GOP vs Obama vs Oil Company Tax Subsidies: Bribes & Showdowns!!

Looks Like A Tough Political Showdown Between Pres. Obama & GOP Leaders Over Tax Breaks & Subsidies Is Headed Our Way.

You See The GOP Wants To Keep Throwing Money At Big Oil Companies In The Form Of Tax Subsidies In Exchange For BIG Campaign Checks From Oil Company Lobbyists.

President Obama On The Other Hand Wants To Cut Off Those Unfair Tax Subsidies & Tax Breaks.

In Fact GOP Lawmakers On Capitol Hill May Even Attempt To Use The Debt Ceiling As A Bribe Against Stopping Those Unfair Tax Subsidies To Big Oil Companies.

Excuse Me But Aren't Bribes What The GOP Accused Democrats Of Back In 2009 & 2010???

This Brutal Showdown Among Both Democrat & GOP Leaders Reveals One Of The Reasons Why Key GOP Lawmakers Are Trying To Kick Pres. Obama Out Of The Oval Office.

Can You Say: "The GOP Is More Likely Than Not As It Relates To Being Responsible For American Gas Price Gouging??"

That's Right!

It Appears As If The Republican Party Is Contributing To America's Current High Gasoline Prices, Yet NONE Of Them Want To Stop Giving Big Oil Companies Huge Tax Subsidies & Tax Breaks!

Just Another Logical Reason To VOTE OBAMA IN 2012!!






Big Oil's $4 billion tax break in doubt

President Obama repeated his call Tuesday for an end to $4 billion in oil industry tax breaks as gas prices approach $4 a gallon and after a top lawmaker indicated a possible shift in Republican policy.

In a letter to congressional leaders, the president said the oil industry is profitable enough without the tax incentives and that the money should be spent on alternative energy sources and conservation.

"CEOs of the major oil companies have made it clear that high oil prices provide more than enough profit motive to invest in domestic production without special tax breaks," said Obama. "As we work together to reduce our deficits, we simply can't afford these wasteful subsidies."

This week those profits are going to be front and center. BP (BP) is expected to report earnings on Wednesday. Exxon (XOM, Fortune 500) is slated to announce its results on Thursday. Some analysts expect the company's profits to jump 50% from last year. Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) is scheduled to make its earnings announcement on Friday.

The oil industry and many of its supporters in Congress have long argued that the tax breaks encourage domestic oil production and provide jobs for millions of Americans. Republicans in particular have resisted efforts to eliminate these tax breaks, something many Democrats have been trying to do since at least 2008.

But on Monday night, Speaker of the House John Boehner indicated he might be open to taking some of those breaks off the table.

Drill baby drill won't lower gas prices
"I don't think the big oil companies need to have the oil depletion allowances, but for small, independent oil and gas producers, if they didn't have this, there'd be even less exploration in America than there is today," Boehner said on ABC's World News Tonight. "It's certainly something we need to be looking at."

Depletion allowances let oil companies treat the oil in the ground as capital equipment, and they can write off a certain percentage for each barrel that comes out.

On Tuesday the speaker appeared to backtrack from those comments, with an aid telling CNN that "what the President has suggested so far would simply raise taxes and increase the price at the pump."

Nonetheless, Obama took the chance to pounce, saying in his letter that he was "heartened that Speaker Boehner yesterday expressed openness to eliminating these tax subsidies."

This all comes as the price of gasoline surges above $4 a gallon in many states, making it increasingly difficult politically to defend Big Oil.

As gas prices approach their record highs set in 2008 they are threatening to derail the nation's nascent economic recovery.

The tax breaks in question
The Obama administration is targeting nine tax breaks, according to a paper from the left-leaning Center for American Progress. Four account for the lion's share of the money:

Domestic manufacturing tax deduction: This is the largest single tax break, and would save over $1.7 billion a year if eliminated.

The tax deduction, passed in 2004, is designed to keep factories in the United States. Companies that manufacture here can deduct 9% of their income from operations that are attributed to domestic production.

But some question if that incentive is really appropriate for oil companies. "What are they going to do, move the oil field to the North Sea," said one staffer at the Center for American Progress said in an interview earlier this year.

No, but higher costs in the United States may make them move the drill rigs to the North Sea or some other place.

Eliminating the tax breaks "would actually discourage new energy projects and new hiring in one of the nation's most dependable job-creating industries," the American Petroleum Institute said in a statement at the time, noting the industry currently supports over 9 million jobs.

The percentage depletion allowance: This lets oil companies deduct about 15% of the money generated from a well from its taxes. Eliminating it would save about $1 billion a year.

The deduction essentially lets oil companies treat oil in the ground as capital equipment. For any industry, the value of that equipment can be written down each year.

But critics say oil in the ground is not capital equipment, but a national resource that the oil companies are simply using for their own profit.

The foreign tax credit: This provision gives companies a credit for any taxes they pay to other countries. Altering this tax credit would save about $850 million a year.

Foreign governments can collect money from oil companies through royalties -- fees for depleting their national resources -- and income taxes.

A royalty would be deducted as a cost of doing business, and would likely shave about 30% off a company's tax bill. Categorized as income tax, it is 100% deductible.

Foreign governments long ago grew wise to the U.S. tax code. To reduce costs for everyone involved and attract business, they agreed to call some royalties income taxes, allowing oil companies to take the 100% deduction on a bigger slice of their bill.

Intangible drilling costs: This lets the industry write off about $780 million a year for things like wages, fuel, repairs and hauling costs.

All industries get to write off the costs of doing business, but they must take it over the life of an investment. The oil industry gets to take the drilling credit in the first year.


