Superintendent warns against ‘inappropriate comments’

Mason school officials said they are taking a proactive educational approach in advance of this week’s planned Inauguration Day activities.

“Inappropriate comments that may make other students, staff or families feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in school or on the bus will not be tolerated,” Superintendent Kevin Bright said in an e-mail sent to parents Monday, Jan. 12.

The district, he said, expects students and staff to show respect for President-elect Obama and the incoming administration, as well as President Bush and the outgoing administration, and recognize that “while the election is a competitive process, our nation’s greatness is displayed when all sides come together for a united country.”

Jeff Schlaeger, Mason High School’s psychologist, said “inappropriate comments” occurred around election week when doctored pictures of Obama appeared at the school, including “derogatory caricatures” of him dressed like a terrorist and signs that read “Obama ‘08/Biden ‘09.”

“There were groups of students that were worked up over the results of the election,” said Schlaeger, who is a member of the district’s racial equity committee and curriculum organizer for MHS Freshman Diversity Week.

The school is offering a variety of events for students at every grade level, ranging from letter-writing and books, to videos, reflection and watching the inauguration itself, Bright said in the e-mail.

“We’re attempting to take a more proactive approach now and, first of all, celebrate the passing of power in our country and at the same time also celebrate this historic inauguration and the election of our first African-American president,” Bright said during an interview Tuesday.

Warren County Commissioner Dave Young, who has three children in the school district, said he questions an “inappropriate comments” policy based on what makes someone feel “unwelcome or uncomfortable.”

“It’s not ‘We’re discouraging you from saying those (comments)’ it’s ‘It won’t be tolerated,’ ” Young said. “That’s a very dangerous precedent.”

Of course, we all know that this means “inappropriate to Obama”. This is just another example of liberal conditioning, which is what got us here in the first place.

American Legion Reveals Strategy to Secure our Borders

By Drew Zahn © 2009 WorldNetDaily

The nation’s largest veterans organization released this week a policy bulletin that takes a firm stand against illegal immigration and calls on its members to hold elected officials accountable for implementing and enforcing U.S. immigration law.

The 30-page bulletin is officially titled, “The American Legion Policy on Immigration: A Strategy to Address Illegal Immigration in the United States.”

“The American Legion members have served in the U.S. Armed Forces throughout the world so that Americans can be safe at home,” the organization’s website explains. “This gives them a unique perspective to the threat that open borders present to their homeland.”

“America is a nation built by immigrants and the American Legion recognizes and celebrates that,” said National Commander David K. Rehbein in a press release. “We do take strong issue, however, with illegal immigration. It’s a matter of national security. The 9/11 hijackers and three of the men who plotted to kill innocent Americans at Ft. Dix were perfect examples of terrorists exploiting our weak immigration laws and our lack of enforcement. This booklet is a good reminder that America has a serious problem that needs to be addressed.”

The booklet itself makes the Legion’s position clear in a statement that stands alone on the first page.

“The American Legion is opposed to any person or persons being in this country illegally, regardless of race, sex, creed, color or national origin,” the bulletin states. “We believe the current laws governing immigration should be enforced impartially and equally.”

Originally founded in 1919 on an idea proposed by Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (the president of the same name’s eldest son), the Legion has now grown to a membership of more than 2.6 million wartime veterans organized in more than 14,000 posts nationwide.

The policy bulletin explains, “Legionnaires subscribe to a creed, ‘To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; to maintain law and order and to foster and perpetuate a 100 percent Americanism.’ These words are recited in unison at Legion meetings and represent a continuing contract of service to benefit America and it is this commitment by Legionnaires that is the fuel for action on illegal immigration and other national security concerns facing this country.”

The Legion hopes the policy booklet will educate the American public on how “the security, economy and social fabric of the United States of America is seriously threatened by individuals who are illegally in this country.”

“Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime,” the booklet states. “The poor, minorities, children and individuals with little education are particularly vulnerable. It causes an enormous drain on public services, depresses wages of American workers, and contributes to population growth that, in turn, contributes to school overcrowding and housing shortages. Directly and indirectly, U.S. taxpayers are paying for illegal immigration.”

In financial terms, the booklet cites a report by the Center for Immigration Studies that claims the average illegal alien household in 2003 paid approximately $4,200 in federal taxes while, on average, created $7,000 in costs at the federal level.

