Quote: 

"Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? It is feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American... [T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people."

If you see a story that you believe would be useful and important to our readers, simply respond to this email with a link and a brief description of why it is important.  (Even if it may be obvious)

Obama Signs Executive Order to Allow Shut Down of All US Communications

Mob beats man on his own front porch "for

 Trayvon"...press ignores

Valley Forge Patriots July 12 Meeting

Valley Forge Patriots - Tea Party Conservatives

Friday, July 12, 2013
7:00 PM

Phoenixville Senior Center
153 Church Street
Phoenixville, PA 19460

Learn more

From a trusted friend:

As some of you may know, I am associated with Coventry Christian Schools as a parent of a graduate (2010) and as member of the Board of Trustees.   Last October we spent a wonderful evening honoring Mark Niehls at our revitalized Founder's Dinner and celebrated our shared heritage in the remarkable community that is Coventry Christian Schools. Our vision for future Founder's Dinners is to inspire and inform not only our alumni and current CCS families but to inspire and inform the Tri-County Area and even our region by hosting speakers and artists who can uniquely assist us in celebrating the heritage, core values, and mission of CCS while also lifting our vision for an even greater future built upon the foundation of our past. The caliber of our speakers and guest artists should provide us with wonderful opportunities to share our CCS story with new partners in Christian education. Proceeds from the dinner will be applied to our annual Coventry Kids Fund for CCS scholarships.

This year we are proud to announce that our distinguished guest and speaker is Dr. Benjamin Carson, and our dinner's theme is "Faith of Our Fathers: The Role of Faith in American Schools." Please join us as we welcome Dr. Carson to the Tri-County Area and celebrate the great things God is doing at CCS!  

Dr. Carson is a highly regarded neurosurgeon and motivational speaker who has addressed various audiences across the country. He is one of the most honored and recognized physicians in the world and holds more than 60 honorary doctorate degrees along with hundreds of awards and citations. He is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. He is the author of five books and is the founder of the Carson Scholars Fund. The 2009 award-winning movie entitled Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. as Carson, premiered on TNT and is based on his memoir. Dr. Carson is an authentic disciple of Christ, has been married to his wife Candy for more than 37 years, and is the father of three sons.

The 2013 Founder's Dinner, which will once again be a part of our Homecoming festivities, will be held at the historic Sunnybrook Ballroom in Pottstown on Sunday, October 13th, 2013. Doors will open at 4:30pm, followed by dinner at 5:15. Dress will be business/professional.    Tickets will be priced at $100 until May 15th, then will be $125, so reserve your tickets for the reduced price.

^th

All of us at Coventry Christian Schools, look forward to sharing this very special evening with you and acquainting you with the school and its mission!

Blessings,

Sponsorships are available as well and are as follows:

Gold Sponsor                    $3,000

•        Two tickets at Speaker's Table
•        Two tickets at Headmaster's Table
•        Listed as sponsor on school website through 12 months post event
•        Listed as sponsor on pre-event print marketing
•        Mentioned by name at event
•        Full Page ad in Dinner Program

Silver Sponsor                  $1,500

•        Two tickets at Speaker's Table
•        Listed as sponsor on school website through 12 months post event
•        Half page ad in Dinner Program

Bronze Sponsor                $500

•        Two tickets at Headmaster's Chairman's or Founder's Table
•        Listed as sponsor on school website through 12 months post event

WHAT IS COMMON CORE?

Common Core, or the Common Core State Standards Initative (CCSSI), as it is known at the State and Federal level, is a set of national education standards that will fulfill the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, through a waiver system. (The NCLB Act was put into place by Congress in 2001 and signed into law by President George W. Bush). Many states were failing to meet the NCLB Act requirements and, therefore, wanted something to replace NCLB.Common Core is part of the UN's plan for complete federal control over our education systems and the "Dumbing-down" of America.

 

Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) are not state standards in the first place, and are nothing more then further federalization of our state education systems.

 

COMMON CORE IS A TROJAN HORSE AND TIED TO THE UNITED NATIONS (UN)

If you cannot see that Common Core is tied to the United Nations you have not done your homework! The major funder of the Common Core Movement is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which has pledged $60 million dollars to this effort. Bill and Melinda Gates are tied to UN through-and-through and have spent money in America and overseas for UN programs in Africa and all over the world for decades.

From the Conservative Teachers of American organization, they wrote an article entitled: "Common Core Standards and the Federalization of Education." In this article we read: "Many are concerned that the Common Core Standards, once successfully implemented, will provide unfettered access of our educational system by the United Nations. Some textbooks and curricula for our public schools have already been written by the [United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization] UNESCO and the International Baccalaureate program, that is currently in many school districts, across the United States. Grabbing additional access is a natural next step. Once they write the curricula, they must have authority to develop all testing tools."

 

The UN involvement in the American educational system has already been facilitated by treaties signed by American presidents from both parties. Those documents include but are not limited to: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Treaty on the Rights of the Child, Civic Education: Classroom Connections, and Agenda 21.

 

The  US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development (since 2003), is the nexus of the UNA-USA and Global Leadership Coalition at the Department of Education, which altogether leverages the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014.  UNESCO, the lead agency of the Decade, defines Education for Sustainable Development as "education for everyone everywhere" for the "lifelong learning" of "present and future generations".  

 

The UNA-USA sponsors Model UN across America and tailors its Global Classrooms curricula to whichever setting the kids happen to be participating.  Children are unknowingly trained to respond with prescribed consensus to the situations, simulations and stimulation's of the particular activity (Delphi Technique).  Global Kids is the CFR arm of Connect All Schools Consortium, a new Department of Education network, led by Independent Sector and The White House via United Planet Partners.  Global Kids is preparing children for Agenda 21.  

 

The White House, NSA and CIA now have website divisions aimed at kids.  The Public Education Network is a national association funded by Independent Sector donors: plus Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Department of Education

 

"Funders" of the Rockefeller Foundation-backed International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), "Members" of the the Sustainability Consortium, backed by the EPA and BSR (Rockefeller Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, State Department) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-backed International City/County Management Association (ICMA): Center for Sustainable Communities (an ICLEI "Partner") are "partnered" with local schools and governments.  

 

From the Partnership for 21st Century Skills aligning the Common Core State Standards with "professional development" content for teachers and principals and Lego Robotics curricula for students (Carnegie Mellon/Lego Education); to software curricula through websites like: cyberschoolbus.un.org, icivics.org, atomiclearning.com, renlearn.org, brainpop.com and ttl4.sunburst.com; to the weekly deliveries of Time for Kids magazine and textbook curricula into classrooms; kids are programmed with UN-defined values.  State Governors administer Federal funds to "Community-Oriented Policing" systems like Crime Stoppers (The UN, FBI and other law enforcement and corporate partners administer Crime Stoppers International), the local student-equivalent of the Department of Homeland Security's' "See Something, Say Something" campaign; whereby children see hand-drawn posters of child characters on school walls displaying "Eyes Looking", "Ears Listening", "Mouth Reporting" with a hotline to call.  Presidents Bush and Obama have personally followed the George H. W. Bush/Clinton trail of the Agenda 21/ Sustainable America megabanks-maze in "bipartisan" fashion. 

 

UNESCO PLEDGES SUPPORT OF COMMON CORE

From UNESCO's document "The Vision of Education Reform in the United States" it states: "My department has been pleased to partner with the US Agency for International Development to help ensure that our best domestic practices are shared world-wide. The United States provides over a billion dollars annually to partner countries working on educational reform. Our goal for the coming year will be to work closely with global partners, including UNESCO, to promote qualitative improvements and system strengthening....Ultimately, education is the great equalizer. It is the one force that can consistently overcome differences in background, culture, and privilege."