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Sources: CNN, Whitehouse.gov, Youtube, Google Maps

Mike Easley Joins The "North Carolina Felons Club" Like Jim Black

Mike Easley Enters Plea Deal To Felony Campaign Finance Charge


Mike Easley, North Carolina's governor from 2001 to 2009, became a convicted felon today when he entered an Alford Plea to violating state campaign finance laws.

He will not serve time but will pay a $1,000 fine.

The plea ends nearly two years of state and federal probes that had surrounded Easley, a Democrat who served two terms as governor and two terms as attorney general.

Easley, 60, entered an Alford plea of guilty to violating campaign finance laws, a felony. An Alford plea means that Easley is not admitting guilt, but he acknowledges there was sufficient evidence to convict him of a crime.

The plea is specifically tied to a helicopter flight Easley took in October 2006 with longtime ally McQueen Campbell, the former chairman of the board of trustees at N.C. State University. It is valued at $1,600.

At the time of the flight, Easley's campaign did not disclose it as required on campaign disclosure forms. Then, last year, following a report in The News & Observer about a vehicle that Easley's son had been driving for years, the Easley campaign amended its 2006 report and said that the SUV had been a campaign vehicle at that time.

But the helicopter flight again was not disclosed, which made it either an in-kind campaign contribution or an unreported campaign expense, according to prosecutor William Kenerly of Salisbury.

A document that Easley signed during today's hearing says that he feloniously caused the campaign to file the report as true when, in fact, Easley knew that it wasn't.

The deal did not address an outstanding $95,000 fine Easley's campaign owes to the state Board of Elections. That fine resulted from hearings last year in which Easley and others testified under oath.

Easley will not have to perform any community service. And he will not be on probation.

State law only denies the right to vote to felons who are in prison or on probation or parole, so it appears that Easley will retain his right to vote.

As part of the deal, federal authorities said in a letter to Easley's lawyer that they will close their part of the probe.

The letter says that federal prosecutors had outlined parts of their case to Easley on Nov. 10 and that Easley's lawyer had approached authorities about reaching a settlement in the case in recent weeks.

The letter is signed by the lead federal prosecutors, including Republican George E.B. Holding. It says "some of the acts and transactions" they reviewed do not warrant prosecution because a standard for presenting those items to the grand jury has not been met.

They said that while other acts might meet that standard, they also were taking into account the burden on accused persons in multiple prosecutions; the effective utilization of federal resources; and the concept of promoting cooperation between state and federal prosecutors.

As a result of those factors, they wrote, the rest of the case will go away because of Easley's plea in state court: "[T]he ongoing federal investigation of Mr. Easley's conduct will be closed, and this office will decline to bring any charges against Mr. Easley based on the currently known facts."

The state prosecutor, Kenerly, said in a statement that he expects the deal will be criticized. In recent weeks, he had said that he was studying whether part of state campaign law gave immunity to people, such as Easley, who were subpoenaed and then testified in an elections hearing. Easley had answered questions under oath for about five hours on Oct. 29, 2009.

Easley had always denied wrongdoing.

Kenerly, a Republican who has been the district attorney in Rowan County for nearly three decades, said the deal was fair.

"Critics of this plea agreement should understand that it is a resolution giving consideration to vague statutes and hotly contested evidence," Kenerly said in the statement. "As a result of this plea the former Governor is now a convicted felon, a result that I consider to serve the interests of justice in this case.”

The crowd of reporters and photographers had court officials worried about a mob scene as Easley left the courtroom. Judge Donald Stephens, Wake's chief resident judge, sent word through a TV reporter for the media not to chase Easley as he left.

To do so, he said, would expose them to contempt of court charges.






NC Optometry Board Agrees To License Convicted Felon Jim Black Again


Convicted Felon and former state House Speaker Jim Black can return to work as an eye doctor, the state optometry board has decided.

The North Carolina State Board of Examiners in Optometry agreed this week to restore his license to practice optometry once paperwork is finalized and he pays a fee, a board attorney said Friday.

Black, who served more than three years in federal prison on a government corruption conviction before returning to the Charlotte area last month, surrendered his optometry license voluntarily in 2008 while in prison.

The board has the power to discipline a licensed optometrist convicted of a felony but has latitude to restore the license if it hears evidence or sees proof the applicant has reformed, according to state law.

Black and his attorney, Whit Powell, attended the hearing Thursday in Asheville to make the ex-speaker's case that led to his reinstatement, which was first reported by WRAL-TV. Powell didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

The paperwork should be completed in about 10 days. The license will have to be renewed in January.

The board's deliberations were private, but Johnny Loper, the board's general counsel, said it's reasonable to presume the board took into account that prison officials had released Black. His sentence officially ends April 1. "Since it was not Dr. Black's actions in practicing optometry that put him in prison to start off with, there was no reason why Dr. Black could not return safely to the practice of optometry," Loper said.

Black, now 75, pleaded guilty in 2007 to taking more than $25,000 in cash from chiropractors while he pushed their agenda in the Legislature. Black also accepted punishment on state charges of bribery and obstruction of justice a week after his federal guilty plea, including a $1 million fine.

State prosecutors accused Black of giving former state Rep. Michael Decker, R-Forsyth, as much as $58,000 in cash and campaign contributions to switch parties in 2003, a move that helped Black remain co-speaker. Black repeatedly denied that he bribed Decker.

Black led the House as speaker or co-speaker from 1999 through the end of 2006. He resigned from the House one day before the federal criminal plea.

Black and his daughter ran a successful Optometry practice in Charlotte and where he lives in Matthews.



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, WRAL, Google Maps

Sestak Used Clean, Smart Politics To Beat Specter, No Bribes

After 30 Years and Party Switch, Its Curtains For Specter


Early on, Senator Arlen Specter’s supporters knew that the 80-year-old Republican-turned-Democrat was in trouble.

