Bill Maher: Bloomberg’s Nanny State ‘Makes Me Want to Join the Tea Party and Marry Ann Coulter’

Clash Daily reports on an interview between Jimmy Kimmel and Bill Maher:

Here is the video:

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST: Mayor Bloomberg is somebody that…

BILL MAHER: [Sighs] Ohh.

KIMMEL: Now, what do you think of his efforts to protect us from carbonated beverages and the like?

BILL MAHER: I don’t like it. You know, I think it gives liberals a bad name. I really do. It makes liberals look like bullies who want to tell people what to do. And they never met a regulation they didn’t like. I mean, obviously we do have a problem with child obesity. I don’t want our children to be 99 percent Mountain Dew. But this is not the way to go about it.

You know, I mean, because, first of all, we all do something that hurts our health, you know? We all eat stuff we shouldn’t. Probably the optimal food for primates is bread, fruit, lawn clippings and rain. But at a certain point that gets old. And we just don’t want, I mean, we don’t want to be a nanny state like this. I mean, you know, I don’t know what Mayor Bloomberg has in mind, but there’s something wrong about the seventh richest man in the world sitting in bed at night thinking, “You know what people shouldn’t do? Drink too much Sprite. Let’s make that a law.” That makes me want to join the Tea Party and marry Ann Coulter, you know, and that’s not where I want to be.

Read more.

RELATED COLUMN: 

Harsanyi: Jeremy Irons rips Michael Bloomberg, Nanny State

Jon Stewart and Christian Amanpour expose the evil side of Egypt (+ video)

Bassem Youssef, the “Egyptian Jon Stewart”

PHOENIX (April 4, 2013) – Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and author of “A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot’s Fight to Save His Faith” issued the following statement on behalf of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) on the prosecution and persecution of Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef.

“The Egyptian government’s decision last week to arrest Bassem Youssef, the “Egyptian Jon Stewart”, has once again clearly displayed the threat posed to the people of Egypt by an Islamist Constitution and Islamist ideologues leading.

Youssef was arrested for criticizing Egyptian President Morsi and for criticizing Islam, despite the fact that he is a devout Muslim himself and professes a deep love of his faith and his country.

Morsi’s allies in the Muslim Brotherhood are using the tool of religion and blasphemy to hammer dissent into submission. The arrest of Youssef and several other comedians is just the latest example of political Islam in action. The ideology is based in a supremacist mindset that holds the Islamist interpretation of Islam higher than any individual right to freedom of thought, expression or faith.  It quickly becomes the tool of the dictator to secure power through intimidation.  Youssef himself appeared with CNN’s Christian Amanpour labeling the brotherhoods actions as “fascistic”.

At long last the American Left appears to be stepping to the plate in condemning these actions and awakening to the threat of Islamism upon every citizen. Youssef, a heart surgeon turned comedian, and television host comes from within their ranks.  His arrest sparked Jon Stewart to do a 10 minute monologue that highlighted some of Morsi’s direct statements calling Jews ‘descendants of Pigs and Monkeys’ and Morsi’s hypocrisy on religious freedom.

The Obama Administration continued to falter on the principle of defending religious freedom, when it initially condemned the arrest and actually tweeted the Stewart monologue from a US Embassy Cairo twitter account, only to have Ambassador Anne Peterson soon thereafter remove the post and delete the twitter account.  Peterson is the Ambassador who forbade US Marines from carrying live ammunition when US Embassy Cairo was besieged by protesters and the walls were actually breached.

We cannot condemn the actions of religious suppression and then send $190 million to the government to secure its infrastructure.  We cannot stand with Bassem Youssef and send the Egyptian Government airplanes and tanks.  We cannot call for greater tolerance of religious freedom and label President Morsi an ally in the region all the while his henchmen enforce some of the most repressive restrictions on free expression seen in Egypt in generations.

There is no ambiguity in the intent of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.  Their Constitution clearly lays out their vision for a new Egypt that does not embrace religious freedom or individual rights. Recent scores of arrests of  Bassem Youssef and many others provide a stark reminder of this fact.  The Administration needs to take the lesson that his brothers and sisters on the left side of the aisle are learning and stand on the principles that built this country.