In response to what it sees as a contributing factor to crime, terrorism, unemployment and depressed wages, the Legion proposes the following five-point strategy urging the federal government to enact the following steps:

1. Secure the borders and other points of entry in the United States, including construction of a physical barrier and sufficient Border Patrol presence.

2. Eliminate the jobs magnet and social services benefits that draw illegal immigrants to the U.S. by enforcing laws sanctioning employers who hire illegal aliens, implementing employment eligibility verification and eliminating government benefits for illegal aliens.

3. Eliminate amnesty laws that permit illegal aliens to break the law and remain in the U.S.

4. Reduce the U.S. illegal alien population by attrition through workplace enforcement, interagency and interstate cooperation, rejection of driver’s license plans, mandating English as national language and establishing parameters for noncriminal deportations.

5. Screen and track foreign visitors legally entering the United States. The plan further calls for reforms to current legal immigration policy, including alteration of the non-immigrant visa program that allows some nations’ citizens entrance to the U.S. without a visa application, elimination of the visa lottery that randomly approves visas from countries with low immigration rates and expanding visa allowances for seasonal and temporary workers. John Raughter, a spokesperson for the Legion, told WND that many people think only of the economic issues surrounding illegal immigration, but for Legion members who have fought to protect America, the issue is a matter of continuing the fight for our country’s freedom.

“We want to raise public awareness that illegal immigration is a national security issue,” Raughter said. “The American Legion wants to remind people that included in the Fort Dix Six conspirators and 9-11 attackers were men in the country illegally.”

George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation

By age sixteen, Washington had copied out by hand, 110 Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation. They are based on a set of rules composed by French Jesuits in 1595. Presumably they were copied out as part of an exercise in penmanship assigned by young Washington’s schoolmaster. The first English translation of the French rules appeared in 1640, and are ascribed to Francis Hawkins the twelve-year-old son of a doctor.
Today many, if not all of these rules, sound a little fussy if not downright silly. It would be easy to dismiss them as outdated and appropriate to a time of powdered wigs and quills, but they reflect a focus that is increasingly difficult to find. They all have in common a focus on other people rather than the narrow focus of our own self-interests that we find so prevalent today. Fussy or not, they represent more than just manners. They are the small sacrifices that we should all be willing to make for the good of all and the sake of living together.

These rules proclaim our respect for others and in turn give us the gift of self-respect and heightened self-esteem.

Richard Brookhiser, in his book on Washington wrote that “all modern manners in the western world were originally aristocratic. Courtesy meant behavior appropriate to a court; chivalry comes from chevalier – a knight. Yet Washington was to dedicate himself to freeing America from a court’s control. Could manners survive the operation? Without realizing it, the Jesuits who wrote them, and the young man who copied them, were outlining and absorbing a system of courtesy appropriate to equals and near-equals. When the company for whom the decent behavior was to be performed expanded to the nation, Washington was ready. Parson Weems got this right, when he wrote that it was ‘no wonder every body honoured him who honoured every body.’”

The Rules numbers 1 thru 110

Bush commutes border patrol agents’ sentences

President George W. Bush, in one of his last official acts in office, commuted the prison sentences of two U.S. Border Patrol agents who were imprisoned for shooting an unarmed Mexican drug smuggler in the buttocks in a case that drew widespread attention.

Ignacio Ramos had been sentenced to 11 years and a day in prison and Jose Alonso Compean received 12 years.

Their conviction in 2006 drew an outcry from supporters who said the agents were just doing their job.

Sad that it took so long.

Stop It!!

Enough already!

with the Obama inauguration – jeez

We get it!

no network TV for the next week it looks like….