“Turnout was terrible,” Gov. Edward G. Rendell said less than two hours before the polls closed here.

And just about two hours after they had closed, he blamed the rain and the low turnout in Philadelphia for ending Mr. Specter’s 30 years in the Senate.

“The rain killed Arlen,” Mr. Rendell said dejectedly. “Whatever chance he had went down with the rain.”

Mr. Specter, a survivor of cancer and a brain tumor, was a master of political survival, too, largely by nimbly balancing the interests of both parties. But last year, when he saw that he could not win re-election this year as a Republican, he switched sides, a move that was not enough to save him from defeat in the Democratic primary on Tuesday.

Mr. Specter won just three counties, including Philadelphia, but not by the huge amounts needed to offset the wins by Representative Joe Sestak everywhere else in the state.

Mr. Sestak’s campaign focused relentlessly on Mr. Specter’s party switch, saying that it symbolized his opportunism and that he was out for himself. Mr. Specter may have sown the seeds of his own destruction when he readily admitted that he changed sides to keep his seat.

He was encouraged by President Obama, who was looking for a 60th vote in the Senate and promised Mr. Specter all the support a sitting president could muster. In the end, Mr. Obama held a fund-raising event for him, which provided vivid footage in a television commercial. But as an anti-incumbency wave seemed to sweep the country, the president studiously avoided campaigning here.

After the dust settled, some analysts said that an Obama rally in Philadelphia, where the president remains popular, might have excited the electorate more and increased the turnout enough to save Mr. Specter.

Still, Mr. Specter had to contend with the fallout from his years as a Republican, including devastating footage of his endorsement in 2004 by President George W. Bush.

Mr. Specter looked shaken and emotional in a brief concession speech at a hotel here. He perfunctorily thanked Mr. Obama and Mr. Rendell and pledged his support to Mr. Sestak.

In sharp contrast, Mr. Sestak, 58, delivered an exuberant victory speech in which declared: “This is what democracy looks like!”

Although he himself has served in Washington, Mr. Sestak cast Mr. Specter as the candidate of Washington and did his best to distance himself from the wave of anti-incumbency sweeping the country.

Mr. Rendell, in an interview in his office here, said Mr. Specter’s loss should not be interpreted as part of a national trend.

Rather, he said, the race was a referendum on Mr. Specter.

“None of these results should be taken as meaning anything,” the governor said as he mulled the ins and outs of the nail-biting race. “If it’s about anything, it’s about the difficulties of party-switching.”


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Sources: CNN, Fox News, NY Times, Youtube, Google Maps

Clarence Norman To Serve His Full Prison Term...Parole Denied

Parole is Denied For Jailed Brooklyn Politician Clarence Norman


The NY Parole Board has decided disgraced Brooklyn Politician Clarence Norman is too sleazy to be freed, the Daily News has learned.

The 12-Term Assemblyman - serving three to nine years for selling Judgeships - was denied early release on his first try and will have to wait another year.

"There is a reasonable probability that you would not live at liberty without violating the law and your release at this time is incompatible with the welfare and safety of the community," the three-member board told Norman earlier this month.

Norman, 58, was jailed in June 2007 and has been on a work-release program at the Lincoln Correctional Facility in Harlem since December 2008.

He was locked up for campaign corruption and extortion and stripped of his law license.

"These crimes were committed while you were in a position of trust as the Leader of the Democratic Party of Brooklyn," the board said.

"These crimes hurt all the citizens of Brooklyn and showed your willingness to use your power for illegal purposes."

"You have just recently admitted your guilt in these matters. Use this time to gain insight into your behavior."

Norman's next parole hearing is in March 2011, but he's already off to a bad start.

He was charged Tuesday night with "exceeding time" on work release - the first blemish on his prison record.


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Sources: NY Daily News, Village Voice, Google Maps

Blago's Attorneys Request Subpoena For Pres. Barack Obama

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Blagojevich Lawyers Want Obama Subpoenaed


Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich asked a federal judge on Thursday to issue a subpoena for President Barack Obama to testify as a witness at his corruption trial.

Blagojevich said in court papers filed by defense attorney Sam Adam that Obama would be able to resolve questions surrounding the government's allegation that the former governor sought to sell or trade the seat left vacant following the president's November 2008 election.

"President Barack Obama has direct knowledge of the Senate seat allegation," Blagojevich's 11-page motion filed with U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel said.

There was no allegation in the court papers of any wrongdoing on Obama's part.

It would be extraordinary if a sitting president were subpoenaed to take the witness stand in a Chicago political corruption trial or any criminal trial. Zagel has not indicated how he might respond to the unusual request.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, Randall Samborn, had no comment. Messages seeking comment were left at the offices of Adam and two other defense attorneys, Samuel E. Adam and Sheldon Sorosky.

Defense attorney Michael E. Ettinger, who represents the former governor's brother, businessman Robert Blagojevich, said he was not surprised by the unusual motion. Adam, a fixture among Chicago defense attorneys for decades, is known for his flamboyant rhetoric.

"This is what he does," Ettinger said. "I've been working with him for 40 years, and he's sharp as a tack."

Blagojevich has been charged with scheming to sell the Senate seat and using the powers of the governor's office illegally to pressure potential campaign donors for contributions. Robert Blagojevich has been charged with helping him. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Zagel has scheduled the trial to get under way June 3.

The motion seeking Obama's testimony contained several paragraphs that had been blacked out. This action is usually taken when the court has put information under seal.

The defense attorney said there was a conflict between comments made by Obama at a news conference and statements to federal prosecutors made by a labor union president and a candidate for the seat.

The specifics of the statements from the union president and the candidate were blacked out in the version of the motion that was filed publicly on the court docket.

"There are two conflicting stories and the defense has the right to admit evidence that contradicts the government's claims," the motion said.


