AARP Applauds Governor's Veto of Senate Bill 9; Urges General Assembly to Uphold

CHICAGO, May 5, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AARP commends Governor Pat Quinn for his veto of Senate Bill 9 and urges the General Assembly to uphold it.

"AARP applauds Governor Quinn's decision to veto this premature and bad public policy that has nothing to do with infrastructure development or service improvement and everything to do with higher profits for the utility companies," said AARP Illinois State Director Bob Gallo. "AARP is adamantly opposed to the Illinois legislature's attempts to tip the legislative and regulatory balance in favor of the utility companies, allowing them to continue to dig deeper into consumers' pockets, and we are inviting our members and all Illinois consumers to join us in fighting against these unfair and unwarranted rate hikes."

SB 9 is follow up to the controversial 2011 legislation (SB1652) passed by the Illinois General Assembly writing utility company profits into state law by guaranteeing companies a return on equity of over 10 percent, and nearly automatic annual rate increases.

SB 9 further tilts the balance in favor of Illinois utility companies by allowing them to circumvent Illinois' regulatory process and avoid paying back a multi-million dollar rate cut ordered by the Illinois Commerce Commission last year. The language in SB 9 allows ComEd and Ameren to not only avoid paying refunds to consumers; it allows them to instead receive a retroactive rate hike with interest.

Illinois General Assembly passage of SB9 was premature since the utility's objections to the ICC rate cut decision are currently under consideration by the Illinois Appellate Court. SB9 also further ties the hands of the ICC by deeming ComEd and Ameren to be in compliance with their promised performance metrics, despite ComEd's delayed implementation of smart meters.

According to a 2012 AARP survey of Illinois members, 64 percent of the Association's 1.7 million members are concerned about affording their utilities. In addition to the potential electric rate hikes facing consumers with SB9, a number of other bills that could raise consumers' rates for natural gas, water and telephone service are also pending in Illinois General Assembly this session.

AARP has started traveling across Illinois to help inform citizens about these bills, their rights as consumers and help them fight back by contacting their legislators and urging them to stand up for their constituents. AARP will be hosting Say No to Rate Hikes town hall forums in Decatur on May 7, in Peoria on May 11, in Chicago on May 13 and 14, and will host events Springfield and Edwardsville on May 15 and 17, respectively.

Consumers can take action right now by calling, toll-free, 1-800-719-3020 to be connected to their legislators, or going online to http://saynotoratehikes.com, to send them a message and urge them to vote no on these bills. Illinoisans can register to attend events in Decatur, Peoria and Chicago online at AARP.cvent.com/saynotoratehikes or use the Twitter hashtag #affordableutilitiesnow to tweet if their rates are too high.

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SOURCE AARP Illinois

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Who is the Best-Looking State Attorney General? Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com Conducts Online Poll

MANASSAS, Va., April 9, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Richard Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, is conducting an online poll of readers to determine who they believe to be the best looking state attorney general.

President Obama recently expressed the view that "by far" California Attorney General Kamala Harris was the most attractive.  But Viguerie said there were many state attorneys general who were also very pretty.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so the only way to settle this is through an online poll," Viguerie said.

The ConservativeHQ.com website at http://www.conservativehq.com/ contains the pictures of all eight women serving as attorney general of their states. Readers can then vote on which one they think is the best looking. 

To prevent partisan bias, the pictures, names, and states of the eight women attorneys general are listed but not their political affiliations. "Hopefully, the voters will select he most attractive woman, Republican or Democrat," Viguerie said.

He stated that, if no one receives a majority, he will conduct a runoff poll of the women who finish in the top two in votes.

NOTE TO EDITORS:  Richard A. Viguerie pioneered political direct mail and has been called "one of the creators of the modern conservative movement" (The Nation) and one of the "conservatives of the century"(Washington Times).  He is the author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause .

Richard A. Viguerie	Contact Kassandra Smith, (703) 392-7676, ext 1123
ConservativeHQ.com	After 5 PM Eastern & on weekends,
9625 Surveyor Court, Suite 400	(703) 489-9124
Manassas, Virginia 20110	FOR RELEASE: April 9, 2013
rav@conservativeHQ.com

SOURCE ConservativeHQ.com

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US general: Taliban likely to be long-term threat

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) — The United States accepts that a diminished but resilient Taliban is likely to remain a military threat in some parts of Afghanistan long after U.S. troops complete their combat mission next year, the top U.S. military officer said Sunday.

In an Associated Press interview at this air field north of Kabul, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he is cautiously optimistic that the Afghan army will hold its own against the insurgency as Western troops pull back and Afghans assume the lead combat role. He said that by May or June, the Afghans will be in the lead throughout the country.

Asked whether some parts of the country will remain contested by the Taliban, he replied, "Yes, of course there will be."

"And if we were having this conversation 10 years from now, I suspect there would (still) be contested areas because the history of Afghanistan suggests that there will always be contested areas," he said.

He and other U.S. commanders have said that ultimately the Afghans must reach some sort of political accommodation with the insurgents, and that a reconciliation process needs to be led by Afghans, not Americans. Thus the No. 1 priority for the U.S. military in its final months of combat in Afghanistan is to do all that is possible to boost the strength and confidence of Afghan forces.

Shortly after Dempsey arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, the Taliban demonstrated its ability to strike.

It claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing that killed five Americans — three soldiers and two civilians, including Anne Smedinghoff, a foreign service officer and the first American diplomat killed overseas since the terrorist attack Sept. 11 in Benghazi, Libya.

A NATO airstrike Saturday, which came after a joint U.S.-Afghan forced encountered heavy fire from militants during an operation against a Taliban leader, killed 11 Afghan civilians, including 10 children, Afghan officials said.

