Evil Gun Myth BUSTED!

Via Arctic Pilgrim

Operational Leadership of Nathan Bedford Forrest

Via WRSA

@ Naval War College

Syria: Child Tied by U.S.-Supported Jihadis and Forced to Watch Killing of Parents

Via Ninety Miles From Tyranny

 According to Syrian Truth’s Facebook page, the above photo is of a toddler living in the Deir ez-Zor Governate in eastern Syria, bordering Iraq. She was tied up by members of the U.S.-supported “Free Syrian Army” — which is dominated by foreign, Sunni jihadis — and made to watch as her mother and father were killed for being Shia. Here is how the Obama administration is using your tax dollars — mockingly in the name of “freedom.”

 *****************************

Comment below on original link.  The only one in English. BT

Noura Shahan Sweiss My heart ached and my stomach turned when I saw this picture. The rebels in Syria tied her with chains and killed her Mom and Dad in front of her. Obama..America..do you still want to give them weapons? PLEASE everyone who reads this pray for this little girl. Habibti ya habibti.... I am willing to take you and take care of you and be a mom to you. May our Lord Jesus protect you and comfort you my dear.

Please Don't Let Me Forget My Daddy's Face

Via WiscoDave

 

  Luke Wise spending time with his daddy, SFC Benjamin Wise  

Wars for what?

More @ Predictable History

Hurrying Down to Swift Destruction

 

Early History of Slave Trade In New England

Southerners reacted to abolitionist tirades with arguments of the civilizing aspects of African slavery, as well as reminding them that their own fathers had shipped the Africans in chains to the West Indies and North America.  The invention of Massachusetts inventor Eli Whitney along with the hungry cotton mills of that State, perpetuated slavery, and new plantation expansion into the Louisiana territory was fueled by Manhattan lenders – all of whom could have helped end African slavery in North America.  The following is excerpted from the introduction of “Cotton is King,” E.N. Elliott, editor (1860), and from “Liberty and Slavery,” Albert Taylor Bledsoe.

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission

www.ncwbts150.com

"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"

Hurrying Down to Swift Destruction

“Geographical partisan government and legislation . . . had its origin in the Missouri [Compromise] contest, and is now beginning to produce its legitimate fruits: witness the growing distrust with which the people of the North and South begin to regard each other; the diminution of Southern travel, either for business or pleasure, in the Northern States; the efforts of each section to develop its own resources, so as to render it independent of the other; the enactment of “unfriendly legislation,” in several of the States, toward other States of the Union, or their citizens; the contest for the exclusive possession of the territories, the common property of the States; the anarchy and bloodshed in Kansas; the exasperation of parties throughout the Union; the attempt to nullify, by popular clamor, the decision of the supreme tribunal of our country; the existence of . . . a party in the North organized for the express purpose of robbing the citizens of the Southern States of their property; . . . 

...the flooding of the whole country with the most false and malicious misrepresentations of the state of society in the [Southern] States; the attempt to produce division among us, and to array one portion of our citizens in deadly array to the other; and finally, the recent attempt to incite, at Harper’s Ferry, and throughout the South, an insurrection, and a civil and servile war, with all its attendant horrors.

All these facts go to prove that there is a great wrong somewhere, and that a part, or the whole, of the American people are demented, and hurrying down to swift destruction. 

The present slave States had little or no agency in the first introduction of Africans into this country; this was achieved by the Northern commercial States and by Great Britain.  Wherever the climate suited the Negro constitution, slavery was profitable and flourished; where the climate was unsuitable, slavery was unprofitable, and died out.  Most of the slaves in the Northern States were sent southward to a more congenial clime. 

Upon the introduction into Congress of the first abolition discussions, by John Quincy Adams, and Joshua Giddings, Southern men altogether refused to engage in debate, or even to receive petitions on the subject. They averred that no good could grow out of it, but only unmitigated evil.” 

(The South: A Documentary History, Ina Woestemeyer Van Noppen, D. Van Nostrand Company, 1958, pp. 265-266)

Gun Owners Score Big in the Senate

 

Sell-out amendment falls three votes short of Schumer’s goal of 70

Sometimes victory is relative.  But that doesn't make it any less definitive.

Today, beginning at 5:30 pm (EST), only 67 Senators -- three short of Chuck Schumer’s 70-vote target -- voted to shut off debate on the anti-gun Hoeven-Corker-Leahy amnesty amendment. It is noteworthy that only 15 Republicans voted for cloture (to end debate), while an overwhelming majority of GOP Senators voted against it (that is, most Republicans wanted to keep the filibuster in place).

The Chuck Schumers of the world did everything in their power to get the 70-vote threshold which they had predicted -- and which became a floor for the number of votes necessary in order for anti-gunners to avoid embarrassment.

They gave Nevada Senators an unending open-ended sky's-the-limit program to tout tourism in Las Vegas.

They gave Vermont Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders $1.5 billion in social spending in order to buy his vote.

And so it went.  One Senator after another after another secured irrelevant buy-out amendments as the price for selling out. It was ObamaCare 2.0.

But that wasn't enough.

By falling short of their 70-vote goal, Schumer & Co. in effect admitted that the bill would limp out of the Senate without any momentum going into the House.  Coupled with our successful efforts to revitalize the Hastert Rule in the House, anti-gun immigration reform is on track to being dead for the year because House Speaker Boehner has said he will not pass it with largely Democratic support.

Does that mean we can declare victory and go home?  No.  As usual, you don't pop the cork until they bang the gavel. You keep fighting.

 

And to that end, gun owners should express their dissatisfaction with Senators who voted for the amendment.  You can go here to see how your Senators voted.

 

As sweet as the 67-27 vote was, it means that our job is not over.

Schumer was unable to break through his 70-vote target because he was so intent upon slamming this bill down our throats that he scheduled his vote when many of his supporters could not make it. If we REALLY want to continue raining on Schumer's parade, we're going to have to repeat our achievement on Wednesday, when the Senate votes on cloture on the substitute which contains the sell-out provisions -- and on cloture on the whole bill itself.

 

This means we need to flip a couple of votes, and Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) -- both of whom both voted for the sell-out -- are the most obvious potential pick-ups.

 

ACTION: Please click here to contact your Senators and thank those who voted correctly (that is, who voted NAY) on the Hoeven amendment.  But reprimand those who voted wrong (by voting YEA).  Please note that the system will automatically select the correct letter for each of your Senators.

 

And if you have time to phone in your message, that would be helpful, as well.  The Capitol Switchboard number is 202-224-3121.

McDonald's drops halal food from U.S. menu

There have been only two McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. that have offered halal food. Both were in east Dearborn, Mich., which has a sizable population of Arab-American Muslims.

But after a contentious lawsuit that accused the restaurant chain of selling non-halal items advertised as halal, McDonald's has yanked its Halal Chicken McNuggets and Halal McChicken sandwiches off the menu. The move brings to an end a unique product that made the two McDonald's restaurants popular with Muslims.

More @ USA Today

Lemonade Stand

Via Your Crazy Uncle Bubba

Sexual Predator Sign

Via Christine 

Police in Bradford County, Florida are posting red signs outside the homes of convicted rapists and child molesters.

Lightnin’ Bugs Or Fireflies?

Via NC Links

IRS Chief Admits Improper (Illegal) Screening Went on Until Last Month

 

The Internal Revenue Service's screening of groups seeking tax-exempt status was broader and lasted longer than has been previously disclosed, the new head of the agency said Monday.

An internal IRS document obtained by The Associated Press said that besides "tea party," lists used by screeners to pick groups for close examination also included the terms "Israel," ''Progressive" and "Occupy." The document said an investigation into why specific terms were included was still underway.

In a conference call with reporters, Danny Werfel said that after becoming acting IRS chief last month, he discovered wide-ranging and improper terms on the lists and said screeners were still using them. He did not specify what terms were on the lists, but said he suspended the use of all such lists immediately.

"There was a wide-ranging set of categories and cases that spanned a broad spectrum" on the lists, Werfel said. He added that his aides found those lists contained "inappropriate criteria that was in use."

More @ Newsmax

Postcards from Hell, 2013: Living on the edge in the world's worst places.

 

More @ Foreign Policy

Before They Pass Away: One field camera, 44 countries, and a world fast disappearing.

 

More @ Foreign Policy

Ammo porn

Via mpopenker

 

 

Stamps: Paraguay SS-Panzer-Division "Das Reich"

Via foto6x7

Mayor of Illinois' Third-Largest City Quits Bloomberg Anti-Gun Group

Via avordvet

 

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's anti-Second Amendment group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, has lost another member, this time the mayor of Rockford, Illinois--the state’s third largest city.

At a townhall-styled appearance on June 22 in nearby Loves Park, Illinois, Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey announced that he has, indeed, quit Mayor Bloomberg's gun group because Bloomberg's group was not fulfilling what Morrissey felt was the group's stated intentions.

Morrissey has for some time been saying he intended to quit the anti-gun group and some citizens wondered if this was just electioneering, but at this most recent townhall event, Mayor Morrissey has for the first time said definitively that he is out.

In the video shot by local political blogger Ulysses Arn, Mayor Morrissey said the chief reason he left Bloomberg's group is because he thought the group would be against illegal guns but has instead become a group looking for ways to ban legal guns and attack the rights of legal gun owners. He also said that he intends to get a concealed carry license himself when they become available in Illinois.

More @ Breitbart

Illegal immigrants who commit crimes face lesser punishment than U.S. citizens

Via Bill

 

According to Sen. John McCain, a member of the Senate’s Gang of Eight, criminals will not be legalized under the proposed bipartisan immigration bill.

“Anyone who has committed crimes in this country is going to be deported,” the Arizona Republican declared on the Senate floor last week.

However, as Washington Examiner columnist Byron York recently reported, “the bottom line is an immigrant could have more than three misdemeanor convictions in his background check and still qualify for legalization.”

More @ Examiner

NC: Mystery solved: Sturm Ruger latest looking to transition out of slave state Connecticut

Via WiscoDave

 

Appleseed shooter with Ruger 10/22 in “Liberty Training Rifle” trim.

It was less than two weeks ago that we posted that an unknown gun company was looking to possibly move operations to Mayodan, NC. We can now confirm that Mayodan is one of three possible locations for Sturm, Ruger  & Co., which would confirm that the exodus of gun companies from anti-gun Connecticut is beginning to pick up steam:

Darrell Freeman of Madison, Brad Young of Reidsville and Steven Sherwood from Davidson County heard about the manufacturer’s request for interview applications from different sources. Freeman said his wife saw an announcement on Facebook, while Sherwood heard a television news report and Young saw it on a news media’s website.

The three new friends confirmed the company considering a Mayodan location was Sturm Ruger & Co. – a Connecticut-based corporation with manufacturing facilities in New Hampshire and Arizona. They also said Mayodan was one of three potential locations for a new manufacturing plant.
…

More @ Bob Owens

NSA Digital Privacy Black Paper

Via David

 

On March 10, 1975, a group of US diplomatic and national security officials gathered at the office of the Turkish foreign minister’s office in Ankara. Henry Kissinger was among them.

The discussion turned to foreign aid and supply of parts for military equipment, at which point Kissinger (Secretary of State at the time) suggested something that violated the law.

William Macomber, the US Ambassador to Turkey, said, “That is illegal.”
Kissinger didn’t miss a beat, replying, “Before the Freedom of Information Act, I used to say at meetings, ‘The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer.”

Then, in an almost cartoon-like reaction, the room filled with laughter. You can practically see the rising cigar smoke and fatcats slapping each other on the back as they stick it to the little guy.

But that one quote, probably more than anything else, sums up the US government’s attitude: they will do whatever they want, legal or not, Constitutional or not. Most government in the western world follow the same principle.

More @ Sovereign Man

Inside the great Obama ammo grab

Via avordvet

 

An international firearms dealer said the White House is blocking ammunition sales to American citizens as federal agencies continue to stockpile.

“There are elements in the United States government moving to obstruct commercial ammunition sales,” said Anthony Melé, an international firearms dealer and owner of AMI Global Security, LLC.  AGS is a defense trade and manufacturer’s exporter registered with the U.S. Department of Defense and the United Nations.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives denied AGS’s application for an ammunition-order by designating typical rifle rounds as armor piercing if they are made with a steel core instead of a lead core, he said.  “They designated the ammunition AP, defined as armor piercing, even though the ammunition being supplied cannot pierce armor.”

“If ATFE were accurate, then a ten-cent bullet could penetrate a $5 million Abrams tank,” he said. “Obviously this makes little technical sense.”“What makes a bullet armor piercing along with the caliber, full metal jacket brass is the projectile of the bullet, not the inner core,” he said.

More @ Human Events

Gun-Rights Rallygoers Defy Local Law, Confront ‘Police State’ Actions

Via avordvet

 WICU12/WSEE Erie, PA News, Sports, Weather and Events

Protesters showed up to a gun-rights rally in Erie, Pa., with their firearms out in the open—purposely defying a local ordinance that prohibits guns at city parks.

“We are American patriots, and we are a force to be reckoned with!” yelled Pastor George Cook of North Bangor, Pa. (350 miles away) at the Perry Square park gazebo Saturday, WSEE-TV reports.

 "First, our constitution…says that the right of people to bear arms in defense of themselves and the state shall not be questioned,” said Cook. ”The preemption clause in our state law…says that local towns like Erie can’t make other laws concerning firearms.”

Cook was one of about 80 who showed up to support “Open Carry Pennsylvania.” Erie police estimated there were 15 to 20 people carrying firearms in the crowd, and they issued citations to some of them, noted the Erie Times-News.

More @ The Blaze

Not What Tom Jefferson Had in Mind

 

How does one tell whether one is living in a dictatorship, or almost? The signs need not be so obvious as having a squat little man raving from balconies. Methinks the following indicators serve. In a dictatorship:

(1) Sweeping laws are made without reference to the will of the people. A few examples follow. Whether you think these laws desirable is not the point. Some will, others won’t. The point is that they were simply imposed from above. Many of them would never have survived a national vote.

Start with Roe vs. Wade, making abortion legal, and subsequent decisions allowing late-term abortion. Griggs versus Duke Power, forbidding employers from using tests of intelligence, since certain groups scored poorly. Brown versus the School Board and its offspring requiring forced integration, forced busing, racial quotas, and so on. The decision that Creationism cannot be mentioned in the schools. Decisions forbidding the public expression of Christianity. The decision that citizens can be stopped and searched without probable cause. The opening of the borders to mass immigration.

These are major, major laws grossly altering the social, legal, and constitutional fabric of the country. All were simply imposed, mostly by unelected judges against whom there is no recourse.

Note that there is no practical distinction between a decision by the Supreme Court, a regulation made by an executive bureaucracy, and a practice quietly adopted by the intelligence agencies and federal police. None of these requires public approval.

For that matter, consider the militarization of the police, the creation of Homeland Security’s Viper teams that randomly search cars, the vast and growing spying on Americans by government, and the genital gropings by TSA. Consider the endless undeclared wars that one finds out often only after the troops have been sent. All simply imposed from above.

In principle, elected officials represent the desires of their electorates. In practice Congress barely touches on most issues of concern to the public. Overturning any of the aforementioned types of laws is virtually impossible.

More @ Fred on Everything

Stop Common Core in Your State

Part 1 of 5 Stop the Common Core

Ask your state legislators and U.S. congressmen to stop the implementation of Common Core.

Common Core is a K-12 set of national education standards for English language arts and mathematics classes that was developed by Achieve Inc., and promoted through the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officials, both of which are private Washington, DC based trade organizations.

A majority of states have already signed on to Common Core by signing up for the Department of Education’s “Race to the Top” program in 2009 and 2010. Common Core’s English and math standards were not yet written at the time, thus these states never saw the standards when they agreed to them. These standards are copyrighted and thus cannot be changed.

Common Core’s subpar English Language Arts (ELA) standards are intended to remove the great British and American literary works of William Shakespeare, John Bunyan, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, and C.S. Lewis from school curricula. These literary classics will be replaced with simple brochures, restaurant menus, technical manuals, and government pamphlets about the environment and sustainability from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The purpose of literature will no longer be to expand children’s creative thinking and vocabulary skills but rather to make them practical components of a managed world economy and labor market. As a result of the poor quality of Common Core’s ELA standards, Dr. Sandra Stotsky of the University of Arkansas, who served on the Common Core Validation Committee, refused to sign off on them.

Current state math standards will likewise be dumbed down by the new Common Core standards. Dr. James Milgram of Stanford University, the only mathematician on the Common Core Validation Committee, refused to sign off on Common Core's math standards, stating, “It’s almost a joke to think students [who master the Common Core standards] would be ready for math at a university.” Among the states that have agreed to implement Common Core, Minnesota has refused to sign on to the math portion.

Homeschoolers and private school students would not be able escape the clutches of Common Core. David Coleman, who developed the English Language Arts portion of Common Core, was recently promoted to president of the College Board, which administers the SAT exams. Coleman has already promised to align the SAT exams to Common Core standards. The same would be true of the ACT exams. Four-year colleges and universities place a great deal of importance on prospective student’s SAT and/or ACT scores during their enrollment process. Unless homeschoolers and private school students are taught by Common Core standards they will be unprepared and hindered. If implemented as expected, this would also greatly diminish the benefits of school choice. Moreover, homeschoolers all across the country are at risk of having to eventually conform their curricula to adopt Common Core standards.

To learn more about Common Core we encourage you to watch all 5 parts (about 10 minutes each) of the documentary Stop the Common Core, starting with Part 1 of 5 (video below).

You now have the opportunity to help stop Common Core. Please contact your state senator and state representative(s) and urge them to take action to stop the implementation of Common Core in your state.

You should also contact your U.S. senators and representative and ask them to introduce and/or support legislation to stop any federal funding for the implementation of Common Core standards.

Phone calls can also be very effective, and of course, the most effective way to educate your state legislators and U.S. congressmen is by making personal visits to their offices. Click here for contact information.

The Supreme Court Goes Small on Affirmative Action

 

In a 7-1 decision, the Supreme Court vacated and remanded the Fifth Circuit's decision in the Fisher v. University of Texas affirmative action case. Justice Ginsburg was the lone dissent, with Justice Kagan recused. In effect, the decision sent the case back to the lower court, with no major decision here on the fate of affirmative action in the United States. Here's Justice Kennedy writing in the majority opinion:

The District Court and Court of Appeals confined the scrutiny inquiry in too narrow a way by deferringto the University's good faith in its use of racial classifications and affirming the grant of summary judgment on that basis. The Court vacates that judgment, but fairness to the litigants and the courts that heard the case requires that it be remanded so that the admissions process can be considered and judged under a correct analysis.

The decision, while obviously not a major one, took the court a uniquely long time to decide. The court heard arguments in the case last October.

While the court as a whole did not have much to say on affirmative action in the decision, Justice Clarence Thomas in his opinion said that he personally would've overturned the use of race in making admissions decisions in higher education:

I write separately to explain that I would overrule Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U. S. 306 (2003), and hold that a State's use of race in higher education admissions decisions is categorically prohibited by the Equal Protection Clause.

Later, in his opinion, he explained his thoughts on the larger matter of affirmative action in higher education.

Attaining diversity for its own sake is a nonstarter.

More @ National Journal

Immigration is fine as long as it is measured

 

I was running the web and came across a site that I read that had a bit of piece that many would believe is racist.  The person was quoting our founding fathers on the immigration issue.  The title of this article was Diversity is the Death of the Republic.  He is of course wrong, but not for the Leftist crazy reasons.  If you care about my thinking and my solutions I spell it out in a series of 3 Immigration articles which should be below.   First I am loath to throw the term racist, as true believe that you are superior to others simply because of your race is far and few between.  Thus I will not, I will simply say we disagree.  The vast majority of thinking people could care less what their neighbor is doing as long as they Stop Taking My Stuff!

However here is the quote he used.

“The safety of a republic depends essentially on the energy of a common national sentiment; on a uniformity of principles and habits; on the exemption of the citizens from foreign bias and prejudice; and on that love of country which will almost invariably be found to be closely connected with birth, education, and family. The opinion advanced in the Notes on Virginia [by Thomas Jefferson] is undoubtedly correct, that foreigners will generally be apt to bring with them attachments to the persons they have left behind; to the country of their nativity; and to its particular customs and manners. They will also entertain opinions on government congenial with those under which they have lived; or if they should be led hither from a preference to ours, how extremely unlikely is it that they will bring with them that temperate love of liberty, so essential to real republicanism?”

-Alexander Hamilton, From the New York Evening Post: an Examination of the President’s Message, Continued, No. VIII, 1802″

More @ Charles Carroll Society

Scalia: Justices 'Not Qualified' to Decide Moral Issues

 

Judges should stop setting moral standards concerning homosexuality and other issues, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who believes constitutional law is being threatened by a growing belief in the "judge moralist."

The conservative jurist, speaking at a meeting of the North Carolina Bar Association on Friday, just days before the Supreme Court is to hand down its decisions on California's Proposition 8  this coming week, told attorneys that judges are being bestowed with expertise to determine right vs. wrong on moral issues, The Charlotte Observer reports.

As moralists, judges are tasked with determining matters such as abortion, doctor-assisted suicide and same-sex marriage.

But Scalia said the courts have no "scientifically demonstrable right answer," and that it's the community's job to determine what it finds morally acceptable, not courts.

More @ Newsmax

First Lady's vacation costs equal 1.3 years of White House tours

Via Cousin John

 

When the Obama sequester closed the White House for tours this past March, the President said there was no money in the federal budget to cover the cost, which amounted to $74,000 a week. Despite offers from Donald Trump, Sean Hannity, and Eric Bolling to cover the costs of several weeks of tours, the doors of the White House have remained closed to schoolchildren visiting Washington, D.C.

 Despite criticism over the move, the Obama administration has managed to find funding for a number of other personal projects, including a two day vacation to Ireland this week for First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha. According to the Washington Times, the cost of the trip is estimated at $5 million, not including the costs for the President's travel. The cost of the First Family's two day vacation is enough to cover nearly 68 weeks of White House tours, roughly 1.3 years.

More @ Examiner

GOA Action Alert: Harry Reid Buys Anti-gun Votes from his "Secret Room"

This battle is ObamaCare II 

“The most annoying thing is the phone calls.” - a Senior Senate Staffer commenting on the effectiveness of thousands of phone calls pouring into their offices (June 21, 2013)

 

URGENT ACTION:  A key vote in the Senate will be occurring later today or tomorrow morning.  Please call your Senators at 202-224-3121 to register your opinion, and if you live in a state with two anti-gun Senators, then use the contact list below to call Senators who are on the fence. Urge your pro-gun friends and family to do the same.

 

Making them “An offer they can’t refuse.”

Thursday night last week was like a scene from the Godfather.

One by one, senators shuffled into Harry Reid's "secret room" in the Capitol, and each one (figuratively) kissed his ring and (again, figuratively) received his payment from Reid's stack of bills.

And, by the end of the night, Reid had presumably bought enough votes to pass his anti-gun immigration amnesty bill.

Things haven't changed a bit from ObamaCare.  Same secret room.  Same procession of supplicants.  Same massive secret bill, revealed at the very same moment Reid filed his motion to cut off debate.  Same morally challenged senators who were more than willing to have their votes bought.

Either later today or tomorrow morning, the Senate will vote on whether to cut off all debate on the massive amendment which didn't exist until Friday morning.

There are two things to remember:  The liberal (and demonstrably partisan) Congressional Budget Office looked at the long fences, copious border agents, and Orwellian E-Verify in the base bill -- and decided it would have little impact on illegal immigration, reducing it by only 25%.  This, in exchange for 8,000,000 new, largely anti-gun voters.

If Hoeven, Corker, and Schumer claim that their "super-secret probation" amendment (fences, agents, e-verify) will have any more of an impact, let's get a CBO estimate of that.

Second, the one thing Schumer has consistently refused to do is to condition his 8,000,000 new Democratic voters on the statistically demonstrable success of border security.  What does that tell you?

It says this bill is more about turning this country blue than it is about securing the border.

ACTION:  Call your Senators at 202-224-3121, especially if they are listed below.  Tell them to vote against cloture on Harry Reid's "Godfather amendment."  

 

NOTE:  For those of you who live in California, New York (and other states with two anti-gun Senators), you could use this opportunity to call some of the Senators on the Target List below.

Senators Up for Grabs.  According to media reports (and Senate intelligence), the following Senators are either on the fence or are leaning towards voting “yes” on the Hoeven amendment:

 

Alaska

Mark Begich (D) (202)224-3004

Lisa Murkowski (R) (202)224-6665

 

Georgia

Saxby Chambliss (R) (202)224-3521

Johnny Isakson (R) (202)224-3643

 

Indiana

Dan Coats (R)(202)224-5623

 

Kansas & Kentucky

Jerry Moran (R-KS) (202)224-6521

Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (202)224-2541

 

Maine & Missouri

Susan Collins (R-ME) (202)224-2523

Roy Blunt (R-MO) (202)224-5721

 

Mississippi

Roger Wicker (R)(202)224-6253

 

Montana

Max Baucus (D) (202)224-2651

Jon Tester (D) (202)224-2644

 

North Carolina

Richard Burr (R) (202)224-3154

Kay Hagan (D) (202)224-6342

 

Nebraska

Deb Fischer (R)(202)224-6551

Mike Johanns (R)(202)224-4224

 

New Jersey & Nevada

Jeff Chiesa (R-NJ) – Call the switchboard (202)224-3121

Dean Heller (R-NV) (202)224-6244

 

Ohio & Oklahoma

Rob Portman (R-OH) (202)224-3353

Tom Coburn (R-OK) (202)224-5754

 

South Dakota

Tim Johnson (D) (202)224-5842 

 

Tennessee

Lamar Alexander (R) (202)224-4944

 

Utah

Orrin Hatch (R) (202)224-5251

 

Wisconsin

Ron Johnson (R) (202)224-5323

 

West Virginia

Joe Manchin (D) (202)224-3954

Jay Rockefeller (D) (202)224-6472

----- Talking Points for Senate Offices -----

1. Vote no on the Hoeven amendment.  Vote against cloture on the Hoeven amendment.

 

2. Even the liberal (and very partisan) Congressional Budget Office said that the underlying amnesty bill would have little impact on illegal immigration, reducing it by only 25%.  This would be true -- even after building long fences, adding more border agents, and establishing an Orwellian E-Verify system for workers.

 

3. Given that all the Hoeven amendment would do is fund more of the same agents, fences, and e-verify that CBO just said wouldn't stop illegal immigration, you would be foolish to pass it without getting a new CBO estimate.

4. The one thing that Senator Chuck Schumer has consistently refused to do is to condition his 8,000,000 new (mostly anti-gun) voters on the proposition that the border will first be secured in a statistically demonstrable manner.

 

5.  According to Breitbart, for all of the tens of billions of dollars of (non-offset) money Hoeven spends, it proceeds to newly make it lawful for illegal immigrants to PROSPECTIVELY overstay their visas and nevertheless get green cards under Gang of Eight amnesty provisions.  Hence, it rewards illegals who PROSPECTIVELY violate our immigration laws, making it worse than the Gang of Eight draft.   

6.  Also according to Breitbart, Hoeven now contains a laundry-list of non-germane Cornhusker Kickback-style giveaways -- intended to buy votes in exactly the same way Reid did on ObamaCare.  Hence, Hoeven has correctly been billed as ObamaCare 2.0.

 

7.  Please vote against cloture on the Hoeven amendment!

What We Have Learned From Afghanistan

Via Nancy

 

 by Ron Paul

Last week the Taliban opened an office in Doha, Qatar with the US government’s blessing. They raised the Taliban flag at the opening ceremony and referred to Afghanistan as the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" – the name they used when they were in charge before the US attack in 2001.

The US had meant for the Taliban office in Doha to be only a venue for a new round of talks on an end to the war in Afghanistan. The Taliban opening looked very much like a government in exile. 

The Karzai government was annoyed that the US and the Taliban had scheduled talks without even notifying Kabul. Karzai’s government felt as irrelevant to negotiations on post-war Afghanistan as they soon will be on the ground. It seemed strangely like Paris in 1968, where the US met with North Vietnamese representatives to negotiate a way out of that war, which claimed nearly 60,000 Americans and many times that number of Vietnamese lives.

More @ LRC

Group Forms To Amend VA’s Next-Of-Kin Rules

Via Susan 

 

53rd North Carolina, Fort Mahone/ "Fort Damnation" Petersburg, Virginia

 Brock

Saw the video had to replay it several times, as these pictures unlike the thousands we all have viewed, caused me to sense these deaths in a more personal AND heartfelt sorrow.

For all who view this wonderful site, please remember:

THEY MAY HAVE TAKEN THESE LIVES OF OUR CONFEDERATE ANCESTORS AND PERHAPS IT WILL COME TO THAT THEY WILL TAKE OUR LIVES, BUT THEY WILL NEVER TAKE OUR FREEDOM.

For, as long as but a hundred of us remain, alive, never will we on any condition be brought under Union rule.

Thanks,

Jerry Wells

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Group Forms To Amend VA’s Next-Of-Kin Rules
(July 2013 Civil War News)

"A new organization that aims to change a federal regulation making it difficult to get government headstones for unmarked veterans’ graves has started an online petition campaign. According to Mark Their Graves, the Department of Veterans Affairs began enforcing a rarely-used regulation last year that, in effect, shuts down its Headstones and Markers Program.

The rule – Code of Federal Regulation section 38.632-(1) – precludes veterans’ groups, cemeteries, researchers and others from applying for government markers that identify the final resting places of military veterans unless they have permission from the veteran’s next of kin.  “This creates an impossible and unnecessary burden for groups seeking to honor veterans who served generations ago in conflicts like the Civil War, Spanish American War and even World War I,” says the group. Committee members ask the public to sign the petition at www.marktheirgraves.org and to contact their representatives in Washington and urge them to change the regulation. 

The effort is supported by the Civil War Trust, Ohio Historical Society, New York State Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee and the North Shore Civil War Roundtable.  Members include: Jeffrey I. Richman, Green-Wood Cemetery historian and North Shore Civil War Roundtable trustee; William Finlayson, president, Civil War Round Table of New York and North Shore Civil War Roundtable trustee; Robert MacAvoy, co-author of Our Brothers Gone Before and member, New Jersey Sesquicentennial Committee; Also, George J. Weinmann, vice president and instructor, Greenpoint Monitor Museum;  Vance Ingram, president, New York State Sesquicentennial Committee and Friends of the New York State Military Museum; Andrew Athanas, president, North Shore Civil War Roundtable; And, William Styple, author, Kearny (NJ) town historian; member, New Jersey Sesquicentennial Committee and Co. E, 15th New Jersey Infantry; and Bruce L. Sirak, president, Camp Olden Civil War Round Table & Museum; member, New Jersey Sesquicentennial Committee. 

The regulation’s effect can be seen at Brooklyn’s Historic Green-Wood Cemetery. In the past it successfully applied for and received 2,000 gravestones for Civil War veterans who researchers found to be in unmarked graves. Now, Green-Wood’s applications are being rejected, as are those of other researchers.

The petition is addressed to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki. It protests the redefinition of “applicant” as “next of kin” and implores the VA to limit the new regulation by “making it inapplicable to veterans who served more than 62 years ago — so that the veterans who now lie in unmarked graves can have a thankful nation mark where they lie, in tribute to their service.”

Within one week of the Mark Their Graves launch, almost 500 people had signed the petition. At presstime it had more than 900 signers.  Although Steve Muro, under secretary  for memorial affairs at the Veterans Administration, on April 10 told a Congressional subcommittee “We are actually looking at that reg. And we are going to do some rewrites of it … they made it over restrictive,” the committee says pressure must be brought to bear on the VA to amend the regulation.

Among the veterans denied government markers because of the regulation were Civil War veterans George Stillie and William Peter Strickland. Stillie (1839-1919) served in the United States Navy aboard the USS North Carolina, USS Valley City, USS Fernandina and USS Roebuck. He is buried in Melbourne, Australia. His wife predeceased him and their only child died in New Zealand in 1912.  Strickland (1809-1884), chaplain of the 48th New York Infantry for two years, believed that serving the Union was “the most sacred duty of every liberty-loving American citizen.” He is interred in Green-Wood Cemetery." 

Something My Dad Taught Me: Why Schumer-Rubio Immigration Insanity Must Be Defeated

Mike Scruggs

     One day several months before my eighth birthday, I started pestering my father to promise me that I would get a bicycle for my birthday.  I kept saying, “Promise me, promise me.”  We were not poor, but there was not much room in the family budget in those days for more than the basic necessities.  Buying something like a bicycle required saving for months, and the times were uncertain.

     After a little more of my pleading for his promise to get me a bicycle, my dad took me aside for a little talk. “Son,” he said, “I would like to get you a bicycle, but I cannot promise you one, because I might not be able to keep that promise.  It is very important to keep your promises.  Promises should not be given lightly, and they must not be broken.”

     I did get a bicycle on my birthday, but that little talk with my father is remembered and appreciated far more than any bicycle. 

     Twenty-seven years ago, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. of 1986. It had three main objectives: amnesty for just over one million undocumented immigrants who had been here continuously since 1982, securing the border between the U.S. and Mexico, and strict enforcement of laws prohibiting employers from hiring illegal immigrants. The bill passed, but because of a tremendous “underestimate” of the number of illegal immigrants then in the U.S., widespread fraud by applicants, and widespread laxity in processing the applications, the number of amnesties actually came to about 2.8 million. Six follow-up amnesties gave over 3.0 million additional amnesties. The promises to secure the border and enforce immigration laws at the workplace were subsequently ignored and actively undermined by most of its sponsors. The border is still not secure, and immigration enforcement at the workplace is practically zero. Our internal enforcement policy has become “don’t ask, don’t tell.” We have even come to the place where public demonstrations are staged by unlawful immigrants and their allies against any attempt to enforce our immigration policies. The 1986 amnesty was a terrible political decision wrapped in deception and promises that many never intended to keep.

     Now we have an estimated 11.5 million illegal immigrants in the country, and the annual net cost after taxes collected is estimated by the Heritage Foundation to be $14,685 per illegal immigrant household. Amnesty would bring the cost to more than $28,000 annually due to additional healthcare benefits and social security benefits kicking in. Yet we have Federal budget deficits of over $1.0 Trillion being added yearly to our already dangerous national debt of $16.5 Trillion. Like it or not, the U.S. has become a welfare state. It is easy for Congress to vote yes on more welfare but almost impossible to take it away. Unless we secure the border, strictly enforce immigration laws at the workplace, and limit legal immigration to reasonable numbers of fairly well-educated and productive people, we are going to go bankrupt and everybody’s Social Security check and Medicare coverage is either going to be shut off or be made insignificant by inflationary government creation of increasingly worthless money.

     Times are going to get very tough for Americans unless we stop making immigration a sacred cow that politicians are afraid to control. The Schumer-Rubio immigration bill, S.744, is not about control. It is about giving a huge amnesty and bringing 3 to 4 million more legal immigrant workers per year into the country to provide dream profits for commercial special interests that are already making huge profits at the expense of American workers and taxpayers. The present practice is already depressing the wages of U.S. workers about $2,800 per year. Most of that and substantial state and local taxes are essentially being transferred to the pockets of the users of imported foreign labor, legal or illegal. The most reputable economic studies indicate that immigration levels in access of 500,000 to 550,000 per year hurt American workers. Yet Schumer-Rubio advocates want to bring in six to ten times that number.

     In April, the Heritage Foundation released a report estimating the long-term cost of amnesty to be $6.3 Trillion. The bill is, however, deceptively structured to delay most of the fiscal impact until a fiscal dooms-day in 10 to 13 years. There is every reason to doubt, however, that Shumer-Rubio’s Democrat majority sponsors have any intention of sticking with such a major delay in new immigrant benefits. After all, they intend them to be Democrat voters as soon as possible.

     No one outside of a madhouse believes that any significant immigration law enforcement would result from Schumer-Rubio. Senator Schumer was a major mover in killing enforcement provisions of the 1986 amnesty. President Obama, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and U.S Attorney General Eric Holder have little regard for the Constitution or Congressional authority. No matter what enforcement measures are in the bill, it will not be enforced because they do not want enforcement. They want more Democrat voters and more profits for their friends.

     Republican Amendments to increase border security are useless eyewash. There will be no enforcement beyond public relations smoke and mirrors, and they should know it.  Even without amnesty, the massive increases in legal cheap labor will devastate American workers and taxpayers.

     Even with the deceptive and disingenuous delays in amnesty implementation, a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report just released indicates that the immediate results of Schumer-Rubio will be higher unemployment, adding to the 21 million Americans who want a full time job and cannot find one; lower wages; and higher interest and mortgage rates for Americans. It would double annual legal immigration to around 2.0 million but only cut illegal immigration by 25 percent. Additional amnesties would probably follow.

     Schumer-Rubio is an economically devastating, anti-American, Corporate Lobbyist Dream Act that will bankrupt the American people and solidify Radical Democrat Party rule for the foreseeable future. It is wrapped in outrageous attempts to deceive and promises its sponsors have no intention of keeping.