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Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps

Don Blankenship & Massey Energy Should Be Sued For Miners' Deaths

"You're Liable to Get Shot!"


The company is well known in West Virginia, in part because CEO Don Blankenship grew to become a fixture in state politics, doling out thousands of dollars to candidates he favored – most of them Republicans. In 2004, he spent millions on advertising that attacked a West Virginia state Supreme Court justice, leading to the election of challenger Brent Benjamin.

Massey had a $70 million case before the state Supreme Court and, once elected, Benjamin made the controversial decision not to recuse himself because of Blankenship's support of him and to hear arguments anyway. Another member of the court hearing the case was Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard.

He later recused himself after photographs surfaced showing that he vacationed with Blankenship in the French Riviera.

When an ABC News reporter tried to interview Blankenship about the possible conflicts in the parking lot of a Massey Energy office in Belfry, Ky., Blankenship became agitated.

"If you're going to start taking pictures of me, you're liable to get shot," Blankenship told the reporter before grabbing his camera.

Blankenship later told the Charleston Daily Mail he couldn't recall making any threats. "Quite frankly, I don't know what I said except that I know I'm never loud, vulgar or rude to strangers," he said.

The conflicts surrounding the state Supreme Court saga triggered a cascade of changes, including a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that called on judges to recuse themselves when major donors come before them in court, and a vote by the West Virginia legislature to adopt public financing of judicial campaigns.








4 Missing West Virginia Miners Found Dead


Days of rescue efforts came to a grim end after crews found the bodies of four miners who had been missing since an explosion almost a week ago in a West Virginia mine, authorities said early Saturday.

"We did not receive the miracle we prayed for," said West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin. "This journey has ended and now the healing will start."

Authorities first notified the families of the four miners about their fate before revealing it to the media.

The death toll from Monday's blast at the Upper Big Branch mine now stands at 29, making it the worst mining disaster in the United States in nearly four decades.

On Friday, crews had reached a refuge chamber that had not been used, but the bad air forced them to evacuate before they reached the second chamber.

The airtight chambers were stocked with enough food, water and air to keep 15 miners alive for four days, but Manchin said none of the chambers had been deployed.

Rescue efforts have now turned to the difficult task of recovery, said Kevin Stricklin, of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

Of the 29 dead, the bodies of 22 still remain inside the mine. Stricklin said most of them will have to be hand-carried out because of the lack of equipment.

"It's hard to turn a rescue into a recovery with the same group of people," he said.

As days of rescue came to an end, funerals were held Friday for some of the seven dead whose bodies have been removed from the mine.

At the funeral for Benny Willingham, the Rev. Gary Pollard said the 61-year-old miner had three loves in life: God, his family and his job. "He loved God so much that every day was a holiday, every meal was a buffet," Pollard said at Mullens Pentecostal Holiness Church in Mullens.

Willingham, who was married for 33 years, was devoted to his church, Pollard said, and had been a Christian for 19 years. And though Willingham had been set to retire soon, Pollard said he didn't know whether retirement would have suited him: He loved the work.

Three other funerals were held Friday and one is set for Saturday.

The cause of Monday's blast is unknown, and state and federal officials have pledged a full investigation.

The explosion has prompted renewed questions about mine safety. Obama said Friday that "it's clear more needs to be done" to improve mine safety.

He will meet next week with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and a Mine Safety and Health Administration official to hear their initial assessment of the cause of the blast and their recommendations on steps the federal government should take to improve safety.

Richmond, Virginia-based Massey Energy Co., which owns the mine, said in a statement released Friday that it will conduct "extensive" reviews of the mine accident "to ensure that a similar incident doesn't happen again."

It said the mine has had less than one violation per day in inspections by the Mine Safety and Health Administration and added that that rate is "consistent with national averages."

"Most of the citations issued by MSHA to [Upper Big Branch] in the last year were resolved on the same day they were issued," it said. "The safety of our members has been and will continue to be our top priority every day."

One of the unaccounted-for miners and 18 of the dead were working in an area where long wall cutting was taking place. The technique uses a large grinder to extract the coal and creates large amounts of coal dust and methane, both of which are explosive.

Manchin said that even though it's not clear what caused the explosion, there needs to be a focus on better ventilation and sensors to alert mine personnel when gas levels become dangerous.

"There was no way to protect them against this," he said. "You just have to prevent it and make sure it doesn't happen again."

The West Virginia blast was the worst mining disaster since 1972 when 91 miners were killed in a fire at the Sunshine Mine in Kellogg, Idaho.

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West Virginia Mine EXPLOSION: Massey Energy Mine Had Scores Of Safety Citations


A huge underground explosion blamed on methane gas killed 25 coal miners in the worst U.S. mining disaster in more than two decades.

Four others were missing Tuesday, their chances of survival dimming as rescuers were held back by poison gases that accumulated near the blast site, about 1.5 miles from the entrance to Massey Energy Co.'s sprawling Upper Big Branch mine.

The mine, about 30 miles south of Charleston, has a significant history of safety violations, including 57 infractions just last month for (among other things) not properly ventilating the highly combustible methane.

ABC News reported:

The federal records catalog the problems at the Upper Big Branch mine, operated by the Performance Coal Company. They show the company was fighting many of the steepest fines, or simply refusing to pay them. Performance is a subsidiary of Massey Energy.

The nation's sixth biggest mining company by production, Massey Energy took in $24 million in net income in the fourth quarter of 2009. The company paid what was then the largest financial settlement in the history of the coal industry for the 2006 fire at the Aracoma mine, also in West Virginia. The fire trapped 12 miners. Two suffocated as they looked for a way to escape. Aracoma later admitted in a plea agreement that two permanent ventilation controls had been removed in 2005 and not replaced, according to published reports.