There are now about 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. That number is to drop to about 32,000 by February 2014, and the combat mission is to end in December 2014. Whether some number — perhaps 9,000 or 10,000 — remain into 2015 as military trainers and counterinsurgents is yet to be decided.

Dempsey spent two days talking to senior Afghan officials, including his counterpart, Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi, as well as top U.S. and allied commanders.

He also visited a U.S. base in the volatile eastern province of Paktika for an update on how U.S. troops are balancing the twin missions of advising Afghan forces and withdrawing tons of U.S. equipment as the war effort winds down.

Paktika is an example of a sector of Afghanistan that is likely to face Taliban resistance for years to come.

Bordering areas of Pakistan that provide haven for the Taliban and its affiliated Haqqani network, Paktika has been among the more important insurgent avenues into the Afghan interior.

While the province has a functioning government, Taliban influence remains significant in less populated areas, as it has since U.S. forces first invaded the country more than 11 years ago.

"There will be contested areas, and it will be the Afghans' choice whether to allow those contested areas to persist, or, when necessary, take action to exert themselves into those contested area," he said.

Dempsey said he is encouraged by the recent development of coordination centers, including one in Paktika, where a wide range of Afghan government agencies work together on security issues. He called it a "quilt" of government structures that links Kabul, the capital, to ordinary Afghans in distant villages.

In some parts of the country, Afghan villagers have shown their dissatisfaction with Taliban influence by taking up arms against the insurgents, even without being pushed by the U.S. or by Kabul. This has happened in recent weeks in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province, a traditional stronghold of the Taliban. The Andar district of Ghazni province has seen a similar uprising.

"We should encourage it, but we shouldn't be seen as hijacking" these local movements, he said.

Dempsey said he discussed the uprisings with Karimi, the army chief, and the Afghan defense minister, Bismullah Khan Mohammadi. They told him they "appreciated that they should allow this to occur (and) they should probably nurture it. They don't necessarily feel at this point as if they should tangibly support it."

The Afghan government's concern, Dempsey said, is that influential warlords could embrace these local movements and eventually leverage them to threaten the armed forces of the central government.

In a separate interview Sunday with al-Hurra, the Arabic-language satellite TV channel funded by the U.S. government, Dempsey was asked whether he worries that Syria, in the midst of a civil war, could become another Afghanistan.

"I do. I have grave concerns that Syria could become an extended conflict" that drags on for many years, he said.

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Community, Environmental And Labor Coalition Applaud Missouri Attorney General For Legal Action Against Republic Services

Residents' and Workers' Health and Safety Must Be Protected; Cost of Dealing with Effects of Bridgeton Landfill Fire, Radioactive Wastes and Remediation Should Not Fall on Missouri Taxpayers

ST. LOUIS, Mo., March 28, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Teamsters Joint Council 13 in St. Louis, Missouri Jobs with Justice and Missouri Coalition for the Environment, applauded Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster for taking legal action against Republic Services [NYSE: RSG] yesterday for the ongoing environmental health and safety crisis at the Bridgeton/Westlake landfill.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100127/IBTLOGO)

Republic's Bridgeton landfill has been in the news recently due to citizen complaints about persistent stench, the expanding underground fire, a recent explosion, and the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) investigation of radiation levels and groundwater contamination. The landfill is part of the West Lake Landfill Superfund Site where radioactive nuclear weapons wastes are buried.

According to the Missouri Office of the Attorney General, the lawsuit (docket number: 13SL-CC01088) seeks to force Republic to address the odor problems and correct the environmental violations, as well as to provide remedies to help local residents and businesses deal with the ongoing effects of the burning waste. The lawsuit also seeks to ensure that Republic, rather than taxpayers, pays for the costs of experts hired by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to perform ongoing, intensive environmental testing.

The DNR had officially requested the attorney general bring legal action against Republic Services just last Thursday.

"We commend the Attorney General for taking on Republic Services," said Marvin Kropp, President of Teamsters Joint Council 13. "We also commend the Department of Natural Resources for referring Republic to the AG's office due to its egregious failures.

"Less than two weeks ago our coalition sponsored a briefing, during which independent experts talked with public officials about their assessment of the risks posed by the fire and the nuclear weapons wastes at the site. We have already contacted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in this regard. Should the landfill fire reach the radioactive wastes it would be catastrophic.

"The families who live, and work around this landfill should not be exposed to these risks for one minute longer. The attorney general's office should also see to it that the full present and future cost of dealing with the Bridgeton landfill fire and its remediation fall squarely on Republic, and not on Missouri taxpayers, local businesses or residents," Kropp said.

"Workers and residents in North Saint Louis County and St. Charles must be protected from Republic's negligence. This is not the first environmental disaster at a Republic-owned landfill - for the past nine years a major uncontrolled underground fire has been raging at Republic's Countywide Landfill in Ohio," said Joan Suarez of Missouri Jobs with Justice. "The company just settled an 800-plaintiff lawsuit there, but the site is still a disaster. We encourage the Office of the Attorney General to do everything in its power to force Republic Services to clean up this site for good."

"Communities around the landfill have long smelled the stench coming from Republic's landfill, but the problem could be much bigger than that," said Ed Smith of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. "The EPA detected radioactivity in the air when it flew its anti-terrorism ASPECT plane over the landfill, we want EPA to disclose its data and infrared readings, and fully characterize the wastes and the site.  Assurances that the landfill fire and radioactive wastes will not become one big problem have not been adequately backed up by data being made available to the public.  Full disclosure is needed."

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Missouri Jobs with Justice, and Missouri Coalition for the Environment

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