Stimulus Package Unveiled

WASHINGTON — House Democrats Thursday rolled out the details of an $825 billion economic stimulus package to combat what they called “a crisis not seen since the Great Depression,” but its immediate economic impact is unclear and the plan faces hurdles before becoming law.
Details of the two-year package, which calls for $550 billion in new spending and $275 billion in tax relief, will likely change as the bill works its way through Congress. But the document provides the first blueprint of how President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats plan to fight the historic economic downturn, which has already wiped out 2.6 million jobs.
Businesses would get “bonus” depreciation for investing in new plants and equipment. The proposal also allows companies that have losses this year to get refunds for taxes paid as far back as 2003; current tax rules allow losses to be carried back only two years. But companies receiving money from the financial-system bailout program are ineligible for the tax provision, a blow for some of the nation’s big banks and troubled auto makers General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC.
The stimulus plan was released hours before the Senate backed Mr. Obama on another key measure by approving the Treasury’s call for the release of the second half of the $700 billion financial-system rescue package. That program is being replenished as Bank of America Corp. was near an agreement with U.S. officials that would provide it with $15 billion to $20 billion of fresh capital.
The plan would be one of the largest single government expenditures in U.S. history, and would be equivalent to about 3% of gross domestic product over two years. The proposal is $125 billion bigger than the controversial bailout for the financial-services industry. It outweighs in dollar terms all other nations’ stimulus plans, though China’s $600 billion stimulus is a larger share of its economy.
Democrats said they emphasized government spending over tax relief because that was the best and fastest way to create jobs. Rep. David Obey (D., Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, warned that the package may be insufficient — and said another spending bill may be needed later this year.
Some of the biggest expenditures will go directly to the states, with $90 billion going to increase the federal share of Medicaid payments and an additional $79 billion to help states avoid cutbacks in education and other services. Separately, $43 billion will go for transportation improvements — less than many expected, to the frustration of some Democrats.
The plan also includes Mr. Obama’s “Making Work Pay” tax credit of $500 per worker and $1,000 for couples.
Economists say the stimulus may be more effective at supporting an ultimate recovery than arresting the current decline. That’s because few elements of the package would hit the economy before the second half of the year, with the largest boost coming in late 2009 and into 2010.
A key element identified by President-elect Obama has been to spend money improving the efficiency of the federal government.
By then the U.S. is expected to show slow growth, as a result of other stimulus from the Federal Reserve and Treasury. The unemployment rate, which hit 7.2% in December, is widely expected to hit 8% by the end of the year — but without any stimulus, some economists fear it could rise into double digits.
Macroeconomic Advisers, a forecasting firm, estimated Thursday that a plan of $775 billion stimulus over two years would boost GDP by 3.2%, reduce the unemployment rate by 1.7 percentage points and raise employment by 3.3 million jobs.
The Democrats’ plan provides incentives for businesses to make capital expenditures. The “bonus” depreciation provision, for example, would provide immediate relief for businesses that invest in new plants and equipment by speeding up depreciation deductions. The package doubles the amount small businesses can immediately write off for capital investments and for purchasing new equipment and includes incentives for businesses to invest in renewable energy.
The transportation and energy projects in the package could have among the slowest impact on the economy, economists said. Even “shovel-ready” projects could be delayed as local and state governments allocate funds, receive bids and award contracts.
The quickest effect, in contrast, could come from tax cuts, particularly if the government reduces payroll taxes immediately to get funds to taxpayers. That could raise spending and get money flowing through the economy quickly, even if some of the funds are likely to be saved rather than spent.

Highlights of Economic Recovery Plan
Spending:
Science and Technology
$10 billion Science facilities
$6 billion High-speed Internet access for rural and underserved areas
 Infrastructure
$32 billion Transportation projects
$31 billion Construction and repair of federal buildings and other public infrastructure
$19 billion Water projects
$10 billion Rail and mass transit projects
 Education
$41 billion Grants to local school districts
$79 billion State fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state aid
$21 billion School modernization
 Health Care
$39 billion Subsidies to health insurance for unemployed; providing coverage through Medicaid
$90 billion Help to states with Medicaid
$20 billion Modernization of health-information technology systems
$4 billion Preventative care

Taxes

Individuals:

$500 per worker, $1,000 per couple tax cut for two years, costing about $140 billion

Greater access to the $1,000-per-child tax credit for the working poor

Expansion of the earned-income tax credit to include families with three children

A $2,500 college tuition tax credit

Repeal of a requirement that a $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit be paid back over time

Businesses:

An infusion of cash into money-losing companies by allowing them to claim tax credits on past profits dating back five years instead of two

Bonus depreciation for businesses investing in new plants and equipment

Doubling of the amount small businesses can write off for capital investments and new equipment purchases

Allowing businesses to claim a tax credit for hiring disconnected youth and veterans

“Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”: FDR’s First Inaugural Address

Franklin D. Roosevelt had campaigned against Herbert Hoover in the 1932 presidential election by saying as little as possible about what he might do if elected. Through even the closest working relationships, none of the president-elect’s most intimate associates felt they knew him well, with the exception perhaps of his wife, Eleanor. The affable, witty Roosevelt used his great personal charm to keep most people at a distance. In campaign speeches, he favored a buoyant, optimistic, gently paternal tone spiced with humor. But his first inaugural address took on an unusually solemn, religious quality. And for good reason—by 1933 the depression had reached its depth. Roosevelt’s first inaugural address outlined in broad terms how he hoped to govern and reminded Americans that the nation’s “common difficulties” concerned “only material things.”