Rescuers on Tuesday had to bulldoze an access road above it so they could begin drilling three shafts over 1,000 feet each to release methane and carbon monoxide that chased them from the mine after the blast Monday afternoon, Gov. Joe Manchin said at an early morning news briefing Tuesday. Drilling and ensuring rescuers can safely go in could take up to 12 hours, meaning the search was unlikely to resume before 6 p.m. Tuesday.

"It's going to be a long day and we're not going to have a lot of information until we can get the first hole through," Manchin said.

It had already been a long day for grieving relatives, some angry because they found out their loved ones were among the dead from government officials or a company Web site, not from Massey Energy executives.

"They're supposed to be a big company," said Michelle McKinney, whose father, 62-year-old Benny R. Willingham, died in the blast. She found out from a local official at a school near the mine. "These guys, they took a chance every day to work and make them big. And they couldn't even call us."

McKinney said her husband is a miner too and her 16-year-old son doesn't want him to go back to work. Willingham, who had mined for 30 years, the last 17 with Massey, was just five weeks from retiring and planned to take his wife on a cruise to the Virgin Islands next month.

"Benny was the type – he probably wouldn't have stayed retired long," said his sister-in-law, Sheila Prillaman said. "He wasn't much of a homebody."

Meanwhile, others waited for word about missing loved ones. Kevin Stricklin, an administrator for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said the situation looked grim.

"All we have left is hope, and we're going to continue to do what we can," he said.

Officials hoped the four miners still unaccounted for were able to reach airtight chambers stocked with food, water and enough oxygen for them to live for four days, but rescue teams checked one of two such chambers nearby and it was empty. The buildup of gases prevented teams from reaching other chambers, officials said.

A total of 31 miners were in the area during a shift change when the explosion rocked the mine.

"Before you knew it, it was just like your ears stopped up, you couldn't hear and the next thing you know, it's just like you're just right in the middle of a tornado," miner Steve Smith, who heard the explosion but was able to escape, told ABC's "Good Morning America."

Some of those killed may have died in the blast and others when they breathed in the gas-filled air, Stricklin said. Eleven bodies had been recovered and identified, but the other 14 have not. Names weren't released publicly, but Manchin said three of the dead are members of the same family.

He said investigators still don't know what ignited the blast, but methane likely played a part.

The death toll is the highest in a U.S. mine since 1984, when 27 died in a fire at Emery Mining Corp.'s mine in Orangeville, Utah. If the four missing bring the total to 29, it would be the most killed in a U.S. mine since a 1970 explosion killed 38 at Finley Coal Co., in Hyden, Ky.

"There's always danger. There's so many ways you can get hurt, or your life taken," said Gary Williams, a miner and pastor of New Life Assembly, a church near the southern West Virginia mine. "It's not something you dread every day, but there's always that danger. But for this area, it's the only way you're going to make a living."

Though the situation looked bleak, Manchin said miracles can happen and pointed to the 2006 Sago Mine explosion that killed 12. Crews found miner Randal McCloy Jr. alive after he was trapped for more than 40 hours in an atmosphere poisoned with carbon monoxide.

In Monday's blast, nine miners were leaving on a vehicle that takes them in and out of the mine's long shaft when a crew ahead of them felt a blast of air and went back to investigate, Stricklin said.

They found seven workers dead. Others were hurt or missing about a mile and a half inside the mine, though there was some confusion over how many. Others made it out.

Massey Energy, a publicly traded company based in Richmond, Va., has 2.2 billion tons of coal reserves in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia and Tennessee. It ranks among the nation's top five coal producers and is among the industry's most profitable. It has a spotty safety record.

In the past year, federal inspectors fined the company more than $382,000 for repeated serious violations involving its ventilation plan and equipment at Upper Big Branch.

ABC News has also documented the highly controversial relationship between Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship and a local judge who has refused to recuse himself from cases involving Massey Energy despite long fundraising and personal ties between the two men. In 2004, Blankenship physically resisted an ABC reporter trying to ask him about the matter.

Methane is one of the great dangers of coal mining, and federal records say the Eagle coal seam releases up to 2 million cubic feet of methane gas into the Upper Big Branch mine every 24 hours, which is a large amount, said Dennis O'Dell, health and safety director for the United Mine Workers labor union.

In mines, giant fans are used to keep the colorless, odorless gas concentrations below certain levels. If concentrations are allowed to build up, the gas can explode with a spark roughly similar to the static charge created by walking across a carpet in winter, as at the Sago mine, also in West Virginia.

Since then, federal and state regulators have required mine operators to store extra oxygen supplies. Upper Big Branch uses containers that can generate about an hour of breathable air, and all miners carry a container on their belts besides the stockpiles inside the mine. Upper Big Branch has had three other fatalities in the last dozen years.

Upper Big Branch has 19 openings and roughly 7-foot ceilings. Inside, it's crisscrossed with railroad tracks used for hauling people and equipment. It is located in a mine-laced swath of Raleigh and Boone counties that is the heart of West Virginia's coal country.

The seam produced 1.2 million tons of coal in 2009, according to the mine safety agency, and has about 200 employees.

"The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration will investigate this tragedy, and take action," U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said in a statement. "Miners should never have to sacrifice their lives for their livelihood."


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Sources: ABC News, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, Huffington Post, Google Maps

Lanier Cansler Accepts Cash For No-Bid Medicaid Contracts?..NC Corruption

Lanier Cansler Gets Lobbying Firm Cash To Award No-Bid Contracts


The NC State Secretary for Health and Human Services has continued to receive checks of about $3,000 a month from his former lobbying firm even as the firm helped land $30 million in No-Bid contracts from the agency.

Lanier Cansler, a former Republican legislator from Asheville, says he stepped away from any role in awarding the contracts to avoid a conflict of interest.

