,938 babies in 2004 but managed to end up with almost $8 million
 dollars in surplus funding. Medicaid kicked in $34.5 million, Dallas
 County taxpayers kicked in $31.3 million and the feds tossed in another
 $9.5 million.   The average patient in Parkland in maternity wards is 25 years old,
 married and giving birth to her second child. She is also an illegal
 immigrant. By law, pregnant women cannot be denied medical care based on
 their immigration status or ability to pay.  Article continued at …..

http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/parkland.asp

 

 

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No Penalties for Mortgage Company with Worst Loan Mod Backlog

by Paul Kiel, ProPublica - May 28, 2010  Last week, the government released data [1] showing that there’s a big problem at Saxon Mortgage, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley. Of all the mortgage companies participating in the administration’s mortgage modification program, Saxon has the largest proportion of homeowners caught in modification limbo. Continued at …. http://www.propublica.org/ion/loan-mods/item/saxon-mortgage-of-morgan-stanley-has-loan-mod-backlog

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Did BP’s Acts to Save Time and Money Set the Stage for the Gulf Disaster?  by Marian Wang, ProPublica - May 28, 2010 12:39 pm EDT  With the Deepwater Horizon rig six weeks behind schedule [1] and millions over budget, BP made a number of decisions with the Gulf well that saved money, saved time, and set the stage for the disaster [2], according to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal.  … But according to the Journal article, BP made several cost-cutting and time-saving decisions in its choice of well design, its preparation for cementing, its testing of the well after the cementing process was complete, and its decision to proceed with a risky method of finishing the well even after a pressure test revealed signs of “a very large abnormality,” as described by a BP investigator’s findings in a Congressional memo released earlier this week [5].  Continued at …. http://www.propublica.org/ion/blog/item/did-bps-cost-cutting-time-saving-decisions-set-the-stage-for-gulf-disaster

 

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California Puts Vote Overhaul on the Ballot  By JESSE McKINLEY, NY Times, May 26, 2010, SACRAMENTO — In another indication of how frustrated voters have grown with politics as usual, California — home of initiative-happy democracy — is considering a radical overhaul. On June 8, voters will decide the fate of a ballot measure that would replace traditional primaries in state and Congressional elections with, effectively, two rounds of voting. All candidates would run in the first round, and the top two vote-getters — regardless of party affiliation, or unaffiliation — would then face each other in the general election. Voters’ ultimate choice could be two Republicans or two Democrats, or two candidates with high name recognition, or deep pockets, or populist appeal. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/us/politics/27prop14.html

 

 

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