 

THE UN'S AGENDA 21- COMMON CORE IMPLEMENTER!

In the United Nations Agenda 21 (Guide for the 21st Century), Chapters #25 and #36 specifically talk about education of our children:

 

Principle #25- "Children and Youth in Sustainable Development." In the "Activites 25.9.d" it states: "Ensure access for all youth to all types of education, wherever appropriate, providing alternative learning structures, ensure that education reflects the economic and social needs of youth and incorporates the concepts of environmental training, implementing innovative methods aimed at increasing practical skills, such as environmental scouting."

 

Principle #36- "Promoting Education, Public Awareness and Training." In the Activities Section of this document in "36.5.g" we read: "Within two years the United Nations system should undertake a comprehensive review of its educational programmes, encompassing training and public awareness, to reassess priorites and reallocae resources. The UNESCO/UNEP International Environmental Education Programme should, in cooperation with the appropriate bodies of the United Nations system, Governments, non-governmental organizations and others, establish a porgramme within two years to integrate the decisions of the Conference into the existing United Nations framework adapted to the need of the educators at different levels and circumstances. Regional organizations and national authorities should be encouraged to elaborate similar parallel programmes and opportunies by conducting an analysis of how to mobilize different sectors of the population in order to assess and address their environmental and development education needs."

 

In the Activities Section of this document in "36.5 h" we read: "There is a need to strengthen, within five years, information exchange by enhancing technologies and capacities necessary to promote environment and development education and public awareness. Countries should cooperate with each other and with the various social sectors and population groups to prepare educational tools that include regional environment and development issues and initiatives, using learning materials and resources suited to their own requirements." Sounds just like PARCC and SLDS. ASU's Institute for Global Sustainability and their "Sustainable Cities Network" is doing a fine job "brain-washing" our students in our high schools on sustainability, global warming (aka climate change), etc. Go here to meet the ASU sustainability schools!

 

 

COMMON CORE SCIENCE STANDARDS TEACH GLOBAL WARMING!

The new Common Core Science Standards that are up for review teach Global Warming (aka Climate Change)! Here is Research and Commentary on the Common Core Science Standards" from The Heartland Institute.

Please spread the word to all AMERICAN PATRIOTS!

Reality Check.....COMMON CORE EDUCATION = COMMUNISM IN AMERICA!

Common Core Education is the INDOCTRINATION of our CHILDREN. 

DO NOT LISTEN TO THE GOP ESTABLISHMENT RHETORIC FROM MIKE HUCKABEE!!! 

The Development of Common Core, Explained by Michael Chapman

The video says this is a clip from the 1989 National Governors'Assoc conference on Education:

Sr. Director of Mid-Continental Regional Education Laboratory, Dr. Shirley McCune

 She says about education:

#1) Total transformation of our society

#2) Teaching of facts and information (knowledge) is no longer the primary purpose of education

#3) Close connection between economic (sustainable) development and human capitol (human resource labor for a planned economy)

A group that allowed this kind of rhetoric to be said at their meeting? I don't think I want them developingeducational standards!  Please read to the bottom for transcripts from the 1987 NGA meetings chaired by Bill Clinton.  These transcripts are eye-opening.  They are clearly more concerned with workers for the manufacturing.  They seem to have concerns that we have students who can't read well enough (non-English speaking especially) to function in the manufacturing plants, and then on the other end of the spectrum... too many with higher ed degrees who don't WANT to work in the manufacturing.  So... what to do about all this?  Hummm.... standards!  Make sure they read well enough to function as the industrial workers, but not so well that they don't want to!!!   This is the John D. Rockefeller goal of the early 20th century when he started pushing for compulsory government schooling and funding the building of government schools. 

NOW.... review the transcripts below of the conferences chaired by Bill Clinton: 
National Governor's Association website  (find all annual meetings here with transcriptsm- )
1986-87 NGA Chair Gov. Bill Clinton's Initiative

Making America Work: Productive People, Productive Policies

March 25, 1986

1987 Winter Meeting with Bill Clinton as chair, you will find on page 12 that the governors unanimously adopted a policy to adopt an INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY.    http://www.nga.org/files/live/sites/NGA/files/pdf/1987NGAWinterMeeting.pdf

1987 Annual meeting.   See page 34of this document to see how those governors seem to be concerned that we aren't training our students for the "workforce." They are concerned that the professors of higher ed are telling students to strive for more than the job of working in the manufacturing plants.  On page 40 they start talking about standards needed in education.  " See page 42 with this statement by Governor Sinner (great name!) to Lee Iacoccoa: "But you also made a point about the terrific cost to industry of the disparity between states in these regulations and I wondered, with all the fuss and the furor that we make over states' rights...."  http://www.nga.org/files/live/sites/NGA/files/pdf/1987NGAAnnualMeeting.pdf 

June 11, 2013: Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) leads the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in a markup of the Strengthening America's Schools Act of 2013, an education initiative to replace No Child Left Behind.  http://www.c-spanvideo.org/event/220036

At the June 10 Common Core forum in Fayette County, Superintendent Barge stated over and over again that if Georgia wants to change these standards at any time, we have the ability to do so.   The testimony below contradicts this belief by Superintendent Barge and confirms that states who adopted the Common Core standards DO NOT have the ability to change the standards in any way on their own.

2:23:00 - Rep. Tim Scott discusses his amendment to Harkin's bill.  Instead of states being forced to adopt blanket standards like Common Core as a prerequisite for funding, let's put decision-making back in the hands of parents and teachers in our communities."

2:31:00 - It is admitted that states who want to change the CC standards,the Secretary of Education would have to approve it.  States DO NOT have the ultimate decision making abilities!

2:39:00 - Alexander reads page 89 of the bill stating that any changes to standards MUST go through the Secretary of Education for approval.

As are most of the amendments offered by Republicans to this education bill, the Scott Amendment is defeated 12-10.

DATA COLLECTING: Senator Burr at the 1:00:00 mark reveals information about ADDITIONAL data points that this legislation will add to the data mining.  He says that his count is now 500 data points.  

TEACHER EVALUATIONS: Senator Alexander at 2:00:00 mark discusses his amendment to end federally mandated school and teacher evaluations.  He says states had a "gun to their head" to adopt the teacher evaluations because they were desperate for NCLB waivers.   He makes the charge that the Harkin bill creates a "NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARD."  The Gates Foundation involvement is mentioned frequently.  

Harkin says over and over "this is voluntary."  If states don't want to implement the programs in the bill we just don't accept the money!"    More strong evidence that our states need to "just say no" to all federal education dollars.   As is pointed out in this debate: Any private business that entered into a partnership where the partner who contributed 10% funding got 80-90% of the control (as is the case with education funding under NCLB and Common Core) the partnership is DOOMED TO FAIL!

Angela Bean
Fayetteville, GA
StopCommonCore.com 

We all know how tough it is to maintain your morals in today's media world. Here are two gifts from the AFA to you, each meant to help you navigate your way through media today:

1. Free Article: How to Watch TV Without Compromising Your Values  2. Free Guide: 300 Family Friendly Movies

The article discusses how far TV has fallen in recent years and outlines some practical steps you can take to protect your family.

And the free movie guide is a great way to find movies for family night that the whole family can enjoy.

I hope these tools are a blessing to you!

At the Boston Marathon we all witnessed what happens when people become radicalized by an extreme Islamic ideology.

IT IS TIME THAT EVERYONE GET EDUCATED ON THIS ISSUE.

Watching The Third Jihad is the ultimate way to share this knowledge with other Americans.

Share the film, the third jihad with 5 friends,
and we will send you a FREE DVD of our award-winning film Obsession - Radical Islam's War Against the West - a must-see for every American.

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AGENDA 21 RESOURCE PAGEs

APC Newswire

Produced by American Policy Center
Email: admin@americanpolicy.org  Website: americanpolicy.org
Tom DeWeese, President
Kathleen Marquardt, Editor

Mandatory Biometric Enrollment
Lawsuit - UPDATE
(fingerprinting, facial recognition, iris scan, DNA, etc.)
By Mark Lerner:  Co-Founder Constitutional Alliance

If you value liberty and understand how dangerous government mandated biometric ID is to our freedom, you need to read and understand every word of what I am writing about today. Something very important is happening so stay with me.
 
Over the years, the Constitutional Alliance has consistently fought against mandatory biometric ID and for the right of all citizens to be free of it.  Government mandated biometric ID is the lynchpin of the modern surveillance society.  The amount of control this system gives government over individuals is an anathema to a free society and we oppose it being imposed on anyone - period.  You cannot reconcile a free society with a surveillance society.
 
The founders of this country called religious freedom "the first freedom" because it is a precondition for other important rights..  Try to imagine the value of freedom of speech, or freedom of association without religious freedom and you will quickly see why religious freedom, also referred to as 'freedom of conscience' is so important.
 
Here is the Big News
 
This past week, 19 June 2013, a Motion for Summary Judgment was filed in Kaye Beach's lawsuit in the state of Oklahoma (You can read it here).  This is a pre-trial motion that presents the undisputed facts of her case and makes the strongest assertion based on those facts, that her rights are being violated.  The Motion for Summary Judgment asks the Judge, based on these undisputed facts, to rule in her favor.  Kaye fully expects a favorable ruling on this Motion but in the event that this doesn't happen, her lawsuit will continue on. You need only to read the first 30 pages of the Motion to understand the arguments Kaye and her attorneys have made.  If you choose to read further you can read about the answers the Department of Public Safety (the department that oversees the issuance of driver's licenses) gave to Kaye's "Discovery Motion". 
 
Kaye Beach's lawsuit, is the only substantial challenge to government mandated biometric ID, to my knowledge, that exists anywhere in our country.
 
Here is a brief recap of the issue and basis for Kaye's legal challenge;
 
Kaye is opposed to mandatory biometric identification which is required of her if she wishes to have a state issued driver's license or ID card.  As we know, the ability to drive a vehicle and also banking, many financial transactions, as well as a host of other necessary daily activities are dependent upon having a government issued photo ID most commonly presented in the form of state driver's license or ID card. Try to go without one and you will soon find (like Kaye has!) that not having a valid ID is no small matter.
 
In September, 2011 Kaye filed a lawsuit against the state of Oklahoma for the unwarranted collection of her biometrics and for violating her religious freedom, both of which are protected under Oklahoma law.  Kaye is a born again Christian.
 
Here is why this case is important for everyone 

Read more:

We must stop the call for a  Constitutional Convention! 

Article V of the Constitution:

1. Gives NO guidelines for how to conduct a Con Con. 
2. NO rules on how delegates will be eligible or selected
3. States have NO Guarantees they will even be represented
4. Con Con could result in a COMPLETE CHANGE of our way of government
5. There simply are NO controls over the delegates once selected.             

Read more:

ImmigrationCounters.com provides the key numbers and events related to illegal immigration in the United States. Using the latest government and private sources, research and analysis trending data is factored at their individual rates of increase. For information about the research behind the individual counters clickhere Data Sources.  ImmigrationCounters.com supports legal immigration and respect for all humanity yet highlights the significant impact of illegal immigration in America. 

ImmigrationCounters.com informs the public of the realities of illegal immigration while challenging the myths and misinformation surrounding it. After decades of passively watching this problem grow, most Americans are now more aware of the severity of this issue. Our government has demonstrated a complete lack of urgency to control illegal immigration both on the borders and within the interior. Because of this large failure that which traditionally had been the American way of welcoming immigration is now dividing the country because of one word, illegal. Opposing illegal immigration and wanting the laws enforced is not un-American. It is time to set the record straight on what is un-American, illegal is un-American.

The issue of illegal immigration doesn't need more laws, studies or debates, it needs leadership and enforcement. America doesn't need immigration reform, it needs leadership reform. Because our government has failed to enforce the existing immigration laws, why should anyone be confident they will do so with expanded immigration reform? Because of these failures, legislators have been addressing the problems at their local levels with bills to manage it incrementally, piece-by-piece, rather than trying to fix the national problem at once--an impossible task. What most Americans expect is to have our borders secure, enforcement of the existing laws within the interior, meaningful punishment of employers who hire illegally and removal of incentives such as birthright citizenships and public school enrollments without status verifications. We must also address the fact that we're soft on criminals caught in crimes and aren't deported. No other country would allow this to continue. 40% of them entered the country legally and overstayed their visas. Yet there's still no reliable method to verify if Visa overstays have left the country. Another incentive that must be addressed is the birthright citizenship program that has resulted in millions of children and parents receiving instant rights and benefits. Some have called them "GPS babies" and this certainly cannot be what the authors of the 14th Amendment intended to occur. Public housing and other benefits are provided for the illegal parents through their 'anchor children' while citizens are turned away because of limited resources. This antiquated program must end. Government agencies and officials at all levels must address the costs associated with this kind of abuse. Past mistakes have been made in attempts to fix illegal immigration and our communities can no longer afford these kinds of mistakes.

Read more:

LEARN Act sponsored by Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ-5) Returns Education Policy to the States! Find More Co-Sponsors! 

Please contact your Congressman and ask him to co-sponsor this bill.  Here are the current co-sponsors:

http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/2394/cosponsors

Lois Kaneshiki

Eagle Forum of New Jersey

Carolee Adams, State President

Rep. Scott Garret (R-NJ-5) Reintroduces LEARN Act, HR 2394, w/18 co-sponsors! 

Ask your Congressman to sign-on as a co-sponsor, too, and, before the House begins discussing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act again next week! Nine-tenths of wisdom comes in being wise in time. Now's the time!

http://garrett.house.gov/press-release/rep-garrett-reintroduces-learn-act-return-education-policy-states

The LEARN Act  - Local Education Authority Returns Now - Returns Education Policy to the States!!!  

The LEARN Act covers: 

1. States Opt Out of No Child Left Behind

2. Funding Calculated

3. Tax Credits Awarded to taxpayers in opt out states.  

Full explanation provided in the Press Release below. 

Please advise if you have any info about how much funding your state received from the U. S. Department of Education, and how much it could save w/o compliance costs and dumbing down? Thanks! ~Carolee

Co-Sponsors a/o July 10, 2013: 
Rep Bishop, Rob [R-UT-1] 
Rep Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN-7] 
Rep Broun, Paul C. [R-GA-10] 
Rep Campbell, John [R-CA-45] 
Rep Chabot, Steve [R-OH-1] 
Rep Franks, Trent [R-AZ-8] 
Rep Gohmert, Louie [R-TX-1] 
Rep Huelskamp, Tim [R-KS-1] 
Rep Huizenga, Bill [R-MI-2] 
Rep Jones, Walter B., Jr. [R-NC-3] 
Rep King, Steve [R-IA-4] 
Rep LaMalfa, Doug [R-CA-1] 
Rep Mullin, Markwayne [R-OK-2] 
Rep Mulvaney, Mick [R-SC-5] 
Rep Pearce, Stevan [R-NM-2] 
Rep Pittenger, Robert [R-NC-9] 
Rep Posey, Bill [R-FL-8] 
Rep Southerland, Steve II [R-FL-2]

Rep. Garrett Reintroduces LEARN Act to Return Education Policy to States

Jun 17, 2013 Issues: Education

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) today reintroduced the Local Education Authority Returns Now (LEARN) Act, H.R. 2394, to return educational control back to the states.  The LEARN Act was introduced with 18 original co-sponsors.

"I believe it is in the best interest of our students and our country for parents and local authorities to be in charge of education," said Garrett upon reintroducing the LEARN Act.  "The invasion of the federal government on the reserved powers of the states to set their own education standards has been going on for decades.  And, in the process, all across the nation, parents, teachers, administrators, town school boards, and local elected officials-the people closest to and most directly responsible for the students-have been shut out of the process.  In order for our students to compete in the twenty-first century, we need to cut the ties of federal mandates that go along with federal money."

"Today, I'm reintroducing The LEARN Act because it would ensure that accountability is transferred from bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. to the people who know the schools and students personally.  If we are truly interested in transforming our public education system, we need to remove Washington bureaucrats from the equation and return control and accountability to local communities where they can truly effect change in the areas they know it is needed most."

Background:  The LEARN Act will give states the option to opt out of No Child Left Behind.  In return, the federal government would provide taxpayers of the opt-out state a tax credit, thereby keeping money in the pockets of taxpayers instead of sending it to Washington, D.C.  This method immediately cuts the authoritative and financial strings of the federal government so that state and local governments can set their own educational standards while ensuring maximum parental involvement.

The LEARN Act will work in three steps:

1.   States Opt Out-A state arrives at an independent decision that the administrative requirements and the burden of compliance is not worth the amount of federal education aid it receives from the Department of Education and the state elects to opt out.

2.   Funding Calculated-The Secretary of the Treasury determines which states have opted out and determines how much federal funding the state is eligible to receive under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

3.  Tax Credits Awarded-The taxpayers of the opt-out states receive a tax credit proportionally equal to the taxpayers' state tax burden.

RedState Morning Briefing

For July 12, 2013

1.  The Real Scandal: No Jobs

While the unemployment numbers for June contained some positive news, the coverage to date has obscured the continuing negative trends and ObamaCare's increasing impact. It's time to take a realistic look at how the fragility of our economy and the specter of big government are restricting both growth and job creation. The actual state of our labor market is a good place to start.

The "official" unemployment rate held steady at 7.6%. The economy created 195,000 jobs in June. The BLS revised payrolls for the last three months upwards and the labor participation rate (the percentage of the total population over the age of 16 in the labor force) improved slightly moving from 63.4% to 63.5%.

However, there were several very troubling indicators. The number of people who gave up looking for work because they believe no jobs were available increased by 206,000 from a year earlier to 1 million. The number of individuals who were working part time increased by 432,000, twice the number of jobs created. Full time jobs actually declined by 272,000.

In part, this increase in part time jobs and decline in full time jobs reflects a change in hiring practices in anticipation of ObamaCare taking effect. The new law substantially increases the cost of businesses providing employees health insurance but only requires that they provide coverage to full time employees. As result, employers are dividing available hours of work among more jobs, creating more part time employees and reducing the number of full time jobs. This actually reduces the official unemployment rate which counts part time jobs as equal to full time jobs. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →

2.  ACTION ALERT: Call Senator Reid and read his 2005 quotes on the Nuclear Option.

As the Democrats push forward with their plan to change the Senate rules so as to end the minority parties ability to filibuster legislation and require 60 votes, sources close to the Majority Leader's office tell the Huffington Post that he appears determined. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →

3.  Senator Ted Cruz Gets It. Will Others?

Senator Ted Cruz has come out forcefully today against half measures on Obamacare. Instead he wants the GOP to unite behind completely defunding the law. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →

4.  Living in the small spaces around the State

Like Erick, I hate the hyper-politicization of American life.  I despise totalitarianism, no matter what uniform it wears, or how popular its leaders profess themselves to be.  I don't understand why people with a birthright of dignified liberty are so eager to indulge the totalitarian impulse for supposedly benevolent ends.  How many enforcers of any blood-spattered total State did not claim to act in the best interests of society? . . . please click here for the rest of the post →

5.  Millennial Liberals Will Make You Care

The millennial liberal of America is a creature who sees government as a way to get ahead and get absolution and protection from life's mistakes. Where once one turned to family, friends, the church, and charity, the millennial liberal believes government is there to provide them their safety net so their actions can have no consequences, they can pursue their dreams without worrying if the market will bear them, and impose their own hedonism on others. Where once one turned to invention and entrepreneurial to make a name for oneself, now one must get into government and pass laws to ensure that no one can dare compete and possibly one day rival the money that got the millennial into office.  . . . please click here for the rest of the post →

6.  Pro-Abort Intimidation: YMCA Evicts Pro-Lifers In Texas

As the abortion battle continues in Texas, a local YMCA chapter told Students For Life Of America (SFLA) to leave the premises after anti-lifers intimidated the assistant branch director to renege on their agreement to use the center's shower facilities.  The SFLA had embarked on a 3o-hour bus ride to Austin to rally in favor of the pending Texas bill that will ban abortions twenty weeks into a pregnancy.  Pro-aborts have also staged demonstrations against the new regulations, which passed its first legislative hurdle in the Texas House.  The Texas Senate expects to pass the bill soon. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →

Sincerely yours,

Erick Erickson
Editor-in-Chief, RedState

Heritage Hotsheet

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Items for Friday, July 12, 2013

What the House Farm Bill's Passage Means  The Foundry blog
  Daren Bakst
Diane Katz
Rachael Slobodien


Christians Targeted for Retribution in Egypt  The New York Times
  James Phillips
Kim Holmes
Steven Bucci
James Carafano


What must be done for the future of marriage
Washington Examiner 
Ryan Anderson
Jennifer Marshall
Andrew Walker


House Republicans won't vote on 'massive' Senate immigration bill, to pursue smaller measures
Fox News

Derrick Morgan
Genevieve Wood
Mike Gonzalez


Will Harry Reid Go Nuclear Over the Filibuster?
ABC News

Dan Holler
Cameron Seward
Hans von Spakovsky     Q: What do porta-potties, coffee cups and airplanes have in common? A: Obamacare.
The Washington Post
  Bob Moffit  Chris Jacobs  Nina Owcharenko  Alyene Senger

July 12, 2013   

Today's Articles:

President Obama vs. George Zimmerman: America Loses

07-11-2013 02:04:55 AM

Will Obama speak out to avert the racial violence he has set in motion? ...»

China Questions Climate Consensus

07-11-2013 02:04:00 AM

The world's most populous nation is officially openly debating whether fears of anthropogenic global warming are justified by science. ...»

The Grim Effects of Liberals' Death-Obsession

07-11-2013 02:03:55 AM

Question: What do homeless dogs, poor babies, and the infirm elderly have in common?...»

A Tale of Two Choices in Syria

07-11-2013 02:03:30 AM

In dealing with the Syrian crisis, the U.S. State Department is failing to take into account the longstanding relationship between Syria and Russia. ...»

The Law Means Nothing to These People

07-11-2013 02:03:30 AM

With his waiving of the ObamaCare employer mandate, Obama has taken the next step toward pure anarchy. ...»

Blue Privilege

07-11-2013 02:03:30 AM

The real class systemis based on ideology, not race. ...»

Moral Extortion and Blackmail Rhetoric

07-11-2013 02:03:30 AM

The Democratic technique for manipulating voters is chilkdish, obvious, and less than ethical -- but it worlks. ...»

Enabling Incompetence

07-11-2013 02:02:50 AM

A large part of the country is involved in covering up the errors and inabilities of one man. ...»

Portland's Tifo for the US Men's National Team

Zimmerman Trial Indicates KKK Style Racist Injustice in Courts is Still with Us, Media is Culprit

Ghost military base in Afghanistan cost tax payers $34 million

TRIFECTA - Obama Train Wreck, Part II: Obamanomics and Big Government To Blame For Great Recession

LibertyNEWS TV - "Did Holder's DOJ Help Agitate for 'Racial Justice' in the Zimmerman Case?"

Sen. McConnell Says Democrats Want Republicans to Sit Down and Shut Up

NY School District Drops Michelle Obama's Lunch Plan After Kids Refuse To Eat! - Cavuto

We Need Your Support this Month   Published 2013-07-11
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End-Game of the Tea Party Movement   Published 2013-07-11
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The Truth About SwedenCare   Published 2013-07-11
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Common Core Standards Enter the Science Dept in Public Schools   Published 2013-07-11
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Popular Muslim Imam: Working Towards Sharia for America

Sirhaj Wahhaj is not on the fringe. Major Muslim-American organizations put him on stage as a voice of wisdom.

MORE...

30 School Children Shot, Burned Alive by Islamists in Nigeria

The attackers, from the terror group Boko Haram, set fire to buildings and shot students as they tried to flee.

MORE...

U.S. Refuses to Designate Nigerian Jihadists as Foreign Terror Group

By not designating Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization, the U.S. is choosing appeasement over moral clarity.

MORE...

Sign petition calling on Obama administration to designate murderous Nigerian group as foreign terrorist organization 

July 11, 2013
  Terrorists crossing our
southern border
  Please add your name to our Open Letter to the congressional leadership! 
There are many, many issues relative to both legal and illegal immigration that are facing Congress as it undertakes the task of immigration reform.

The Senate bill, for all its length, still failed to effectively ensure that our southern border is secure.

This should concern every American-because terrorists are entering America illegally through our southern border. Please see the short interview with Rep. Peter King below.

Among the top priorities of Congress must be our national security. So again we say, now to the U.S. House-secure the border and fix our visa system first!

If you haven't already done so, please add your name to our Open Letter to the leadership of Congress. Nearly 10,000 people have signed just since Monday!
 

Terrorists Coming Thru Southern Border

THURSDAY COLUMN

Race Hustlers and Double Standards

Zimmerman, Deen and Racism in Black and White

"There is in human nature a resentment of injury, and indignation against wrong, a love of truth and a veneration of virtue ... if the people are capable of understanding, seeing and feeling the differences between true and false, right and wrong, virtue and vice..." --John Adams (1775)

This week, while reviewing a new comprehensive national survey of racism from Rasmussen Reports, I was struck by this finding: "Among black Americans, 31% think most blacks are racist, while 24% consider most whites racist and 15% view most Hispanics that way."

That study is an interesting backdrop for the trial by jury of former Neighborhood Watch organizer George Zimmerman, and the trial by Leftmedia of now former-Emmy Award-winning Food Network host Paula Deen. It is not my purpose to defend Zimmerman or Deen, but they are both current case studies in racist political agendas -- and these should be fully exposed.

Additionally, the Deen case opens the door wide for an inquiry into double standards -- if only a real journalist in the White House press corps would step through it and ask one question -- but more on that in a moment.

In the case of Zimmerman, he admitted to the self-defense shooting of a black youth, Trayvon Martin, in Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012.

At the time, Martin's death got a total of four paragraphs in the Orlando Sentinel. It may have deserved more coverage but according to the most reliable eyewitness, Martin had Zimmerman on the ground and it appeared to be another non-news self-defense shooting -- not a racially motivated murder.

But a month after the Zimmerman/Martin altercation, Barack Hussein Obama and his NeoCom cadres decided to exploit the case as a re-election rallying cry for his most loyal constituency, "theblack vote."

Obama's race-baiting political hustlers descended on Sanford with a mission: Make George Zimmerman a poster-boy for racist hate-crimes.

Indeed, the Democrat Party long ago mastered the art of divide-and-conquer politics of disparity in order to sustain the allegiance of blacks. More than 95 percent of black voters support Democrats. Were it not for the votes of this most devoted constituency, Democrats would be hard-pressed to win more than a few statewide elections -- much less a presidential election.

And not only did the "usual suspects" show up to stir the racial pot, but we can now add Obama's Justice Department to the list of Executive Branch agencies promoting his political agenda.

Read more:

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Post-Racial and Racially Obsessed

Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog 

The Romans had their arenas, Elizabethan England had bear baiting and Obama's America has the trial. HLN has already shot past CNN with wall-to-wall coverage of the latest trial whose defendant is indistinguishable from a celebrity and whose coverage is barely distinguishable from that of the movie premiere. 

But in between the usual criminal cases whose defendants seem like failed aspirants for the Big 
Brother house or Survivor, reality TV stars who found fame with a butcher knife, are the politically edifying cases. The ones that aren't just meant to humiliate and degrade the participants and the viewers, but to indoctrinate them as well.

It is into this category that the Zimmerman trial falls. It's an involuntary case based on insufficient evidence whose course was compelled by government intervention. And like the tribunals of the French Revolution or the Moscow Trials; it's there to teach us something. And the thing it's there to teach us is racism hysteria.

Racism is the new sex for a creed of politically correct puritans who are obsessed with a new kind of prurience. As the last sexual taboos fall by the wayside, the new taboos are political and the new witch hunts are all about exposing hidden reservoirs of bigotry among celebrity chefs and lurking White Hispanic menaces.

The intimate moral faults that keep a population in a state of conformity and terror are no longer sexual, but political. The new prudery is political and the new hypocrisy is racial, knotted over with double standards and exceptions for the watchers and the elites who are exempt from the occasional witch trial, no matter how many black cats and cauldrons they own. 

Racial tolerance has long since become racial denunciation. Tolerance has become paranoia. The fear of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Of giving the wrong impression. Of failing to be properly guilty for some vague complicity of privilege and oppression. Those fears and guilts must be constantly reinvigorated with fresh doses of trials and denunciations. Public spectacles to serve as reminders that the greatest evil of all lurks everywhere and that we must stand vigilant against it.

The graduate of a modern liberal arts university receives training in spotting and identifying the most obscure forms of bigotry. He isn't taught to spot burning crosses, but to denounce implicit narrative privilege. The microscope that he wields to spot the most obscure forms of bigotry imaginable doesn't really detect bigotry, it manufactures it. It crafts his higher moral ground by exposing the wrongdoing of everyone and everything else. 

Thursday, July 11, 2013

To: Friends & Supporters

From: Gary L. Bauer


House Leaders Hold Firm

After a contentious two-hour meeting yesterday on immigration reform, the House GOP leadership, along with two key committee chairmen, released a joint statement outlining how the House plans to proceed. Here are excerpts of that statement:

"Today House Republicans affirmed that rather than take up the flawed legislation rushed through the Senate, House committees will continue their work on a step-by-step, common-sense approach...  The American people want our border secured, our laws enforced, and the problems in our immigration system fixed to strengthen our economy. 

"But they don't trust a Democratic-controlled Washington, and they're alarmed by the president's ongoing insistence on enacting a single, massive, Obamacare-like bill...  The president has also demonstrated he is willing to unilaterally delay or ignore significant portions of laws he himself has signed, raising concerns among Americans that this administration cannot be trusted to deliver on its promises to secure the border and enforce laws..."

House leaders are right to take this approach. The more the public learns about the Senate's bill, the less they like it. As we recently reported, the Congressional Budget Office examined the Senate's so-called "border surge" amendment and determined that it would reduce illegal immigration only "between one-third and one-half."

Pollster Scott Rasmussen asked likely voters whether they favored or opposed the "immigration reform plan passed by the Senate [that] would give legal status to those who have entered the country illegally and reduce future illegal immigration by 50%." Only 39% of likely voters said they supported the Senate bill.


Is It Even Constitutional?

It may seem quaint to many in Washington to ask such a question, but some members of the House are raising constitutional objections to the Senate's quasi-amnesty bill. Rep. Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, tweeted yesterday, "Chairman Camp: Senate immigration bill a revenue bill; unconstitutional and cannot be taken up by the House."

