Obama Immigration Order Is as Legal as Bush and Reagan's Were | New Republic

 

November 19, 2014

Reagan and Bush Acted Unilaterally on Immigration, Too—for the Same Reason That Obama Will

By Danny Vinik @dannyvinik

On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that two previous Republican presidents—Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush—had taken unilateral action to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation, and the political reaction was much less vitriolic than what Obama has faced as he prepares to make a similar move. Conservatives, notably The Atlantic's David Frum and National Review's Mark Krikorian, quickly pushed back. Frum argues that, while legal, Obama’s upcoming executive action would be an unprecedented violation of political norms. Krikorian goes further, calling it "Caesarism, pure and simple." But in the end, though they difference in their vehemence, both Krikorian and Frum’s analyses do more to reveal the flaws in the conservative position than prove the lawlessness of Obama’s upcoming action.

Krikorian and Frum’s main argument is that Reagan and Bush’s unilateral actions were simply fixes to the 1986 immigration law that granted green cards to three million undocumented immigrants. Reagan and Bush discovered that, due to an unintended consequence of that law, many spouses and kids of newly-legalized immigrants faced deportation, potentially tearing families apart. In response, Reagan and Bush implemented “cleanup measures,” as Krikorian terms them: In 1987, Reagan’s Immigration and Naturalization Service announced that kids of newly-legalized immigrants would not be deported; Bush extended those protections to spouses in 1991.

According to Krikorian and Frum, these actions reflected Congress’s intentions because the legislative branch codified Reagan and Bush’s executive action into law in 1992. “Reagan and Bush acted in conjunction with Congress and in furtherance of a congressional purpose,” Frum writes. “Nobody wanted to deport the still-illegal husband of a newly legalized wife. Reagan’s (relatively small) and Bush’s (rather larger) executive actions tidied up these anomalies.” In other words, it would be unfair if Reagan and Bush deported children and spouses of newly-legalized immigrants. In fact, Bush’s executive action was called the “family fairness” program.

In contrast, they argue, Obama’s executive action is not what Congress intended. “A new order would not further a congressional purpose,” Frum writes. “It is intended to overpower and overmaster a recalcitrant Congress.” Krikorian was even more emphatic: “Whatever their merits, the Reagan and Bush measures were modest attempts at faithfully executing legislation duly enacted by Congress. Obama’s planned amnesty decree is Caesarism, pure and simple.”

What both Frum and Krikorian’s analyses fail to explain is how Obama’s planned action is not a faithful attempt at executing the law. ….

READ MORE:   Obama Immigration Order Is as Legal as Bush and Reagan's Were | New Republic

ENBRIDGE DISASTER IN MICHIGAN: The Dilbit Disaster 3 Years Later: Sunken Oil Is Looming Threat to Kalamazoo River | InsideClimate News

Enbridge operates a pipeline across Boone County and h is building a new pumping station on Marengo Road to nearly double the flow in the current pipeline. This article is over one year old and is published by an environmental magazine.

….Both the EPA and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) give the river a generally clean bill of health. But the EPA's Ralph Dollhopf, who has supervised the cleanup for the last three years, says, "We know we are not going to get all of the oil out."

The EPA has ordered Enbridge to dredge parts of the river and remove as much of the remaining oil as possible. Enbridge says it will comply, although it disputes the EPA's estimates, saying no more than 25,000 gallons of oil remain.

"You can look at the river and say it looks good but there are so many things that fly under the radar—those are the things that we will be monitoring for years," said Michelle DeLong, who is leading the MDEQ's response to the spill.

In the largest study in its history, the MDEQ has collected more than 5,000 soil and groundwater samples to determine if they contain heavy metals, including nickel, beryllium, molybdenum and vanadium, which are toxic at high doses. Heavy metals are found in all types of oil but are most prevalent in bitumen. Some, like arsenic and lead, can damage the nervous system even at relatively low doses.

It will be a year or more before all the samples are analyzed and conclusions can be reached, said Mark Ducharme, senior environmental analyst for MDEQ. Most of the preliminary tests reveal nothing alarming, although a few locations show elevated concentrations of heavy metals and chemicals.

