“U.S. Headlines - New American” plus 4 more

U.S. Headlines - New American
Questions linger about traffic stop, fatal crash in Palmetto - Atlanta Journal Constitution
President: Automakers Getting Back In Game - WWJ Newsradio 950
Council rejects Brier Creek auto repair shop - Raleigh News & Observer
Obama tells autoworkers his policies help them - Detroit Free Press

Posted: 15 Sep 2009 02:46 PM PDT

auto health As President Obama and Democrats in Congress try to build a case for requiring all Americans to purchase health insurance, they have compared it to mandatory auto insurance laws — but the analogy quickly breaks down.

"Unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek, especially requiring insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions, just can't be achieved," Obama told Congress in his recent address. "That's why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance — just as most states require you to carry auto insurance."

The comparison sounds reasonable at first. Most states do require drivers to have auto insurance, and the President simply wants a federal law to do the same for health insurance.

But the first difference is the difference between states requiring only those who drive automobiles to carry auto insurance and Obama's proposal that would force every single American to buy health insurance. The auto insurance requirement can be avoided by simply not driving a car. This may be an inconvenience, but not driving allows the freedom to avoid purchasing auto insurance. The President's plan gives no possibility of exemption.

"You can avoid the auto insurance mandate by divesting yourself of a car. The only way to avoid a health insurance mandate is by divesting yourself of a body," said Cato Institute Director of Health Policy Studies Michael Cannon. Ironically, the only way to escape the proposed health insurance requirement is to cease to be healthy to the point of death.

The second difference is that auto insurance is required primarily to pay for any damages to other persons or property that might result from the driver's actions. The insurance is only secondarily meant to repair or replace the driver's vehicle, something the states have no real interest in requiring. In fact, many drivers get by without collision coverage because they are driving an older vehicle that is no longer worth the expense.

"The primary purpose of the auto insurance mandate was to provide financial protection for people that a driver may harm, and not necessarily for the driver himself," wrote former Department of Health and Human Services officials Peter Urbanowicz and Dennis Smith in a paper for the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.

Health insurance, on the other hand, is essentially collision coverage. With cars, it is the old, rusty vehicles that don't need collision insurance, but with people, it is the young and healthy who don't necessarily need coverage. Obama would twist things so that those who don't need the insurance are the ones who pay the burden of insuring everyone else.

The third difference is that auto insurance laws originate at the state level, while Obama is proposing an unprecedented federal law. With state laws, people have the choice of working within their state to change the law, or they may decide to move to another state with less burdensome regulations. Federal laws allow for no escape other than leaving the country.

This brings to mind a 1994 paper prepared by the Congressional Budget Office to address President Bill Clinton's proposal for a national health insurance mandate. "A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action," the CBO stated.

In fact, the closest comparison the CBO could make was to something that did cause some people to flee the country — the draft: "Federal mandates that apply to individuals as members of society are extremely rare. One example is the requirement that draft-age men register with the Selective Service System. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is not aware of any others imposed by current federal law."

So the government wants to make people who don't purchase health insurance guilty of a federal crime equivalent to draft dodging during a time of war. This is absurd. Can anyone imagine throwing people into America's already-overcrowded prisons for the federal offense of not buying health insurance and then refusing or being unable to pay the fine?

The federal government exceeded its constitutional limitations in the first place and established the managed-care system that rules America's healthcare today. Now the federal government is once again proposing more federal power as the answer to problems caused by unrestrained federal power. Americans need to get back in the driver seat by telling their elected officials to avoid colliding with any such repressive reform proposals.

Photo: AP Images

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Questions linger about traffic stop, fatal crash in Palmetto - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Posted: 15 Sep 2009 01:27 PM PDT

By Larry Hartstein

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Melissa Austin can't understand how her husband ended up dead following a traffic stop in Palmetto Saturday night.

The Palmetto woman says her husband, Jimmy Austin, who ran an auto repair business, would not have tried fleeing from police.

