National Chick-Phil-A Day Flies High for the Duck Commander

“Yesterday’s first ever ‘Chick-Phil-A Day’ event proved much more than a raucous, redneck celebration. For in Chick-Fil-A restaurants across the nation, we saw that the real foundation of America is alive and thriving! Let me explain,” writes Eric Odom from Grassfire.

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Click on photo for a larger view.

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Grassfire’s national Chick-Phil-A event didn’t have Hollywood backing it. There wasn’t a budget, no marketing or public relations teams huddling ’til all hours of the night planning and plotting the event. We didn’t hear about it on television, or read about it in the newspaper. In fact, the “lame-stream” media that savagely accused Phil Robertson of bigotry generally ignored our Free Speech celebration!

“Real Americans Got The Message. From big cities to small towns and hamlets, thousands of Americans from all walks of life flocked to Chick-Fil-A restaurants, eager to show their support for faith-based freedom in our nation,” notes Odom.

Report: Tech firms led by Google spent $61M to buy political favors

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Google led in lobbying spending by ten tech firms who pumped a combined $61.15 million into efforts to influence federal regulators and lawmakers in 2013, up 15.9 percent from a combined total of $52.78 million, according to records filed with the Clerk of the House this week.

Consumer Watchdog, a nonpartisan nonprofit public interest group, analyzed the spending records today.  “Policymaking in Washington is all about how much money you can throw around,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project Director. “These tech guys are increasingly willing to spend whatever it takes to buy what they want.”

Google spent $14.06 million on lobbying in 2013, a 14.7 percent decrease from 2012 when it was the target of an antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. The Internet giant outspent the second highest spending company on the list, archrival Microsoft, by $3.570 million. Google’s fourth quarter lobbying expenditure was $3.98 million, an increase of 20.3 percent from $3.35 million in 2012.

Microsoft spent $10.49 million on 2013 lobbying, up 29.7 percent from $8.09 million in 2012.  Fourth quarter lobbing expenses were $2.77 million, a 13.9 percent increase from $2.43 million.

Facebook, which has substantially increased in its Washington presence over the last two years, set another company record in its effort to buy influence in Washington.  Spending soared 61.2 percent to$6.43 million in 2013 from $3.99 million in 2012. Fourth quarter spending was $1.48 million compared to$1.40 million, an increase of 0.6 percent.

Here is a link to the Clerk of the House’s Lobbying Disclosure database: http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldsearch.aspx

Here are the lobbying amounts for the seven other tech firms:

  • Amazon spent $3.46 million in 2013, a 38.3 percent increase from $2.50 million in 2012. Fourth quarter spending was $960,000 vs. $610,000, an increase of 57.4 percent.
  • Apple spent $3.37 million in 2013, a 71.7 percent increase from $1.97 million in 2012.  Fourth quarter spending was $990,000 vs. $540,00, an 83.3 percent increase.
  • Cisco spent $3.12 million in 2013, a 16.4 percent increase from $2.68 million in 2012.  Fourth quarter spending was $890,000 vs. $710,000, an increase of 25.4 percent.
  • IBM spent $7.06 million in 2013, a 45.6 percent increase from $4.85 million in 2012.  Fourth quarter spending was $1.90 million vs. $1.29 million, an increase of 45.6 percent.
  • Intel spent $4.39 million in 2013, an 18.2 percent increase from $3.72 million in 2012. Fourth quarter spending was $1.45 million vs. $997,000, an increase of 45 percent.
  • Oracle spent $5.99 million, an increase of 4 percent from $5.76 million in 2012.  Fourth quarter spending was $1.60 million vs. $1.78 million, a decrease of 10 percent.
  • Yahoo spent $2.78 million in 2013, an increase of 1 percent from $2.75 million in 2012. Fourth quarter spending was $720,000 vs. $640,000, an increase of 12.5 percent.

Telecommunications companies continued spending large amounts on lobbying in 2013:

  • AT&T spent $15. 94 million, an 8.8 percent decrease from $17.47 million in 2012. Fourth quarter spending was $3.64 million vs. $3.44 million, an increase of 5.7 percent.
  • Sprint spent $2.75 million, an increase of 8.2 percent from $2.55 million in 2012. Fourth quarter spending was $716,887 vs. $637,308, an increase of 12.4 percent.
  • Verizon spent $13.44 million, a decrease of 10.5 percent from $15.02 million in 2012.  Fourth quarter spending was $3.46 million vs. $3.48, an increase of 0.5 percent.

Visit Consumer Watchdog’s website at www.consumerwatchdog.org

Obama’s 2014 State of the Union Speech Will Be All Lies

On January 28, the President of the United States will stand before a joint session of Congress and lie to them and to all Americans.

The mainstream media will treat it as a serious presentation and make no mention of the lies.

Following the State of the Union speech (SOTU) there will be a formal response by a Republican spokesman. It will be very polite and not likely to strongly expose the lies and oppose the President.

The “low information” Americans will take Barack Obama at his word. Nearly half of all Americans who might listen to the speech or read about it are on some form of government dole or entitlement program. They are interested in food stamps, unemployment compensation, their disability status, and an older generation will understandably want to ensure their Social Security checks keep coming and Medicare will continue to underwrite their medical costs.

Whatever Obama has to say about the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare—will be a lie. His administration continues to lie about the number of those who have enrolled, but we know they are mostly the elderly while the younger generation wisely avoids it.

We live in a nation where more than 90 million Americans are out of work, cannot find work, or have given up looking for work. Anything Obama has to say about the economy will be a lie.

When Obama gives his speech, the total population of America will be 317,490,000 people. It is the third-most populous nation in the world with 82% residing in cities or the suburbs as of 2011. Anyone who has driven throughout the nation knows that much of it is nearly uninhabited. A mere 2% of the population are the farmers and ranchers who feed the rest of us.