The MDEQ also is considering a proposal by Enbridge and the EPA to tear down the century-old Ceresco Dam, where much of the remaining oil has settled.

The dam once supplied water to a small hydroelectric plant that closed more than 50 years ago. Removing it would return that section of the Kalamazoo to its natural, free-flowing state. It also would reduce the amount of dredging needed, because the oil-soaked sediment would dry when the water level drops and could be scooped up and hauled away.

But some local residents are suspicious of anything Enbridge wants to do and are asking for more information.

Read the entire article:   The Dilbit Disaster 3 Years Later: Sunken Oil Is Looming Threat to Kalamazoo River | InsideClimate News

BGA Urges State Lawmakers to Protect Open Records Law

Bad ideas, unlike fine wine, don't get better with age.

And that's especially true of HB 3796, a bill that would weaken FOIA, the state's Freedom of Information Act.

It was a bad idea when it breezed through the Illinois House and Senate in May with little explanation or debate.

So a coalition that included the Better Government Association and the Illinois attorney general's office asked Gov. Quinn to veto the measure, which he did in June.

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READ MORE: BGA Backs Gov.’s FOIA Bill Veto At Press Conference

Open-government advocates urge state lawmakers not to try override.

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But here we are, on the eve of the fall veto session in Springfield, and there's a movement afoot to override the governor's veto, which means it's time to redouble our opposition so that doesn't happen because it's still a bad idea.

The bill would give government agencies more time to respond to comprehensive FOIA requests from everyday citizens, and — this is the deal breaker — charge them up to $100 per request, which effectively prices low income people out of the public records market.

That's patently unfair — they're entitled to the public documents that explain how their tax dollars are being spent and the key policy decisions that affect their lives are being made — so the bill deserves to remain comfortably interred in the cemetery of ill-advised legislation.

Even proponents of the measure acknowledge its shortcomings.

During the Illinois Municipal League's annual conference in September, Brian Day, who led the league's legal team in getting the bill passed, admitted the legislation wouldn't accomplish its objectives because its language is confusing and riddled with loopholes.

"This was not a well-written statute," Day told a ballroom filled with municipal officials during the first day of the conference. "It would have been nice to have this, but it's flawed."

The passage of the bill was also flawed from a good government standpoint.

It sailed through both legislative chambers in just six days, which is not enough time for a thorough vetting of its content, objectives and potential consequences.

That's what public hearings and due diligence are for.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan said the bill is also unnecessary. Her letter urging a Quinn veto pointed out that FOIA already includes provisions that give government officials extra time to respond to requests "that would significantly burden its operations" or submissions from serial FOIA filers.

In addition, her office has a public access team that serves as the state's official FOIA "referee," so government agencies with questions about how to negotiate FOIA disputes can utilize that service, like hundreds of citizens and journalists do every year when their requests are thwarted.

The government agencies that backed HB3796 view FOIA as a nuisance, or a distraction from the "real" work they have to do, but let's remind them the "real" work is to serve the public, and that includes the timely and inexpensive release of public information.

So here's hoping state lawmakers realize a better way to serve their constituents is to step back and take a thoughtful approach to resolving FOIA concerns, instead of voting again for a bad bill that represents a knee-jerk response to political skirmishes inside some municipalities

Click on the following to read more:  BGA Urges State Lawmakers to Protect Open Records Law

UPDATED: Status Hearing on Plote Case Thursday at 1:30

UPDATE:   Judge Tobin grant a temporary restraining order effective 6:00PM Thursday—No after hours or Sunday operations

The above information is as of 11-12-2014 at 9:20AM. 

To check for an update go to:  http://www.judici.com/courts/cases/case_information.jsp?court=IL004015J&ocl=IL004015J,2014CH170,IL004015JL2014CH170D1

BGA To Governor-Elect Rauner: Let's Discuss Your Reform Plans Over Lunch

 

Dear Governor-elect Rauner,

Please join us at a Better Government Association luncheon in Springfield on Tuesday, Nov. 18, for a conversation about fiscal and ethical reform in Illinois.

