CRYSTAL COAST TEA PARTY PATRIOTS
MEETING MINUTES OF
26 FEBRUARY 2013

Meeting was held at Golden Corral, Morehead City, NC
Meeting called to order at 6:00pm by Chairman BOB CAVANAUGH
Invocation by STEVE BEST
Pledge of Allegiance led by BOB CAVANAUGH
Attendance – 24

BOB said when he attended the meeting in New Bern the other night, he noticed that they had the Invocation prior to the pledge and someone commented about we should always put GOD first, so from now on we will have our Invocation first.

All in attendance sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to RUTH PARKER (whose birthday is tomorrow) and to BOB CAVANAUGH (whose birthday was yesterday).

BOB acknowledged that VERNE THOMPSON, after threatening for several weeks, had finally brought in the book “American Sniper” by Chris Kyle, to be included in our TEA Party library.   Anyone wishing to check it out, please see BOB.

BOB said he had ordered several books from the John Locke Foundation and they are only $10.00 each plus $3.00 tax.  The latest one is called ‘First in Freedom’.  It lays out a road map for North Carolina’s agenda for going forward with fiscal responsibility and getting back to sound government.  The books were written by John Hood.  The first book was ‘Our Best Foot Forward’,  (an investment plan for NC economic recovery).  It provides historical context and a broad outline for a conservative reform agenda for the state.  ‘First in Freedom’ offers analysis and recommendations from the John Locke research team of the biggest fiscal and economical issues facing NC in 2013.  It is time for our state to become First in Freedom once more. When he receives his copy of ‘First in Freedom’ book he will add it to our library.  If anyone is interested in purchasing a copy you can go to John Locke web site (just Google John Locke Foundation and it will take you to the web site).  Go to the ‘store’ and you can read the reviews  on the various booklets.   

BOB said he was not aware that ‘First in Freedom’ had been removed from our license plates.
Several said they had taken that off a long time ago and several said that it was ‘First in Flight’.  BOB said the ‘First in Freedom’ motto came from NC not ratifying the Constitution unless there was some provisions put in the Constitution laying out what the rights of the people were.  The outgrowth of that was the first 10 amendments.  He remembered that there was a big backlash when they were trying to get ‘First in Freedom’ on the license plates because NC had been a slave state.

BOB recommended that we all check out the ‘Carolina Journal’ online.  Take a gander at it each morning.  You can click on any item of interest and get more information.  He ran a copy of the first page this morning.  First item of interest is ‘Tillis Launches Education Week at Legislature’.
(A merit pay system for teachers, changes to teachers tenure, tax credits for private school tuition, and new charter school initiatives are among education reform measures that could be passed in the State House of Representatives in the next few weeks, House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said Monday.)  BOB asked ERIC BROYLES if he had any further information on that.  ERIC said there are several bills out there.  The Governor had just signed SB14, which is about starting to offer more vocational programs at the high school level, trying to turn this thing around.  Unfortunately it did not make it mandatory, only optional.  He doesn’t think until we make it a requirement that every student graduate with a skill, our graduating high school students who don’t go on to college still will not have a viable skill or fare any better then than they do now.  There is also a bill before the House, HB46 to require that cursive writing and memorization of multiplication tables are once again taught in high school.  So many of our children are graduating and they can’t even write.  There is also a bill that is promoting more off schooling.  Off schooling is generally a success because a family that commits to home schooling actually puts in the time and effort.  He knows 3 of his friends who were home schooled and they all graduated from college.  I do not know of anyone who was home schooled that did not go on to college.  They are trying to create a tax credit for children who are home schooled.  That’s a big one…that’s HB144.  We should support that.

BOB said according to his notes that SB14, Increase Access to Career/Technical Education will require that the State Board of Education develop career and college endorsements for high school diplomas.

DENNIS TOMASO said he and his wife home schooled their daughter and she has been accepted at six colleges.

KEN LANG said there was an article also in the Carolina Journal today about reforming NC higher education to promote useful skills in going out to the work force because the education system has come to the point of trying to develop well rounded individuals instead of people who can actually do something.  HOWARD said they are claiming they are teaching them to think but they are actually teaching them to wrong way.  ERIC said 60% of those who graduate from high school do go on for further education…(more than 30% drop out).  Of those 60% only 60% graduate.  So if you do the raw math somewhere between the 60 and 75% level of children who just have basic education skills, is the reason why welfare is occurring in this country.  That does not mean that some of those folks will not create their own businesses and pull themselves out of that because there are people that will succeed no matter what.  But the odds are some of those people will be on some sort of assistance.  BOB said even those 60% of the 60% that graduate with various and crazy degrees, like liberal arts, etc., (his daughter for example graduated from UNC, got a degree in women’s studies, and now is holding a job as a receptionist at a manufacturing company.  ERIC said but chances are she may climb up the ladder quicker than some others without a degree.  BOB said the state needs to focus on basics, especially the sciences.  This is a good state for science.  We have a lot of industries, and technical.

BOB said some of the headlines in today’s Carolina Journal are: (a)‘Higher Education Suggestions for GOP Leaders’.  University of NC schools should do more than just prepare students for today’s careers. (b) Federal Budget cuts would have wide range, (c ) Judges hear arguments against election districts. BOB said he thought that was over and done with.  HOWARD said “no, that is why we campaigned so hard for Newby, because there was a theory out there that the State Supreme Court would not find it constitutional and that the judges would wind up setting the districts.”  Discussed various gerrymandering that has gone on and is still ongoing, both Democratic and Republican.  KEN said he thought BOB was thinking about the justice departments said that our redistricting was OK and when they did that the Democrats then took it to court because they were dissatisfied with the justice department’s decision.  That was one of the reasons why it was necessary to get Newby elected.  Then after Newby got elected, the Democrats tried to get him pushed aside the decision making by saying he had a conflict of interest because of all the money he had gotten from the Republicans during the election.  The justices decided that no it was OK.  Now that all that mess is out of the way, it will come before the Supreme Court for a decision.  BOB said anyway the discussion on districts is still being debated.  (d) Progress Energy agrees to halve rate hike…which he thinks that is what they wanted all along anyway.  (e) Millis backs bill to delay licenses for illegal residents.  (f) Davis seeks formation of ‘film caucus’.  (g) Local business leaders back Panthers’ stadium aid request.  (h) Bill would scrap NC vehicle safety inspections.  VERNE THOMPSON said that was for safety problems, not emissions problems.  You will still have to take your car in.  HOWARD said SC, GA and FLA don’t.  (h) Smoking ban enforcement bill not gathering much support. (I) Dozens protest Winston-Salem tax values.  Anyway these are just a few of the items covered today in the Carolina Journal, so go on line to Carolina Journal and you can open up anyone of those for more information on any item that interests you and you can read more about it.

KEN said he had gotten an email today that Rick(?) Brannon has announced that he is running for Senate (against Kay Hagan) as a Republican in 2014.  He has posted it on our face book page.
He is a conservative.  KEN doesn’t know if he is elect-able or not.  He would like to try to get him to come in and talk to us, if everyone is in agreement with that.  He lives in Cary now but he originally was out of the Greenville area.  The Beaufort Co. TEA Party knew about him planning to announce about maybe 6 weeks ago when he and BOB were there.  We will see if we can get him in here.

Another item he saw today on email was John Kerry, our new Secretary of State went to Germany and told the students there that Americans have the right to be stupid….and he should know.  Why would you do that in a foreign country?

KEN said BOB had mentioned a couple of things about drivers’ license but just to repeat HB118 has been introduced in the House – has not been voted on yet – but it has to do with consular documents not being acceptable as identification, which is what has been happening is illegals would get a consular document from the embassy and then they would take it in and get food stamps, Medicaid, and get their drivers’ license and all that stuff.  This is a bill to prevent that.  Then HB141 is the one he mentioned about drivers’ license.  What it is is a dream act beneficiaries’ drivers’ license moratorium, because the State Attorney General declared that in NC we had to issue drivers’ license those illegals that are covered under Obama’s executive order that basically put into place the Dream Act.  This bill will put a moratorium on those drivers’ licenses until Congress acts on Obama’s Executive Order.  ERIC said he did write DMV and got a response from them….the order that was issued by Roy Cooper, Atty General, they have not acted upon because they realize that most likely action will be taken to stop it.  KEN said the Governor (McCrory) has also come out and said that he supports – if a drivers’ license HAS to be issued, he supports color coded licenses such that it is readily identifiable as owner not being a citizen of the US.

KEN said he had also posted on our web site and face book a video called “Rampant Injustice”.  It is about 20 minutes long, and is about how the IRS uses Gestapo tactics to violate constitutional rights in basically raiding businesses unannounced and with no warrants or anything to collect all the information they want to pursue potential fraud cases.  It is kinda eye opening to tell you the truth and a little scary.

KEN said on another subject which he has also included on Face Book and web site….It was in the Washington Post.  “The Artic Ocean is warming up.  Ice bergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Norway.  Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers, all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hereto unheard of temperatures in the Artic zone.  Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees, 29 minutes.  Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters show that the Gulf Stream is still very warm.   Great masses of ice have been replaced by earth and stones and the report continued while at many points we know that glaciers have entirely disappeared.  Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Artic while vast shoals of herring and smelt which have never before ventured so far north are being encountered in the old sea fishing grounds.  Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities un-inhabitable.  The author of this article wrote ‘Oh, I apologize, I did forget to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922.’  KEN said some things never change, they just keep recycling the same old, same old.

HOWARD said DR BLOOMFIELD has told us about a book he was reading written by Dr. Ben Carson, who spoke at the Prayer Breakfast in Washington recently.

DR. BLOOMFIELD said he was not too good of a public speaker, but he did have some opinions.  He has been reading a book, written by Dr Carson, over the last week and a half.  The name of the book is “America the Beautiful”.  This guy is a genius.  If you get a chance to read this book, you will find it agrees with everything that he knows about the Tea Party and basically what we stand for.  And he has real solutions.  It is a matter of getting them implemented by our representatives.  Dr. Carson grew up in inner city Detroit.  He had one brother who was older than he was.  His father left the home when his mother found out he had another wife across town so she divorced him.  She had three jobs trying to support her two boys.  Didn’t take welfare.  And when the kids were not doing well in school insisted that they read two books a week and write book reports on them.  When Dr. Carson got to college he realized his mother did not really know how to read, but she had underlined and scratched out things.  But he said, after a while it was really interesting….he really liked reading the books.  He said he could escape the inner city.  He could be an astronaut.  He could go to Africa, Asia, and he could be anything he wanted to be by just reading books.  They really motivated him.  One of the important points he makes early in the book, education is the most important thing we have.  Countries that are totalitarian try to keep people from being educated.  DR. BLOOMFIELD told BOB, even the degree your daughter has, she still has a degree.  She put out extra effort.  She still has the potential and showed that she knows how to learn and maybe think.  Now all college graduates don’t think all the time, ‘cause we’ve got some in Congress.  At least it is a check mark that says you made a little extra effort  that somebody hasn’t gone and finished school.  One of the points that Dr Carson makes is something that he (DR. BLOOMFIELD) believes strongly in is ’we talk about all the problems that are going on in our government.  There is no question there is lots of problems, but we are trying to do this piece meal.  What we need to do as a group and what the TEA Party needs to do is get congressional term limits.  When a congressman or senator spends most of his time on trying to get re-elected, and like Dr Carson says, four branches of government; executive, judicial, legislative and special interests are what motivates the other ones to keep going.  When we have that, we can’t get anything done.  You see what is happening.  It is not just Republicans or Democrats; it is both of them.  They are wasting our money, pandering to people that are getting something from the government, and term limits would eliminate that.  There are a number of ways that we could implement this.  He hoped we hadn’t talked about this before, but even if we have, he wanted to talk about it anyway.  One of the things he talks about, Congressmen get 8 years and that is it; but every 2 years you get a referendum and you don’t like what he is doing you get him out of there.  DR. BLOOMFIELD has another suggestion….don’t pay them anything while serving.  There are a large number of good people who will volunteer to be in Congress for 8 years to work for the people of the US, without paying them anything.  Pay their staff, but the congressman him/herself should be doing it all on his own.  There is two ways of changing the constitution.  One is asking Congress to initiate it…but they are not going to do that.  The other is to have a Constitutional Convention.  That is something that the TEA Party could do is have a Constitutional Convention to get things changed.  It is not just the House of Representatives but the Senate also who really needs to be limited on how long they stay there.  When you talk to voters they all will usually tell you that their congressman is doing OK, it is the others who are creating problems.  No….very few of them are really looking out for the folks.  Term limits would really help and go a long way.  BOB said he was preaching to the choir with that.  Dr. Bloomfield said he didn’t know how to start a constitutional convention, but with TEA Parties in every state and most counties, someone should know where to start.  BOB said that had been kicked around and is a big dilemma there because once you start a constitutional convention then the sky is the limit.  Every crazy lunatic wants in.  DR. BLOOMFIELD said that is American though.  Everyone has the freedom of speech and we have to put up with that.  I am sure there are lots of ways of doing it but we are smart enough to do that.  HOWARD asked DR. BLOOMFIELD could he please give us the web site so we could go on line and listen to Dr. Carson’s prayer breakfast speech.  DR. BLOOMFIELD said, type in Dr. Ben Carson presidents’ prayer breakfast and it would take us to it.  It is about 25 minutes long.  He is funny, articulate and he doesn’t even use notes.  President Obama is just sitting to his right like a bump on a log.  Dr. Carson spends the first few minutes apologizing that he doesn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, but he says one of his responsibilities when he is invited to tell them what he thinks….and he does.  A lot of what he said is in the book, that he wrote, but it is extended.  He does give a lot more detail and answers to questions.  DR. BLOOMFIELD said he had heard him first at a medical meeting and the guy is really brilliant.  He has worked hard his whole life and he is doing very well right now, but he doesn’t like what is going on.  GLADYS SUESSLE said she had heard he was giving up his practice.  DR. BLOOMFIELD said Dr. Carson is retired right now.   He had said neurosurgeons have the shortest life span expectancy because of all the stress that they have so he guesses he is trying to get out early before he dies.  He looks in pretty good shape though.  BOB said after his speech at the prayer breakfast, he had just added a whole lot more stress in his life.  He is going to need a surgeon to pull the knives and arrows out of his back as he goes around to meetings.  BOB said he had heard some talk already about “Ben Carson for President”, but he didn’t think he wanted that.  ERIC said he thought he would be more effective supporting people.  DAVID COX said he had heard that Rand Paul had come out for term limits also.  KEN LANG said ‘it kinda blows your mind but Rand Paul turned back in $600,000 this year that was given to him to run his office with.  You’ve got all these other senators and house members who are spending all the money they get and probably asking for more.  Last year he turned back in $500,000.  You have to admire this.  The last 5 emails in the last 6 weeks that KEN had sent to Richard Burr (Senator) (who always replies to you via snail mail), and at the end of each of his emails had requested that Burr not respond via snail mail, to please respond via email, because he did not want Burr wasting his tax money on stamps.  He has not received a single reply back (even via snail mail).  Further discussion on the congressmen returning or not returning funds back to the government and the waste going on.

LYN BAKER introduced her guest tonight – Linda Werthivein (please excuse if I have misspelled the name), her neighbor.

VERNE THOMPSON said talking about education – his belief is that Education does not make someone smart.  He talked about his family and ancestors and their lack of formal education but how many of them had progressed to a much higher place in business that many others with formal educations.  DR. BLOOMFIELD said he had not been talking about formal education, because he too thinks you need to keep learning even after formal schooling.  That is where the true education comes from.

SCOTT CARPENTER asked to change the subject a little bit.  Did anyone see our governor this morning on FOX TV about what he talked about?  He had had a little side bar with this president this week and spoke about opening up our off shore (our coast) for energy.  He is trying to do a little PAC with Virginia and South Carolina.  BOB said he had a little more on that shortly during the meeting tonight.

BOB said going back to DR BLOOMFIELD’s comments on term limits…he thinks the only way we are going to get that through is with a constitutional convention, which he does not think is going to happen, is if we can get the current congress to pass it, but grandfather in those currently in office.  This would go into effect in like 2100 or 2050, when they are already retired and out of the way….cause they are not going to vote themselves a pay cut, or throw themselves out of office.  Like Walter Jones, he ran on term limits and promised only 6 years in office was his promise….and he is still there, and he is now working on his 18th or 19th year now.  DENNIS TOMASO said only problem there is the current congress cannot commit future congresses to something they have not had an opportunity to vote on.  BOB said what you are doing is amending the constitution.  They could pass a constitutional amendment.  Everyone of them agrees with term limits except their own.  BOB said if the TEA Parties got together and started pushing that idea it might get traction.  Question is will the country survive long enough for that to kick in.  Another argument against term limits…If you put limits on the congressional members, then all the remaining power is going to reside in bureaucrats…that is where all the corporate knowledge is going to be.  DR. BLOOMFIELD said, just fire them and we can save a whole lot of money.  BOB said have you ever tried to a fire a dang federal employee?  We are going to have to give the congressmen and senators enough intestinal fortitude to attack the unions.  They would probably vote for term limits before they took on the unions.  LYN said they could do that with no new hires and utilize attrition.

BOB said he had something from Phil Berger from the Senate and from Harry Brown reporting on what is going on in Raleigh.  They both talked about House Bill 5 which is temporary funding for group homes and special care units.  It has passed out of the House into the Senate and will be sent to the Governor to be signed into law.  The bill extends temporary funds through June 30th   appropriating $39.7 million to ensure adult care home residents could remain in their current homes while a sustainable placement was identified.  The bill will help people with mental illness, developmental disabilities and Alzheimers Disease to remain in group homes and special care units through the end of June.  At that time those who don’t qualify for Medicaid personal care service (PCS) must have transitioned to a long-term arrangement that complies with federal law and the Americans with Disabilities Act.  If NC had not passed this stopgap funding all these people would be booted out into the streets.  Discussion on local group homes and their problems by HOWARD and PEGGY who currently serve on the Adult Home Community Advisory Committee and quarterly review the homes in Carteret County.  Several other members told of their experiences with these type homes.

