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NC House 3/29/2011

Posted on March 29, 2011 by truthfulpolitics

The house convenes today at 3:00 PM. LIve coverage can be heard at the NCGA Audio site or at Voter Radio. Voter Radio also has a podcast available that has archived all the house and senate audio.

So far I have not seen a lot of bills come through to help the economy, jobs or the people. I have seen bills to; rename a bridge, honor people, denounce Obama’s healthcare, transferring agencies to other agencies and consolidating them. However, I did find a few bills that can help the economy, people or jobs.

House Bill (HB) 478 Non-discrimination in state/employment. This bill is sponsored by four Democrats; Luebke, Brandon, Fischer and Harrison, and co-sponsored by eight more Democrats. This bill amends the nondiscriminatory and equal opportunity section of the State Personnel Act.

All State departments and agencies and all local political subdivisions of North Carolina 8 shall give equal opportunity for employment and compensation, without regard to race, 9 religion, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or 10 handicapping condition as defined in G.S. 168A-3 to all persons otherwise qualified, except 11 where specific age, sex or physical requirements constitute bona fide occupational 12 qualifications necessary to proper and efficient administration.

Bold, underline is the new addition.

HB 479 Small Business New Job Creation Incentive is sponsored by four Democrats; Goodman, Spears, Wray, McGuirt and co-sponsored by 7 Democrats.

HB 495 The Solar Jobs Bills, primaries are 3 Republicans; Goodman, Moffitt, and Samuelson, and one Democrat Crawford, co-sponsores is McGrady a Republican.

AN ACT (1) TO REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF PURCHASED RENEWABLE ENERGY 2 CERTIFICATES DERIVED FROM OUT-OF-STATE NEW SOLAR FACILITIES THAT 3 MAY BE USED TO COMPLY WITH THE REPS REQUIREMENT THROUGH THE 4 USE OF SOLAR ENERGY RESOURCES AND (2) TO DOUBLE THE REPS 5 REQUIREMENT FOR THE USE OF SOLAR ENERGY RESOURCES AND EXPAND 6 THE COMPLIANCE SCHEDULE.

UPDATE: All bills were passed on to various committees. None have been scheduled at any recent committee meetings. As they are posted on committee.

Cathy von Hassel-Davies (336) 525-1228

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NC Women’s Legislative Agenda Released

Posted on March 19, 2011 by truthfulpolitics

Lilly Ledbetter Press Conference at NC General Assembly

Lilly Ledbetter, namesake of the “Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act,” the first bill signed by President Obama upon taking office in 2009, was a special guest Tuesday, March 1, 2011, at the General Assembly as NC Women United (NCWU) released their 2011 Women’s Legislative Agenda.

NC Women United released the 2011 Women’s Legislative Agenda at Women’s Advocacy Day, which drew more than 200 supporters from across the state of Raleigh. Participants advocated for the most pressing public policies impacting the women of North Carolina as describe din the Women’s Legislative Agenda.

“Women have made great strides over the past 40 years working toward equal opportunity for personal and professional success,” began Alison Kiser, President of NCWU. “Ms. Ledbetter’s personal story of outright pay discrimination based on her gender is a testament to the fact that the work to achieve full political, economic and social equality for women is far from over. Unfortunately, the movement of the 2011 legislative session so far suggests that some of our elected officials would like to roll back the clock on women’s rights and equality.”

Lilly Ledbetter and the President of NCWU were joined by members of the N.C. General Assembly who spoke out on behalf of the Women’s Legislative Agenda. Speakers including Representatives Alma Adams (D-Guildford), Susan Fisher (D-Buncombe), Rick Glazier (D-Cumberland), Larry Hall (D-Durham), Deborah Ross (D-Wake), Jennifer Weiss (D-Wake), and Senator Malcolm Graham (D-Mecklenburg). State lawmakers spoke on access to health care, civic participation and equality, economic self-sufficiency, and violence against women.

Legislative items featured on the 2011 Women’s Legislative Agenda were determined by NCWU’s 36 member organizations to be the most pressing issues facing women and their families in North Carolina.

Access to reproductive health care and equality issues were featured on the Women’s Agenda as lawmakers joined NCWU to urge the General Assembly not to be distracted by social issues and instead focus on jobs and the economy. “Limiting reproductive freedom for women and creating a less equal society moves North Carolina in the wrong direction,” said Rep. Alma Adams, “We should be focusing on what we can provide women, not what we can deny them. It’s time the General Assembly focuses on the work we were elected to do. The people of North Carolina want to see jobs created. They want to see the economy improve. They want to see the state budget balanced in a sustainable, responsible way.”

Voter photo ID and resulting voter suppression was also addressed on the Women’s Legislative Agenda. “This is a debate about the right to vote, that great franchise here in America and North Carolina, and whether we should be preserving or restricting that right,” Rep. Larry Hall said. “To me the answer is clear. We would be protecting and increasing voter participation to make our democracy stronger. The instance of fraud is minuscule and our current laws against fraud are strong. The proposed photo ID bill is a solution in search of a problem, at a time when we can least afford divisive and costly distractions.”

The Women’s Legislative Agenda also supports maintaining the state Earned Income Tax Credit which aids low to moderate income working families. “The State Earned Income Tax Credit helps working families, particularly those headed by women, make ends meet. This important policy enables working families to buy groceries and other necessities in their communities and pumps millions of dollars into our state’s economy,” remarked Rep. Jennifer Weiss. “Now there’s a push to dismantle our state’s EITC. Doing so will raise taxes on 1 in 10 hard working North Carolinians and will hurt local businesses. That’s the exact opposite of what we should be doing if we want to grow jobs, spur our state’s economy and rebound from this recession.”

Other issues addressed on the 2011 Women’s Legislative agenda include maintaining funding for domestic violence programs and rape crisis center, defeating a proposed amendment to write discrimination against same-sex couples into the NC Constitution, and protecting investments in the Home and Community Block Grant, child care subsidies, and the NC Housing Trust Fund.

“We must keep advancing women’s rights and equality,” Kiser stated in her remarks. “Women are an integral part of our society. Only with the full participation and equality of women can we succeed. The future prosperity of our nation and this state will be determined by the extend to which the needs of women and their families are prioritized.”

NC Women United is a coalition of progressive organizations and individuals working to achieve the full political, social, and economic equality of all women across North Carolina. NCWU works to build women’s power through grassroots activism, community organizing, legislative advocacy, and engagement in the political process.

For more information or to join NCWU you can mail them at PO Box 10013, Raleigh, NC 27605 or contact Alison Kiser (919) 636-1728.

Press release by NCWU

Cathy von Hassel-Davies

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Glenn Beck and Rev. Wright

Posted on March 12, 2011 by truthfulpolitics

Glenn starts off with a video of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright claiming he is talking about the war, the war on Capitalism that is. He seems to say that the little clip he shows is showing that Wright is a socialist/Marxist because the reverend is admitting to it.

Attached is the small write-up on Beck’s site.

Wow, Reverend Wright is really going out of his way to prove to everyone just how right Glenn was about him. Marxism, liberation theology, the latest speech had it all. Glenn gave his reaction on radio this morning. In the video, Wright says, “Micah 4:3, Micah 4:3. Micah says God shall judge among people many and rebuke strong nations afar off. Can anybody besides me this afternoon name a strong nation afar off from Israel? Hmmm. That would be us. The U.S. us. Sorry, [Palin] take it up with Micah.” Don’t talk about me in your book, talk to Micah read Micah’s book. Wright continues, “Read Micah’s book. (this statement actually goes with the above sentence not as a separate statement). Now listen, neither Hannity, Beck, O’Reilly, nor the Tea Party wouldn’t like Micah. Micah sounds, when you read his work, Micah sounds like a leftwing liberal. He sounds like a liberation theologian, plus Micah was black. That would make him a black liberation theologian.” “[Instead of preaching] ~~Teaching~~ prosperity, and capitalism has taken (inaudible the call for Christianity ?I am unsure also?), Micah sounded like a socialist. Micah almost sounds like a Marxist. Read his work.” What is the story of Michah [sic]? Pat explained, “He’s a prophet in the Old Testament. The far off nation he’s assuming is the United States because it’s a powerful nation, it’s far off from Israel. At that time, you know, a lot of nations were far off from Israel. Babylon was far off from Israel. I don’t know. China would have been far off from Israel. Russia would have been far off from Israel. Canada would have been pretty far from Israel.” Pat analyzed Wright’s comments and said, “Micah was black, and Micah reads like a socialist or Marxist because if you read the Bible as he does, then all charity should come from the government.” Glenn added, “[Micah] sounds like a Marxist. He sounds like a socialist. He sounds like a blab liberation theologist, which all of those things Jeremiah Wright is. He is a Marxist, a socialist, and a black liberation theologist. So he’ just like Micah and Micah is just like him. A Marxist, socialist, black liberation theologist, who’s an African American.” Purple I added words that Beck’s article left out, and struck-out words that are not spoken in the video.

First off I do not know who Pat is? The article does not mention who this Pat is either. Pat analyzed Wright’s comments and said, “Micah was black, and Micah reads like a socialist or Marxist because if you read the Bible as he does, then all charity should come from the government.” I read Micah, I think what Wright is saying is not that he (Micah) is actually socialist/Marxist. However, since the talking heads; Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, call Obama a socialist/Marxist/Fascists, or anyone who is on the left or agrees with Obama’s policy and disagrees with anything the right is trying to do, then what Micah is saying can also be construed as socialist/Marxist.

Micah 2:2-3. is warning the people that “have desired fields and taken them, and have seized houses and defrauded able-bodied man and his household, and a man and his hereditary possessions. God is thinking of a calamity, so they will not walk haughtily, and they will say “the very portion of my people he alters … To the unfaithful one he apportions out our own fields.”” This could also be interpreted as socialist/Marxists according to the right-wing politicians and talking heads.

Micah goes on to say that “the men strip off the majestic ornament from the ones passing by confidently, those returning from war. the women… you drive out from the house in which a woman has exquisite delight. From off her children you take my splendor.” Micah 2:8 The reverend is comparing this and the following scripture with what is going on today. This can easily be compared to the bills the GOP are trying to pass and the ones they are trying to redo; veterans affairs, medicare/medicaid, head start. “For her own rich men have become full of violence, and her own inhabitants have spoken falsehood and their tongue is tricky in their mouths.” Micah 6:12. Sounds like the tea party to me.

When the reverend says “Micah sounded like a socialist. Micah almost sounds like a Marxist,” I believe he is saying this tongue in cheek. I don’t believe he is calling himself or MIcah a socialist.

Wright’s speech continues, and he criticizes the people of Israel and their supporters who want to build a wall between to keep Palestinians from coming into Israel. “Keep suicide bombers out of their synagogues and school buses and restaurants? Oh, that’s evil. That’s evil. You should allow those suicide bombers to come right on in and explode wherever they want,” Pat said.

I’ll comment on the second half (the above) after I find and listen to the full speech/sermon Reverend Wright gave.

Cathy von Hasel-Davies

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Glenn Beck Rallies

Posted on February 18, 2011 by truthfulpolitics

Glenn Beck rallying in Washington on the anniversary day of Martin Luther King Jr. makes me boil. Every time I think of it I just get angrier and angrier, but then I realized getting angry won’t solve anything. If it does anything, it puts that vile out in the ether to form somewhere else, and I don’t want that. So I take deep breaths and try to breath out peace.

Peace is what Martin Luther King Jr. was all about. Gandhi was for non-violence, and I want to follow in their footsteps.

Since I am just getting done with having people for three weeks, two – six extra people at a time, a weeks vacation with a 2-year old grandson, and dealing with major health issues, I haven’t been on top of my game and keeping track of what is going on politically. I did not watch any of the news yesterday for a number of reasons, and one being my anger issue. However, I am interested to find out how did Beck’s rally go verses Al Sharpton’s?

Now don’t misunderstand me, I am not a Sharpie, I don’t fall into Al’s bandwagon. I have issues with him that goes back to the days in Poughkeepsie with Tawana Brawley and his last bout with the Duke LaCrosse players.

Today and tomorrow will be spent most of the time catching up on Beck’s rally and whatever else is going on politically.

Cathy von Hassel-Davies (336) 525-1228

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Egypt’s Revolution of Freedom or Is It?

Posted on February 11, 2011 by truthfulpolitics

I will be honest I have very mixed feelings about Husni Mubarak stepping down. I am not fanatical like Glenn Beck and believe this will be the demise of Europe and the United States of America as we know it. My thought at first was great, democracy at work and everyone doing it peacefully. I was happy to see that we, the US, did not interfere and impose our ways on the Middle East. We have done enough of that, we have installed leaders that we taught, or not even leaders, but we have taught others, who in turn went back to the M.E. only to turn on us, such as Osama bin Laden. We have a history with the M.E. that is not good, there is a reason why many of the people and/or extremists do not like us. I feel that if they can have elections and they (the people) chose who they want in power, that is great. Even if it means the Muslim Brotherhood, they choose. Who are we, as in the US, or anybody for that matter, to tell them that they cannot have Muslim as their political party? Yes, I know it is a different way then democracy, it would be a theocracy. But didn’t they choose it? Isn’t it what they wanted? The people are the ones deciding. As long as it stays that way, to me that is the important thing. Now for that underlying gut feeling. It tells me ‘WAIT, Muslim Brotherhood in power, Muslim/Theocracy, running a country, that could be very dangerous for us and others.’ What others you might ask, Jews and the Israeli nation. No one seems to be talking about that aspect. I would not like to see a war waged against Israel in the name of Allah or anyone. I hope and pray that the Israeli Peace Treaty of 1979 stays in affect and does not come crumbling down. Also if the Muslim Brotherhood is as extreme and as fanatical as others report, and willing to wage a jihad against anyone that is not a Muslim, that concerns me. Why? because they are in other countries, and I fear an uprising. Not to say I believe anything could come of it in a country such as ours, but at what cost? How many lives would/could be lost before it is quelled? Not only are they (Muslim Brother) in other countries but there are non-Muslims living in the Middle East, what would happen to them? I guess it is the what ifs that worry me. However, Glenn Beck, in my opinion, goes over the deep edge. Aligning everything that is happening with our President Obama and making correlations to the youths in the Egyptian uprising as communists and socialists with the youth Obama speaks to here in the US. In Glenn Beck’s show of 2/10/2011. Beck shows a video of Obama with this excerpt; ‘transformation that is taking place because the people of Egypt calling for change. They turned out in extraordinary numbers representing all ages and all walks of life. But it is young people who have been in the forefront, a new generation, your generation who want their voice to be heard” (He was speaking at the University of Michigan). However, Beck left off “and so going forward, we want those young people and we want all Egyptians to know American will continue to do everything that we can to support an orderly and genuine transition to democracy in Egypt.” Instead he chooses to make a connection between Obama’s presidential campaign and his slogan calling for change and Islam, communists and socialists uprising. As if they are in cahoots with each other and he is leading or part of it. Glenn Beck also says that some are calling this a 1776 moment. He goes on to say ‘No we are having a July 14, 1789, which ended with guillotines in France. Both revolutions, isn’t it great? Both revolutions calling for freedom.’ He screams, ‘NO! one ended in blood shed with guillotines.’ Ummm, Glenn a 1776 moments was in the midst of the Revolutionary War here, in this country. Glenn last I looked that war was also bloody, it might not have had guillotines but it was bloody. I think Mr. Beck needs to make a trip to the library and pull out some books and read up on our history. Others things I noticed while watching Beck’s show today (it was recorded and from the Internet so it was actually yesterday’s show) was when he had KT McFarland on, a national security expert, and tried to get her to denounce Omar Suliman, the VP of Egypt. This was before Mubarak had stepped down. He kept trying to get McFarland to say that Suliman was a ‘bad guy’ and not an ally of the US but it wasn’t working and she did not bite. He also showed an image of Tahrir Square saying it was chaos. I don’t know if wears different glasses or his eyes see differently then everyone else, but the last thing I would call that Square would be chaotic. When he had Lt. Gen. Boyken on and talking about Iran’s revolution while they were showing images I noticed a predominately large amount of firearms carried by the people, in Egypt I have not seen a single firearm in the hands of the people. Rocks – yes, guns – no. Beck is right about one thing though “the world is heading to a different place.”

I do need to add, how can we trust a person to give us information when they can’t even get things straight. During Beck’s show of 2/09/2011 he supposedely showed a picture of Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Qaradawi (who is a scary person if the clips and translations I have seen of him are true). Instead the picture Glenn Beck held up was of His Eminence Sheikh Al Azhar Dr. Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, the Grand Sheikh of the Al Azhar University and Grand Imam of al Azhar Mosque. The differences between these two and their relations to the Muslim Brotherhood is fodder for another post.

Cathy von Hassel-Davies (336) 525-1228

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Global Trend 2025

Posted on January 24, 2011 by truthfulpolitics

Glenn Beck starts his Friday October 1, 2010 show writing on two blackboards.

WHO ARE WE
ARE WE DONE

He wants to know who are we as a country, and are we done yet as a country. Have we finished our job, have we freed all we needed to free, have we invented what we are supposed to invent?

Beck goes on to say “…they left bread crumbs all over the place. They knew we would fail,” speaking of Thomas Jefferson. He goes on to say in writings between Adams and Jefferson …”it’s going to fail. Jefferson said, yes, but the people will figure it out and they’ll remember what we were trying to do, and they will do it right this time.” Unfortunately Beck does not list any citing where he got this information.

He then goes on to exalt America and Americans. Now please don’t get me wrong, I am as American as the next person and I believe we are a great country, but I also believe in giving credit where credit is due. I am not xenophobic, even though I am afraid our friend Glenn Beck might be.

He goes on to say “everybody was by candlelight. America came around and boom – everything changed … and America came along and man’s imagination, the whole world changed because of the ideas of our Founders.” Now granted our Founders had some wonderful ideas but none as Beck suggests when he says that “so it was just about the light bulb and the steam engine and then the gasoline engine and television and radio and all that stuff?” Mr. Beck did you not pay attention in history class?

Let us start with the light bulb – I know many say that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, but really he just improved on it, it was actually invented by Joseph Swan who received a patent in the United Kingdom for a partial vacuum, carbon filament incandescent lamp. A year before Edison applied for a patent, Swan was installing light bulbs in homes IN ENGLAND. *

Next, the steam engine, Thomas Savery in 1698 patented the first crude steam engine, IN ENGLAND. Then around 1712 Thomas Newcomen improved the steam engine, still IN ENGLAND. James Watt, you know the guy the WATT is named after, improved on it even more IN SCOTLAND. *

Now on to the gasoline engine, again not an American invention. Siegfried Marcus an AUSTRIAN is believed to have built the first gas powered engine. With other fueled engines being created by various individuals from 1680 and on.*

The radio was invented by Marconi and Nikola Tesla, ITALIANS. Tesla was the first to receive a patent for radio technology.

I’ll be honest, I did not know all the people who made these inventions, I did know they weren’t invented by Americans. I looked them up and I found most of my answers on About.com. I checked other sites to cross-reference, and these guys are generally considered to be the inventors. This is to illustrate to you how far-out Glenn Beck can be, but wait, it gets even better.

He then introduced a report Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World. He says that is a government report, which it is, it was complied by the National Intelligence Council (NIC). However, Beck wants you to believe this report was created by the Obama Administration, and it is basically a blueprint on how they are going to change things. Well let’s start at the beginning, the report was printed in November of 2008, which would mean it would need to be compiled before that. Who was in office then? Obama? No, I don’t think so, I believe it was Bush, George W., to be exact. The head of the NIC, C. Thomas Fingar, was in office during the time of the Bush administration, and left in 2008.

Beck continues and takes the report totally out of context, remember the title, GLOBAL, “…but it is concentrating under more state control.” The only thing is the report is not talking of states as in United States, but rather China, Russia and the Gulf States. They are mentioned numerous times though out the report. He goes on to say “in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, the state’s role in the economy may be gaining more appeal throughout the world. Understand what that means. That means that the model of China is the goal that these guys are saying, everybody is pretty cool with. This is what is going to come.” In the report on page 8, Beck gets this information; however, the report does not mean the United States here, this is under the heading State Capitalism: A Post-Democratic Marketplace Rising in the East? So the report is talking of the east, not the west, as in US. In the second paragraph just after the talking point about state’s role, it mentions China, Russia, and Gulf states. A few paragraphs later it goes on to say “…may reinforce the emerging countries’ preference for greater state control and distrust of an unregulated marketplace. So we can safely say the report is not speaking of America. (page eight of report)

Glenn Beck goes on to say “state-owned enterprise serve as secondary function as pressure valves, helping to relieve inflation and currency appreciation pressures. They can also act as vehicles for increased political control. Increased political control – just what every American has dreamt about.” The report says “SOEs, especially national oil companies,” so we can safely assume again, not meaning state-owned as in America. The report then goes on to say, “the increasing role of the state as a player in the emerging markets has contrasted until recently with nearly opposite trends in the West, where the state has struggled to keep pace with private financial engineering…” It continues with, “…a gap on the role of the state in the economy is likely to remain between the West and the rapidly emerging economic powers.” So again we can gather since the report is saying opposite trends in the west, the report is not speaking of states as in United States. (page 9, 10, & 11) Unfortunately hearing Beck tell, he infers this means the United States of America.

Beck then continues, “and then there was this statement: In terms of size, speed and directional flow, the transfer of global wealth and economic power now underway roughly form West to East is without precedent in modern history. This is said in the report, under Executive Summary, and the report goes on to explain this is due to two reasons – one, “increases in oil and commodity prices generated windfall profits for the Gulf states and Russia.” Two, “lower costs combined with government policies have shifted the locus of manufacturing and some service industries to Asia. Beck is correct in this. However, since the report is about contingencies and what could happened if certain paths are followed, and if a nation doesn’t like what it is seeing, there are other paths to follow to change the outcome. Maybe we should change the outcome then and bring back manufacturing to the US and stop our dependency on oil and look for other natural alternatives.

Then the insanity continues on his show, he brings out experts; John Bolton, former US ambassador to the UN, Stuart Varney host of Fox Business Network and Daniel Hannan, a member of the European Parliament. Both Bolton and Varney are quick to infer that this report is the brain child of the Obama administration. Varney even goes on to say, “The worldview of the Obama administration and of the president, himself, is embedded in that report. He’s looking at the America that we have now, that he has partly helped to create with his polices of the last 18 months and he’s projecting that into the future, into the world. And it’s a future view, which I personally reject and I think we will reverse. But there’s no question, THAT REPORT ENCAPSULATES OBAMA’S VIEW OF THE WORLD NOW AND IN THE FUTURE. It is, however, reversible.” Page formatting for emphasis added by me.

I can’t say it enough. THIS REPORT IS NOT FROM THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION BUT FROM BUSH’S It is not about Obama’s worldview, but from the NIC of ’08 along with others, globally, that helped to compile the information.

My point is, do not believe everything you hear, please take the time to read and look up what is being said. I always hear I am busy, I have a life, well so do I, I Freelance for a local paper and other online sites; besides dealing with two crushing illnesses. Yet I can take the time to read a 99 page document, find transcripts for Glenn Beck’s show and post about it.

I am adding I emailed Mr. C. Thomas Fingar to make sure that what I was reading and understanding was correct. I am enclosing that email and his answer. Now my question to Glenn Beck is, did you read this report? If so, why couldn’t you have Mr. Fingar on your show to back your accusations? or if that was not possible as least fire off an email and do like I did, this is what I am gathering from reading the report am I correct? It actually would have saved you all that time it took to put together your show.

For my readers: the email I sent off to make sure my points were correct.

Dear Mr. Fingar,

I hope you don’t mind me emailing you to ask a few questions regarding the Global Trend 2025: A Transformed World report. I am sure you are aware of Glenn Beck using your report on his Friday October 1 show. During the show Mr. Beck insinuates the report was written by the Obama Administration; however, when I downloaded the report I noticed a date of November 2008, so I conclude that the report was compiled and written during the Bush Administration.

I do have a few questions and I hope you can answer them for me.

1) throughout the report it mentions states, such as, state control, state capitalism, state’s role in the economy. It my understanding of the report that when states are mentioned it is not meaning the states of America but states within Russia, China – elsewhere in the world. Is this correct?

2) you mention Gulf states, I am assuming you do not meant as in states bordering the Gulf of Mexico but rather the Middle East as in the Persian Gulf.

3) I am also coming away from reading this report that the US will still remain a democracy and our impact on how all this will come about will still be a driving factor. It will not just be the US affected but other countries as well, this is a global report not national. Please correct me if I am wrong. Also we will still be the most important but not necessarily the most dominant.

4) Also when State Owned Enterprises (SOE) are spoken of it is meaning national entities and not, for example, New York as a state owned enterprise?

5) On page 8 it says “In the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, the state’s role in the economy may be gaining more appeal throughout the world,” this is not meaning states as NY, CT, WA, Ca as examples, but as in China, Russia and Gulf states?

Thank you for taking your time with me.

Sincerely,

Cathy von Hassel-Davies

Mr. Thomas Fingar’s response:

You are correct on all points except the statement that the US will still be the most important but not necessarily the most dominant. The US will still be the most dominant in 2025 but the magnitude of our dominance will diminish as a result of the rise of many other nations, not because of US decline.

*About.com Inventions Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World Transcripts of Glenn Beck show October 1, 2010

Cathy von Hassel-Davies (336) 525-1228

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What Is Happening To Our Country

Posted on January 17, 2011 by truthfulpolitics

I was browsing the Internet on Flipboard, my iPad app that takes in information and puts it into a newspaper/magazine layout. I came across a webpage that really sent me reeling. I won’t link to that webpage, I will leave that up to you to find it. I do not want to give this person any track from my website because I am totally against what he is doing.

I am sure we have all heard of people being fired for what they say on Facebook, being fired for blog posts, or pictures of them on websites. So I want to ask, why in the world is Michigan’s assistant attorney general Andrew Shrivell still in his job? For some reason this guy has a vendetta for openly gay president of the University of Michigan student assembly, Chris Armstrong.

Shrivell is cyber-bullying Armstong with his posts. He was taken to task by WXYZ Ann Arbor’s Action News 7. His replies to questions about information in his blog posts wouldn’t even hold up in court, yet Shrivell uses it in his blog as accusations against Armstrong. Accusations that he has no proof of, accusations that would be thrown out of court for lack of evidence. Even his boss, attorney general Mike Cox said in the WXYZ article that, “… Mr. Shrivell’s immaturity and lack of judgment outside the office are clear.” But I am confused.. okay so let’s get this straight, he is immature and lacks judgment outside of the office, and this doesn’t spill over to what he does at work? This man is like a switch and can turn off his immaturity and lack of judgment while at work? I really do not believe that is possible, especially if he is as passionate about his cases as he is about Armstrong.

What is ironic about this is that his boss, Cox, uses videos to teach students about cyberspace bullies and predators. Yet nothing is done about one of his employees engaging in cyberspace bullying.

I am a believer in a Thomas Paine quote that he made in the beginning of The Age of Reason, “…I have always strenuously supported the Right of every Man to his opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it. The most formidable weapon, against errors of every kind, is Reason…” Shrivell is allowed is opinion but his opinion does not allow legitimize his right to bully Armstrong, and he is definitely lacking in reason.

As Thomas Paine said, “suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society,” and for some reason Shrivell is acting like a spurned lover of Armstrong and suspicious of Armstrong’s activities.

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Tuscon Shooting

Posted on January 10, 2011 by truthfulpolitics

There was a mass shooting in Tuscon, with Representative Gabriella Giffords among those shot, she is in critical condition. Giffords is the wife of astronaut Mark Kelly and suspected to be the main focus of the attack.

Among the six who were killed was a nine year-old, Christine Taylor Green – an amazing girl in her own right; John Roll, 63 a chief judge; Phyllis Schneck, 79; Dorothy Morris, 76; Gabriel Zimmerman, 30; Dorwan Stoddard, 76.

Many news outlets reported on the incident including the NY Times, Arizona Public Media, and CBS News, to name a few.

Cathy von Hassel-Davies (336) 525-1228

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Hearing Aids to be covered under NC state health plan

Posted on January 1, 2011 by truthfulpolitics

The North Carolina legislature has passed an act requiring health benefit plans and the State Health Plan to cover hearing aids and replacement hearing aids for covered individuals under the age of 22. The act is effective for plans with January 1, 2011 and beyond effective dates.

Blue Cross Blue Shield changed their plan to reflect:

One hearing aid per hearing-impaired ear. Up to $2,500 per hearing aid every 36 months for covered members under the age of 22 years.
Benefits include initial hearing aid evaluation, fitting and adjustments and supplies including ear molds.
This is a 36-month benefit, not a three-year benefit, meaning hearing aids for the left and right ears could have a different 36-month coverage period.

For more information contact your health plan provider.

Cathy von Hassel-Davies (336) 525-1228

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