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The political climate has taken a huge turn in the past week with the resignation of Kathy Cox, State School Superintendent. With her resignation, two Republican candidates are left in the race for State School Superintendent, John Barge and Richard Woods. Governor Perdue has the responsibility to appoint the person to finish Mrs. Cox's term. So the big question becomes, who will Governor Perdue appoint?
two acceptable choices, appoint someone who can babysit the Georgia Department of Education until the next Superintendent is elected or appoint Dr. Barge or Mr. Woods (preferably after the July 20th Primary). The problem comes with the fact that Dr. Barge and Mr. Woods are both against President Obama's Race to the Top and are not part of the establishment. Governor Perdue is for President Obama's Race to the Top along with the State Board of Education. So there seems to be a bit of a quandary in that if one of these two men are appointed or even wins the State School Superintendent's race in November, they might try to be a true conservative and say no to President Obama and his takeover of the education system here in Georgia.
So who will Governor Perdue appoint, and will he try and meddle in the voters' choice of who will be our next State School Superintendent? I hope that Governor Perdue will not try and do something funny and allow us, the voters, to decide between the candidates who are left to be the next State School Superintendent.
I encourage everyone to get to know John Barge and Richard Woods before July 20th and contact Governor Perdue and ask him to allow the voters decide who should be the next State School Superintendent. |
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Rep. Paul Battles 
Rep. Paul Battles needs our prayers at this time. Please pray for Rep. Battles as he recovers from by-pass surgery. |
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When:
Saturday, June 26, 2010 @ 9:00 AM
ATTN: NEW LOCATION!
Where: Bartow County Republican Party HQ, 162 W. Main Street, Suite 106, Cartersville, GA 30120
Speakers:
Candidate BBQ! - All candidates for local office have been invited to attend the meeting and get "grilled" by those they want to vote for them. This is a great opportunity to learn which candidates most closely align with your values. Do NOT miss it!
Future
Meetings:
July 24, 2010
Candidates making the run-offs after the primary elections will be invited to speak and take questions from voters
August
To Be Announced |
Our 2010 Sponsors
John and Terry Bangert
Rep. Paul and Marijon Battles
Steve & Wanda Cagle-Gray
Ted and Gail Henry
John and Kerry Howard
Douglas and Joan Jones
Angie and Willy Klajbor
Rep. Barry and Desiree Loudermilk
Bruce Poore and Joan Stewart
$75
Angie and Eric Cornett
James Gilreath and Dr. Linda Denham-Gilreath
Fred & Lynn Kittle
Become A 2010 Sponsor TODAY! |
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State & Local
Well, another legislative session has come to a close, and this one has not been without controversy. With state tax revenues still falling there were a number of difficult decisions to be made as priorities were set and budgets cut even further.
Earlier this month Gov. Perdue signed legislation which permanently eliminates two taxes in Georgia: the state property tax and the Senior Citizen Retirement Income Tax. Passage of the latter hopes to encourage more seniors to retire in GA, which would provide more tax revenue from purchases made here in the state.
The bill also balances the budget as required by the state constitution. When the tax cuts take full effect (there are triggers before parts of the tax cuts kick in), it is estimated to provide $400 million in tax relief.
In other news, Georgia has joined the lawsuits against the federal government as they seek to overturn ObamaCare on constitutional grounds. One way or another, we MUST undo this law or our economy will suffer further and quality of healthcare will deteriorate.
In another effort to deal with budget constraints, the state Board of Education has rescinded maximum class size limitations, allowing those determinations to be made at the local level.
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Liberals do not want to secure the border so it should come as no surprise that they do not want to secure the integrity of the ballot box...The ACLU is leading a group of "civil rights" advocates (translation: criminal apologists) in an effort to secure a permanent injuction against the state of Georgia from efforts to require a valid ID in order to vote. If the ID requirement is enforced, it would significantly impact the Democrat efforts to "Vote Early, Vote Often".
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We have local grassroots groups here in Bartow that share our desire to see conservative government regain power. Please support the efforts of the Bartow Patriots as often as possible. For more information visit the Bartow Patriots website, and don't forget to check out upcoming events for the Georgia TEA Party on their website. |
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Become a Bartow GOP Member
¶Individual Membership ($25)
($40 for Two Calendar Year Membership)
~ Email Updates
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($60 for Two Calendar Year Membership)
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please email michael@bartowgop.com with your web site address
~ Invitations to special events
~ Thank you gift of a Bartow GOP Mug ~ Thank you gift of a Bartow GOP Hat
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Greetings!
For the first time in a long time, I have a cautious but real hope for the future of our republic. This may seem odd considering the current state of affairs in this nation (a president that refuses to protect the border but vilifies those who do, crushing debt, runaway spending, financial markets in turmoil, the rise in attempted and successful terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, etc.), but it is nevertheless true.
The newfound hopes stems from the recent election results. Arlen "The Defecter" Specter, after switching parties to avoid a primary loss to conservative Pat Toomey, lost in the Democrat primary to Joe Sestak, despite being supported by the Democrat establishment and having President Obama at his campaign rally. Specter, who defected from the GOP a number of times on critical issues, had reversed his vote on the health care bill and card check after the switch. In addition, Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark) is facing a primary run-off and is very vulnerable in the general election. Many big government Democrats are resigning rather than face angry voters (Chris Dodd, Bart Stupak, Byron Dorgan, David Obey, Eric Massa, Bill Ritter), are being defeated or facing defeat in the primaries (Alan Mollohan, Arlen "The Defecter" Specter defeated and Blanche Lincoln is facing the possibility of defeat), or are incumbents facing very difficult general election races (Boxer, Snyder, Markey, Ellsworth, Moore, Melancon, Driehaus, Gordon).
But wait, there's more! Republican Bill Bennett of Utah, who was fairly conservative but who had worked with the Democrats on health care and voted for the bank bailouts, never even made it to the Utah primaries, having been defeated in the nominating caucus. Trey Grayson, the GOP establishment candidate in Kentucky (having been hand-picked by Senate Minority Leader and pork addict Mitch McConnell), was defeated in a landslide by political neophyte and TEA Party favorite Rand Paul, who lustily indicted the failures of both parties to adhere to the Constitution.
For the first time in my memory, average citizens are waking up to the dangers facing this nation. They are picking up the Constitution and studying it, they are reading the Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers. They are seeking out the wisdom of the Founding Fathers and studying the mechanisms of our unique system of government that has made this country the greatest in the history of mankind.
I am excited about what this means for our nation. I am excited about the prospect of the government being accountable to the people. I am excited about the fact that true conservatives are being elected, even when that means unseating Republican incumbents. If we are to continue this trend we must seek out good men and women to run for office, and support them when they get there. But more than that, we must remain vigilant in binding to the Constitution with chains those that would seek the trust of public office. If we will do that, then there is hope indeed. |
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The Senate and House leadership used open bribery, arm-twisting, threats and arcane parliamentary tactics to get the health care control bill to the president's desk. This had to be done quickly and in secret so that the bill would be signed before the public learned the details.
Some of those details include:
Unconstitutionality - for the first time in our 234 year history, Congress has made a legal requirement of citizens where they MUST buy a product from a private company, with the specter of fines and/or imprisonment for failure to do so. Nowhere in the Constitution is Congress given the power to do this.
Unsustainable cost - accounting gimmicks and sleight of hand was used to keep the bill under the $1 trillion threshold. Democrats passed the "doc fix" as a separate budget item (estimated at $250 billion+) so that it would not count against the health care bill cost estimates. The CBO was given less than a week to review the summary of the bill and is required to score the bill based on what is in the legislation, even if they know that certain details will never come to pass. On May 11th, the CBO issued a new estimate showing ObamaCare will cost $115 billion more than first claimed. This comes on the heels of the administration's release of its own revised estimate showing costs substantially higher than first claimed.
Sleight of Hand - the bill that had so much urgency to be passed without time for members of Congress to review comes with a little discussed surprise...although the tax increases to cover the cost begin immediately, almost none of the benefits will kick in until 2014. The 10-years of taxes and only 6-years of benefits were necessary to keep the bill under $1 trillion.
After borrowing money from the near-bankrupt Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs to cover part of the costs of ObamaCare, Rick Foster, chief actuary of Medicare/Medicaid testified in late April that medical costs will INCREASE by $311 billion over the next decade, causing an estimated 14 million people to lose their employer-based coverage. It is doubtful that the bill would have passed if these facts had come to light prior to the vote.
Tellingly, Democrats repeatedly blocked Republican amendments to the bill that would have required members of Congress and their staff to enroll in the ObamaCare plan, as opposed to the generous plan currently offered to federal employees. Since Obama repeatedly touted that passing this bill would give the rest of us the same generous coverage that Congress has, one would think they would have voted for the amendment.
Democrats promised health care would not be rationed, but according to Donald Berwick, nominated to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services "...we have a limited resource pool...the decision is not whether or not we will ration care - the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open".
Increases in Medicare/Medicaid enrollment will lead to inaccessibility of doctors - Physician payments are currently 81% of private payments for Medicare, and 56% with Medicaid. This has led to fewer and fewer doctors accepting patients on Medicare/Medicaid. The Mayo Clinic, which Obama praised as a model for health care delivery, announced earlier this year that it would no longer accept patients in these programs because of the strain it causes on their budget. This will become even more widespread as enrollment grows.
More government bureaucracy - an estimated 16,500 new IRS agents will be hired to enforce the tax requirements surrounding ObamaCare. In addition, every business, from a local plumber to General Electric, is now required to file a 1099 form with the IRS for every business with which it spends $600 or more (Section 9006 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). This will create tens of millions of new tax documents to be processed and maintained; placing additional burdens on already overburdened businesses.
Premiums for businesses are expected to rise significantly as a result of the new requirement that "children" up to age 26 be eligible for coverage under their parents' policies.
Republicans have promised to "repeal and replace" ObamaCare if they regain majorities. Based on what we have seen so far, we should all pray that happens. |
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The Economy, Taxes and Deficits
PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain) have placed the world economy in a precarious situation after needing hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout funds from the European Union, IMF and the United States in order to keep from defaulting on their debts. This situation was caused because those countries are the epitome of the social welfare state, with several months of paid vacation each year, fully-funded retirement at 50-years old, nationalized health care and various other unsustainable programs.
This should be a huge red flag, in fact a sea of them, to the United States, which by 2020 is estimated to be paying interest on debt owed equivalent of $900 billion. In other words, the interest payment will be more than Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Defense spending combined.
America's creditors have already expressed deep concern about our ability to repay our debt. In all likelihood, we will in the near future see economy-slowing, rising interest rates, monetization of the debt through inflation, or both. None of which is good for America.
The only way to get our budget under control is to balance the budget, cut spending and reduce entitlements. Of course, it goes unsaid that we can't pile on any more debt.
As John Stossel correctly points out, economic growth will come only through, reduced spending, reduced regulations and lowering and simplifying taxes. |
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Al Gore just bought a $9 million sea-side mansion in Montecito, California, to go along with his 10,000 square foot mansion in Tennessee (the one that generates a $30,000 electric bill each year). A spokesman for Gore assures us that Gore is still doing his part to stay "green", and that the electricity for the mansion is produced by a generator fueled by pure hypocrisy. No greenhouse gas emissions are produced, and the only byproduct is hot air. |
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National Security and Defense
The clock continues to count down for America's military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, and bombings and violence are rising as a result. Terrorists know that under this president America does not have the fortitude do defend its interests and allies abroad.
In fact, we do not even have the fortitude to defend ourselves at home. From our refusal to acknowledge even who the enemy is in radical Islam, to giving terrorists constitutional rights and trying them in civilian court, to self-imposing interrogation restrictions for suspected terrorists, America is walking on the knife's edge, seemingly welcoming another attack.
The problem has been compounded by a refusal to protect even our own borders. Arizona recently passed a strong ant-immigration law that gives state police many of the same capabilities as federal immigration enforcement officers when dealing with illegal immigrants. Yet our president, who's primary duty under the Constitution is to protect the citizens of this nation, his Attorney General Eric Holder, and his Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, have all been vocally critical of the law despite each admitting that they had not read the 10-page bill.
On the bright side, the longer the law is discussed the more approval it gains among the American people, who understand that the AZ law is a desparate measure that was necessary to implement because this president, and the one before him, refused to take seriously their obligation to secure our borders. Phoenix has become the kidnapping capitol of the nation, and our DEA and ICE agents are having frequent gun battles with drug, gun and human traffickers on the border. If the federal government refuses to do its job, then there is no reason why the states can't do it themselves. |
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Informational Miscellany
Many politicians are wishing they had read the health care bill a bit more closely, now that they have discovered that they have regulated themselves out of the "gold-plated, Cadillac" plan that members of Congress and their families and staffs enjoy.
For those vilifying Arizona about their new anti-illegal immigration law, Michelle Malkin asks...how would they like it if we adopted Mexico's law? (Here's a hint: it is far more draconian than ours).
The Democrats' financial "reform" bill creates additional regulatory and reporting burdens for even smaller businesses, creates a permanent $50 billion bail-out fund, but you know what it does not do?...affect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, despite the fact that they are the single largest debtor to the taxpayers, and are still costing taxpayers $7 billion per month. |
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And Justice for All...
As Investor's Business Daily aptly points out, Attorney General Eric Holder has got to go. It was bad enough when he refused to prosecute and dismissed the case of the New Black Panther thugs in Philadelphia that threatened voters at polling precincts on election day. It was not much better when he called America a "nation of cowards" for refusing to deal with race issues (yet that is all we've heard from the left since the election). It was worse when he decided to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Muhammed in civilian court in NYC, granting him constitutional rights and putting the city at further risk of attack. He also criticizes and mischaracterizes the nature of the AZ anti-illegal immigration law while admitting he has not read it.
Now, though, it is clear that the nation's top law enforcement officer has no intention of enforcing the law fairly, or even of acknowledging who our enemies are. Holder refused, last November, to say whether he would allow Osama bin Laden to be tried in civilian court if caught.
In a recent appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, Holder was questioned by Rep. Lamar Smith. Discussing Fort Hood mass murderer Nidal Hassan (who was in regular contact with a radical Muslim cleric and called murder of his fellow soldiers in the name of jihad justified), Christmas Day PantyBomber Farouk Abdulmutalab (who received al-Qaeda training in Yemen), and now the Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad (terrorist training in Pakistan), Holder was asked if he saw any common thread with them.
Holder repeatedly refused to acknowledge that Islam was even possibly behind their motivations to attack innocent Americans, saying only that "There are a variety of reasons why people do things". The closest he came to an acknowledgment was to state that some of those reasons were "potentially religious..."
I guess that Hassan screaming "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is great!") before he opened fire is only "potentially religious. Maybe Hassan was referring to his neighborhood butcher, Allah Johnson, who makes a tasty pork sausage. Who knows? These things can be so confusing.
I know what is not confusing though...AG Eric Holder needs to go...now. |
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The Supreme Court
Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy is pushing for a quick confirmation process for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, scheduled to begin June 28th, so that she is sitting on the court in time to begin the next session.
Democrats are calling her highly qualified despite her relative lack of experience, and saying that she should be quickly confirmed. Barring major scandals, normally I would say that even if she is a liberal, the president has the right to appoint someone that represents his values. However, Democrats have not given the same courtesy to Republican nominations, repeatedly claiming it is fair game to filibuster nominees that are "out of the mainstream" (liberal definition: someone who does not pledge reflexive obeisence to the slaughter of the unborn).
By this definition, Kagan is certainly out of the mainstream. Kagan barred military recruiters from the campus of Harvard when she was dean of the Harvard Law School. She was unhappy about the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy which bans openly homosexual members from serving. It should be noted that this was not the military's policy, but the policy signed into law by Democrat President Bill Clinton; the military was only adhering to this (wise) policy.
In addition, her record shows she is anti-2nd Amendment, and that while clerking for Justice Thurgood Marshall, she petitioned him to not accept a case in which a man was convicted of carrying an unlicensed handgun, which he claimed violated his Second Amendment rights.She wrote that the man's "sole contention is that the District of Columbia's firearms statutes violate his constitutional right to 'keep and bear arms...I'm not sympathetic." In light of the Supreme Court's recent ruling in the Heller case which upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms, this is at minimum deeply concerning.
Also of concern is how she will rule in cases dealing with the economy and free markets, since she has praised socialism. In her 1981 Princeton thesis (since pulled from public record by Princeton), Kagan stated that "In our own times, a coherent socialist movement is nowhere to be found in the United States. Americans are more likely to speak of a golden past than of a golden future, of capitalism's glories than of socialism's greatness." In other words, she is distressed that Americans are so enamored with capitalism that they can't see socialism's greatness.
Unfortunately, with such spineless, go-along-to-get along weenies on the Senate Judiciary as Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Lindsey Grahamnesty (R-SC), it will be hard to block her confirmation (it requires at least one Republican vote to move her nomination out of committee, and either Hatch or Grahamnesty is almost sure to cast that vote).
However, John Gizzi at Human Events makes compelling cases for why her nomination should be rejected, and how to accomplish it. |
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Good News and Comic Relief
"Nancy Pelosi told Catholic leaders they need to support the Democratic version of immigration reform and to preach it from the pulpit. She would have said more but she had to leave to attend a rally for the separation of church and state." - Jay Leno
Although the latest attempt in Illinois narrowly failed, there is a growing movement to expand school choice, there and across the nation. People are finally starting to see just how badly our schools have failed the children they are supposed to serve (as columnist Burt Pretlusky wryly noted, it's not a school system, it's a penal system with report cards).
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Reading for Extra Credit
Keeping Up With the World of Politics, Government, and the Social Issues of the Day .
In the wake of flooding in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, rapper Kanye West claimed GWB didn't like black people because of the slow federal response. So does that mean that, based on the virtual media blackout of record flooding in Nashville, TN, and no federal response to speak of to date, that Obama does not like white people?
As young people, who voted overwhelmingly for Obama, begin to discover the staggering debt being placed upon them by Obama's policies, will the youth vote turn against him?
In yet another blow for religious freedom, the Supreme Court has refused to review the 9th Circuit Court's ruling of the Boy Scouts as a religious organization (because of their oath to do their "duty to God" and to be "morally straight"), which bans them from leasing state park lands in San Diego. The suit was brought by a lesbian and an agnostic couple, both offended by the BSA's morality stance. |
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May God Bless You,
Louis DeBroux, Vice Chair of Communications
Bartow County Republican Party
Michael W. Huneke II, Chairman
Bartow County Republican Party |
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