"I can't see him doing that," she said.

But Palmetto police say that's exactly what he did.

The unusual incident began at a road safety check Saturday night. When Austin could not produce a license, he was ordered to pull over for further investigation.

Austin was on his cellphone as Sgt. Fred Lee Gragg approached the Ford Thunderbird convertible, police said. Gragg asked Austin two or three times to hang up, police said, but Austin revved the engine.

With Gragg possibly reaching in, the convertible sped off and Gragg ended up in the car, police said. The convertible slammed into a concrete mailbox on Hutcheson Ferry Road, flipped and landed on its top. Austin was killed; Gragg was ejected.

Gragg, 38, suffered serious head injuries. He's in stable condition at Grady Memorial Hospital.

"It will be some time before I interview him," Palmetto Deputy Police Chief John Cooper said. "I want to make sure he's able to communicate."

It could be up to a month before Gragg is able to talk, Cooper said, and even then he might not remember what happened. Other officers at the scene weren't close enough to see how Gragg ended up in the car.

Melissa Austin said her 36-year-old husband had his license suspended because he owes child support from a previous relationship. She said he had no other record.

Cooper said Jimmy Austin would not have been jailed for driving without a license.

"He ran for another reason," Cooper said. "And he's the only one who knows."

The crash happened about a mile from the Austins' home. Melissa Austin said her husband was on his way home after working in the shop and stopping to send a MoneyGram to his stepdaughter, a college student.

Melissa Austin declined to say whom her husband was talking to right before the crash. Cooper also would not identify the person, but said he'll be getting a statement from that individual.

"I want to know everything that was said and heard -- everything," Cooper said.

Melissa Austin said her feelings "go out" to Gragg and his family.

"I hate what happened," she said. "I don't know what went wrong."

She added, however, that she wants the incident "completely and fully investigated. If [my husband] did not cause the accident, I want the right thing to be done."

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President: Automakers Getting Back In Game - WWJ Newsradio 950

Posted: 15 Sep 2009 01:20 PM PDT

President Barack Obama says U.S. automakers are "getting back into the game."

Rallying workers at a General Motors assembly plant near Youngstown, Ohio, Obama defended his administration's decision to provide a lifeline to the storied automaker. He also praised the just-ended Cash for Clunkers program.

Obama says both steps were good for automakers, consumers and the environment. The evidence: Obama noted the return to work Monday of 150 plant employees. And more than 1,000 workers will return to the assembly lines in coming weeks as the plant ramps up production of the Chevy Cobalt. And next year, the plant will begin producing the Chevy Cruze, a new model that will get more than 40 miles per gallon.

He told autoworkers that the economy is on its way back from the brink because of his policies.

Obama's Word of the Day: "Fight"

Obama said that his administration had no choice but to intervene and prevent the collapse of automakers. He told General Motors employees that their company has retooled itself and is heading back to a solid business, in part, because of its work force.

"Your survival and the success of our economy depended on making sure that we got the U.S. auto industry back on its feet," Obama said, standing near a production line where compact Chevrolet Cobalts are produced.

Listen to the President's comments.

He said those small cars were among the most popular under his temporary Cash for Clunkers program that offered drivers up to $4,500 to buy more fuel-efficient automobiles. General Motors has increased production of the compact auto and rehired laid-off workers to restore a second shift here.

"Because of the steps we have taken, this plant is about to shift into high gear," Obama said. "A hundred and 50 of your co-workers came back to work yesterday. More than a thousand will be coming back to work in less than three weeks as the production of the Cobalt ramps up."

But in the former steel valley, Obama acknowledged that recovery would not be simple or swift.

"Over the years you've seen factories closed. ... Your daughters and sons have had to move away in search of jobs and opportunities," Obama said, surrounded by workers.

"As long as you've got an ounce of fight left in you, I've got a ton of fight left in me," Obama said.

The president planned to spend his Tuesday before friendly groups of autoworkers and union members, trying to assure blue-collar audiences that the economy is coming back - and that his administration deserves credit for saving some of their jobs.

Later, the president addresses the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh, where he will urge the nation's largest labor federation to support his health care overhaul. Obama planned to tell AFL-CIO members how his health care proposals would help repair an economy that is inching toward double-digit unemployment.

The events are designed to be heavy on working-class appeal in hopes of boosting the White House's credentials with the middle-class voters so crucial to the president's economic agenda.

Obama wraps up his daylong trip at a fundraiser for Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter in Philadelphia. He is expected to tell donors that Specter, who earlier this year switched from the GOP to the Democratic Party, is crucial for pushing the White House agenda through.

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Council rejects Brier Creek auto repair shop - Raleigh News & Observer

Posted: 15 Sep 2009 01:06 PM PDT

Mayor Charles Meeker and five other councilors agreed with the neighbors concerns. Meeker said the size of the structure, the noise it would generate and the hours of operation made it problematic.

This is a commercial, high-impact development that just doesnt fit into the neighborhood, he said.

Councilor Philip Isley, who represents the Brier Creek area, was the only one who voted for the project.

Isley said he believes the site plan meets all the citys requirements, and warned that the developer may challenge the decision in court. Were going to have to let someone in a black robe sort this out, he said.

The citys Planning Commission recommended approval of the site plan, a decision that was appealed by neighbors. More than 200 Brier Creek homeowners signed a petition opposing the project.

The Planning Commission had amended the original plan to try to reduce noise and to respect homeowners in the area. The business would have been allowed to operate only from noon to 7 p.m. on Sundays. Its hours of operation originally were to be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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Obama tells autoworkers his policies help them - Detroit Free Press

Posted: 15 Sep 2009 12:59 PM PDT

LORDSTOWN, Ohio President Barack Obama, claiming credit for an uptick on his watch, told autoworkers today that the economy is on its way back from the brink because of his policies.

Pledging to stand firm with autoworkers in northeast Ohio, Obama told factory workers in this town outside Youngstown that his administration had no choice but to intervene and prevent the collapse of automakers. He told General Motors employees that their company has retooled itself and is heading back to a solid business, in part, because of its work force.

Your survival and the success of our economy depended on making sure that we got the U.S. auto industry back on its feet, Obama said, standing near a production line where compact Chevrolet Cobalts are produced.

He said those small cars were among the most popular under his temporary cash-for-clunkers program that offered drivers up to $4,500 to buy more fuel-efficient automobiles. General Motors has increased production of the compact auto and rehired laid-off workers to restore a second shift here.

Because of the steps we have taken, this plant is about to shift into high gear, Obama said. A hundred and 50 of your co-workers came back to work yesterday. More than a thousand will be coming back to work in less than three weeks as the production of the Cobalt ramps up.

But in the former steel valley, Obama acknowledged that recovery would not be simple or swift.

Over the years youve seen factories closed. ... Your daughters and sons have had to move away in search of jobs and opportunities, Obama said, surrounded by workers.

As long as youve got an ounce of fight left in you, Ive got a ton of fight left in me, Obama said.

The president planned to spend his day before friendly groups of autoworkers and union members, trying to assure blue-collar audiences that the economy is coming back and that his administration deserves credit for saving some of their jobs.

Later, the president addresses the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh, where he will urge the nations largest labor federation to support his health care overhaul. Obama planned to tell AFL-CIO members how his health care proposals would help repair an economy that is inching toward double-digit unemployment.

The events are designed to be heavy on working-class appeal in hopes of boosting the White Houses credentials with the middle-class voters so crucial to the presidents economic agenda.

Obama wraps up his daylong trip at a fund-raiser for Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter in Philadelphia. He is expected to tell donors that Specter, who earlier this year switched from the GOP to the Democratic Party, is crucial for pushing the White House agenda through.