He said that before he returned to government service, he sold his stake in Cansler Fuquay Solutions, the lobbying firm he helped found in 2005. Cansler said the monthly checks are payments and interest for his share of the company, which he sold to his partner.

In a complaint filed with the NC State Ethics Commission this week, Richard Morgan, the former co-speaker of the state House, said that the continued payments violate a state law that forbids government officials from enriching themselves through their duties.

"The money travels in a circle," said Morgan, a Moore County Republican now campaigning for the state Senate. "Delegating to someone you hire and control isn't a recusal - it's a dodge. It's like Mike Easley appointing the trustees of N.C. State University, telling them to hire his wife, then saying they made the decision."

Cansler said that he has done nothing wrong and that Morgan has a beef against him going back more than a decade, when the two served together in the state House.

"I've been completely open about all of this," Cansler said Thursday. "I've complied with every ethical requirement under state law. I'm confident there are no ethical violations."

The issue revolves around two no-bid contracts awarded to the Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence, a firm the state hired to help determine whether Medicaid recipients are qualified to receive in-home nursing care or specialized outpatient therapy.

The programs are expensive, and Cansler has made it a priority to save the state money by making sure services go only to those entitled to them.

Cansler Fuquay Solutions is the lobbyist for CCME.

On state ethics forms filed in February 2009, Cansler disclosed that Cansler Fuquay owes him money from the sale of his share of the business and that the debt would be paid over time. He did not disclose on the form the amount of his regular payments from Cansler Fuquay. He said Thursday that amount totals about $36,000 a year.

A certified public accountant, Cansler said he was not required to disclose the repayment arrangement at all, but did so only out of an "abundance of caution."

The ethics form requires officials to disclose income. The repayment of principal from a debt is not income, Cansler said, only the interest earned on the note is. He said his former firm pays him 6 percent interest on the debt.

Governor Bev Perdue was aware

Chrissy Pearson, a spokeswoman for Gov. Beverly Perdue, said the governor knew about Cansler's arrangement with his former lobbying firm before appointing him.

"The governor was aware of the secretary's prior business arrangement, as was everyone else because he disclosed them freely from day one," Pearson said. "A plan was in place before he even began work to recuse himself as was appropriate. As far as the governor knows, he has done just that."

Cansler's lobbying ties were raised as a potential ethical issue almost from the moment Perdue, a Democrat, announced his appointment in January 2009.

In addition to his relationship with CCME, Cansler also worked for Value Options and Computer Services Corp. , companies that have DHHS contracts valued in the hundreds of millions.

Stacey A. Phipps, an attorney for the Ethics Commission, wrote to Cansler in a Dec. 30, 2009, letter that the payment of the debt presents "the potential for a conflict of interest."

As long as Cansler recused himself from decisions involving current and past clients of his former firm, Phipps advised, he would not violate ethics rules.

Cansler says he did right

Cansler said Thursday that he has recused himself in every case, including the no-bid contracts to CCME. A deputy secretary handled the negotiations, and they were given final approval by the state Department of Administration.

"I had nothing to do with any part of the process," Cansler said. "I didn't even know they had done them until they were pretty much done."

Morgan said that argument doesn't hold up. He is making the issue a focus of his campaign for the state Senate.

Morgan is running for the Moore and Harnett county state Senate seat held by GOP Sen. Harris Blake. Morgan has created a television ad that accuses Cansler of participating in a "pay to play" scheme.

"You are supposed to divest yourself of those types of potential conflicts," Morgan said. "It's an embarrassment to Bev. The timing on it is right in the middle of when she's talking about more transparency and cleaning up government and stopping corruption, and Bev, now's the time to do something about it, with all due respect, governor."

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No-Bid Deals Draw Criticism


NC State officials say the motivation behind a no-bid contract to provide diabetes supplies for people on Medicaid was the need to cut costs in difficult budget times.

But critics - from Government watchdogs to health educators - say North Carolina may have been too quick to embrace such contracts after awarding the diabetes contract to a company whose owners have a troubled business history.

They also question whether the use of such contracts provides the sort of Transparency in government that Gov. Bev Perdue promised.

The NC State Medicaid office has signed Charlotte-based Prodigy Diabetes Care to a two-year contract to provide supplies for about 50,000 people on Medicaid who have diabetes.

Prodigy is run by two brothers, Ramzi Abulhaj and Rick Admani, who have been involved in a string of legal battles involving companies they started in Florida, including a Bankruptcy and Lawsuits Alleging Patent Piracy.

The state signed a contract with the little-known company in October, two months after Prodigy was founded. Until word leaked about the no-bid contract, competitors, retailers and diabetes educators were unaware that state officials had been talking to Prodigy's parent company for months. People with diabetes on the government health insurance program did not know they would need to get new meters to monitor their blood glucose levels.

"We weren't given all the information up front," said Andy Ingram, owner of Home Assist Medical Equipment in Laurinburg.

"We were given information in bits and pieces," said Ingram, a retailer who will distribute the Prodigy equipment to patients. "We're finding things out after they actually occurred."

The Prodigy contract is one of several no-bid deals the state Department of Health and Human Services has signed in the last few months, using special powers granted last summer by the state legislature. Legislators hoped the state agency would save money by eliminating time needed to request and evaluate bids.

Bob Phillips, Executive Director of Common Cause North Carolina, said no-bid contracting practices should be reviewed and made consistent, and the reasons for eliminating competition made narrower and more clearly defined.

"I think it sends a bad signal to the public at a time when there is already a lot of suspicion about how open things are in state government," Phillips said. "I think the governor has made great strides. There still remain questions, and this just adds to that."

DHHS Secretary Lanier Cansler has said the department is pushed to squeeze savings out of the fast-growing Medicaid program. The contract with Prodigy is estimated to save the state $4.4million over two years.