It’s time to cut off all aid to our non-ally Egypt and let the Muslim Brotherhood fail, fall into the dustbin of history and make room for Revolution 2.0 in Egypt for our real allies–those who believe in and represent real freedom.

About the American Islamic Forum for Democracy

The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. AIFD’s mission advocates for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state. For more information on AIFD, please visit our website athttp://www.aifdemocracy.org/.

George Mason University report ranks Florida 23rd in freedom

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University released its Freedom in the 50 States report. The report ranks states on personal and fiscal freedom, primarily based upon taxes and business climate.

Governor Scott has made it his mission to improve the business climate in Florida. He has said that the axis of unemployment are : regulation, taxation and litigation.

According to the survey Florida has improved +5 in freedom since 2009.

Florida is ranked 23rd in overall freedom, 11th in fiscal freedom, 36th in personal freedom and 32nd in regulatory freedom. Florida is ranked 23rd overall.

Governor Scott likes to compete with Governor Rick Perry from Texas. Texas is ranked 14th overall in freedom. It appears Governor Scott and the Florida legislature have some work to do.

To see where your state ranks use the below map:

RUBIO: NO DEAL ON IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION YET

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued the following statement regarding the status of immigration reform legislation being developed in the Senate:

“I’m encouraged by reports of an agreement between business groups and unions on the issue of guest workers. However, reports that the bipartisan group of eight senators have agreed on a legislative proposal are premature.

“We have made substantial progress, and I believe we will be able to agree on a legislative proposal that modernizes our legal immigration system, improves border security and enforcement and allows those here illegally to earn the chance to one day apply for permanent residency contingent upon certain triggers being met. However, that legislation will only be a starting point.

“We will need a healthy public debate that includes committee hearings and the opportunity for other senators to improve our legislation with their own amendments. Eight senators from seven states have worked on this bill to serve as a starting point for discussion about fixing our broken immigration system. But arriving at a final product will require it to be properly submitted for the American people’s consideration, through the other 92 senators from 43 states that weren’t part of this initial drafting process. In order to succeed, this process cannot be rushed or done in secret.”

George Borjas’ book “Heaven’s Door” pointed out that during the late 1990s, the U.S. took in over one million immigrants annually. This inflow was most harmful to low-wage workers.

Now, more Americans are treading water in the very part of the job market that is most vulnerable to immigration. Given the current economic downturn, people with advanced degrees are searching out low-skilled, low-wage jobs. Increasing competition with low-skilled immigrants would further crowd the narrow avenues of subsistence.

“Back in 1986 it was ‘unrealistic’ to round up and deport the three million illegal immigrants in the United States then. So they were given amnesty – honestly labeled, back then – which is precisely why there are now 12 million illegal immigrants,” Thomas Sowell in 2007 noted, when an amnesty proposal was rejected. In 2007, conservatives and many Republicans recognized that amnesties were simply going to continue until they were stopped.

NumbersUSA, a think tank that supports sustainable levels of legal immigration, notes seven amnesties in recent history:

  1. Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA), 1986: A blanket amnesty for some 2.7 million illegal aliens
  2. Section 245(i) Amnesty, 1994: A temporary rolling amnesty for 578,000 illegal aliens
  3. Section 245(i) Extension Amnesty, 1997: An extension of the rolling amnesty created in 1994
  4. Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) Amnesty, 1997: An amnesty for close to one million illegal aliens from Central America
  5. Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act Amnesty (HRIFA), 1998: An amnesty for 125,000 illegal aliens from Haiti
  6. Late Amnesty, 2000: An amnesty for some illegal aliens who claim they should have been amnestied under the 1986 IRCA amnesty, an estimated 400,000 illegal aliens
  7. LIFE Act Amnesty, 2000: A reinstatement of the rolling Section 245(i) amnesty, an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens

Immigration policies are often not as advertised.

