Thursday, December 1, 2011
A Brief History of the Transatlantic Counterjihad, Part VII
Once again, thank you to the Counterjihad Collective for undertaking this project.
Observers on the political scene and in the mainstream media generally refer to the opponents of sharia as “right-wing extremists”. Commentators routinely place anti-Islamization activists beyond the pale of acceptable political discourse, and always far to the “right”.
Nothing could be further from the truth: the Counterjihad stands squarely in the middle of the classical liberal tradition. Consider some of the characteristics of the anti-sharia movement:
The Spiral Pump
A spiral pump, first invented in 1746, has been recreated and tested at Windfarm Museum using lightweight and inexpensive modern materials. A 6 foot diameter wheel with 160 feet of 1-1/4 inch inside diameter flexible polyethylene pipe is able to pump 3,900 gallons of water per day to a 40 foot head with a peripheral speed of 3 feet per second. With its low torque requirements, the pump is particularly suited to be mounted on and driven by a paddle wheel in a current of two feet per second or greater. This easily built, low maintenance spiral pump can be used to provide water without the need for fuel wherever there is a flowing stream or river. It can also be hand turned or otherwise driven to provide a low cost, efficient pump.
An Open Letter to the Board of Trustee Chair UNC/UNC TV Film on the Glorification of Abraham Lincoln
From: hk.edgerton@gmail.com
To: hgage@ec.rr.com
Dear Madam Chair, Ms.Hannah,
My name is HK Edgerton. In my capacity as President of Southern Heritage 411, an organization whose mission is to reveal the truth of the War for Southern Independence, with particular emphasis on the contributions Black people made to support the South in its struggle for independence. It was my intentions this morning to write an Open Report about the wonderful time that I spent this past Sunday, November 27, 2011, don in the uniform of the Southern soldier, marching alongside the Jackson Rangers Camp 1917 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in the Annual Christmas Day Parade in Franklin, North Carolina. And even more so about the love that we received from the citizens gathered as we hug, posed for pictures, and rebel yelled for the entire two miles we marched. However, I was awakened this morning at approximately 4:13 AM by a voice coming from my television that I very seldom fall asleep leaving on. That voice would be calling out the name of Abraham Lincoln , with UNC TV caption fixed across the screen.
I had already braced myself for the usual Puritan diatribe against the South, but never in my wildest imagination would I ever believe that a school in the Southland of America would present a film depicting Abraham Lincoln as the second coming of Christ, and show in that film him sitting at the right hand of God surrounded by Angels all over his person. And further produce dialogue that Lincoln, a man believed to be an atheist, had proclaimed that he had been told by God to end slavery. And parading out Ms.Margaret Washington, a Black woman professor from Cornell University praising Lincoln and that bogus document called the Emancipation Proclamation.
I don't write this letter to you to give you a history lesson. However, I do ask as the son of former Southern slaves in the time of the Sesquicentennial of these events, for a venue to rebut what I perceive as blasphemous, and a one sided presentation of history that eliminates too much about a man who campaigned in support of the Morill tariffs, signed the Corwin Amendment, suspended the writ of habeas corpus, and as the Commander in Chief of the Union Army gave the ok for the likes of Sherman and Grant to perform open warfare against defenseless old men, women and children, as they were given the green light to rob, rape, murder and burn while leaving the Innocent with no food, only the clothes on their backs, and no shelter in hostile environments. And told by Sherman not to worry because there would never be an accounting for what did.
And I , and my babies that you teach are suppose to believe that a man that caused the lives of more than 600,000 of the Almighty Gods children in an illegal act that he had no Presidential powers to exercise when he sent 60,000 troops to that revenue collecting fort in South Carolina, and who told Fredrick Douglas that as long as the color of his skin was black, he would never be equal to the White man in America, his only hope would be to leave, colonization some place else was the only answer; was the second coming of Jesus Christ. God bless you, and I hope you do the right thing in these matters.
H.K. Edgerton
Southern Heritage 411
President
College senior
Verbatim Post
Older Daughter found this photo on a random website. I liked it so well I copied it over here:
'Nuff said.
Black student calls Confederate battle flag a symbol of pride, not bigotry
For Byron Thomas, the Confederate battle flag isn't about race.The flag that the black 19-year-old University of South Carolina Beaufort student hung from his dorm room window is about Southern pride -- pride that even a black Southerner can feel, he said.
Thomas, who grew up in North Augusta, said the South has been good to him. It's a land of church, football and "good eats," he said.
Thomas researched the history of the flag for a class project. That research convinced him the banner was about states' rights rather than slavery.
"That's all people want to see is racism. They want to see the KKK. They think of slavery. But that flag is a battle flag used for communication (during the fighting)," Thomas said.
When he hung it from his window, he knew it might offend some people, he said, but he thought it was time to start reclaiming a symbol that earlier generations consider racist.
Congress could intervene to stop railroad strike
========A costly railroad strike is looming just in time to scare Christmas-season retailers unless the nation's freight railroads and labor unions resolve their differences by Tuesday. Congress could intervene as early as Friday to avert a shutdown.House lawmakers said Thursday they hope the parties will agree to extend the negotiation period for another 60 days. If not, House GOP leaders intend to bring up for a vote Friday a bill to block a strike, said Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure rail subcommittee.
The bill would impose the settlement recommendations of a five-member Presidential Emergency Board that would bind the parties for the next three years. It is not clear whether Democratic leaders in the Senate — generally more sympathetic to unions — would go along with that, or seek another option such as extending the talks.
A strike of any length could cause massive disruption to the economy. Retailers say a rail strike would cost businesses and consumers $2 billion a day and prove especially damaging during the industry's most important shopping season of the year.
It would not only affect the delivery of goods but could also impact thousands of commuters if passenger trains are unable to travel on freight tracks.
"A strike during the busy holiday shopping season could be devastating," Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation, said in a letter to Congress.
The last time a railroad strike occurred, in 1991, Congress quickly passed legislation that ended it within a day. A 1982 strike lasted four days.
Is the Fed Pursuing Our Interest or Banks’ Interests?
The Fed signals that it intends to hitch our national wagon to Europe just as Europe is going over the edge, and the Dow jumps 4 percent. Maybe I’m missing something.
All that Bernanke & Co. did yesterday was to lower the dollar-financing cost for banks in Europe, where inter-bank lending is locking up — for good reason. But Europe’s problem is not its banks and their access to dollars. Europe’s banks are in trouble because European government bonds are in trouble, and European government bonds are in trouble because European governments are in trouble. European governments are in trouble because they spend too much money. The Fed can’t change that, and hasn’t tried.
The question is: What is the Fed thinking? Is it looking out for the United States, or is it looking out for the banks?
The generous interpretation of the Fed’s action goes like this: The Fed hasn’t really risked anything — it’s just making it easier for them to borrow from one another, because a European banking crisis would cause a 2008-style credit crisis worldwide. With U.S. economic indicators improving modestly, the main worry of U.S. policymakers right now is economic events outside our own borders. The Fed can’t work out the Europeans’ finances for them, but it can soften the blow to international credit markets, and thereby do a service to the American economy.
The ungenerous interpretation of the Fed’s action goes like this: Everybody knows the jig is up, but lo these many years after the 2008 crisis, trillions in bailouts later, the banks are still in weak shape, we haven’t really reformed our financial rules, there’s insufficient transparency to really know what kind of shape everybody is in, and the world’s biggest banks just got downgraded on Tuesday. We’re buying time and hoping for the best, and giving all our favorite bankers an extra little margin of error to get their acts together before the big kaboom gets heard ’round the world.
I’m open to either interpretation, and to other interpretations.
But here is what is beyond debate: Europe has not solved its fiscal problems. Europe shows no sign of being on the verge of solving its fiscal problems. Europe shows no sign that it wants to solve its fiscal problems. If Ben Bernanke is having “in for a penny, in for a pound” thoughts, he needs to think again: We do not have the resources to bail out Europe, and nobody has the resources to bail out the United States.
Congress should make it clear — today — that the Fed’s mandate does not extend to bailing out Europe’s banks and Europe’s governments. This is especially true after the secrecy and unaccountability with which it conducted the $7.7 trillion shadow bailout on top of TARP.
Obama Buddy Andy Stern Calls for Communism in America
Verbatim Post
During the campaign that catastrophically resulted in his election, Barack Hussein Obama said,
“Judge me by the people with whom I surround myself.”
Prominent among them has been Andy Stern, who as head of the ACORN-affiliated SEIU was responsible for pouring $60,000,000 and 100,000 volunteers into Obama’s campaign. He soon established himself as Obama’s #1 most frequent White House visitor.
Stern belongs on the long list of avowed communists in Obama’s background (Barack Hussein Obama Sr, Frank Marshall Davis, Bill Ayers, Van Jones, et al.). In today’s Wall Street Journal, he calls upon America to reject the economic freedom that allowed this country to be built in favor of Chinese-style communism, complete with five-year plans:
For me, the tension resulting from the chorus of American criticism [of Chinese currency manipulation] paled in significance compared to reading the emerging outline of China’s 12th five-year plan. The aims: a 7% annual economic growth rate; a $640 billion investment in renewable energy; construction of six million homes; and expanding next-generation IT, clean-energy vehicles, biotechnology, high-end manufacturing and environmental protection — all while promoting social equity and rural development.
Some Americans are drawing lessons from this. Last month, the China Daily quoted Orville Schell, who directs the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society, as saying: “I think we have come to realize the ability to plan is exactly what is missing in America.” The article also noted that Robert Engle, who won a Nobel Prize in 2003 for economics, has said that while China is making five-year plans for the next generation, Americans are planning only for the next election.
The totalitarian communist regime that has been running China since 1949 has almost certainly killed more of its own subjects than any other in history. But just as progressives praised Mussolini for making the trains run on time, they demand we reject old-fashioned notions of liberty and stand in awe of the way China has exploited liberal bureaucrats and unions having made it infeasible to manufacture in America. Stern gloats:
The conservative-preferred, free-market fundamentalist, shareholder-only model — so successful in the 20th century — is being thrown onto the trash heap of history in the 21st century.
That it is — which is why we’re staggering toward economic collapse.
Senate Detention Bill is Pure Treason – Declares War on American People
We are now very nearly at the point where all that will save liberty in America is another American Revolution. This bill, if it becomes law, will shove us across that line, placing us in almost exactly the same position our forefathers were in when they were forced to take up arms in defense of their liberty in 1775. If you wish to avoid that, you must stop this bill from becoming law, right now.
Stewart Rhodes
FBI Criminal Informant Complicit in Brian Terry’s Death (PJM Exclusive)
In the growing Fast and Furious scandal, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s death in Peck Canyon, Arizona was previously described as a chance meeting that led to a firefight: an illegal alien “rip crew” working for the Sinaloa cartel was hoping to find other illegal aliens and to rob them at gunpoint. Instead, they stumbled across a Border Patrol unit and murdered Agent Terry.
Last week, the Washington Times offered a new version of the encounter: they reported that the rip crew was not hunting illegals, but Border Patrol teams — with the intention of engaging them in combat.
Sources now tell PJ Media that neither version of events is accurate: the rip crew was not waiting for a chance encounter with other illegals, nor did the members intend to engage American law enforcement agents.
The rip crew was in Peck Canyon that evening with the intention of stealing money and drugs from a specific shipment of which they had prior knowledge.
Sources claim the Department of Justice has been trying for almost a year to hide the key information — how the rip crew knew the shipment was coming through that night.
Criminal informants (CIs) are a common tool of law enforcement agencies. When agencies apprehend criminals, agencies often reduce or drop charges in exchange for information leading to the arrests of higher-ranking criminals. Earlier this year, reports claimed that Operation Fast and Furious weapons smuggled over the border were actually chosen by an FBI informant, and paid for with money provided by the federal government.
The rip crew knew to be in Peck Canyon that December evening because a CI working for the FBI found out about a smuggling run — from the FBI.
Texas student's refusal to say Mexican pledge, anthem starts controversy
Every day students in Texas public schools pledge allegiance to the flags of the United States and Texas.
But when a teacher in a Rio Grande Valley high school assigned students to stand and pledge allegiance to the Mexican flag and sing Mexico's national anthem, one student refused.
The resulting controversy has one East Texas lawmaker wanting changes in the state's curriculum on how culture and patriotism are taught in schools.
15-year-old Brenda Brinsdon entered her sophomore year at McAllen ISD's Achieve Early College High School just wanting to do well in her classes.
But in mid-September she got an unexpected lesson on personal conviction and taking on the system.
"I feel that I did what's right," Brinsdon said. "And I know what I did what's right [...] I'm going to stand my ground."
UK Cops Using Fake Mobile Phone Tower to Intercept Calls, Shut Off Phones
Verbatim Post
Something to be aware of: the gov't can easily intercept, track, record, spoof, and shut down all cell phone traffic. Period."Britain’s largest police force has been using covert surveillance technology that can masquerade as a mobile phone network to intercept communications and unique IDs from phones or even transmit a signal to shut off phones remotely, according to the Guardian."The FBI is known to use a similar technology called Triggerfish, which also pretends to be a legitimate cell tower base station to trick mobile phones into connecting to it. The Triggerfish system, however, collects only location and other identifying information, and does not intercept phone calls, text messages, and other data."Last year at the DefCon hacker conference in Las Vegas, security researcher Chris Paget demonstrated a low-cost, home-brewed device that mimics the IMSI catchers that U.S. law enforcement agencies use."Yikes... Also, hackers can do it with a laptop and a little bit of knowledge. See this article:And:OPSEC: consider ALL COMMUNICATIONS to be compromised and under surveillance, and act accordingly.TOM STEDHAM
Follow up piece on Epic Tram Lady
Epic Tram Lady
=========
Verbatim Post
In Saxons, Vikings, and Celts, Bryan Sykes writes about how closely the DNA of the local English matched that of the “Cheddar Man” (a skeleton 12,000 years old). In other words, the local English had been living in that area for probably around 12,000 years. In fact, as Sykes points out, it seems that the overwhelming majority of the English are descended from the Paleolithic and Mesolithic settlers who have been in the British Isles for more than 10,000 years.
But in recent decades, as hordes from the Third World have invaded the British Isles, the ancient blood of the British Isles is under threat. The very country that Englishmen and Englishwomen have known since time immemorial is bring turned into a Third World sewer right before their very eyes. And some angry people are speaking out against it. Emma West, who’s now been dubbed The Epic Tram Lady, apparently had an outbreak on the tram. While her manner might not have been the most polite and effective, it’s understandable that concerned English will be upset at the transformation before their eyes. She had enough and could no longer keep quiet. But apparently candor comes at a high price in the UK, as Emma West might be prosecuted under the new Orwellian PC “hate” laws — essentially for saying in public what nearly every English person I know believes and has more-or-less said in private. I worry about what the future holds.
NC Illegal Alien Crime Report For November
The North Carolina Illegal Alien Crime Report has been updated for the month. It is 59 Word doc. pages long! Keep in mind, this is not all the crimes by suspected illegal aliens in NC, it is only the ones that 2 people could post in one month's time. It would take a full staff working non-stop to post all of the crimes being committed; that's how bad it is getting here. (If you don't believe it, simply review the nearly 3 years worth of past crime reports on our website: www.NCFIRE.info)
The latest monthly report can be viewed online here: http://www.ncfire.info/november2011.pdf or downloaded here: http://www.ncfire.info/november2011.doc.
Every month the list just gets longer. The states surrounding NC are strictly enforcing their immigration laws. Their actions are driving the illegal alien population here since we continue our lax enforcement and acceptance of "sanctuary city" policies by numerous municipalities. This trend will only get worse and shows a complete disregard for our State laws, and a disrespect for our citizens, by illegal aliens in NC.
NCFIRE calls upon our Legislators in Raleigh, to enact "Arizona" type immigration laws as soon as possible. We must get ahead of this problem before any more of our citizens fall victim to the illegal alien crime wave that is sweeping our state.
James Johnson
President-NCFIRE
North Carolinians For Immigration Reform and Enforcement
www.NCFIRE.info
www.Facebook.com/NCFIRE
910-286-3022
Hotline- 1-888-885-0879
My Defence for the Freedom Writers, the Bloggers against the Trolls and the Critics
Verbatim Post
We are entering a time we are all taking personal risk sticking our necks out for the cause of freedom. Many of us who blog telling the truth the mainstream media dares not touch face anytime getting are doors kicked in at 3am with storm troopers wearing black ski masks to put a hood over our heads to disappear forever. That might be our future very soon. I know I am on the government's list. I have nothing to lose. I am not trying to be invisible hiding from the government's prying eyes. I am doing the exact opposite. I want them to know who I am. I am hoping the get recognized by the Anti Defamation League being accused of being an Anti Semite. It will make my website get a lot more traffic. I am hoping the fusion centers are reading my blogs and know me well.
I choose not the be invisible. Showing myself as much as I can being loud as much as I can is the safest place to be. I want the light shined upon me and want to shine the light on the truth as best as I can. If I go before a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay Cuba. They are not going to let me off with a technicality and release me because some bad grammar or misspelled words. If I am getting straight to the point and it resonates with most of the readers. Getting close to 100,000 hits a month does carry weight. Even though I do get scared about what the future may bring. I pray I will be able to watch my children grow up. Even though my fear may say call it quits and just go along to get along with the system. Well I cannot do that and condemn the future of my two children to debt slavery and a tyranny. I want my children to know their father did not lay down to evil, but stood up for the cause of liberty even if I am going the pay the price of my very life.
For these trolls and grammar NAZIS who pick apart what people write and the manner in how they write is so counter productive. I find usually people who like to be critics will never contribute or step into the fight. They rather stay invisible and take cheap shots at people. They will never take the personal risk involved to bring the truth and information to the people. They will criticize the manner in the way people carry it out at the same time never being productive advancing the cause of liberty fighting for the soul of the republic. For you trolls and grammar NAZIS. Man up and step into the fight. If you are so superior in your writing skills. Then start up your own blog or your own website, then I will take you serious. If you are going to be invisible and be anonymous in the blog comments. Then why should I take you serious if you cannot come forward and show yourself. That just proves they are gutless wonders.
People like Michael Rivero, Alex Jones, Steve Quayle, John Stadmiller, Mark Koernke and many others have stuck out their necks. Many of them have been arrested and persecuted. I may not agree 100 percent with what they say. But they stick their necks out knowing the risk. Eustis Mullins and Ezra Pound took a lot of wrath from the powers that be. They are my heroes because they risked everything for us all. I have respect for these people because even though they are not perfect people with many flaws. They have heart and soul. They have guts. Regardless if they are illiterate or not. If they put their very lives on the line so we can be free. The last thing I will do is disqualify them for giving their lives as true patriots because they could not read or write proper English. Having an education or not. It does not take a collage degree or a 4.0 GPA to know freedom is worth fighting for nor I will not discourage them either. Take that you trolls and grammar NAZIS. I will not let your cheap shots or snide comments discourage me. I have heart and guts. In the real world. I may not be the smartest person in the world. But I have guts and that is enough. If my critics do not like it because my English is less than perfect by their standards, then they can kiss my Texas white ass.
Support Teens Working on Farms; Stop DOL Overregulation
Like baseball and apple pie, teenagers working on farms is part of the American way of life in rural areas, conjuring up iconic images of sunny afternoons baling hay in a spirit of camaraderie, downing the occasional soda or glass of lemonade together. Teens learn to work responsibly and earn money while they work close to home in an environment they enjoy while benefiting the small, local farmer. But the Department of Labor (DOL) is revising its child labor laws so stringently that anyone 16 and under will be forbidden from seeking employment on farms due to safety concerns.
The proposed changes to the child labor laws are based on estimates from various sources -- there are no exact statistics on farm accidents or fatalities for teens. Mathematical gymnastics enabled the DOL to come up with an estimate that 613 teen fatalities occurred in almost a decade, perhaps “between 62 and 73 young workers died from injuries sustained while working in agriculture” each year with maybe one third of those deaths involving tractors. (In contrast it must be noted that 3,000 teens die every year in car accidents according to the Centers for Disease Control.)
Under the proposed changes described by the DOL as “far-reaching,” anyone under 16 will be unable to operate or tend any power-driven equipment, including mowers. Operating power-driven equipment “would include such duties as supervising or controlling the operation of machines designed to move or transport people, goods, or materials; cutting, shaping, forming, surfacing, nailing, stapling, stitching, fastening, punching, or otherwise assembling, pressing or printing of materials ... excavation or demolition operations.... setting up, adjusting, repairing, oiling or cleaning a machine; starting and stopping the machine; placing materials into or removing them from the machine; or any other functions directly involved with the operation of the machine.”Support Teens Working on Farms; Stop DOL Overregulation
Like baseball and apple pie, teenagers working on farms is part of the American way of life in rural areas, conjuring up iconic images of sunny afternoons baling hay in a spirit of camaraderie, downing the occasional soda or glass of lemonade together. Teens learn to work responsibly and earn money while they work close to home in an environment they enjoy while benefiting the small, local farmer. But the Department of Labor (DOL) is revising its child labor laws so stringently that anyone 16 and under will be forbidden from seeking employment on farms due to safety concerns.
The proposed changes to the child labor laws are based on estimates from various sources -- there are no exact statistics on farm accidents or fatalities for teens. Mathematical gymnastics enabled the DOL to come up with an estimate that 613 teen fatalities occurred in almost a decade, perhaps “between 62 and 73 young workers died from injuries sustained while working in agriculture” each year with maybe one third of those deaths involving tractors. (In contrast it must be noted that 3,000 teens die every year in car accidents according to the Centers for Disease Control.)
Under the proposed changes described by the DOL as “far-reaching,” anyone under 16 will be unable to operate or tend any power-driven equipment, including mowers. Operating power-driven equipment “would include such duties as supervising or controlling the operation of machines designed to move or transport people, goods, or materials; cutting, shaping, forming, surfacing, nailing, stapling, stitching, fastening, punching, or otherwise assembling, pressing or printing of materials ... excavation or demolition operations.... setting up, adjusting, repairing, oiling or cleaning a machine; starting and stopping the machine; placing materials into or removing them from the machine; or any other functions directly involved with the operation of the machine.”
Similarly, they can’t work in yards, pens or stalls with male horses, pigs, cows or bison older than six months, sows with piglets or cows with calfs; they can’t catch or coop chickens in preparation for slaughter or market, neither can they herd animals in confined spaces or on horseback. To teens’ sorrow, operating ATVs, trucks, cars or scooters on the farm will also be forbidden.
Of course timber harvesting will be out, as will tobacco harvesting -- just because it’s tobacco. Grain bins, forage and fruit bins will be off limits. The current child labor laws prohibit teens from working 20 feet off the ground or higher; the DOL wants that brought down to 6 feet. Even 17-year-olds who can enlist in the military would not be allowed to work at grain elevators, stockyards or livestock auctions.
Monetary penalties can reach $11,000 per violation if it is established that it is a willful violation. The paperwork burden will rest on the shoulders of the farmers; it is they who must make sure that informational files are kept, certificates of tractor safety courses are sound, etc. Any “student learner” activities have to be conducted on equipment that meets OSHA’s requirements and approval.
The Department of Labor is an unaccountable, bloated bureaucracy consisting of 30 separate divisions with 16,000 employees. The Wage and Hour Division that concocted the 50-page rules has 40 chiefs and untold numbers of underlings.
Because these are regulation changes and not legislation, the Department of Labor’s website has a comment section open until December 1, 2011. But, sending an email or letter to your elected Representative and Senators is also a good idea. Let them know too much power has been centralized into an Executive Branch agency over the last decade, and more. It’s time that Congress no longer shirks its duty but exercises oversight in this matter to protect teens’ jobs and the family farm. Then Congress needs to get serious about regulatory reform, instead of just giving it lip service in election years.
Thanks,
Your friends at The John Birch Society
Similarly, they can’t work in yards, pens or stalls with male horses, pigs, cows or bison older than six months, sows with piglets or cows with calfs; they can’t catch or coop chickens in preparation for slaughter or market, neither can they herd animals in confined spaces or on horseback. To teens’ sorrow, operating ATVs, trucks, cars or scooters on the farm will also be forbidden.
Of course timber harvesting will be out, as will tobacco harvesting -- just because it’s tobacco. Grain bins, forage and fruit bins will be off limits. The current child labor laws prohibit teens from working 20 feet off the ground or higher; the DOL wants that brought down to 6 feet. Even 17-year-olds who can enlist in the military would not be allowed to work at grain elevators, stockyards or livestock auctions.
Monetary penalties can reach $11,000 per violation if it is established that it is a willful violation. The paperwork burden will rest on the shoulders of the farmers; it is they who must make sure that informational files are kept, certificates of tractor safety courses are sound, etc. Any “student learner” activities have to be conducted on equipment that meets OSHA’s requirements and approval.
The Department of Labor is an unaccountable, bloated bureaucracy consisting of 30 separate divisions with 16,000 employees. The Wage and Hour Division that concocted the 50-page rules has 40 chiefs and untold numbers of underlings.
Because these are regulation changes and not legislation, the Department of Labor’s website has a comment section open until December 1, 2011. But, sending an email or letter to your elected Representative and Senators is also a good idea. Let them know too much power has been centralized into an Executive Branch agency over the last decade, and more. It’s time that Congress no longer shirks its duty but exercises oversight in this matter to protect teens’ jobs and the family farm. Then Congress needs to get serious about regulatory reform, instead of just giving it lip service in election years.
Thanks,
Your friends at The John Birch Society
House Committee Discusses Military Same-Sex Ceremonies
The U.S. House Military Personnel Subcommittee on Armed Forces held a briefing today, asking top Department of Defense lawyers how same-sex marriages can be performed on military bases when the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which specifically prohibits them, is still the law of the land.
When the repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy became official earlier this year, homosexual activists quickly began pushing for same-sex marriage ceremonies to be performed for gay service members by military chaplains on post in states where such unions are legal, and the Department of Defense complied.
Today’s briefing, which was held for the entire House Armed Services Committee, aimed to get to the bottom of the matter.
“How in the world can you ignore federal law and have the Pentagon essentially just go off making laws on their own?” asked Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo. “That’s what we were trying to find out. How do you come up with the justification for doing this?”