The two most populous states are California and Texas. New York City has the largest population of the nation’s cities. It just elected a Communist as its new mayor. He has announced he intends to raise taxes.

There are an estimated eleven million illegal aliens living in America and The New York Times reports that number may be growing. Previous efforts at amnesty resulted in not only endowing them with citizenship but their entire families, many of whom joined them from their home nations. At a time of high unemployment among natural born and naturalized citizens, increasing the population in this fashion will only add to the economic problems the slowest recovery in decades represents. In Congress Democrats favor an amnesty. Republicans are unsure of whether to oppose or accept it.

In addition to amnesty, the President will no doubt make some mention of tax reform. The reform the nation needs is the elimination of the income tax in favor of a fair tax based on consumption of products and services. You buy it. You pay a national sales tax.

No doubt the President will make some reference to gun control. He has been unable to get any legislation about it and has relied on executive orders to impose limits on the Second Amendment. Meanwhile, Americans are buying guns like crazy. It’s about self-defense and the prospect of a President who may not want to leave office. He will cite the Newtown slayings, but mass slayings in America have not increased in decades. It is not common, though it is always tragic.

It’s hard to predict how much time Obama will devote to “climate change”, but this greatest hoax of the modern era is very dear to him and the Democrats in Congress. A group of them are signing a letter to be sent to the heads of the network channels urging them to devote more airtime to lies about how carbon dioxide is causing the Earth to warm and poses a huge threat. The Earth, meanwhile, has been in a cooling cycle for seventeen years and many Americans recently experienced record-setting cold weather. More of them—though only about 23%–are beginning to express doubts about global warming. Duh!

The climate change agenda is being pursued outrageously by Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency which is issuing regulations intended to continue shutting down existing coal-fired plants that generate electricity and keep new ones from being built. It is a direct attack on the nation’s economy which depends on electricity. Whatever Obama says about it will be a lie.

No doubt he will make reference to his latest scam, income inequality. If there is one thing communists love it is class warfare. The best way to reduce income inequality is well known. It is a thriving economy that provides more jobs and higher pay. Meanwhile, there may be a passing reference to increasing the minimum wage, a great way to deny entry-level jobs to young workers and increase the cost of everything else to the consumer.

Obama is not likely to have much to say about foreign affairs. In general he has managed to reduce America’s role as an international leader for democracy, justice and human rights. We are running out of allies, especially in the Middle East where Israel, Jordan, and a few Gulf states remain friendly.

When I was a young man coming of age in the 1950s I could never imagine living in a nation whose moral structure was such that a million unborn children are killed every year by abortion. I would never have believed that some 40% of women would choose to be single mothers. Or that the divorce rate would reach 50% and more. I could never imagine young men and women graduating from college with huge debts in an economy where jobs were not only fewer, but subject to an Obamacare law that forces businesses to cut the number of hours they work, limiting their earning capacity.

This is not an America I envisioned, but it is one that Presidents and Congresses since the Great Depression of the 1930s whose government they have expanded to the point where many Americans regard Big Government as the biggest problem facing the nation. They’re right.

© Alan Caruba, 2014

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19 Photo Reminders of Why Americans March for Life

Today, tens of thousands of people from around the country will gather in Washington to brave the cold for a cause they believe in. Some are marching for the first time, and others have been traveling to the nation’s capital since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. For the 41st year, they’ll meet again for the same reason — the sanctity of life.

“We’re also celebrating life today, and we hope you will, too,” states Kelsey Harris from the Heritage Foundation. Here are 19 moving reminders of the beauty of new life:

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Learn more: “How to Speak Up for Life,” produced by Heritage in collaboration with Alliance Defending Freedom, Americans United for Life, Concerned Women for America, Focus on the Family, March for Life Education and Defense Fund, and the Susan B. Anthony List Education Fund

Food stamps for Pot in Colorado?

In a recent interview with The New Yorker magazine, President Barack Obama said he doesn’t think marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol, “in terms of its impact on the individual consumer.” He even went so far as to remind us of his own drug use (a disqualifier for Top Secret security clearance, by the way),

“As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol,” the president said.

Well, guess what, the liberal progressives out in Colorado share his assessment. Since pot is no different from cigarettes and no more dangerous than alcohol, as part of the welfare nanny-state expansion, Colorado lawmakers have decided Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, aka Food Stamps, can be used for withdrawals at pot shops. Unbelievable.

As reported by Fox News, Colorado pot shops currently have ATMs where welfare recipients can withdraw cash using their EBT cards.

A Democrat-controlled State Senate committee rejected the Republicans’ proposal to close this loophole. Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, said Colorado’s new legal pot industry needs to make sure not to invite federal scrutiny through improper cash withdrawals at recreational or medical marijuana stores. “Already we are operating an industry which is not allowed under federal law,” said Marble, one of the chief lawmakers involved with Colorado’s marijuana regulation bills.

However, the opposing liberal progressive perspective is always centered on victimization:

“I’m not comfortable limiting that access until I’m certain we’ve done that due diligence to make sure people can access their benefits when they need to,” Sen. Irene Aguilar, D-Denver, said.

I think State Senator Aguilar should go back and read the original intent for the US Food Stamp program, which was to provide healthy nutritious foods — American grown — for lower income families.

This whole matter is completely political and part of the grand design for progressives, where there are no boundaries, no moral standards, and the government — ultimately the American taxpayer — will pick up the tab.

And to think the federal government, under Obama, has produced ads to get even more people on food stamps, including ads appearing in Mexico. Is this just another example of what Alexis de Tocqueville described in the 1800s in his book Democracy in America: The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.

