By George Allen
April 23, 2008
www.insight-report.com

The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) will benefit the people of both America and Colombia and must be passed by Congress without political posturing.

Recently, President Bush sent a letter to Congress to implement an American free trade agreement with Colombia. The pact would help create more jobs in the United States by opening Colombian markets to our agricultural, manufactured products and services. The agreement would also help Colombia improve its economy and strengthen its democracy.

The agreement would allow the United States to export numerous products to Colombia duty-free and allow Colombian exports to continue to enter the United States without tariffs. Currently, American products exported to Colombia have tariffs of 35 percent for non-agricultural goods and even higher for agricultural products. The CFTA will make American products as accessible to Colombians as Colombian products are to America by eliminating tariffs on more than 80 percent of American exports of industrial and consumer goods.

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Top 12 plus Notables

1. Miami – Needing a QB ever since Marino retired, the Dolphins should take a QB like Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Brian Brohm. If not a QB, they should take Chris Long from the University of Virginia, but with contract negotiations, they will take a Michigan monster in Jake Long to play LT.

2. St. Louis – The Rams will be lucky to chose between Chris Long, Vernon Gholston from Ohio State and LSU’s Glenn Dorsey. I predict St. Louis fans will be thrilled with Chris Long from Virginia to play in Missouri, whose capitol is Jefferson City.

3. Atlanta – Obviously, the Falcons desperately need a QB and can’t risk waiting for second round to get a top 3 QB. Matt Ryan is a safe pick for the unhappy fans in Atlanta.

4. Oakland – The Raider Nation will have a choice between several quality DL choices, but will be raving when they draft outstanding RB Darren McFadden from Arkansas.

5. Kansas City – If the Chief’s 2007 NFL sack leader DE Jared Allen is traded, then G.M. Carl Peterson will chose great DE Vernon Gholston, probably over Glenn Dorsey. If Allen is signed, then K.C. will pick OT/G Branden Albert of Virginia for the Jefferson City state of Missouri.

6. New York Jets – The Jets will pick the best DL available, which will be Glenn Dorsey if K.C. trades Allen. If K.C. does not trade Allen, then Jets will select Gholston.

7. New England – The Patriots get to “tuck” away this draft choice to select LB Keith Rivers from Southern Cal.

8. Baltimore – The Ravens need a QB and, like Atlanta, can’t risk waiting until the second round. In a surprise, they will pick Joe Flacco who played at nearby Delaware.

9. Cincinnati – The Bengals need to improve their defense and therefore will pick DT Sedrick Ellis from Southern California. If K.C. does not trade Allen, then the Chiefs will pick Glenn Dorsey or other DE’s that are available.

10. New Orleans – The Saints will pick the best defensive player available out of Chris Long, Vernon Gholston, Glenn Dorsey, Sedrick Ellis and Keith Rivers. If K.C. trades Allen, none of these players will be available. So I predict the Saints will draft DE Derrick Harvey of Florida over many good CB’s available.

11. Buffalo/Toronto – The Bills will pick best defensive player available, so I will guess Aqib Talib from Kansas who has played in cool weather would best suit the Bills over a warmer weather CB.

12. Denver - The Broncos will want to upgrade their OL and will pick Branden Albert if KC trades Allen. Or Jeff Otah of Pitt if Albert taken.

14. Chicago – The Bears will pick QB Brian Brohm of Louisville.

21. Washington – The Redskins new Head Coach Jim Zorn could best use offensive and defensive line improvements. G Branden Albert of UVA, OT Jeff Otah of Pittsburgh, OT Ryan Clady of Boise State, Chris Williams from Vanderbilt, DE Derrick Harvey of Florida will have been selected by the 21st pick. So I predict the Redskins will pick Phillip Merling, DE from Clemson.

“This is another story fortifying my view that the US energy policy has gone haywire. The rising cost of fertilizer and chemicals are due to rising natural gas prices, but the government doesn’t allow for more natural gas exploration in deep water off the coast of Virginia. And clean coal and nuclear electric power plants are thwarted so that only high priced natural gas plants are permitted. Then, the government policy is to use our food and feed for transportation fuels, driving up the price of food. See, my Insight piece date from April 9, 2008.” -George Allen

Rising prices inflate worries all around
Charlottesville Daily Progress
By Seth Rosen
April 19, 2008

Under pressure from skyrocketing fuel and fertilizer prices, Adventure Farms in Earlysville is taking an unprecedented step: the cattle farm is getting into the soybean business.

Like farmers all across Central Virginia, Adventure’s owners have seen their profit margin shrink over the past year as the basic goods needed to run its business have more than doubled in cost. Compounding the problem is the fact that many farmers have yet to recover from the drought that afflicted the area last summer.

Running a farm has gotten precipitously more expensive over the past 12 months. Adventure Farms is paying $110 for an acre’s worth of fertilizer, compared with about $50 this time last year, said Carl Tinder, the farm’s manager. The bulk price of diesel fuel has spiked from less than $2 a gallon to nearly $4.

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For Immediate Release:
April 16, 2008

Alexandria, Virginia – Former Governor and U.S. Senator George Allen issued the following statement today, remembering the tragedy of Virginia Tech, one year ago today.

“One year ago today the entire world was shocked to see the awful, senseless tragedy unfold on the close knit campus of Virginia Tech. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and friends whose lives forever changed on the morning of April 16th. On that day all of us became members of the Hokie Nation, admiring the many heroes like Professor Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor who sacrificed his life so that his students could escape out his classroom windows.

“The extraordinary courage, unity and loyalty that the students of Virginia Tech showed in the days and months that followed was truly remarkable and showed the genuinely good character of the university. The goodness of America also shined; school children to the New York Yankees’ owner George Steinbrenner showed an outpouring of support and generosity for the faculty, staff and students of Virginia Tech.

“With every unfortunate tragedy comes lessons. Improvements have been made to laws and emergency procedures. More improvements in security will be deployed at Virginia Tech and on the campus of every college in America.

“Let us forever remember the people whose promising, positive lives were cut short by this terrible murderous rampage. Let us also resolve to improve campus security in ways that allow educational experiences to flourish in our land of freedom and opportunity for all.”

“Accurate assessment from Georgia” -George Allen

More meddling from Carter
Former president evidently will stop at nothing to undermine U.S. interests
Saturday, April 12, 2008
The Augusta Chronicle

Is there no America-hating, anti-Israel thug that Jimmy Carter wouldn’t do business with?

The nation’s 39th president has long since shattered the tradition that former presidents refrain from criticizing their successors, even when they are from different political parties. The man who was arguably the worst president of the 20th century hasn’t stopped running his mouth against all his successors, including fellow Democrat Bill Clinton, since Ronald Reagan routed him from office in 1980.

But now Carter — who once called the current Bush administration’s Mideast and Iraq policies “criminal” — appears to be going beyond his usual wrong-headed, mean-spirited criticisms to actively undermine his government’s foreign policy.

That, in our view, makes him the real criminal.

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By George Allen
April 9, 2008

Close the loophole that is forcing American food and fuel prices ever higher.

High gas and diesel fuel prices are hitting every American family and business. With oil prices around $110 per barrel, consumers are paying for it on the way to the grocery store, but they are also paying for it at the grocery store. The price of feeding one’s family has increased because higher fuel prices make production more expensive. Also, the production of bio-fuels has increased demand for feed grains, leading to the higher cost of raising livestock.

Food prices are escalating because farmers are paying higher diesel prices to fuel their equipment and higher natural gas prices are increasing costs for fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Diesel prices hover near $4 a gallon. Since the majority of American goods are transported by trucks that rely on diesel, the cost of food has been impacted. We clearly need a greater supply of diesel, including biodiesel, to meet demand and lessen costs.

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“Fair and Open Trade has been essential for our free country from the start of our secession from the British monarchy” -George Allen

April 6, 1776
Congress opens all U.S. ports to international trade
On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress takes the first step toward American independence by announcing their decision to open all American ports to international trade with any part of the world that is not under British rule.

It was the first act of independence by the Continental Congress that had so openly and publicly rejected the American Prohibitory Act passed by the British parliament in December 1775. The act was designed to punish the American colonies for the rebellion against the king and British rule, which had begun with the Battle of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, by banning all British trade with America. It was, in essence, a declaration of economic warfare by Great Britain. For its part, the Continental Congress’ decision to open all ports to any country but those ruled by Britain constituted America’s declaration of economic independence.

The economic relationship between Britain and the 13 colonies had been mercantilist–the colonies provided raw materials such as rice and tobacco to the mother country, Great Britain, and in return received manufactured goods such as textiles and ceramics or foreign goods such as tea. Under the mercantile system, all American imports and exports had to pass through Great Britain on their way to and from the colonies. Undoing this economic relationship was a necessary aspect of freeing the colonies from the control of the British empire. Recognizing this, Britain had passed the Tea Act in 1773 in a misguided attempt to trick colonists into accepting parliamentary taxation by making legal tea imported from India through Britain cheaper than non-taxed tea smuggled into the colonies from the Netherlands. It failed; the colonists were outraged and protested vigorously, most famously in form of the Boston Tea Party. The Prohibitory Act finally cut the colonists loose from the mercantilist system, but not without repercussions: colonists lost not only the burdens of British taxes, but the benefits of British products, making it necessary for the new nation to open its ports to trade from elsewhere.

“This is a thoughtful perspective on the latest death penalty ‘moralizing’ debate.” -George Allen

An execution’s cruelty should be weighed vs. grief-torn lives
The Virginia Pilot
Editorial

CRUEL AND UNUSUAL.

Prepare yourselves. You’ll hear that Eighth Amendment snippet a lot in the coming weeks as the U.S. Supreme Court decides if lethal injections are too barbaric for America’s barbarians.

I just wish the folks who support this case would admit that they don’t really want to make executions painless. They want to terminate them.

Never mind that most Americans support capital punishment. (Don’t take my word: National Public Radio reported recently that 69 percent of us favor the death penalty.) Yet lawyers for a pair of condemned Kentucky men have asked the highest court to declare lethal injections - the preferred execution method in most states - “cruel and unusual.”

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By GEORGE ALLEN
Guest Columnist
The State - Columbia, SC

Ideas and solutions that work should be models to be shared and refined. When President Ronald Reagan signed legislation to abolish parole in the federal system in 1984, he recognized that the existing sentencing and parole system was adding to rising crime rates and was fundamentally unfair to the victims of crime and to the public. This was a major shift in criminal justice policy and served as inspiration for changes I advocated during my campaign for governor of Virginia in 1993. Parole abolition and truth-in-sentencing have worked to make Virginians safer and brought credibility to the justice system. They will work now for South Carolina, where leaders are proposing similar changes for the Palmetto State.

When I became governor of Virginia in 1994, our Commonwealth had experienced a 28 percent increase in criminal violence over the previous five years. Rising crime, fear, and frustration were the results of a lenient and dishonest justice system that did not take punishment seriously and allowed early-release parole to create a revolving door for criminals.

First-time convicted criminals were eligible for parole after serving a quarter to as little as one-fifth of their sentence. First-degree murderers sentenced to 35 years spent an average of only 10 years in prison. Offenders sentenced to “life” could become eligible for parole after serving between 12 and 15 years. More than 75 percent of all violent criminals in the system in 1993 had prior convictions. Because of parole and almost automatic good time credit, no one — not the judge, the prosecutor, the juries, or the victims and their families — had any real idea of how much of the prison sentence a convicted criminal would actually serve.

In 1994, we succeeded in abolishing this dishonest parole system, increasing time served for violent crime and instituting “truth-in-sentencing,” which guaranteed that felons would serve at least 85 percent of their sentence. For the first time, there was certainty in what a sentence really meant. Inmates can still earn up to 15% “good time” credit on their sentences. Repeat violent offenders are serving sentences two to three times longer than before our reforms. Meanwhile, we overhauled the correctional classification system, building low-cost work centers for low-risk, minimum-security, non-violent offenders.

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“Interesting history how original US Congress  ‘outsourced’ military operations to private concerns.” -George Allen

April 3, 1776
Congress authorizes privateers to attack British vessels
Because it lacked sufficient funds to build a strong navy, the Continental Congress gives privateers permission to attack any and all British ships on this day in 1776.

In a bill signed by John Hancock, its president, and dated April 3, 1776, the Continental Congress issued, “INSTRUCTIONS to the COMMANDERS of Private Ships or vessels of War, which shall have Commissions of Letters of Marque and Reprisal, authorizing them to make Captures of British Vessels and Cargoes.”

“Letters of Marque and Reprisal” were the official documents by which 18th-century governments commissioned private commercial ships, known as privateers, to act on their behalf, attacking ships carrying the flags of enemy nations. Any goods captured by the privateer were divided between the ship’s owner and the government that had issued the letter.

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