Recently the Senate Commerce Committee passed Senate Bill 76, the Domestic Energy Jobs Act.  This comprehensive energy bill paves the way for a flourishing onshore and offshore energy sector.  Abundant energy resources exist right here in NC….resources that could create thousands of new jobs, generate billions of dollars in new revenue and lead us toward energy independence.

Discussion on the Keystone Pipeline.

BOB said that was the NC State Legislature and now he had a couple of voting results on Federal Legislature:  Gender-based Violence Prevention – The Senate passed a comprehensive reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) last week, including a controversial provision that grants expanded authority to tribal courts over non-American Indian offenders.  The bill would also expand protections for LGBT victims.  VAWA consists of a variety of grant programs to state and local law enforcement agencies and service organizations that specialize in treating victims of such crimes as rape, domestic violence, and stalking.  S47 extends VAWA for five years.  The Senate debated several amendments to the bill, notably defeating a proposal from Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn to remove the expanded tribal court authority and Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy of Vermont successfully attached a four year extension of anti-human trafficking measures to the overall bill.  House leaders have been vague about their plans regarding the legislation, which expired last year amid disagreement between the two chambers.  President Obama supports the Senate bill.  Final passage – Vote passed 78-22.  Sen. Richard Burr voted yes.  Sen. Kay Hagan voted yes.

Then there was the cloture vote on the Defense Secretary nomination.  One of the more contentious nomination fights in recent memory was dragged into the President’s Day recess when the Senate failed to invoke cloture on Chuck Hagel’s bid to become Defense Secretary.  The former Republican senator from Nebraska endured a withering confirmation hearing on January 31, during which he was grilled for hours by fellow Republicans on a narrow range of issues, particularly Israel and Iran.  The nomination passed out of the Armed Services Committee February 12 on a straight party-line vote, and Reid attempted to end debate two days later.  Several Republican senators including John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Lamar Alexander stated that they would not vote for cloture that day but would following the recess (though they would ultimately oppose the nomination).  Vote rejected 58-40, 1 present and 1 not voting.  Sen. Burr voted NO and Sen. Hagan voted Yes.

In the House Walter Jones voted Yes on all four of the following:
Disaster Aid for Houses of Worship – Suspension.  (vote passed)  This bill would expand the definition of ‘private non-profit facilities’ eligible for federal disaster funding to include house of worship such as churches and synagogues.  Many such buildings were damaged by Hurricane Sandy, which brought the issue to lawmaker’s attention.
Hydropower regulation  – Suspension.  (vote passed)  The House unanimously supported this measure to streamline permitting and regulation of hydropower facilities.
Federal Pay Freeze Extension (final passage).  Acting to head off a scheduled cost-of-living adjustment for federal Civilian employees, the House extended the freeze on their pay through the end of the calendar year.  Military pay is not affected by the bill.  BOB reminded us of Gov. McCrory on day one giving all the cabinet heads and higher ups in the administration a 5 to 11% pay raise.  Meanwhile they are trying to cut the employment benefits for the peons out there.
North Korea Nuclear Test – (vote passed)  Responding to a nuclear test conducted by the secretive Kim Jong-un regime in North Korea, the House passed a resolution condemning the act and calling for a new round of sanctions.  Libertarian Republicans Justin Amash of Michigan and Thomas Massie of Kentucky cast the only ‘no’ votes.

KEN asked if anyone here had heard that Barbara Boxer had introduced a bill that basically creates another federal agency to oversee your financial advisors and give them advice on how to develop financial plans.  He doesn’t know a whole lot about it but he found it interesting because a year or so ago, there was some talk about a bill that some wacko from the Democrats put in about trying to take over our 401Ks.  He thinks this is another camel getting his nose under the tent.   That is all he wants is the government giving his financial advisor how to invest money.  HOWARD said he heard about it on the radio yesterday.

KEN said, also, he read where Obama has bought his supporters to bear on gun control by turning his campaign organizing into ‘Organizing for Action’ using $100,000.00 to target 13 pro-gun legislators and mobilizing ‘Move on Dot Org’.  Discussion on Obama’s group getting people to donate $500,000.00 to get on a list so they can go talk to him.  BOB said that is 10 times the amount that Clinton charged to rent the Lincoln bedroom.

HOWARD said he read in the paper where a couple managing  the ‘Goodwill Community Foundation’ in Wake County were being paid $790,000.00 a year.  He feels that when somebody is asking for your money, it might be a good idea to ask for a copy of their form 990 which is a tax return for a non-profit.  They have to list the salaries of their top employees.  KEN said that is why we stopped giving money to the “Wounded Warriors” because they have such high salaries.  DENNIS said if you want to check out the salaries go to ‘Charity Navigator’.  It tells you everything you want to know about that charity….how much they are getting as compensation, the whole nine yards.  VERNE said it only covered the big charities though.

KEN said another item on gun control – there is a group called ‘Grass Roots North Carolina’.  You can get on their distribution list.  They published on Feb 20 ‘Senator Kay Hagan calls for registering private gun sales.  There was a radio interview with a guy named Chris Fitzsimons, who is described as a gun control extremist.  In his interview with Hagan, she basically said that there should be a policy of national background checks and that she supported other pieces of the (didn’t mention the Finestein bill by name) but she talked about gun control legislation.  He has written her 4 times to get an answer about where she stands on gun control and she hasn’t responded.  He knows some others that have written her also.  This is the first time he has seen where there is a record of where she stands.  He has put it on Face Book also.  You can click on it an actually hear the interview.  HOWARD said that is Chris Fitzsimons who is on NC Spin.  He is always on the panel.  It comes on on Channel 7 Sunday morning at 11:00.  He worked for some ultra liberal think tank (NC Policy Watch) and always takes an extreme liberal stand on everything that they discuss.  He is so upset now that he could bite nails into with our current governor and legislature.  Discussion on having finger printing done to get a gun permit or concealed carry and if it is a national background check.  KEN said there is a national data base but there is also a state (SBI) data base.  HOWARD said at the meeting we went to in New Bern last Tuesday night (and if you didn’t make it, you missed a great meeting on gun control), the Sheriff of Craven County said Concealed Carry permits only took about 15 minutes of their time, but it is the mental health check that takes so long.  They only have one person who does the checking on 10 counties.  She will take the permits turned in for a county, check them out, turn them back to the counties and start another county.  That is where the 2 or 3 month holdup is.  BOB said with something like that we need to bring it up to Pat McElraft and Sanderson about shifting some money around in the budget about paying more people to facilitate the process of legal citizens wanting to get their permits.  HOWARD said maybe, but he is suspicious of state agencies, because if you notice DOT, when they go out on a project, they spend more time putting up the signs than they do working.  One day this week they were working on the Nine Foot Road (treating the cracks) they were putting up signs at 2:30 and at 4:30 the truck went by and they had quit for the day.  DENNIS said for conceal to carry in NC you get fingerprinted automatically when you go down there and if you are going to sell a weapon in NC someone has to have a permit, so then you have already done the check.  If you are buying for concealed carry  you already have had a background check,  so Kay Hagan doesn’t understand what in the —- NC does.  KEN said the last thing he has tonight is at one of his Western TEA Party group somebody asked about this deal that was going around a year or so ago about this paramilitary group that Obama wanted to put together.  They wanted to know what happened to that?  You never see anything in the news about it anymore.  Somebody did a little research on it and found an article dated October 7, 2012 out of Vicksburg, Miss.  It said ‘federal government calls it the FEMA
Corps.  They conger up memories of the Hitler Youth of 1930’s Germany.  Regardless of their name the Department of Homeland Security has just graduated its first class of 231 homeland youth.  Kids ages 18 to 24 and recruited from presidents’ Americorps volunteers represent the first wave of volunteer of DHS’s youth corps designed to specifically to create a full time paid standing army of FEMA youth across the country.  He said he had fact checked it on Snopes and published by a reputable news paper.  BOB said he remembers when Obama was calling for a civilian army as large as the regular military.  KEN said that might also explain why we have been seeing all those emails about all those bullets being bought by Homeland Security.  BOB said there is so much floating around out there you don’t know how much is true.  You’ve heard about these FEMA detention camps that are scattered around the country and about these mass grave sites that they have prepared with plastic coffins.  How much is real or is it a dream he is having.  KEN said he had seen an article on the grave sites and seen pictures of bull dozers going in and moving dirt around and putting these concrete vaults in the ground.  The article said that FEMA was claiming that this was being done to address pandemic deaths from all these viruses.

BOB said he had gotten some information from Senator Thom Goolsby, who serves on the finance and revenue laws study committee in the NC senate.  The Republicans have a plan to pay off the state’s $2.5 billion unemployment insurance debt owed to the federal government.  However, a lot of editorial writers at liberal media outlets are lining up to bash Republicans for their fiscal responsibility.  As is typical, the editorialists are long on opinions and short on facts.  As they decry any reductions in payouts, the ‘nabobs of negativity’ conveniently leave out the facts that these changes will only affect future unemployed workers in an economy that is in a recovery mode.  The leftist editorial writers also omit the fact that NC pays out significantly more money in benefits than any other state in the southeast.  The current weekly benefit paid by NC  is a maximum of $525.  By comparison, the top benefits in surrounding states — Georgia $330.00, South Carolina $326.00, Tennessee $275.00 and Virginia $378.00.  It is no wonder that unemployed individuals currently move to NC in order to file for benefits.  The Revenue Laws Study Committee’s new plan set the maximum rate at $350.00.  Far from impoverishing future unemployed citizens, this amount will make NC the second highest paying state (instead of the first) in the southeast.  The plan also calls for reducing the maximum duration of benefits from 26 weeks to 12-20 weeks, depending on economic conditions.  If conditions are good and jobs are plentiful, the benefits will be cut back to 12 weeks. If the economy worsens, benefits can be extended to a full 20 weeks.  Again, this adjustment compares favorably with the benefits provided in other southeastern states.  Those bashing the GOP plan also ignore the significant increases in unemployment insurance rates employers will have to pay over the next few years in order to pay off the debt early.  Rates will increase on businesses $21.00 every six months to a high of just over $120.00 per employee.  This will not be an easy cost for employers to bear.  However, it is a far cry from the automatic increases required by the federal plan if we take no action.  Washington’s mandate would jack up rates to over $180.00 per employee.  Further, under the GOP  plan the $2.5 billion debt will be paid back by 2015.  NC taxpayers made a $79 million interest payment on the debt in 2011 and another $83 million in 2012, but the federal plan would cause our state to suffer under the crushing weight of the debt until 2018.  Lastly, the liberals never mention how we came to this sorry state of affairs.  The reason is a simple one: the prior masters of the General Assembly, the Democrats, never planned ahead.  Rather than establish a significant rainy day fund, the Dems were happy  to spend all the money in the budget and hope it would never rain.  They were foolishly wrong and we are now paying the price for their shortsightedness.  The Republican plan does not repeat the Democrats ‘spend-it-all’ mantra.  It does just the opposite – it places over $1 billion in a rainy day fund for future needs.  The actual facts regarding the proposed Republican plan shed a completely different light on the Chicken Little views expressed by left-wing editorialists.  It was President John Adams who said ‘Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence’.  NC must act to pay off this debt and the GOP plan is the only responsible step forward.  KEN said he thinks this has already been signed off on and passed by both houses.  HOWARD said some liberal  group challenged McCrory to live on $350.00 a week for a couple of weeks.  ERIC said he believes that this is the first bill they passed.

BOB asked if anyone had read the article in Civitas about the state Board of Elections.  Their involvement with on line voter registration in defiance with state law.  NC illegally registered 11,000 voters and that is just the counties that they have looked at so far.  (68% of the counties) So if you extrapolate this (and NC is pretty much a middle of the road state) it may very well be that Obama’s folks stole the election because this whole on line voter registration thing was being pushed by the Obama election committees.  KEN said it is hard to say what other states have because Washington State allows on line registration and they allow (have a law that says they can register on line and sign the form electronically.  NC’s law specifically says that you cannot accept an electronic signature.  So by our election board saying that they would accept that they violated NC’s law.  VERNE said he did not understand it that way.  The way he read the article is that NC does accept electronic signatures.  The problem, from his reading of it, appears that NC law confines the acceptance of electronic signatures to NC state forms only.  They will not accept a third party form with an electronic signature.  These people were submitting third party registration forms and those forms were being accessed by people apparently with left wing bias.  It could very well have been that people were being registered that would not have been acceptable.  It appears that the crux of the illegality centers on the fact that the form is not NC State forms, not the fact that there is an electronic signature.  KEN said there are two separate laws that are mentioned in that article.  One law covers electronic signatures on state documents like drivers licenses and there is a separate law that covers the election.  The election law specifically prohibits electronic signatures.  The State Board of Elections tried to get clarification from the State Attorney General as to whether or not they could use electronic signatures under this other law, trying to subvert and get around the law that says that the Election Board cannot use electronic signatures.  KEN said he sent Pat McElraft and Norm Sanderson letters with excerpts from the article on these two laws and asked why are we not sending people to jail if they are violating our law like that.  He told Pat that what they need to do is make election laws as enforceable with a penalty so that these people go to jail when they violate them.  He doesn’t care if they are Democrats or Republicans.  If they violate our election laws they ought to go to jail.  That is the only way you are going to stop it.  I hope the legislature will pass a revised or improved law that would put financial and jail time as penalties.  He had gotten an email back from Pat saying they were looking into this.  BOB said one of the things he found interesting on this electronic signature situation was the fill out their names, addresses, etc, and when you put your signature on it, the signature is recorded in California and in Nevada.   The signature is transcribed on paper voter registration forms and is mailed to the local election boards.  VERNE said the article also said a lot of these signatures were very similar.  BOB said 16% of the registrations that they had reviewed were Democrat, 10% Republican and 21% Unaffiliated.

BOB said ‘you all remember the 1 meter sea level rise that was put off for 5 years while they studied it with real science.  The Coastal Resources Commission wants to expand the panel of scientists that are looking into this thing.  Mr. Emory, CRC chairman, said, while he doesn’t expect the science panel to bring naysayers – those who disavow sea level rise – onto the panel, they might consider nominating some people with opposing opinions among the extended group.  Panel member, Stan Riggs, was concerned about people being put in the group that are similar to ‘anti-evolutionists’.  He said they don’t want to discuss, they don’t want to learn, they just want to kill.  They prevent progress and he for one doesn’t want to deal with them again.  Panel member, Steve Benton, said that while there are some people like that who disagree with the panel’s 2010 report, there are others who have done extensive scientific research.  Mr. Emory said he didn’t expect the panel to nominate ‘advocates’ of a particular platform on sea level rise, but to bring people on with acceptable scientific credentials.  BOB said when he read that part of the article, he thought about Dr. Droz, because he doesn’t have credentials in oceanography or this area of science.  Although he is a scientist, he is not a climatologist.  BOB wonders if he would be considered credential enough to sit on this panel.  They have changed the term from ‘sea level rise’ to ‘sea level change’ to include the possibility of sea level dropping and add one additional question to the update for the science panel to answer.  One of the things that can kill this whole thing (they are trying to push this one meter sea level rise) but NC is the only state in the country that is even looking at this issue because it is a hotbed for Agenda 21 type stuff.  One way that this thing can get killed is if the Senate Bill 10 that the legislature introduced which is in house committee, (it will eliminate a lot of committee members, panels, and redundant things in the government).  This panel will be on that chopping block so SB10 is passed then this panel will no longer exist.  So we need to send letters up to Pat McElraft asking her to stay on top of this SB 10 which is currently in the house committee.  VERNE said he would like to discuss further this sea level rise issue at a later meeting since it is already after 7:30.  He has done an extensive study on this issue.  He did use the illustration that if you took a glass and filled it with ice and then slowly added water to the top of the glass you would have some ice sticking out above the rim.  However, if you let the ice completely melt, you would find not a drop spilled over the rim and the glass was still full.  That is essentially what artic ice does.   He believes that even people with bona fide scientific credentials does not necessarily understand climate science.  KEN said Dr. Dros (he and BOB had attended one of his lectures recently) feels that just because you can go around and claim that an article has been peer reviewed doesn’t mean that it is an any better article one that hasn’t because you can select the peers who are going to review the article.  That does not assign any particular credibility to the scientific foundation to that article.  The other point that Dros made was ’the consensus doesn’t establish fact’.  All of us can agree on something that we believe in but that doesn’t mean that it is fact.  That is what global warming people are pushing.  They are pushing consensus and peer reviews but they are not pushing scientific fact because they do not have it.  BOB said the global warming group was saying if the ocean temperature warms, that water expands with the heat, and that would contribute to the rise.  He didn’t know what the expansion would be but he didn’t think a one degree rise would account for a 3 foot rise.

BOB spoke on the precinct meetings last Saturday.  Hope everyone elected their officers.  Next is the County Convention is March 16.  It will be at the Leon Mann (Senior) Center.  Reading through the rules of or plan of organization for the party the convention can seat 232 delegates.  He does not recall there being that many people at the last convention.  Once all the delegates and alternates who were signed up at the precinct meeting last Saturday, are seated and if they still have not achieved the full number of 232 then any attending Republicans can be seated as a delegate.  KEN said one of the things he has a question about we need to look into is that the credentials committee has to rule on all the people who are being seated as delegates and alternates.  How can they review the credentials of the people who just show up for the meeting.  BOB said the Precinct Chairmen have to turn their lists in by the 26th.  Discussion by Fred that they have to be in at least 10 days prior.  KEN found a letter in his packet that said the forms must be turned in by the 26th today.  Discussion followed about people not on the lists of attendees at the Precinct meeting and date paperwork was to be turned in.  BOB read from the rules for the GOP precinct, county and state conventions.  PEGGY said today is the 26th and she (appointed Secretary for Newport Precinct 2) has not turned in the paperwork for HOWARD who is chairman of our precinct.  She had been informed that she had additional time and had not filled out the paperwork for submission.  She would get the data together when she got home tonight and call Chairman Greg Lewis tomorrow and explain and hope she was not too late to get the information submitted.

Don’t forget April 5 and 6, Newport Pig Cookin’.

Meeting adjourned at 7:40pm.
Minutes submitted by PEGGY GARNER, Secretary.