"This contract is short term and allows savings of millions of dollars," Chrissy Pearson, a spokeswoman for Perdue, said in a written statement. "The secretary has confirmed with the governor that his department is monitoring closely the quality and accessibility of this product while protecting the quality of patient care."

Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, said no-bid contracts should be exceptions and that agencies have an obligation in those cases to make sure the state is getting quality services at competitive prices.

In circumstances where agencies want to move quickly, it may be a good idea to seek informal bids from several companies to find the best deal, Berger said.

"We're talking about taxpayers' dollars," he said. "The obligation is to be very careful with that money."

Sen. William Purcell, a Laurinburg Democrat who helps write the budget for DHHS, has fielded complaints about Prodigy and has heard that the state might face a lawsuit from those who don't like the no-bid contract.

Legislators told DHHS to wring out savings in a time when more people are signing up for Medicaid but the state budget is shrinking.

"It's hard to tell them to save money, then say we don't like what you're doing," Purcell said.

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North Carolina No-Bid DHHS Contracts Questioned


NC Health Care Advocates are questioning contracts the NC State Department of Health and Human Services awarded in recent months without competitive bidding.

Lawmakers allowed the no-bid contracts so DHHS could save time and money during a difficult budget year. Department officials maintain that the contracts are with companies with proven track records and can provide better value.

Still, some people question the fairness of the deals and the potential for conflicts of interest.

"No-bid contracts are bad government," said Adam Searing, director of the North Carolina Health Access Coalition, a group that advocates health care reform to benefit uninsured people.

Searing notes that DHHS Secretary Lanier Cansler was a lobbyist before Gov. Beverly Perdue picked him in January to run the state's largest agency. Three of the five no-bid contracts awarded in recent months have gone to clients of his former lobbying firm: two to the Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence and one to SAS Institute.

CCME's contracts, valued at $29 million total, are to review personal care services and outpatient therapies for determination of clinical necessity. DHHS officials estimate they will save the state at least $24 million.

SAS has an $800,000 subcontract on a $229 million Medicaid information systems contract that was awarded through a competitive bidding process in 2008.

DHHS spokesman Brad Deen said Cansler "has taken deliberate actions to abstain himself from dealings and negotiations involving former clients." He cited a June 9 memo Cansler issued to Deputy Secretary Allen Feezor in which Feezor and other officials were instructed to handle any contract decisions involving Cansler's former clients.

"I don't think, from what I've seen, anything untoward is going on from (Cansler's) perspective, but it gives the appearance of favoritism. That's the problem with these no-bid contracts," Searing said.

Another of the no-bid contracts went to Charlotte-based Prodigy Diabetes Care LLC, which makes diabetes testing equipment. Officials estimate the two-year, $27 million contract will save taxpayers $4.5 million.

Raleigh pharmacist Mike James said he never heard of Prodigy before its blood glucose meters started showing up on his shelves in recent months. Now, the company's monitoring products are the only ones that his customers on Medicaid can buy.

"It is concerning to me. We haven't seen any history on this product," James said.

Federal records show the owners of Prodigy previously ran a company called Vitalcare that filed for bankruptcy after getting sued for patent infringement. The FDA also issued safety warnings for Vitalcare's manufacturing plant in China.

Charlotte used incentives to convince Prodigy's parent company, Diagnostic Devices Inc., to move its headquarters and manufacturing to the Queen City. With the new state contract and tax incentives, the company has promised to add space and jobs.

James said the lack of a track history for Prodigy raises questions for him.

"Is the product going to be in the pharmacies as people need them because of the toughness in supply?" he said. "Is the product going to work efficiently?"

The fifth no-bid contract went to MedSolutions to reduce redundancies and inefficiencies in radiological imaging. The two-year, $230 million deal is expected to save the state $77 million, DHHS officials said.


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Sources: MSNBC, WRAL, McClatchy Newspapers, NC DHHS, Youtube, Google Maps

Joe Sestak Offered An Obama Bribe To Exit Penn. Race

Sestak Says Federal Job Was Offered To Quit Race



Rep. Joe Sestak (D., Pa.) said yesterday that the White House offered him a Federal job in an effort to dissuade him from challenging Sen. Arlen Specter in the state's Democratic primary.

The disclosure came during an afternoon taping of Larry Kane: Voice of Reason, a Sunday news-analysis show on the Comcast Network. Sestak would not elaborate on the circumstances and seemed chagrined after blurting out "yes" to veteran news anchor Kane's direct question.

"Was it Secretary of the Navy?" Kane asked.

"No comment," Sestak said.

"Was it [the job] high-ranking?" Kane asked. Sestak said yes, but added that he would "never leave" the Senate race for a deal.

A White House spokesman this morning strongly denied an offer had been made to Sestak. Before the spokesman issued the denial, a senior Pennsylvania Democrat said Sestak's account was met with anger by White House officials yesterday.

After yesterday's taping, Sestak said he recalled the White House offer coming in July, as he was preparing to formally announce his Senate candidacy in August. He declined to identify who spoke to him or the job under discussion. Sestak also would not say whether the person who approached him worked for the administration or was an intermediary for the offer.

"I'm not going to say who or how and what was offered," Sestak said in an interview. "I don't feel it's appropriate to go beyond what I said," because the conversation was confidential.

Sestak, 58, a retired Navy admiral, has said that some Pennsylvania Democratic leaders have tried to entice him to drop his campaign with promises of support for other offices in the future. He also has said that Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, urged him to run when Specter was still a Republican, then tried to force him out after Specter switched parties.

But Sestak has brushed aside talk of White House pressure.

