Category Archives: Issues

More on Karzai and the Afghanistan SOF Treaty

The associated press is reporting today that:

Karzai says the U.S. is “absolutely” acting like a colonial power in its attempts to force him to sign the bilateral security agreement by the end of this year.  The paper quoted him as saying: “The threats they are making, `We won’t pay salaries, we’ll drive you into a civil war.’  These are threats.”

Ya think?

President Obama had no interest in a slow wind-down in Iraq, which would have preserved the gains made by the GWB administration, so he used the pretext of Iraqi resistance to the US position on a new Status Of Forces (SOF) agreement as an excuse for bugging out.  However, he does want a slow wind-down in Afghanistan, so he is pressuring Karzai to accept essentially the same provisions.  And, to help protect the US forces that will be there for years, I hope he continues the pressure until we get an acceptable treaty.

I Cannot Tell A Lie. Well, Maybe Just This Once.

At the Daily Caller blog, Mickey Kaus notes that, since the ObamaCare subsidies are based on AGI, there will be a large incentive for some to fudge the numbers on their tax return, particularly for those who can do so most easily, meaning folks who are self-employed.  In the example he cites, the “bronze” policy premium for a Californian with an AGI of $46K is $507/month.  If the same Californian had an AGI of $25K, he/she would pay $63.  Lemme think, now …

As If We Need Another Entitlement Time Bomb

If the guvmint is to be believed, about 1,600,000 Americans have now enrolled in ObamaCare, but over 91% of them (1.46M) have done so by being added to the Medicaid rolls.  Almost 8 cents out of every dollar that the federal government spends goes to Medicaid already, and that totals more than $265 billion per year.

For the rest of the bad news, check out the complete New York Post story, HERE.

Rocky Mountain High — The New Twist

If you’re not from Colorado, Washington, California, or Oregon, odds are you’re not familiar with dabbing.  That’s because it’s most popular in the states with the loosest marijuana laws.  Producing dabs — the technical term is “butane hash oil” — is a fairly complex process.  The short version is that you extract resins from marijuana with liquid butane, then evaporate the butane to leave behind a highly concentrated form of THC.

Much more, HERE.

Common Core Is On The Front Burner Again

EndCommonCore_LogoAs our readers know by now, we are among those opposed to the further implementation of the Common Core program in our North Carolina schools.  Part of the opposition strategy is to have the Common Core Study Committee, created by the NC General Assembly (NC/GA) with a mandate for presenting Common Core recommendations by December of 2014, bring their report and recommendations to the NC/GA early, by May rather than December.  We want the Committee to recommend, at the very least, that the implementation schedule be paused pending further study, and since May comes during the NC/GA spring session, their recommendations may thereby be implemented before the next school year begins next fall.

The remainder of the strategy is to become engaged, to educate the public by contacting our elected officials and our local news outlets (via letters to newspaper editors), and to sway the members of the Study Committee.  To further that last objective, we must have our views represented at the meetings of the Committee, and the first meeting is scheduled for 1:00pm on Tuesday after next, the 17th of December, in Room 643 of the Legislative Office Building (LOB) in Raleigh.  According to one member of the Committee, this first meeting will probably focus on organization rather than actual debate and/or discussion, but all of the Committee’s meetings are open to the public.  It would therefore be helpful if the opposition made their presence known.

For those who may need to get up to speed on the Common Core threat:

Stop Common Core NC is a good clearinghouse for Common Core information and developments, and they have an informative two-page handout that bores into the objectional aspects of Common Core.

The John Locke Foundation (mainly Terry Snoops) has done a lot of research into the ramifications of Common Core, resulting in their Sixty Questions About Common Core.

And Speaking Of The X-47B, Check Out This Puppy!

RQ180_StealthDroneThe drone that spied on bin Laden and on Iran’s nukes was just the start. Meet its bigger, higher-flying, stealthier cousin, the Northrop Grumman RQ-180. It’s probably been flying for a few years now, but you weren’t supposed to know that; the existence of this secret project, based out of Area 51, was revealed Friday by Aviation Week magazine.

The existence of the RQ-180 has been long rumored. Cryptic public statements by U.S. Air Force officials indicated a secret high-altitude reconnaissance drone, and Northrop officials …    MORE HERE.

Can UAV’s Have The Right Stuff?

GlobalHawkTiffany Kaiser, the Science reporter for the DailyTech blog, recently interviewed retired Israeli Major General Eitan Eliyahu on the likelihood that the world’s major air forces will continue the shift toward unmanned drones:

“We pilots are the decision makers … and the claim to fame of fighter pilots are dogfights.  So in the future, part of the process of replacing jet fighters with UAVs will be the ability to start dogfights between drones,” said Eliyahu.

According to Eliyahu, air forces are largely trading-in expensive fixed-wing and rotary aircraft, which will save on life-cycle and training costs.  However, he believes UAVs cannot deter enemies well enough yet.

“UAVs will not contribute enough deterrence to prevent war,” said Eliyahu.  “When the F-35 is operational in Israel, it will have a dramatic effect on deterring our enemies.  So even if we have hundreds of UAVs, it won’t impact the balance of power as much as a single squadron of F-35s.”

He added that UAVs are also more susceptible to cyber attacks because they run on networked control.

Right, don’t think we will see a UAV winning the Navy’s Top Gun competition anytime soon.  Bet they’re working on it, ‘though.

Karzai Family Values

Austin Bay and the guys at StrategyPage have up an interesting and informative article about happenings in Afghanistan, with topics ranging from the state of the current negotiations over the Status Of Forces treaty to various other regional events.  The article takes five minutes or so to read.  A couple of tidbits:

The U.S. has finally negotiated terms for keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan once all other NATO forces have left after 2014. Some Afghan politicians played hardball with the Americans on this, refusing to agree to continue American immunity from the corrupt Afghan justice system after 2014. The U.S. told the Afghans that if they don’t get a Status of Forces (immunity) agreement by the end of 2014 then the U.S. will withdraw all their forces and most of their aid money. This finally got most Afghan leaders to agree …

and

Now the Karzai clan faces a crises because Hamid Karzai cannot run for president again. The constitution forbids it and the U.S. has made it clear that trying to use bribes and coercion to change the constitution will not be tolerated. So Hamid Karzai has to make plans for life after dominating the government for a decade …

The entire PIECE is available at the StrategyPage site.

Navy X-47B: Is China Catching Up?

X47B_TrapThe U.S. Navy’s X-47B UCAV (unmanned combat air vehicle) successfully carried out more tests aboard an aircraft carrier during November. In this case both existing X-47Bs were used. This comes after an X-47B made two out of three carrier landings for the first time on July 10th.  The November tests further stressed …

The full article, from StrategyPage, is HERE.

More News On The Exalted UNC/Duke Faculty

By way of the InsideHigherEd blog, the Raleigh N-&-O reports that Julius Nyang’oro, the former chair and former professor of African studies at UNC-CH, was indicted Monday on a felony charge of accepting $12,000 for a course he did not teach.  The phantom course was conceived as a way of improving the grade point average of UNC athletes, particularly football players.  An Orange County grand jury indicted Nyang’oro on a felony charge of obtaining property by false pretenses.  Although not identified, a second person is also under investigation and could be indicted next month, said Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall.  Other probes have identified Nyang’oro’s longtime department manager, Deborah Crowder, as being involved in the bogus classes.  Ms. Crowder retired in 2009.

American Sub-Hunter Aircraft Sent To East China Sea

President Obama does something right, for a change.

In November, China unilaterally declared an air defense zone covering islands controlled by Japan but claimed by Beijing, creating apprehensions in Japan and elsewhere that the aggressive posture on the part of the Panda could result at some point in an unplanned military encounter.  The several small uninhabited islands, known to the west as the Senkaku group, lie just to the northeast of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa) in the southern portion of the East China Sea.

Last week, the US Air Force flew two B-52 heavy bombers through the area, serving notice to the Chinese that their claim of exclusivity was repudiated.  Now the British newspaper MailOnline is reporting that the US Navy is sending P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft to strengthen America’s ability to hunt submarines and other vessels in seas close to China.

For those with an interest in this subject, the FULL ARTICLE includes the best map I have seen of the islands and where they are positioned in the disputed area.

ObamaCare Bending The Cost Curve? uhh…Not So Much

In one of their many attempts lately to distract from the cancellation of insurance plans by the millions, and from the failures attending the Laurel & Hardy designed HealthCare.gov website portal, the President’s minions are returning to the lie that ObamaCare is bending the cost curve downward.  To help readers understand exactly why this is so much DoDo doo-doo, economist and Hoover Institution fellow Charles Blahous has this article up.

Before ObamaCare, There Was …

Ever wonder why the Obama administration (with the enthusiastic connivance of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi) went to so much effort to conceal the real costs of the entitlement?  Every wonder if “Read My Lips – No New Taxes” was the only stupid mistake that President George H. W. Bush did to ensure he did not win re-election?

Probably because they wanted ObamaCare to avoid the fate of the 1989 Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act.  If your memory is a little hazy on that episode, which not only preceded ObamaCare but HillaryCare as well, I recommend this National Review article written by John Fund.

Afghanistan Withdrawal Terms

Afghanistan on Friday rebuffed a US demand to sign a highly anticipated security pact as soon as possible, insisting the document must wait until after next year’s presidential election.

Washington warned Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) as soon as possible, with senior officials hinting that delaying beyond the end of this year could mean no post-2014 US troop presence.  Karzai had said the pact currently under consideration by a loya jirga, a meeting of tribal chieftains, could only be signed “when our elections are conducted, correctly and with dignity”.

Full article here …

Common Core Presentation in Jacksonville, NC

Confused about Common Core?

 

Don’t know what Common Core is?

 

Or maybe you just have questions about the, the bad and the ugly about

 

Common Core and your child’s education?

 

Then come meet the experts.

 

Join us at an open forum on

 

November 12th at First Freewill Baptist Church

 

at

 

919 Gum Branch Road in Jacksonville.

 

The time is 7:00pm

 

This is NOT a script put out by the North Carolina or

 

Onslow County Boards of Education.

 

These are the FACTS about Common Core presented by

 

Lindalyn Kakadelis, Director of the North Carolina Education Alliance

 

with the John Locke Foundation; and

 

Jane Robbins, Senior Fellow with the American Principles Project

 

and renowned Common Core expert

 

 

 

This event is sponsored by concerned parents and grandparents of Onslow County

Common Core Presentation by Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association

Public Service Announcement

October 28, 2013

 

Kim Fink, Common Core Committee Chairman for Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association (CCTA), recently made a 5 minute speech to the Craven County Board of Education on behalf of CCTA. Kim packed an enormous amount of information into 5 minutes, and says she was able to do it by “talking fast and not breathing.” Kim’s talk is reprinted here…

 

 

My name is Kim Fink, and I am representing Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association and I am the committee chair investigating Common Core.

 

We are fundamentally opposed to Common Core Standards.

Our reasons include:

It’s not legal; Congress has passed three separate statutes that prohibit the Department of education from supervising, directing or controlling curriculum. By using the CC standards and the associated national testing to define the curriculum, they are violating all 3 statutes.

Inception of Common Core: In 2009, the Secy. Of Education, Arnie Duncan gave the Dept. of Education 435 billion dollars of stimulus money that was used to fund the Race to the Top competition. Another incentive to the states was a waiver from the No Child Left Behind program.   To compete for this grant money, states had to agree to adopt Common Core, sight unseen. How did this happen? The application for the grants was released in November of 2009. Completed applications were due in 2 months, January of 2010. I remind you that at this time our state was desperate for money for education. Our legislators were not in session during November and December so the decision to apply for the grant was made by the Governor and state board of education. The standards were released in March of 2010, 2 months AFTER applying for the grant. Kind of reminds me of Obamacare, you had to pass it in order to see what was in it.   In June of 2010 the final draft of the Common Core Standards was released and the school board had until August for their final vote, NC state board of education voted unanimously on June 2, 2010 to adopt Common Core. This decision was made during summer vacation with little involvement from local districts, principals, teachers or parents. According to the John Locke Foundation, there was only one NC participant in developing Common Core, Professor Jere Confrey of the NC State University College of education.   These standards were adopted statewide without being field tested. There is no evidence to suggested that Common Core Standards are successful

 

Standards versus curriculum argument:   Proponents say the CC standards are not the curriculum; the states are free to change the curriculum. This is misleading as the standards drive the curriculum. The curriculum is merely the details of teaching the standards. The National tests will align with the standards, which will dictate the curriculum so students will be able to pass the tests.   When states sign on to CC they have agreed to the standards plus assessments, those tests will be the enforcement mechanism. David Coleman is the primary author of the English Language Arts portion of the Common Core, and is also the new President of the College board. He wants to align the SATs with CC; again this will assure the implementation of the CC curriculum.

Data Collection: When the NC agreed to Common Core, they agreed to aggressive online data collection of the students as well as the teachers. The Common Education Data Analysis and Reporting System(CEDARS) is the states longitudinal data system that incorporates the financial systems, teacher licensure, federally required data reporting, and student information from Power School, testing data and student transcripts. Included is personal information like test scores, disciplinary records, health history, medications, immunizations, student vehicle descriptions, family income range, religious affiliation, attitudes persistence, political affiliation etc. Allot of non-academic things that parents are not comfortable with, and have not given permission to share with anyone else, thanks to a presidential executive order allowing the data to be shared with any entity, public or private as long as it describes the sharing as necessary to an audit or evaluation of a federal program. This is from the amended regulations of “Family education rights in privacy act”

 

Why was CC adopted without being field tested, why weren’t other testing standards looked at? I think the answer is the money.   We all want what is best for our children. North Carolina is a Local Control State, which means the local school board is the FINAL authority on decisions of our County. We can’t choose the state tests, but we can choose to adopt whatever standards we want, and directly per Ms Alexis Schauss of the NC Board of Education, we will not lose access to State or Federal Funding should we choose a curriculum and standards other than Common Core, but may lose the Race to the Top grants. I strongly urge you to consider other non-nationalized options.

Why ccta cares: A major concern is how we are going to pay for the continued implementation of CC, the required infrastructure, the computers, the testing, textbooks and materials, the training/retraining of teachers and administration. The tax payer cost has been estimated to be between $300 million and $525 million over the next 7 years.

We care about the loss of parental rights, loss of input from teachers, principals, local and state school boards.   CCTA is more comfortable with Craven county school officials than we are with the state and federal bureaucrats and their associated agendas. The Common Core curriculum is a copyrighted program that doesn’t allow for deviation, although you can add up to 15% of content, you cannot delete any part of the standards. We oppose Social indoctrination of our children where they will be taught what to think instead of how to think.

I have collected allot of data on Common Core, my sources include The John Birch Society, The Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, Civitas, The John Locke Foundation, The North Carolina Education Alliance, The American Principals Project , the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law , Michelle Malkin, and even Wikipedia. I have forwarded information to all of the craven country school board members on more than one occasion. I am disappointed that only one of you has seen fit to reply to any of my correspondence. Since I can prove I have reasons to be concerned, Can you give us any reasons not to be?

                                                                                                                     

Info provided by:

Raynor James, PR Chair, Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association (CCTA)

252-288-6228 (home)

252-626-2804 (cell)

305 Calico Drive, New Bern, North Carolina, 28560

These are the US Senators who Voted Against a bill Preventing the UN Gun Ban

Two independents no Republicans, the rest Democrats.

Over the weekend, we were four votes away from the United States senate giving our constitutional rights over to the United Nations. In a 53-46 vote, the senate narrowly passed a measure that will stop the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.

The Statement of Purpose from the billread:

To uphold Second Amendment rights and prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.

The U.N. Small Arms Treaty, which has beenchampioned by the Obama Administration , would have effectively placed a global ban on the import and export of small firearms. The ban would have affected all private gun owners in the U.S., and had language that would have implemented an international gun registry on all private guns and ammo.

Astonishingly, 46 of our senators were willing to give away our constitutional rights to a foreign power.

Here are the senators that voted to give your rights to the U.N.:

Baldwin (D-WI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bennet (D-CO)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Coons (D-DE)
Cowan (D-MA)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hirono (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kaine (D-VA)
King (I-ME)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murphy (D-CT)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Warren (D-MA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)

Please note:  None are Republicans!

http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/here-are-the-46-senators-who-voted-to-turn-your-gun-rights-over-to-un/question-3613863/?page=5&postId=106477575#post_106477575&link=ibaf&q=&esrc=s

People, this needs to go viral.  These senators voted to let the UN take our guns.  They need to lose their next elections. We have been betrayed.

NC Tax Reform Moves Forward

From NC Civitas:

 

John W. Pope Civitas Institute
April 3, 2013

Tax reform is starting!

Yesterday, Senator Bob Rucho (R-Mecklenburg) took the first step to reform the NC tax code.

We’ll have to wait a bit longer for the real reforms, but this is a fine start.

He introduced 2 bills – one of which signals much more to come…

Here are the highlights:

  • By 2016, the state personal income tax drops to 0% for married couples making up to $12,500 and singles up to $6,250; with a flat 4% rate for all income above that
  • Authorizes a committee to study the possibility of personal income tax elimination
  • By 2015, the corporate tax is reduced to 6%
  • Repeals several corporate income tax credits

As a first step, this is great news!

Still, we have a long way to go before we can proclaim that North Carolina is “Open for Business”.

I have good news for the new committee to study eliminating the income tax:

“WE’VE DONE YOUR WORK FOR YOU! IT’S SITTING ON YOUR DESK!”

On the off chance that you haven’t yet seen our work, here’s a quick update:

We produced a study that shows the way forward on tax reform – here it is.

We came up with a “Response to Critics” to combat the arguments from the left – here it is.

And we have a growing petition movement to eliminate the income tax – here it is.

The research is done and the groundwork has been laid for reform. And North Carolina is controlled by conservatives in every office that counts!

I applaud the legislature and Sen. Rucho’s first step. But I need you to help me remind them that:

The time for reform is now!

The research is already done!

And we’re tired of waiting for growth and opportunity in North Carolina – We have to make it happen!

Sign our petition to Repeal the Income Tax here.

I’m looking forward to more good news out of the legislature – and soon!

Semper Fi,

Francis X. De Luca
Col. USMCR (Ret)
President

P.S. We haven’t gotten exactly what we wanted yet, but this is a good sign of what’s to come. I am going to continue to educate the legislature on tax reform and make sure they know the best way forward. I need your help to remind them how much we need this reform! Please go to www.noincometaxnc.org, and sign the petition to repeal the income tax, send this email around to your friends, and get them to sign it too. If the electorate shows it’s officials that it wants reform, we will get it!

Senator Hagan Finally Revealing Her Position on Gun Control?

Sen. Kay Hagan favors expanding background checks for guns

2013-03-27T00:00:08 Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Updated 12:00AM

By Travis Fain

travis.fain@news-record.com

News & Record

GREENSBORO — U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan likes the idea of expanding background checks for gun purchases, but her vote on legislation nearing the Senate floor will depend on the details, her office said Tuesday.

Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, is also prepared to vote for increased gun trafficking penalties and new school safety measures widely expected to be part of a gun bill.

She’s “unlikely to support” a renewal of the 1994 assault weapons ban or limits on gun magazine sizes because of “the impact it could have on responsible gun owners,” said Sadie Weiner, a Hagan spokeswoman.

These comments come as rhetoric in the gun debate again nears fever pitch. The Senate is scheduled to take up a bill after it returns from Easter break April 8. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns group is running $12 million worth of commercials in the interim.

The goal is to pressure key lawmakers to vote for the bill, and particularly for the new background checks. The group lists 15 senators it’s targeting — 10 Republicans and five Democrats, including Hagan. Continue reading →

The So-Called Gun Show Loophole

The So-Called Gun Show Loophole: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

John G. Malcolm

February 8, 2013 at 10:12 am

J. Emilio Flores/La Opinion/Newscom

There is a lot of misinformation circulating about background checks for gun ownership.

Under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act—which created the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)—all federal firearms licensees are required to conduct a background check for all firearms transactions, even if they sell the firearm at a gun show. This is to make sure that the gun isn’t being sold to a person who is prohibited from purchasing a gun under Section 922(g) or (n) of Title 18 of the United States Code, which would include convicted felons, people who have been adjudicated to be severely mentally ill, and people who have been convicted of a domestic violence offense.

President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), and scores of others have repeated the mantra that approximately 40 percent of all gun purchases are conducted through private sales at gun shows and are not subject to a criminal background check. This has become known as the “gun show loophole.”

At a recent Senate hearing, Baltimore County Police Chief James Johnson went so far as to say, “Allowing 40 percent of those acquiring guns to bypass background checks is like allowing 40 percent of airline passengers to board a plane without going through airport security.”

What gun control proponents never say, though, is that this oft-repeated statistic is based on stale data that was grossly exaggerated even when it was fresh.

As The Washington Post has pointed out, this 40 percent figure comes from a 1997 report by the National Institute of Justice, a research agency within the Department of Justice, and was based on a telephone survey sample of just 251 people who acquired firearms in 1993 and 1994. This was years before the NICS system went into effect. Of the 251 participants, 35.7 percent said that they didn’t or “probably” didn’t obtain their gun from a licensed firearms dealer. Because the margin of error was +/– 6 percentage points, it was rounded up to 40 percent, although it could just as easily and legitimately have been rounded down below 30 percent.

In addition, if you subtract people who said they got their gun as a gift, inheritance, or prize, the number dropped from 35.7 percent to 26.4 percent. And, in terms of how many people actually buy firearms at gun shows, the data from this same survey indicated that in 1994, only 3.9 percent of firearms purchases were made at gun shows.

Citing this data as evidence of how many firearms are currently purchased through private sales not subject to background checks is akin to citing data about current seat belt usage that is derived from a limited sample taken years before a mandatory seat belt law went into effect or before cars were even required to have seat belts. We all know that, according to a phrase popularized by Mark Twain, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. Citing such limited and outdated data over and over again on a matter of this magnitude, however, is going too far.

via Heritage

Rove Declares War on Tea Party

Rove Declares War on Tea Party

The battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party has begun. On one side is the Tea Party. On the other side stand Karl Rove and his establishment team, posing as tacticians while quietly undermining conservatism.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that the “biggest donors in the Republican Party” have joined forces with Karl Rove and Steven J. Law, president of American Crossroads, to create the Conservative Victory Project. The Times reports that this new group will dedicate itself to “recruit seasoned candidates and protect Senate incumbents from challenges by far-right conservatives and Tea Party enthusiasts who Republican leaders worry could complicate the party’s effort to win control of the Senate.” The group points to candidates like Christine O’Donnell in Delaware and Richard Mourdock in Indiana as examples of Tea Party primary picks going sideways in major Senatorial battles.

But it is American Crossroads and its ilk that have run the GOP into the ground. Spending millions of dollars on useless 30,000-ft. advertising campaigns during the last election cycle, training candidates to soften conservatism in order to appeal to “moderates,” blowing up the federal budget under George W. Bush as a bipartisan tactic – all of those strategies led the party to a disastrous defeat in 2012. The Tea Party, which may nominate losers from time to time, also brought the Republicans their historic 2010 Congressional victory. If Tea Party candidates lose, it’s because they weren’t good candidates; if GOP establishment candidates lose, it’s because they weren’t good conservatives. The choice for actual conservatives should be easy.

But it isn’t. The Bush insider team that helped lead to the rise of Barack Obama insists that they, and only they, know the path to victory. As the Times reports, Conservative Victory Project won’t merely protect incumbents – it will challenge sitting Congresspeople of the Tea Party variety, including six-term Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, who may run for Senate. “We’re concerned about Steve King’s Todd Akin problem,” Law told the Times – with whom he seems far too friendly. “This is an example of candidate discipline and how it would play in a general election. All of the things he’s said are going to be hung around his neck.”

Law claims he’s acting under the rubric of William F. Buckley, supporting the most conservative candidate who can win. But Law is no judge of that. Neither is Rove. Their advice led to the epic Romney defeat, in which conservatives were told to vote for Romney in the primary since he was the only candidate who could win.

Grover Norquist correctly points out that the Rove mission is nonsense. “People are imagining a problem that doesn’t exist,” said Norquist. “We’ve had people challenge the establishment guy and do swimmingly.” In truth, conservatism wins elections so long as the messenger doesn’t implode. Rove’s view, however, is that conservatism takes a back seat to the best quasi-conservative messenger.

But victory for conservatives isn’t Rove’s goal. He’s a political insider par excellence, and he’s playing for his political life in the aftermath of 2012. If that means declaring war on the Tea Party, so be it.

Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the book “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).

Important 2nd Amendment Update

IMPORTANT UPDATES – TWO PART ACTION ALERT – PLEASE SHARE

 

1. WE MUST COUNTER Organizing for Action – CALL YOUR US REPRESENTATIVES AND US SENATORS MONDAY AND TUESDAY

 

Organizing for Action (Obama’s campaign organization turned action network) has directed their members to “flood” the Capitol switchboard.  Our representatives must hear from us to balance their effort.

In addition, Republican Senators Tom Coburn and Mark Kirk are working with Democrat Senators Joe Manchin, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand on new legislation to “keep weapons away from criminals and the mentally ill.”

Grassroots NC’s position on potential bipartisan or Republican legislation: “None of this is acceptable.”

Many people are already being unfairly disqualified from owning a gun because of a diagnosis of PTSD or transient use of an anti-depressant in their past. Some legislators will want to compromise on this type of proposal, but it will infringe on the rights of the law-abiding.

Please call or email your US Representatives and US Senators on Monday and Tuesday, January 28 and 29. Ask them to SAY NO to any gun control measures.

House Reps are in their districts this week so use their local office numbers (while you’re calling, ask them when they will hold a town hall in the district):

 

Rep. G. K. Butterfield, Jr. (D-01) (252) 237-9816

Rep. Renee L. Ellmers (R-02) 1-877-645-8764

Rep. Walter B. Jones, Jr. (R-03) 800-351-1697

Rep. David Price (D-04) 919.859.5999

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-05) (336) 778-0211

Rep. Howard Coble (R-06) (336) 333-5005

Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-07) (910) 815-4959

Rep. Richard Hudson (R-08) 704-786-1612

Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-09) (704) 365-6234

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-10) 800.477.2576

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-11) 828-693-5660

Rep. Mel Watt (D-12) (704) 344-9950

Rep. George Holding (R-13) 919-856-9778

Senators are in DC this week:

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) 202-224-3154

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) 202-224-6342

2.  FROM GRASSROOTS NC: CALL COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE STEVE TROXLER THIS WEEK

Ask him where he stands on gun control in relation to President Obama’s agenda.

Email AND call Commissioner Steve Troxler  at Steve.Troxler@ncagr.gov and (919) 707-3000

“It’s been well over a week since The NC Department of Agriculture Commissioner fell in line with President Obama’s plan to ban the private sales of any firearms following a recent incident at a gun show. After a negligent discharge of a shotgun at a recent gun show at the NC Fairgrounds in Raleigh, representatives of Agricultural Commissioner Steve Troxler saw fit to declare that private sales of any and all firearms would be banned for the rest of the show, and possibly all gun shows held on NC agricultural property in the future.

Where does Commissioner Troxler stand?

After pronouncing that private sales were banned from State Agricultural owned property, Commissioner Troxler has gone silent. The big question now becomes: will a REPUBLICAN controlled state agency now jump on President Obama’s gun control policies without question? When accidents involving automobiles happen, we don’t ban private auto sales. When accidents involving house fires happen, we don’t arbitrarily ban private home sales. Why then, are our elected leaders so quick to ban private firearms sales when a negligent discharge happens?

Maybe we should just ask?

The citizens of North Carolina deserve to know where our leaders stand on this issue. Using the contact information provided and the suggested message (or one of your own), contact NC Agricultural Commissioner Steve Troxler and ask him personally where he stands on the issue of private firearms sales and President Obama’s gun control agenda. With the anti-gun crowd screaming loud these days, we deserve to know just where our leaders stand on the issue.”

Letter from Kay Hagan on UN Gun Treaty

Dear Friend,

Thank you for contacting me regarding Second Amendment rights. I greatly appreciate your thoughts on this important matter.

As you know, in 2006 the United Nations (UN) began discussions regarding an Arms Trade Treaty. While the United States originally opposed these discussions, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has more recently stated that the United States would support and participate in these talks. In October 2009, the UN adopted, by a vote of 153-1 with the United States in support, a resolution laying out a timetable for negotiations. However, even should a treaty be signed, it would require the approval of two-thirds of the Senate before it would be considered ratified and in effect. Continue reading →