I'll give you the details in a minute, but first, congratulations on your victory, after a bruising campaign that consumed a lot of energy, airtime and money, much of it your own.

It was the most expensive governor's race in Illinois history —nearly $100 million — but it turned on a simple fact: A majority of voters want a new approach to running the state, and you promised one.

Now the campaign is over, and we don't need any more sales pitches. We need solutions.

Illinois, as you know all too well, is facing daunting fiscal and ethical challenges, and taxpayers want to know how their new governor intends to work with legislative leaders on a long-term rescue plan before it gets worse.

The most pressing initial question is the future of the state income tax, which went up by a whopping 67 per cent in 2011. The increase was supposed to be temporary, and the phase out is scheduled to begin on Jan. 1.

That's good news for taxpayers, but not for a state budget that stands to lose several billion tax dollars.

Are you comfortable with that, and do you still want to eliminate the entire tax increase over the next four years, as you've indicated? If so, we need a detailed plan for dealing with the lost revenue.

Ilinois residents also deserve a broader discussion about taxes in general — what the state can realistically expect to collect each year, and how the burden should be balanced among the individuals and businesses that pay income, sales and property taxes.

In other words, what's the fairest mix for Illinois?

Those tax and revenue questions have to be answered quickly to address a serious budget shortfall, a massive stack of unpaid bills, and pension obligations that eat up increasingly more of our limited revenue each year.

And speaking of our pension crisis — it's still the worst in the country — you predict the courts will find the reforms approved by the Legislature last year unconstitutional.

If that happens, then what? The 401k-style plan you'd like to implement? Or a reworked version of the current defined benefits approach?

The point is, Illinois needs a viable "Plan B," and that requires another round of intense negotiations with the public employee unions.

The backup plan should also address the loopholes and abuses that unjustly pad the pensions of clouted public officials, draining the state's scarce resources even more, and further exacerbating the public's waning confidence in government.

Restoring that confidence will require many other reforms, and here are a few you should consider: Strengthen the Freedom of Information Act to enhance transparency; make public officials disclose more information on their ethics statements; address the conflicts that arise when part-time lawmakers have private sector jobs that intersect with government; and create a fairer and more accessible election system to encourage competition and participation.

We'd also appreciate your commitment to enacting additional reforms aimed at reducing the wrongful convictions we exposed in a 2011 investigation. That can help local governments avoid multi-million-dollar lawsuits, and reduce the incalculable human toll on those who spend years in prison for crimes they didn't commit.

And finally, for now at least, we'd like to see your long-term plan for reducing Illinois' 7,000 units of local government — that's a couple thousand more than any other state — through consolidations, mergers and reorganizations.

"Smart streamlining" is still one of our top priorities, and we welcome you to the fight.

We don't expect you to have all the answers right away, but it's time to begin the conversation, and a good way to do that is to attend our Springfield Advisory Board luncheon on the future of Illinois.

Former Governor Jim Edgar will be joining us for a question and answer session, and we'd like you to share your thoughts and ideas.

We're pretty sure you'll be in Springfield on the 18th because the fall veto session begins the following day, so drop by for an hour to begin this all-important conversation.

You invited voters in a campaign ad to throw you out in four years if you don't follow through on your promise to "shake up Springfield and bring back Illinois."

Well, four years is a long way off, so we're inviting you to start shakin' and bakin' with us on Nov. 18.

Sincerely,

Andy Shaw
President and CEO

GM ordered new switches months before recall: WSJ - Yahoo News

 

…."This is simply mind-blowing in its raw evilness," said Bob Hilliard, lead counsel for the personal injury and wrongful death plaintiffs in the Federal Multi District Litigation against General Motors.

"GM should have notified its customers immediately to take all weight off of their keychains. By the time GM actually ordered these parts, it had to have already spent months making the decision to place the order," Hilliard said in a statement….

Read the entire story by clicking on the following:  GM ordered new switches months before recall: WSJ - Yahoo News

U.S. cities that came back from the dead

Click on the following to view the video:  U.S. cities that came back from the dead