The president pledged that the Affordable Care Act would not cover undocumented aliens. However, if those undocumented aliens are given amnesty, they could easily receive Obamacare, along with Medicaid and a range of other social services.

Veteran group’s ad calling for gun control is misleading (+ video)

The group VoteVets.org is running television ads calling for “background checks” for all firearm purchases. The veteran in the ad is Glenn Kunkel, a Marine who fought in Iraq and is a recipient of the Purple Heart.

In the ad Kunkel states that he “… had to get a background check before joining the Marines” to use an AR-15 (M-16) style rifle. Kunkel then states that anyone can get such a rifle. He goes on to say that anyone who wants a similar AR-15 style rifle should be required to have a “background check“.

This ad is misleading for the following reasons:

  1. To join the military a background check is required to determine the person (enlistee) is qualified to serve. This has nothing to do with the type of weapon a person will carry, or in some cases not carry a weapon at all while serving in our military.
  2. Once in the military background checks are conducted if the service member is required to have a security clearance above confidential. This is necessary to insure there is nothing that would make the service member a security risk.
  3. There is no relationship to a weapon and the induction or security clearance background checks.
  4. The video makes a direct correlation between the type of rifle and the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting. The video makes no mention of the mental status of Adam Lanza, the killer.
  5. There is no record that Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook killer, purchased any of the guns he used in the shooting.

The New Haven Register reported:

Two former top investigators who are now on the faculty at the University of New Haven offered insight into the statement by a witness that Sandy Hook School was Adam Lanza’s “life.” Lanza had attended the school as a child.

“I found that very interesting,” said Peter Valentin, a lecturer in the forensic science department at UNH. “Why would a person his age consider an elementary school his life?”

William Tafoya, a retired FBI agent and a professor at UNH known for his accurate profiling in the Unabomber case, said the school probably had some importance in Lanza’s life, something he either associated with very happy or very unpleasant memories.

The video is misleading in its basic premise that it is the gun and not Adam Lanza that is to blame.

All firearm purchases from Federally licensed gun dealers require a database check. A background check would require a law enforcement agent to investigate each and every person wishing to purchase a fire arm. A very costly and time consuming process. Background checks are an intrusion into the privacy of the individual and would require that person to give authorization for the purpose of purchasing a firearm.

BTW, the weapon shown in the Vote Vets video is not a military grade weapon, the one shown is simply a semi-automatic look alike of the one Kunkel carried in the Marine Corps (usually an M-4 carbine). The one Kunkel carried is not the same as the one he is firing. It appears from the video that that weapon he is firing is his personal firearm, which he purchased.

Be wary when anyone who uses the term “background check”. It connotes government expansion and control on an entirely new level.

Here is the video ad from VoteVets.org:

RELATED COLUMN: Sen. Jeff Flake: Universal background checks ‘a bridge too far’

Transparency Florida Website Earns High Marks

On Tuesday, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) released its 2013 Following the Money report, which gave Florida a grade of A-minus for overall transparency based on my Department of Financial Services’ Transparency Florida website. PIRG ranked Florida third in the nation for state government transparency.

According to PIRG, ‘No state made a more dramatic improvement in its letter grade this year than Florida.’

Jeff Atwater, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, stated, “Our tireless efforts over the past two years to increase government transparency and accountability for Florida taxpayers have been recognized. Last year, we launched the Florida Accountability Contract Tracking System (FACTS), making the state’s contracting practices transparent for the first time. We have maintained a commitment to improving Transparency Florida by making it more user friendly along with linking to partner sites to provide more information about government spending in Florida. All of these efforts are driven by one objective – to make transparency an inherent part of government in Florida.”

“We have worked hard to change the culture in Tallahassee by fostering an open government that promotes greater accountability and holds elected officials to a higher standard. This is the yardstick by which we measure the success of our transparency efforts on behalf of our fellow Floridians,” noted Atwater.

Stomp Jesus Professor placed on leave, FAU promotes anti-Semitic hate (+ video)

Deandre Poole, FAU professor and vice-Chair of Palm Beach Democrat Party

Lisa Metcalf, Director, Media Relations for Florida Atlantic University (FAU), said in a Friday statement:

FAU instructor Deandre Poole, Ph.D., has been placed on administrative leave effective immediately for safety reasons. As a result of the reaction to a recent exercise in Dr. Poole’s intercultural communications class, the instructor’s personal safety has been compromised.

In addition, this decision will prevent further disruption to the day-to-day operations of Florida Atlantic University.

Because of this, Dr. Poole will not teach any classes, conduct office hours, or be present at any of FAU’s campuses or sites. Alternate instructors have been assigned to teach Dr. Poole’s classes. Students have been notified and classes will continue as scheduled.

FAU has a history of supporting anti-Israel and anti-Semitic events. During the week of February 13, 2013 FAU hosted Israel Apartheid Week. Tom Trento an investigative journalist and radio talk show host, tried to enter this public event on a state funded campus but was denied access. According to Trento, “I and my TrentoVision radio/TV internet team was aggressively prohibited by the police from videotaping or audio recording pro-Palestinian Josh Ruebner during his Jew-hatred ‘teach-in’,at a publicly advertised, public event on campus at the Florida Atlantic University.”

The below video report captures the history of hate at FAU:

FAU has active chapters of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). MSA is a HAMAS front organization and SJP is listed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as one of the top 10 anti-Israel groups in the United States. Last year Muslim students posted eviction notices on the dorm room doors of Jewish students and this year called for the destruction of Israel.

As first reported on BizPac Review, Poole is vice-chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party and his recent actions add to a disturbing pattern of religious intolerance displayed by the local party.

Rubio stands against effort to infringe on Second Amendment rights

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), this week joined Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) expressing his opposition to any legislation with additional restrictions on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

“We, the undersigned, intend to oppose any legislation that would infringe on the American people’s constitutional right to bear arms, or on their ability to exercise this right without being subjected to government surveillance,” the senators write. “The Second Amendment to the Constitution protects citizens’ right to self-defense. It speaks to the history’s lesson that government cannot be in all places at all times, and history’s warning about the oppression of a government that tries.”

In joining this effort, Rubio added, “We should look for ways to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill prone to misusing them, but I oppose legislation that will be used as a vehicle to impose new Second Amendment restrictions on responsible, law-abiding gun owners. We should work to reduce tragic acts of violence by addressing violence at its source, including untreated mental illness, the lack of adequate information-sharing on mental health issues, and the breakdown of the family.”

A PDF of the letter is available here.

Florida: Concealed Carry Permits Up, Violent Crime Down

Clash Daily reports:

The recent report from ABC News that in Florida, where there are more concealed weapons permits than anywhere else in the country, violent crime has dropped to the lowest point in history.

Sean Caranna, executive director of Florida Carry, Inc. said, “We’re happy to have facts and statistics put into these debates, because every time they do, we win.”

Firearm-related violent crimes in Florida have dropped by one-third in just four years, 2007 to 2011, while concealed carry permits jumped by 90 percent in that period. Further, violent crime of any kind dropped almost as much, 26 percent.

There were naysayers, but their voices are becoming muted as more and more states have adopted “shall-issue” carry laws and have seen their own crime rates drop as well. One of the naysayers was Gary Kleck, a Florida State criminologist who calls himself “as liberal as they get.” He said the link between more permits and less crime might just be a coincidence.

Kleck said that nationally, crime has been falling steadily since 1991 and Florida’s numbers might just be part of that trend. He warned against drawing too hasty a conclusion that one statistic caused the other. “The real problem there in drawing conclusions is that you’re guessing why that decline or change in gun violence has occurred,” Kleck stated.

Learn more about Clash Daily by clicking here.

Author Challenges ACLU in New Book

The ACLU is ingraining itself in the very fabric of everyday life. From topics such as education, abortion, marriage, and even the Super Bowl, the organization is leaving its mark. But some argue that their effort impacting the freedom of religion is the area of greatest concern. In March 2013 alone, a case was brought forth to challenge a portrait of Jesus Christ at a middle school in Ohio, a North Carolina county has been sued over its traditional Christian invocations at meetings, and Mississippi’s pending school prayer law is being threatened.

In a new book releasing in April, Bad Samaritans: The ACLU’s Relentless Campaign to Erase Faith from the Public Square (Thomas Nelson, Inc.), New York Times bestselling author Jerome Corsi dares to tackle the issues to enlighten families about things they need to know about the ACLU to protect their rights.

Since the organization was created in 1920, so many constitutional battles have been lost to the ACLU that time has grown short to stop the onslaught. Over its history the ACLU has been the archetypal Bad Samaritan-a stranger to the nation’s religious tradition, whose founders instilled within the organization values designed to erase all vestiges of the nation’s Judeo-Christian roots and replace them with a transplanted godless vision that draws its energy not from Moses or from Jesus Christ, but from Marx and Lenin. Even more insidiously, the ACLU strategy devised by its founders was predicated on a determination to wage its War on God in a stealth fashion in which the ACLU intends to destroy religious freedom by appearing on the scene as a defender of religious freedom.

“For decades, the Bad Samaritan of the ACLU has beaten and robbed the First Amendment’s statement of religious freedom to the point that Judeo-Christian believers have been left lying by the side of the road, as if abandoned to die,” notes Corsi. “Our Founding Fathers aptly reminded us, only a moral people can preserve the liberty required to build a bright future for America in which individual initiative and free enterprise can thrive once again. In a Judeo-Christian nation, Good Samaritans are not only welcome; they are possible. In the world desired by the ACLU, Good Samaritans will not only be rare, they are likely to be persecuted, if not prosecuted.”

Since its founding, the ACLU has set out to pervert the First Amendment, written to preserve religious freedom, into a twisted interpretation where “freedom of religion” is now read to mean “freedom from religion,” a reinterpretation made necessary if the ACLU is to accomplish its long-standing goal of removing God from America’s public square. The founding principles of the ACLU make it apparent that their goal is to wage a War on God and undermine liberties.
Cont.

“The protection and rights of the individual-conceived as an eternal soul given life by a Supreme Being, endowed with unalienable rights, and governed by a code of natural right built into human consciousness by our Creator-are the fundamental construct that drove our Founding Fathers to write the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights,” says Corsi. “The ACLU understands correctly that attacking God is the only way the American people would ever permit these sacred documents to be so deeply rewritten as to subvert their original meaning. If the American people can be driven from believing in God, the consequence is that our rights are no longer unalienable, but instead our rights, such as they may be, are bestowed by a state that can as easily take away the rights as grant them in the first place.”

“The point of the Bad Samaritans book is that the hour is late, but the battle is not yet lost,” explains Corsi. “It’s not intended as a comprehensive compendium of Supreme Court cases dealing with religion. Instead, I want to unmask the ACLU’s hypocritical fade of defending civil liberties that the organization strives to sell to a secular public unable to appreciate how deeply liberty will be lost if God is abandoned. I will expose the secret history of the ACLU in order to encourage supporters of our faith to enter the war on God’s side. We must win the war against our faith if we are to preserve for future generations the heritage of liberty our Founding Fathers so generously left for us. If the ACLU wins its War on God, our founding documents-including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights-will not be worth the parchment on which they were written.”

Told in a straightforward, no-nonsense style, Corsi lays out the history of this struggle, its communist roots, and the court cases that are serving to slowly erode the foundations of our freedom. Today we see the fruits of the ACLU’s master plan-a culture flooded with pornography, placing little worth on the value of a human life, and one in which protection and special treatment seem to exist for everyone except those of a Judeo-Christian background.

Bad Samaritans looks behind the headlines and shows the ACLU’s fingerprints as it works to destroy freedom and enslave our constitutional republic to the demands of a Marxist state. It’s time to fight back.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jerome Corsi has written and coauthored many books and articles, including the #1 New York Times bestseller, Unfit for Command (Regnery, 2004). Corsi is the founder of the Iran Freedom Walk. He has appeared on Fox News and MSNBC regarding Iran, as well as hundreds of radio interviews.

Governor Scott slams Florida Atlantic University for punishing student who refused to desecrate the name of Jesus

Governor Rick Scott released the following statement about Florida Atlantic University (FAU) punishing a student for refusing to desecrate the name of Jesus:

“I just spoke to Ryan Rotela and applauded him for having the courage to stand up for his faith. I told him that it took great conviction and bravery to stand up and say what he was asked to do was wrong, and went against what he believed in.”

In a letter to FAU Chancellor Frank T. Brogan, Governor Scott states, “I am deeply disappointed in the recent actions 0f Florida Atlantic University (FAU) faculty that raises significant questions over students rights and the lessons being taught in our classrooms.”

“As we enter the week memorializing the events of Christ’s passion, this incident gave me great concern over the lessons we are teaching our students. Initial news reports said Ryan Rotela, a student at the school, was suspended from class because he refused to participate in the activity. I am told that these reports are disputed by the university and that FAU has apologized for the activity, ” notes Governor Scott.

Governor Scott in the letter stated, “Whether the student was reprimanded or whether an apology was given is in many ways inconsequentional to the larger issue of a professor’s poor judgement. The professor’s lesson was offensive, and even intolerant, to Christians and those of all faiths who deserve to be respected as Americans entitled to religious freedom.”

Governor Scott ended the letter with, “l am requesting a report of the incident, how it was handled and a statement of the university’s policies to ensure this type of “lesson” will not occur again.”

Cheryl Carpenter Klimek, from BizPac Review reports, “Following a public reprimand from Gov. Rick Scott for the incident referred to as the ‘stomp Jesus’ assignment, Florida Atlantic University has released a video apology. . .Dr. Charles Brown, Senior Vice President for Student Affairs at FAU, emailed the following on Tuesday afternoon:

UPDATE: Letter of reply to Governor Scott from Chancellor Brogan

Florida college student suspended for refusing to stomp Jesus

FAU Professor Deandre Poole

When a Florida Atlantic University (FAU) student refused a professor’s direct order to stomp on the name of Jesus during an Intercultural Communications class, he was suspended.

“I’m not going to be sitting in a class having my religious rights desecrated,” said student Ryan Rotela.

The assignment required Rotela and other classmates to write the name of Jesus on a piece of paper, place it on the floor, and then stomp on it.

A synopsis of the lesson plan in question, obtained by Fox News, states:

“Have the students write the name JESUS in big letters on a piece of paper Ask the students to stand up and put the paper on the floor in front of them with the name facing up. Ask the students to think about it for a moment. After a brief period of silence instruct them to step on the paper. Most will hesitate. Ask why they can’t step on the paper. Discuss the importance of symbols in culture.”

Rotela told the instructor, Deandre Poole, that the assignment was insulting and offensive.

Rotela told television station WPEC, “I said to the professor, ‘With all due respect to your authority as a professor, I do not believe what you told us to do was appropriate. I believe it was unprofessional and I was deeply offended by what you told me to do.'”

Photo courtesy of CBS – WPEC Channel 12

When Rotela went to Poole’s supervisor, he was immediately barred from returning to the class.

The Florida taxpayer-funded university is defending the assignment and the professor’s directive to demand that students violate their religious principles – or face suspension.

The American Family Association in an email is asking its members to, “Urge Florida Governor Rick Scott and your state legislators to demand immediate and corrective action be taken against Professor Poole and involved FAU staff.”

FAU recently hosted Israel Apartheid week run by the Muslim Students Association, which is siding with Arab Palestinians and demanding the end to the state of Israel. Watch the video here.

UPDATE:

It turns out, the “stomp-on-Jesus” professor, Poole, also has a prominent position in local politics. As BizPac Review reports, Poole is vice-chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party.

Moreover, this isn’t the local party’s first brush with negative publicity.

The former chairman of the county Democratic Party was forced to resign in September after comments he made at the Democratic National Convention last year in Charlotte, N.C.

As WND reported, Mark Siegel reportedly told an interviewer Christians who support Israel want to see Jews “slaughtered.”

Siegel was quoted as saying, “Oh no, the Christians just want us to be there so we can all be slaughtered and converted and bring on the second coming of Jesus Christ.”

FAU apologizes:

Tom Tillison from BizPac Review reports:’

Public outrage over the controversial “Stomp Jesus” classroom assignment has forced Florida Atlantic University to issue an apology.

“We sincerely apologize for any offense this has caused,” the university said in a prepared statement to Fox News. “Florida Atlantic University respects all religions and welcomes people of all faiths, backgrounds and beliefs.”

RELATED COLUMN: Dem official to students: ‘Stomp on Jesus’

Florida: Court Approves Detaining Motorists at Toll Booth

US Court of Appeals upholds right of toll road operators to detain drivers for using large denomination currency.

Toll BoothMotorists can be held indefinitely at toll booths if they pay with large denomination bills, according to a federal appeals court ruling handed down Wednesday. A family of drivers — Joel, Deborah and Robert Chandler — filed suit last year arguing they were effectively being held hostage by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the private contractor in charge of the state’s toll road, Faneuil, Inc.

Under FDOT policies in place at the time, motorists who paid with $50 bills, and occasionally even $5 bills, were not given permission to proceed until the toll collector filled out a “Bill Detection Report” with data about the motorist’s vehicle and details from his driver’s license.

Many of those who chose to pay cash did so to avoid the privacy implications of installing a SunPass transponder that recorded their driving habits. They were likewise unwilling to provide personal information to the toll collector, but they had no alternative because the toll barrier would not be raised without compliance. FDOT policy does not allow passengers to exit their vehicle, and backing up is illegal and usually impossible while other cars wait behind. FDOT dropped the Bill Detection Reports in 2010.

A three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit US Court of Appeals did not buy the argument that these motorist detentions rose to the level of a constitutional violation.

“The fact that a person is not free to leave on his own terms at a given moment, however, does not, by itself, mean that the person has been ‘seized’ within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment,” the court wrote in its unsigned decision. “In Florida, a person’s right and liberty to use a highway is not absolute; it may be regulated in the public interest through reasonable and reasonably executed regulations.”

The judges found it was reasonable for Fanueil to set regulations for use of the road — including the types of acceptable payment. The court decided that drivers implicitly agreed to those conditions by choosing to use the toll road.

“The Chandlers have not alleged that they were forced to pay their tolls with large-denomination bills, thereby subjecting themselves to whatever delay was caused by completion of the Bill Detection Report,” the court ruled. “They chose to pay their toll with large-denomination bills.Nor have they alleged that they asked to withdraw the large report-triggering bill in favor of a smaller delay-free bill and were denied that opportunity.”

The court dismissed the lawsuit in its entirety. A copy of the decision is available in a 100k PDF file at the source link below.

Source: PDF File Chandler v. FDOT (US Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, 9/19/2012)

Second Florida Senate Committee to vote on anti-Sharia legislation

The Florida Senate Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability will vote on SB 58 – Application of Foreign Law in Certain Cases during the scheduled March 21, 2013 10:00 to 12:00 am meeting.  

SB 58 Application of Foreign Law in Certain Cases reads:

Clarifies that public policies expressed in act apply to violations of natural person’s fundamental liberties, rights, & privileges guaranteed by State Constitution or U.S. Constitution; provides that act does not apply to corporation, partnership, or other form of business association, except when necessary to provide effective relief in proceedings under or relating to chs. 61 & 88, F.S.; specifies public policy of this state in applying choice of foreign law, legal code, or system in proceedings brought under or relating to chs. 61 & 88, F.S., which relate to dissolution of marriage, support, time-sharing, Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction & Enforcement Act, & Uniform Interstate Family Support Act; declares that certain decisions under such laws, codes, or systems & certain choice of venue or forum provisions in contract are void; provides for construction of waiver by natural person of person’s fundamental liberties, rights, & privileges guaranteed by State Constitution or U.S. Constitution; declares that claims of forum non conveniens or related claims must be denied; limits construction of provisions in certain circumstances.