What Rep. Camp is referring to is the "Origination Clause" found in Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution. It states in part: "All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives..." A joint analysis found that the Senate's immigration bill raises revenues by more than $450 billion over a ten year period.

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) is urging Speaker John Boehner to "blue slip" the Senate bill. That is the process by which the Speaker of the House formally rejects Senate legislation on constitutional grounds, effectively killing a bill. Interestingly, Rep. Stockman notes that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has yet to send the Senate's quasi-amnesty bill over to the House, perhaps because he fears this very option.


Obamacare Strikes Again

The regional supermarket chain Wegmans, which employs more than 40,000 people, is dropping health insurance benefits previously offered to its part-time employees. According to one local news report, "the decision was related to changes brought about by the Affordable Care Act." This news comes in spite of Obama's decision to suspend enforcement of the employer mandate for one year.

Today Speaker John Boehner announced that the House of Representatives will vote next week on legislation to suspend Obamacare's individual mandate too. Speaker Boehner blasted the bill for giving breaks to big businesses while leaving hard-working individuals and families on the hook. Boehner said:

"If you're a software company making billions in profits, you're exempt from Obamacare next year. But if you're a 28 year-old struggling to pay off your student loans, you're not. If you're a big bank or financial company, you don't have to comply with Obamacare. But if you're a single parent trying to make ends meet, there's no exemption for you."

How Loony Is The Left?

I asked that question a few weeks ago, but I could probably make it a regular item! Here are two more examples to consider.

When I first heard about this report, I thought it was a "Saturday Night Live" skit or a joke from a satire site, but it's real: "House Democrats Propose National Park On The Moon."

Let me get this straight -- the Middle East is in chaos, the unemployment rate remains unacceptably high, the economy is flailing, yet the priority for some left-wing members of Congress are national parks on the moon? Talk about misplaced priorities! Also, remember that under Obama our space shuttle fleet has been put in mothballs.

Proving once again that liberals just don't understand fundamental economics, the D.C. City Council approved an ordinance yesterday requiring large employers to pay a so-called "living wage" that is 50% higher than Washington, D.C.'s, minimum wage. A "living wage" might sound nice, but the economic result is lost jobs and more unemployment.

The bill clearly targeted Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart is firing back. The mega-retailer announced that it will abandon plans for three new stores and will stop construction on three existing store sites. That's six stores supporting as many as 1,800 jobs, not to mention the tax revenue to the city, that these liberal politicians are willing to sacrifice for their bad ideas.

There is also considerable irony here. While they wax eloquent about "living wages," I have no doubt that the liberals on the D.C. City Council would bend over backwards to accommodate a new abortion clinic in the city, which by its very nature would guarantee that hundreds, if not thousands, of babies would never get a chance to earn a living.  

Daily Email - July 11, 2013
    Top Story  Cat Fight on the Left Over "Fake IRS Scandal"
By Roger Aronoff  |  July 10, 2013
A Salon article, which argues that the IRS scandal really isn't one and that the news media have been journalistically irresponsible, has precipitated a "cat fight" on the Left between Salon and MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell. "I said repeatedly that the fake IRS scandal was fueled by a compliant and lazy political media," asserted O'Donnell [...]
    From the AIM Blogs
Former MSNBC Producer Rips Network-Says it has become the "Official Network of the Obama White House"
By Don Irvine  |  July 10, 2013
  Guest Column  Israel's Reviled Strategic Wisdom
By Caroline Glick  |  July 11, 2013
On Wednesday, Egypt had its second revolution in as many years. And there is no telling how many more revolutions it will have in the coming months, or years. This is the case not only in Egypt, but throughout the Islamic world. The American foreign policy establishment's rush to romanticize as the Arab Spring the [...]
    AIM Newswire
Germany's Trade stumbles, Foreshadow of Bad Economy?

Turkey opens Disputed Park, then Closes It

Disgraced NY politician Eliot Spitzer to run against...former madam 

The Editors' Top Picks

  Claim: Justice Department Stoked Fires of Anti-Zimmerman Protests  If there's racial violence after the Zimmerman verdict, will it bear Department of Justice fingerprints? According to Judicial Watch, the answer is yes.
  Transatlantic Danger: U.S.-EU Merger Talks Underway in D.C.  The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks underway this week are a major part of the Obama/CFR effort to bring about political and economic convergence between the EU and U.S.
  U.S. Funded Anti-Morsi Activists, Terrorist Advocacy With Foreign Aid  U.S. foreign aid dollars have been channeled to U.S.-based radicals advocating terrorism against Egyptian civilians, according to a recent report by Emad Mekay of the U.C.-Berkley Investigative Reporting Program.
  Oklahoma Woman's Fight Against Real ID Moves Forward  Oklahoma woman Kaye Beach refused to renew her driver's license several years ago as a means to protest forced biometric enrollment, a decision that prompted a full-fledged legal battle.
  Conservative Coalition Takes Stand for Religious Liberty in Military  A coalition of conservative leaders and congressmen gathered on Capitol Hill to promote a religious freedom amendment added to this year's National Defense Authorization Act.
  May the Federal Government Define Marriage?  In the wake of the Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Windsor, the federal government is now presumed to possess the power to define marriage. 

Morning Jolt  . . . with Jim Geraghty

July 11, 2013

On the Pre-Debate Campaign Trail with Ken Cuccinelli

Ken Cuccinelli isn't showing any sweat.

This is not to say he isn't sweating; it's just that he can hide it well as he walks through the Holly, Woods and Vines nursery and greenhouse in Alexandria, Virginia in a light-blue dress shirt, tie, and suit pants while in 80-degree heat with the region's traditional wet-mop-to-the-face mid-summer 88 percent humidity. I, meanwhile, have arrived straight from CNN's studios in a dark wool suit and can feel by body rapidly dehydrating as Cuccinelli talks to Vanessa Wheeler, the owner and proprietor of the nursery, about the challenges facing small businesses like hers.

Photo credit: Jim. Pretty good for a writer, huh?

The half-dozen other members of the press in attendance aren't interested in the shipping costs of begonias; the one big topic on their minds is the new revelation about additional gifts and donations from businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr. to Virginia governor Bob McDonnell and his family. The latest news means Williams gave a grand total of $145,000 in gifts and loans to the McDonnell family in 2011 and 2012. With any more revelations, the scandal will stop being about a wealthy donor giving expensive gifts in a potential attempt to influence the governor and start being about a wealthy donor who vastly overpaid for alleged influence with a term-limited governor.

Cuccinelli characterizes the allegations against McDonnell as a distraction from what he wants to talk about and what he contends is preeminent in the minds of most Virginia voters, the economy and job creation. (While Virginia's unemployment rate is relatively low, sequestration and other factors have clouded the jobs outlook in the state.)

NBC's reporter asks Cuccinelli about his own failure to report gifts from Williams.

"I inadvertently didn't report some things. I'm the one who went back and found them, and I'm the one who held a press conference and said, 'Hey, here are all my items.' I missed four or five over the course of four years. That's part of my commitment to transparency. When I make mistakes, I own up to them. Back in the senate I supported budget transparency and other changes like that. That's also a part of why I put out eight years of my tax returns, and I think my opponent ought to do that as well."

(Cuccinelli also asked the Richmond Commonwealth's attorney to conduct an independent review of his disclosures.)

Cuccinelli feels like he's got a pretty good defense. He doesn't merely not do special favors for his donors; he's something of an ingrate, because as attorney general, he's actually made decisions and fought suits against them.

"Speaking for my office, the only thing [Johnny Williams Sr.] ever gotten out of my office is opposition to one lawsuit. So there's been nothing in our office other than that one case where we came out and immediately opposed their position . . . The perception is met best by facts, and the fact is that the one occasion that something came across the desk of the attorney general's office responsibility, they were pushed back on, they were fought, without giving an inch."

This was a 2011 Star Scientific lawsuit, challenging a sales and use tax assessment on tobacco-curing barns the company owns in Mecklenburg, Va.

Cuccinelli goes on:

"Hey, look at my biggest donor in the last ten years. What did they get for it? They got an electricity bill that will drag Dominion's revenue down $700 or $800 million over the next twelve years. That's what they've got for it. Virginians will continue to get that good policy, regardless of who's supporting me or not."

He appears to be referring to this case, where the "Virginia Supreme Court affirmed a decision of the State Corporation Commission (SCC) regarding Dominion Virginia Power's recently concluded base rate case. The court rejected the arguments advanced by Dominion, which would have allowed Dominion to earn a higher return on equity from customers than the SCC's interpretation of Virginia law allows." Cuccinelli and his office represented Dominion customers in the court fight.

Cuccinelli is nine days away from his first debate with rival Terry McAuliffe, and there's a sense he and his team are itching to get the pair on stage, early and as often as possible. Cuccinelli's campaign proposed 15 debates, with one in every major and minor media market in the state. McAuliffe has countered with five debates, and it sounds like negotiations for the details and rules of the remaining debates are proceeding slowly and with great frustration.

"It took like, a tractor-trailer to drag him to the [Virginia] Bar [Association] debate," Cuccinelli sighs during an interview on the ride over to the nursery. "They threatened to walk over one candidate-to-candidate question. So he asks me one, I ask him one. They were going to walk away from the debate for that."

Why is Cuccinelli so eager to get out on the debate stage with McAuliffe, and so determined to get to ask his rival one question? Well, watch how Cuccinelli used his one question in a debate Steve Shannon back in the 2009 attorney general's race.

Cuccinelli's one question: "How many divisions are there in the attorney general's office? And please name each one and explain briefly what each one does."

Simple . . . as long as you've taken the time to familiarize yourself with the office you hope to win. Unfortunately, Steve Shannon didn't do the reading.

Shannon responded, "So, I'll talk about that in just a second, but let me go [back] to the 2004 budget real quick . . ." Cuccinelli teased him about not answering the question, but Shannon continued with an answer that meandered slightly more than the Mississippi River:

The first thing is that with the 2004 budget, we had proof that there were Virgina state troopers who were eligible for food stamps. And that budget allowed them to not be eligible for food stamps. We had sheriff's deputies who were able to get a pay raise. That was important to public safety and important for higher education. We've now came to the point of the election cycle where we play a game of gotcha.' Ken asks questions about the bureaucracy, and then I come back and say, 'Well, Ken, last week you told a reporter that hitting a cop was a misdemeanor, not a felony.' Or 'Ken, are you familiar with the case of Commonwealth vs. Thomas, it's a Court of Appeals case, very important to the criminal justice system.' It's about a prosecutor who went after a drug dealer in possession of firearms. Do you know what the holding in that case was? I know because I was the prosecutor in that case.

But you know what, at the end of the day, it doesn't really doesn't matter. Because what matters is that every four and a half minutes, another violent crime is being committed in Virginia. The reality is that presence of gangs is at its worst point since 2000. It's not getting better, it's getting worse.

[audience begins to chuckle at meandering answer] The reality is, you can laugh, but there are 357 pedophiles right now who are using computers in Virginia to trade child pornography. We know who these people are, we know how to get them, but we don't devote sufficient resources to them.

But what does Ken want to talk about? He wants to talk about arcane questions. He wants to talk about details of the bureaucracy. You know what? The reality - the reality is that kids are being abused in Virginia right now, and if you want to focus on the bureaucracy you're clearly going to vote for Ken. But if you want somebody who's been a prosecutor, who's going to go after those pedophiles, who's going to go after those gang leaders, who's going to go after drug dealers, who doesn't need on-the-job experience, those are the people who I want to vote for me."

I asked Cuccinelli, "Is it safe to assume that given the opportunity, you might ask about some of the specifics of Virginia governance, and that you may, perhaps, have some doubts about Terry McAuliffe's familiarity with all that?"

For the first time in my presence, Cuccinelli really smiles. "Perhaps."

Cuccinelli and his team expect McAuliffe to try to shift the debate to social issues, early and often.

McAuliffe and his campaign appear to believe that in order to win the governor's race, they need Virginians to believe that his rival is really Todd Akin. Cuccinelli and his campaign appears to believe that in order to win, they need Virginians to believe that his rival is really Terry McAuliffe.

Finally, in news you can use, Holly, Wood and Vine features Biker Chick Garden Gnomes.

You're welcome.

Eliot Spitzer: Former Governor, Candidate for Comptroller, Lunatic?

The New York Post's John Podhoretz offers an anecdote about Eliot Spitzer:

True story: Five years ago, a few months after Eliot Spitzer resigned in disgrace, I was having breakfast with a friend who'd just suffered a serious and painful loss when a civic project in which he deeply believed and in which he had sunk a great deal of capital went bust.

Spitzer, in jogging gear, came into the restaurant, spotted us, and ran over to the table. "So you're out of business?" said the ex-governor with a bizarre grin. "I mean, come on, it was never going to work, right? You knew that, right?"

His behavior was so glaringly inappropriate, so tonally deaf and such a weird assault for a man who had supposedly been humbled as he had been humbled, that I figured something out I had not understood until that moment: Eliot Spitzer is nuts.

I don't mean he's nuts in a tinfoil-hat sense. I mean that he doesn't respond to reality in a normal way, and therefore misjudges reality and himself.

Podhoretz lays out previous examples of odd, bizarrely hostile or risky behavior from earlier in Spitzer's career, including using the state police to gather dirt on political rivals. (Hey, how did that story get so completely overlooked?) I'm certain you'll be shocked to learn Spitzer blamed rogue staffers, breaking the law without the boss' knowledge or consent, for that one.

March 12, 2008: Governor Eliot Spitzer admits he was unfaithful to his human shield, Silda.

But perhaps a big reason Spitzer currently believes that he's ready to return to public office, and that his past scandals are ancient history, is that a lot of high-powered folks in the media were ready to forgive and forget within a few months of his resignation. Spitzer resigned March 12, 2008; he wrote a Washington Post op-ed in November, and he signed a deal to write columns for Slate by December 2008. (The innocuous tagline for his Post op-ed: "Eliot L. Spitzer was governor of New York from 2007-08 and state attorney general from 1999-2006.") By September 2009, he was an adjunct professor at City College of New York.

By April 2010, Spitzer was guest-anchoring MSNBC programs, and by June 2010, CNN decided that this was the guy they wanted kicking off their prime-time news coverage, along with Kathleen Parker. (Really, what did she ever do to deserve that assignment?)

Few things are quite as depressing as this little nugget in a New York magazine piece about the state of the television-news industry: "In June, he announced that he would hire the famously black-socked and disgraced former governor Eliot Spitzer. [CNN head Jonathan] Klein faced stiff internal resistance to hiring Spitzer. When one CNN executive expressed to Klein the concern that viewers risked being turned off by Spitzer's hooker scandal, Klein had snapped, 'I don't give a [f-word].'" 

Is this insanity thing catching? Anyway, it seems that wherever Spitzer went, he found people who had no problem entrusting him with a prominent role at their institution despite his previous glaring misdeeds.

Spitzer's CNN show flopped, and was canceled by July 2011; but by March 2012 he was back in cable news, replacing Keith Olbermann on Al Gore's Current TV.

Slate, MSNBC, CNN, CUNY . . . all of these institutions decided they had no problems hiring Spitzer, and in CNN's case, giving him one of their most plum jobs, anchoring the 8 p.m. hour. So why would those networks scoff at his return to high office?

Matt Hadro noticed that CNN wasn't eager to mention their past hiring of Spitzer:

Spitzer was originally hired by CNN as a liberal voice, to co-host a prime-time show with "conservative" Kathleen Parker that debuted in October of 2010. When Parker left the show months later in February of 2011, Spitzer - originally hired for his liberal bias - became the sole host of In the Arena, which was canceled later in July. Yet CNN only disclosed this information twice in its seven reports on Spitzer's candidacy for New York City comptroller.

Did any of Spitzer's co-workers witness the kind of odd outbursts and behavior that Podhoretz describes? Do any of Spitzer's former colleagues share the opinion that he's not merely shameless or brazen, but not quite right in the head?

And should a person with those issues be trusted with high office? Former congressman David Wu, what do you think?

"ROAR!"

Thank you, Congressman.

ADDENDA: Chad Pergram, who covers Congress for Fox News, notices, "Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., says pulling out food stamps from farm bill reminds him of sequestration. 'And with sequestration, disaster happened.'"

NRO Digest - July 11, 2013

Today on National Review Online . . .

Will Republicans continue to sanction the lawlessness of Barack Obama?

Jul 11, 2013 06:13 am | Coach Collins

by Doug Book, editor

Last Tuesday, Barack Obama decided that enforcement of the employer mandate, one of the key provisions of his namesake ObamaCare legislation, would be delayed for one full year, until January of 2015. Three days later, a couple of reporters discovered in a 600 page document dump that anyone enrolling at an ObamaCare exchange would be permitted to provide personal information according to the "honor system." No verification of income, employment or current availability of health insurance would be necessary. Apparently Barack had acquired a profound faith in the American people completely unknown to any of his far-left associates.

The media is portraying these "sudden" acknowledgements of the unworkability of the Affordable Care Act as a simple show of kindness and thoughtful consideration on the part of their White House hero. Barack was giving big business a break with his surprise delay of an employer mandate which would have levied heavy fines on any company ... Continue Reading:Will Republicans continue to sanction the lawlessness of Barack Obama?

comments | read more

These Half-wits signed to repeal the Bill of Rights "to Support Obama"

Jul 10, 2013 04:13 pm | Coach Collins

Remember the votes of these morons cancel out you vote. Thank goodness for the last guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0he0cqHH20#at=61

comments | read more

My letter to my GOP Congressman warning him not to vote for amnesty

Jul 10, 2013 01:15 pm | Coach Collins

By Kevin "Coach" Collins

I speak for myself and a sizable bloc of like-minded people who are
furious with your apparent intension to vote to erase our borders and destroy
our economy by the importation of tens of millions of new uneducated and unskilled
people into our midst.

These people will overwhelmingly vote Democrat so they
can squeeze every last drop of blood out of the body of our beloved country.
We've tried to talk to you about your legally mandated responsibilities to
uphold the Constitution and protect our interests but you seem to be ignoring
what we have to say. Instead you are listening to people like Chuck Schumer and
Nancy Pelosi who tell you that unless you vote to provide (fill in your name
for amnesty) Hispanics will never support you and Republicans will never hold
the White House again. Why you would believe this is ... Continue Reading:My letter to my GOP Congressman warning him not to vote for amnesty

comments | read more

Today's Headlines:  Thursday, July 11, 2013

House Panel: We Need Answers from Treasury on Failure to Implement Obamacare

Inspector General: State Department's Facebook 'Digital Diplomacy' Falls Flat 
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Barbara Boxer: The Right to Abortion 'Is Not Infinite' 
Egyptian Catholic Bishops: 'Ousting of Morsi...a Joyous Day for Us Christians'

Calls for Ramadan Ceasefires Spurned, a Reminder of Holy Month's Bloody History

Employer Mandate 'Incentivizes' Companies to Hire Illegal Immigrants, Avoid Low-Income Workers

Kerry: In a World of Governments Failing, U.S. and China Must Set Example

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Lawmaker Contrasts George Washington's and Obama's Views of Religion's Role in the Military

Elton John: Pope Francis is a 'Miracle of Humility'

Chinese State Media Accuse U.S. of Cyber Double Standards

COMMENTARY:

Sanford Police Prepare for Zimmerman Riots
By Ben Shapiro
Sadly, an incredible number of blacks feel that the system is biased against them. And anytime the media labels a case race-based, Americans are forced to accept the ugly calculus that acquittal, while proper, may result in riots based on perceived institutional wrongs.

NEWSPAPER ROUNDUP:

Ft. Hood shooting defendant questions potential jurors about Islam
Pentagon: 56,000 troops could lose danger pay
House Republicans drop food stamps from massive farm bill
Marijuana farmers market proposed for Boulder
NAACP holds town hall forum on George Zimmerman trial
Did Justice Department support anti-Zimmerman protests after Martin shooting?
Texas pumping more oil than some OPEC countries
U.S. plan to arm Syrian rebels stalls amid congressional disagreements
Glendale, Calif., steps into controversy with memorial to WW II sex slaves
GOP bill would defund schools that have rules barring imaginary guns
US sends 4 more F-16s to Egypt, despite Cairo tumult
Sources: PA attorney general won't defend state's gay marriage ban
D.C. Council approves bill imposing 'living wage' requirement on Wal-Mart

Be the first to read the third of installment of the bestselling Michael Vey series!

LIKE the Michael Vey Official Fan Page on Facebook and be the first to read exclusive excerpts from Michael Vey 3: The Battle of the Ampere! The more 'likes' the page receives, the faster the exclusive content will be released, so make sure to SHARE the page with your friends too!

Man in the Moon slideshow set to "Bella Luna" WATCH

Huh? Justin Bieber curses out Bill Clinton 

Justin Bieber made news this week for bizarre comments he made about former President Bill Clinton. A video has surfaced of Bieber and some of his friends from earlier this year, in which Bieber is seen urinating in a mop bucket while yelling "F**k Bill Clinton!" for no apparent reason. So why do Pat and Stu care about the behavior of a 19-year-old pop star? WATCH

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Texas oil production at highest levels since 1984 

In a new report that will surely make President Obama and his fellow environmentalists cringe, we learn oil production in Texas has soared in recent years. If Texas were a country, it would be one of the 15 largest oil producers in the world. We are almost to the point of North American energy independence, and yet all President Obama talks about is climate change. Pat and Stu explain why HERE. 

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Did you miss yesterday's newsletter? Catch up on what you missed HERE

Pat: 'I don't want to hear about science anymore' 

Omega 3 fish oil supplements were once considered 'healthy', but that general consensus has been turned on its head. Now experts are saying that Omega 3 can increase the risk of cancer by over 70% in some cases. Once again science is reversed (global cooling warnings came before global warming, etc) and this caused Pat to flip out at science. WATCH

The sequel to The Overton Window has finally arrived!

Glenn's blockbuster novel from 2010 now continues with The Eye of Moloch - a thriller that's seemingly been ripped right from today's headlines. Follow Molly and her group of 'Founders Keepers' as they work to expose the secrets of a government that wants them dead. If you're looking for a summer beach read or just something to help you get even less sleep at night, The Eye of Moloch is a perfect choice. Buy a copy now and get an invite to an exclusive online event with Glenn. Get all the details HERE.  

Tonight's primetime lineup on TheBlaze TV:

• 5pm ET - The Glenn Beck Program: Stu fills in for Glenn tonight and talks about the George Zimmerman trial, the SCOTUS decisions, and climate change.
• 6pm ET - Real News: What are the limits (if any) to executive discretion as it relates to the executive branch? The panel discusses.
• 7pm ET - Wilkow!: Andrew explains how the House of Representatives is laying out a roadmap to amnesty.