Good clean fun for all

How much do you know about the Middle East? If you're like most Americans ... little to nothing! And if you're like true Americans ... you really don't care!

http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Middle+East

It's like cliff notes, but with even less reading.

'Tim Tebow Law' heads toward passage in Virginia

A bill allowing homeschool students to try out for public school athletic teams sailed through Virginia’s House of Delegates on Feb. 9.

Members voted 59-39 in favor of legislation modeled on 1996 Florida law that allowed Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, then a homeschooled student, to develop his football talent on a public school team.
Delegates who had sponsored two similar bills dropped theirs to stand behind H.R. 947, sponsored by Del. Robert Bell (R-Albemarle).

The state Senate still must consider the bill. Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has said he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

Read my full story here, published at The Heartland Institute:
http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2012/02/16/tim-tebow-law-heads-toward-passage-virginia 

A park ranger who needs to be fired

A few weeks ago, I came across this piece, at the San Francisco Chronicle, and thought, ‘well, there’s a good example of government run amok.’ Re-reading it two weeks later, that impression hasn’t much changed.

Here’s the opener: “A Montara man walking two lapdogs off leash was hit with an electric-shock gun by a National Park Service ranger after allegedly giving a false name and trying to walk away, authorities said.”

Yes, that’s Montara – not Montana. Montara is located nearby the Rancho Corral de Tierra, which was just folded into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area In California, according to the story.

The story continues, citing a spokesman from the park service, Howard Levitt: “The ranger, who wasn't identified, asked [the man, named Gary] Hesterberg to remain at the scene, Levitt said. He tried several times to leave, and finally the ranger "pursued him a little bit and she did deploy her" electric-shock weapon, Levitt said. "That did stop him." … Hesterberg, whose age was not available, was arrested on suspicion of failing to obey a lawful order, having dogs off-leash and knowingly providing false information, Levitt said.”

Really?

Since when does a park ranger have such authority over an American citizen? An American citizen taking his dogs on a walk?

This right here is Prime Reason Number One for the need of America to stay vigilant with private property rights. Public parks may be necessary in the minds of some, but never to the point where private citizens feel as if they don’t have the freedom to roam the very parks they fund and own.

America: Bent, but not broken

Oh come on America. How can we idly allow our nation to fall into an entitlement abyss where one in five depends upon government assistance?

We’re America – land of opportunity. Land of dreams and bootstraps and individual achievement and underdog successes. What happened? One in five. More than 67 million. Sixty-seven million hands reaching out to Capitol Hill for help. To Obama – socialist savior of the masses.

Where’s our strength? Our faith?

In the unemployment line, perhaps. And if that’s the case, that’s understandable, given the 8.3 percent jobless rate that actually passes for good economic news these days. But our ebb in strength should only go so far. For a temporary time. Not forever. Not even  for much longer. We’ve already stretched taxpayer pockets with extension upon extension of unemployment insurance.

Where’s our entrepreneurial spirit? Squashed by regulation, perhaps. Or by excessive taxation. By the same government overreach that’s confounded our housing market, politicized our education system, put down our greatness and symbolically second-placed our most enviable traits in kowtowing bows to leaders of other nations who are unfriendly to America’s interests.

Where’s our guts? You know – the kind that Gen. George Patton summoned? That President Ronald Reagan tapped? That Founding Fathers embraced and entreated in taking on what was supposed to be the insurmountable and undefeatable? Queasy with sickness, perhaps – at the dawning and realization that the nation’s servants have surpassed the nation’s bosses in terms of pay and benefits, and the private sector now pays its public workers a higher rate, on average.

“The federal government spent more taxpayer dollars than ever before in 2011 to subsidize Americans. The average individual who relies on Washington could receive benefits valued at $32,748, more than the nation’s average disposable personal income ($32,446),” writes a blogger for The Heritage Foundation.

This is not acceptable. This is not America. This is not how it’s supposed to be.

Perhaps we’ve forgotten. Perhaps we’ve grown tired. Perhaps we have too much to distract us – or maybe, we’ve lost too much to believe. But this is the part in the movie where the losing team rallies and wins. This is the chorus in the song that reminds of the darkness before dawn. This is the moment where George Washington bends to knee in prayer.

We are America. Land of the free. The hope of the many. The light that will not dim – that cannot dim. Obama is but a blink. His ilk is but a blot. And America will see her true nature take charge once again.

Don’t Vote for Obama – Reason No. 7

In order, numbers 10, 9 and 8 in a top ten list of reasons not to vote for Obama: Solyndra. Having a wife who keeps chiding us about our diet. And the White House manipulation of January jobs numbers. And now for No. 7 …

Obama is trouncing the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom of expression.

A new Obamacare mandate from the Department of Health and Human Services requires Catholic employers (not including the churches) to offer employees health care plans that include coverage for birth control, abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization procedures. Catholics, of course, abstain from birth control – not to mention abortion – based on religious reasons. And until Obama came along, businesses with Catholic bosses were quite free to choose health care packages for employees that did not include coverage for any of the above. Enter Obamacare.

The Obama administration says they’re just trying to bridge a health care gap and provide women with the services they need – yes, “need,” says David Axelrod. They also say they’re trying to do so in a way that honors religious beliefs. Really?

That seems an odd assertion. Just out of curiosity, in Axelrod’s world, what would an infringement on the First Amendment’s religion freedom look like? But the church isn’t sitting idly on this one.

“Yesterday, the head of the Catholic League, Bill Donohue, warned that the nation’s 70 million Catholics are ready to go to war with the administration’s dictates, saying “Never before, unprecedented in American history, for the federal government to line up against the Roman Catholic Church. This is going to be fought out with lawsuits, with court decisions and, dare I say it, maybe even in the streets.” – The Foundry.

Wow. Forget Islam. Obama’s waging his own religious war against Americans.

There are many ways a government can bring about a socialist system, Reagan reminded. And topping the list is the piecemeal passage of liberal agenda, one policy at a time. On what would have been Ronald Reagan's 101st birthday -- Feb. 6 -- we ought to think carefully on this wise warning.

Jesus: The dirty word of the decade

Matthew 24:9 “… ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” Ain’t that the truth in today’s world. And here’s just one more example of how the His name is removed from public life.

On January 17, the Supreme Court denied a petition to review a lower court’s case, Joyner v. Forsyth County. Most of the accompanying paperwork is available here, on the Supreme Court’s blog. But the gist is this:

Forsyth County Board of Commissioners began its Dec. 17, 2007 meetings like so many others – with prayer, as issued from an invited religious leader in the community. This particular prayer was led by Reverend Robert Hutchens, a self-described “minister of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,” according to pages 117-119 of the petition. The Reverend included references to the New Testament, to the Son, to the Cross of Calvary, to the Virgin Birth, and to the Bible, according to the petition, before closing with: “For we do make this prayer in Your Son Jesus’ name, Amen.”

In the audience were Janet Joyner and Constance Lynne Blackmon, awaiting a turn to speak on an agenda item. Their reaction to this prayer? From the petition:

Plaintiff Blackmon states that she felt coerced to stand for the prayer by the Board chairperson. ... She felt alienated as a county resident and less inclined to attend future meetings. ... Plaintiff Blackmon further states in her affidavit that she felt unwelcome as a non-Christian and “coerced by [her] government into endorsing a Christian prayer.”

Plaintiff Joyner testified that she was “shocked” at the prayer given by Reverend Hutchens and his thanking the Board for “having stood up for his right to pray to the Lord Jesus as he says the New Testament requires.” ... She felt compelled to bow her head during prayer. ... Plaintiff Joyner felt that the prayer was “worse than anything” she had ever heard at the meetings “in terms of its offensiveness.”... She states in her affidavit that she felt coerced “into endorsing a Christian prayer.”... Plaintiff Joyner decided not to speak on the agenda item she planned to speak on in part due to her fear of harming the 8d agenda item “because of this issue about the prayer."

So they sued. And in light of the Supreme Court’s denial to hear the case – they won.

Yet one more denial of the right to profess Christian faith in public. What’s interesting about this case is the Congressional Prayer Caucus sent an amicus brief, in support of the Forsyth Board of Commissioners.

“The amicus curiae brief [had asked] the Supreme Court to take up the case and overturn the Fourth Circuit’s decision, in hopes that the Court will bring the ruling into alignment with decisions of other federal courts and our nation’s historic legacy of permitting such prayer,” the CPC writes on its website. And why the Congressional Prayer Caucus’s involvement is so interesting is that the membership of this group is comprised of Republicans and Democrats – congressional representatives who daily argue their opposing views of policy and proposed law, sometimes in the most vehement of manner, yet somehow cast aside that political partisanship to come together on issues of higher importance and crucial concern to all. They pray for each other, for their families – imagine, Democrats praying for Republicans, Republicans praying for Democrats, in perhaps the most vitriolic of atmospheres in America.

And then there’s Ms. Joyner. Then there’s Ms. Blackmon. Then there’s the trending culture of America to remove all public displays and references of Christian faith, else threaten lawsuit, instead of adopting common sense courtesies. Would it have killed them to bow their heads in respect for one minute?

Don’t Vote for Obama – Reason No. 8

Number 10 in a top ten list of reasons not to vote for Obama was Solyndra. No. 9: Having a wife who keeps telling us what to eat. And continuing the countdown, here’s No. 8: He’s manipulating the jobs numbers.

Big news of today is the unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent for January. That’s the lowest it’s been in three years and the White House, of course, is heralding this boost.

“Today’s employment report provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to heal from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression,” said Alan Krueger, President Obama’s top economic adviser.

And this, from the president himself, in a public chide to Congress: “Don’t muck it up,” he said. “Do not slow down the recovery.”

Else what? He won’t be re-elected? What a travesty … but what’s even more of a travesty, is the back-slapping that’s going ‘round about these job numbers. Here’s why: While 8.3 percent is better economic news, the fact is the percent of Americans who are not actually in the labor market jumped to a 30-year high, at 63.7 percent.

This guy at Zero Hedge says it best: “A month ago, we joked when we said that for Obama to get the unemployment rate to negative by election time, all he as to do is to crush the labor force participation rate to about 55 percent. Looks like the good folks at the BLS heard us: it appears that the people not in the labor force exploded by an unprecedented record 1.2 million.”

If would-be workers stop looking for work, they’re not technically counted as unemployed. Good trick. At the same time, the numbers of part-timers – those who work 35 hours per week or less -- in the work force continues to grow. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of part-time workers between Dec. 2011 and Jan. 2012 increased by nearly 700,000. That’s a heck of a jump. And surely, no sane individual, to include politicians, could claim a healthy economy can sustain itself with a thriving part-time labor force.

Is this what Obama’s calling on Congress to preserve – to not “muck up?”

See more reasons not to elect Obama, here: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

Business bails, alternative energy fails -- but Obama refuses reality

Here's a blunt example of how far the Obama administration strays from the concept of a free market:

Point No. 1: Business is bailing on alternative energy
BP, an energy company that won praise from environmental activists after adopting the slogan “Beyond Petroleum” while investing heavily in solar power, is shutting down its 40-year-old solar business after executives decided solar power production is not economically competitive.

The company had been scaling back its BP Solar operations since 2008.

“BP’s goal is to profitably grow in specific segments of the energy industry,” said Daren Beaudo, a BP spokesman in the company’s U.S. press office in Texas. “As part of this strategic focus, a decision has been made to exit the solar business. As a result, BP Solar has ceased development of future solar energy projects and is beginning the orderly wind down of its operations.”

That's an excerpt from a Feb. 2 Heartland Institute story, linked here:
http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2012/02/02/bp-gives-solar-power


Also posted on the Heartland Institute's webpage, but from January, this story, which segues into:


Point No. 2: China is losing big in the alternative energy market
Chinese solar power companies reported larger-than-expected losses in the third quarter of 2011, with few buyers lining up to purchase solar power equipment. The Chinese companies are trying to stay afloat by selling excess inventory at below-production costs, which has the Obama administration claiming the Chinese are engaging in unfair trade practices.

Full story here: http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2012/01/04/chinese-solar-companies-losing-money

Point No. 3: Obama isn't getting the message
The conclusion? Alternative energy isn't working. It's not profitable, it's not driven by consumer demand, and it's not practical as a business investment -- when absent heavy government subsidy, that is. And yet, compare the Obama administration's latest:

Echoing President Obama’s State of the Union call for an “all of the above” energy strategy, the Department of the Interior today marked a major milestone for offshore wind energy along the Atlantic coast.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau announced that the department’s renewable energy initiative has cleared an important environmental review, allowing Interior to move forward with the process for wind energy lease sales off Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and Delaware.

Once again, see the full report here: http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Obama-Administration-Announces-Major-Steps-toward-Leasing-for-Offshore-Wind-Projects-in-Mid-Atlantic.cfm

And go back a couple months to December 2011, and this report, from NJ1015, which feeds into Point No. 3:

Point No. 4: Once again, Obama isn't getting the message
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his department has approved a 300-megawatt solar farm on public land in Arizona and a 200-megawatt wind farm in Southern California. The wind farm includes 186 megawatts that would be produced on federal lands.

Link: http://nj1015.com/obama-admin-pushes-renewable-energy-on-2-coasts/

Point No. 5: Couldn't taxpayer dollars be better spent elsewhere?