Back on Uncle Sam's Plantation

The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools and broken black families.

By Star Parker, founder and president of CURE

Six years ago I wrote a book called, "Uncle Sam's Plantation." I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my own transformation out of it. I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas. A poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism.

I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing and Food Stamps.

A vast sea of perhaps well intentioned government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960's, that were going to lift the nation's poor out of poverty.

A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from, "How do I take care of myself?" to "What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?"

Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems. The kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others.

The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools and broken black families.

Through God's grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what freedom meant and how great this country is.

I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996, passed by a Republican congress and signed into law by a Democrat president. A few years after enactment, welfare roles were down fifty percent.

I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth producing American capitalism. But, incredibly, we are going in the opposite direction.

Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism.

Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said, "Thank you, Suh."

Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need to be done to serve customers, they are thinking about what they have to tell Massah in order to get their cash.

There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first black president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.

Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto the plantation..

In an op-ed on the opinion page of the Washington Post, Mr. Obama is clear that the goal of his trillion dollar spending plan is much more than short term economic stimulus. "This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending-it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care, and education."

Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over an economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take place "with unprecedented transparency and accountability."

Yes sir, we heard it from Jimmy Carter when he created the Department of Energy, the Synfuels Corporation and the Department of Education..

Or, how about the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 -- The War on Poverty -- which President Johnson said "...does not merely expand old programs or improve what is already being done? It charts a new course. It strikes at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty."

Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black families are not, with triple the incidence of single parent homes and out of wedlock births.

It's not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama's invitation to move onto the plantation. Or they can choose personal responsibility and freedom.

Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should be?

---Star Parker

Star Parker, is an American syndicated columnist, Republican politician, social critic, author, and conservative political activist. In 1995, she founded the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education. In 2010, she was the Republican nominee for the United States House of Representatives in California's 37th District, which encompasses much of Los Angeles County.

Parker is a syndicated columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service.^[2] Her column is carried weekly by newspapers across the country and opinion sites such as Townhall.^[3][4]

German Electricity Cost Doubled

Lies, Damn Lies and Green Statistics

Almost all predictions about the expansion and cost of German wind turbines and solar panels have turned out to be wrong – at least by a factor of two, sometimes by a factor of five.

 The glaring miscalculations of green energy: 2009 predictions (grey) vs real costs (yellow) in € billions

When Germany’s power grid operator announced the exact amount of next year’s green energy levy on Monday, it came as a shock to the country. The cost burden for consumers and industry have reached a “barely tolerable level that threatens the de-industrialization of Germany”, outraged business organisations said.

Since then politicians, business representatives and green energy supporters have been arguing about who is to blame for the “electricity price hammer”. After all, did not Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) promise that green energy subsidies would not be more than 3.6 cents per kilowatt hour?

How could Merkel be so wrong?

 

Now, however, the cost burden is rising by 50 percent – to 5.3 cents per kilowatt hour. German citizens have to support renewable energy by more than EUR 20 billion – instead of 14 billion Euros. How could Merkel be so wrong?

Finding an answer to this question is crucial for the progress and success of the green energy transition. Only then the Federal Government would ever get a grip on its most important mega-project.

A review of the green energy transition’s planning data is revealing. It turns out that almost all predictions about the expected additional expansion of wind turbines and solar panels were dramatically wrong, at least by a factor of two, sometimes by a factor of five.

However, if there was one thing which was even less accurate than the prediction of the tempo of expansion it was the estimates of the associated costs of this expansion.

Renewable energy has been completely miscalculated

Already three years ago, the Renewable Energy Agency examined more than 50 studies on the development of renewable energy sources to see if their predictions had come true. The results were devastating: All of Germany’s top research institutes, from the Prognos Institute, the Fraunhofer Institute and the Institute for Aerospace (DLR) to the Wuppertal Institute, had completely underestimated the expected contribution of renewable energy.

A Prognos study in 1998, for example, estimated that solar panels would provide 0.44 TWh electricity in 2020. In reality, photovoltaic supplied ten times as much in 2008.

In 2005, in a study for the Federal Economics Ministry, Prognos Institute forecasted the level of green energy generation for the year 2030. In reality, the level was reached in 2007, just two years after the publication of the study.

“Renewable energy must not be systematically miscalculated,” the former head of the Agency for Renewable Energies, Jörg Mayer, commented the findings of the report: “Major energy policy decisions depend on predictions.”

