Monthly Archives: August 2013

Friday Follies for August 30, 2013

Posted on by

Labor Day creeped up on me this year. I’d completely forgotten about it until earlier this week. When I was growing up in the Illinois coal country, Labor Day was as big a yearly event as was Independence Day. It was a day of parades, Flags and picnics.

Most of the families in my southern Illinois county had union ties. In fact, thinking back, I don’t remember anyone who didn’t have some kind of union connection.

No more…and, I believe, that’s a good thing. Industry has evolved since the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Industry depended on muscle power, as a source of power in the mines, or directing machinery as mechanization grew. Health, wages and working conditions were the motivations for unions during the early industrial age. The unions won.

But that changed. As early as WW1 and the coming decades, unions were infiltrated by socialists operatives whose goals were not the benefit of the union membership, but a goal of politics. In many cases those union leaders were directed by foreign governments, which socialists admit.

Once again, we will celebrate Labor Day this coming weekend. There will be fewer parades and flag-waving. Families will still have picnics and that last fling at the lake. Union involvement, like the numbers of union membership, is declining, and that, too, is a good thing.

The country has evolved. We no longer need an archaic hold-over of 19th century economic and political thought. Communism and socialism has been proven false. It’s time to move on.

***

Followup on yesterday’s post.

Obama’s new executive order will kill the 110-year-old Civilian Marksmanship Program

4:12 PM 08/29/2013

The White House announced on Thursday that it intends to “ban almost all re-imports of military surplus firearms to private entities” through executive order, which would effectively shut down the 110-year-old Civilian Marksmanship Program.

In a Fact Sheet published on Whitehouse.gov today referencing the upcoming executive order the ban on importing military weapons is designed to “keep military-grade firearms off our streets.” Exceptions for import may be allowed for museums.

The CMP tightly controls the distribution of obsolete military weapons. The program was created by the U.S. Congress as part of the 1903 War Department Appropriations Act with the purpose of allowing civilians to hone their marksmanship skills, should they later be called into military service.

Participants receiving firearms through the CMP must comply with all state and federal firearm laws and undergo a background check conducted by a dealer holding a Federal Firearms License in order to receive the gun.

Additionally, they must also be a member of a CMP affiliated shooting club, making participating in the program more difficult than anyone trying to purchase a firearm through usual retail channels.

The Civilian Marksmanship Program was administered by the United States Army from 1916 through 1996 when it was changed to the Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle Practice & Firearms Safety, a 501(c) (3) organization federally chartered by the U.S. Congress.

There are no data indicating any of the weapons involved in homicide were imported surplus military rifles. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s homicide crime statistics, rifles accounted for only 323 deaths out of 12,664 homicides in 2011, the most recent data set provided by the FBI.

“Apart from a donation of surplus .22 and .30 caliber rifles in the Army’s inventory to the CMP, the CMP receives no federal funding,” the CMP website states, adding that they have been overwhelmed by requests and orders are taking 30-60 days to ship product.

The rifles that the Executive Order would affect are typically from U.S. allies and are pre-Vietnam era. Without the importation of these rifles, the CMP is likely to become defunct and thus destroying a 110 year tradition of saving military arms and their civilian ownership.

***

Quote of the day. A bit tongue-in-cheek.

Obama talks tough, carries matchstick

AUGUST 30, 2013 AT 6:25 AM

President Obama is serious this time. No, really. Critics of the president’s approach to the Syrian crisis don’t understand the many nuances undergirding the president’s philosophy of using “smart power” to lead from behind. Forget all those previous signals of how serious he is about taking decisive action to stop the killing. He means it. This time. No, really, he does.

Obama’s history of dithering captures the most basic problem confronting the chief executive on Syria: He’s promised action over and over again, but in the end has actually offered little more than words. That is why nobody should be surprised that Americans, as well as leaders in Moscow, Beijing, London, Paris, Tehran and Damascus, find it difficult to put much stock in what Obama says now about the Syrian crisis and what he might do in response to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s blatant use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people.

You can read the rest of the column here.

***

Several times a year I have a conference with the folks who manage my 401K. I had one such conference this week. The meeting held to its usual agenda, their outlook for the economy, the steps they are taking to reduce the impacts of any unexpected events and the distribution of funds across stocks, bonds, commodities and cash—much of the funds going into the latter category this year.

The 401K manager asked a new question this time. “How is your local economy?” The topic quickly changed to one of the conversion of full time jobs to part-time jobs, the loss of healthcare and other benefits to spouses and family, in general, the impact of the coming Obamacare fiasco throughout the nation.

The MSM has alluded to some of these impacts. FOX has had a few stories, but few people in the media seem to care about the revolutionary changes coming to the workplace. I contributed a story of local warehousemen losing their full-time jobs and benefits and being replaced by part-time employees…employees who won’t have benefits.

My story wasn’t the only one. The open letter below posted via Freedom Works is such an example of our changing economy.

An Open Letter on Obamacare

By Jon Gabriel on August 29, 2013

Craig Daliessio isn’t by nature an angry man. But recent events have brought him to the end of his rope.

“The past five years have just worn me down,” he told me over the phone. He couldn’t help but write about his experience.

After years of economic struggle, the loss of his home, and failure to find steady employment, Daliessio shared “An Open Letter to Barack Obama,” which is spreading quickly on blogs and social media.

Mr. President, three days ago I was informed that a job I had been offered only a week before, has been withdrawn. The company decided to freeze hiring for the foreseeable future. Part of their reasoning was the rising cost of healthcare, making it unaffordable for them to provide. This unaffordable-ness came as a result of your “Affordable Care Act.”

Five years ago I might have smiled at the irony of those words. But I’m not smiling.

