Stop Sharia in US Courts

Secure Freedom

Your answers are urgently needed on our National Citizen Opinion Survey about the growing foothold Islamic supremacists and their agenda for dominating the world known as Shariah are achieving in America. Go http://email.conservativehq.com/q/17LsziO6VQV9d0Bh77Qq93/wv to view this message in your browser.

 

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Secure Freedom

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dyaOzUY2QbRh2QLOoPGhNcG

 

Your answers are urgently needed on our National Citizen Opinion Survey

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dyeNVgoMbGPfN2DnNbpgpih about the growing foothold Islamic supremacists and their agenda for dominating the world known as Shariah are achieving in America.

 

Secure Freedom

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dyiNgBPvxbNexeuXbx8f1nS Alarmingly, those who believe Islam and its repressive anti-Constitutional Shariah must rule the whole world, are making serious inroads in towns and cities right here in America - sometimes with our own tax dollars!

 

What's more, the followers of Islam's Shariah are not simply believers in a "religion." Instead, they are waging jihad (holy war) - in one form or another - to force the whole world to submit to their dictates, non-Muslim and Muslim alike . . .

. . . even coercing or forcing what we would consider to be "the good Muslims" to join them in conforming to Shariah.

 

And with illegal and legal Muslim immigration in America growing at record rates, Shariah-adherent immigrants are challenging the Judeo-Christian foundation of our U.S. Constitution, our culture and values - often in ways unknown to most Americans.

 

Worse yet, Islamic leaders are cleverly using our own 1st Amendment rights to establish and defend so-called "Islamic Centers" here in our country, that in reality are Shariah-adherent mosques that advance "Jihad" against America . . .

. . . often providing safe-havens for terrorist recruitment and indoctrination in their quest for world dominance and power.

 

That's why it's so vital for you to sign and return your National Citizen Opinion Survey

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dymMBXgeSGLdhqmwzSRdDtt in support of keeping U.S. courts and government agencies from enabling Shariah law to take hold here.

 

Whether or not this problem has affected your area yet, just think about this:

 

An undercover investigation found that a staggering 80% of Islamic mosques or "cultural centers" in America are under the influence of the Shariah-promoting Saudi (Wahabbist) wing of Islam. Under Shariah, gender and religion determine specific "rights" in ways at odds with our Constitutional ones.

And Shariah promotes "jihad" . . . violence and terrorism against all Islamic "non-believers."

 

Secure Freedom

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dyqLXiGYebJc1Ce5YeAcfz4 And unless thousands of freedom-loving citizens like you share their views with key community leaders and our legislators to stop the creeping political influence of supremacist Islam and Shariah in America, all we need to do is look to Europe to see where our country is headed.

 

Great Britain now has 85 Shariah courts. In Germany, Shariah law has been used to defend a husband's right to beat his wife and practice polygamy. France has overhauled its domestic tax laws to accommodate "Islamic Finance."

Just think about what is already happening in America:

 

Secure Freedom has identified 146 U.S. court cases in which an attempt was made to use Shariah to decide the dispute. In one in five instances, the judge agreed. We expect those numbers to grow. And recently, a group of Muslims in northern Texas tried to establish the first official "Islamic tribunal" to dispense Shariah law in the United States.

How can this be happening in our country?  It's because of a clever technique used by a particularly dangerous Islamic supremacist group, the Muslim Brotherhood. They call it "civilization jihad," a term that describes how the Brotherhood is aiming at, in their words, "eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within."

 

Here are some of the ways the civilization jihadist leaders are stealthily trying to take us down:

 

Islamists are placing Muslim Brothers into positions as advisors to and, in some cases as employees of, our government - placements that facilitate their insidious influence operations.

 

Islamists seek to prevent our free speech - particularly the kind that might allow us to understand and effectively counteract their secretive assaults on our country and its institutions.

 

Secure Freedom

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dyuLiE7HzGHaLO5FmAjaREF

Islamists are trying to use the "Common Core" curriculum - our children's textbooks - to promote Islamic supremacism in our academic institutions.

 

Islamists are working to insinuate Shariah into U.S. courts and establish their own parallel "Islamic tribunals" to subvert our rule of law and Constitution.

 

Islamists are using our immigration system - especially our refugee resettlement program - to engage in what the Islamic supremacists call the hijra, a Muslim colonization of America.

 

Islamists enlist leaders of other faiths through so-called "interfaith dialogue" to obscure and enable what is fundamentally a subversive political, not a legitimate religious, agenda. And,

 

Islamists use what is known as "Shariah-Compliant Finance" to penetrate and coopt our capitalist system.

 

While the Europeans are further down the tubes than we are at the moment, I think you'll agree there is reason to believe we are catching up. For example:

 

Many national food chains are selling unmarked Shariah-compliant "Halal" meat (the animal is ritually-slaughtered by a Muslim who sacrifices it to Allah), unbeknownst to most Americans who are buying and consuming it.

 

Our own U.S. Treasury Dept. has hosted in its headquarters a course called "Islam Finance 101" to promote Shariah-compliant financial activities. And today, most of our major banks and financial institutions - including one-time government-owned and taxpayer-funded AIG - offer "Shariah-Compliant" products that are overseen by Muslim "scholars" to ensure they comply with Islamic law.

 

Secure Freedom

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dyCJZkZagGD8gbOO9hL85PR

Some public and taxpayer-funded university gyms are now providing separate hours for male and female swimming . . . to comply with Shariah laws for Islamic followers.

 

Several years ago, at a Tyson's chicken processing plant in Tennessee, the American Labor Day holiday was REPLACED with an Islamic religious holiday. A public outcry forced the company to reverse that decision, but it did so by making accommodations for both holidays.

 

A New Jersey judge denied a protective order to a Moroccan-American woman being systematically beaten and tortured by her Muslim husband on the grounds that he was just practicing his faith according to Shariah. And in Virginia, an Islamic school operating under Shariah not only ignored the reports by a little girl that she was being molested by her father, but the principal sent her home for him to "handle it".

 

A Muslim father murdered his two daughters in Houston a few years ago in an act known as "honor killing" for dating American boys. Others are having their girls' genitals mutilated - yes, here in the United States.

 

So you can see why it is so critical to the future of America to participate in this unprecedented national effort. We must shine the light of day on how supremacist Islam and Shariah are gaining ground. And we must get millions of our fellow citizens behind our effort to prevent Shariah from taking hold here and to counter the jihad of all kinds in America.

 

So I hope you will do your part by answering and submitting your National Citizen Opinion Survey

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dyGJkGpTCbB70nGnxDu6HVs and join in our fight to push back on the Islamic supremacists and their Shariah agenda.

 

I am emailing you and a few other key people in your area who I thought would be most likely to help us stop this growing threat.

 

My name is Frank Gaffney. I am the founder and President of Secure Freedom (also known as the Center for Security Policy). For twenty-seven years, we have forged partnerships between elected and other government officials, past and present military leaders, experts and citizens like you to safeguard our U.S. national security against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

 

Since before the attacks by jihadists on 9/11, we have been investigating and challenging Islamic supremacism, and the growing influence of Sharia in America.

 

Perhaps you've seen me as a guest on Fox News and other media outlets warning about Shariah. They call me or a member of my staff when they need an expert on how Islamic supremacism, its Shariah program and jihad are becoming problems for Americans, not just somewhere else, but here at home, as well.

 

Secure Freedom

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dyKIG1QCXGz5KzxWVZd5k13 Make no mistake. These threats will destroy America from within - unless we stop them.

 

That's why we've launched a major national educational campaign to expose millions of Americans to the truth and mobilize them to turn this crisis around now . . . before it's too late.

 

We hold strategic briefings and training programs for key community leaders, legislators, law enforcement and military personnel, pastors and others to warn them about the dangers of civilization jihad, as well as the violent kind, right here in our own country. We also equip these partners with strategies for defeating the jihadists.

 

We have modeled our strategic approach after the one my old boss, President Reagan, used to defeat the last totalitarian ideology that tried to take us down: Soviet communism. We call it the Secure Freedom Strategy.

 

If you would like to know what we are recommending to bring all instruments of national power to bear against today's ideological counterpart to communism, Shariah, you can check out this strategy for free at act.SecureFreedom.org.

 

And if you want to learn more about the how the Muslim Brotherhood's "civilization jihadist" techniques in our country, visit our free, online course at MuslimBrotherhoodinAmerica.com or download for free our publications at SecureFreedom.org.

 

You may have also heard me discuss this issue on my nationally syndicated show, Secure Freedom Radio. You can also catch our podcasts at any time at SecureFreedom.org.

 

I am anxious to see your response to the National Citizen Opinion Survey

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dyOI1nhmjbx4uLpwkkW3W6E because I suspect it will confirm my experience . . .

 

. . . when Americans are exposed to the facts - without "politically correct," but factually wrong, statements from our government or media lies and distortions - they will join in taking the steps needed NOW to help prevent Islamic supremacism from securing an ever-larger foothold here, and ensure that every person residing in this country, no matter their religious, ethnic or cultural background, lives by America's Constitutional rule of law.

 

So, can I count on you to take just a few minutes right now to give me your opinions on the National Citizen Opinion Survey

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dySHmII5EGv3eXh5IGF2ycf and help us show our leaders how powerfully the American people want us to counter jihad? I pray you will do so.

 

That's because, incredible as it may seem - like many of their constituents - an awful lot of local, state and even federal legislators and officials are unaware of the progress being made by Islamic supremacists determined first to insinuate, then to impose, Shariah in our country. That's why Secure Freedom must not only educate the public, but also our representatives, about the necessity of preventing this impending national crisis.

 

But we have a major obstacle facing us.

 

Muslim Brotherhood-associated organizations like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) are trying to suppress the sort of information we need to get out. Their influence operations against our government, media and elites - in which they call truth-tellers "Islamophobes," "racists" and "bigots" - all-too-often succeed in enforcing Shariah blasphemy restrictions on free expression.

 

This is all the more outrageous since, in a speech, a former Chairman of CAIR proclaimed: "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth".

Chilling words indeed!

 

Secure Freedom

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dyWGI48P0bt1Z98F72o1ahQ

The rise of the barbaric Islamic State (ISIS) and the resurgence of al Qaeda and its affiliates have begun to arouse many of our countrymen and women to the ever-expanding forces of Shariah-adherent Muslims and the clear and present danger their violent jihad increasingly poses to our homeland and citizens.

 

Now we need to ensure that our fellow Americans are aware as well of the other principal form of jihad - the Muslim Brotherhood's civilization jihad.

 

With your help and the help of others today, I feel confident that we can effectively counter these stealthy Islamic supremacists and the agenda they share with the violent jihadists: imposing Shariah on America.

 

Currently, Secure Freedom's "Counter Jihad Campaign" is working on 4 principal fronts. For our efforts to succeed we must:

 

1) Contact and educate at least 3 million key Americans like yourself, by exposing them to information about the Islamists' insidious threat to America.

 

We want to do that by sharing with them informational letters and getting feedback in our National Citizens Opinion Survey

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dz0G3pzylGr0Jl0evo6ZMnr. Funds permitting, we want to distribute our free mini-book with highlights of Shariah, The Threat to America - It contains all you need to know about Islamic supremacism and what its practitioners have in mind for you. Our goal is to do this within the next 60 days.

 

Then, we must communicate to state, local and federal leaders the results of our Survey to ensure there are, at a minimum, no more jihadists or additional jihadist mosques and organizations allowed to operate in this country and to begin effectively countering those already here.

 

Secure Freedom

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dz4FoL0hHboZtwRNTJPYot2

2) Take out newspaper and radio advertisements, use the Internet - even produce TV ads - to expose the truth about Shariah to tens of millions of citizens and create even more public pressure to defeat jihad.

 

3) Ramp up our ongoing work to foster among key groups - law enforcement, veterans and other military personnel, pastors and community leaders - awareness of and what to do about the insidious, and growing, Islamic supremacist movement.

 

Such folks have, after all, an urgent need to know of this danger since in many cases, their towns, cities or states are being systematically subjected to the Islamists' civilization jihad, colonization or other subversive operations.

 

4) And I must continue holding one-on-one strategy sessions with Members of Congress, presidential candidates, leading folks in the media and other influential figures in our effort to encourage the necessary course-correction for our country. We have to educate them about the true nature of Shariah and the imperative of preventing it from subverting our Constitution and way of life.

 

Simply put, Shariah is anti-Constitutional and incompatible with the rule of law in a republic such as ours. That's because our Constitution guarantees that every individual citizen is "endowed by our Creator" with an identical set of rights, no matter their gender or religion. But if the Islamic supremacists succeed in hiding their true agenda and the progress they are making towards realizing it, they will continue to erode our freedom of speech and other rights and continue to subvert our country.

 

By engaging our legislators, enlisting our community leaders and educating millions of concerned Americans around the county with information kits and critical alerts, I believe this is a battle we can win. But not without help like yours and others who we are asking to give us a hand.

 

And our first and most critical step is to get my email and this National Citizen Opinion Survey

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dz8EK6r12GmYdIJni5yX0yD to at least 3 million like-minded citizens starting within the next 60 days. And that's where your assistance is sorely needed.

 

Secure Freedom

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dzcE5rRKobkWXUAWGrhVCEe

Yes, we have our work cut out for us, but please know that the Secure Freedom team has the unique expertise needed for us to succeed on this critical task.

 

But because Secure Freedom is a non-profit organization, our funds are very limited. We must ensure that our financial resources are used to the greatest possible effect.

 

And today I was only able to afford to contact you and others who I felt would be most likely to help us.

 

In fact, you are among the first citizens to receive Secure Freedom's National Citizen Opinion Survey on Islamic supremacism in America.

 

It was important to me that you be one of the first to be invited to help with this campaign. Along with your answers to our Survey today, will you also include a generous donation to our effort - $20 or $25, or even $50, $100, $200 or more if you can possibly afford it? Even $15 would be a blessing

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dzkCM8Jd5bgUsik5t8JSQPq.

 

I know in these hard economic times, many people are tightening their belts and making financial contributions wisely. But an investment in the work of Secure Freedom is one of the wisest contributions you can make, as it is truly unique and urgently needed.

 

If you and I do not make the effort NOW to stop the Islamic supremacists and their jihad and Shariah from gaining more ground, I shudder to think what America will look like just a few short years from now - and how it will afflict our children and grandchildren.

 

Perhaps this problem has not directly affected you or your community, yet. But I can assure you, with Muslim immigration at record rates and the success of the Islamists' civilization jihad, it soon will.

 

So please join us in working to counter jihad and secure freedom by completing the National Citizen Opinion Survey

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dzoC7u9WqGeTcubERusRsV1 - a critical first step in helping us protect our Constitution and our country in these difficult and increasingly dangerous times.

 

With heartfelt thanks for your help,

 

Frank Gaffney

Founder and President, Secure Freedom

 

P.S. Remember, too many Americans are unaware of the tremendous inroads being achieved by the Islamic supremacists' global effort to bring Shariah to towns and cities right here in America - often with our very own tax dollars and, in some cases, with the help of the United Nations.

 

They don't yet know what you now do: Shariah makes Islam into much more than a "religion." It is nothing less than a truly global political and military offensive against America and the West. With thousands of mosques in America advancing this program here via stealthy forms of jihad as well, occasionally, as violent ones, we must act now!

 

It's vital for you to complete the National Citizen Opinion Survey right away to help us create the massive public pressure needed to counter this jihad and keep Shariah from subverting our Constitution and rights in our courts, media, churches, financial sector and government.

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dzsBsPAFMbcRWG3efQbQ50C

 

So, please let me hear back from you today

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dzwAOb1p7GaQGRUNEbUOH6d. And I hope you'll be as generous as you can to help us fund this unprecedented national educational and advocacy campaign. Thank you.

 

Secure Freedom

http://email.conservativehq.com/c/16dzAA9ws8tb8Pr3Mn2xDNjbO

 

Source: Secure Freedom 1901 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Suite 201 Washington, DC 20006, (202) 835-9077

As a 501c3 tax-exempt organization, we are able to do our part to keep America safe by educating citizens and members of Congress on vital matters of national security. All gifts to Secure Freedom are therefore tax-deductible. Thank you for helping to secure freedom in America!

ConservativeHQ.com 9625 Surveyor Ct.  Manassas, Virginia 20110 US

Religious Rights Upheld

Supremes decide on clerk who refuses to marry 'gays', Woman claims her Christian beliefs violated, by Bob Unruh, 8/31/15, WND

The full U.S. Supreme Court, including two justices who openly performed “same-sex wedding” ceremonies while the issue was before them, on Monday denied a Kentucky county clerk’s request for a stay of a judge’s order that she issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis’ attorneys with the nonprofit Liberty Counsel had asked for a stay as her case developed at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver said Davis would report to work on Tuesday and “face whatever she has to face.”

He told reporters, “She’s going to have to think and pray about her decision … she certainly understands the consequences either way.”

Justice Elena Kagan, who oversees the district, was one of two justices, along with Ruth Ginsberg, who defied conventional judicial ethics and performed a “same-sex wedding” while the Obergefell case establishing the legality of same-sex marriage was under consideration.

She had received the request for a stay in the Davis case and referred it to the whole court.

But the justices refused to consider Davis’ constitutional religious rights and, without comment, refused to act.

Read Takedown: From Communists to Progressives, How the Left Has Sabotaged Family and Marriage in the WND Superstore!

Those who have raised complaints about Davis’ refusal to issue licenses to same-sex couples pointedly have bypassed more than 100 other locations in Kentucky where they could obtain licenses.

Liberty Counsel has noted that even the district court, which issued the order against Davis, admitted that the case presented a “conflict” between “two individual liberties held sacrosanct in American jurisprudence.”

One was the enumerated right to religious freedom, the other the newly created marriage right.

Staver had argued: “Providing religious conviction accommodations is not antithetical for public employees. Throughout our history, the courts have accommodated people’s deeply held religious beliefs.

“The Supreme Court’s marriage opinion does not suggest that religious accommodations cannot be made or that people have a fundamental right to receive a marriage license from a particular clerk,” he continued, referencing the original opinion.

“There is absolutely no reason that this case has gone so far without reasonable people respecting and accommodating Kim Davis’ First Amendment rights,” he said.

“The SSM Mandate demands that she either fall in line (her conscience be damned) or leave office (her livelihood and job for three decades in the clerk’s office be damned). If Davis’ religious objection cannot be accommodated when Kentucky marriage licenses are available in more than 130 marriage licensing locations, and many other less restrictive alternatives remain available, then elected officials have no real religious freedom when they take public office.”

The courts have misbehaved already, the document argues.

“No court, and especially no third-party desiring to violate religious belief, is fit to set the contours of conscience,” Liberty Counsel argued. “For if that were true, a person who religiously objects to wartime combat would be forced to shoulder a rifle regardless of their conscience or be refused citizenship; a person who religiously objects to work on the Sabbath day of their faith would be forced to accept such work regardless of their conscience or lose access to state unemployment benefits; a person who religiously objects to state-mandated schooling for their children would be forced to send their children to school regardless of their conscience or face criminal penalties; a person who religiously objects to state-approved messages would be forced to carry that message on their vehicles regardless of their conscience or face criminal penalties; a person who religiously objects to capital punishment would be forced to participate in an execution regardless of their conscience or lose their job; a person who religiously objects to providing abortion-related and contraceptive insurance coverage to their employees would be forced to pay for such coverage regardless of their conscience or face staggering fines.”

Those are examples showing “that the majority who adhere to a general law” do not “control the dictates of individual conscience.”

The Obergefell decision, in fact, recognized the religious rights of Americans, even while creating the new right to “same-sex marriage.”

“Obergefell unanimously held that First Amendment protections for religious persons remain despite SSM,” Liberty argued.

WND reported earlier that “gays” were demanding Davis be charged with official misconduct. Davis had stopped issuing any marriage licenses, in order not to discriminate, following the Supreme Court’s creation of the new marriage right.

She also has filed a separate lawsuit against her governor for violating her religious rights.

In Obergefell, the four dissenting Supreme Court justices – John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito – all warned that creating the new right of same-sex “marriage” would war against the existing right of religious exercise embedded in the U.S. Constitution.

“And here we are, two months later, and it is already happening,” Staver said.

Liberty Counsel warned two years ago, Staver said, that religious freedom would be replaced by the new “right” to a “same-sex marriage.” They were roundly criticized by the left for resorting to “scare tactics” and “conspiracy theories.”

http://www.wnd.com/2015/08/supremes-rule-on-clerk-who-refuses-to-marry-gays/

Illinois is Broke

The 2015 Illinois Budget Is Ridiculous, and Here's 15 Reasons Why, Posted: 06/02/2014 6:10 pm EDT Updated: 08/02/2014 5:59 am EDT

The 2015 Illinois budget absurdity and hypocrisy knows few bounds. Yes, there was no vote to raise taxes, making the 5 percent rate permanent. That will make for easier re-election campaigns for supermajority Democrats. Yes, the $100 million in taxpayer funds House Speaker Michael Madigan had proposed to sweeten the bid for an Obama Presidential Library never was approved.

But, back to absurdity and hypocrisy. Here are the facts to remember:

1.     The state is more than $5 billion behind in paying its bills.

2.     It has the worst credit rating of any state.

3.     It has the worst unfunded pension liability of any state.

4.     There was not enough support for raising taxes, nor was their enough support for a doomsday budget. Still, lawmakers approved a $35.7 billion budget.

5.     Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton acknowledge that this budget borrows $650 million from special funds that will drive up the bills taxpayers ultimately must fund.

6.     This budget postpones paying $380 million state worker health insurance bills that taxpayers ultimately must fund.

7.     This budget diverts $650 million in funds that had been going to pay down unpaid bills that taxpayers ultimately must fund.

8.     Yet, lawmakers voted to start paying themselves again for 12 furlough days they had been taking. In other words, they boosted their own pay by $3,100 to $67,836 per lawmaker. Most actually are paid closer to $78,000 for their part-time jobs because most of them get another $10,000 for committee chairmanships.

9.     In the spending plans approved before politicians adjourned was $10 million to renovate the Uptown Theatre in Chicago.

10. There was $35 million to build a grade school in Madigan's district.

11. There was $500,000 for a car racetrack near St. Louis.

12. There is a bill that could allow Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to raise cell phone taxes by $1.40 per month.

13. The budget includes $50 million in funds for Chicago Public Schools and another $50 million in back pay owed state workers.

14. There's money authorized, according to the Chicago Tribune, for more Capitol renovations, for the Glen Ellyn Park District, a Puerto Rican Cultural Center, a Little League in Blue Island, windows for a Chicago church and more.

15. Both Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican nominee Bruce Rauner already are using the budget crisis to try to raise campaign funds and support. Quinn wanted a permanent tax increase. Rauner has refused to provide details for how he would solve the crisis.

And how are we, the taxpayers, going to pay for all of this spending and borrowing and postponing of bill paying? "While a vote on our tax rates has been deferred, rising costs and pressures will force the issue at a later date," Cullerton said.

Yes, absurdity and hypocrisy in the 2015 Illinois budget knows few bounds. And we, the taxpayers, will get the bills.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/reboot-illinois/you-know-illinois-budget-_b_5432379.html

$12.3 million in Illinois Medicaid payments for dead people, audit finds, By Matt Dietrich, 5/30/14

http://www.rebootillinois.com/2014/05/30/editors-picks/mattdietrich/12-3-million-illinois-medicaid-payments-dead-people-audit-finds/9526/?utm_source=huffpo &utm_medium =partner&utm_content&utm_campaign

Candidates on Common Core

Where Do the GOP Candidates (REALLY) Stand On Common Core? Macey GRADES Them! By Macey France, 8/31/15

As the presidential election of 2016 draws ever closer, yet not nearly fast enough it seems, I have been studying the Republican candidates.