The Florida Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6 – 3 on March 6, 2013 to approve SB 58.  Click here to read the article and vote record.

All committees in the Florida House of Representatives have approved this legislation (HB 351).  Click here to read the article and vote record.  HB 351 is pending a second reading before the full house.

If Florida courts accept provisions of Islamic Sharia law or other foreign laws and legal codes which are inconsistent with American laws it will undermine public policies enacted by our representative form of government and change our value system.

Florida Family Association has sent an email asking supporters to send Senators on the Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability to support Senate Bill 58. The link is here.

UPDATE 3/22/2013:

The Florida Senate Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability voted on SB 58 – Application of Foreign Law in Certain Cases during the scheduled March 21, 2013 10:00 to 12:00 am meeting.  The committee voted as follows:

Chair
Senator Jeremy Ring (D) No
Vice Chair
Senator Alan Hays (R) Yes
Senator Aaron Bean (R) Yes
Senator Lizbeth Benacquisto (R) Yes
Senator Rob Bradley (R) Yes
Senator Dorothy L. Hukill (R) Yes
Senator Bill Montford (D) No
Senator David Simmons (R) Yes
Senator Christopher L. Smith (D) No

Florida Democrats file 50 anti-Second Amendment bills

Senator Audrey Gibson (D-Jacksonville)

Under a bill proposed by Senator Audrey Gibson (D-Jacksonville), a person could not purchase any firearm ammunition without presenting a certificate showing that the would be purchaser had completed an Anger Management Course — which must be renewed every ten years.  Representative Perry Thurston (D-Ft. Lauderdale and also the House Minority Leader) filed the companion bill in the state House.

This is one of nearly fifty gun control bills filed by Florida Legislators — all bills have been filed by Democrats.

The NRA in an email to members states, “These Democrats are working to ban your freedom, your rights and your ability to defend yourself and your family.”

FLORIDA SENATE BILLS:

SB-136  Self-defense (Castle Doctrine/Stand Your Ground)
SB-314 Repeal Privacy of Firearm Owners/Doctors
SB-344  Assault or Battery on a Utility Worker
SB-362  Use of Deadly Force (Castle Doctrine/Stand Your Ground)
SB-374  Authority for Gun Control by Local Governments
SB-622 Repeal of Castle Doctrine
SB-1000 Regulation of Firearms
SB-1018 To Allow Local Governments to Adopt Gun
SB-1208  Taxes on Guns & Ammunition
SB-1234 Special 4% Tax on Firearms And Ammunition
SB-1272 Prohibit Firearms Sales at Gun Shows
SB-1426 Trespassing on Railroad Property
SB-1488  Licensure to Carry a Concealed Weapon or Firearm
SB-1582 Assault Weapons/Culpable Negligence
SB-1640 Firearms “Universal Background Check Act”
SB-1670 Assault Weapons and Magazine Ban
SB 1678 Anger Management/Sale of Ammunition

Rep.Perry Thurston, D-Ft. Lauderdale

FLORIDA HOUSE BILLS

HB-97  Authority for Gun Control by local governments
HB-123 Use of Deadly Force (Castle Doctrine/Stand Your Ground)
HB-325 Sales Taxes on Guns & Ammunition/School Safety
HB-327 Creates Trust Fund for Guns & Ammunition Taxes
HB-331 Self-defense (Castle Doctrine/Stand Your Ground)
HB-501 Possession or Discharge of Firearm
HB 511 Assault or Battery on Utility Worker
HB-799 Use of Force in Self-Defense
HB-993 Authority for Gun Control by local governments
HB-1051 Prohibits Firearms Sales at Gun Shows
HB-1209  Special 4% Tax on Firearms And Ammunition
HB-4009 To Repeal of Castle Doctrine
HB-4017 To Repeal Privacy of Firearm Owners/Doctors
HB-1229  Anger Management Course Required to Buy
HB-1343 “Universal Background Check Act”