Saturday, April 19, 2014

South Carolina Drops Out of Common Core Testing Group

South Carolina’s top education leader announced on Monday that the Palmetto State is pulling out of the Common Core standardized testing group, Smarter Balanced. - WeaselZippers

Another one bites the dust: South Carolina drops out of Common Core testing group - EAG News

...This development is also significant because it marks the third state (Utah and Florida being the other two, as best we can tell) to cancel the use of an official, Common Core-aligned standardized test.

When state leaders take an action that makes their education system unique – and chips away at the “commonality” among Common Core states – it frustrates the plans of the busybodies and control freaks who are attempting to create a nationalized K-12 education system.

If states use a variety of standardized tests, for instance, it will deprive Common Core supporters of the apples-to-apples student data they need for their master plan of personalized learning technology and data-driven policies to work....

Who Owns The West?


Western lawmakers gather in Utah to talk federal land takeover: ‘It’s time’ » Lawmakers from 9 states gather in Utah, discuss ways to take control of federal lands.

It’s time for Western states to take control of federal lands within their borders, lawmakers and county commissioners from Western states said at Utah’s Capitol on Friday.

More than 50 political leaders from nine states convened for the first time to talk about their joint goal: wresting control of oil-, timber -and mineral-rich lands away from the feds.

The summit was in the works before this month’s tense standoff between Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the Bureau of Land Management over cattle grazing, Lockhart said.

"What’s happened in Nevada is really just a symptom of a much larger problem," Lockhart said.

Fielder, who described herself as "just a person who lives in the woods," said federal land management is hamstrung by bad policies, politicized science and severe federal budget cuts.

"Those of us who live in the rural areas know how to take care of lands," Fielder said, who lives in the northwestern Montana town of Thompson Falls.

"We have to start managing these lands. It’s the right thing to do for our people, for our environment, for our economy and for our freedoms," Fielder said.

“Domestic Terrorists” Patriots Celebrate At Bundy Ranch - CBS Las Vegas
“Talk about terrorists, it seemed like those people who were holding those high-powered weapons against we the people of the state of Nevada and our visiting neighbors—they had to be the terrorists… It wasn’t the people that’s terrorists, it had to be the United States government, the BLM that had to be the terrorists.”
HOST, GUEST FIREWORKS ON MSNBC - The Right Scoop
This Clip Of Chris Hayes Vs. Bundy Supporter Assemblywoman Michele Fiore Is Awesome
GOP Senator urges hearing on Cattle Battle - The Hill
Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) on Friday called for a Senate hearing into the dispute between Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over cattle grazing.

Heller described as "patriots" the people who came armed to Bundy’s ranch after the BLM began to seize his cattle for refusing to pay grazing fees and fines that now total more than $1 million.
The United States of SWAT? Military-style units from govt agencies wreaking havoc on non-violent citizens - John Fund/National Review
POLL: 37% Fear Feds; 17% 'Unsure' - Rasmussen

'This is one of the biggest days of their lives. They've taken the glory and shine from the children and put on Mrs. Obama. She doesn't know our kids.'

High school senior forms petition with over ONE THOUSAND signatures against Michele Obama speaking at their high school graduation 'because it would overshadow the students' big day' - Daily Mail

Taylor Gifford, 18, started an online petition on Thursday with over 1,200 signatures asking that Michelle Obama not speak at Topeka High School graduation

Obama's speech is tied to the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education outlawing segregation in schools

Some students feel that the speech would overshadow student accomplishments and others feel limited seating will be a problem

'People think it's a great opportunity, but it's the graduates' time. They are getting that diploma that they worked so hard for,' Gifford said. 'Families are feeling that they are being cheated out of the loved ones special day.'

Abbey Rubottom, 18, a Topeka High senior, described herself as a 'die-hard Democrat' but doesn't like the idea of Obama sharing the stage with graduates.

'No disrespect for the first lady, and it's amazing that she wants to come speak, I just think it doesn't belong at graduation,' Rubottom said.

Rubottom suggested separate ceremonies with Obama speaking at one and the address being replayed at the other.

Some people have said bringing in the first lady politicizes the graduation. Others have suggested that if she wants to mark the Brown anniversary, she could just visit the historic site that commemorates the decision, which is just few blocks from the graduation venue.

Ouch: College Students Give Obama a Cold Reception in Pennsylvania

The president's speeches may need to be accompanied by a laugh track from now on, considering the crickets he received at his appearance in Community College of Allegheny County, in Oakdale, Pa., on Wednesday. Although he tried to tout his new spending program, both Obama's talking points and attempts at humor didn't go over so well - Cortney O'Brien/Townhall video at the link

Hm, I guess not all millennials are as enthralled with the 'Hope and Change' president as they were in 2008. The community college students standing behind the president weren't the only ones who were unimpressed:

Some of Obama’s applause lines fell so flat that no one is heard to respond, not even among the main audience, which was padded with his political supporters....

His punchlines were just as popular...

The White House’s transcript of Obama’s speech includes the laugh lines that few of the almost 300 attendees laughed at.
“Hello, Allegheny County! (Applause.) Joe and I decided it was time for a guys’ trip. (Laughter.) Actually, Michelle and Jill wanted us out the house. (Laughter.) So we decided to take a little road trip,” says the transcript, even though the video shows the laughs were scattered and muted.

The ONLY action Congress should take on Immigration this year


Ramirez Editorial Cartoons

No intelligent person is against immigration. - Michael P. Ramirez

Immigration is what makes America extraordinary. Generations of immigrants taking the best of their culture and blending it all together into the giant melting pot, that’s what makes this country uniquely American.

...Let's take up sensible immigration reform that follows the laws, and streamlines the process, so we can strengthen our country AFTER the Senate is delivered from Harry Reid.

Those who have willingly broken the law should not be rewarded, they should be held accountable for their actions, whether they are illegal immigrants or dim-witted politicians.

There should be no amnesty PERIOD… No amnesty for those who have broken the law, including those who make laws and those lawmakers who circumvent the law.

Set up a guest worker process that can accommodate those who desire that-even Canada has figured out how to do it -and a system for illegal workers that brings them into the light and into a system of accountability that may grant them access to immigration, but only after those who have followed the law and waited in line and after this election, when the numbers of sensible politicians who desire secure borders and good immigration reform rather than amnesty are elected.
Anyone with an H1b visa could tell you this is not rocket science.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Just in Time For Easter, Dr. Ben Carson Bridges Gap Between Religion and Science


Many progressives often try to pit science against religion, but this excerpt from Dr. Carson’s latest piece at ◼ American CurrentSee gives a little more insight into how many Christians view science with respect to religion. - IJ REVIEW

In many ways, Carson’s words echo Einstein’s famous quote: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
I have personally experienced so many godly interventions in my life that I would never entertain doubts about His existence and importance. My knowledge of neuroscience and the complexity of the human brain makes it difficult for me to believe that such an amazing organ system could be the result of random mutations of a substance that appeared out of nowhere. The order of our solar system and the universe is so precise that we can predict the occurrence of meteorological and planetary events 70 years in the future. To believe that all of that order just happened requires more faith than I can muster.

Another SCAM to promote Common Core.

Illinois Cooking The Books For Common Core: HS Student Says Only Honors Students Were Chosen To Take Exam Used To Judge Program’s Efficiency… - WEASELZIPPERS

...On Tuesday, April 8, 2014, I took the PARCC test.

The test administrator handed out the test booklets and answer documents. Once time began all the students started working on the test. The first part of the test banned the use of calculators. I did not mind this because I usually prefer to write down my work, so I was not overly concerned. Then I saw how the rest of the test was going to go. In order to find the answer to one of the problems I needed to know the square root of eleven (which is a prime number) and it rendered the problem unsolvable. [...]

There was evidence of score inflation as well (I will be brief). The only students selected to take this test in my high school were all honors students. No students from general studies were present. This is not derogatory towards the average students; I am simply stating the state is attempting to make Common Core look better than it actually is.

Humboldt State College Republicans: Pizza with Matt Heath

Humboldt State College Republicans On April 24th at 1 we will be having a pizza lunch with future assemblyman Matt Health at westside pizza in Arcata!!! Come out and show your support! There will be some cool goodies if you show up like shirt, signs and literature! Let's get him elected!

Hillary Falls to Earth

THE BIGGER THEY ARE - Matthew Continetti/Washington Free Beacon

Hillary Clinton may end up deciding she wants to spend the 935 days until election 2016 making corporate speeches and spoiling her grandchild. Recent events have exposed weaknesses in Clinton’s supposedly impregnable armor, gaps through which a Democratic or Republican challenger could damage, perhaps even defeat her. The bad headlines to which she has been subjected are enough to make anyone—anyone who isn’t a Clinton—think twice about running for president.

When it comes to women in the White House, Sarah Palin takes the cake in Americans’ eyes, a new poll found

The Economist/YouGov poll asked participants which female candidate — other than Hillary Clinton — they’d like to see run for the high office - Washington Times

"It’s a time when we give thanks for our blessings—chief among them, freedom, peace, and the promise of eternal life."



From Good Friday to a Celebratory Weekend

Radio Address to the Nation on the Observance of Easter and Passover - Presidency UCSB Document Archive

If these trends continue through Election Day, the results may make the 2010 Republican sweep look like a close contest.

Dems' 2014 challenge: How to win when Americans see a liar in the White House - Mark Tapscott/Washington Examiner

Timing is everything in politics and the latest Fox News poll suggests the timing of the 2014 midterm election could not be worse for President Obama and his fellow Democrats....

Presidents have been unpopular before. Harry Truman's approval rating sank to 23 percent at one point and Richard Nixon was so unpopular that he became the first chief executive ever to resign.

But when was the last time an American president was thought by half of his countryman to be a routine liar? According to Fox, 61 percent say Obama lies on important public issues all or some of the time.

Thirty-seven percent say Obama lies "most of the time," while 24 percent say he lies "some of the time." Only 15 percent say Obama "never lies."

Keep digging on IRS

As troubling as the public perception of Obama's honesty likely is for Democratic strategists, another result of the Fox survey may ultimately prove just as politically damaging.

Forty-nine percent of the Fox respondents believe Obama intentionally had the IRS target and harass his Tea Party and conservative critics in the 2010 and 2012 elections.

Rancher Cliven Bundy Hits Back After Reid Calls Family 'Domestic Terrorists'

Bundy said that he and his supporters were just gathering together to protest the government pulling guns on them. "They're definitely upset," Bundy said. - FOX

Bundy said that he believes that Sen. Reid's words will only serve to rally more supporters to the ranch's cause. "It just seems to get bigger and bigger," Bundy said of his family's well of support.

Harry Reid: Cliven Bundy and supporters are ‘domestic terrorists’ - Daily Caller

DEMOCRATS SAY THERE'S NO VOTER FRAUD, yet there are 77 voters all registered at a fictional address in NC

Asheville, NC – In what they call an “invitation for another chaotic election,” the Voter Integrity Project of North Carolina, today asked Buncombe County election officials to curtail the practice of registering voters from addresses that don’t exist. - Right Wing News

...It’s baffling that anybody can vote with a false registration address,” said Jay DeLancy, “but that looks like the policy of the Buncombe County Board of Elections. We found 342 voters registered to false addresses, 77 of them to the fictional address called Zero Tunnel Road.”

There is no such address as Zero Tunnel Road. The group provided emails from Buncombe County Emergency services and from a US Postal Service representative, confirming the Tunnel Road address is inadequate.

...Seventy-six of the Zero Tunnel Road voters all listed a mobile home community at 1314 Tunnel Road as their mailing address and one listed a Black Mountain PO Box....

Today, the group turned over their research to Trina Parker, showing the records of 342 registered Buncombe County voters, who all listed fictional voter registration addresses in and around Asheville.

Now, IRS to track license plates...

The Internal Revenue Service and other U.S. agencies awarded about $415,000 in contracts to a license plate-tracking company before Homeland Security leaders dropped a plan for similar work amid privacy complaints. - Kathleen Miller/Bloomberg

Federal offices such as the Forest Service and the U.S. Air Force’s Air Combat Command chose Livermore, California-based Vigilant Solutions to provide access to license plate databases or tools used to collect plate information, according to government procurement records compiled by Bloomberg.

...Vigilant, a closely held company, has received such work since 2009. In February, Jeh Johnson, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, ordered the cancelation of an immigration agency plan to buy access to national license plate data. While the technology can help solve crimes, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups have said the mass collection of data infringes the privacy of innocent people.

“Especially with the IRS, I don’t know why these agencies are getting access to this kind of information,” said Jennifer Lynch, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based privacy-rights group. “These systems treat every single person in an area as if they’re under investigation for a crime -- that is not the way our criminal justice system was set up or the way things work in a democratic society.”

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Poll: 61% believe Obama lies on important issues

How much do Americans trust President Obama? Not much, according to a Fox News poll. - Charles Hoskinson/Washington Examiner

Sixty-one percent of respondents in the poll released Thursday said Obama lies at least some of the time on important issues. An additional 20 percent said he lies every now and then.

Only 15 percent believe the president is completely truthful.

Predictably, Republicans were more likely to believe Obama is a liar, with 85 percent saying he lies some or most of the time. Thirty-one percent of Democrats said the president is always truthful.

...Democrats were 39 percent of the sample, Republicans 38 percent and independents 20 percent.

"The strategy is perfect to foment unrest and agitation by keeping low-information voters in a perpetual state of indignation against the GOP"

The Obama Administration Trolls - Carol Platt Liebau/Townhall

Someone in the lefty press is catching on.

Slate's John Dickerson points out that the Obama administration routinely "trolls" the GOP -- that is, deliberately misstates information about matters of public concern in order to keep what they consider favorable topics foremost in the public mind. Dickerson uses the topic of the "wage gap" as one example; I would use the topic of voting rights as another. In other words, the president and his administration are giving the press and the people purportedly factual information that they actually know is untrue as part of a deliberate strategy....

The strategy is perfect to foment unrest and agitation by keeping low-information voters in a perpetual state of indignation against the GOP, and thus at least incrementally increases the chances that turnout among Democrat groups won't be as low this fall as many fear.

Obama Trolls the GOP - John Dickerson/SLATE

Under this approach, a president wants the fact-checkers to call him out (again and again) because that hubbub keeps the issue in the news, which is good for promoting the issue to the public. It is the political equivalent of “there is no such thing as bad publicity” or the quote attributed to Mae West (and others): “I don't care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right.” The tactic represents one more step in the embrace of cynicism that has characterized President Obama's journey in office.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Shocker: 86M Full-Time Private-Sector Workers Sustain 148M Benefit Takers

Buried deep on the website of the U.S. Census Bureau is a number every American citizen, and especially those entrusted with public office, should know. It is 86,429,000. - CNS News

That is the number of Americans who in 2012 got up every morning and went to work — in the private sector — and did it week after week after week.

These are the people who built America, and these are the people who can sustain it as a free country. The liberal media have not made them famous like the polar bear, but they are truly a threatened species.

It is not a rancher with a few hundred head of cattle that is attacking their habitat, nor an energy company developing a fossil fuel. It is big government and its primary weapon — an ever-expanding welfare state....

Eventually, there will be too few carrying too many, and America will break.

New Footage Shows How Close Bundy Standoff Came To A Massacre



The inside story of how one New Yorker may have kept the Bundy protestors from a bloody end. - Wayne Dupree/NewsNinja

Obama administration's 'Culture of intimidation' seen in ranch standoff - Washington Times
Sending scores of armed agents along with helicopters and dogs to confront an elderly Nevada rancher over grazing fees may seem like overkill, but critics say it’s not inconsistent with the federal government’s recent approach to environmental enforcement.

The simmering truce between the Bundys and the Bureau of Land Management comes after high-profile raids last year by armed federal agents on small-time gold miners in tiny Chicken, Alaska, and guitar makers at the Gibson Guitar facilities in Tennessee....

As Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval put it shortly after the BLM’s arrival, “No cow justifies the atmosphere of intimidation, which currently exists, nor the limitation of constitutional rights that are sacred to all Nevadans.”
Bundy: Reid 'Needs To Be Kicked Out Of Office' - CBS Las Vegas
“If he doesn’t have enough moral fiber in his bones at all to see what happened, that we the people got together and made something right, then I don’t think there’s any hope for him and he needs to be kicked out of office, even if he is the Senate majority leader. It doesn’t matter,” Ammon Bundy, son of Cliven Bundy, told Fox News, responding to Reid’s comments that “it’s not over.”

Ammon Bundy says federal authorities used a stun gun on him.
Supporter: 'We are willing to give our lives' - Business Insider
Feds Leave Trail of Wreckage - FOX
Fox News toured the damage -- allegedly caused by the Bureau of Land Management -- which included holes in water tanks and destroyed water lines and fences. According to family friends, the bureau's hired "cowboys" also killed two prize bulls.

"They had total control of this land for one week, and look at the destruction they did in one week," said Corey Houston, friend of rancher Cliven Bundy and his family. "So why would you trust somebody like that? And how does that show that they're a better steward?"
War on the West: Why More Bundy Standoffs Are Coming - The New American
Supporters from all across the United States had converged on the Bunkerville, Nevada, area in support of Bundy, who is the “last rancher standing” in Clark County, due to a decades-long campaign by federal agencies and allied enviro-activists to drive all ranchers off of the range. After a tense standoff, orders came down from above for the surrounded and outnumbered federal agents to “stand down” and turn loose the Bundy cattle that had been corralled.

New Emails Show Lois Lerner Wanted To Sic The DOJ On Tax Exempt Groups

Lerner, DoJ discussed criminal prosecution of tax-exempt applicants - HotAir

A FOIA request from Judicial Watch has uncovered e-mails from Lois Lerner that discussed an effort to push criminal prosecution of tax-exempt status applicants — and right before IRS targeting of conservative groups became public knowledge. The e-mail, dated May 8, 2013, shows coordination between Lerner and the DoJ to follow up on the idea first broached by Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)...

The date is very, very interesting, as Katie also points out. Just two days after that e-mail went out from Lerner, she offered an apology for targeting conservative groups in her tax-exempt unit...

The apology came as the Inspector General for Treasury was about to release a report that would have made the issue public anyway. Later, we found that the IRS had deliberately staged the apology in an attempt to spin it. This e-mail confirms that the apology was slightly less than sincere.

New Emails Show Lois Lerner Wanted To Sic The DOJ On Tax Exempt Groups - Nice Deb

And the DOJ official she contacted – the former IRS Commissioner’s Chief of staff (!) – was eager to help.

The Terrifying Implications of the IRS Abuse-DOJ Connection - Bryan Preston/PJ Media

Thank God for Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George. His investigation of what turned out to be the IRS abuse scandal may well have saved the Constitution and the nation.

For his fair and impartial investigation into the Internal Revenue Service’s abuse of Americans who dissent from President Obama’s agenda, Democrats have called for an investigation of him. George should not be investigated, but perhaps the Democrats who want him investigated — Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Matt Cartwright (D-PA) — should be. Their call for an investigation of the investigator might constitute interference with the ongoing investigation of the IRS abuse scandal. That would be obstruction of justice, in what may turn out to be the most widespread and damaging scandal in American history.

The implications of today’s email disclosure are stunning and terrifying.

Lois Lerner intended to use her position atop the IRS’ tax exempt approval office to coordinate the prosecution of political speech. The Department of Justice under Attorney General Eric Holder had at least tentatively bought into that. The Federal Elections Commission was being roped in as well. Lerner’s emails prove that beyond doubt.

Democrats in Congress were involved. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) appears to have led the anti-constitutional attack on free speech in the House. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) led it from the Senate.

Two days before Lerner was forced to publicly disclose the scandal, she was moving forward with an insidious plan to stamp out conservatives and Tea Party activists’ ability to organize and raise money, by working with the IRS commissioner’s office and the Department of Justice. At the same time, there was no plan for any government crackdown on groups who agreed with President Obama. The traffic was entirely one-way. It was nakedly political, and everyone involved knew it. They also had reason to believe that they would succeed, or they would not have engaged in it. DOJ would serve two roles: Prosecute conservatives, and protect the bureaucrats who were pushing those prosecutions.

Progressive Insurance

The right ideological credentials mean never having to say you’re sorry - Victor Davis Hanson/National Review

Feds accused of leaving trail of wreckage after Nevada ranch standoff

"They had total control of this land for one week, and look at the destruction they did in one week," said Corey Houston, friend of rancher Cliven Bundy and his family. "So why would you trust somebody like that? And how does that show that they're a better steward?" - FOX

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The April 15 deadline to register firearms deemed “assault weapons” under Governor Cuomo’s NY SAFE Act has been met by hordes of New York Gun owners not rushing to register firearms, and the ceremonial burning of registration forms.


BREAKING: Up To One Million New Yorkers Seize Opportunity To Not Register Their Firearms Ahead of NY SAFE ACT Deadline - BearingArms.com

Unofficial estimates suggest that as few as 3,000-5,000 of the estimated 1-2 million firearms that have been redefined as “assault weapons” under New York’s utterly arbitrary and blatantly unconstitutional law
have been registered. Literally dozens of gun owners in the state of 19.57 million (2012) residents will take the opportunity to register today.

Bobby Jindal has had enough of Common Core...

The Next Governor Who Wants Out of Common Core has Arrived – It’s Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal - IJ Review

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal once supported the set of educational standards known as Common Core, which are being used to benchmark everything from school curricula to college entrance exams.
Now, he wants to withdraw the state of Louisiana from the Common Core standards, whether the state legislature approves measures to do so or the governor himself begins the withdrawal process....

Recall that Common Core was not passed through Congress, but was implemented via backdoor by state governors to circumvent parental input and obviate local control over educational content and testing criteria.

The Common Core website explains how it is a privately backed, copyrighted set of standards that has been adopted by a consortium of testing and textbook publishers.

It has been backed by wealthy financier Bill Gates, who also stands to gain from a data-mining arrangement in conjunction with InBloom. The New York Daily News described this project as a drive to “create a national database” of children’s education records.

No wonder Common Core supporters didn’t want a public debate over these issues – one can imagine the parental backlash. That delayed parental backlash is taking place now, and it has been putting pressure on governors like Bobby Jindal to take action.

Bobby Jindal says he will get Louisiana out of Common Core test group, if Legislature won't

Jindal's withdraw from PARCC - and Common Core by extension -- is likely to play well with a vocal group of parents and lawmakers who have serious reservations about the assessment. Common Core critics, particularly those with conservative political leanings, believe the PARCC could cause Louisiana to lose control over its student data and risk children's privacy, since it will likely be used by several states. They also say the test will be expensive to implement, though its costliness is a point of contention with PARCC backers.

Pushback Continues: States Grow Increasingly Wary of Common Core - Heritage

...Oklahoma, too, is currently in a battle over Common Core. The state senate passed a bill earlier this month downgrading the state’s involvement with the national standards, although there is some difference of opinion as to whether it would fully remove Oklahoma from the standards, or merely change the name of the standards.

...Meanwhile, the Missouri House of Representatives passed their bill to find a Common Core replacement.

...Fifteen states have now made strides in halting or downgrading their involvement in the standards. Last month, Indiana became the first state to exit Common Core. This is promising momentum in the effort of states to reclaim their educational decision-making authority.

According to a report in The New York Times, the Census Bureau has been directed to change the wording of its questions relating to health care coverage so that they can no longer be checked against the past three decades of data.

Yet Another Crazy Conservative Conspiracy Theory Proven Correct - Noah Rothman/Mediaite

In 2009, in the earliest weeks of President Barack Obama‘s administration, the White House made the controversial decision to take the unprecedented step of moving the Census Bureau from control of the commerce secretary over to the White House ahead of the decennial 2010 census.

Conservatives sounded alarm bells. “It takes something that is supposedly apolitical like the census, and gives it to a guy who is infamously political,” said Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) of then White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

“Requiring the Census director to report directly to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is a shamefully transparent attempt by your administration to politicize the Census Bureau and manipulate the 2010 Census,” read a letter addressed to Obama authored by Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Patrick McHenry (R-NC)....

According to a report in The New York Times, the Census Bureau has been directed to change the wording of its questions relating to health care coverage so that they can no longer be checked against the past three decades of data. According to the nonpartisan analysts and census officials The Times spoke with, this change will make it nearly impossible to accurately assess the effects of the Affordable Care Act has had on the number of Americans who have health insurance....

Policy analysts and columnists, who are not reflexively friendly to conservative causes, called the debasement of a formerly neutral agency to achieve a political end “insane” and “inexcusable.”

And, thus, another crazy conservative conspiracy theory is proven to not be so crazy after all.

Every day this week is the same Backwards & Forwards

IRS demands Ron Paul's list of donors...

Ron Paul's nonprofit Campaign for Liberty will fight the IRS' demand that it reveal its donor list - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner @joelmentum

"There is no legitimate reason for the IRS to know who donates to Campaign for Liberty," Megan Stiles, the communications director at Campaign for Liberty, told the Washington Examiner in an email on Tuesday. "We believe the First Amendment is on our side as evidenced by cases such as NAACP v. Alabama and International Union UAW v. National Right to Work. Many 501(c)(4) organizations protect the privacy of their donors in the very same way as Campaign for Liberty. For some reason the IRS has now chosen to single out Campaign for Liberty for special attention. We plan to fight this all the way."

..."Paying this outrageous extortionist fine — just to exercise our rights as American citizens to petition our government — may even be cheaper in the short run," he wrote. "But it’ll just embolden an alphabet soup of other federal agencies to come after us." Paul's email said that the rule requiring that 501(c)(4)s list their donors is "rarely enforced."

Stiles accused the IRS of trying to silence her organization. "The IRS technically requires donor information from 501(c)(4) organizations and is forbidden by law from releasing it to the public, yet despite this they have 'mistakenly' released the information repeatedly over the years," she wrote. "Often these leaks have been made to political opponents of the conservative groups whose information was leaked. Leaking the donor information is intended to harass and to intimidate those donors from donating to political causes. Campaign for Liberty has refused to provide donor information to the IRS to protect the privacy of our members. Now the IRS has demanded the information and fined Campaign for Liberty for protecting its members’ privacy."

Josh Romney takes this pic of Gov Romney and pokes Senator Harry Reid



Gretawire

2014 Tax Day Chart: Who Pays the Most?


Which taxpayers experience the greatest tax burden—and who pays the most in taxes? - Heritage

As Americans navigated the labyrinthine tax code ahead of tax day, many felt the sting of the President’s myriad tax increases.

Despite calls for more taxes on the rich, the Heritage chart shown above reveals that the recent tax increases disproportionately affect the working wealthy. The top 10 percent of all income earners paid 71 percent of federal income taxes in 2010, yet they earned 45 percent of all federal income. Compare that to the bottom 50 percent of earners, who earn 12 percent of income yet pay only 2 percent of federal income taxes....

But the tax misery is not limited only to the well-to-do. All taxpayers faced an average tax increase of 1.8 percent in 2013. Indeed, Heritage tax expert Curtis Dubay uncovered no less than 13 tax increases that kicked in at the beginning of the year, six of which came on the coattails of Obamacare. Taxpayers also face state and local tax burdens that remain high in much of the country, as well as the prospect of rising payroll taxes in the future.

In addition to stifling economic growth, many of these new taxes—especially those on income—penalize success and discourage work. As Dubay has written, it is imperative to reform the tax code because families would be able to earn more, “but would not pay higher marginal tax rates on their higher earnings. The tax code would not punish families as it does today for being more successful and for earning higher compensation because they are more productive.”

Monday, April 14, 2014

India: Muslim Politician Says Women Who Have Been Raped Should Be Hanged In Accordance With Islamic Law…

In a bizarre and grotesque statement, the state Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Abu Azmi said women who were raped should also be punished. The statement came after this reporter questioned Azmi about SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s comments on rape. - WeaselZippers

Yadav had, at a rally in UP, said that the death sentence, as punishment, for rape was too harsh. “Ladkon se aisi galtiyan ho jati hain, to iska matlab yeh to nahi ki unhe phaansi de di jaaye (Boys make mistakes, but this doesn’t mean you hang them),” he told the gathering.

SHOCKING! Women having sex should be hanged, says Abu Azmi - NDTV

Son disagrees
However, his son Farhan Azmi, who is contesting from the Mumbai North Central constituency, disagreed with his father and party leader. "I believe a rapist should be hanged a hundred times. I have five sisters and everyone in my family believes the same."

'Tax Man' Obama has sought 442 tax increases

April 15 is a hard day for many, as their annual federal tax bill comes due. But it could have been worse. - Paul Bedard/Washington Examiner

According to a new report, President Obama has sought 442 tax increases since taking office, though most have died because of congressional opposition.

Having included 93 new taxes in his fiscal 2015 budget, the anti-tax Americans for Tax Reform reviewed his proposals since his 2009 Inauguration to determine just how tax-friendly the president has been. Their conclusion: He's very friendly.

...The review was timed for April 15 as ATR’s annual wake up call on taxes facing Americans. But it also made note of how the president has not succeeded in instituting his wishes due to Republican opposition in Congress, partly because of ATR’s successful effort to get candidates to pledge to never raise taxes.

"Presidents are judged by history based on what they did in power. But presidents can only enact laws when the Congress agrees," said Norquist in a statement accompanying ATR’s tax list. "Thus a record forged by such compromise tells you what a president — limited by Congress — did, rather than what he wanted to do."

Speaking late Sunday on Russian state television, Viktor Yanukovych claimed that CIA director John Brennan had met with Ukraine's new leadership and "in fact sanctioned the use of weapons and provoked bloodshed."

Ukraine's ousted president puts blame on CIA - AP

Ukraine's ousted president has accused the CIA of being behind the new Ukrainian government's decision to deploy armed forces to quash an increasingly brazen pro-Russian insurgency.

George Will on Democrats' Obsession With Racism



Watch George Will Perfectly Diagnose The Constant Liberal Cry of ‘Racist!’ - IJ Review

RECORD-HIGH 60% OF CALIFORNIANS SAY THEY PAY TOO MUCH TAX

Ahead of the April 15 tax deadline, a record-high 60% of Californians say that they pay "much more" or "somewhat more" in taxes than they should, according to a recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) (and noted by John Seiler of Calwatchdog.org and Stephen Frank of CApoliticalnews.com). - Joel Pollak/Breitbart

However, as PPIC Mark Baldassare notes at Fox&Hounds, Californians still believe that the answer is to tax wealthy earners or corporations more--not to reform and broaden the current tax system.
The PPIC survey, which was conducted in March among 1,702 adults, notes:
While about half of Californians view the state and local tax system as fair, a record-high 60 percent of adults say they pay much more (30%) or somewhat more (30%) than they feel they should in state and local taxes; 35 percent think they pay about the right amount and 3 percent say they pay less than they should. Opinions of likely voters are similar.
However, as Baldassare notes, that view of the tax system remains tied to a view that the wealthy do not pay enough, and that the state should restore and extend funding for state services. That makes the prospects for fiscal reform rather dim: "If tax reform proponents ask voters to raise taxes or to make changes to the state and local tax system any time soon, they will need to be mindful of voters’ current views on these issues," he writes.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Five Ways Obama's Foreign Policies Have Failed

As Russian troops hoisted their flag over Crimea, President Obama’s highly touted “reset” diplomacy crashed and burned. The Russian reset was to have been the crown jewel of Mr. Obama’s statecraft, the start of a new era in which Washington and Moscow worked together to solve the world’s problems. That naïve dream burst when Vladimir Putin ordered his tanks to roll. - Heritage

But botched relations with the Russians is just the latest and arguably most dramatic failure of White House foreign policy. This administration has suffered a global string of setback. Here are five previous failures the Oval Office hopes most of us never noticed or won’t remember....at the link.

Each one of these developments is unfortunate. Taken together, they are tragic–and overwhelming proof of the failure of the Obama Doctrine. That doctrine assumed that all foreign relations problems could be fixed with “smart power.” They can’t.

Man with history of anti-Semitism jailed in fatal shooting of three at Johnson County Jewish centers

Way more to this one than what's come out so far in the mainstream media:

A 73-year-old southwest Missouri man with a long history of anti-Semitism is suspected of killing two people outside Overland Park’s Jewish Community Center and then a third at a nearby Jewish assisted living facility. - Kansas City Star
After officers arrested Frazier Glenn Cross — an Aurora, Mo., man better known as F. Glenn Miller — Sunday afternoon, authorities said he went on a rant inside the patrol car. Though Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass wouldn’t say what Cross hollered, a television crew captured him on video while he was handcuffed in the back of the car. “Heil Hilter,” Miller yelled out, and then he bobbed his head up and down.
BREAKING: KS Jewish Center Shooter ID’d: “WHITE NATIONALIST LEADER” Fraiser Glenn Cross, Jr. from Aurora, Missouri - Jim Hoft/Gateway Pundit
...Tonight the shooter was identified as Fraizier Glenn Miller, or Glenn Miller. He is the former leader of the defunct North Carolina-based White Patriot Party (formerly known as the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan). Convicted of criminal charges related to weapons and violation of an injunction against paramilitary activity, he is a perennial candidate for public office as both a Democrat and Republican....

MORE…. Fraizier Glenn Miller presented a seminar on at Missouri State University in 2012.
White Nationalism and Jewish Supremacism
Ending I said: “I’ve proven in simple math that our race is dying out rapidly. I’ve also given you evidence that the jews are responsible. Your only answer can be that you will or you won’t do anything about it. Frankly, I hope there’s a young Hitler among you.” (Words to that effect)

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