Congressman-Elect Tom Marino Announces Two Key House Committeses

CONGRESSMAN-ELECT MARINO ASSIGNED TO TWO KEY HOUSE COMMITTEES

U.S. Rep.-Elect Tom Marino, R-Lycoming Township, has landed positions on two key congressional committees.

Marino was notified Wednesday that he will join the U.S. House Homeland Security and Judiciary committees when the 112th Congress convenes next month.

U.S. Rep. Pete King of New York will chair the Committee on Homeland Security which oversees the Department of Homeland Security operations. Chairman of the Judiciary Committee is Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas.
Marino said he is pleased and honored to be selected to two committees that are close to his heart and mirror his experience.

“I don’t think there is anything more important than to serve on a committee that is dedicated to protecting our people and our land,” Marino said. “Our focus not only will be to prevent terrorist attacks but to eliminate the terrorists.”

The newly elected congressman from the 10th District believes his legal background, including his prosecutorial work, makes him an ideal match for the Judiciary Committee.

“My 18 years of experience will help me with this committee that writes criminal law, protects the law of the land and strives to keep our children safe,” Marino said. “This committee is often referred to as the guardian of the Constitution and I cannot think of a more noble mission.”
Marino is one of 10 members of the Judiciary Committee and one of two former U.S. Attorneys assigned to the panel that will focus on strengthening national security, protecting intellectual property, and preventing frivolous lawsuits, according to Chairman-Elect Smith.

Other members of the Judiciary Committee include Rep. Mike Pence, Indiana, who is considered as a possible presidential contender, and Rep. Tim Griffin, Arkansas, who a freshman who served as U.S. Attorney from the Eastern District of Arkansas. Marino, 58, served as a U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

King said the priorities for the Committee on Homeland Security include: stopping the Obama administration’s plans to transfer Guantanamo detainees and try them in civilian courts; holding hearings on the plans to close Guantanamo; holding hearings on the attack at Fort Hood; and enacting additional border security legislation to curb illegal immigration.
Contact: Renita Fennick
570-239-8851

Kanjorski's Porky Spending Again

SOP has learned that Paul Kanjorski's pending announcement this afteroon will release plans to bring an anti-terrorism training center to Northeastern Pennsylvania, probably billed as "Tobyhanna South".

This facility was proposed for Ruthsburg, Queen Annes County, Maryland but was soundly rejected by its residents.

It is interesting that Kanjorski's announcement puts the potential jobs at 1,000 while the Washington Times article pegs the number nearer 400, mostly custodial, maintenance, and food service.

For more than three hours, officials from the State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the General Services Administration patiently answered questions and withstood scathing comments that revealed an opposition and distrust rivaling the most confrontational displays in last year's health care town-hall summits.

They promised the campus would be a good neighbor and pledged to mitigate traffic and noise problems.

But many residents say the stimulus funds and the jobs come with too big a price tag. They fear that long after the financial crisis has passed, they will be saddled with a facility that spoils the rural character of the area, strains the local infrastructure and further harms the environment around the Chesapeake Bay.

And many are just distrustful of promises made by the federal government.

Here is a link to a Washington Post article that spells out many opposition points to such a facility.

This article from the Baltimore Sun illustrates a great point about Kanjorski's motive to tought jobs.

The politicians "heard 'jobs, jobs, jobs,' and at that point, they stopped thinking. They never looked under the hood," said Jim Campbell, 71, a former partner at a high-powered Washington law firm who retired to a waterfront neighborhood on an arm of the Chesapeake Bay, about 10 miles from the proposed site.

They warn that the Foreign Affairs Security Training Center -- with its driving tracks for teaching evasive maneuvers, mock urban center for live-fire training and explosives pit for detonating 3-pound bombs -- would be a "little Aberdeen." Some are convinced the installation could eventually swallow more of the surrounding area, a roughly 30-square-mile swath of countryside with relatively few residents and little commercial development.

At the heart of the local opposition are a number of concerns, both practical and ideological: hostility to the stimulus law, worries about declining property values on nearby farms, possible environmental damage and noise from munitions blasts used to teach agents about roadside bombs.


This announcement is just another fantasy for Shamjorski's Dreamville- High Speed Rail from Scranton to New York, Kanjorski Center Nanticoke, Cargo Airport Hazleton, Regional Equipment Company, Cornerstone Technologies, Infatable Dam, Wall Street West (actually located in Bethlehem), Earth Conservancy, Hybrid Auto Plant, Sallie Mae's 2000 jobs that turned to lost jobs...when will it stop...next Disney will be located here with all the verbal rides Kanjorski sends this area on for political reasons. Remember he was the one quoted as saying Democrats are willing to stretch the facts to win an election.

Janet Napolitano- Quit Being A Huge Embarassment To The U.S.

In the wake of the latest terrorist incident Janet Napolitano proved she is the wrong person to head Homeland Security. Her flip-flop statements signal two things. One, the flow of information up the ladder is seriously flawed. Two, once the information reaches the top nothing but garbage comes out of the mouth.

Karl Rove was on Hannity last night outlining how this administration blew a chance to interrogate the suspect. Instead they allowed him to lawyer up and shut up as a criminal and not treated as a terrorist. We lost the opportunity to find out who trained him, who sent him, who funded him, who fed him, and who he answered to.

Right now Fox News is reporting there were 17 full body scanners at Amsterdam airport. An Israeli spokesperson stated he would not use full body scanners on Muslims due to their faith. He made a compelling and convincing argument that Muslim distrust of the western world would only be heightened if goverment mandates a full body scan of their women and children.

This mess points to a systemic failure in our security policies. Profiling behavior, not skin color or faith, is a much better approach than scanning. Terrorists come in all forms and styles. Behaviors will be easier to spot.

Here is an editorial from the Tribune Review out of Pittsburgh.

Flight 253: Failure
Buzz up!Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Welcome back to reality, America. Nasty people seeking to do nasty things in any nasty way possible remain alive and despicably well as we put the wraps on 2009.

Witness the passenger-foiled attempt by a Nigerian man to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day. But witness first the horrible failure of a very expensive worldwide security apparatus to keep Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab off Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit.

The suspect was on terrorist watch lists in the United States and Great Britain. He was refused a student entry visa to the U.K. in May after applying for a bogus college course. He paid cash for his Northwest ticket. He had no checked baggage. There's a report that he didn't even have a passport. The explosive he carried in his underwear is supposed to be easily detectable through screening. The terrorist's father even warned authorities that his son was a risk.

Thus, it was outrageous when Homeland Security boss Janet Napolitano went on TV on Sunday to claim "the system worked." She was in full retreat Monday, claiming her contention was taken out of context. Hardly. Her boss, President Obama, has ordered a full review of security measures. He should fire Ms. Napolitano as a start.

The Flight 253 debacle is a sobering reminder that the world remains a dangerous place requiring eternal vigilance. The people know that. Sadly, government doesn't.

Politics aside, let's get the system fixed to restore the faith of the travelers. If government can accomplish that goal then maybe, just maybe, politics on both sides can cease fire and get on with the business of putting people back to work so our economy will recover.