"He asked me the question, and I had to answer it honestly," Sestak said of his exchange with Kane. Sestak said he had declined the job offer immediately and added, "The person said, 'I knew you'd say that.' "

It's no secret that leading Democrats are backing Specter, a five-term incumbent who switched from the GOP last spring, soon after providing the critical vote for President Obama's $787 billion stimulus program.

Obama endorsed Specter at the White House and has raised money for him. Gov. Rendell has been vocal in calling Sestak's challenge harmful to the party, as has state chairman T.J. Rooney.

Party leaders are worried that an expensive primary could weaken an incumbent Democratic senator in what is shaping up to be a Republican year, and also about the possibility of losing the House seat that Sestak won in 2006. He is only the second Democrat since the Civil War to represent the Delaware County-centered Seventh District.

An added concern: possibly losing the seat in Harrisburg occupied by the leading Democratic candidate to replace Sestak in Congress, State Rep. Bryan Lentz. Democrats have a 104-99 majority in the state House; control of the chamber is crucial with Pennsylvania expected to lose a congressional district next year in the reapportionment that follows the census.

Still, Sestak's account was startling.

"Clearly, the offers are made," said Ross Baker, a Rutgers University political science professor who specializes in Congress. "When a White House wants to preempt a challenge, they'll dangle something. But it is almost never uttered."

In addition, Baker said, conversations in such cases are nuanced, and savvy operators know not to use explicit quid pro quo language.

He said he could not, off hand, think of another instance in which a candidate has divulged an approach from White House officials. Baker said that, in theory, that might be an advantageous gambit for a candidate who, like Sestak, is positioning his campaign as an outsider and wants to demonstrate that "the big guys" are worried about the challenge.

Nachama Soloveichik, spokeswoman for former Rep. Pat Toomey, the leading GOP candidate for the Senate seat, said she had no information on Sestak's story but added: "It's just like Arlen Specter to get an insider Washington deal to try to save his political career."

Christopher Nicholas, Specter's campaign manager, declined to comment on the report or the Toomey campaign comment.

Last week, after Sestak received nominating petitions for the House from the Pennsylvania secretary of state, talk buzzed in political circles that he would give up the Senate race and run for reelection.

He says he is running only for the Senate, and volunteers are circulating nominating petitions for that office.

Legally, Sestak could circulate two sets of petitions, and experts say there is no prohibition on running for two offices simultaneously.

Larry Kane: Voice of Reason is set to air Sunday at 9:30 p.m.; audio of the interview will be on the KYW NewsRadio Web site tomorrow. The show will be rebroadcast at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.


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Sources: Fox News, Philadelphia Inquirer, TPM, Youtube, Google Maps

Obama's Sham "Bi-Partisan" Health Care Summit; GOP Set Up

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Obama's Sham Bi-partisanship



Bi-partisanship is the word of the hour in Washington, and President Obama's teleprompter seems to be stuck on it. This is nothing new for him. The president came to town promising a new bi-partisanship, along with openness, transparency, responsibility and a number of other hopes and changes he immediately dumped overboard.

At his impromptu press conference on Tuesday, Mr. Obama said, "Bi-partisanship can't be that I agree to all the things that they believe in or want and they agree to none of the things I believe in or want." That, however, has been his working definition of bi-partisanship since his first day in office. This was evident a year ago when the White House labeled the stimulus bill a "Bi-partisan Victory" after it had passed with support from just three Republicans in the Senate and none in the House of Representatives. Opposition to the bill, which included 11 Democratic House dissenters, was more bi-partisan than the support. All told, the primary feature of Mr. Obama's definition of bi-partisanship is that he gets his way.

There was little need for Mr. Obama to include Republicans in his legislative calculus. The Democrats enjoyed super majorities in both houses and, armed with what they thought was a political blank check, went on a spending and regulating rampage. They exhibited the worst aspects of old-style politics: Favoritism, cronyism, unrestrained spending, backroom deals, arrogance, conceit and extreme partisanship.

Mr. Obama's freshman year left the country with astronomical deficits and not much else.

When the public objected to this irresponsible and reckless behavior - exhibited at town-hall protests and Tea Party demonstrations - Mr. Obama responded, "I don't want folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to just get out of the way so we can clean up the mess." Shut up, sit down and take your medicine - that's bi-partisanship Obama-style.

Now Mr. Obama is talking up bi-partisanship again, but nothing has really changed. His proposed bi-partisan fiscal commission will have no authority and will serve only as a political fig leaf. The planned Feb. 25 televised bi-partisan gathering on health care obviously is intended as a made-for-TV spectacle. Mr. Obama claims he wants to use the event to hear the best ideas for pushing forward the stalled health care legislation, but those ideas have been available since the beginning of the process. It's not the Republicans' fault the Democrats ignored them.

Republicans are right to smell a rat. Serious matters of public policy are not hashed out during one-time televised extravaganzas. Mr. Obama said, "The people who sent us here expect a seriousness of purpose that transcends petty politics," but there is nothing serious about his proposed meeting. It will be rigged to make the Republicans look like obstructionists and cast Mr. Obama as the conciliator trying to rise above politics. As the president demonstrated at the Republican retreat in Baltimore last month, he will not feel restrained by facts when making his case.

It is evidence of Mr. Obama's political weakness that he seeks to blame his legislative failures on obstructionist Republicans. The reasons for his failure are more rooted in his hard-left orientation, his lack of executive experience, his inadequate understanding of the legislative process and his apparent belief that no one rightly should disagree with him on anything, ever. This combination of ideology, ignorance and arrogance is the root cause of the collapse of his legislative agenda and the public's growing discontent with his presidency.

A truly bi-partisan approach means treating the opposition as partners in a spirit of inclusion, cooperation and respect. That is not Mr. Obama's style.

Sources: Washington Times, MSNBC, Meet The Press