In the letter, Daliessio describes his life since December 2008 when he lost his career as a mortgage broker. The real estate collapse hit the industry hard. Workers without political connections bore most of the pain.

Soon he lost his Nashville-area dream house, but as a single dad he wanted to stay close to his daughter. Instead of fleeing to Texas, North Dakota or another conservative holdout where jobs were slightly more plentiful, he stayed in Tennessee.

Without a home, he lived in his car.

Sleeping in your car is actually against the law. It’s vagrancy and so it required me to hide my car in some tall brush behind a church in Nashville. I took showers at the County Rec Center. I ate every other day sometimes. I worked every odd job I could find and put out hundreds of resumes. To date I have put out almost 250 resumes to no avail… I kept on trying. I kept on being my daughter’s dad. I refused to let her see me broken so I hid my tears.

Instead of limiting himself to a career in his profession, Daliessio worked odd jobs and even resumed his college education through an online program. A year ago he graduated from Liberty University. He still didn’t have a home, but now he had an education. And hope.

“But no doors opened,” he said. He continued with the odd jobs, sending resumes, and sleeping in his car or a friend’s couch or a borrowed office space. “Writing became a haven,” he told me. Over the past five years, he has written and self-published four books, the most recent titled Remembering America.

Earlier this month, it appeared as if the long job search was about to bear fruit. A job offer was extended. But last week the company withdrew their offer to Daliessio due in part to Obamacare. That law requires him to sign up for a health insurance exchange, but he finally decided that enough is enough.

I will NOT be registering for that exchange. I am a man. I am a dad. I am an American. I want to pay my own way. I refuse to let others pay for something I would gladly pay for myself…

I want a job. I want to work, and pay my own way. Your job is to create an environment whereby employers can hire men and women like me. Then we can take responsibility for ourselves, and pay our own way.

I respectfully refuse your handout, sir.

Though politically conservative, Daliessio has never been a bomb-thrower. “I don’t wish [Obama] ill, but I wish people would wake up,” he told me. “The country is stuck in neutral. My letter came from a place of frustration and brokenness.”

Words for us all.

Facebook

Obama blocks CMP—more Gun Control

Posted on by

By executive fiat, Obama issued two “gun control” orders today “because Congress wouldn’t.” One edict directly affects the Civilian Marksmanship Program, the CMP, who has been the agent distributing former US military rifles to veterans and qualified citizens. I bought my M1 over a decade ago through the CMP.

The source of those rifles in the last few years, has been the return of M1 Garands and M1 Carbines supplied to foreign governments during WW2 and the Korean War. Korea and Denmark have been some of the foreign sources of returning American-made military rifles. Those and other sources now, by Obama’s edict, are blocked.

The other provision closes “loopholes” where some felons could conceivably circumvent their prohibition of purchasing weapons by using a corporation or trust. My non-judical mind wonders if this edict could also spell trouble for licensed firearm dealers, distributors, importers and manufacturers as well.

Here is this morning’s headline by the leftist Associated Press, an organization who has yet to cover a gun control issue it didn’t like.

Obama offers new gun control steps

By JOSH LEDERMAN — Aug. 29 9:53 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Striving to take action where Congress would not, the Obama administration announced new steps Thursday on gun control, curbing the import of military surplus weapons and proposing to close a little-known loophole that lets felons and others circumvent background checks by registering guns to corporations.

Four months after a gun control drive collapsed spectacularly in the Senate, President Barack Obama added two more executive actions to a list of 23 steps the White House determined Obama could take on his own to reduce gun violence. With the political world focused on Mideast tensions and looming fiscal battles, the move signaled Obama’s intent to show he hasn’t lost sight of the cause he took up after 20 first graders and six adults were gunned down last year in an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

One new policy will end a government practice that lets military weapons, sold or donated by the U.S. to allies, be reimported into the U.S. by private entities, where some may end up on the streets. The White House said the U.S. has approved 250,000 of those guns to be reimported since 2005; under the new policy, only museums and a few other entities like the government will be eligible to reimport military-grade firearms.

The Obama administration is also proposing a federal rule to stop those who would be ineligible to pass a background check from skirting the law by registering a gun to a corporation or trust. The new rule would require people associated with those entities, like beneficiaries and trustees, to undergo the same type of fingerprint-based background checks as individuals if they want to register guns.

…

The Obama administration is also proposing a federal rule to stop those who would be ineligible to pass a background check from skirting the law by registering a gun to a corporation or trust. The new rule would require people associated with those entities, like beneficiaries and trustees, to undergo the same type of fingerprint-based background checks as individuals if they want to register guns.

…

These days, Obama mentions gun control with far less regularity than when it appeared the Senate was poised to take action, although Obama did meet Tuesday with 18 city mayors to discuss ways to contain youth violence. And with immigration and pressing fiscal issues dominating Congress’ agenda, the prospects for reviving gun legislation appear negligible.

With Jones’ confirmation at ATF, the White House has completed or made significant progress on all but one of the 23 executive actions Obama had previously ordered in January, the White House said. Still lingering is an effort to finalize regulations to require insurers to cover mental health at parity with medical benefits, although the White House said that it is committed to making that happen by the end of 2013.

The new rules for guns registered to corporations will follow the traditional regulatory process, with a 90-day comment period before ATF reviews suggestions and finalizes the rule. Last year, ATF received 39,000 requests to register guns to corporations and trusts.

I’ve trimmed the AP story to remove the adulation of Obama and Biden. I suggest you follow the link and read the entire article. The battle between us and liberal tyrants has not and will not cease.

“Eternal vigilence is the price of liberty.”
–Wendell Phillips

Facebook

Pass!

Posted on by

My morning and general lack of sleep has upset my routine. I’ve an appointment as well and don’t have the time to spend on my usual lengthy daily posts, I’ll post some links instead.

Loss of Liberty and Privacy…the DHS will haunt you.

Civil liberties may not survive the ‘Gorgon Stare’

Meet the new BOSS, short for Biometric Optical Surveillance System, a crowd-scanning technology under development for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Last week saw the release of documents describing DHS’s latest efforts in “facial profiling.” The agency has awarded a $5.2 million federal contract to the defense firm Electronic Warfare Associates to develop facial recognition technology allowing video cameras to pick “watch-listed” suspects out of crowds at distances of up to 100 meters.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports on the expansion of a DHS initiative that’s bringing roving squads of armed Transportation Security Administration agents to trains, buses, and stadiums near you.

***

John Boehner is attempting to show some backbone over the coming Continuing Resolution fight. He’ll telling folks he’ll fight to cut Obamacare…in some fashion, in some way. Perhaps having the Tea Party picket his Ohio office had something to do with it…not that anyone really believes Boehner will buck Obama.

John Boehner: ‘Whale of a fight’ coming on debt ceiling

By SUSAN FERRECHIO | AUGUST 27, 2013 AT 1:50 PM

House Speaker John Boehner said “a whale of a fight” is coming over the debt ceiling, contradicting a prediction by U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew that President Obama will raise the debt limit without negotiating with Congress.

“I’ve made it clear that we’re not going to increase the debt limit without cuts and reforms that are greater than the increase in the debt limit,” Boehner told supporters in Idaho, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Yeah, sure, John.

***

Paul, Cruz and Lee are putting pressure on their RINO colleagues to cut funding for Obamacare.

Paul, Lee, Cruz to headline Obamacare defunding rally

By Ruth Tam, Published: August 26 at 5:31 pmE-mail the writer

In what tea party groups are calling a “battle to save America from the Obamacare ‘train wreck,’” Republican lawmakers plan to appear at a Capitol Hill rally on Sept. 10 to promote a proposal to defund the Affordable Care Act.

Filibuster_Fight-0c916_image_982w

Republican senators Rand Paul (Ky.), Mike Lee (Utah) and Ted Cruz (Tex.) will headline the “Exempt America Tour” rally on the West Lawn as a culmination of a five-day tour of six states. The tour, which will kick off in Kentucky on Tuesday, is sponsored by seven tea party groups, including Tea Party Patriots and For America.

The tour is the latest effort to pressure Republican lawmakers to take a tougher stance against Obamacare. It comes after a pointed online ad campaign targeting GOP senators who either oppose defunding Obamacare or haven’t yet announced a position. Republican leaders who have been the subject of online ads include House Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) and Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), Tim Scott (S.C.), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Pat Roberts (Kan.) and Patrick J. Toomey (Pa.).

“If these Washington politicians think they can simply go home on summer break and claim they are doing everything they can to get rid of ObamaCare they have another thing coming,” said For America Chairman Brent Bozell in a statement.

Y’all have a great day and drop back tomorrow.

Facebook

Once a Marine, uhhh, Legionnaire…

Posted on by

 

The American Legion

The American Legion

The Obama administration fears veterans, it appears. First they deny benefits to returning and discharged veterans, then they cut funds to the Veterans Administration. Now, they are attacking veteran support organizations like the American Legion.

There were veteran organizations prior to the Legion, many from the Civil War, but none of those elder organizations survive.  The three largest today are the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Amvets. These three are the most recognizable, but there are many, many more.

The Obama administration is attempting to curb opposition using the IRS as its tool of choice. Their attacks against conservative and Christian organizations have been exposed. Now they are focusing on Veterans.

A very bad choice for them. Veterans have survived privation, stress and warfare. If pushed, does anyone think government bureaucrats can do worse than what these veterans have already experienced? I doubt it.

Rogue IRS Shamefully Targets Nation’s Veterans

 Posted 08/26/2013 07:01 PM ET

 Scandals: One of the nation’s largest veterans groups is being required to provide proof of membership eligibility. Posts that can’t or won’t comply face heavy fines. Your government thanks you for your service.

…

“The American Legion has recently learned of the so-called IRS ‘audit manual’ and is concerned that portions of it attempt to amend statutes passed by Congress and approved by the president,” American Legion legal counsel Philip Onderdonk Jr. told The Daily Caller.

“The IRS now requires American Legion posts to maintain dates of service and character of service records for all members. …The penalty for not having the required proof of eligibility is, apparently, $1,000 per day,” the American Legion stated.

‘Unconscionable’ is an overused word in describing the abuses of power and the continual overstepping of legal and constitutional boundaries by this administration. But it certainly applies in this case. The American Legion is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit veterans organization chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919, and now has more than 2.4 million members in 14,000 posts worldwide, according to its website. It has never had to deal with such a requirement until now.

The American Legion will take up the issue during its national convention in Houston this week and decide whether to pursue the matter through the courts or Congress, where at least one lawmaker has already come to the organization’s defense.

“On the heels of Americans’ anger over revelations that the IRS intentionally targeted certain groups, it has been brought to my attention that the IRS is now turning their sights toward our nation’s veterans,” Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran rightly says.

“The IRS seems to be auditing veteran service organizations by requiring private member military service forms.”

We are aware that some individuals, including some politicians, have invented or embellished their service records. But what the IRS is suggesting here is that American Legion posts, as organizations, may be enjoying tax-exempt status under false pretenses.

The Obama administration, which has already dishonored survivors of the Fort Hood terrorist massacre by calling the attack “workplace violence,” causing them to lose needed benefits, now is telling those who have honorably served their country and risked their lives in its defense, “show us your papers.”

