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Friday, 30 July 2010
If you don't have time to read this now, save it for later.
We need to wake up -and pray that this man, George Soros, will have an encounter with our Living God. We can ALL pray ! And remember:
· God still rules over the affairs of America and its people. (Psalm 22:28)
· God will move in response to the prayers of His people. (Matthew 7:7, James 5:16, John 15:7)
Here is what Steve Kroft’s (CBS) 4 months of research has revealed:
Who is this evil man, George Soros??
from The Shadow Party by David Horowitz
"The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States ." George Soros
"George Soros is an evil man. He's anti-God, anti-family, anti-American, and anti-good." He killed and robbed his own Jewish people.
If George Soros isn't the world's preeminent "malignant messianic narcissist," he'll do until Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot are reincarnated.
What we have in Soros, is a multi-billionaire atheist, with skewed moral values, and a sociopath's lack of conscience. He considers himself to be an elitist world class philosopher, despises the American Way and just loves to do social engineering (change cultures).
György Schwartz, better known to the world as George Soros, was born August 12, 1930 in Hungary. Soros' father, Tivadar, was a fervent practitioner of the Esperanto a language invented in 1887, and designed to be the first global language, free of any national identity.
The Schwartzes, who were non-practicing Jews, changed the family name to Soros, in order to facilitate assimilation into the gentile population, as the Nazis spread into Hungary during the 1930s.
When Hitler's henchman Adolf Eichmann arrived in Hungary to oversee the murder of that country's Jews, George Soros ended up with a man whose job was confiscating property from the Jewish population. Soros went with him on his rounds.
Soros has repeatedly called 1944 "the best year of his life."
"70% of Mr. Soros's fellow Jews in Hungary , nearly a half-million human beings, were annihilated in that year, yet he gives no sign that this put any damper on his elation, either at the time or indeed in retrospect."
During an interview on "Sixty Minutes" with Steve Kroft, Soros was asked about his "best year:"
KROFT: My understanding is that you went out with this protector of yours who swore that you were his adopted godson.
SOROS: Yes. Yes.
KROFT: Went out, in fact, and helped in the confiscation of property from your fellow Jews, friends and neighbors.
SOROS: Yes. That's right. Yes.
KROFT: I mean, that sounds like an experience that would send lots of people to the psychiatric couch for many, many years. Was it difficult?
SOROS: Not, not at all. Not at all, I rather enjoyed it.
KROFT: No feeling of guilt?
SOROS: No, only feelings of absolute power.
In his article, Muravchik describes how Soros has admitted to having "carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood, which I felt I had to control, otherwise they might get me in trouble."
Be that as it may. After WWII, Soros attended the London School of Economics, where he fell under the thrall of fellow atheist and Hungarian, Karl Popper, one of his professors. Popper was a mentor to Soros until Popper's death in 1994. Two of Popper's most influential teachings concerned "the open society," and Fallibilism.
Fallibilism is the philosophical doctrine that all claims of knowledge could, in principle, be mistaken. (Then again, I could be wrong about that!)
The "open society" basically refers to a "test and evaluate" approach to social engineering. Regarding "open society" Roy Childs writes, "Since the Second World War, most of the Western democracies have followed Popper's advice about piecemeal social engineering and democratic social reform, and it has gotten them into a grand mess."
In 1956 Soros moved to New York City , where he worked on Wall Street, and started amassing his fortune. He specialized in hedge funds and currency speculation.
Soros is absolutely ruthless, amoral, and clever in his business dealings, and quickly made his fortune. By the 1980s he was well on his way to becoming the global powerhouse that he is today.
In an article Kyle-Anne Shiver wrote for "The American Thinker" she says, "Soros made his first billion in 1992 by shorting the British pound with leveraged billions in financial bets, and became known as the man who broke the Bank of England. He broke it on the backs of hard-working British citizens who immediately saw their homes severely devalued and their life savings cut drastically, almost overnight."
In 1994 Soros crowed in "The New Republic" that "the former Soviet Empire is now called the Soros Empire." The Russia-gate scandal in 1999, which almost collapsed the Russian economy, was labeled by Rep. Jim Leach, then head of the House Banking Committee, to be "one of the greatest social robberies in human history." The "Soros Empire" indeed.
In 1997 Soros almost destroyed the economies of Thailand and Malaysia. At the time, Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, called Soros "a villain, and a moron." Thai activist Weng Tojirakarn said, "We regard George Soros as a kind of Dracula. He sucks the blood from the people."
The website Greek National Pride reports, "[Soros] was part of the full court press that dismantled Yugoslavia and caused trouble in Georgia, Ukraine and Myanmar [ Burma ]. Calling himself a philanthropist, Soros' role is to tighten the ideological stranglehold of globalization and the New World Order while promoting his own financial gain. He is without conscience; a capitalist who functions with absolute amorality."
France has upheld an earlier conviction against Soros, for felony insider trading. Soros was fined 2.9 million dollars.
Recently, his native Hungary fined Soros 2.2 million dollars for "illegal market manipulation." Elizabeth Crum writes that "The Hungarian economy has been in a state of transition as the country seeks to become more financially stable and westernized. [Soros'] deliberately driving down the share price of its largest bank put Hungary 's economy into a wicked tailspin, one from which it is still trying to recover.
My point here is that Soros is a planetary parasite. His grasp, greed, and gluttony have a global reach.
But what about America ? Soros told Australia’s national newspaper "The Australian," " America , as the centre of the globalised financial markets, was sucking up the savings of the world. This is now over. The game is out," he said, adding that the time has come for "a very serious adjustment" in American's consumption habits. He implied that he was the one with the power to bring this about."
Soros: "World financial crisis was "stimulating" and "in a way, the culmination of my life's work."
Obama has recently promised 10 billion of our tax dollars to Brazil, in order to give them a leg-up in expanding their offshore oil fields. Obama's largesse towards Brazil came shortly after his political financial backer, George Soros, invested heavily in Brazilian oil (Petrobras).
Tait Trussel writes, "The Petrobras loan may be a windfall for Soros and Brazil, but it is a bad deal for the U.S. The American Petroleum Institute estimates that oil exploration in the U.S. could create 160,000 new, well-paying jobs, as well as $1.7 trillion in revenues to federal, state, and local governments, all while fostering greater energy security and independence."
A blog you might want to keep an eye on is SorosWatch.com
Back to America . Soros has been actively working to destroy America from the inside out for some years now. People have been warning us. Two years ago news sources reported that "Soros [is] an extremist who wants open borders, a one-world foreign policy, legalized drugs, euthanasia, and on and on. This is off-the-chart dangerous."
In 1997 Rachel Ehrenfeld wrote, "Soros uses his philanthropy to change or more accurately deconstruct the moral values and attitudes of the Western world, and particularly of the American people. His "open society" is not about freedom; it is about license. His vision rejects the notion of ordered liberty, in favor of a PROGRESSIVE ideology of rights and entitlements."
Perhaps the most important of these "whistle blowers" are David Horowitz and Richard Poe. Their book "The Shadow Party" outlines in detail how Soros hijacked the Democratic Party, and now owns it lock, stock, and barrel.
Soros has been packing the Democratic Party with radicals, and ousting moderate Democrats for years.
The Shadow Party
DiscoverTheNetworks.org (another good source) writes, "By his [Soros'] own admission, he helped engineer coups in Slovakia, Croatia, Georgia, and Yugoslavia . When Soros targets a country for "regime change," he begins by creating a shadow government, a fully formed government-in-exile, ready to assume power when the opportunity arises.
November 2008 edition of the German magazine "Der Spiegel," in which Soros gives his opinion on what the next POTUS (President of the U.S. ) should do after taking office. "I think we need a large stimulus package." Soros thought that around 600 billion would be about right.
Soros also said that "I think Obama presents us a great opportunity to finally deal with global warming and energy dependence. The U.S. needs a cap and trade system with auctioning of licenses for emissions rights."
Although Soros doesn't (yet) own the Republican Party, like he does the Democrats, make no mistake, his tentacles are spread throughout the Republican Party as well.
Soros is a partner in the Carlyle Group where he has invested more than 100 million dollars.
In late 2006, Soros bought about 2 million shares of Halliburton, Dick Cheney's old stomping grounds.
When the Democrats and Republicans held their conventions in 2000, Soros held Shadow Party conventions in the same cities, at the same time. According to an article by "The Baltimore Chronicle's" Alice Cherbonnier, the Carlyle Group is run by "a veritable who's who of former Republican leaders," from CIA man Frank Carlucci, to CIA head [and ex-President] George Bush, Sr. The Shadow Party he has built in America greatly resembles those he has created in other countries prior to instigating a coup." became the Shadow Government, which became the Obama Administration.. Their mission: "This blog is dedicated to all who have suffered due to the ruthless financial pursuits of George Soros. Your stories are many and varied, but the theme is the same: the destructive power of greed without conscience. We pledge to tirelessly watch Soros wherever he goes and to print the truth in the hope that he will one day be made to stop preying upon the world's poor, that justice will be served."
·
In 2008, Soros donated $5,000,000,000 to the Democratic National Committee, DNC, to insure Obama's win and wins for many other Alinsky trained Radical Rules Anti-American Socialists. George has been contributing a $ billion plus to the DNC since Clinton came on the scene.
Soros has dirtied both sides of the aisle, trust me. And if that weren't bad enough, he has long held connections with the CIA.
And I mustn't forget to mention Soros' involvement with the MSM (Main Stream Media), the entertainment industry (e.g. he owns 2.6 million shares of Time Warner), and the various political advertising organizations he funnels millions to. In short, George Soros controls or influences most of the MSM. Little wonder they ignore the TEA PARTY, Soro's NEMESIS.
As Matthew Vadum writes, "The liberal billionaire-turned-philanthropist has been buying up media properties for years in order to drive home his message to the American public that they are too materialistic, too wasteful, too selfish, and too stupid to decide for themselves how to run their own lives."
Richard Poe writes, "Soros' private philanthropy, totaling nearly $5 billion, continues undermining America ’s traditional Western values. His giving has provided funding of abortion rights, atheism, drug legalization, sex education, euthanasia, feminism, gun control, globalization, mass immigration, gay marriage and other radical experiments in social engineering."
Some of the many NGOs (None Government Organizations) that Soros funds with his billions are: MoveOn.org, the Apollo Alliance, Media Matters for America, the Tides Foundation, the ACLU, ACORN, PDIA (Project on Death In America), La Raza, and many more. For a more complete list, with brief descriptions of the NGOs, go to DiscoverTheNetworks.org.
Poe continues, "Through his global web of Open Society Institutes and Open Society Foundations, Soros has spent 25 years recruiting, training, indoctrinating and installing a network of loyal operatives in 50 countries, placing them in positions of influence and power in media, government, finance and academia."
Without Soro's money, would the Saul Alinsky's Chicago machine still be rolling? Would SEIU, ACORN, and La Raza still be pursuing their nefarious activities? Would Big Money and lobbyists still be corrupting government? Would our college campuses still be retirement homes for 1960s radicals?
America stands at the brink of an abyss, and that fact is directly attributable to Soros. Soros has vigorously, cleverly, and insidiously planned the ruination of America and his puppet, Barak Obama is leading the way.
Who needs Satan when we already have Soros? (He brought the market down in 2 days.)
The words of Patrick Henry are apropos: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
These days, Patrick Henry's sentiment is more than just some quaint hyperbole from long ago. It's a slow burning, but intense, glow that fires our courage and heart.
THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL, AMERICA. PRAY and then FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO YOUR ENTIRE ADDRESS BOOK. Liberals need to know that this man is "behind the curtain, pulling many strings."
Make sure you and your friends are registered to vote by Sept 30th. And by all means, VOTE YOUR VALUES on November 2nd!
ACTION: Join the Presidential Prayer Team!
Members of the Presidential Prayer Team Believe ...
- The Bible is God's clear Word for our instruction and reproof. (2 Timothy 3:16)
- Our nation was founded on Christian faith and the pursuit of personal and religious freedoms.
- God has blessed our nation as the greatest in the world because we first honored Him.
- God still rules over the affairs of America and its people. (Psalm 22:28)
- God will move in response to the prayers of His people. (Matthew 7:7, James 5:16, John 15:7)
Together, all of us at The Presidential Prayer Team can -- and will -- inform, educate, pray and seek God's face to turn this country back to Him and let Him heal our land!
CONTACT INFORMATION
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Surprise, surprise! A federal judge on Wednesday blocked some of the toughest provisions in the Arizona illegal immigration law, putting on hold the state's attempt to have local police enforce federal immigration policy. Read More
The Arizona Suns protested Arizona’s decision to enforce the U.S. [illegal] immigration laws. (Never mind that The Feds have been a total failure in getting the job done.)
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s response on FaceBook:
“What if the owners of the Suns discovered that hordes of people were sneaking into games without paying?
What if they had a good idea who the gate-crashers are, but the ushers and security personnel were not allowed to ask these folks to produce their ticket stubs, thus non-paying attendees couldn’t be ejected.
Furthermore, what if Suns’ ownership was expected to provide those who sneaked in with complimentary eats and drink?
And what if, on those days when a gate-crasher became ill or injured, the Suns had to provide free medical care and shelter?”
- posted by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on FaceBook
Lawyers for the State of Arizona contend the law was a constitutionally sound attempt by Arizona to assist federal immigration agents and lessen border woes such as the heavy costs for educating, jailing and providing health care for illegal immigrants. Arizona is the busiest gateway into the country for illegal immigrants, and the border is awash in drugs and smugglers. States should have the right to protect their citizens if the federal government won't do it!
Here's a 3 min. video of shocking testimony documenting how illegal immigrants are driving healthcare into oblivion!
Carol Plato, an executive director of Martin Memorial Medical Center in Florida, gives a briefing on the specific costs and liabilities the hospital has incurred while treating illegal immigrants. It's actually really outrageous to hear the itemized costs these hospitals have to incur while knowingly treating illegal immigrants. Even more outrageous is that one of them who was deported back to his home country by the hospital - after wracking up millions in free legal bills - is now suing the hospital. Only in America folks, can something like this happen. Other countries forcibly deport, imprison, and generally make the lives miserable of illegal immigrants, while we roll out the red carpet and subsidize their lifestyles. Enough is enough!!!
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
I like to listen to Dennis Prager from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Central) AM 1070 week days, same time as Rush. Dennis has an approach which is very different from any other conservative talk show host. He teaches good old fashioned common sense and Judeo-Christian values.
Online lectures:
If you read the lecture below and think it's interesting, you can go to Dennis' websites and listen to him online.
Betty Anderson
Sent to me From: Donna Garner
**If Every High-School Principal Were to Give this Speech**
-by Dennis Prager
If every high-school principal gave this speech at the beginning of the next school year, America would be a much better place.
===============================================
To the students and faculty of our high school:
I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater calling than to teach young people.
I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our school. I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked against you, against your teachers, and against our country.
First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow, or white. I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian, or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships.
The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity - your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the only national identity this school will care about is American. This is an American public school, and American public schools were created to make better Americans.
If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial, or religious identity through school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity-, race-, and non-American-nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto of America, one of its three central values — e pluribus unum, “from many, one.” And this school will be guided by America’s values.
That includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual orientation, or whatever else may become in vogue in a society divided by political correctness.
Your clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic, racial, or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate narcissism — an unhealthy preoccupation with the self — while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry, and more. If the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interested in are those based on ethnic or racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of yourself really interests you.
Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English language has united America’s citizens for more than 200 years, and it will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensible reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you leave this school without excellent English-language skills, I will have been remiss in my duty to ensure that you are prepared to compete successfully in the American job market. We will learn other languages here — it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English — but if you want classes taught in your native language rather than in English, this is not your school.
Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in this school will reflect learning’s elevated status. This means, among other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many people in our society dress more formally for a meal at a nice restaurant than they do for church or school. These people have their priorities backwards. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.
Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school’s property — whether in class, in the hallways, or at athletic events. If you can’t speak without using the F-word, you can’t speak at all. By obscene language I mean the words banned for radio and TV by the Federal Communications Commission plus epithets such as the N-word, even when used by one black student to address another, or “bitch,” even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this school, you will be among the few of your age to distinguish instinctively between the elevated and the degraded, the respectful and the obscene.
Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school self-esteem will be attained in only one way (the way people attained it until the state of California decided otherwise a generation ago) — by earning it. One immediate consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.
Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will be devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to condom-wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual, or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you graduates from this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately lucky — to be alive and to be an American.
Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will now hand them out to you.
Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have" T. Jefferson
Monday, 19 July 2010
“After America, There is No Place to Go" We MUST learn the lessons from the past!
Kitty Werthmann, 84, of Pierre , is President of the South Dakota Eagle Forum. She has lived in the United States since 1950 and has been a U.S. citizen since 1962.
America truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away
By: Kitty Werthmann
What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard or will ever read in history books.
I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide - 98% of the vote. I've never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.
In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates.
Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn't want to work; there simply weren't any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people - about 30 daily.
The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna, Linz, and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted.
We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany , where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn't have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group -- Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria . We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.
We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed.
After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.
Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn't support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.
Hitler Targets Education - Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:
Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler's picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn't pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang "Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles," and had physical education.
Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.
My mother was very unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn't do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun - no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn't exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.
Equal Rights Hits Home:
In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn't work, you didn't get a ration card, and if you didn't have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn't have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.
Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.
Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare:
When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children.. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.
Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:
Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna. After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.
As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.
We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn't meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.
We had consumer protection . We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.
"Mercy Killing" Redefined:
In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps . The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.
As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.
The Final Steps - Gun Laws:
Next came gun registration . People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.
No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.
Totalitarianism didn't come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria .. Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.
After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria. Women were raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn't destroy, they burned. We called it The Burned Earth. Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn't, paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians. This is an eye witness account.
"It's true. Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.
America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away. "After America , There is No Place to Go"
Here’s another short article By Kitty Werthmann:
Freedoms can disappear in a hurry if we aren't careful
by Kitty Werthmann
Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.
I lived in Austria under Adolf Hitler's regime for seven years. Dictatorship did not happen overnight. It was a gradual process starting with national identification cards, which we had to carry with us at all times.
We could not board a bus or train without our ID card. Gun registration followed, with a lot of talk about gun safety and hunting accidents. Since the government already knew who owned firearms, confiscation followed under threat of capital punishment.
Freedom of speech was the next target. Free speech was curtailed with the enforcement of the federal police (Gestapo). With a large network of informers, people were afraid to say anything political, even in their own homes.
The liberal mindset in America has promoted gun control for a long time and is beginning to advocate national identification cards.
Law-abiding American citizens should not have to carry national identification cards. Aliens and non-citizens should be required to carry ID cards. Even their driver's licenses should be different than a citizen's driver's license.
Our government also needs to take strong measures against illegal aliens and tightly close our borders to protect American citizens.
Even though we are in a state of war, we have to protect our civil liberties. While some people need power to secure our freedom, we must be ever-vigilant to maintain a system of checks and balances.
I am sorely disappointed with France and Germany . If it was not for the United States , the French would be speaking German today. And if our troops had not protected Germany , Russian tanks would have rolled all the way to the Rhine River .
How ungrateful those nations are. We have to stand by our country and our troops. I am grateful that our troops are protecting freedom.
America is the greatest country in the world. After America , there is no place to run.
Kitty is still actively speaking against socialism, testifying before Congress, radio and talk shows, etc.
You can google Kitty Werthmann for more articles and videos.
No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation. ---Douglas MacAurthur
Tuesday, 04 May 2010
MONTGOMERY COUNTY EAGLE FORUM
Is Co-Hosting Along With
North Houston Tea Party Patriots, Conservative Coalition of MontgomeryCounty ,
Houston Area Pastors Council, Kingwood Tea Party, Tomball Tea Partyand more!!!
The National Day of Prayer
“For Such a Time as This”
Prayer Focus with Elected officials, Pastors, Special Music and a Salute to our Military!
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
7:00 – 8:30 P.M.
NOTE: This is the evening of our regular monthly MCEF meeting.
Location: Grace Community Church
24400 North Freeway – I-45 & Spring Crossing Exit
(South of Rayford Rd.)
(This is not a dinner event.)
Questions?
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“For Such a Time as This”
Agenda
Prelude: The Woodlands Christian AcademyEnsemble
Welcome, Opening Call – Jon Bauman, Chaplain NHTPP
Video Greeting – Rev. Franklin Graham, Honorary Chair, NDOP
Video Greeting – Shirley Dobson, Chairman NDOP Task Force
U.S. and Texas Pledges of Allegiance – ROTC
Prayer for Armed Services – Military Mom’s Prayer Coordinator
Battle Hymn of the Republic - The Woodlands Christian Academy
Prayer for the family – Mark Tennant, Arrow Child & Family Ministries
Prayer for the Pastors and Churches - Pastor Larry Emerson
God Bless America - The Woodlands Christian Academy
Call: Our Christian Heritage - Jon Bauman, Chaplain NHTPP
Prayer for Educators - Chris Irish, Conroe ISD Board of Trustees
Prayer for Law Enforcement - Claudia Laird
Prayer for Business/Commerce - Tom Lancaster, Architect
You’re A Grand Old Flag - The Woodlands Christian Academy
Prayer for Government – Kevin Brady Video from D.C.
Prayer for Media - Jim Fredericks, Editor – The Conroe Courier
Call: Humble, Pray, Seek, Turn (2 Chron. 7:14) –Rev. Dave Welch,
Executive Director US Pastor Council
America The Beautiful – TWCA with Congregation
Benediction – Rev. Dave Welch
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More locations and times for Montgomery Co. National Day of Prayer
across the north Houston region:
Date: 05/06/2010
Conroe National Day of Prayer - Conroe
11:45 am - 1:00 pm
Please join us at the for a time of public prayer and worship. Guest speakers include local pastors and musicians/singers. A free lunch will be provided
300 N. Main St
Conroe, Texas 77301
Downtown Conroe at the Montgomery County Courthouse
NDOP Prayer Service - Cypress
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
A prayer service will be held in the Worship Life Center Commons at Cypress Bible Church . The prayer service will include worship in song and prayer, addressing the seven prayer centers of the National Day of Prayer including a time of adoration to the Father, confession of national sins, and thanksgiving for the gift of our nation. Supplication and intercessory prayer will be conducted as a concert of prayer with corporate participation in small groups of three to four individuals, with Scripture and prayer prompts by service leaders.
11711 Cypress N Houston
Cypress, TX 77429
Commons aea of the main Worship ife Center
Humble National Day of Prayer
7:00 am - 8:00 am
Breakfast at 6:30 am Community and regional leaders will pray.
Humble Civic Center
Humble, Texas 77338
Kingwood Kiwanis Prayer Breakfast
7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Kingwood Kiwanis holds its annual National Day of Prayer breakfast at Kingwood Country Club
1700 Lake Kingwood Drive
Kingwood, TX 77339
Kingwood Country Club
First Presbyterian Church of Kingwood NDOP Events
6:30 am - 8:00 pm
National Day of Prayer Events for all ages •6:30 am Devotional Prayer with Jim Davis & continental breakfast •9:15 am Pre School & MDO - Mom’s & Kids Balloon Release & Coffee •Noon Devotional Prayer with Tom Edwards & light lunch •7:00 pm Devotional Prayer with Chad Erb & Dessert •All Day Self Guided Prayer & Meditation Walk throughout the church
5520 Kingwood Drive, Kingwood TX 77345
Kingwood, Texas 77345
59N, exit Kingwood Drive, continue approx 5.5 miles on the Corner of Kingwood Drive and Trail River
National Day of Prayer - Magnolia
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Event - National Day of Prayer Event Date - May 6, 2010 Event Time - 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm Event Location - Magnolia High School 14350 FM 1488, Magnolia, TX 77354 Description - Come join us for prayer for our Nation. There will be light refreshments, balloons, a short musical tribute. Also meet Jim Beeler of KSBJ, who will be emceeing our event, along with Bill Ingram, who will be doing traffic reports from our location. All are welcome!
Magnolia High School 14350 FM 1488,
Magnolia, Texas 77354
Magnolia High School on the coner of FM 1488 & 149
Splendora National Day of Prayer Gathering
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
A public gathering for prayer at the Splendora City Park Pavilion sponsored by area pastors and churches. Everyone is invited.
FM 2090
Splendora, Texas 77372
City Park pavilion located behind the post office.
Woodlands Kiwanis Prayer Breakfast - The Woodlands
Featuring Rev. Don Piper
Marriot Waterway 7:30 am
The Woodlands Kiwanis would like to invite our entire community to come hear Rev. Don Piper tell his story and how he after 90 minutes of being declared dead came back! In our 23rd year of hosting this great event Rev. Piper brings to us his story and his book 90 Minutes in Heaven.
For more information, please contact:
Download the registration form here:
NDP - Woodlands Community Church of Nazarene - The Woodlands
Noon - 1:00 pm
Prayer at the church at noon on Thursday, May 6 for our nation.
5401 Rush Haven Drive
The Woodlands, TX 77381
National Day of Prayer Service – The Woodlands
9:30 am - 11:00 am
Brunch offered for $5 a person, men's chorus patriotic melody with exerts from the NDOP in Washington, D.C. , guided prayer from pastors for our nation, community, soldiers, and church, ending with praise and worship music from a soloist.
The Woodlands UMC
2200 Lake Woodlands Drive
The Woodlands, Texas 77380
This event will be located in our Wesley Hall just outside of our Sanctuary.
Tomball Prayer Rally
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Tomball Prayer Rally to be held on the National Day of Prayer May 6th, 7-8pm at the Tomball Train Depot Plaza. Everyone is invited to participate in a time of prayer and worship as we unite together in seeking the Lord on behalf of our families, community, and country.
Tomball Train Depot Plaza
corner of S.Elm St. and Market St.
Tomball, Texas 77375
(In dowtown Tomball next to the railroad tracks)
OFFICIAL NDP EVENT - CITY OF WILLIS, TX
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
The Official National Day of Prayer Event for the city of Willis,TX. 12 Noon – 1 pm – May 6, 2010 Local civic, Business and church leaders along with students, moms and dads will gather to publicly pray for our city, state, nation and global communities in obedience to God's word. In doing so, we will bring His blessing upon all whom we\'ve prayed for.
WILLIS PARK (next to Zip's Food Mart)
HWY 75
WILLIS, TX 77378
Monday, 29 March 2010
Some people are concerned over the amount of information
the 2010 Census requests. Here’s a helpful website if you’re
interested.
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THE 2010 CENSUS
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How much information are you really
required to give?
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Find the answers here!
Note: By April of 2010 the federal government will have loosed upon the American people a flood of census forms and an army of census takers. The Census Bureau has embarked on an unprecedented propaganda campaign urging Americans to give up their personal information for the alleged “benefit” of their communities. The Census Bureau claims that we are all “required” to answer all questions put to us. (They wouldn’t lie to us now, would they?) But what exactly is the authority for the census, and just what is a “census” anyway?
Our federal Constitution authorizes the census for only two purposes: Article I, § 2, clause 3[1] and Amendment 14, § 2[2] provide that representatives shall be apportioned among the states according to their respective numbers. Article I, § 9, clause 4[3] provides that direct taxes are only to be laid in proportion to the census or enumeration. This is an exhaustive listing of all the Constitutional provisions that authorize the federal government to conduct the decentennial census.
(Click here for a prepared statement in PDF format that you can print and return with your census form.)
As citizens, it is our obligation to cooperate in this enumeration process. But is it our obligation to provide answers to a form full of prying questions? This is an important point. In order to delve into this matter, it is important that we define our terminology. The crucial term here, of course, is "census." Just what is a census, and what does it entail? Because the meanings of words tend to change with time, if we are to determine the legislative intent of these Constitutional provisions the best dictionary to consult would be one published close to the time the Constitution was adopted. (It is a fundamental legal principle that the intent of the law-maker is the intent and force of the law.) For this reason we turn to Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 edition. It defines the term census thusly:
Census, n. In the United States of America, an enumeration of the inhabitants of all the States, taken by order of the Congress, to furnish the rule of apportioning the representation among the States, and the numbers of representatives to which each State is entitled in the Congress. (emphasis added)
You will notice that the above-referenced Constitutional provisions, consistent with the definition of the word census as defined at the time, authorized the federal government to count the number of people within the districts. To implement these provisions, Congress passed several statutes found in Title 13 of the United States Code (USC) which includes § 5 (Questionnaires; number, form, and scope of inquiries); and § 141 (Population and other census information), which state in relevant part:
§ 5: The Secretary shall prepare questionnaires, and shall determine the inquiries, and the number, form, and subdivisions thereof, for the statistics, surveys, and censuses provided for in this title.
...and...
§ 141(a): The Secretary shall, in the year 1980 and every 10 years thereafter, take a decentennial census of population known as the “decennial census date,” in such form and content as he may determine, including the use of sampling procedures and special surveys. In connection with any such census, the Secretary is authorized to obtain such other census information as necessary.
The Secretary shall “determine the inquiries ... for the statistics, surveys...” and obtain “other census information as necessary.” Because the rule governing statutory construction requires that we do not construe a statute so strictly as to render it unconstitutional, this “other census information”is limited to how many people live in one’s home.[4]
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Census Bureau gathers a “wide variety of information on social and economic characteristics of the population, such as household composition, ethnicity, and income...”[5] But gathering this information is beyond the legitimate scope of governmental authority, as it has been conferred by the Constitution.
Title 13 USC, § 221 Refusal or neglect to answer questions; false answers is the penalty statute for citizens that neglect their duty to be enumerated and states in relevant part:
§ 221.(a) Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects ... to answer, or to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census or survey provided for by subchapters I, II, IV, and V of chapter 5 of this title, applying to himself or to the family to which he belongs or is related ... shall be fined not more than $5000.
The fine, previously set at $100 for the 2000 Census, has been raised significantly for 2010 in an apparent attempt to frighten and coerce the public into compliance.
However, applying the rule of statutory construction, if this statute is to be construed in a way to render it constitutional, then “any of the questions” that § 221 (a) refers to are only those that are necessary to enumerate you. You may only be lawfully fined if you refuse to disclose the number of persons residing in your household. This specifically does not include “a wide variety of information.” This is the law. The Bill of Rights, Amendment X, Reserved Power to States reads:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
This important Amendment should be read, understood, and memorized by all Americans. It was intended to confirm the understanding of the people at the time the Constitution was adopted, that powers not granted to the United States were reserved to the States or the people. (United States v. Sprague, U.S.N.J.1931282 U.S. 716; as well as U.S. v. Thibault, C.C.A.N.Y.1931, 47 F.2d 169).
If Congress does not act pursuant to one of the enumerated powers given to it by the Constitution, it is infringing upon those powers which are reserved to the States by the Tenth Amendment (U.S. v. Mussari, D.Ariz.1995, 894 F.Supp. 1360.)
Furthermore, any legislation beyond the limits of the powers delegated is an invasion of the rights reserved to the States or to the people, and is therefore null and void. (In re Pacific Ry.Commission, C.C.N.D.Cal.1887, 32 F. 241)
Having established that federal government may not legitimately expand their census inquries beyond enumerating the people in the districts, we shall now see how our courts have treated the issue. Note that the courts have never squarely addressed the matter of constitutional authority, at least not in any published case law that we have been able to find.
The courts have addressed many collateral issues, nonetheless. For instance, in Republic of Hawaii v. John D. Paris, a state appellate court determined that a census law did not authorize the Board to make a cenus of the wealth of the inhabitants. This was an 1897 decision.
In another case, U.S. v. Little, D.C.Del.1971, 321 F.Supp. 388, the court decided that § 221 was not vague:
Provision of this section making it offense for person over 18 to refuse or willfully neglect to answer any question on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census was not rendered unconstitutionally vague and indefinite because of the need to refer to other sections in order to determine census required.
Besides addressing the matter of the void for vagueness doctrine, the Little court also addressed the issue of 4th Amendment violations: The fact that many personal questions might be asked in order to provide statistical reports on housing, labor, health, and welfare matters did not make census questions unconstitutional on the basis of invasion of person’s right to privacy.
This is probably true – but it is completely irrelevant. The fundamental issue is not one of privacy, important as that may be, but that of Constitutional authority for the information to be gathered in the first place.
Now the question arises: “What will happen to me if a census taker knocks on my door, I ask him to show me his constitutional authority; and when he can’t, I tell him how many people live in my home and close the door?” In the old § 221, there was a provision for, in addition to the fine, up to 60 days imprisonment; but that has been repealed. If the Census Bureau were to try to actually fine you – and we know of no one this has actually happened to in several decades of census-taking – then you have the right to have the case heard in court. You can challenge the fine on the basis of the 10th Amendment and be on solid legal ground.
Some people may wonder why they should risk a fine and resist answering the questions.
First, we should resist the encroaching onslaught of socialism. Socialistic societies require their governments to keep detailed information on the populace; it is one of the earmarks of total government. In such a society, government micro-manages and macro-manages every facet of life and this cannot be done without voluminous amounts of private information. Socialist governments, in fulfilling their purpose of wealth redistribution (i.e., plunder), need to determine who to discriminate against and who to favor, hence the need for such information-gathering.
Second, we have a responsibility for the legacy of freedom that we leave our descendants; we are the custodians of their liberty.
Of course, Americans tend to be highly independent thinkers, not lemmings. Many of us take offense at government efforts to socialize and globalize America, and we are willing to peacefully resist the encroachment of our liberties. Accordingly, we demand that our government act in accordance with the very Constitution that created it. If government does not act in compliance with the Constitution, then we have by definition fallen into a state of anarchy and tyranny.[6] The Constitution does not authorize such usurpation.
So, what are you going to do when you receive your form and/or the census taker knocks on your door? Your only legal responsibility is to be counted!
<hr size=2 width=500 style='width:375.0pt' align=center>
FOOTNOTES
[1]Article I, § 2, Cl. 3: “Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.”
[2] 14th Am. § 2: “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.”
Friday, 08 January 2010
Guest Blog fro Amy Dawn:
It has to be said.
If you missed tonight's Montgomery Eagle Forum with Rick Green of Wallbuilders, you REALLY missed out big time. Rick spoke on the 4 myths of judicial activism:
Myth 1: The three branches of govt are coequal. [Simply not true. Though if you go to the supreme court's website they state that they are. This is NOT Constitutional!]
Myth 2: Federal Judges have life-time appointments. [Nope. This lie has been perpetuated and bought into my many Americans who simply do not know their Constitution.]
Myth 3: Only judges are capable of determining constitutionality. [Not true either. Again, read the Constitution.]
Myth 4: The primary role of the supreme court to protect the minority from the majority. [So, not true and very unconstitutional. In fact, just the opposite is true. If you go to the supreme court website they have this listed as if it is true.]
If only we, Americans read our Constitution weekly. If we don't know what our freedoms are then we won't know when we lose them. 
FYI: Rick Green is running for Texas Supreme Court. Check him out. He is also a speaker for the organization for Wallbuilders. www.wallbuilders.com
Friday, 18 December 2009
This should be read by every Christian in the state of Texas! Liberals are going on attack mode. Conservatives beware, keep informed and be ready to defend your positions on March 2nd - the Primary Election!
From: Donna Garner
Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Subject: LAWYER-LOBBYISTS RUNNING FOR TX. STATE BD. OF ED.
-- THE LONE STAR REPORT -- WILL LUTZ, 12.16.09
[Obviously, Texans need to be concerned when high-powered lawyer-lobbyists start having fundraisers to see how much money they can raise to help them defeat the seven conservatives on the Texas State Board of Education.
Lawyer-lobbyists are much too cozy with the education establishment, and William Ratliff (running against present SBOE member Don McLeroy) and Tim Tuggey (running against present SBOE member Ken Mercer) are not conservatives; at best they are RINO’s. At worst, they are money-grubbing lobbyists who have their own vested interests in mind.
Had Ratliff and Tuggey been on the SBOE these last two years, the new-and-improved English standards and the world-class Science standards never would have been adopted. Neither would the new Social Standards have a chance of reflecting the rich intellectual and spiritual inheritance upon which our founding fathers built our nation.
When the Republican primary comes along in March 2010, all of us need to make sure that we re-elect the courageous members of the SBOE who have fought so hard to improve the academic excellence of our public schools.
Texas children certainly do not need their educational future built upon the vested interests of lawyer-lobbyists.
Below is Will Lutz’s update on the SBOE, an article by Abby Rapoport, and an explanation of Texas ’ lobbying regulations. -- Donna Garner]
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12.16.09 -- The Lone Star Report
SBOE update: Playing with fire or circling the wagons?
Written by: William Lutz
12/16/2009 5:42 PM
Last week, I observed a development that raises ethical concerns in the race for State Board of Education District 9 between incumbent Don McLeroy and Thomas Ratliff.
The lobby held a fundraiser for Ratliff. (I've been forwarded several copies of the lobby invitation, one of which can be viewed here.) Several of the lobbyists listed as fundraiser sponsors represent companies that could have business before the State Board of Education. Some represent computer companies that pushed for legislation watering down state textbook quality control efforts and making it easier for computer companies to get state textbook money – bills that passed over the objection of several State Board of Education members. Others represent firms that have provided or could provide investment services to the Permanent School Fund. Still others have no direct connection to board business, but are simply Ratliff family friends.
Normally, this would not be news. I don’t regularly report on who’s doing fundraisers for whom. But the State Board of Education is governed by a rather weird statute on who can give money – a statute written by Ratliff’s father, former Sen. Bill Ratliff (R-Mt. Pleasant). (In 1992, Ratliff narrowly survived a challenge from former State Board of Education member Bob Aikin (D-Paris) ).
The statute can be found at Education Code, Section 7.108 and reads as follows:
(a) A person interested in selling bonds of any type or a person engaged in manufacturing, shipping, selling, or advertising textbooks or otherwise connected with the textbook business commits an offense if the person makes or authorizes a political contribution to or takes part in, directly or indirectly, the campaign of any person seeking election to or serving on the board.
Here’s the issue with this statute and why this matters – the board’s responsibilities affect more interests with lobbyists than it did in the mid-1990s when this statute was written. Back then, textbook publishers and education groups were the main outside lobby groups that cared about the board. Most of the permanent school fund assets were managed by state staff and not outsourced. So bond buyers and textbook publishers were the main interests with business in front of the board.
Now, that’s not the case. The board lets several very lucrative consulting contracts relating to the Permanent School Fund. Computer companies now want to raid textbook funds to buy laptops and other computer hardware, something they couldn’t do in 1995. And those computer companies sought – and got – from the Legislature an exemption from the state’s quality control standards. Computerized textbooks no longer have to cover even half the state’s curriculum and don’t go though the same rigorous public review and comment process that State Board of Education-adopted books do.
Several members of the State Board of Education fought this change, and it’s not much of a stretch to think there are some in the computer industry who won’t be happy about that. Ratliff himself is a lobbyist who lists Microsoft as a client.
While textbook publishers are expressly prohibited from giving money to a state board member, others with interests before the board are not.This may include lobbyists for independent school districts, school organizations, Permanent School Fund money managers and computer hardware manufacturers, among others.
I’m not naming names and connecting dots in this post. I would note, however, that Ratliff is required to report any contribution given at this fundraiser to the Ethics Commission on the contribution and expenditure report due Jan. 15.
When that report is filed, I will examine it carefully. I want to see which of these lobbyists gave money to Ratliff and in what amounts. And I want to see which of these contributions Ratliff chose to accept.
In all fairness, not all the people on this lobby invitation have business before the board. Some are personal friends of the Ratliff family.
But there’s a legitimate policy issue here for the Legislature – should all lobbyists with business before the State Board of Education be subject to a ban on contributing? I could understand a situation similar to the Legislature, where all have to disclose but there are no limits on contributions. And I could understand a blanket ban on all contributions from those with a financial interest. But current law has set up a system where some lobbyists with business before the board can’t contribute but others can. That’s not a fair or level playing field.
Additionally, this fundraiser invites careful scrutiny of upcoming ethics reports. I’ll keep our readers posted as more information comes to light.
==================================================================
2010: McLeroy vs. the World
State Board of Education races aren't normally known for drawing a spotlight, but candidate Thomas Ratliff is doing his best to raise the profile of his primary race against former SBOE chair Don McLeroy. Next week the lobbyist-turned-candidate will hold a fundraiser at the Austin Club and the Republican establishment is coming out in support. It could spell a shift for McLeroy, an incumbent Republican who Perry once appointed chair of the board.
The event's host committee (see attached) is a who's-who of paid conservative lobbyists.There's Mike Toomey, who served as chief-of-staff to Governor Rick Perry between his stints as a power-broker and had 29 clients last session including AT&T and Liberty Mutual. And former senator David Sibley, who, along with Teel Bivins and Bill Ratliff (the candidate's father), were the powerful voices of the state senate during their tenure. He had 35 clients last session and is well known for his influence.
Then there are some education advocates in the mix: David Thompson has long been a fixture at education meetings and lobbies on behalf of several school districts.
Opponent Don McLeroy has been slow coming out of the gate and is already behind Ratliff in endorsements and fundraising. Last week, Ratliff garnered support from House Appropriations Chair Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, and House Calendars Chair Brian McCall, R-Plano, and next week's fundraiser will likely push Ratliff further ahead financially.
Of course the race isn't over yet. These endeavors highlight Ratliff's primary weakness — that he lobbies in Austin. McLeroy and his colleague Ken Mercer both face lobbyist primary challengers, and Mercer has argued repeatedly that lobbyists have no business running for office. McLeroy may be able to leverage his opponent's occupation if he energizes enough Christian conservatives to come out in support. But he may need to make those calls fast.
Lobby and lobbyists
Lobbying is the practice of direct communication with legislative or executive branch officials to influence their decisions about public policy. In Texas , where lawmakers work part time, lobbyists play a significant role in influencing legislation and shaping administrative action.
Many businesses and other groups pay lobbyists to represent their interests before the Texas Legislature and state agencies. A lobbyist generally is a salaried company employee or a professional, freelance lobbyist working alone or at a firm. Some lobbyists are lawyers, though legal training isn't required. Others are former state employees and officials whose experience can be valuable to clients.
Lobbyists who spend more than $500 in a calendar quarter or are compensated more than $1,000 in a calendar quarter must register.
They are then required to report periodically their aggregate spending totals in six categories:
- transportation and lodging;
- food and beverages;
- entertainment;
- gifts;
- awards and mementos; and
- the attendance of a state officer or employee at a political fundraiser or charity event.
They also categorize their expenditures by recipient type:
- state senators;
- state representatives;
- elected or appointed state officers, other than state senators or state representatives;
- legislative agency employees;
- executive agency employees;
- immediate family (spouse and dependent children) of a state officer or employee;
- expenditures for guests (when invited by a state senator, a state representative, other elected or appointed state officers, a legislative agency employee, or an executive agency employee);
- expenditures for events to which all legislators are invited
Lobbyists must file detailed, or itemized, reports listing the names of recipients if they spend:
- more than $100.80 (60% of the per diem for lawmakers) in one day for food and beverages, transportation, or lodging for a state officer or employee;
- more than $100.80 (60% of the per diem for lawmakers) in one day for entertainment for a state officer or employee or for the spouse or dependent child of a state officer or employee;
- more than $50 for a gift, award, or memento for a state officer or employee;
- any amount for a state officer or employee to attend a political fundraiser or charity event.
Lobbyists' reports are available on the commission's Web site and at its office, 201 East 14th St., 10th Floor, Austin, Texas, 78701. The commission made the reports available in a searchable format in April 2009.The ethics commissions also provides a guide that explains Chapter 305 of the Texas Government Code, the statute governing lobbyists, which includes a complicated set of restrictions on their activity.
Donna Garner
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Pray first, then call the White House (202) 456-1414. We must respectfully put pressure on the President not to sign this treaty.
Views on the News by Ed Moore:
The only thing green about "The Green Movement" is the color of money. (Predominantly American greenbacks) Call it "global warming", call it "climate change", call it "environmentalism" or call it Copenhagen's "Climate Summit", a heist by any other name is still a heist. In this case, Copenhagen is proving to be the greatest money and political power grab in the history of the world. Next to the Copenhagen money grab, Bernie Madoff looks like a small-time, small-town chiseler.
When we speak of Copenhagen, we are of course referring to the UN's so called Global Summit On Climate Change taking place December 7-18, 2009. (The starting date, December 7th, is once again a day that will live in infamy.) This summit is now hosting 100 world leaders and delegates from over 180 countries. Copenhagen is the latest and greatest global-governance orgy of the climate change prognosticators. It is the culmination of years of public deception and manipulation, and almost all of the world governments are complicit as accessories to the crime. Much of the public credit of course must go to Al Gore and his great, green, global, Trojan horse, better known as global warming.
However, due to the recent exposure of "doctoring the evidence" and "cooking the scientific books" on climate change, the devastating (or should I say liberating) truth is now out of the bag. For those who have not heard yet - on or around November 20, some enterprising individual hacked the computers of the University of East Anglias, Climate Research Unit, (sponsored by the U.N.) and made off with thousands of e-mail messages and documents that have exposed the level of collusion and deception being practiced by so-called global scientists. As a result, global warming has been positively exposed as a scam, a sham, a shell game, and a shameful international shakedown! (With the first installment to the tune of 10 billion dollars alone!) Not surprisingly,the whole deceitful hoax has been conjured up and perpetrated on a global scale for the sole purpose of establishing and funding a global governance. (I.E. a one-world government without the consent of the governed)
What's really at stake in Copenhagen is not only billions of American tax dollars, but America's national sovereignty as well. With American eyes diverted on health care and the war in Afghanistan, President Obama will soon climb inside the big green Trojan Horse (in this case, Air Force One) and head off to Copenhagen. He will arrive on or around December 18 as "the Summit's grand finale". Upon arrival, President Obama will be poised to sign away America's national sovereignty. (What a Christmas present from our very own Commander-In-Chief!)
Make no mistake, this summit is dedicated to establishing a global governance to be founded on a global allegiance to the green-eyed, new-age god of Gaia, better known as earth worship.
America, wake up! Our whole American way of life is in imminent danger. Copenhagen could very well be the first of the last nails in our national coffin. I hate to quote Michael Moore, but he was absolutely right when he said, "Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here." If America allows President Barrack Obama to sign on to the Copenhagen agreements, we will have signed a deal with the devil and an international pact with hell.
Am I being too severe? Well, you be the judge. Consider...
1. Environmentalism Is The Trojan Horse For A New-Age Global Religion. In 2003, the late Michael Crichton (Harvard graduate, writer and filmmaker, best known as the author of Jurassic Park and the creator of ER) was one of the first to send the ecology industry into a rage by exposing them as a religion. He got away with this because he had both a scientific background and enough money not to be silenced by the eco-lobby. Here is just one excerpt from Crichton's well known expose:
"Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists... Increasingly it seems facts aren't necessary, because the tenets of environmentalism are all about belief. Its about whether you are going to be a sinner, or saved. Whether you are going to be one of the people on the side of (ecological) salvation, or on the side of doom. Whether you are going to be one of us, or one of them."
Many other indicative proofs can be found in headline stories carried by Yale University's Forum On Religion And Ecology At Yale. Just this week alone, the following press releases appeared on the forum’s web site:
Vatican
December 3, 2009 - Catholic News Service Delegation To Join UN Climate Change Conference
Britain
December 4, 2009 - Associated Press 's Chief Rabbi Calls For Environmental Sabbath
World Religious Leaders To Gather December 7th To Mobilize On Climate Change
December 4, 2009 - Press Release
U.S.
December 6, 2009 - Press Release Religious Groups Call Upon Delegates To Copenhagen
Environmentalism has indeed become the Trojan horse of a worldwide ecumenical faith that has"changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator." (Romans 1:25). This global lie should not surprise Bible believers for the scriptures plainly predict that the end-time population will "believe a lie". (See II Thessalonians 2: 10-11) To investigate more, just "google" the words "global warming world religion". The amount of information is enormous.
2. Environmentalism Is The Trojan Horse For International Taxation. It is interesting to note that the Bible prophesies that the kingdom of the end time Antichrist will be preceded by a global "raiser of taxes". (Daniel 11:20) Could this new global "climate-tax" be the fulfillment of this prophecy?
Since it is beyond the scope of this column to go into detail on the advent of global taxation, I offer links to three credible sources that expose the means and threat of global taxation.
Read Townhall commentator, Paul Driessen's climate tax story by clicking here.
Read the Fox News commentary on climate tax by clinking here.
Read the Heritage Foundation fact sheet on climate tax by clicking here.
3. Environmentalism Is The Trojan Horse For A New Global Government. There is much that I could say concerning the imminent threat that the Copenhagen summit poses by imposing global government. However, Great Britain's Lord Christopher Monckton has stated it far better than I ever could. By all means, do join the 3.5 million others who have listened (in the last two months) to Lord Monckton deliver his warning to America concerning the Copenhagen Climate Change Treaty. To listen to Lord Monckton's warning just click on his photo below.
The goal for a binding Copenhagen Treaty can and must be averted at all cost. Even now there are indications that patriotic political exposure has chastened President Obama and backed him away from his implied threat to sign a climate change treaty regardless of required congressional confirmation. As always, patriotic, God-fearing Americans (and good Christians of other nations too) must not forget that "The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men". (Dan.4:27) Let us pray that God will once again thwart the earth's downward spiral toward a return to the Kingdom of Babel. To God alone be the glory!
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
People of Faith,
Have you had a chance to sign Chuck Colson's wonderful initiative “The Manhattan Declaration – A Call of Christian Conscience.‿ ? It was initially signed by 150+ top Christian leaders across the USA. Now it's already reached well over 123,667 signatures (11-25-09)in support…and growing… in just a few days.
Fox News Coverage (11-10-09)
It’s long, but the basic premise is:
We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:
- the sanctity of human life
- the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
- the rights of conscience and religious liberty.
The last paragraph of the actual document reads, “Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.‿
Scroll all the way down for a SUMMARY of the “ Manhattan Declaration.‿
Serving the King of kings & Lord of lords,
Betty Anderson
281-364-8778
MANHATTAN DECLARATION – A Call of Christian Conscience
A Summary
Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the
weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of
civil society, beginning with the family.
We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to
reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our
fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These
truths are (1) the sanctity of human life, (2) the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union
of husband and wife, and (3) the rights of conscience and religious liberty. Inasmuch as
these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are
inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from
powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their
defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are
brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this
commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the
crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Human Life
The lives of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly are ever more threatened. While
public opinion has moved in a pro-life direction, powerful and determined forces are
working to expand abortion, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide, and
euthanasia. Although the protection of the weak and vulnerable is the first obligation of
government, the power of government is today often enlisted in the cause of promoting
what Pope John Paul II called “the culture of death.‿ We pledge to work unceasingly for
the equal protection of every innocent human being at every stage of development and
in every condition. We will refuse to permit ourselves or our institutions to be implicated
in the taking of human life and we will support in every possible way those who, in
conscience, take the same stand.
Marriage
The institution of marriage, already wounded by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is at
risk of being redefined and thus subverted. Marriage is the original and most important
institution for sustaining the health, education, and welfare of all. Where marriage
erodes, social pathologies rise. The impulse to redefine marriage is a symptom, rather
than the cause, of the erosion of the marriage culture. It reflects a loss of understanding
of the meaning of marriage as embodied in our civil law as well as our religious
traditions. Yet it is critical that the impulse be resisted, for yielding to it would mean
abandoning the possibility of restoring a sound understanding of marriage and, with it,
the hope of rebuilding a healthy marriage culture. It would lock into place the false and
destructive belief that marriage is all about romance and other adult satisfactions, and
not, in any intrinsic way, about the unique character and value of acts and relationships
whose meaning is shaped by their aptness for the generation, promotion and protection
of life. Marriage is not a “social construction,‿ but is rather an objective reality—the
covenantal union of husband and wife—that it is the duty of the law to recognize, honor,
and protect.
Religious Liberty
Freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized. The threat to
these fundamental principles of justice is evident in efforts to weaken or eliminate
conscience protections for healthcare institutions and professionals, and in antidiscrimination
statutes that are used as weapons to force religious institutions, charities,
businesses, and service providers either to accept (and even facilitate) activities and
relationships they judge to be immoral, or go out of business. Attacks on religious liberty
are dire threats not only to individuals, but also to the institutions of civil society including
families, charities, and religious communities. The health and well-being of such
institutions provide an indispensable buffer against the overweening power of
government and is essential to the flourishing of every other institution—including
government itself—on which society depends.
Unjust Laws
As Christians, we believe in law and we respect the authority of earthly rulers. We count
it as a special privilege to live in a democratic society where the moral claims of the law
on us are even stronger in virtue of the rights of all citizens to participate in the political
process. Yet even in a democratic regime, laws can be unjust. And from the beginning,
our faith has taught that civil disobedience is required in the face of gravely unjust laws
or laws that purport to require us to do what is unjust or otherwise immoral. Such laws
lack the power to bind in conscience because they can claim no authority beyond that of
sheer human will.
Therefore, let it be known that we will not comply with any edict that compels us or the
institutions we lead to participate in or facilitate abortions, embryo-destructive research,
assisted suicide, euthanasia, or any other act that violates the principle of the profound,
inherent, and equal dignity of every member of the human family.
Further, let it be known that we will not bend to any rule forcing us to bless immoral
sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from
proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality, marriage, and the family.
Further, let it be known that we will not be intimidated into silence or acquiescence or
the violation of our consciences by any power on earth, be it cultural or political,
regardless of the consequences to ourselves.
We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no
circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.
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