Is this just another case of political bribery by lawmakers for the return of electoral support, i.e. votes?

Do you think American taxpayers should subsidize the “legal” use of drugs for Coloradans? Of course, if you seek to establish some parameters or restraints on EBT card usage, you’re just a mean, bad, evil, nasty, intolerant, hater Republican.

Well, call me whatever names you wish, but this is wrong and anyone supporting EBT card use at pot shops, strip clubs, and anything not related to actual food is flat out wrong. The state of Colorado conducted a recall vote against several Colorado Democrat State Senators over the issue of gun rights — perhaps lightning will strike twice in the same place?

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on AllenBWest.com.

Minimum Wage Hike: What you need to know

As Democrats seek to turn attention away from the rollout of ObamaCare and dedicate 2014 to the theme of income inequality, discussions on raising the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour have been gaining ground. The following is what you need to know about raising the minimum wage, adapted from the testimony in front of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on June 25, 2013 by James Sherk, a Senior Policy Analyst in Labor Economics at the Heritage Foundation. The testimony transcript can be read in its entirety by clicking here. Other sources will be noted as they are used:

  • Didn’t we just raise the minimum wage? The last federal minimum wage hike was voted on in 2007, and phased in throughout 2009. It raised the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour. To raise the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour, as some are suggesting, would be a 40% raise. Talk in Washington of raising the minimum wage began last year when President Obama set it as a policy goal in his State of the Union address:

State of the Union 2013: Obama Wants Minimum Wage: ‘A Wage You Can Live On’

  • When was the minimum wage first instituted? Congress instituted a minimum wage in 1938, and since then the inflation-adjusted buying power of the minimum wage has averaged at $6.16 in 2013 dollars. At some points the minimum wage has harnessed less or more buying power than that average, the low being $3.09 an hour in 1948 and $8.67 an hour in 1968. As Sherk noted in his congressional testimony, “Today’s minimum wage buys more somewhat more than the minimum wage has historically, although it remains over a dollar an hour below its historical high.”
  • When does Congress raise the minimum wage? Historically, Congress has voted to raise the minimum wage in relatively good economic times. Congress has never voted to raise the minimum wage with unemployment over 7.5% since the Great Depression.
  • Who works for the minimum wage? The two groups of people who typically work for the minimum wage are teenagers or young adults who are also in school, and disadvantaged adults over the age of 25. Using U.S. Census Bureau data, Sherk calculated that three-fifths of the teenagers and young adults working minimum wage jobs are enrolled in school and only 22% live at or below the poverty line since they are usually not the breadwinners in their households; three-fourths of older workers earning minimum wage live above the poverty line, because often those workers are married or choose to work part-time.
  • How many minimum wage workers are single moms or dads? Only 4% of minimum wage, full-time workers are single parents.
  • The minimum wage is a learning wage: Over half of Americans started their careers making within $1 of the minimum wage. Two-thirds of those making the minimum wage receive a raise within a year.
  • States have the power to raise their minimum wage if they wish to: James Beattie at CNSNews.com reported two weeks ago that 13 states increased their minimum wage last year, and 14 states and the District of Columbia have bills in their legislatures this year to raise the minimum wage.
  • How many Americans only earn $7.25 an hour?Ed Feulner, former President of the Heritage Foundation, wrote last month that only 3% of American workers earn just $7.25 an hour.
  • What are the effects of raising the minimum wage? Sherk noted, “The minimum wage especially hurts disadvantaged workers’ job prospects. Higher minimum wages encourage employers to replace less-skilled workers with more productive employees. Given the choice between hiring an unskilled worker for $10.10 an hour and a worker with more experience for the same rate, companies will always choose the more experienced and productive employee.” If the minimum wage is raised, more experience and educated workers will settle for minimum wage jobs, because “Higher minimum wages…make working in such jobs more attractive, drawing greater numbers of workers with outside sources of income into the labor market….[and] they crowd out urban teenagers and disadvantaged adults who would have sought the jobs at the previous wages.”

Bill Gates thinks raising the minimum wage will not help disadvantaged workers:

The Relentless Hillary Clinton

Who said:

“We’re going to take things from you on behalf of the common good”

“It’s time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few…and to replace it with shared responsibility, for shared prosperity”

“(We) …can just let business as usual go on and that means something has to be taken away from some people.”

“We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own…in order to create this common ground.”

“I think it’s time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in the entire economy that they are being watched.”

“I certainly think the free market has failed.”

Was it Joseph Stalin? Lenin? Hugo Chavez? Kim Jong II? All reveal a communist philosophy.

It was Hillary Clinton. Over the years, Hillary has made it clear that the redistribution of wealth—communism—is central to her beliefs and that her regard for capitalism and the free market economy of America is nil.

The election of Hillary Clinton would be an extension of the two terms of Barack Obama and, if possible, worse.

There are moments when a politician’s opportunity to win elections passes—often unnoticed at the time. I think that time was 2008 when Hillary lost the Democratic nomination to an unknown Senator from Illinois who offered “hope and change.”

Eight years later, having served as his Secretary of State, she will share his growing disapproval as Obamacare unfolds as the perfect namesake of the worst President the U.S. has ever known. And then, of course, there is their shared Benghazi scandal.

For these reasons, I believe Hillary will decide her time has passed and elect to avoid the ordeal of a presidential campaign even if the Democrats gave her the opportunity.

Her long career in the public eye has been filled with scandals and failures, not the least of which was her early advocacy of “HillaryCare.” When her husband was President, she was put in charge of developing a plan to take over the healthcare sector despite the fact that she was not an elected official, but merely his wife. It was overwhelmingly rejected.

