Republicans: Our Energy Proposal Creates “Real Jobs”

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

“Innovation, conservation and production,” were the key messages coming from the Republican Study Committee and the Western Caucus as Congressional Republicans unveiled their alternative energy proposal today.

Congressman Tom Price (R-Ga.) said, “Republican are wholly committed to finding positive solution to the challenges we face. Like with the stimulus, like with the budget and now in contrast to the Democrats national energy tax we are here to offer our vision.”

The American Energy and Innovation Act, as the proposal will be labeled, will create jobs and reduce debt according to Republicans. The main aims outlined in this bill are to, “encourage innovation” by creating renewable fuel options and environmental jobs. “Promote conservation” by “providing incentives for easing energy demand and creating a cleaner, more sustainable environment” and “increase production” by making use of all available technology and resources.

Congressman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) said there were now “two roads” Americans could chose to tackle energy needs. “The Democrat road is saying it can’t work we are not even going to it, our road is saying we have the ideas now is the time to do it, said Bishop.

Adding that “The Democrats have already given us an option on energy issues that will cost individuals up to $3000...the Republican road we want to go down is one that actually grows our energy supply so that no-one is harmed and in fact we have the chance to reduce the cost of energy.”

Bishop compared the two strategies to the movie ‘Back to the Future’ saying, “Remember those sequels to ‘Back to the Future’ where there were the two worlds? Our world is the one where the McFly family is happy, the Democrat version is the one where Biff runs everything.”

Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said the bill would be a “common sense act that is going to use our natural resources and our advanced technology to meet our energy needs and most importantly help our economy grow.”

In closing, Congressman John Fleming (R-La.) added, our vision “creates a vision for jobs, more jobs, not the so called paper mache jobs the green jobs, but real jobs created by industry.”

The Right to Defend Oneself

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

“We all have an inherent right to self defense in international waters,” according to Senator Jim Webb (D-VA). This remark came out of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that saw testimony from Richard Phillips, Captain of the Maersk Alabama. Phillips received international media attention several weeks ago while being held hostage by pirates off of the coast of Somalia.

Both the Senators and the witnesses acknowledged that Piracy off of the coast of Somalia has been on the rise recently. Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) said that America’s “ability to project naval power and to help ensure the free passage of goods and humanitarian aid is as important as ever.”

Phillips acknowledged that more needs to be done to secure vessels of the merchant marine, specifically arming the crew.

“In my opinion, arming the crew cannot and should not be viewed as the best or ultimate solution to the problem. At most, arming the crew should only be one component of a comprehensive plan and approach to combat piracy,” he said.

The comprehensive approach the committee discussed could include increased U.S. Navy presence in the most dangerous areas, the creation of a protected corridor that civilian ships can travel within, the rooting out of pirates in their land based sanctuaries and the “hardening” of ships, to make the ships structurally more resistant to pirates. “Hardening” measures include razor wire on railings, fire hoses to repel the pirates, and unbolting ladders that lead onto the boat. Phillips does not believe this will stop the pirates, but rather, that they will find a way to adapt.

Maersk Chaiman John Clancey, also present at the hearing, does not believe that arming the crews is a good idea.

“Our belief is that arming merchant sailors may result in the acquisition of even more lethal weapons and tactics by the pirates, a race that merchant sailors cannot win. In addition, most ports of call will not permit the introduction of forearms into their national waters,” Clancey said.

Clancey also posed that greater liability may be assumed by the companies if sailors are traveling with weapons. Neither Chairman Kerry nor Phillips felt that this argument was strong, because of the intense amount of training that mariners go through already. Kerry, a former member of the U.S. Navy, feels that the benefits outweigh the risks, and that multinational agreements can be reached to work out the issue of bringing weapons into port.

Richard Phillips is scheduled to testify next week before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Somalia: A Pirate’s Paradise

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Piracy is nothing new in Somalia. Every day pirates run free off of Somalia’s nearly 2,000-mile coastline and find haven within this African country which is slightly smaller than Texas. The problem has long been of concern to the U.S. State Department and the United Nations, but it has been gaining special attention once again because of the targeting of American citizens. The hostage situation with American ship captain Richard Phillips caused a nation to hold its breath, and many were in shock when U.S. Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ) escaped a mortar attack aimed at his airplane in Mogadishu on Monday while the congressman was meeting with government officials.

Maritime piracy has been a lucrative business since the collapse of the Somali government in 1991 and in the thirteen governments to exist since. It can provide quick income for the uneducated and impoverished, and has become a fact of life for companies trading around the Horn of Africa.

The United States has not had full diplomatic ties with Somalia since 1991. Somalia now has a U.S. “Ambassador-at-large” with no formal office in the U.S. from which to work. The Ambassador-at-large, Abdi Awaleh Jama, believes that the violence comes from a “poverty of leadership” in Somalia. Jama said the leaders at the regional and national level don’t serve communal interests but rather favor specific clans or family members.

