'Black box' standards coming for cars

By Pete Kasperowicz

New federal standards for "black boxes" that record information leading up to auto accidents will will take effect Sept. 1, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) ruled on Tuesday.

The decision means the new standards for the devices will not be delayed by one year, as automakers had requested.

The federal standards will apply only to cars that are voluntarily outfitted with event data recorders (EDRs), also known as black boxes. But while the government does not yet require all cars to have black boxes installed, NHTSA is still thought to be considering a federal mandate as a next step, possibly this year.

NHTSA standards for black boxes were proposed in 2006, but have been delayed since then. In 2009, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers suggested a delay to Sept. 1, 2013, arguing that this would give auto companies more time to work with original equipment manufacturers to ensure the standard can be met.

But NHTSA rejected this, arguing that the rule has already been delayed, and that it has already adjusted the standard in a way that should make it easier for companies to comply.

"The petitioner suggested that the delay would enable vehicle manufacturers to retain current EDR functionality across all vehicle models and avoid disabling legacy EDR systems for a limited number of vehicle models," NHTSA said in its Tuesday decision. "The agency is denying the petition since the implementation of the August 2006 final rule has already been delayed by two years and we have recently published a final rule responding to the remaining petitions for reconsideration."

NHTSA has been considering the next step — a requirement that all cars are built with black boxes — since 2011. In anticipation of this requirement, some in Congress have proposed legislating the mandate ahead of time.

The initial version of the highway bill that the Senate approved in April included language that would have required the secretary of Transportation to evaluate event data recorders and ultimately require their installation on all cars within a few years.

But due to Republican opposition and concerns about privacy, that language was eventually stripped out in a House-Senate conference that passed in late June.

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August 15, 2012 News and Thoughts for the day

Today's Cowboy Headlines: Lower corn production forecast likely to fuel ethanol waiver Romney slams Obama in tough new speech National Weather Service Follows DHS In Huge Ammo Purchase 74 Percent of Americans Believe Voter I.D. Should Be Required to Vote Obama’s DOE Doles Out $43M For Green Energy Projects Deemed “Too Risky For The Private Sector” Biden forgets what state he’s in, tells voters Republicans want to ‘put y’all back in chains’ Administration defends immigration plan as applications to defer deportation open Wildfires blaze across West, burning homes Mosquito-spraying campaign accelerates in North Texas Ryan goes on offense over Medicare, accuses Obama of treating program like ‘piggy bank’ Headlines you may have missed: Poll: 56% Still Favor Repealing Obamacare, Only 38% Want Law Left Intact A New Low: Joe Biden Brings Paul Ryan’s Deceased Father Into Campaign Speech Paul Ryan: Actually, My Own Mother is a Florida Senior Who Receives Medicare When 1,099 Felons Vote In A Race Won By 312 Ballots Conservatives set to explore innovative environmental ideas U.S. crude oil: Total consumption falls almost 2 percent House files lawsuit to force Holder to release Fast and Furious docs Poll: Americans not enthusiastic about Paul Ryan as vice-presidential pick ? Romney targets Hispanic in Florida U.S. to buy $170M in meat, fish to help farms hit by drought

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Reality Check: Obama Administration Refuses To Tell Judge If NDAA is Being Illegally Enforced?

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By Ben Swann - bio | email

(FOX19) -
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) may be the most significant piece of legislation in the country when it comes to civil rights and the U.S. Constitution and yet is rarely even mentioned by national media.

Which is why you have probably not heard that the Obama administration may be in violation of a federal court injunction that blocks the Administration from locking up U.S. citizens without trial.
Ben has the Reality Check you won't see anywhere else.

Paul Ryan, Catholic Who Looks to Church's Social Teaching, Tapped as Romney Running Mate

Wisconsin congressman cheered by some as strong pro-lifer, criticized by others as wanting to reduce deficit ‘on the backs of the poor.’

by CHARLOTTE HAYS

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI, wave as Ryan is announced as his vice-presidential running mate in front of the USS Wisconsin Aug. 11 in Norfolk, Va.

– Win McNamee/Getty Images

A budget-cruncher who cites Catholic social teaching as an inspiration for his own economic thinking has been tapped for the second slot on the GOP presidential ticket.

Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, on Saturday named Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee and a seven-term congressman from Wisconsin, as his running mate.

The eagerly anticipated announcement was made in Norfolk, Va., where Ryan, 42, was joined on stage by his wife, Janna, and their three small children.

With the choice of Ryan, an advocate of entitlement reform and shrinking the size of the federal government, Romney has ensured that the role of government and the future of Medicare will figure prominently in this year’s race for the White House.

While Ryan has attracted harsh criticism from some Catholics — questioning whether he can rightly lay claim to the mantle of Catholic social teaching — other Catholics regard Ryan as an excellent choice.

“I am thrilled with the selection of Ryan,” Catholic theologian Michael Novak said, “because it emphasizes family, character and a vision that is on the offense against President Obama and that sees Obama as destroying the country’s military and financial structure and pitting class against class.”

“As a smart, serious Catholic, Congressman Ryan has been steadfast on issues of fundamental principle — defending religious liberty, life and traditional marriage,” The Catholic Association said in a press release.

“In addition, he has been thoughtful and articulate in applying Catholic principles to the other challenges facing America,” the statement added.

The selection also drew immediate praise from pro-life leaders.

“Paul Ryan has been an eloquent defender of life, articulating his view that policy and principles can work together,” said Charmaine Yoest, president and CEO of Americans United for Life. “On the issue of defending life in particular, the use of the bully pulpit is crucial, and we look forward to hearing more from Congressman Ryan on the need to ensure that every person is welcomed in life and protected in law.”

“By selecting Congressman Ryan as his vice-presidential running mate, Governor Romney demonstrates his commitment to protecting American women and unborn children,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List. “He has a pristine pro-life voting record and will be an asset to Governor Romney’s campaign.”

Still, Ryan is controversial in some Catholic circles. When he spoke at Georgetown University last spring, he was greeted by a statement from 60 Catholic theologians who charged that his budget plan was “morally indefensible and betrays Catholic principles of solidarity, just taxation and a commitment to the common good.”

A letter from nearly 90 faculty and administration officials at Georgetown informed Ryan that his budget plan “appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

And — if that wasn’t enough — a committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, led by Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, Calif., sent a letter to Congress criticizing the Ryan budget.

Ryan replied in a brief statement that he shared their “commitment to a preferential option for the poor” — a key element of Catholic social teaching — but added that the option “does does not mean a preferential option for bigger government.”

Speaking at Georgetown, Ryan said that some Catholics “for a long time have thought they had a monopoly of sorts … not exactly on heaven, but on the social teaching of our Church. Of course there can be differences among faithful Catholics on this.”

Throwing Granny Off a Cliff?

Ryan went on to say that the “overarching threat to our whole society today is the exploding federal debt. The Holy Father, Pope Benedict, has charged that governments, communities and individuals running up high debt levels are ‘living at the expense of future generations’ and ‘living in untruth.’"

“We in this country still have a window of time before a debt-fueled economic crisis becomes inevitable. We can still take control before our own needy suffer the fate of Greece. How we do this is a question for prudential judgment, about which people of good will can differ,” Ryan said at Georgetown.

Entering the fray Saturday morning, Ryan said, “I’m proud to stand with a man who understands what it takes to foster job creation in our economy, someone who knows from experience that if you have a small business — you did build that.”

This was a reference to President Obama’s “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that” speech in July in Roanoke, Va. The remark, which has haunted the president’s campaign, is widely interpreted as putting the role of government over that of the individual.

With regard to Medicare, Ryan would allow the current system, as an option, but would introduce market-based competition and a patient-centered voucher system. This led to Democratic political ads featuring a Ryan lookalike pushing a grandmother in a wheelchair over a cliff.

“The first thing to understand is that granny is going to be thrown off the cliff anyway, if we don’t make changes to Medicare,” said Joseph Antos, Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. Antos said that Ryan’s plan would modernize Medicare and make it more efficient.

Saying that “on fiscal matters, Paul Ryan has no peer,” Antos noted that Ryan gets to the root of problems. Antos said that, for example, “Ryan understands that sequester [across the board cuts] is a really terrible idea because it doesn’t take on the tough issues.”

“I like the Ryan choice very much,” said Paul Kengor, author and professor of political science at Grove City College. “Liberals are going to be attacking him as lacking in compassion, being a deficit hawk and hurting the poor. But, as Ronald Reagan would say, the best anti-poverty program is a growing economy. Paul Ryan wants to help the poor by growing the economy and with policies more in line with [the Catholic principle of] subsidiarity.”

“Everybody is going to be using the word ‘gravitas,’” Kengor continued, “and Paul Ryan has gravitas. They won’t Quayle him. They can’t make him look like a deer in the headlights. He will be able to answer the questions.”

Register correspondent Charlotte Hays writes from Washington

Source: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/paul-ryan-catholic-who-looks-to-churchs-social-teaching-tapped-as-romney-ru/#ixzz23dWipaFa

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Dozens of Dead Birds Fall From the Sky in NJ

View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.

Officials say birds found by Millville residents were killed on purpose & legally

By Dan Stamm

Officials say birds found by Millville residents were killed on purpose & legally

By Dan Stamm

NBC10 Philadelphia - Ted Greenberg

Residents along Peach Drive in Millville, N.J. found at least 80 birds dead on the ground Tuesday morning. Officials told NBC10's Ted Greenberg that they believe the birds were killed on purpose and legally by a nearby farmer.

Residents in a Cumberland County community were left wondering Tuesday morning what caused dozens of birds to drop dead from the sky.

Residents along Peach Drive in Millville found at least 80 birds -- mostly red-winged blackbirds -- on the ground dead having fallen from trees and the sky.

"Crazy -- something out of a movie," said resident Michelle Cavalieri who saw the birds fall from the sky.

The birds caused a bloody mess on roadways in the residential neighborhood.

"They’d get up and try and fly and they were out of control so they’d crash and fall again," said resident Jim Sinclair. "It was just strange."

Animal control, public health officials and other emergency crews were on the scene later Tuesday morning collecting dead birds to try and figure out exactly what caused so many of them to die.

Cumberland County Public Information Officer Troy Ferus said Tuesday claiming that it wasn't something environmental that killed the birds but rather something they ate -- a granular pesticide put down legally by nearby Ingraldi Farms.

"Preliminary investigation gives us the impression that.. he had problems with birds," said Ferus earlier in the day. "He applied for and got a permit for a product that kills birds and that’s what it seems to have been effective at doing."

Here is the county's press release on the incident: 

The Department of Health reports that Monday evening Ingraldi Farms applied a granular pesticide intended and approved to cull birds, causing an unusually high volume of dead birds in the area of Ingraldi Farms and Whitemarsh Estates in Millville.

The material used; Avitrol Double Strength Corn Chops (EPA reg. # 11649-5) is approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and intended to be used for bird control for Blackbirds, Brewer's Blackbirds, Cowbirds, Grackles, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Rusty Blackbird, Starlings and Yellow-Headed Blackbirds.

In the past, Ingraldi Farms has also used Avian Control (EPA reg. # 33162-1) a ready to use liquid repellent intended to be used for bird control for Geese, Gull, Pigeon, Crows, Starlings, House Sparrows, Blackbirds, Grackles and House Finches.

Ingraldi Farms is licensed through the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to apply pesticides on their farms and has been working with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife to alleviate the crop damage done by large flocks of birds. Remedies include auditory shock, hunting and pesticides. Ingraldi Farms has estimated a crop loss of $15,000 so far, due to the birds eating their crops.

Bird specimens have been collected and are being sent to the NJ-Department of Environmental Protection Laboratory for testing.

No one at Ingraldi Farms would talk to NBC10's Ted Greenberg when he went there for comment.

Officials say the dead birds are not toxic but that any member of the public that encounters a dead bird should use gloves when picking it up and wash their hands thoroughly after handling and disposing of it in the trash.

But they put out a call to residents Tuesday afternoon that urged residents to remain inside "due to an odor and the death of several birds in the area."

Recently bird kills have happened in various locations around the world -- possibly none more famous than the New Year’s Eve death of hundreds of blackbirds in Arkansas.

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New Jersey: 75-80 Birds Fall Dead