Green electricity levy was promised to cost just one Euro

The leader of the Green Party, Jürgen Trittin, proclaimed in 2004 that Germany’s green electricity law (EEG) would cost each household “only about one Euro per month – as much as a scoop of ice cream.” As Federal Minister of the Environment, Trittin then pursued the expansion of the most expensive green energy technologies such as solar photovoltaic and offshore wind power without any hesitation.

Given the poor quality of forecasting delivered by Germany’s research institutions, it was an almost forgivable mistake. In reality, the monthly EEG costs per household have increased almost twenty-fold compared to the amount proclaimed by Trittin.

Trittin’s successor, Sigmar Gabriel (Social Democrats, SPD), should have become suspicious, however. His ministry always relied on so-called reference scenarios produced by the German Institute for Aerospace (DLR) and an engineering firm: year after year they predicted a decrease in the number of the expensive solar panels in Germany – and were thus far removed from reality.

Sending out the wrong message

For 2007, the “reference scenario” expected an additional construction of 600 MW of solar panels in Germany. In reality, it was 1,270 MW – twice as much. And in 2010 7,400 MW of solar panels were installed; six times as much as estimated in the reference scenario used by the environment minister.

The message that politicians of all parties got from the studies by the ministry of the environment was as clear as it was wrong: the cost of solar subsidies are negligible, photovoltaics would remain a niche technology. Today, however, the hangover is hurting: Already, the subsidies for solar power alone add up to 110 billion Euros. They will have to be paid by consumers in the next 20 years.

In 2009, the Association of Renewable Energy (BEE) published a reassuring prognosis: “The delivery volume of electricity generated by renewable energy will decrease after 2013.” The statement was accompanied by statistics that suggested subsidies of 5.6 billion Euros in 2013. Another great error: In fact, with 20.36 billion Euros the figure was almost four times higher in 2012.

The environment minister’s secret

When it comes to the green energy costs per household, the stakeholders of the eco-industry also promised the consumers the earth: households would only be charged 1.4 cents per kilowatt hour in 2013 – a figure, which would decrease steadily thereafter and would amount to 6 cents in 2020. The reality shows a different picture: in 2013, consumers will be charged four times of what they had been promised by the green lobby.

After the most recent EEG price shock, Federal Environment Minister Peter Altmaier (Christian Democrat, CDU) announced a reform of the green electricity levy. The fixed feed-in tariffs may be abolished, the minister said in a ten-point paper: in return, the green electricity target for 2020 may be raised from 35 percent to 40 percent.

Given that all green energy forecasts have been off the mark by hundreds of percentage points after just three years it is unclear where the minister takes his confidence to believe that he will succeed.

Translation Philipp Mueller

Die Welt, 20 October 2012,  Daniel Wetzel, Die Welt,  Date: 25/10/12

Georgia Can Avoid Obamacare

Georgia can't be forced to implement Obamacare!

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision prevents the federal government from forcing states to implement Obamacare's Medicaid expansion by withholding all Medicaid funding from any State that refused to do so.

And if a State simply refuses to accept federal mandates (and the associated "bribe" money) to implement ObamaCare health exchanges, then the entire law falls flat on its face.

That's good news, right? You'd think this would be a no-brainer for "conservative" Georgia politicians like Governor Nathan Deal.

Our Republican governor has been very vocal in his opposition to Obamacare.

And he has routinely claimed to be fiscally conservative, too. So it should be a done deal that Obamacare will not be implemented in GA.  Then why am I writing you about it?

Well, it appears that Governor Nathan Deal is going to wait until just after the federal elections on November 6th to spring Obamacare health exchanges on Georgians.

You read that correctly. Governor Deal has a long history of supporting Obamacare and other federal mandates, if you look at his actual record.

 In March of 2011, Republican State Representatives Richard Smith (Columbus) and John Meadows (Calhoun) introduced H.B. 476 with the support of Governor Deal.

H.B. 476 would have created a Georgia Health Exchange Authority "in accordance with federal law." That federal law, Obamacare, would have dictated that the exchange be operated by rules and regulations promulgated by the federal Secretary of Health and

Human Services.

After intense pressure from grassroots activists like you, Governor Deal was forced to withdraw H.B. 476 from consideration.

Later that year, in June of 2011, Governor Deal established the Georgia Health Insurance Exchange Advisory Committee. In the press release announcing the committee, Governor Deal is quoted as saying that he hoped "this committee will construct the appropriate avenues for our state to implement our own exchange, based on delivering free market solutions for increasing the access and affordability of health insurance." And there is the rub.

These exchanges, by their very definition, stifle the free market. A government-mandated exchange would pick and choose which companies would be allowed to sell insurance and which companies would be excluded.

Further, any exchange, whether created by the state or the federal government, would be completely controlled by rules and regulations promulgated by the federal government under Obamacare. And Georgians would foot the bill!

Finally, nowhere in his executive order will you find Governor Deal asking the commission for recommendations on how to actually resist Obamacare. In fact, his executive order calls for the creation of one or more government-run Obamacare exchanges!

Shortly after the Supreme Court's ruling this past June, Deal revealed his plan to implement Obamacare exchanges just after the November 6th elections, when most voters will be distracted with the outcome of the Presidential race.

And on August 28th of this year, Deal had the audacity to repeat his scheme at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. So much for the conservatism of the Republican party!

Time and time again the Governor has attempted to sneak his Obamacare plans in 'under the radar' all while using the language of free market economics to mask his true intentions.

Governor Deal must think we are easily fooled! This MUST BE stopped! So, what can you do?

Contact Governor Nathan Deal today and demand that he refuse all federal "bribe" money and mandates to implement Obamacare health exchanges in Georgia!

http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/10121311:13621956900:m:3:181379815:4E25DE1663DA3910990E8C654D9CEFE2:r

Remind the Governor that he works for you and not the health care lobby or the federal government!

Make it clear that you will be watching his actions and that you will hold him accountable should he implement his Obamacare health exchange scheme.

Tell him that you won't be convinced to expand government programs by clever marketing schemes that abuse the language of free market economics.

Tell him that it is immoral and wrong to use propaganda in order to fleece people.

Put a stop to the implementation of Obamacare in Georgia immediately!

CLICK HERE to contact Governor Deal today! Tell him "no Obamacare exchanges in Georgia."

http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/10121311:13621956900:m:3:181379815:4E25DE1663DA3910990E8C654D9CEFE2:r

Source: Georgia Campaign for Liberty Nathan Adams

Voters Cynical

Voters are not in the mood to approve ballot initiatives due to high cynicism. This cynical mood has been earned by our elected representatives since 2008. All levels of government are ignoring voter anger about overspending, arrogant dismissive behavior, poor priorities, wasteful spending, failure to remove harmful, liberty robbing laws and regulations, failure to remove job killing regulations, imposed “regional” governance, EPA regulation initiated coal plant closures, EPA determination to raise our energy bills and local government initiated property rights violations.

The federal government continues the global warming hoax with carbon capture  scams, unrestrained EPA overreach and unconstitutional action by other federal departments. Agenda 21 implementation at the local level requires that cities and counties adopt “Comprehensive Plans”, including land use plans that promise the loss of farms and creation of “corridors” to be used as “wildlife preserves”.  Government is broke.  How will it raise the money to buy farmland ? 

First, the EPA will attempt to impose farming regulations designed to bankrupt farmers.  If that isn’t enough, other departments will join in to steal the water needed to irrigate crops.  Land values will plummet and the government will buy the land with printed dollars. Counties will use eminent domain to seize private farmland as wetlands or for failure to pay taxes.  Reverse mortgages and other schemes are being introduced to rural counties to get farmers to sign their land over.  Property rights lawyers are also marketing heavily in rural counties.

Alabama banned Agenda 21 implementation and local government abuse is subsiding in Alabama, but Georgia is not following Alabama’s lead. Our hope is that a Republican controlled federal government will cut spending and defund treasonous U.N. initiated activities like Agenda 21 and cancel Obama’s executive orders.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Obama's Taqqiya (Denial) Unravels

By Nonie Darwish 

I have never entertained the idea that Obama was a Muslim and always believed he was a socialist. But Obama's behavior over the last four years regarding Islam has convinced me that Obama has a Socialist/Islamic centered worldview -- a combination that is not uncommon in many parts of the Muslim world.

Having been a journalist in Egypt for six years in the seventies, I have witnessed socialism with an Islamic twist to be a popular political ideology, especially amongst Arab journalists and intellectuals. Socialism, and even communism, have managed to survive in the ruthless Islamic political system as an alternative to full-fledged Sharia. The two ideologies have blended together in cases including the Baath Party in Syria and Iraq and socialist regimes in Egypt and Yemen. One major difference between the two ideologies is that Islam uses Allah, while socialism uses atheism, to fight the God of Christianity. Free democracies, such as the United States, are alien to Islam and socialism both because they regard government as a servant of the people and hold that human rights are granted by God and not by government or the code of Sharia.

Both Sharia and socialism are united in their envy of Western society and need to change it. That is why Obama has become the savior of both Islam and socialism. He embodies both ideologies. The claim that Obama is a Christian was a silly joke, but a necessary lie for the greater cause of changing America to fit the goals of both creeds.

Obama became the One, the savior of both Islam and socialists. To do that, Obama had to deny who he really was, which explains why his actions and words have never added up. At the recent Alfred E. Smith Catholic Charity dinner speech, Obama did not seem to be just kidding when he said that Romney uses his middle name Mitt and "I wish I could use my middle name." Obama was referring, of course, to his Islamic middle name of Hussein. In Obama's mind, he was not ashamed for having deceived America -- he blamed America for putting him in the position of having to deny his true pride in his middle name.

That brings us to an important discovery by WND in an article by Jerome Corsi titled: "Obama's Ring: 'There is no God But Allah'." The article featured close-up photos of a ring still worn by Obama today in the White House, one that he has worn since his visit to Pakistan as a young man. The ring, which later also became his wedding ring, has very tiny and discrete Arabic calligraphy that means nothing to Americans, but to Arabic-speaking people like myself and Dr. Mark Gabriel, means quite a lot. Such Islamic calligraphy is commonly found throughout the gold markets of the Muslim world. I am not a writing expert, but I can clearly see on the ring the word 'La Ilaha IllaAllah. ("There is no god but god.")' Such a sentence in Arabic has a lot of the letters A and L which in Arabic are simply a straight line like the number one.

The only explanation for Obama's exciting ring secret is that he is a closet Muslim and feels that he can serve Islam best if he denies his being a Muslim for the purpose of a higher aspiration to serve the Muslim world from the White House, in Islamic terms the "higher jihad." Obama has no problem whatsoever in lying for the sake of "Hope and Change" since lying about being a Muslim in a majority non-Muslim country is allowed under Islam. Lying for the purpose of jihad (known as "taqqiya") is not only allowed, but an obligation to be proud of and even serves as a reason to blame the enemies of Islam for one's lies. Sharia law states: "Lying is obligatory if the purpose is obligatory." Muslim clerics have no problem in lying not just to the non-Muslim world but even to the Muslim masses, since Islam also allows Muslims to lie in order to bring Muslims together in harmony and friendship.

That brings us to the current debacle in Libya, which can only be understood if we grasp Obama's worldviews as regards the "Muslim World." Like the so-called 'moderate' Muslims, Obama insists Islam in and of itself has nothing to do with terrorism and blames previous American foreign policy (along with Israel), for Islamic anger. Obama narrowed down the problem of Islamism to Al Qaeda while embracing other Islamic groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, as moderate. In the process, Obama dismissed the Brotherhood's long history of terror, which in fact gave birth to Al Qaeda and hundreds of other terror groups. Nothing in Obama's world is the fault of Islam, which is why he ordered the Fort Hood massacre to be classified as "workplace violence" and not Islamic terrorism.

Obama believes that he uniquely understands the Muslim world and will bring about a new era of peace with Islam, at least during his administration. There are strong rumors in Egypt that when Obama met with the Egyptian foreign minister, he confided in him that he was a Muslim and that he would assist the Islamic cause in America after he passes the Health Care Bill.

But as president of the United States, Obama was caught in a quagmire between protecting American lives and appearing loyal to Islam. Placing American Marines at US consulates in dangerous terror-infested Islamic countries created the possibility of a bloody confrontation between American security and Islamists. That would discredit Obama's attempt to separate Islam from terrorism. Also, if Obama confronted militant Muslim jihadists in Islamic countries, his entire claim to opening a new page in American/Islamic relations would fall apart. He would then be no different from his predecessors, Bush or Reagan.

 

That explains why the demands for American security by U.S. ambassador Stevens went unanswered. Obama did not want to deal with the possibility that American Marines would shoot at Muslim attackers in order to save American lives.

According to Sharia, it is a capital crime for a Muslim individual or leader to shoot at fellow Muslims -- even Islamists -- for the purpose of protecting Americans. That would make Obama a violator of Sharia and an apostate. If Obama considers himself a Muslim and wears an Islamic ring, then he must have had a very hard time deciding on how to protect the consulate without killing Muslim attackers. His solution? Settling for the lesser of two evils: getting Muslims, in the form of Libyan security, to guard the property and in this way, forcing Muslims to shoot other Muslims in order to defend the consulate. But that plan was useless because even the Muslim guards had to follow Sharia, and ran away and left the Americans to be killed rather than violate Sharia themselves by killing other Muslims. Obama gambled with the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others and left them as sacrificial lambs rather than violate the dictates of Sharia.

The Benghazi fiasco merely underlined Obama's failed promises of peace with the Muslim world. The murder of Americans at the hand of Muslims did not even get us an apology from any Muslim leader or cleric. No one is taking responsibility, not even Obama himself.

With the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Islamists and jihadists made it clear to us that they could care less about Obama, his appeasement, his apologies, and even his Islam. They could not put jihad on hold or restrain themselves on behalf of an American president who wanted to help build a better image of Islam. They could not play the game with Obama and refrain from jihad even during the Obama presidency. The jihadists in effect declared that Obama, Muslim or not, is just another American president who should not be trusted. No leader, Muslim or not, can get away from the wrath of Islamic jihad, and that is why angry Islamic mobs were recently seen torching Obama's effigy.

 

It is unfortunate that it took a tragedy in Libya and the lives of decent Americans to prove that Obama is unfit to be president of the USA. Obama has fooled many Americans for four years and that is why, when he sees the face of Mitt Romney, he is reminded of a reality that he could not fully eliminate. Obama knows the game, and his presidency, is over.

Source: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/10/obamas_taqqiya_unravels.html#ixzz2AdOc2yrD,  October 28, 2012,  Nonie Darwish author The Devil We Don't Know and President Former Muslims United.

General Fired Attempting to Avert Benghazi Killing

Obama Administration Replaces Top Generals Following Benghazi Disaster  by Jim Hoft

General Carter Ham  The latest rumor making the rounds is that Barack Obama replaced General Carter Ham at AFRICOM after the general made a move to help the US security officials at the Benghazi consulate and annex. Ham was replaced by Gen. David Rodriquez on October 18. Tiger Droppings reported:

The information I heard today was that General [Carter] Ham as head of Africom received the same e-mails the White House received requesting help/support as the attack was taking place. General Ham immediately had a rapid response unit ready and communicated to the Pentagon that he had a unit ready.

General Ham then received the order to stand down. His response was to screw it, he was going to help anyhow. Within 30 seconds to a minute after making the move to respond, his second in command apprehended General Ham and told him that he was now relieved of his command.

The story continues that now General Rodiguez would take General Ham’s place as the head of Africom.

Sure enough Obama nominated Gen. David Rodriguez to replace Gen. Carter Ham as commander of U.S. Africa Command.The Stars and Stripes reported: President Barack Obama will nominate Army Gen. David Rodriguez to succeed Gen. Carter Ham as commander of U.S. Africa Command and Marine Lt. Gen. John Paxton to succeed Gen. Joseph Dunford as assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Thursday. Both appointments must be confirmed by the Senate.

Rodriguez is the commander of U.S. Army Forces Command and has served in a “variety of key leadership roles on the battlefield,” Panetta said.  He’s “a proven leader” who oversaw coalition and Afghan forces during the surge in Afghanistan, and “was the key architect of the successful campaign plan that we are now implementing,” Panetta said. In announcing Ham’s successor, Panetta also praised the work Ham has done with Africa Command.

“Gen. Ham has really brought AFRICOM into a very pivotal role in that challenging region,” Panetta said. “I and the nation are deeply grateful for his outstanding service.”

The Obama Administration also relieved the admiral in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, Rear Adm. Charles M. Gaouette. It is highly unusual for the Navy to replace a carrier strike group commander during its deployment.

The Stars and Stripes reported:  The Navy said Saturday it is replacing the admiral in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into undisclosed allegations of inappropriate judgment.

Rear Adm. Charles M. Gaouette is being sent back to the USS John C. Stennis’ home port at Bremerton, Wash., in what the Navy called a temporary reassignment. The Navy said he is not formally relieved of his command of the Stennis strike group but will be replaced by Rear Adm. Troy M. Shoemaker, who will assume command until the investigation is completed.  It is highly unusual for the Navy to replace a carrier strike group commander during its deployment  Ace of Spades says the move to replace Rear Adm. Charles Baouette is likely not related to Benghazi.

Source: The Gateway Pundit, Posted by Jim Hoft on Saturday, October 27, 2012, 3:45 PM

Charter Schools Audited

Audits for 3 Georgia Schools Tied to Turkish Movement

by Stephanie Saul    

A group of three publicly financed charter schools in Georgia run by followers of Fethullah Gulen, a prominent Turkish imam, have come under scrutiny after they defaulted on bonds and an audit found that the schools improperly granted hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts to businesses and groups, many of them with ties to the Gulen movement.
Schools affiliated with followers of the Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen have received increasing scrutiny in recent years.

The audit, released Tuesday by the Fulton County Schools near Atlanta, found the schools made purchases like T-shirts, teacher training and video production services from organizations with connections to school officials or Gulen followers. Those included more than $500,000 in contracts since January 2010 with the Grace Institute, a foundation whose board has included school leaders. In some cases the awards skirted bidding requirements, the audit said.

“I would just question how those vendors were selected when price in many instances wasn’t part of the decision making,” said the Fulton County superintendent, Robert Avossa, who criticized the schools for conflicts of interest. “And those are public dollars.”

Gulen followers run more than 120 charter schools nationwide, making the loosely affiliated network one of the nation’s largest public charter school operators. Despite clear connections, the schools generally deny any affiliation with the Gulen movement, a powerful religious and political force in Turkey whose leader, Mr. Gulen, views establishing schools as part of his mission. While some of the charter schools have been praised for their academic performance, their business practices have raised questions.

The New York Times reported last year that the group’s 36 Texas schools had granted millions of dollars in construction and renovation contracts to firms run by Turkish-Americans with ties to the movement, in some cases bypassing lower bids from firms with no connections to the movement. The Texas schools also awarded deals for cafeteria food, after-school programs and teacher training to organizations affiliated with Gulen followers.

The Georgia audit, posted to the Fulton County Schools Web site Tuesday evening, focused on the Fulton Science Academy Middle School in Alpharetta, Ga., a 500-student school that was recently denied a renewal of its public charter. The school, which had received $32 million in public funds over the past 10 years, said it would operate as a private school. While the audit does not lay out all of the relationships between contractors and the movement, a chart shows connections between the people running the schools, some of the vendors and Gulen-connected groups.

Dr. Avossa said that the audit’s findings had raised concerns about the group’s two other public charter schools in his district: Fulton Science Academy High School and Fulton Sunshine Academy, an elementary school.

He said a full audit would be conducted of those schools “to gauge whether similar wrongdoing is taking place.”

The three schools have enrolled 1,200 students representing a cross section of students in the Fulton County district.

Wells Fargo Bank, trustee of a $19 million bond issue by the schools, told investors on May 15 that the three schools were in default on those bonds. The bank said the default was caused by the group’s failure to disclose in its bond offering last year that its middle school charter renewal might have been in jeopardy. “The failure to disclose the ongoing concerns with Fulton Science Academy’s charter renewal petition constituted an omission of material facts in the public statement,” Wells Fargo said.

A default gives the bondholders the right to demand immediate payment, possibly requiring a liquidation of some school assets. The bonds are trading at about 70 percent of face value.

Concerns about governance and transparency were partly behind the district’s rejection of the Fulton Science Academy Middle School’s demand for a 10-year charter renewal. The school was named a “blue-ribbon” school last year by the federal government for its performance and appealed unsuccessfully to the state.

Kenan Sener, the school’s principal, said that the audit contained significant inaccuracies and that the school would issue a statement on Wednesday, after fully reviewing the document.

Nationwide, the charter schools have pursued an aggressive expansion plan, much of it financed by public bond issues, with the Texas schools borrowing more than $200 million through bond offerings.

In Texas, the group’s spending has been the focus of investigations by the State Legislature and the Texas Education Agency. The federal Department of Education is also investigating the Texas schools, apparently focusing on allegations of discrimination against Hispanic special education students in enrollment. The schools have denied wrongdoing.

One criticism of the schools involves their reliance on teachers imported from Turkey while teacher unemployment in the United States remains high. The audit said the Fulton Science Academy Middle School had paid $75,000 in immigration-related expenses for such employees.

Although the schools are inspired by Mr. Gulen and teach Turkish language and culture, they do not teach religion.

A version of this article appeared in print on June 6, 2012, on page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Audits for 3 Georgia Schools Tied to Turkish Movement.

Source: New York Times, by STEPHANIE SAUL, Published: June 5, 2012

Comments:

Public schools need to be fixed, but not through State authorized charter schools.  Outside money is pouring into Georgia to support Amendment #1 to Georgia Constitution to allow the State to create charter schools.  Remember the pattern: government ruins what it controls and then it offers worse solutions.  We need to close the U.S. Department of Education. Vote NO on the Amendments.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader