School Voucher Ruling Supports Religious Freedom

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As the nation has focused on the Supreme Court hearings on the constitutionality of same sex marriage, news from the state of Indiana could prove far more important regarding the nations future.

The Indiana Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled unanimously, 5-0, that the states school voucher program — signed into law in 2011 and the most expansive school voucher program in the nation — does not violate the states constitution.

Those who challenged the law argued that the voucher program is unconstitutional because it allows public funds to be used for religious education. Not so, said the court. The voucher goes to the families, not the schools. It is the parents who decide how to spend it.

Why do I draw connection between the U.S. Supreme Courts review of same-sex marriage and this voucher decision in Indiana? And why do I suggest that the Indiana decision may be more important to the nations future than whatever the Supreme Court decides on same-sex marriage?

Same-sex marriage sits before the Supreme Court today because of the dramatic change in public opinion over recent years regarding the legitimacy and morality of same-sex marriage and homosexual relations. General public opinion is far more accepting today of both than it has been in the past.

Read more from this story HERE.

Wisconsin Among Worst for Business Taxes, Now Considers Multimillion Circus Bailout

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Wisconsin led the nation in collective bargaining reform for public employees in 2011, but the state’s current tax and regulatory climate led the Tax Foundation to recently declare Wisconsin among the worst in the country for business taxes. But while lawmakers mull over how best to reduce taxes and streamline regulations, they are being asked by one state agency to spend $3.7 million on a circus museum…

Yes, Wisconsin taxpayers may have to spend millions of dollars to bailout a cash-strapped circus museum.

The proposed state budget under consideration by lawmakers is the largest in the state’s history. Included in its various proposals are provisions that would add 710 new employees to state government. That’s a jumbo-jet and a half of new state workers complete with pensions and health care plans financed by taxpayers. Hardly a small irony after Governor Scott Walker balanced his first budget in 2011 by forcing state workers to contribute more to their health insurance and pension plans.

Read more from this story HERE.

North Korea Finalizes Plan for 'Merciless' Nuclear Strikes on U.S. as China Mobilizes Near the Border

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By Guy Taylor. North Korea’s military ratcheted up its threat to carry out a nuclear strike on the U.S. to new heights Thursday — just hours after the Pentagon announced the deployment of an American ballistic missile defense system to Guam.

Claiming that the “moment of explosion is approaching fast” and that war could break out “today or tomorrow,” the General Staff of North Korea’s military claimed in a statement to the nation’s official government-run news agency that it has final approval to carry out “merciless” strikes on the United States.

The statement appeared to come in response to Washington’s decision to enhance U.S. military assets in the region and to the Obama administration’s own ramping up of rhetoric toward North Korea in recent days.

The escalation comes as senior administration officials say that they are searching for ways to defuse the situation, which also saw North Korea on Wednesday block South Koreans from accessing a border industrial park that has long stood as an important, albeit precarious, symbol of cooperation on the Korean Peninsula.

The State Department and Pentagon have suggested that a core part of the administration’s Korea strategy is to gently push on China to play a more active role in steering Pyongyang away from provocations and threats that may ultimately provoke military conflict. Read more from this story HERE.

Risky Business: Military buildup in China near North Korean border continues as tanks, armored vehicles spotted

By Bill Gertz. China continued moving tanks and armored vehicles and flying flights near North Korea this week as part of a military buildup in the northeastern part of the country that U.S. officials say is related to the crisis with North Korea.

The Obama administration, meanwhile, sought to play down the Chinese military buildup along the border with Beijing’s fraternal communist ally despite the growing danger of conflict following unprecedented threats by Pyongyang to attack the United States and South Korea with nuclear weapons.

According to U.S. officials with access to intelligence reports, both intelligence and Internet reports from the region over the past week revealed the modest military movements in the border region that began in mid-March and are continuing.

The buildup appears linked to North Korea’s March 30 announcement that it is in a “state of war” with South Korea after the United Nations imposed a new round of sanctions following the North’s Feb. 12 nuclear test and because of ongoing large-scale joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troop and tank movements were reported in Daqing, located in northeastern Heilongjiang Province, and in the border city of Shenyang, in Liaoning Province. Read more from this story HERE.

Tens of Thousands Obamacare 'Navigators' to be Hired

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Tens of thousands of health care professionals, union workers and community activists hired as “navigators” to help Americans choose Obamacare options starting Oct. 1 could earn $20 an hour or more, according to new regulations issued Wednesday.

The 63-page rule covering navigators, drawn up by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, also said the government will provide free translators for those not fluent in English — no matter what their native language is.

“The proposed requirements would also include that such entities and individuals provide consumers with information and assistance in the consumer’s preferred language, at no cost to the consumer, which would include oral interpretation of non-English languages and the translation of written documents in non-English languages when necessary to ensure meaningful access,” said the regulations.

The rules also addressed conflict of interest and other potential issues that navigators could face as the public’s first stop on the Obamacare trail.

It is still not clear how many navigators will be required. California, however, provides a hint. It wants 21,000.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: McDonald's Cashier Requires Bachelor's Degree, Two Years Experience

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner

With colleges producing more graduates, and youth unemployment at a sky-high 11.5 percent, even landing a job selling Big Macs is getting competitive.

Consider: A job opening at a Massachusetts McDonald’s restaurant for a full-time cashier requires one to two years experience and a bachelor’s degree.

“Get a weekly paycheck with a side order of food, folks and fun,” offered McDonalds.

It is not clear if the fast-food restaurant really wants that kind of experience or is fishing for the highest-qualified applicants…

Watch video here:

Read more from this story HERE.

Thousands of Out-of-State Voters Found On Alaska's Voter Registry

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Just two years after Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell gave Alaska’s Division of Elections a clean bill of health, the Associated Press reports that 25,000 of Alaska’s registered voters are also registered to vote in other states. The revelation comes as a result of Alaska’s participation in a 22-State cooperative effort to cross-check voter rolls.

Treadwell blocked an independent investigation of the disputed 2010 election after US Senate Candidate Joe Miller petitioned for an outside review, opting instead for an “internal review” by the same Division of Elections and Department of Law who were alleged to have swept fraud and irregularity under the rug.

Miller’s request was based upon myriad complaints of widespread fraud and corruption from concerned citizens across the state of Alaska.

In an unprecedented move, the Alaska Court System dismissed sworn affidavits from eyewitnesses as unacceptable evidence for discovery, and the Department of Corrections has subsequently refused to disclose the list of felons in their custody during the 2010 election cycle who had committed crimes of moral turpitude, despite FOIA requests for the relevant information.

At least 11,000 of the newly discovered duplicate voters were reported to have more current registrations outside the State of Alaska. It appears that some have voted in multiple states, though Treadwell says it is unclear whether voter fraud was committed.

There is no data available on how many of “Alaska’s registered voters” are on the rolls in the 28 States that did not participate in the study.

DHS Finally Responds to Senate Demand for Ammo Info but its Numbers Don't Pencil Out

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Last fall, Senator Coburn sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security demanding an explanation by the end of November for the agency’s reported purchase of massive quantities of ammunition. Yesterday, Dr. Coburn released correspondence that he finally received from DHS purporting to explain the purchases.

First, here’s what was disclosed by DHS: As of November 2012, it had over 263 million rounds of ammunition on hand. The agency said it was purchasing an additional $37 million of ammunition in this fiscal year, but did not give the actual number of rounds. Using the prior year’s cost per round of approximately 35 cents, it appears that DHS is adding another 105 million rounds on top of the 263 million on hand, minus rounds consumed in training and operations this fiscal year.

Using this 363 million round figure, the agency’s explanation for its large purchases can be assessed. For Immigration (ICE), DHS claims that 1,000 rounds per firearm per year are necessary for training. Assuming training of 250 rounds per quarter, this estimate seems reasonable.

The Federal Protective Service or “FPS” (the agency charged with protecting federal facilities owned or leased by the General Services Administration) also uses “1000 rounds of ammunition per firearm per year for quarterly qualifications and training.” Again, another reasonable number.

Curiously, no average training rounds per firearm for any other component agency of DHS is provided. For US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), DHS gives a percentage, stating that 70% of all CBP ammo is used for training. The remaining 30% of CBP’s ammo stock is purportedly maintained for operational needs (20%) and reserves (10%). For USSS (the Secret Service), 60% of its ammo is used for training.

Another quirk in DHS’s explanation is that the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), whose mission is to “train those who protect our homeland” by training personnel from 91 federal agencies, has another approximately 35 million training rounds (almost 19 million on hand in November 2012 plus the estimated 16.6 million purchased this fiscal year) that are supposedly in addition to training rounds maintained by the other individual DHS component agencies like ICE, CPB, and FPS.

So, really, the only way to properly assess the numbers from DHS – assuming that the agency has actually come clean on its inventories and future purchases – is to divide the ammunition stocks by the number of armed personnel.

Let’s start with FPS. According to the DHS website, FPS has approximately 900 armed agents. Supposedly, the FPS has an available stock of approximately 3.8 million rounds this year (2.5 million on hand in November plus the estimated 1.3 million purchased this fiscal year) . DHS claims its stock is explained by the 1000 rounds per firearm training requirement. No operational inventory is disclosed. Dividing the FPS stock of 3.8 million rounds by 900, provides well over 4,000 rounds per armed FPS employee, over four times the ammo necessary for annual training.

The ICE numbers give us a similar result. This agency has about 56.9 million rounds for this fiscal year (42.3 million on-hand as of November plus an estimated purchase of 14.68 million this fiscal year). ICE has about 20,000 employees of which 12,446 carry firearms. This DHS agency has also armed itself to the tune of well over 4,000 rounds per gun-toting ICE employee, well over the 1,000 rounds need for annual training and far in excess of any peace-time operational requirements.

CBP’s is almost as bad. This agency has about 129.7 million rounds for this fiscal year (94.4 million on-hand as of November plus an estimated purchase of over 35.3 million rounds this fiscal year). According to the U.S. Department of Justice, CBP agency has about 37,000 armed employees. That equates into approximately 3,500 rounds per firearm-carrying CBP officer, well in excess of the 1,000 rounds necessary for annual training.

Looking at the entire DHS, the DOJ’s 2012 Bureau of Justice Statistics stated that the DHS had approximately 55,000 armed officers (relying on 2008 data). Although one newspaper claimed last month that DHS now has 65,000 armed personnel, DHS is claiming it has at least 100,000 armed agents. (This is an enormous increase, perhaps even more troubling than federal agencies’ ammunition purchases.)

Taking the DHS ammunition on hand in November (263.7 million rounds) plus the estimated purchases of 105 million this fiscal year, provides a rough estimate of over 3,500 rounds per armed DHS federal agent. This is well over three times the training needs for DHS personnel and over ten times what’s necessary for operational needs (using CPB’s 30% figure for operational and reserve needs).

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Alaska's Department of Administration Interferes With Pro-life Protest; Gov. Parnell Responds

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Today, the Center for Bioethical Reform staged a demonstration in front of the Capitol in Juneau, Alaska. The event, intended to influence public policy by educating legislators about the horrors of abortion, started with little fanfare.

The activists erected large posters of aborted babies across from the capitol steps. At first, it didn’t seem their activities were attracting much attention. But that soon changed.

According to one participant we interviewed today, a line of trucks began to appear, some parking in the middle of the road, the others parking in the loading zone immediately in front of the capitol.

One driver exited his vehicle and apologized, stating he was just doing what he was told to do:

Several hours later, after a legislator’s staff was contacted, the vehicles were abruptly removed.

The governor should immediately investigate who gave the order to use state assets to interfere with this peaceful political protest. The use of state resources in this partisan and anti-First Amendment way is wrong and someone should be held accountable.

UPDATE: Governor Parnell’s office contacted Restoring Liberty today and emailed THIS RESPONSE.

State Legislator Caught Sticking Out His Tongue at Majority Leader

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Liberal Democrat State Representative Scott Kawasaki, never known for his class, was caught yesterday apparently sticking out his tongue at Alaska State House Speaker Mike Chenault:


This followed a number of jokes on the floor – by Republicans and Democrats alike – about “passing gas” and the word “but” in regard to the pending natural gas pipeline bill (House Bill 4).

This juvenile display is yet another indicator of how low the Alaska State Legislature has fallen and why we need even more constitutional conservatives to enter the fray to unseat incumbents in 2014.

Democrats Push for $10K Fine for Gun Owners Without Liability Insurance

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A group of congressional Democrats has signed on to new legislation that would mandate liability insurance for all gun owners in the United States — and fine those who refuse to purchase it as much as $10,000.

The Daily Caller reports that New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s Firearm Risk Protection Act says that all gun buyers — before they buy — purchase and show proof of “a qualified liability insurance policy,” and that those caught owning a weapon without the insurance are subject to harsh fines.

“It shall be unlawful for a person who owns a firearm purchased on or after the effective date of this subsection not to be covered by a qualified liability insurance policy,” the text of the bill states.

Read more from this story HERE.