Teacher Tells Fourth Graders to Write, 'I am Willing to Give up Some of my Constitutional Rights…to be Safer'

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Photo Credit: The Blaze

The words are written in crayon, in the haphazard bumpiness of a child’s scrawl.

“I am willing to give up some of my constitutional rights in order to be safer or more secure.”

They’re the words that Florida father Aaron Harvey was stunned to find his fourth-grade son had written, after a lesson in school about the Constitution.

Harvey’s son attends Cedar Hills Elementary in Jacksonville, Fla. Back in January, a local attorney came in to teach the students about the Bill of Rights. But after the attorney left, fourth-grade teacher Cheryl Sabb dictated the sentence to part of the class and had them copy it down, he said.

The paper sat unnoticed in Harvey’s son’s backpack for several months until last week, when his son’s mother almost threw it away. The words caught her eye in the trash, and she showed it to Harvey, who said he was at a loss for words. He asked his son, who said Sabb had spoken the sentence out loud and told them to write it down. Harvey said he asked some of his son’s classmates and got a similar answer.

Read more from this story HERE.

Politicizing Tragedy: Obama asks Newtown Mom to Deliver his Weekly Address

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Photo Credit: Reuters

President Barack Obama has asked a mother whose 6-year-old son was killed in the Newtown, Connecticut massacre to deliver his weekly radio address, an unusual move expected to turn up the pressure on Congress to pass tougher gun control laws.

Francine Wheeler, whose son Ben was one of the 26 people killed by a gunman at an elementary school on December 14, will deliver the Saturday radio address, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Obama brought families of the Newtown victims to Washington on Air Force One on Monday, and they have been meeting with senators to urge them to support new laws that, among other measures, would require more background checks for gun sales.

“He believes their voices and resolve have been critical to the continued progress we’ve seen in the Senate,” Carney said.

Vice President Joe Biden has occasionally delivered the weekly address, but the short message to Americans is traditionally given by the president himself.

Read more from this story HERE.

Paul Ryan Energizes Pro-Life Advocates with Speech Against Abortion

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Photo Credit: LifeNews

Last night, Wisconsin Congressman and former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan energized pro-life advocates with a rousing speech against abortion that provided hope for ending the travesty someday.

In his speech at the Susan B. Anthony List gala, Ryan urged pro-lifers to be active in the battle to change hearts and minds — setting up political change down the road.

“Here’s my thinking: We need to articulate a vision — one that can attract a broad coalition,” Ryan said. “To advance the pro-life cause, we need to work with people who consider themselves pro-choice — because our task isn’t to purge our ranks. It’s to grow them.”

He urged pro-life advocates to never abandon the cause of life or accept and political truce on the issue of abortion and protecting unborn children under law.

“Our critics say we should abandon our pro-life beliefs. But that would only demoralize our voters,” he told the audience. “It’s an odd strategy, I think: the cynical ploy followed by the thumping defeat. Besides, you’re proving the critics wrong. You’re helping pro-life leaders win races across the country. You’re showing that “what convinces is conviction,” he will say.

Read more from this story HERE.

RNC OKs Anti-Homosexual Marriage Resolution

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Photo Credit: AP

With no debate, the Republican National Committee voted unanimously here Friday to reiterate the party’s opposition to gay marriage.

The push from social conservatives came after last month’s “autopsy” report called for more GOP outreach to gays and said the party must change its tone on the issue to appeal to younger voters.

Some party leaders were frustrated by the optics of passing such a resolution at a spring meeting in the heart of one of the country’s most gay-friendly enclaves, and there was a clear effort to avoid a public back-and-forth over the measure. The resolutions committee passed it during a private Wednesday session that was closed to the press.

The language of the resolution affirms the party’s “support for marriage as the union of one man and one woman” — a position that was already in the platform that passed at last August’s Republican convention.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll released earlier in the day found that 53 percent of registered voters now favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, with 40 percent in opposition. The poll found that 54 percent of independents back gay marriage, but 66 percent of Republicans oppose it.

Read more from this story HERE.

Declaration of War on American Values: Battalion Commander Tells Troops that Patriots, Christians belong to Hate Groups

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A combat battalion commander assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, sent an email out to several dozen subordinate officers and senior noncommissioned officers describing conservatives as members of hate groups.

The senior officer, seen in the YouTube below, apparently decided that his ignorant soldiers needed some political indoctrination regarding the Army’s new values, as decreed by Obama.

So, using the infamous Southern Poverty Law Center as a guide, the lieutenant colonel set out to educate.

Using the subject line of ‘Domestic Hate Groups,’ LTC Jack Rich warned his subordinate leaders that,

Many events have been taking place across the country – just want to ensure everyone is somewhat educated on some of the groups out there that do not share our Army Values.

Before identifying for his troops who the haters in America are, he makes it clear that his email is an action memo:

When we see behaviors that are inconsistent with Army Values – don’t just walk by – do the right thing and address the concern before it becomes a problem.


In other words, this misguided Army ‘leader’ is telling his junior officers that they are to actively intervene with any of their troops that they suspect has ‘hateful’ beliefs.

Once identified, the hater presumably will be forced to recant such beliefs.

Sound familiar? Turn back the clock to the Cold War years and you might mistake LTC Rich with a political commissar, the Soviet ideological officer who guarded military units against “harmful” beliefs.

So who exactly belongs to a hate group? Probably most conservatives. According to Commissar Rich and his communist buddies at the Southern Poverty Law Center, they include:

• members of the Christian right (like Focus on the Family’s former leader, James Dobson)

• anti-gay groups (those who oppose the “so-called homosexual agenda”)

• members of Patriot organizations (those “opposed to the ‘New World Order'”; those who believe that the “‘New World Order’ is imposing a global plan, called Agenda 21, to take away citizens’ property rights”; those who “believe that being well armed is a must”; those who fear “impending gun control or weapons confiscations, either by the government or international agencies”)

• anti-Muslim groups (those who “broadly defame Islam”; those who believe the “inherent danger to America posed by its Muslim-American community”, that Muslims are a “fifth column intent on undermining and eventually replacing American democracy and Western civilization with Islamic despotism”; those who “allege that Muslims are trying to subvert the rule of law by imposing on Americans their own Islamic legal system, Shariah law”)

• anti-illegal alien groups

Commissar Rich identifies the Family Research Council, American Family Association, United States Justice Foundation, Atlas Shrugs, Sharia Awareness Network, Bare Naked Islam, and many other organizations as hate groups.

Yes, the thought police have infected the U.S. Military. Never mind that troublesome First Amendment. Obama must be proud.

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Read Commissar Rich’s complete email HERE.

Here’s a video of Commissar Rich at a live fire exercise at Fort Campbell. Let’s pray he doesn’t make it beyond O-5:

FCC Contemplating Full Frontal Nudity, Use of the F-Word on Broadcast TV

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In a Public Notice this past week, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it is considering relaxing its indecency standards to allow broadcast of the F-word, as well as other presently-banned profanity, and full frontal nudity.

You can see the FCC’s Public Notice HERE.

The FCC’s purported excuse for rethinking its indecency standards is compliance with “vital First Amendment principles” as established by recent Supreme Court cases. It also wants to reduce its backlog of thousands of indecency complaints.

Essentially, the FCC is contemplating allowing pretty much any profanity as long as it is “isolated”; in other words, it can’t be “repetitive” or “use[d] in a patently offensive manner…”

Similarly, for nudity, as long as it’s isolated and “non-sexual,” the FCC is contemplating allowing it on the airwaves.

To add injury to insult, the FCC doesn’t seem to mind that the new indecency standards would be applied to all hours of broadcasting, even those most frequently watched by children.

As this is not a final decision, please submit your comments on these proposed changes to the FCC HERE. Enter 13-86 as the Proceeding Number and submit your comments.

UPDATE: Former FCC Commissioners Believe that the Use of ‘Redskins’ is Obscene and Should be Prohibited by the Agency

By Brooks Boliek. The Washington Redskins name, long accused by many of being an offensive moniker to Native Americans, may also be flat-out indecent, according to some former FCC officials and public interest advocates.

In a letter to Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, former Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Nicholas Johnson, and others contend that an indecency case could be made against broadcasters who air the offensive name.

“It is impermissible under law that the FCC would condone, or that broadcasters would use, obscene pornographic language on live television,” they write. “This medium uses government owned airwaves in exchange for an understanding that it will promote the public interest. Similarly, it is inappropriate for broadcasters to use racial epithets as part of normal, everyday reporting.”

Never using the team’s name, they chastise broadcasters for using a name that is equivalent to the “n-word.”

“XXXskin is the most derogatory name a Native American can be called. It is an unequivocal racial slur,” they write. “As The Washington Post’s Mike Wise pointed out, ‘America wouldn’t stand for a team called the Blackskins — or the Mandingos, the Brothers, the Yellowskins, insert your ethnic minority here.’” Read more from this story HERE.

Conservative House GOP Members Come out Swinging on Immigration Reform

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Photo Credit: Getty

A group of Republican House members led by Iowa Rep. Steve King spoke forcefully in opposition to a mass legalization before first solving the problem of illegal immigration at an event with reporters Thursday.

“We held our powder dry but decided to come forward now because we are seeing the inertia [of immigration reform] and we are concerned about having this wash over us and not have the opportunity for constitutional conservatives in this country and in this Congress to have their voice heard,” King explained.

Pennsylvania Rep. Lou Barletta stressed that the conversation should be about strengthening the borders, not a pathway to citizenship.

“As this issue comes to the forefront here it is interesting that there is any talk at all about a pathway to citizenship. As soon as I hear that I think political — we would not be talking about any type of pathway to citizenship if we were seriously about illegal immigration,” he said, referencing President Ronald Reagan’s 1986 amnesty.

“We’re offering amnesty at a time when we know our borders aren’t secure. And just today, as I said, you have now encouraged people to come here illegally. We’ve given a green light to people all over the world to come to the United States and steal jobs away from the American people when 22 million Americans are out of work,” he added. “When the legal immigrants who are starting here are now going to have to compete for jobs with millions more.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Obamacare Catastrophe in the Making: Exchange Cost to Double, Number of Insured to Fall

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

Obamacare critics warned that President Barack Obama’s rosy $2 billion cost estimate for the government’s so-called “insurance exchanges” would likely rise. On Wednesday, they more than doubled.

Health and Human Services Department (HHS) budget documents state that the federal government now expects to spend $4.4 billion this year on state grants to erect the government exchanges for the less than half of the U.S. states who are participating. In 2014, HHS says the cost will jump to $5.7 billion.

In addition to the cost spike, the number of uninsured Americans who will now be covered under Obamacare has fallen once again:

The result is that the number of Americans projected to gain insurance from the law has already eroded, by at least 5 million people, to 27 million by 2017, the CBO said in February. In addition, as many as 8 million people will lose health-care plans now offered through their employers, almost three times more than the CBO initially projected.

Read more from this story HERE.

Boehner: I Don't Need GOP to Pass Gun Control Law…

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

On Thursday, in the midst of ongoing national debate over prospective gun control and comprehensive immigration legislation, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said that he didn’t need the approval of a majority of his own party to move forward with legislation.

Referring to the so-called Hastert Rule, named after former House Speaker Denny Hastert (R-IL), which dictated that House leadership not bring up any bill for a vote without the support of a majority of the majority party, Boehner said, “Listen: It was never a rule to begin with.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Former Pro-MMA Fighter, Now GOP Congressman, Fights for Gun Rights

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Photo Credit: AP

How Does a Former Professional-Fighter-Turned Congressman Prep for the Gun-Control Scuffle?

By Ben Terris. “The first time they close the cage behind you, I don’t care who you are, you still get this butterfly in your stomach and you think, ‘What in the world?’ ”Rep. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, is telling me about one of his previous jobs: professional mixed-martial-arts fighter.

“The first fight lasted about 45 seconds,” he said. “It was a fight I realized that I needed to pull weight. I fought out of fear more than anything else. I wanted to get in and out really quick.”

He won that fight. In fact, he won all of his five professional fights. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t leave the sport unscathed. Mullin has had operations on his shoulders, elbows, hip, knee, ankle, hands, and nose. And yet, he bristles at the violent image held by the sport.

“Mixed martial arts and fighting has a bad-boy image,” he said, sitting in his Washington office. Mullin is 35, with close-cropped hair, and looks like he still could be in fighting shape. “And rightfully so to some degree. That’s the way they promote the sport. But it’s really about discipline, about self-defense and respect.”

Nowadays, Mullin spends much of his time defending something else that conjures up its own violent images. It’s a topic right at the center of a national conversation, and one that Mullin finds many people are completely misunderstanding of: guns. Read more from this story HERE.

Tough Gun Votes Could End Careers on Capitol Hill

By Jill Lawrence. There aren’t too many votes with the potential to make or break a congressional career, but the upcoming gun-control showdown on Capitol Hill is one of them. For true believers aligned with their states, red or blue, the choice is easy. The rest could face difficult questions, such as “Am I willing to lose my job over this?” and “Will I be able to live with my vote?”

Rightly or wrongly, scores of defeats in the past 20 years have been blamed on votes that live in political infamy: Bill Clinton’s 1993 budget that raised taxes, the 10-year assault-weapons ban passed in 1994, the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program (better known as the bank bailout), and the 2010 Affordable Care Act (better known as Obamacare).

Support for gun control in particular is perceived as a career killer, largely because of the outsized reputation of the National Rifle Association. The group’s electoral record isn’t as bulletproof as you might think. As Dorothy Samuels noted in The New York Times in 2009, several factors contributed to the Republican sweep of 1994. Clinton went on to highlight his gun-control successes in his winning 1996 campaign. And four years later, gun-rights stalwarts backed by the NRA lost to Democrats in Senate elections in Florida, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington.

So you can buck the NRA and win. That could be particularly true this year, when the NRA is on the wrong side of public-opinion polls that show nine in 10 Americans support universal background checks for prospective gun buyers. Still, crossing the NRA is not risk-free. It could encourage primary challenges next year against Republicans. It could also boost GOP odds in conservative states now represented by Democrats, such as Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.

But voting the NRA line isn’t entirely without risk, either. Lawmakers could be accused of doing the bidding of a group so far right that it even opposes a new bipartisan compromise to close major loopholes in the background-check system. Or, as former Republican Rep. Joe Scarborough put it this week on his MSNBC show, Morning Joe: “If you’re Kay Hagan in North Carolina and you’re Mary Landrieu and you’re running for reelection (next) year, do you really want to go to women’s groups and say, ‘You know, I didn’t have the courage to vote to make sure we could have criminal background checks so rapists couldn’t go and buy guns?’ ” He went on to say that “anybody that votes against criminal background checks” is basically saying “let’s give them a free pass” to buy guns. Read more from this story HERE.