The most astonishing thing about the 2016 elections is that the Party still regards her as the sole candidate to run for the presidency even as 2014 Democrats seeking reelection are fleeing the disastrous failure of Obamacare and the huge debt that Obama imposed on the nation. In addition, elements of the Party’s base, Millennials—younger voters—and Hispanics are among those deserting it while some are beginning to call for Obama’s resignation.

There is something so disconnected from the facts, from reality, about the Democratic Party that it suggests that those who remain within its numbers are deranged.

Some political pundits will be inclined to dismiss Hillary as too old to run, that her agenda would not stand up to examination, that she would be in effect Obama’s third term, or that her record as Secretary of State is littered with lies and failures.

Democrats do not vote based on such things. They vote out of a nostalgic attachment to its past, to its message of fairness and equality, out of concern for its false “war on women”, “income inequality”, and the accusations leveled against the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement. Democrats will be driven by the belief that it is time for a woman to be President, no matter how awful her qualifications or political beliefs.

This is also a belief of the nation’s leftist media and the momentum of news coverage about Hillary will be orchestrated by her. In the meantime, she will earn tidy sums giving speeches and receiving every leftist award that’s out there. No doubt there is a book in the works as well.

Hillary has left a long record of scandals in the course of her “public service.” The most recent was the lies about the killing of an American ambassador and three security personnel in Benghazi on the 2012 anniversary of 9/11. Most famously, under questioning she said, “What difference does it make?” Nowhere during the course of her service as Secretary of State is there a single major international treaty or significant accomplishment. Indeed, her tenure is marked by the severe loss of respect for America and its influence over foreign affairs.

The Clintons have always been about the acquisition of money to fund their lifestyle. In 1979 Hillary earned $100,000 profit on a $1,000 investment in cattle futures within the course of just nine months. She was guided to the windfall by a highly placed Tyson Foods connection. An investigation into her role as an attorney with the Rose law firm was stymied until its billing records magically appeared in her White House office, years after they had been subpoenaed.

Like Obama, Hillary never recalls anything involved with her past. She knew nothing. She was the victim of others around her. It’s all a right-wing conspiracy.

The real conspiracy has been the takeover of the Democrat Party by the far Left and its elected office holders who appear to have no regard for the decline of the nation thanks to their relentless spending and borrowing.

Hillary Clinton has been among the most relentless of all Democrats, concerned only with her determination to become the next President and for the acquisition of wealth that puts her and Bill firmly in the one percent of the extremely wealthy that Democrats and liberals defame.

A significant defeat of Democrats in 2014’s midterm elections will influence her decision. A lot can happen between now and 2016. Even the mainstream media’s fixation on getting her elected may decline. Stay tuned.

© Alan Caruba, 2014

State Courage Rising: Kansas leading the way

Kansas is showing no fear and leading the way in standing against the Washington D.C. bullies who threaten freedom! The Tenth Amendment is the solution to a growing problem.

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Florida changes name of Common Core: Putting lipstick on a Pig?

The Tampa Bay Times’ Kathleen McGrory reports, “The state education department tried to distance itself from the controversial Common Core State Standards last week by recommending changes to the benchmarks and giving them a new name. ‘The proposed standards are truly our own,’ Deputy Chancellor Mary Jane Tappen said during a Tuesday workshop on the freshly named ‘Florida Standards’.”

Is this Florida’s attempt in an gubernatorial election year to put lipstick on a pig named Common Core?

“’At their heart, the standards in Florida are still Common Core standards,’ said Anne Hyslop, a policy analyst with New America Foundation’s Education Policy Program, noting that many of the proposed changes are minor. Hyslop added: ‘The rebranding and messaging is largely political,'” writes McGrory.

Everyday new revelations about the Common Core State Standards are hitting the news wire. Just in the past week Breitbard reported that “Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) seemed to hint this week that his state would drop the Common Core standards, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) gave a clear signal Thursday that she was determined to drop the new education initiative that has grown intensely controversial.”

Breitbart’s Susan Berry reported, “A Common Core-aligned elementary school homework assignment in a Jefferson County, Colorado school district tells children that by 2512, Kansas will be an oceanfront state, that the ‘Smokey’ Mountains [sic] will become the ‘Smokey’ Islands [sic], and that a sharp decline in the human population will take place, all due to man-made global warming. According to Complete Colorado, the assignment, labeled as ‘Common Core Comprehension Grade 5,’ given at the Fremont Elementary School, is identified as a science fiction exercise in reading comprehension, but in ‘no part of the material, including a sheet of follow-up questions’ is there ‘any critical thinking ‘pushback’ against the narrative provided in the exercise.’”

Even George will in January 15th Washington Post column titled “Doubts over Common Core” notes, “Nevertheless, what begins with mere national standards must breed ineluctable pressure to standardize educational content. Targets, metrics, guidelines and curriculum models all induce conformity in instructional materials. Washington already is encouraging the alignment of the GED, SAT and ACT tests with the Common Core. By a feedback loop, these tests will beget more curriculum conformity. All of this will take a toll on parental empowerment, and none of this will escape the politicization of learning like that already rampant in higher education.”

Governor Rick Scott and the Florida legislature should be forearmed because they are now forewarned. Putting lipstick on this pig will get you stuck in the mud, with the pig.

RELATED ARTICLE: 20 Best Websites to Help Kids Learn From Home in 2021

Common Core: Will Florida Politics Trump Truth?

While opposition to Common Core is not just a conservative issue, we must agree that conservatives have carried a heavy load in this battle against nationalizing education so far.  It is shocking that with a Republican Governor and state legislature, conservatives who oppose Common Core have been ignored and vilified.