I’ve not heard if the VFW, the AMVETS or other veteran organizations have been targeted like the Legion…yet. But, if the IRS attacks one, why would they hesitate from attacking others? And, why attack these organizations? Is it, perhaps, because they are conservative, critical of liberals and the Obama administration, because of their vocal support of veterans against the VA?

I do have a personal stake in this attack on the Legion. I was once a member. I’m not now, but my reasons for not renewing my membership had nothing to do with the parent organization. If I were still a member, I, like the other members, would have to be heading for our lock boxes to get our DD-214s or other documents to prove our active service. Documents that contain much, much more than just our periods of active service.

When I joined, I filled out a form on-line. When I went to my first Legion meeting, I met a couple of my peers from my Air Force days. They, like me, stayed in our local area after we left active service. I hadn’t seen some of them for over thirty years.

The Marines have a saying, “Once a Marine, always a Marine.” I think that motto applies to veterans from all the services. In this case, for me, “Once a Legionnaire, always a Legionnaire.”

Facebook

TGIM

Posted on by

Thank God it’s Monday!  Why? Because now all the news that was hidden over the weekend becomes visible. It used to be, when the government, politicians, or celebs, wanted to put a low profile on something, they’d release it late on Friday after all the print media had passed their deadlines. Now, with electronic media, Drudge for example, late Friday no longer works. No, now they wait until late Saturday…and all those low-keyed items surface on Monday morning.

We have a local example hitting the headlines this morning. A democrat state representative from Kansas City was arrested by the Highway Patrol in Boone County over the weekend. During a stop, the Patrol found marijuana and paraphernalia in his car.

We shouldn’t be upset about this. After all, the law doesn’t apply to democrat politicians.

LaFaver to step aside from HDVC Chairmanship

August 26, 2013 / by / 0 Comment

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Democrat Jeremy LaFaver, who chairs the House Democrat Victory Committee overseeing House races throughout the state, told The Missouri Times this morning that he will be stepping aside as chairman of the HDVC.

LaFaver was arrested Sunday in connection with a failure to appear in court warrant in relation to an expired license plate. He was then found with a small amount of marijuana as well as marijuana paraphernalia. He is currently out on a $310 bond.

LaFaver will be stepping aside, not stepping down permanently, sources close to the matter told The Missouri Times.

Perhaps LaFaver thought that since MJ was legal in California and Colorado, it was legal, for him, here in Missouri. I believe that thought has been corrected.

Missourians really should inspect their political candidates more closely. LaFaver’s qualifications were…that he was a “Child Advocate”, whatever that means. Regardless, his background didn’t include anything about the law nor common sense.

***

Mrs. Crucis and I attended the Cass County Young Republican’s BBQ and Fund Raiser Saturday night. It was a success. They raised more money this year than last year in the runup to the elections. Carl Bearden, Executive Director of United for Missouri, State Senator Ed Emery and U.S. Representative Vicky Hartzler (MO-4) were the featured speakers.

While I listened to the speakers, I thought of all the people across the country who are ignorant of the events that is driving this nation to destruction. They say they dislike politics. Many feel they have no power to affect change, so why bother?

I can understand those feelings. Some days, the antics of politicians enrage me and I have to step aside for awhile. But, I cannot abdicate my duty. The political world will not ignore me. I cannot remain ignorant, disaffected and inactive.

One day, those who have ignored the political scene will realize they are no longer citizens of a free country. While they dozed, ignoring politics, the nation slowly changed from liberty to tyranny. When they awake, they have no idea what happened.

The sad truth is that THEY happened. They abdicated their duties as citizens and thusly aided the tyranny in government, local, state and federal. People can ignore politics. Unfortunately, politics will not ignore them.

***

I can across the following article in my morning inbox. I don’t agree with all of it, especially the verbal attack on Sarah Palin, but within the article is a nugget of truth. A very large nugget.

There are some giggles in the article, parts will make you angry. The last few paragraphs are truth.

CURL: The Grand Old Party is about to go ‘Boom!’

By Joseph Curl, Sunday, August 25, 2013

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, the Republican Party will explode. When the smoke clears, there will be four (four!) new parties.

First, there will still be the Republican Party, sort of, but it will change its name to the GOPPPP (Grand Old Party Of Perennial Pathetic Putzes). The new name, though, won’t change the fact that the party has failed to win a majority of America’s voters in five of the past six elections or that it keeps running candidates even its own members don’t like!

It’s top contenders? Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida; Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin; Gov. Rick Perry of Texas; maybe that guy who governs Wisconsin. You know, the polished politicos who say all the right things to get Republicans to like them, but who then go on to get slaughtered in the general election. Those guys.

Then, there’ll be a new super-combo-hybrid party joining the old GOP with the Democratic Party. No, not Republicrat — Demoblican. In this new abomination, there aren’t even Republicans-In-Name-Only — there aren’t even Republicans! There are just the truly enlightened public servants, here to serve us because they — and they alone — have been given The Gift from on high.

Sen. Rand Paul

It’s sole contender? Gov. Chris Christie. Sure, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will tease a Demoblican run, but in an epiphany, he’ll remember that his last name is Bush and disappear forever. That, of course, will leave the portly New Jersey pol alone, but don’t worry, he’ll debate himself endlessly, move right, then left, like John F. Kerry windsurfing, until no one has any idea which way he’s going. And then he’ll disappear forever, too.

Meanwhile, out of the ashes, rising like a Phoenix, will be former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, ruler of (you guessed it) the Phoenix Party. She will rally her millions of minions with a wave of her tawny tan hand and her powerful ShePAC will haul in $100 million in nine seconds. But then, even before New Hampshire or Iowa, the slog that is a presidential campaign will hit her and she’ll remember she’d rather be poolside in Phoenix (or more precisely, Scottsdale). And remember, one thing the former governor does really well is quit.

Last, there will be the new Constitution Party. And this one, unlike the others, will be real. The two combatants: Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, heavyweights both. The two men can flat-out talk: The Kentucky senator held court (and his bladder) for some 13 hours on the Senate floor, and the Harvardy senator has won just about every debating contest ever held in English (and Spanglish).

They’ll battle through 2015, then across the country in 2016. The eventual winner? Both of them. One will win the nomination, and pick the other as his running mate. End of the GOP — and good day to you, Constitution Party.

This scenario most likely won’t come true. But the Republican Party — and the country — would be far better off if it did.

More and more, conservative, core ‘Pubs are ready to move to Curl’s Constitution Party.

***

When states violate and ignore the 1st Amendment, i.e., the “free expression” of religious beliefs…

EDITORIAL: A bad picture in New Mexico

State supreme court tramples Christian beliefs

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES, Monday, August 26, 2013

Cherished American values are under attack in New Mexico, where the state Supreme Court there ruled Thursday that a group of activists should be free to bully business owners into violating their religious beliefs.

All five of the court’s justices told Elaine Huguenin, co-owner of Elane Photography in Albuquerque, that she had no choice but to provide wedding photography services for the “commitment ceremony” of any homosexual couple that asks.

They ruled that Mrs. Huguenin had run afoul of the law when she turned away a lesbian couple, forcing them to look elsewhere to find someone to snap some photos. Matters should have ended when the couple found a willing photographer, but we live in a society and culture accustomed to seeking judicial redress for the most minor of inconvenience. Here the aggrieved customer, to whom no actual damage was done, filed a complaint with the state Human Rights Commission accusing Elane Photography of discrimination based on “sexual orientation.”

The complainant wasn’t seeking a job at Elane Photography. She wanted to buy a particular service, and the seller declined. Such proposed transactions are refused thousands of times daily for a variety of reasons: a provider may have a scheduling conflict or the price offered may be too low. Often, the “Gosh, I’d love to, but I’m all booked up” excuse is offered as a polite way of saying a firm would just rather not accept that assignment.

It makes sense for a business to sell as much of its products or services to as many people as want them, but if a baker decides, for example, to sell only 12 loaves of rye bread a day, that’s his choice. There’s no need for the government to step in and dictate the terms of sale.

Important issues of religious freedom can be at stake when bureaucrats intervene in the marketplace. A kosher butcher should not be required by the state to handle and sell pork products because one customer has a craving for bacon. A Hindu grocer, professing vegetarianism, shouldn’t have government come in and decree he must sell steaks and chicken to committed carnivores.

In his concurring opinion, Justice Richard C. Bosson peddled his judicial activism as an act of compassion and the price of citizenship. “At its heart,” he wrote, “this case teaches that at some point in our lives all of us must compromise, if only a little, to accommodate the contrasting values of others.”

Mrs. Huguenin’s attorney, Jordan Lorence with the Alliance Defending Freedom, found the court’s reasoning to be dangerous. “The idea that free people can be compelled by law to compromise the very religious beliefs that inspire their lives as the ‘price of citizenship’ is a chilling and unprecedented attack on freedom,” he said after the verdict. “Americans are now on notice that the price of doing business is their freedom.”

An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is needed to overturn this misguided ruling and restore the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. Compromise and tolerance shouldn’t apply exclusively to customers whose sole gripe is a momentary rebuff. Activist groups shouldn’t be able to impose their views on the rest of society simply because they’re able to come up with the noisiest protests and most determined lawsuits. Judges must not lose sight of the moral and religious views of business owners. That, too, is the price of citizenship in a free society.

***

Today’s post is getting long. Instead of posting another article, I’ll just provide a link to it.

When Mark Levin published his latest book, The Liberty Amendments, he released a firestorm. His book is an outline how to restore the Constitution, to add amendments that will constraint government and keep it “small and lean.”

Sen. Tom Coburn: We need a constitutional convention to take back our country

Go and read it. It’s an idea whose time has come.

Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn has taken Levin’s book and is running with it.

Facebook

Friday Follies or Outrage of the Month?

Posted on by

Usually, on Fridays, I choose a number of topics to discuss. This Friday is no exception. We have examples of betrayal, constitutional violations, political lies at all levels, a nation stumbling into chaos, a chaos created, abetted and supported by liberal politics and agendas.

Let’s discuss betrayal. John Boehner has ruled that the House will not oppose Obamacare and will kowtow to democrats when the next Continuing Resolution arrives in a couple of months. Why is this democrat operative still Speaker of the House? He should be removed. Immediately.

Boehner cares not about the welfare of the country. His primary interest is supporting the Ruling Class, to remain a Washington insider. The only way to accomplish that goal is to rollover for every democrat initiative that arrives in Congress. How does he remain in Congress? He’s in a safe, democrat, district. It’s the democrats and the RINO local central committees that keep him in office.

Conservatives are planning on a primary opponent against Boehner but they’ll have to fight both the Ohio ‘Pubs as well as cross-over democrats. Whomever is Boehner’s primary opponent, I’ll send him, or her, a few bucks.

GOP Leadership Plan for CR/Obamacare: Meekness or Malice

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  August 22nd, 2013 at 08:52 PM  |

At some point, rank-and-file conservative activists will have to confront an inconvenient reality.  The Republicans in Washington are not just dumb or spineless – they are the problem.  They don’t share our values and seek to undermine our beliefs.  The only way that will change is if we return the favor and thwart their political careers.

Earlier this evening, Speaker John Boehner announced his grand plans for fighting Obamacare in the budget.  He will pass a short-term continuing resolution (CR) until some time in December, grouping the new budget deadline with the debt ceiling date, and create another grand end-of-year fiscal cliff.  He will fund Obamacare in the short term CR, but by George, he will fight like hell in the debt ceiling battle!  For now, they will make the short term CR about locking in the sequester cuts.

Here are some points to ponder:

  • I don’t think Charlie Brown would have attempted to kick the football so many times.  Let’s review the past three years.  In January 2011, Republicans pledged to defund Obamacare in the FY 2011 CR and cut of $100 billion in spending.  They lied.  Ultimately, they only cut $352 million and funded Obamacare. They promised to fight on the next debt ceiling battle and cut trillions.  They caved on August 1, 2011 for the McConnell debt increase, and handed Obama a free $2.4 trillion debt ceiling ticket to take him past the election.  The only thing we got in return was the sequester, which prioritized military cuts over everything else.

We were then promised that the real show would begin in September when they fight for the new Ryan budget for FY 2012.  They punted until the end of the year, ultimately passing a massive omnibus bill, which funded Obamacare, vitiated the Ryan budget, and violated every tenet of the GOP Pledge to America.  In 2012, they caved on funding Obamacare in the FY 2013 CR, punting it to March 2013 under the pretense that we would win the election and have even more leverage.  Then they caved on the McConnell tax increases at year’s end, noting that the default position was against us.  But, the contended, wait until the debt ceiling when the default position is no debt limit increase, and we will have more leverage.

That sentiment changed quickly when leadership brought down a number of phony pollsters to the annual retreat at Williamsburg, warning members of Armageddon if they fight on the debt ceiling.  So they cleverly “suspended” the debt ceiling at the end of January, promising to first fight on the CR in March, and locking the sequester and pass a better budget that would balance in ten years.  Then, they would head into the next debt ceiling fight unified behind that path to balance, which defunded Obamacare.

A number of conservatives signed onto the “Williamsburg Accord” with the promise of a better budget than the previous year.  Leadership rearranged the deck and used the fiscal cliff and Obamacare tax increases, along with new unrealistic CBO projections of revenue to repackage the exact same budget from the previous year.  Conservatives had voted for Obamacare all for a false promise and the sequester cuts that were already locked in by default.

Now they are, once again, punting on the CR for the debt ceiling!!!

  • Anyone who believes these people when they say they are scared to fight on the CR but will fight on the debt ceiling is not playing with a full deck.  According to the establishment, the debt ceiling is even more radioactive, as it raises the specter of a default, not just funding for government.

  • We know that deep down they believe Obamacare is here to stay.  So why not man up and publicly proclaim that belief?

  • Punting the Obamacare fight will free up September to pass amnesty.  Why bother with the nuisance of Obamacare three weeks before implementation when they can score points for Obama?

  • Back in January, they suspended the debt ceiling so that the CR and debt ceiling would not be grouped together, and we could fight each one individually.  Or so we were told.  Now they are punting the CR so it will coincide with the debt ceiling.  What gives?  Perhaps, they want to force one big grand deal with a bunch of shiny objects so the base only gets betrayed once, instead of betraying them now and then incurring their wrath in December.

  • Once again, the sequester is the shiny object.  But didn’t we already lock in the sequester in March?  Wasn’t that already used to sugar-coat the bitter pill of funding Obamacare in March?  Why recycle it?  Are we going to put a double lock in it?

  • If Republicans are not willing to even engage in brinkmanship, and clearly telegraph the message to Dems that they are terrified of brinkmanship – to the extent that they are willing to engage in a civil war with the base – why will Democrats ever feel the need to acquiesce even to leadership’s watered-down requests?  They will just sit there and wait them out, knowing that Republicans will always blink first, even over something like Obamacare, which is an albatross for Dems headed into an election year fought largely on red states.

  • And where is Mitch McConnell?  In the witness protection program?

Red State can get a bit raw at times. In this case, however, they are right on target.

***

The “blue” states, those bastions of the democrat party and their liberal, tax, tax, tax, spend, spend, spend agenda is losing money and population. People are voting with their feet and it that can’t be done, they’re sending their money out of state to locales where they won’t be constantly robbed by state governments.

Map: The mass exodus of taxpayers from New York, California

Aug. 22, 2013 11:22am

New York and California may be the worst tax offenders, but Michigan, Illinois and Ohio aren’t far behind:

Tax_Foundation_MapA new report from the national Tax Foundation examines the exodus of taxpayers from these states… as well as the transfer of these tax dollars to states like Texas, Arizona and Florida:

This week, our Monday Map draws data from our interactive State Migration Calculator, and illustrates the interstate movement of income over the past decade (from 2000 to 2010). When a person moves to a new state, their income is added to the total of all other incomes in that state. This positively affects the total taxable income in his or her new state, and negatively affects the income in the state he or she left. […]

Florida benefited the most—interstate migrants brought a net $67.3 billion dollars in annual income into the state between 2000 and 2010. The next two highest gainers were Arizona ($17.7 billion) and Texas ($17.6 billion). New York, on the other hand, lost the most income ($-45.6 billion), and is followed by California ($-29.4 billion) and Illinois ($-20.4 billion).

Note, too, that Missouri, like those Blue States, is in the negative category (light purple) instead of gaining income and population.

***

The libs crow about Separation of Church and State, ignoring that no such provision exists in the Constitution. That said, there is a TON of case law that supports the concept. What IS in the Constitution is the prohibition of the federal government or “prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” There is, too, case law that extends that federal prohibition to the states…except New Mexico’s Supreme Court appears to be ignorant of that prohibition.

August 22, 2013 at 6:44 pm

Earlier today, the Supreme Court of New Mexico ruled that the First Amendment does not protect a Christian photographer’s ability to decline to take pictures of a same-sex commitment ceremony—even when doing so would violate the photographer’s deeply held religious beliefs. As Elaine Huguenin, owner of Elane Photography, explained: “The message a same-sex commitment ceremony communicates is not one I believe.”

But New Mexico’s highest court, deciding an appeal of the case, today agreed with the New Mexico Human Rights Commission and ruled against Elane Photography, concluding that neither protections of free speech nor free exercise of religion apply.

Elaine and her husband Jon, both committed Christians, run their small photography business in Albuquerque, N.M. In 2006, she declined the request to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony. In 2008, the New Mexico Human Rights Commission ruled that by declining to use its artistic and expressive skills to communicate what was said and what occurred at the ceremony, the business had engaged in illegal discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The commission ruled this way based on New Mexico’s human rights law, which prohibits discrimination in public accommodations (“any establishment that provides or offers its services … or goods to the public”) based on race, religion and sexual orientation—among other protected classes.

Elane Photography didn’t refuse to take pictures of gays and lesbians, but only of such a same-sex ceremony, based on the owners’ belief that marriage is a union of a man and a woman. New Mexico law agrees, as it has no legal same-sex civil unions or same-sex marriages. Additionally, there were other photographers in the Albuquerque area who could have photographed the ceremony.

Groups supporting Elane Photography filed friend-of-the-court briefs. The Cato Institute argued that, under the First Amendment, photographers have freedom of speech protections against government-compelled artistic expressions. The Becket Fund argued that New Mexico’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects the “free exercise” of Elane Photography. The Alliance Defending Freedom—the lawyers defending Elane Photography—also argued that the First Amendment’s free exercise clause protects their client.

Today’s decision highlights the increasing concern many have that anti-discrimination laws and same-sex marriage run roughshod over the rights of conscience and religious liberty. Thomas Messner, a visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation, has documented multiple instances in which laws forbidding discrimination based on sexual orientation, as well as laws redefining marriage, already have eroded religious liberty and the rights of conscience. Indeed, earlier this year, the United States Commission on Civil Rights held an entire hearing on conflicts between nondiscrimination policies and civil liberties such as religious freedom.

In a growing number of incidents, government hasn’t respected the beliefs of Americans. Citizens must insist that government not discriminate against those who hold to the historic definition of marriage. Policy should prohibit the government—or anyone who receives taxpayers’ dollars—from discriminating in employment, licensing, accreditation or contracting against those who believe marriage is the union of a man and a woman.

So much for religious freedom in the United States. You only have the freedom that government says you have.

Facebook

Dualities

Posted on by

Throughout most current political commerce, the field of discussion is a duality of agendas. Conservatives have their agenda, liberals has theirs, the Ruling Class, which includes the establishment of both major parties, have theirs. The most obvious examples of duality is what legislation, action, regulation proposes and what those same actually do.

Let’s take a couple of examples, the SEIU effort to unionize the fast-food industry and Obamacare. In the former, SEIU has sold a bill of goods to workers telling them they can get $15/hr, more than doubling the current minimum wage. What SEIU is NOT telling those potential strikers is that they can be replaced—permanently, if they go on strike.

SEIU’s Fast-Food Strikers May Legally Be Replaced, Perhaps Even Permanently.

By making the rallying cry about wages, the SEIU and its cohorts put strikers’ jobs at risk

By: LaborUnionReport (Diary)  |  August 21st, 2013 at 09:00 PM  |

Fight For $15

They’re loud. They’re boisterous. They’re the SEIU…and they’re not as bright as they think.

The fast-food workers who are being pushed by the SEIU to take to the streets in a “nationwide” strike on August 29th, as part of the SEIU’s four-year old plan to collect union dues from the fast-food industry’s 3.7 million workers, have placed themselves in a precarious position legally.

As part of its battle strategy to unionize the industry, in its 2009 blueprint, the SEIU declared that economic issues (wages) would be its rallying cry:

Use a living wage as a vehicle to excite, build momentum, build worker lists/ID potential leaders and potentially support collective bargaining. We believe we will have enough traction with an ordinance to use as a legitimate tool for organizing and potentially as legislation to raise standards.

One of the campaign’s main websites also makes it clear that wages–and nothing else–is the key issue.

…

So, why is the fact that SEIU-backed strikers are pushing for higher wages important?

Very simply, for legal reasons, the fact that the SEIU–and now those who have become the SEIU’s ‘useful idiots‘ have now made their fight about “a living wage” or “Fight for $15″–is very significant.

In any strike, an employer has the right to replace (not fire) strikers. However, generally speaking there are two types of strikes: 1) Unfair Labor Practice Strikes, and 2) Economic Strikes.

In an unfair labor strike, while strikers can be replaced, they must be reinstated at the end of the strike.

However, due to a 1938 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in an economic strike, strikers may be permanently replaced and only offered reinstatement when an opening occurs.

Here is what the National Labor Relations Board states [in PDF] about economic strikers.

Strikes for a lawful object. Employees who strike for a lawful object fall into two classes “economic strikers” and “unfair labor practice strikers.” Both classes continue as employees, but unfair labor practice strikers have greater rights of reinstatement to their jobs.

Economic strikers defined. If the object of a strike is to obtain from the employer some economic concession such as higher wages, shorter hours, or better working conditions, the striking employees are called economic strikers. They retain their status as employees and cannot be discharged, but they can be replaced by their employer. If the employer has hired bona fide permanent replacements who are filling the jobs of the economic strikers when the strikers apply unconditionally to go back to work, the strikers are not entitled to reinstatement at that time. However, if the strikers do not obtain regular and substantially equivalent employment, they are entitled to be recalled to jobs for which they are qualified when openings in such jobs occur if they, or their bargaining representative, have made an unconditional request for their reinstatement. [p. 10, emphasis added.]

Now, while it is doubtful that any of the fast-food chains have the testicular fortitude to actually exercise their legal rights, here is how the August 29th strike could play out:

8:00 am (in some city)–As the SEIU bus pulls up with its astroturf protesters, the morning shift at Mickie D’s walks off the griddles and out from behind the counters, picking up picket signs and beginning to parade around on the sidewalk in front of the store.

8:01 am–A separate bus pulls up across the street and new Mickie D employees in fresh Mickie D uniforms walk into the store and assume the abandoned work stations.

8:10 am–Mickie D’s attorneys have noticed delivered (on the sidewalk) to each striker notifying him or her that, as each striker is engaging in an economic strike, by 8:20, the employer will have permanently hired all of the temporary replacement workers it needs and, by 8:30, will be converting said temporary replacement workers into permanent replacement workers. Further, there will no longer be a need for the individual strikers’ services, however, should an opening occur, they will be eligible for recall based upon their date of hire and qualifications for said vacancies.

Now, again, it is unlikely that any of the fast-food employers are willing to do what they have the right to do but, if they did, it could be that easy.

And, what could the SEIU and its astroturf friends do? What would they do?

They’d scream and gnash their teeth for a while. They’d call for boycotts. They’d get Jesse Jackson to go on Al Sharpton’s MSNBC show and scream about the evils of corporate America…everything they are already doing, by the way.

However, does anyone in the public really care? Would people really stop scarfing Mickie D’s because someone got replaced in New York? Really?

Most of the Lefties supporting the SEIU’s cause aren’t Mickie D’s customers anyway. They’re the earthy, crunchy, vegan types. [Okay, granted, maybe Michael Moore will stop eating Big Macs…for a while.]

The point is, though, if Mickie D’s and the rest of the fast-food operators wanted to, they could follow Barack Obama’s modus operandi: “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” And, if so, they could prevail in the long run.

That’s sage advice, by the way, from the President whom the SEIU put into office. Heck, the fast-food companies are already on the President’s Enemies List–or, at least his wife’s enemies list. So, no real loss there either.

If Mickie D’s or any other fast-food operator chose to do this, Mary Kay Henry and the SEIU (despite their cries) would have no one to blame but themselves.

It would be messy and it would be public…but, in the end, fast-food eaters the world over will still line up in the drive thru.

The article continues with the explanation that SEIU will continue following Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals.

What the union promised, is not what it can deliver if the fast-food companies resist. Those companies are caught in the middle—controlling costs and expenses (wages) while still being able to market a product (‘burgers) with a price that meets their customer’s demographics. The union tell the workers that customers will still continue to buy ‘burgers. The companies have extensive research that tells them the maximum price their customers are willing to pay.

The unions know this as well. They care not if their individual members remain employed. No, they’d rather have a much higher turnover because with each turnover, the union collects a fee—a fee that may exceed any revenue the union receives through membership dues. In short, the union is lying to their potential members; their agenda is not what is apparent.

The other example of duality is Obamacare. There are so many examples of liberal claims versus what they deliver. The current example in the news is Obama’s claim, “You can keep your existing healthcare!”

That, folks, was an out-right lie. This news item about the recent UPS announcement proves Obama’s lie.

UPS cuts insurance to 15,000 spouses, blames Obamacare

By Jose Pagliery  @Jose_Pagliery August 22, 2013: 7:13 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

United Parcel Service is planning to drop 15,000 workers’ spouses from its health insurance plan, citing higher costs due to Obamacare.

In an undated memo to employees, UPS (UPS, Fortune 500) said it will discontinue coverage for all working spouses who are eligible for insurance with their own employer. That applies to about 15,000 spouses covered by UPS today.

The internal document was obtained by Kaiser Health News. UPS told the nonprofit news agency that the policy applies only to non-union U.S. workers. It hasn’t responded to questions from CNNMoney.

In the memo, UPS said it’s willing to take care of its own, but it won’t bear a burden that other companies can take on.

“We believe your spouse should be covered by their own employer — just as UPS has a responsibility to offer coverage to you, our employee,” the memo states.

Spouses of UPS employees who don’t work — or who are not offered coverage by their own employer — will get to stay on the UPS plan.

Most of the company’s workers, such as delivery workers and truck drivers, are unionized through the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and receive insurance under a different plan.

UPS blamed the move on several aspects of Obamacare, including mandatory coverage for dependent children up to age 26 and new government fees.

“We are making these changes to offset cost increases due to the [Affordable Care Act],” the memo states.

In the memo, UPS said its health care costs usually increase about 7% a year, but that it expects those costs to climb by 11.25% in 2014 due to Obamacare.

The company also said that 35% of companies intend to make the same changes to their plans, but didn’t cite specific market data.

A recent survey by consulting firm Towers Watson found that next year, 18% of employers will require that workers’ spouses buy insurance from their own employer before turning to the surveyed company for insurance.

The other impact from Obamacare is the growing practice of companies converting full-time employees to part-time. Employees who work 32 hours per week or less, may not receive benefits. If a company converts or replaces full-time employees with part-time workers, the Obamacare impact is reduced. There is no impact for those new part-time employees who are not eligible for company-provided health insurance.

We live in a world of dualities. Some of those dualities are unintended. Others, like the union and Obamacare examples above, are deliberate. In both cases, it is the dupes who allow those dualities to exist; who also fall for them. Later, perhaps, they, the dupes, will look back and wonder how foolish they were…and learn. Others, unable to admit their stupidity, will blame others. Not the ones who duped them, but the ones who disclosed the lies.

To paraphrase Dave Ramsey, “The stupid, we will always have with us.”

 

Facebook