“The dominant paradigm now is the clan paradigm... not the nation paradigm,” Jama said. He continued, “When there is no law and order, you take the law into your own hands.” Jama said the natural resources in Somalia have been seized by certain clans and used to hold down opposition within the rest of the country.

Jama, who does not fault the sitting Somali president for the country’s condition, said that pirates flourish off the expansive coast because the rule of law has not existed in Somali society in the past decade. When such anarchy is combined with the overflowing poverty, a situation will develop where people will seize “any opportunity they have to make money,” said Jama.

Officials within the Somali government have defended the so-called pirates as being a “coast guard” who protect the country’s resources. Jama dismisses that claim.

“These are criminals who want to make quick money, and who want to just use force, in the name of saving Somalia,” he said. “They are only there to enrich themselves, and to use that gimmick that they are defending Somali resources, which is wrong.”

Joel Carny, an expert from Refugees International, said that Somalia “really hasn’t had a central government that has functioned in so long.” He believes this has led to “warlordism” and opportunity for clan-based regional politics to develop. He called Somalia “an environment in which everyone has to fend for themselves.”

According to Carny, approximately two million Somalis have been displaced due to the violence in the past decade and three million are in need of emergency assistance.

Somalia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Elmi Ahmed Duale, acknowledged in a phone conversation that the violence was taking place and said the government cannot hide it. He hopes for a resolution.

The international community has taken this issue very seriously. The United Nations has had peacekeepers in Somalia at various times since 1991, and most recently the African Union has dedicated resources through AMISOM, their official Mission to Somalia. In February 2009, the United Nations Security Council authorized AMISOM to stay in Somalia for another six months, which places peacekeepers on the ground through August. The United Nations says the goal of this mission is to help establish order and secure human rights.

Recent Somali elections were marked by violence to the point that they had to take place in neighboring Djibouti. Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was elected in January, and shortly thereafter, Ahmed appointed a new prime minister.

Carny is doubtful of the new government’s ability to establish order but thinks that the international community should give the new president a chance. Carney said, “Lets see if [the government] can establish a viable authority... that can at least establish security inside the capitol and then spread from there.” Carney said, however, that “anyone who’s pessimistic about Somalia is probably going to be right.”

Jama wants the United States to help Somalia build a “proper coast guard,” which would replace vigilantism that currently runs the shorelines.

Both Jama and Carny acknowledged that most of the social problems in Africa are rooted in the colonial past, but Carny believes that Africa must move on. “We’re not going to redraw the boundaries in Africa,” said Carny. He suggested that Somalia could be governed regionally through “some kind of Federalism,” as a credible solution for ethnically diverse nations prone to social conflict, civil war and genocide.

“For better or for worse, these countries have to live and work their way out of consequences. When you get good leadership at the national level... things can turn around fairly quickly,” Carny said.

Listen to the audio report here.

Need To Close the Gaps In Resolution Regimes

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

“From the outset I have argued that our financial system is not merely in need of ‘reform,’ but of ‘modernization,’” said Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

At the hearing, which discussed “Enhancing Investor Protection and the Regulation of Securities Markets,” Senator Dodd asked the Chairman of the SEC Mary Schapiro, “Were you consulted by the Treasury and the Fed? What role do you think the SEC should play in this resolution mechanism, given the oversight and regulatory responsibilities?”

Senator Dodd also asked Ms. Schapiro to “comment on the reports of the regulatory changes that Secretary Geithner has mentioned this morning.”

Ms. Schapiro responded, “generally there was consultation.”

Ms Schapiro added, “We clearly have gaps in our resolution regime for large financial institutions....I fully support the concept of closing the gap in resolution regime so that we have a more coherent approach.”

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, “We all believe people should be rewarded for good performance, that’s not the problem, but what we’ve seen in many instances that has enraged Americans is a heads-eye wind tail you lose system. In which executives are rewarded for flashing the pan short term gains, or even worse, rewarded richly when the company does poorly and the shareholders have been hammered.”

Pelosi: “Science, science, science and science”

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) held a photo opportunity today with Congressman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), Chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee and Dan Mote, President of Maryland University.

Speaker Pelosi said that funding from the recovery package to assist science and innovation was “already making a difference.” She said, “It’s a recognition that our country depends on education, on science and technology, and our recovery package reflects that.”

Congressman Gordon said, “There approximately six and half billion people in the world and of those who are working about half of those make less than $2 a day.” He hoped that money invested into science and research would ensure that future generations have a better standard of living.

Mote called the recovery act “remarkable.” He said, “Speaker Pelosi we cannot thank you enough for your passion for science, science, science and science.” He added, “this is a wonderful period for the United States of America, as people will be educated in science and technology, there will be innovation in science and technology, and as we come out of this recession people will be going into jobs that don’t currently exist.”

In her closing remarks, Speaker Pelosi said, “I keep saying to people if you want to know our domestic agenda, it is science, science, science and science, and by the way that’s our national security foundation as well.” She complimented President Obama on putting science as a top priority on his agenda.