Following is my list of candidates whom I’ve been keeping an eye on and their “grades” pertaining to their stance on Common Core. This list is by no mean exhaustive and is only focusing on the Common Core and education reform.

Jeb Bush:  F

Jeb Bush is making a lot of money off of the Common Core. He started a foundation called Foundation for Excellence in Education and has been the biggest cheerleader for Common Core since before we even know what it was. Jeb Bush quote on Common Core:  “I’m not going to change my position because there’s four people in the front row yelling at me.”

John Kasich:  F

Mr. Kasich is a proponent of the Common Core. As recently as January of this year he had this to say: “The Common Core was written by state education superintendents and local principals. In my state of Ohio, we want higher standards for our children, and those standards are set and the curriculum is set by local school boards,” Kasich said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Barack Obama doesn’t set it, the state of Ohio doesn’t set it. It is local school boards driving better education, higher standards, created by local school boards.” He claims that he asks people who speak out against the standards for reasoning and they have none. I think he’s asking the wrong folks. Kasich also likes to bash Bobby Jindal for his position, as it has changed from pro to against. He did recently pull Ohio from the PARCC consortia, which is good.

Bobby Jindal:  C

Bobby Jindal is a conundrum to me. He supported vouchers for Louisiana as that state’s governor, but vouchers are squishy for me. They mean government control over whatever entity takes that voucher, including private schools. He also supported the Common Core until he saw the Obama administration make a game out of states adopting the standards and sees it as a way for the feds to take greater control of public education. He is currently behind a lawsuit against the federal government for the Common Core.

Scott Walker:  D-

Governor Walker, according to many conservative WI constituents, is the king of public/private partnerships. Common Core is a huge public/private venture. People in his own state are frustrated with his support for the controversial education reform. As with many other candidates, his position is shifting. He now says he would repeal it.

Mike Huckabee:  D-

Mr. Huckabee’s support for the Common Core has surprised many of his ardent fans who thought he was more conservative than he is on this issue. He took a lot of public posturing against his stand for many months. He finally came out saying that the Common Core needs to die. And by die he meant “rebrand, rename” and carry on.

Chris Christie: C

A telling couple of quotes. In 2013 he said: “We’re doing Common Core in New Jersey, and we are going to continue. This is one of those areas where I have agreed more with the president than not and with [Education] Secretary [Arne] Duncan,” he said. But last Thursday (June 2015) he changed his tune. “We must reject federal control of our education and return it to parents and teachers,” Christie said. “We need to take it out of the cubicles of Washington, D.C. where it was placed by the Obama administration and return it to the neighborhoods of New Jersey.”

Rick Perry:  C

Rick Perry says he is against Common Core. His state, Texas, doesn’t have anything in it named Common Core. However, it is following the 21^st Century Skills drum that is another name for it. Now, again, this is not an exhaustive resource and I would advise anyone to do their own research on these candidates’ views on education and any other topic before voting.

Dr. Ben Carson:  B-

Mr. Carson says he wants to overturn Common Core. He is a big fan of school choice. And on the surface, someone who wants to overturn Common Core and supports school choice might seem great. However, school choice can be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I believe Ben Carson is a very intelligent man, probably smarter than any of the other people running, and he hopefully would be open to taking advice on education from many places and he would see the possible danger of school choice. Don’t get me wrong, it can be done right, but it would take a tremendous amount of dedication.

Donald Trump:  B

Donald Trump has said that Common Core has got to go. And he’s right. But I don’t think he knows why he’s right. Which means he needs a major crash course on education before he does anything. There’s a lot of money to be made on education and he’s a big business guy…which gives me a very slight pause.

Marco Rubio:  B-

Rubio has come out swinging against Jeb Bush (his former governor) and his position on Common Core. However, he speaks a lot about better-trained employees for the future. Which makes most CC Warriors cringe. Even if a state repeals CC it will most likely still have the standards that prepare kids for the 21^st Century Skills the powers that be want. Common Core under a different name, still smells janky.

Carly Fiorina:  B

Ms. Fiorina has said education is important but we need to get the federal government out of the business of setting education curriculum, standards, etc. Technically, the feds don’t control curriculum. The candidates need to become better acquainted with this issue so they know exactly what role the feds are playing and why they need to stop.

Ted Cruz:  B+

Ted Cruz has said he will repeal every word of Common Core. Problem with that? There is no bill to repeal. And even if there was, you’d still end up with states like Oregon who go ahead and stick to what the feds suggest no matter what. Mr. Cruz needs a little more education on Common Core and then hopefully, being a proponent of states’ rights, he would do the right thing.

Rand Paul:  A

Rand Paul has been the only voice against Common Core from the very beginning. At this point, Mr. Paul would probably abolish the United States Department of Education altogether.  Which, contrary to the progressives’ chant that this would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater, some of us would see as a refreshing change. Now, again, this is not an exhaustive resource and I would advise anyone to do their own research on these candidates’ views on education and any other topic before voting.

http://politichicks.com/2015/08/where-do-the-gop-candidates-really-stand-on-common-core/

Obama’s war on the poor continues

By Rick Manning

The past few years have been marked by Obama releasing new regulation after new regulation designed to increase the price of low-cost, readily-available fuel so that higher-cost, less-available alternatives become economically viable. The resulting higher electricity costs represent the most regressive form of regulatory taxation imaginable as the less fortunate have almost no way, short of being cold, of avoiding the costs.

The stated objective of lowering carbon emissions might make sense if these very regulations weren’t projected to have the perverse effect of encouraging the continued and expanded burning of these fuels in countries with significantly lower environmental standards while costing hundreds of thousands of American jobs.

When coupled with the Obama Administration’s goal of establishing a Trans-Pacific Partnership that will encourage outsourcing manufacturing to nations with virtually non-existent environmental protections, the net result would be fewer well-paying jobs here at home to help raise the middle class and more pollution worldwide.

But this may be considered an esoteric argument. One Obama EPA regulation that would have an obvious devastating impact on the very poor is the EPA’s rule on residential wood heaters. This regulation would make the cost of manufacturing heaters that burn wood prohibitively expensive denying consumers a low-cost means to safely heat their homes using wood.

In spite of the belief of those who cash government paychecks every other week, many people in our nation depend upon burning wood for heat in the winter even in the affluent Washington, D.C. area. Nationally, one in ten homes depends upon wood heat in some form with just under two percent using it as their primary source.

The need is so great that the men at Chesapeake Church in Calvert County, Maryland, spend a couple of weekends in the late fall and winter chopping and delivering wood to those who depend upon burning that wood to stay warm.

This is not a vanity, return-to-the-rustic-days-of-old crackpot fantasy of better living that entices Birkenstock-wearing enviros to cook and heat with wood. No, it is survival for people who find themselves struggling to put food on the table.

Yet, the elitists at the EPA are trying to regulate safe, wood-burning heaters out of existence, leaving the poor to use dangerous alternatives to survive sub-freezing temperatures.

Fortunately, Representative David Rouzer (R-N.C.) has introduced legislation to repeal this War on the Poor regulation saying, “The federal government has no business telling private citizens how they should heat their homes.”

It is expected that Rouzer will be working with his colleagues in the House in September to attach language to the upcoming government funding bill which will stop the wood-burning heater rule in its tracks.

With winter on the way, Congress needs to act to protect the less fortunate by allowing them to choose affordable alternatives to safely heat their homes. The only better option would be to force the EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to trade places for a few weeks in February with those who depend upon wood heat in sub-freezing temperatures and see if she changes her mind about her Agency’s attempt to force the poor to sacrifice basic necessities on the altar of climate change.

The author is the president of Americans for Limited Government.

http://netrightdaily.com/2015/08/obamas-war-on-the-poor-continues/

Comments

The worst policy has been excessive immigration during a deep jobs recession.  The poor have taken a severe beating at the hands of Obama and the insular pinheads who have been clinging to job-killing policies.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader