Category Archives: Local Affairs.

Survived the weekend…

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It was busy! I’ve been looking forward to this last weekend for some time. I mentioned a couple of months ago that my ham radio bug has returned in full force. The connection to this last weekend was the Ararat Shrine Hambash. When I was first licensed, it seemed as if there was a Hamfest every month somewhere in the area. Now there are only three or four a year.

Be that as it may, I had a reason to go to the Hambash. I’d hoped to be able to take my Extra class test. Unfortunately, I was too late and there were too many already testing. I really didn’t expect to pass; I just wanted to see the differences in the testing process. It has been over forty years since my last Ham test.

I took my General/Advanced class tests at the Kansas City FCC office. A ham friend who was also the FCC Engineer-in-Charge, WØAT, administered the written tests. He gave me the General class written test first. Passed. Then the Advanced Class written test. Passed. Then the Extra Class written test. Passed.

The code test was next. Thirteen word-per-minutes test: passed. That made me at least an Advanced class. The Eighteen word-per-minute code test was next. Failed. Only 17wpm. In 1972, you have to get X number of consecutive letters/numbers/punctuation, correct. I was a few letters short for an Extra class ticket. Life and work then intervened and I never went back to retest the code.

I didn’t get to test Saturday. I really wasn’t prepared but I thought, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,”…and perhaps I’d get enough correct answers on the written test to pass. Technology and Ham Radio has changed in forty years. I needn’t be bothered to remember my old tube-technology on the current test.

Regardless, it was an interesting Hamfest and the hall was filled, elbow-to-elbow, with people. One vendor had come from Minnesota. I saw a lot of old ham gear of the same models I once owned and operated–Heathkits, two models of Heathkit HF amplifiers (I built one back in the ’70s,) early Kenwood transceivers, it brought back a lot of memories.

Next on my schedule was to rush home amidst driving rain like an upended bucket to get Mrs. Crucis (why does it always rain on hamfests?). We were off to our Grandson’s birthday. He was fifteen this weekend. Time must pass faster as we get older.

Friendsofthe NRA-2015-2Later in the afternoon we were off again. This time it was to the Heart of America Friends of the NRA dinner. I had been to the one in Harrisonville, MO, last year and met many personal friends there. This time my wife came along. Like the last NRA dinner, we met some personal friends and sat with them.

Other than dropping our ticket stubs into the jar for door prizes, we didn’t buy any raffle tickets. I supposed I could have afforded to drop $20 on the top item, a prized Henry lever-action in 44-40. On the other hand, being on a fixed income places restraints on our ‘disposable’ income. In other words, we spend our money carefully. I’d rather spend that disposable income with friends. (And, truth be told, renovating my ham station is not going to be cheap.)

The banquet hall was packed. I don’t know the exact count of people. There were Kansas and Missouri politicos present, a few local PD Chiefs and retired LEOs and many, many NRA members and their families.

The most welcome was the Johnson County 4-H Shooting Team. The team was a collection of boys and girls who were the Kansas state champions. The banquet was designed to be family friendly and there were many more than a few kids present with their parents. When the auction started, two of the items were designed to be for, “Kids-only.” One item was a large watergun. The other was a semi-auto nerf gun. The 4-H kids helped show the auction items throughout the evening. I think they had more fun than the older attendees.

Ted Nugent Stars and Stripes Guitar

Ted Nugent Stars and Stripes Guitar

The top auction item was a Ted Nugent, numbered and autographed, Red-White-and Blue, Stars and Stripes Gibson guitar. It sold for $2500 if I remember correctly.

It was a fun night. Mrs. Crucis won a door prize, a bouquet of flowers. I, on the other hand, won nothing. That was OK, too. Frankly, I don’t think I’d have room to mount some of the prizes.

The weekend is over. This coming weekend is busy, too. Friday is the Cass County Lincoln Day celebration. I’ll be bringing one of the silent auction items like I did last year. I’ll let you guess which it is if you come. Come and be welcome. Tickets are $30 at the door.

Cass County Lincoln Day

Friday, April 24, 2015, 6:00pm, Peculiar, MO, Lions Club.

Guest speakers: State Senator Ed Emery, Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler.

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Hearts and Minds

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…is an old phrase made famous in the ’60s and ’70s. The concept was valid. However, the implementation left a lot to be desired. The phrase came to me today as I read an article in the American Thinker. Most of the nation is watching the candidates for federal office. But there are hundreds of other candidates running for local, county and state offices as well and the prognosis for THEM is more telling on the sensibilities of the country. The outlook for the dems is potentially worse than anyone thought.

http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/content/images//2014-10-16%20Senate%20Map%20(600).png

Center for Politics Projected Map of the 2014 general election

One clarification. When the article below speaks of chambers, it counts the state Houses and state Senates separately. One state, Nebraska, has a single-chamber legislature. Nebraska is also, by state law, non-partisan. That leaves 98 partisan legislative chambers.

State Legislatures and 2014

By Bruce Walker, October 19, 2014

Most of the midterm attention seems to be on control of the United States Senate, with some attention on key gubernatorial races like Florida and Wisconsin, and with a smidgen of notion to the size of the Republican House majority after 2014.  Most pundits see Republicans padding that current majority by some seats.

There is another level to the 2014 midterm that passes almost completely under the political radar:  control of state legislatures.  Twenty years ago, in the 1994 midterms, Republicans made dramatic gains in state legislatures – a vital part of our constitutional system, which had been utterly dominated by Democrats for a century.

How weak had Republicans been in state legislatures?

Consider these data.  After the 1980 Reagan landslide, Democrats held 74 of the 98 partisan state legislative chambers.  After the 1984 Reagan landslide, in which Democrats carried only one state, Democrats held 67 out of the 98 chambers.  After George H. Bush beat Dukakis in 1988, Democrats held 72 out of 98 chambers.  Even when Republicans were winning the White House easily, Democrats held overwhelming strength in state legislatures.

This really changed when Newt Gingrich nationalized the midterm election with his Contract With America, which swept Republicans into secondary statewide elective offices, like lieutenant governor and state attorney general, as well as state legislative seats.  After the 1994 midterms, Republicans held 46 of the 98 state legislative chambers; they held the same number after Clinton was re-elected in 1996.  This strength actually grew after the 1998 midterms, when Republicans were losing House seats, and grew again after the 2000 presidential election. 

That was a tipping point.  Democrats had long, and rather boastfully, gerrymandered congressional districts so that the number of Democrats in the House was significantly larger than the number of votes Democrat candidates in House races received.  In the reapportionment and redistricting after the 2000 census, Republicans, for the first time in a century, could stop Democrat gerrymandering and, in fact, gerrymander themselves.

Just as importantly, Republicans could now stop Democrat gerrymandering of state legislative districts and could, in fact, draw the district lines in state legislatures to maximize the number of seats Republicans would win.  This strategy proved so resilient that even after the 2008 election – after two straight elections of big Democrat gains – Democrats held only 62 of the state legislative chambers, five fewer than they held after the 1984 Reagan landslide.

Hidden in the congressional gains of the 2010 Republican landslide, the GOP controlled 59 state legislative chambers, far more than at any time in modern history, and as a direct consequence of that, Republican governors like Scott Walker were able to push through laws to limit public employee unions, reduce voter fraud, and protect the sanctity of life, among other conservative reforms.  

Because 2010, like 2000, was the election to choose state legislatures who would draw congressional and state legislative districts for the next decade, this Republican midterm gain was particularly important.  So even when Obama was re-elected in 2012, the congressional seats that had been drawn after the census largely by Republican state legislators elected a comfortable (albeit smaller) House Republican majority, and the state legislative districts drawn largely by Republicans gave the GOP 56 of the 98 partisan state legislative chambers – a slight drop, but far more than Republicans had ever held in the heyday of Reagan or Eisenhower, both of whom won two landslide presidential elections.

After the 2014 midterm, which looks increasingly like a Republican wave election that will bring victory to Republicans in state elections as well as Senate and House elections, that 56 state legislative chambers could grow – perhaps a lot.  The Democrat majority makes for just one vote in the Colorado Senate, Iowa Senate, Nevada Senate, and Washington Senate.  In other chambers, the Democrat majority could easily be swept away by a modest Republican tide: Colorado House, Maine Senate, Minnesota House, Minnesota Senate, Nevada House, New Mexico Senate, New Mexico House, New York Senate, Oregon House, Oregon Senate, Washington House, and West Virginia House. 

Depending upon the outcome of gubernatorial races, this could put Republicans in a position to actually control state government in sates like Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Iowa.  These legislatures could pass and Republican governors sign new laws that rein in the political levies of public employee unions or create new and more effective ways to investigate and prosecute voter fraud.

No one is going to be talking about state legislative races on the Tuesday evening of this midterm, but the impact on politics and policies could be huge.

Liberal tyranny is spreading everywhere from Houston’s Mayor Annise Parker attempting to suppress religious speech to the city of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, ordering two pastors to officiate same-sex marriages or face fines and/or imprisonment. These two examples of suppression of free religious speech is no different from Kansas City’s Mayor Sly James passing an ordinance banning the open carry of a weapon, “to send a message,” to open carry advocates. The purpose of the ordinance was, again, the suppression of free speech and expression.

In the end, all these acts by government are suppression of ‘unalienable’ and constitutional rights by leftist controlled governments. That is why gaining control of local and state governments is so important. Political rot starts at the top. Political recovery begins at the bottom.

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Payback

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The Kansas Senate race continues. Pat Roberts is running behind Greg Orman in the polls. Orman has not declared, if he wins, which party he will caucus. In the Senate, one seat could make a critical difference.

A new factor has appeared, Milton Wolf, Roberts’ primary opponent. Rumors are flying that Wolf may endorse Orman in return for Orman’s commitment to caucus with the ‘Pubs.

FOX News reports…

WOLF LOOKING FOR REVENGE WITH ORMAN
Milton Wolf, who lost tough primary battle with Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, may dish out some political payback by endorsing Roberts’ general election opponent, Greg Orman in the key Kansas Senate race. As Wolf weighs the move sources tell Politico, “[T]here’s a big catch: To win Wolf’s endorsement, Orman must first agree to caucus with the Senate GOP if he were to defeat Roberts…The two men were scheduled to meet Friday afternoon at Orman’s house in Olathe, Kansas., just outside of Kansas City, according to two people familiar with the matter. One person said Orman’s team sought the meeting but there was no ask for an endorsement. Another source said the meeting may be canceled now that the media have caught wind of it…An endorsement could provoke some sharp GOP backlash for Wolf, too. As Roberts has slipped in the polls, the GOP has made a furious push to showcase a united front behind his candidacy.” — FOX Newsletter, September 26, 2014.

Add to this situation, Roberts’ residency problems have just grown worse. The Topeka Capitol Journal has uncovered documents where Roberts purchased a home in Virginia whose sale included the statement that the Virginia home was his ‘primary’ residence.

I’m not a Kansas resident, but in my opinion, Pat Roberts is toast. He can retire to his ‘Ol’ Virginny Home!’

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Tuesday’s Notes: DESE Coup

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The Missouri Legislature passed HB 1490 that required the state of Missouri to create new educational standards. The purpose, while not explicitly stated, was to block the spread of Common Core in Missouri. The first of the meetings of the committee began this week. Attendees were surprised to find the meeting co-opted by the Missouri Department of Education. The Department of Education was purposely not invited to host the meetings by the Legislature. That didn’t stop Governor Jay Nixon from interfering.

One attendee, writing in the American Spring website, reported the initial meeting.

DESE and The Hijacking of HB 1490

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Last Friday, I received confirmation from the Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives office that I was picked to be a participant on a work group established by HB 1490. This allows for groups of parents and educators to work together to develop standards for our schools. The language of HB 1490 is as follows, as related to the makeup of these work groups:

3. Work group members shall be selected in the following manner:
(1) Two parents of children currently enrolled in grades kindergarten through twelve shall be selected by the president pro tempore of the senate;
(2) Two parents of children currently enrolled in grades kindergarten through twelve shall be selected by the speaker of the house of representatives;
(3) One education professional selected by the state board of education from names submitted to it by the professional teachers’ organizations of the state;
(4) One education professional selected by a statewide association of Missouri school boards;
(5) One education professional selected by the state board of education from names submitted to it by a statewide coalition of school administrators;
(6) Two education professionals selected by the president pro tempore of the senate in addition to the members selected under subdivision (1) of this subsection;
(7) Two education professionals selected by the speaker of the house of representatives in addition to the members selected under subdivision (2) of this subsection;
(8) One education professional selected by the governor;
(9) One education professional selected by the lieutenant governor;
(10) One education professional selected by the commissioner of higher education;
(11) One education professional selected by the state board of education from names submitted to it by nationally-recognized career and technical education student organizations operating in Missouri; and
(12) One education professional selected by the state board of education from names submitted to it by the heads of state-approved baccalaureate-level teacher preparation programs located in Missouri.

This would be a total of 16 members for each of the designated work groups. Notice that nowhere in this language will you find a role for DESE or their designees.

When I arrived at the Capital this morning, I was energized to be a part of the process that would determine the future of our children’s education, while preserving the local control of our school districts set forth in our state Constitution. As a parent in one of the state’s smallest school districts, the opportunity to work with parents and educators to define our State’s path in education is an honor. The responsibility of being appointed to these work groups is one that I definitely felt as I walked through the halls of our State Capital.

As I told the fellow members of our work group (History and Government, K-5), this is the single most important thing I have ever done in my life. I felt a swell of pride when I made that statement, along with a rush of emotion.

It is a responsibility not just to my children, but to all children, and parents, in the state of Missouri.

When I made my way to the Truman Building to meet the members of our work group, I was ready to get about this serious work. Upon arriving, I found myself faced with a reality that was the anti-thesis of what I was expecting and completely contrary to the language in HB 1490.

I walked in to find a small group of people, considerably less than the full 16 member panel clearly defined in HB 1490. Only ten members of our group were assembled. This was the first disappointment of the day.

I was greeted by a ‘facilitator’ when I entered the conference room. This person had assumed the role of leadership over our work group and was flanked by two other representatives from the Missouri Department of Secondary and Elementary education. I was puzzled. DESE, according to HB 1490, was not supposed to be a participant in these work sessions. While they are open to the public (and I encourage anyone who can attend to do so), DESE is not supposed to have a role in these groups. The state legislature went to great lengths to determine who is supposed to participate in these sessions. They did not list DESE in the language above, defining the makeup of these groups.

I didn’t say anything at first. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was witnessing. Soon after I took my seat, it became abundantly clear.

I was witnessing the same assumption of authority by DESE that has become the standard in schools across Missouri. DESE’s ‘facilitator’ was lying in wait to execute a coup of the process set forth by HB 1490, perched behind her Power Point presentation like a Black Widow ready to devour any hapless fly who dissented from DESE’s darling, the Common Core Standards.

The column continues. The DESE packed the room and then used those non-workgroup attendees to ram-rod the meeting to conform to the goals set by the DESE, not the work-group members. Other reports about the session mirror the comments above.

Tension marks Missouri education goals rewrite

By SUMMER BALLENTINE and DAVID A. LIEB, September 22, 2014

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — An effort to rewrite Missouri’s educational standards got off to a tense and sometimes confrontational start Monday as parents and educators opposed to the Common Core guidelines clashed with those reluctant to ditch them.

Under a new Missouri law, eight task forces each comprised of more than a dozen appointees are supposed to recommend new learning benchmarks for public school students to replace the national Common Core guidelines by the 2016-2017 school year.

But not all of the appointees had been named in time for Monday’s initial meetings. Those who were present first argued about whether to actually meet, then about whether officials from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education should be present, who should take notes, and whether the public should be allowed to watch their work.

More than an hour into its meeting, one task force decided to shut off an education department video camera that had been recording its proceedings.

After resolving issues about how to meet, task force members sparred over the merits of the Common Core standards, which were developed by a national organization of state school officers and the National Governors Association. They are used to gauge students’ progress from grade-to-grade and create consistency between states. But opponents say they were adopted without enough local input.

Missouri is among 45 states to have adopted the Common Core standards but is one of several now backing away from them. Indiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina also have taken steps to rewrite their standards, North Carolina is reviewing its guidelines and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has suspended his state’s testing contracts in an attempt to halt Common Core standards.

Missouri’s attempt to forge new standards got off to such a shaky start Monday that some wondered whether it ultimately could succeed.

“If they can’t come to a consensus, what do you do at that point?” said Sarah Potter, spokeswoman for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “We’re not really sure.”

There was a clear divide among task force members between Common Core opponents appointed by Republican legislative leaders and supporters of the standards appointed by public education officials.

Before the official meetings began, about two dozen appointees of Republican legislative leaders met in the House chamber for a strategy session. Among those addressing the group was Mary Byrne, co-founder of the Missouri Coalition Against Common Core, who asserted that the standards violate state law.

In some meetings, members at times spoke over each other. While some pushed to fully abandon Common Core, others sought more of a revision of the standards.

“I get told every day by parents, ‘We’re sitting at the table for hours with tears in our eyes,'” trying to do homework under the Common Core standards, said Brad Noel, of Jackson, a parent representative appointed by House Speaker Tim Jones to the elementary math task force. “A lot of it is, in my opinion, not appropriate.”

But “how do we know Common Core is not going to work? We’re barely into it,” said Ann McCoy, coordinator of the mathematics education program at the University of Central Missouri, appointed by the higher education commissioner. “It’s frustrating to me as an educator to change and change and change.”

James Shuls, a Jones appointee who is an associate professor in educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, argued that the state doesn’t need detailed standards and should instead adopt minimal requirements, leaving the rest to local districts.

The task forces are to make recommendations by October 2015 to the State Board of Education, which then must gather additional public comment.

The motivation of DESE to sabotage these meetings is their determination to retain central control over the state’s education and education policy. Loose requirements that allow local school boards to determine what is best for their schools lessens the need of state oversight—and calls in question why Missouri needs such a large Education Department…or even if we need a state Department of Education at all. When their rice-bowl is threatened, it is not surprising DESE has acted the why they have. Why, if something isn’t done, these bureaucrats could find themselves out of a job!

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The next battlefield—Kansas

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The Battle of Mississippi in the GOP civil war is drawing to a close. The result is still in doubt. For the establishment GOP its Pyrrhic victory may evolve to defeat in November.

Chris McDaniel is investigating what appears to be massive vote fraud—democrats crossing over to vote in the run-off. That’s illegal in Mississippi. More than 1,000 fraudulent votes have been found already. Haley Barbour is being investigated about robo-calls to black claiming a McDaniel win will mean an end to welfare and other false claims. Reports of vote buying by the GOP establishment are also under investigation, one that may cause Cochran being removed from the ballot in November. The Washington GOP, through the NRSC, had dumped a ton of money into Mississippi to support Thad Cochran.

Why would a Cochran victory be Pyrrhic? Because the GOP has tainted the well. If Cochran versus the democrat is the choice in November, why would the GOP expect all those alienated conservatives to vote for Cochran? If that is the choice, I would expect conservatives to just not vote for Cochran and the democrat may win. When people see no clear choice, they may choose to not choose at all.

The NRSC is doing the same in another state—Kansas. Pat Roberts, a 47-year Washington veteran who hasn’t lived in Kansas for decades, is being challenged by Dr. Milton Wolf. The NRSC is dumping more and more money into Kansas against Wolf—another Tea Partier challenging a GOP establishment stalwart and political rubber-stamp.

Remember Mississippi, and FIGHT. LIKE. HELL. in Kansas

This Independence Day, the American Revolution endures

By: Diary)  |  July 3rd, 2014 at 02:05 PM

Conservatives, this is your call to arms, and Kansas is the battlefield.

The truth of the Mississippi Betrayal hurts. GOP party bosses have declared an all-out war on conservatives and betrayed our Republican Party itself in the process. The GOP establishment in general and the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) in particular have some serious explaining to do.

America is descending into a struggle, less about Republicans versus Democrats and more about the permanent ruling class versus the American citizens. The NRSC betrayed the wishes of its Republican donors by diverting their hard-earned money from their stated goal of defeating Democrats and instead used the funds in Mississippi where they defeated a conservative Republican. The betrayal included outrageous and false charges of racism against a fellow Republican where they actually joined league with liberal Democrats including explosive evidence that Sen. Thad Cochran’s campaign possibly funded an illegal vote-buying scheme.

The party boss behind the NRSC’s bone-headed betrayal is Kansas’ own Sen. Jerry Moran. The NRSC spent over $200 thousand and deployed an army of staffers and volunteers to knock tens of thousands of doors and ring tens of thousands of phones in Mississippi to join league with liberal Democrats and defeat Chris McDaniel for the sin of being a constitutional conservative.

This was never about defeating Democrats or winning a Republican majority in the Senate. RNC chairman Reince Priebus admitted that Mississippi was not in play for Democrats. Faced with the ugly truth on the KCMO Morning Show with Greg Knapp, NRSC Chairman Sen. Jerry Moran confessed, “First of all, the NRSC is not the Republican Party.” He excused the betrayal with an  unusually candid confession that the NRSC “supports Republican incumbent senators to help them get reelected. That’s an important aspect of its mission.”

Kansas is the new Ground Zero.

And now the NRSC is circling the wagons around another insider favorite, my GOP primary opponent, Sen. Pat Roberts who has been in Washington for 47 years. Like Thad Cochran, Roberts’ record is lackluster at best. Roberts is posing as a conservative during an election year. Before I challenged him, however, Pat Roberts’ 2012 scorecard at Club For Growth was 55 and at FreedomWorks was 54. He voted for Barack Obama’s $600 billion fiscal cliff tax hike and to raise the debt ceiling 11 different times. Pat Roberts even voted to put Kathleen Sebelius in charge of ObamaCare.

Perhaps most offensive, Pat Roberts doesn’t even have a home in Kansas. He first ran for Congress using a vacant lot in Dodge City (where he has never lived) as his official address. He scrambled to rent a bedroom from a donor where he brags that he has “full access to the recliner.” (I’m going to give him permanent access to that recliner.) The Kansas GOP circled the wagons around Pat Roberts by empaneling a board of his public endorsers to declare he can remain on the ballot despite having declared that his Virginia home is his primary residence.

Playing the insider game, Sen. Pat Roberts contributed $5,000 from his PAC to Thad Cochran’s campaign which is now accused of the illegal Democrat vote-buying scandal.

…

We must start acting like the Americans we were meant to be: sovereign citizens of the republic, not subjects of a permanent ruling class. Our Founders conquered a continent and fought a revolution to escape a permanent ruling class. We must not be the generation that surrenders it. We must not squander the blessings of liberty they provided.

This Independence Day the American Revolution endures and the battlefield is Kansas. Step up. Join the revolution. Contribute. Volunteer. Say a prayer for our nation. Get involved.

Remember Mississippi, and FIGHT. LIKE. HELL. in Kansas.

Kansas Senator and NRSC Chairman Jerry Moran was on Greg Knapp’s local radio talk show. Knapp asked Moran directly about the NRSC’s role in the Mississippi primary and about the robo-calls and other reports of political abuse and illegalities. Moran, at first, didn’t answer the question, skirting the issue. Under pressure, he distanced himself claiming the NRSC had no control over expenditures after donating the money. Moran didn’t answer the followup question, “Who received the NRSC’s money?”

That same station is running back-to-back ads by the Robert’s campaign claiming Wolf ridiculed patient x-rays on Facebook. When pressed for proof, Robert’s people never responded but they continue to make the same unsupported claims. The say Wolf violated ethics conventions. They ignore Robert’s own ethics issues. A typical tactic of the GOP establishment.

The Missouri primary is less than a month away, August 5th. Missourians, like Kansans must make choices. Fortunately, the MO GOP is responding better than the leadership in Kansas and Mississippi. If they want to gain control of the Governor’s mansion and retain control of the statehouse, they had better support the grassroots conservatives across the state…or, else! Remember what happened to the Whigs.

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Happenings

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The lead-off story today is one of valor. Sgt. Kyle J. White, 27, a Seattle native who now lives in Charlotte, will receive the Medal of Honor today for saving his fellow soldiers after a 2007 ambush in Afghanistan.

Former Army Sgt. Kyle J. White to receive Medal of Honor

By Jon Harper, Stars and Stripes, Published: April 15, 2014

Staff Sgt. Conrad Begaye awards Spc. Kyle White the Combat Infantryman Badge during a ceremony in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, Nov. 6, 2007.
  
Photo courtesy of Kyle White

WASHINGTON — Former Army Sgt. Kyle J. White will be awarded the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony on May 13, 2014, the White House announced late Tuesday afternoon.

White, 27, will receive the nation’s highest military award for his actions during a dismounted movement in mountainous terrain in Aranas, Afghanistan, on Nov. 9, 2007.

White was serving as a Platoon Radio Telephone Operator assigned to C Company, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, when his team of U.S. and Afghan National Army soldiers were set up and ambushed by a much larger and more heavily armed Taliban force after a meeting with Afghan villagers.

“There was one shot, you know, down into the valley, and then it was two shots, and then it was full-automatic fire and RPGs … it was coming from multiple directions,” White later recalled, according to an Army news release.

White was knocked unconscious by a rocket-propelled grenade that landed near him. When he woke up, 10 of the 14-man American element and the ANA soldiers were gone. To avoid the enemy fire, they had been forced to slide 150 feet down the side of a rocky cliff.

White noticed that his teammate, Spc. Kain Schilling, had been shot in the arm. After White and Schilling found cover under a tree, White put a tourniquet on Schilling and stopped the bleeding. Then White saw Marine Sgt. Phillip Bocks lying out in the open, badly wounded.

White sprinted 30 feet across open ground under a hail of bullets to reach Bocks. White made four runs out in to the open to drag Bocks out of the line of fire. He succeeded, but Bocks eventually succumbed to his wounds. Soon afterward, Schilling got hit in the leg by small-arms fire. White again saved his life, using his belt as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

Then White noticed his platoon leader, 1st Lt. Matthew C. Ferrara, lying face-down on the trail, motionless. White again exposed himself to fire and crawled to Ferrara’s position. After he realized Ferrara was already dead, White returned to Schilling’s side and began using his radio, until an enemy round blew the hand-mic out of his hand and disabled the radio. White grabbed Bocks’ radio and used it to bring in mortars, artillery, air strikes and helicopter gun runs to keep the enemy at bay. Friendly fire gave him his second concussion of the day when a mortar round landed too close and knocked him off his feet.

After nightfall, White marked the landing zone and assisted the flight medic in hoisting the wounded Americans and Afghans into the helicopter. White would not allow himself to be evacuated until everyone else was in a position to leave.

Six American servicemembers died in the battle.

Well done, Sgt Kyle.

***

Today is Primary Day in at least two states, Nebraska and West Virginia. Both elections may foretell the path of the GOP come November.

The GOP establishment touted the election of North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis, who won the U.S. Senate primary against his Tea Party opponent, as a major achievement. I’m not so sure. Tillis’ voting record is as conservative as that of his Tea Party opponent. Yes, he had the endorsement of the establishment but that doesn’t guarantee allegiance to Mitch McConnell.

The Nebraska GOP Primary is between Ben Sasse, a former Bush administration health policy wonk who helped turn around a struggling Nebraska college, and former state Treasurer Shane Osborn, who has been supported by Karl Rove and McConnell’s Republican National Senate committee (RNSC). Sasse has received the endorsement of Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee plus support from The Heritage Foundation and Jim DeMint’s Senate Conservative Fund (SCF).

According to that latest polling, Sasse is favored to win. That trend apparently has motivated Osborn to use Karl Rove’s favorite tactic—mud-slinging and negative ads.

The other potentially significant primary today is in West Virginia where seven-term Rep. Shelley Moore Capito is expected to easily win the Republican primary for the US Senate. Capito is widely favored to win the seat currently held by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-WV. Current democrat Senator Joe Manchin has praised Capito in the race. Manchin is one of several democrats being courted by ‘Pubs to switch parties.

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On the Missouri side, state ‘Pub Senate leaders have reached a deal with democrats to end their filibuster on the 72-hour wait for an abortion. The deal? It was for the dems to end their filibuster and allow the Early Voting bill to pass. In return Ron Richard, RINO-Joplin, would not bring the Paycheck Protection bill and the Voter Photo-ID to the floor.

“What was the grand bargain between Republican Senate Majority Floor Leader Ron Richard and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jolie Justus? … Democrats agreed to end their filibuster of the 72-hour waiting period for abortion and to not block the Republicans’ early voting proposal, while Republicans agreed to not bring up ‘Paycheck Protection’ and a ballot question that would allow the legislature to require voters to present photo identification at the polls. The abortion legislation was sent back to the House by a 22-9 vote, where it was originally supported with support from 113 lawmakers. … The Republican early voting plan, which also passed, would ask the voters to allow six early days for voting. All of the early voting days would be on weekdays during business hours, which Democrats have broadly opposed.” — PoliticMO Newsletter, May 13, 2014.

Yes, folks, Ron Richard has betrayed us again, the second time within a year. I can’t understand why our Jeff City republican leadership allows this traitor to the Republican party to continue to hold his post in the Senate. 

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Followup

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It didn’t take long for Missouri Democrats to take retribution against Representative Keith English (D-Florissant.) English was the sole democrat vote needed to override Democrat Governor Jay Nixon’s veto of the Tax Cut Bill (SB509.)

Yesterday, the day following English’s veto-busting vote, he received a letter from House Democratic Leader Jake Hummel removing him from his committee assignments. Some insiders claim it was a symbolic gesture because none of English’s committees will be meeting for the remainder of this legislative term.

It is remarkable to observe the differences between democrats and the ‘pubs. English was disciplined by being removed from his committee assignments for a critical vote against the demands of his party. Last September, Senators Dempsey and Richard, reversed their votes on similar bills during the veto session, voting to uphold Nixon’s vetos. Their change of votes, from for-the-bill to against-the-bill, occurred after they accompanied Nixon on a taxpayer-paid junket to Europe. Nothing happened to those two. English, however, lost his committee assignment.

English’s decision to vote for the tax cuts, some $620 million when the cuts are activated, was not a recent occurrence.

“English was a special guest at a private reception for Republican lawmakers on Tuesday night. He told members that he wanted to vote in favor of the bill when it was first brought up in the House, but that he was urged by Republican leadership to hold off until the override vote in an attempt to avoid pressure from Democrats, including the governor.” — PoliticMO Newsletter, May 8, 2014

I haven’t examined English’s voting record. I would not be surprised that he has sided with the ‘Pubs in the past.

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HB 1439, the Second Amendment Preservation Act, is hung up in committee in the House. It had passed in the House on April 12th on a vote of 114 to 41. It went to the Senate and passed there on a vote of 23 to 8. However, (isn’t there always a ‘however?) the Senate made some changes to the bill. Those changes required a confirming vote in the House. That vote has not yet happened.

Why?

There was a provision in the House version that was changed in the Senate; a change some House members demand be reinstated. If the House changes the Senate version, we are in another series of ping-pong from House to Senate and time is running out.

I’m coming to believe we will not pass HB1439. Some insiders who have watched this bill closely from the beginning believe it was designed to fail, that it contained a poison-pill or two.

It is not a good bill. It is a hodge-podge of components that should rightly have been proposed and voted upon individually instead of being collected into a monstrous Congress-style conglomeration of components. One reason why this bill is bad is that if it is passed and is enacted, we, the CCW holders in the state, would lose reciprocity with a number of states…maybe half of those states who currently recognize our permits.

HB1439 lowers the age for a CCW permit from 21 to 19. That would make our CCW permits incompatible with those states whose lowest age is 21 for a CCW holder.

Our neighbor, Kansas, is one whose minimum age for a CCW permit is 21. Think for a moment of the consequences if we lost reciprocity with Kansas! I live within ten miles of the Kansas/Missouri border. I travel to Kansas several times a week. I used to work in Kansas. Imagine not being able to legally carry in Kansas and all the burdens that would ensue!

There are other issues in HB1439 that can cause issues, too. For me, I won’t cry if it fails to pass. Yes, there are provisions in it I would dearly love to see enacted—open carry for one (although I would probably not carry openly myself. I do believe, however, that we should have the option. Kansas will have Open Carry in a few months.)

If HB1439 fails this year, we must learn from our mistakes. I believe it is a strategic mistake to roll all the firearm/CCW/2nd Amendment items into one bill. Yes, it may be a convenience for those sitting in Jeff City, but it has great dangers as we are seeing now with HB1439.

Personally, I’m going to meet with my Senator and Representative and urge them to fight to change how we organize any future bills for firearm and 2nd Amendment rights. One bill for each item. If an issue cannot stand alone on its own virtue, perhaps it shouldn’t be passed? When we have an omnibus-style bill, like we’ve attempted to pass in the last two years and have failed, there will always be one issue or another that will/could stop its passage. Let’s chalk this idea of attempting to pass a large complex bill under the “Lessons Learned” column and vow not to repeat it.

 

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