Last Saturday I was part of a large meeting of leaders against common core from every corner of Florida. Nearly half were, or had been educators. This group is not “misinformed” as proponents of Common Core continually say to disparage our efforts.  These people do not wear tinfoil hats, but are the foundation of our communities and they know how and why Common Core is an existential threat to our children, our country and our future.  They are driving for the truth to trump the heavy hand of politics so clearly involved in the issue of Common Core.

As a result of pressure on Governor Rick Scott and state legislators by groups opposing Common Core, the Governor issued diversionary and misleading executive orders to hold just three hearings in the entire state,October 15-17, 2013, and stated they would listen to input on the national Common Core standards.  Nineteen thousand comments were registered and roughly eight hundred people attended hearings in person at great expense and lost time.  Leaders of the Stop Common Core movement brought world recognized experts on education standards to meet with Commissioner Stewart, the fifth Commissioner in just three years, and her team for two hours, hoping the facts would alter our disastrous course of ceding control over education to our federal government.  The hearings were to divert our attention and our support and pretend our input made a difference.  It worked for many and we lost 3 months wanting and waiting for our governor to listen.

On January 14th, the Florida State Department of Education held a “workshop” to discuss their proposed changes as a result of the hearings and comments to Common Core Standards implemented already.  The minimal changes to be discussed were revealed less than twenty-four hours before the required “workshop” was to take place and obscurely buried in the FLDOE web site.

Calling in to participate in the “workshops” was a logistical mess requiring four calls to get through for this writer, and once in, it was only a half hour reading of the changes without the ability to comment.  We were stiff armed again and Common Core implementation in Florida did not even have a hiccup.

Where do we stand now?  Next week, the Florida Department of Education will meet in Miami Lakes January 21, 2014.  Input is needed and will likely be ignored as they continue to steamroll Common Core implementation.  Opposition is growing exponentially as parents, teachers, administrators and patriots experience the problems of Common Core first hand.  Horrific stories about the disastrous results in other states such as New York and Kentucky are fueling a move for organizations in the entire country to unite.

One can only come to the logical conclusion that Governor Scott’s illogical position has been influenced and controlled by Jeb Bush whose foundation took $501,000 to support Common Core before it was ever created. Bush still has ways of extending his political tentacles and opposing him comes with a price. His hopes for national election are tied to the same supporters who stand to gain billions through implementing Common Core.

The Gates Foundation paid off the PTA, Jeb Bush, the Fordham Foundation and so many others to put the nefarious plan to implement national education in place.

Pearson is the British education conglomerate (third largest shareholder is the government of Libya) that stands to gain BILLIONS from Common Core which is spawned by UN Agenda 21 and explained in chapter 36. It’s no wonder Common Core lessons teach social justice and that Islam is the “way.” Pearson bought out nearly all education companies in the US, but kept their names in place to obfuscate this move.  Both Pearson and Gates are major supporters of Jeb Bush.

But if Governor Scott opposes his core constituents, he will also pay a price. The truth is that Governor Scott needs to listen to the twenty-seven County Republican Executive Committees who resolved to oppose Common Core, the Committeemen and Committeewomen from the entire state, the Republican National Committee, the Republican Women Federated, some teachers unions and dozens of think tanks.

Those opposed to Common Core have researched this nationalization of education called Common Core and found it unconstitutional, unwise, untested, unaffordable, intrusive and ineffective. National education has been used by tyrants and despots as a vehicle for propaganda since the beginning of civilization to create a compliant citizenry.

This is an existential threat to all of us, our children and our country. It’s Obamacare for Education, but worse. The hearts and minds of our children are being stolen. If Governor Scott continues to alienate his base of conservative voters in favor of the Jeb Bush cabal, it is highly likely he may lose his bid for reelection.

Governor Scott can’t ignore the reality of the facts and the rising tide of opposition.  He must take a side and it better be ending Common Core, not pausing it, not tweaking it, but restoring parental and local control.  To us it is not just an “issue” or a political calculation.  It is our kids and the future of our country.

Please go to www.stopcommoncorefl.com and join the army of parents, teachers and concerned citizens to END Common Core in Florida and beyond!

VIDEO: Common Core: Based on UN Agenda 21, UNESCO Standards

Rally sites set for Operation American Spring in Washington, D.C. on May 16th

If you are participating in Operation American Spring on Friday, May 16th, 2014 in Washington D.C. we grasp your hand and welcome you aboard. Please join us in the first step to return our nation back to a Constitutional Republic.

As for all the over paid, over indulging politicians who are eviscerating the US Constitution and ignoring the people, OAS will demonstrate that you no longer represent us. We need to start over.

President Obama, you stated you will initiate a way around the Congress with Executive Orders to ram through unconstitutional dictates. Wrong answer. There is no constitutional provision nor statute that explicitly permits executive orders. There is a vague grant of “executive power” given in Article II, Section 1, Clause 1 of the Constitution, and furthered by the declaration “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” made in Article II, Section 3, Clause 5. Nothing more. EO’s mean nothing.

We expect you to be removed and or impeached from office as per the authority vested in us “We the people” using ALL our constitutional means and we are going to use them.

Operation American Spring (OAS) participants will be mustering at the below locations in Washington D.C. starting at 10:00 a.m. EST on Friday, May 16, 2014. Please pick your place of protest. We will not leave our posts in Washington until the President has been removed from office for constitutional treason.

Set up a chain of command and follow the Rules of  Engagement published previously.

SIX OAS MUSTERING – RALLYING – PRAYER POINTS:

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For a larger view click on the map.

Just another reminder on the Rules of Engagement. NO WEAPONS or AMMUNITION. But you do have a right to defend yourself. You have a God given 2nd Amendment right as an American. When the progressives have been voted out we will restore the Constitution in Washington D.C.

Bring video cameras and other devices that can record our peaceful activities.

We need attorneys willing to work pro bono to help release any Americans harassed while peacefully demonstrating.

Do not hide from the government. Operate within the God given laws of the US Constitution. Always post your location and phone number in all correspondence you send to me. I cannot return every call I receive, I am getting hundreds, but I do listen to all your voicemails.

Militia Commanders take charge of your units. TEA Party leaders take charge of your groups. Civilians participating please follow the law. Keep preparing for mobilization.

We are living in an unconstitutional police state. Our nation is in very bad shape politically and financially so we will now take the appropriate constitutional actions to take our country back. Its starting.

Be strong and be ready for a long siege of defense. I expect all retired military officers – senior enlisted coordinating across the country with us to implement logistic and other readiness requirements to ensure mission success. Our government is no longer our government. The current government is AGAINST the people not for the people.

If you are unable to make it to Washington please mobilize and march on your local court houses, state capitals, and offices of your Senate and Congressional representatives in your towns. DO IT !!! If your state laws permit weapons bring them. Follow the laws of your state!

The President of the United States is a threat to our Constitutional republic. Do not believe a word he says –  he lies. His entire Presidency is a series of lies that threaten freedom. The Congress refuses to do the job we pay them to do, so we are coming to Washington D.C. to insure they hear our voices from a closer proximity. See you there.

I will be at base point #3.

RELATED COLUMN: Americans rising up against government – USA Today

Benghazi: A Tale of Three Senators

In a time where courage is a precious commodity on Capitol Hill, a Democratic U.S. Senator has set an admirable example of statesmanship in stark contrast to two of her former colleagues.

Senator Diane Feinstein of California, the Chair of Senate Intelligence Committee has sounded the alarm over the escalating threat from Jihadist terrorism and released a report in the pursuit of the truth about the terrorist attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11th, 2012.

Senator Feinstein’s words and deeds stand in stark contrast to those of former Senators Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, the former and current Obama administration Secretaries of State.

Senator Feinstein recently correctly defined our enemies as a “very fundamentalist jihadist Islamic community” – in a warning that terrorism is on the rise. During a December 1st interview on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley, Senator Feinstein noted,

I think there is a real displaced aggression in this very fundamentalist jihadist Islamic community. And that is, that the West is responsible for everything that goes wrong and that the only thing that’s going to solve this, is Islamic sharia law and the concept of the caliphate. And I see more groups, more fundamentalists, more jihadists, more determined to kill to get where they want to get. So, it’s not an isolated phenomenon. You see these groups spread a web of connections. And this includes North Africa, it includes the Middle East, it includes other areas as well.

It took great courage for Senator Feinstein to publicly identify the enemy and describe the basics of the doctrine that underpins their actions. She knew full well that her democratic base will be very uncomfortable with her bold truth about a problem that is devastating our country yet no one wants to identify including the president. Her words were like a breath of fresh air. Few Republicans, much less Democrats, on Capitol Hill have done as good a job of articulating the threat we face from Jihad.

Unfortunately, Feinstein’s former colleague, Secretary of State John Kerry, is not nearly as well informed as she is. He has uttered nothing to indicate that he has any grasp of the enemy threat doctrine and what makes our enemies “tick.”

In fact, just this week, Kerry parroted the long-discredited theory that terrorism is caused by poverty. In remarks delivered during a visit to the Vatican, Kerry proclaimed poverty to be the “root cause” of terrorism.

This isn’t the first time Kerry has regurgitated such nonsense. Speaking at the Global Counterterrorism Forum in the wake of the Jihadist terrorist attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, Kerry called for “providing more economic opportunities” for youth to prevent them from being recruited to terrorism.

Perhaps Kerry has forgotten that Osama Bin Laden was a multimillionaire who left a life of luxury in Saudi Arabia to wage global jihad? Or maybe he forgets that the current leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was no pauper either. He was a professor of surgery and practicing physician at one time in his native Egypt before he turned to jihad. Then there is current captive Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was well off enough to come to the United States to earn a degree in engineering from North Carolina A&T.

There is no actual evidence that poverty causes terrorism. Jihadist terrorism has its roots in the doctrine known as sharia. Jihadists have come to commit acts of terror from a variety of lifestyles, nationalities and socioeconomic backgrounds. There is no evidence to indicate that poverty is a prerequisite for Jihadist terrorism, despite what Kerry says.

In fact, Kerry’s statement shows a profound confusion and naïveté when it comes to the war with which we are faced. Fortunately, Senator Feinstein doesn’t have the same problem that Secretary Kerry has.

In fact, as Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Feinstein has just released a new, bipartisan report on the Jihadist terror attack on US diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11th, 2012, that goes a long way toward dispelling some of the myths surrounding that attack and assigning accountability for what went wrong.

Among the report’s findings:

  • The attack was NOT a spontaneous act of violence touched off by a protest in reaction to a video about the prophet Mohammed.
  • The U.S. government did not do enough to prevent the attack or protect the diplomatic facilities.
  • The Obama State Department had ample warning of a dangerous security situation in Benghazi but failed to take proper action to secure lives and property.
  • The Obama intelligence community issued statements after the attack that turned out to be wrong and then was slow in correcting those incorrect statements.

Feinstein’s committee’s candid, accurate report is quite different from the testimony before the Senate delivered by Senator Feinstein’s former colleague, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on January 23rd, 2013. Who can forget the shameful prevarications and doublespeak from Hillary Clinton that day?

But worst of all was this cynical and infamous passage:

With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest? Or was it because of guys out for a walk one night and decided they would go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?

Congratulations to Senator Feinstein for identifying the mistakes for which Hillary Clinton was ultimately responsible and laying out the facts for the American people that Benghazi was PREVENTABLE, because to us, it DOES make a difference!

Who is Carlos Lopez-Cantera the new Lieutenant Governor of Florida?

Governor Rick Scott with Carlos Lopez-Cantera. Photo courtesy of The Shark Tank.

Many Floridians are scratching their heads about Governor Rick Scott’s selection of Carlos Lopez-Cantera as his running mate. Some see this as a pure political move to pander to Hispanics. Others are just wondering who is Lopez-Cantera, the now former Property Appraiser for Miami-Dade County turned Lieutenant Governor of the sunshine state.

Governor Scott released this biography of Lieutenant Governor Lopez-Cantera:

Carlos Lopez-Cantera was born in Madrid, Spain on December 29, 1973. He was born two months premature and was returned to his intended birthplace of Miami, Florida once he was healthy enough to travel. Lopez-Cantera graduated from Miami-Dade College and continued his studies at the University of Miami, where he graduated with a degree in Business Administration.

In August 2012, the citizens of Miami-Dade County elected Carlos Lopez-Cantera as the Property Appraiser of Miami-Dade County. Carlos campaigned on a platform to make interaction with the office of the property appraiser easier, increasing community outreach and being more responsive to the needs of the residents of Miami-Dade.

From 2004 through 2012, Carlos served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives. Over the course of his 8-year term in the Legislature, Carlos served as a member of the Governor’s Property Tax Reform Committee, the My Safe Florida Home Advisory Council and the Miami-Dade County Mayor’s Mortgage Fraud Task Force. In the Florida House of Representatives, he chaired the Committee on Business Regulation and the Government Affairs Committee. Carlos served as Majority Whip from 2009 through 2010 and as the Majority Leader of the Florida House of Representatives during the final two years of his term from 2010 through 2012.

Carlos has been married to his wife Renee since 2005 and they have two young daughters.

Marc Caputo from the Miami Herald found something interesting when researching Lopez-Cantera. Caputo reports, “It’s easy to find home- and land-owner information on the website of Miami-Dade’s Property Appraiser, with a notable exception: the house where the county’s elected property appraiser lives. Details about Property Appraiser Carlos Lopez-Cantera’s home value and taxes are simply impossible to find with his website’s search engine. That makes him an exception in South Florida… The Miami Herald accidentally discovered the issue Monday while researching Lopez-Cantera amid word that Gov. Rick Scott plans to tap him Tuesday to fill the long-vacant post of lieutenant governor.”

“Even though Lopez-Cantera’s home information is nearly impossible to find, it doesn’t mean that he broke public-records laws, Parrish said, because the property appraiser’s website is offered as a courtesy to the public, not as a right mandated by Florida statute,” notes Caputo.

Caputo states in a Tampa Bay Tribune column, “Lopez-Cantera served under Rubio in the state House and served as majority leader through 2012, after which term limits forced him from office. He then ran for and won the relatively new elected position of Miami-Dade property appraiser… Lopez-Cantera has shown he can win in the county, is well-liked by conservatives throughout the state from his time leading the GOP in the state House, has helped lower property-tax values — thereby helping cut taxes —and has a scandal-free reputation in a county known for scandal.”

Lieutenant Governor Lopez-Cantera is the first American of  Hispanic descent to hold that office.

As this year progresses there will be more information coming to light about Lieutenant Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera. Stay tuned.

Women Voters This Year and Beyond

Men when in the company of other men have no hesitancy to admit they have no idea why women are so different in so many ways.

Well, viva the difference, but one does have to wonder why so many women of the present era feel no need for a man as a husband or father.

In May, the Census Bureau released a report noting that more than six out of ten women who gave birth in their early 20s were unmarried. “Overall,” a Washington Post article reported, “36 percent of all births in the United States were to unmarried mothers in 2011, the year that the census analyzed from answered in the American Community Survey.” Among whites, it was 29 percent. Among blacks, it was 68 percent.

For the second year in a row, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 40.7% of the babies born in the United States were born to unmarried mothers. That is very bad news.

It is an enormous commitment when a man asks “Will you marry me?”, but are we in an era when the answer is “No, thanks” or “Why?”

This is happening when women in general still earn less than men, encounter more problems borrowing for a car or a mortgage, and, if the Internet match-up services ads are true, are still are looking for Mr. Right. Their problem often is that he has done a Google search and learned she would involve a big investment. Many men choose to remain single these days or as the divorce rate indicates, to opt out of marriage.

None of this has anything to do with the 2014 midterm elections or the ones in 2016…or does it?

Well, yes it does. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, columnist Gerald F. Seib said “The gender gap is alive and well in American politics. Indeed, it may be the defining characteristic of our political system as next year’s midterm elections beckon.”

“We are not talking here just about the well-established pattern in which women are more likely to vote Democratic and men Republican in presidential elections. That’s true, but it appears to be only the tip of a gender-gap iceberg.” And here’s where it gets scary for conservatives of both sexes, a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found that 52% of men want Congress under Republican control “while just 38% of women feel that way.”

The poll reported that 49% of women say they approve of the job (Obama) is doing; just 37% of men approve. In either case, the numbers are too high because he has done the worst job of any President of the modern era or earlier.

Seib reported that “women are more likely to give the President high grades on leadership qualities, overall competence, and improving America’s image abroad.” This is so absurd it defies any explanation. “College-educated women, in short, emerge as a core Obama constituency.”

That might not be the case in 2014 because The Hill reports that, based on a Dec 23 CNN/ORC poll, support for Obamacare is dropping rapidly and “The drop in support indicated could be particularly troubling for the Obama administration because almost all of it came from women, whose opposition rose from 54% to 60% in a month.” The poll cited by Sieb indicates that Republican woman—more than 80%–dislike Obamacare.

The gender gap is well documented and in 2012 it was the largest in the history of Gallup’s polls—20 points—since the polls measuring it began in 1952.

One thing needs mentioning and that is the extraordinary Republican women. There’s Rep. Michelle Bachman, Sen. Susan Collins, and Gov. Jan Brewer, to name just a few in positions of political leadership and others like columnists Peggy Noonan. Michelle Malkin, and Ann Coulter. The list is much longer, but it tells me that the GOP is fortunate to have them.

Clearly, the Republican Party has to undertake a major effort to draw more women into the party and, right now, it is a divided party as the GOP establishment wage battle with the Tea Party Movement that challenges their control.

It must also strongly refute the Democratic Party’s lie that the GOP has “a war on women.” There is no such war.

The GOP, however, need not look to the League of Women Voters for any support. Despite its claim to be non-partisan, it has for decades tilted in favor of the Democratic Party and liberal policies. The League is pro-abortion, favors environmentalism, and a greater role for government in all aspects of the lives of women and men.

Who knows? The 2014 and 2016 elections may signal a shift in the liberal views of women voters. If so, that is bad news for the Democratic Party, but the Republican Party has to do a much better job of enlisting the support of American women.

© Alan Caruba, 2014

Winning Republican Strategy: Freedom vs Control

The difference between Democrat and Republican political philosophies has never been so clearly divided – boiling down to two words: FREEDOM vs CONTROL. Patriotic Americans understand the freedoms set forth under representational government by: “We the People.”

Question is: “Will Republicans unite to play their winning card?”

While the ever-so rigid left marches in lockstep doggedly sticking to failing policies: the age-old Democrat Tax & Spend, disregard for $18 trillion debt, over-reaching regulations that require semi-trucks to haul paperwork into the halls of Congress (of course, never to be read) … “The Age of Paranoia” is alive as NSA spies devour our mail, drones threaten flyovers and voters appear totally disgusted with “Big Sam” CONTROL.

Job creation is barely mentioned these days, except in a photo op. Instead Liberals steadfastly march towards income redistribution (a.k.a. income equality), while using inflammatory social issues to paint Republicans as “mean” and “uncompromising.” Don’t they realize it’s Republicans who are anti-Big Sam? While America is witnessing the high-speed decline of our culture, plummeting education scores, behind-the-scenes rogue powers spy on citizens for untold reasons … why?

It would be a blessing if the TEA Party vs Establishment dogfight could unite for the sake of freedom! It’s credibly possible that their conflict is fueled by a Liberal machete wielding power to tarnish and strike down the opposition. In reality, qualifying reasons why Republicans lost in 2012 had more to do with “hidden scandals” and little to do with political punditry. The best medicine, at this critical juncture, is a Republican truce to welcome “ALL Americans under the Republican Party Banner of freedom” – it could be an effortless victory.

Ronald Reagan would advise the party to adhere to the 11th amendment: “Not to speak ill of your own.” However, Reagan’s masterful leadership skills would have elevated him to the higher level than in-fighting and name-calling. (Reagan was a long time Democrat before he saw the light, which is why we should encourage all Americans to join us!)

In reality, free-minded citizens of all stripes can tackle a healing America by joining under the “United We Stand Republican Banner.” This is our best hope! Dr. Ben Carson, the new star on the block, wisely expressed “politics are about principle, not party!” Believe me, with this kind of clarity, America will soon shine again!

As Republicans spat, behind the scenes, the Liberal master plan is scheming to destroy our best candidates through lies like: “The GOP has no ideas.” Hard-working House Republicans would be frustrated to hear this as their 150 bills to create jobs, cut the budget and audit the Fed are disregarded. Harry Reid simply side-tracks them on his desk with no chance for a senatorial concluding vote. After all, Harry Reid’s stealth plan for massive amnesty requires jobs for our new citizens, as he needs to buy their votes for jobs to assure a one-party system!

Harry Reid’s stranglehold on America is camouflaged through the pen of his co-conspirators, the American liberal press majority. After all, his greedy power grab is unquenchable and must remain a secret because on a daily basis Big Sam imposes piles of regulations, treads on private property rights, free speech, and tugs at the heartstrings of liberal voters to trap them into a web of lifetime of dependency and strict control.

A renewed Republican Banner may initially create adamant opposition. When the ego is put aside and our traditions are honored, the efforts of our Founders will prevail. “The TEA Party was inspired by the Spirit of the Boston Tea Party of 1773 whose rallying cry was `No taxation without representation,’ and the modern TEA Party movement portends political fairness to benefit the American people through fiscal responsibility and less government interference in the lives of citizens. While the Republican Party was formed in 1854, by people who were opposed to slavery, and today freedoms principles remain lofty to support the US Constitution and inspire Americans towards “The American Dream.”

Uniting under freedoms principles will save America!

Economy – America’s free-market economy with a pro-business government will re-invigorate confidence.

National Defense – Republicans support President Ronald Reagan’s approach to America’s national defense as essential: Peace through strength, based on freedom and the will to defend it.

Health Care – Republicans support common-sense reforms that will lower costs, ensure quality health care that Americans deserve, and end lawsuit abuse while protecting the physician-patient relationship.

Education – Republicans believe in a world-class system of primary and secondary education with high standards so all students can reach their potential and parents are empowered.

Energy – Republicans believe in energy independence that encourages responsible production of all types of energy in a responsible and clean way, while opposing Cap & Trade Legislation to impose a national energy tax on families and small business that would kill jobs and raise utility prices.

Courts – Republicans believe a judge’s role is to follow US laws, and our Constitution as opposed to making decisions from the bench.

Let “Election 2014” evolve into a clear TWO word choice: Freedom vs Control.