Pellet factories grow: Â Â Soaring demand for this woody fuel has led to the construction of more than two dozen pellet factories in the Southeast in the past decade,
And  there are more pellet factories along  special port facilities in Virginia and Georgia where mountains of pellets are loaded onto Europe-bound freighters.
European officials promote the trade as part of the fight against climate change.
Burning “biomass†from trees instead of coal, they say, means fewer greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
But that claim is increasingly coming under challenge.
A number of independent experts and scientific studies — including a new analysis released Tuesday — are casting doubt on a key argument used to justify the cutting of Southern forests to make fuel.
In reality, these scientists say, Europe’s appetite for wood pellets could lead to more carbon pollution for decades to come, while also putting some of the East Coast’s most productive wildlife habitats at risk.
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Firenze Sage: Â After Al Gore invented the internet — Â he invented global warming.
 Can a public school in D.C. can give Obama’s kids the same education as a private school?  Obama was asked  this question recently
 “I’ll be blunt with you,†said Obama. “The answer is ‘no’ right now.â€
But then Obama  added, “Given my position, if I wanted to find a great public school for Malia and Sasha to be in, we could probably maneuver to do it. But the broader problem is for a mom or a dad who are working hard but don’t have a bunch of connections.â€
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Firenze Sage:  Thank you Obama  for outlining the problem. And you, hypocrite, why not do something real for others?
 Obama’s “moral case” for ObamaCare – for socialism —  is actually immoral.   So says Bobby Jindal to  talk-radio show host Mike Gallagheer June 10, 2015.
So what’s immorality according to Jindal?
‘Obama spends money the govt does not have — that’s immoral.’
‘Obama borrows more money than the govt can pay back — that’s immoral.’ Â
‘Obama lies to the American people –  that’s immoral.’  Remember  Obama many promises: “You can keep your doctor…” “Your health premiums will go down…”Â
‘Socialism always harms the people  it claims to help the most.  It handicaps them, leaving them weaker, less self-determined, less free.’  So says Bobby Jindal in Notable & Quotable in WSJ. Â
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Aptos Psychologist:  Probably the lies that Obama has told stick worst in the throats of many Americans.  The economy can grow & we can get out of debt.  Obama’s  lies corrupt.
 Carly F  — the only other woman in the race for President in 2016 —  wants the free markets to govern health care and get the federal government out.
 “TSA acknowledged that these  73 individuals were cleared for access to secure airport areas despite representing a potential transportation security threat.” From the Natioral Counter-terrorism Center.
The watchdog found that TSA’s failure to identify those linked to terrorism had to do with broader issues.  A major problem is that  thousands of files  have incomplete or inaccurate employee information.
Nearly 87,000 employee  files lacked Social Security numbers.  Social security numbers are not a requirement but isuggested. Thousands of employee files  lacked passport numbers or citizenship information.
In 300 employee files, the individual was identified by a single character. Just one character  instead of a full name.
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Firenze Sage:  How do you pay someone without a social security number? Can a person with the name which is a single character understand that your pacemaker is not a bomb and your hip replacement isn’t a gun?
Choice:  Bathroom  Dick becomes Jane becomes Dick.
The Department of Labor (DOL) issued instructions for how private businesses should address a transgender individual who wants to use a different bathroom.  Labor Dept. argues that allowing trans -women to use the ladies bathroom is a matter of “health and safety.â€
“The core belief underlying these policies is that all employees should be permitted to use the facilities that correspond with their gender identity,â€.  That’s according to  guidance, issued by the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
“For example, a person who identifies as a man should be permitted to use men’s restrooms,  and a person who identifies as a woman should be permitted to use women’s restrooms.â€
“The employee should determine the most appropriate and safest option for him- or herself,†the document said. The document instructs businesses to allow all transgender individuals to use the bathroom of their choice, even if they have only decided to change their name.
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Firenze Sage: Â This really is a “you can’t tell the players without a program “situation, and a gigantic boon for the name tag manufacturers.
TSA snake at the breast. A Â Transportation Security Administration committee concluded that full screening of airport employees nationwide would not lower the overall risk to the public, according to a report released Monday.
The report by the TSA’s Aviation Security Advisory Committee said that full employee screening would not “appreciably increase the overall system-wide protection.”
Full physical screening of employees also “is incapable of determining a person’s motivations, attitudes and capabilities to cause harm, among other limitations.”
Sixty-seven of seventy failed tests by TSA employees  looking for explosives.  The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that the acting administrator for the Transportation Security Administration would be reassigned, following a report that airport screeners failed to detect explosives and weapons in nearly every test that an undercover team conducted at dozens of airports.
According to a report based on an internal investigation, “red teams” with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General were able to get banned items through the screening process in 67 out of 70 tests it conducted across the nation. Â Â http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/01/politics/tsa-failed-undercover-airport-screening-tests/
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Firenze Sage: Â Reassigned? What happened to fired!
Vote FARR out & KABAT in. Â He is a fiscal conservative seeking to represent the 20th District 2014
Vote FARR out & KABAT in for Santa Cruz & Monterey CA.
Let’s make KABAT a good habit for our neck of the woods.
Why Kabat? He is a fiscal conservative. He will reform the tax code for starters.
His wife is a librarian. Someone reads in that family! Â He served in the military so he probably understands veteran issues. His website shows Tea Party interests. He has a beard and glasses and looks to be about )Â years young. Â He estimates his campaign will cost 140 K.
I believe that too much political campaign contribution money has caused an un-level playing field for citizens running for office. Yet, our government will not let me run for office without paying! – – –FILING FEE: If you would like to hire me to represent you in the U.S. House of Representatives, then I ask you to help me pay the Secretary of State a $1,740.00 filing fee plus a minimum of 40 nominating signatures. (See next page for a sample of the form that can be used for the 40 nominating signatures.)CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT: The Primary Candidate’s names are listed in an English and Spanish sample ballot that is mailed to your home before the Primary Election. Each candidate’s statement can list their qualifications and/or positions next to their name. In past elections, I couldn’t understand why so many candidates left this block next to their name blank. Well, in order to list a 250 word candidate statement, the government will charge me$4,013.63 in Monterey County, $1,938.00 in Santa Cruz County and $450 in San Benito County.OTHER CAMPAIGN COSTS:Did you know that Art Dunn, Mike Lebarre, Jeff Taylor, Ron Kabat, Dan Caudle, Sam Farr and Eric Peterson ran for the House in our 2012 Congressional Primary?1.) Did you notice any Congressional 20th District Candidate debates in Monterey County and Santa Cruz County during the last Congressional election cycle? There weren’t any debates in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties!2.) Did you notice any major newspaper coverage or interviews of the positions of the Congressional 20th District Candidates during the last election cycle? There was very, very little. Possibly only one article. None in the Monterey County Weekly.3.) Did you notice the Congressional 20th District Candidate debate coverage on KSBWtelevision during the last election cycle? There was none. (However, KION television allowed each candidate for any Federal, State or local office to record a one minute commercial and aired it before the Primary Election.)4.) Did you notice any Congressional 20th District Candidate debate coverage on your Monterey County or Santa Cruz County radio during the last Primary Election? There was none.Debate costs/Hall rentals/Insurance:     $8,000
Newspaper advertising costs:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â $12,000
Television advertising costs:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â $18,000
Radio advertising costs:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â $18,000
Banners, business cards, postcards, etc.:Â $Â 9,000
Campaign Personnel: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â $45,000
Miscellaneous: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â $30,000My budget for this Primary campaign is $140,000.I will ask for the financial campaign assistance of the 250,000 voters of the 20th District and any others citizens who agree with my positions. I will limit the contribution to no more than $75/person.Last Updated: March 22nd Paid for by the Committee to Elect Ron Kabat
VA  Brownley ignorant of  U.S. uniforms. Well, da…
VA Julia Brownley ignorant of  U.S. uniforms.
Democratic lawmaker Julia Brownley sent a political mailer to her constituents in late July.
The mailer featured  a woman wearing fake military attire and a German Luftwaffe insignia.  Brownley apparently  is unaware that the costume was not an official uniform worn by U.S. personnel.
Brownley serves on the House Committee for Veteran Affairs and is ranking member on the House’s Subcommittee on Health, which oversees the VA.
Her district includes Naval Base Ventura County, a large military installation near the southern California town of Oxnard that supports 19,000 naval personnel.  from Daily Caller.
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Firenze Sage:  It’s ok Julia  that your constituents have no idea  that you are a hack.  But  Veterans do.
Illegal NLRB appointee Andrew Griffin makes resignation from membership  & decertification of unions tough to do
 Obama’s NLRB makes union resignation  & decertification  of a union (kick it out) tough to do.
It’s hard to find out how to resign from a union such as the SEIU.
And  it’s hard to decertify  a union — throwing the union out by majority vote.  Thanks to Obama.
Why? Â Obama, who gets millions of dollars from the unions. And Obama appointed Richard Griffin as top lawyer for the NLRB once he could no longer be a NLRB member thanks to the Supreme Court ruling.
And now, Obama’s National  Labor Relations Board (NLRB)  now  empowers  union bosses  to maintain control  — when members kick out a union.
History:  Obama  illegally filled 3 positions on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). One of the appointees was Richard Griffin  who Obama has  appointed  top lawyer for the NLRB.
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General Counsel seeks to eliminate employees’ ability to use a majority petition to end employer recognition of an unsupported union
San Francisco, CA (July 21 2014) – In a precedent-setting federal case, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional director has denied a local restaurant worker’s motion to intervene to stop the federal agency from foisting unwanted union representation back on her workplace after she and her coworkers attempted to remove the union.
With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Scoma’s of Sausalito restaurant worker Georgina Canche will appeal the NLRB regional director’s order to an NLRB Administrative Law Judge (ALJ).
Canche and a majority of her coworkers petitioned their employer to remove the UNITE HERE Local 2850 union from their workplace. After the workers presented the petition, restaurant management withdrew recognition of the union as the workers’ monopoly bargaining representative as long-standing law allows.
Local 2850 union officials then filed federal charges with the NLRB in an attempt to nullify the workers’ petition and insert the union hierarchy back into the workplace. The NLRB’s General Counsel filed a complaint designed to force the restaurant to once again recognize the union as the workers’ representative.
This aggressive policy of challenging employees’ withdrawal petitions is being pushed by union lawyer Richard Griffin, who was installed as NLRB General Counsel in October 2013 by President Obama and Senator Harry Reid. Prior to being the Board’s top lawyer in charge of enforcing federal labor laws, Griffin was an illegal recess appointee to the NLRB, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month in Noel Canning v. NLRB.
“Without allowing workers a say in the process, the Obama NLRB is seeking to overturn long-standing precedent to make it more difficult for workers to remove an unwanted union hierarchy from their workplace,” explained Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Highlighting the Obama Board’s pro-forced unionism bias, the NLRB maintains that a company can recognize a union if a majority of workers sign union ‘cards’ through the notoriously unreliable card check method, while its top lawyer works to eliminate workers’ ability to use a majority petition to oust an unwanted union.”
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, is assisting thousands of employees in over 200 cases nationwide.