“I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impel. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.

More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.

Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.”

READ IT ALL AT HISTORY MATTERS…

Dems’ idea of sharing sacrifice

By Michelle Malkin
Monday, January 19, 2009

“Everybody’s going to have to give,” President-elect Barack Obama has warned. And some people will have to give more than others — starting with low-income smokers.

Democrats are rushing to impose massive tax hikes of at least 61 cents on every cigarette pack sold in America, in addition to new increases on other tobacco products. The money will fund a long-plotted federal expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Yes, this is Dr. Big Nanny’s prescription for recession: punitive tax increases on the poor to feed a universal health-care Trojan horse.

Obama and his liberal Democrat colleagues sure have a funny way of demonstrating “progressive” values, don’t they? Health surveys show that smokers are more likely to be blue-collar workers, minorities and have less than a high-school education. The National Taxpayers Union noted that tobacco taxes take a 50 times larger share of income from those earning less than $20,000 than from those earning more than $200,000.

And what will that money buy? SCHIP, you’ll recall, is the joint federal-state program that covers health insurance for children and families at or near the poverty line. During the last two years, President Bush and the Republicans took a rare fiscally conservative stand against widening eligibility criteria far beyond the working poor. Democrats wanted to be able to enroll families with incomes at 300 or 400 percent of the poverty level — adding an estimated $35 billion over five years to the existing SCHIP funding costs.

Opponents of this push were lambasted as cruel child-haters for arguing that the program should not be extended to include well-off families, illegal aliens and single adults. They were attacked as heartless penny-pinchers for questioning the wisdom of subsidizing the SCHIP expansion with a dwindling and unstable funding source (smoking is on the decline and cigarette tax revenues are shrinking).

But if these do-gooders truly cared about children, they’d be cursing mightily over the squandering of current SCHIP funds and the cheating of the very children the program was intended to help. State data analyzed by the Department of Health and Human Services reveal that 13 states spent more than 44 percent of their SCHIP funds in 2008 on people who are neither children nor pregnant women.

In New Jersey, people earning as much as $295,000 were enrolled in its SCHIP program, dubbed “NJ FamilyCare.” Like many states, New Jersey failed to check eligibility for all program enrollees and refuses to conduct stringent assets tests.

As I’ve noted before, the refusal to do assets tests on federal health insurance programs is why federal entitlements are exploding and government keeps expanding. After an audit found that the New Jersey program had paid $43.1 million to participants without knowing whether they were eligible, Republican Assemblyman Richard Merkt observed that it “called into serious question the state’s competence to run health insurance programs.” Multiply that by 50 states.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Democrats plan to lift decade-old restrictions to allow legal immigrant children to tap into SCHIP. But there’s no word on whether citizenship eligibility requirements will be strengthened.

What I can tell you for sure is that the SCHIP expansion is a rest stop on the road to a universal health insurance entitlement built on the backs of overtaxed low-income workers. Welcome to the era of “shared sacrifice.”

Michelle Malkin is author of “Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild.”

The First Socialist Act of 2009

New SCHIP Bill—Federal Cigar Tax to Be Capped at 40 Cents

Posted: Tuesday, January 13, 2009

By David Savona

The House Ways and Means Committee introduced the newest incarnation of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) today. The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) reported in an email that the legislation would impose a revised federal excise tax on large cigars—52.4 percent, with a maximum tax cap of 40 cents per cigar.

It was feared throughout the cigar industry that the cap would be much higher. The original version called for a $10 cap, and earlier versions had a cap of $3 per cigar. The tax is currently capped at five cents.

The bill, which seeks to fund an expansion of SCHIP with higher tobacco taxes, is expected to pass given the new Democratic leadership in Washington. Last year, Congress attempted to pass the expansion, but President Bush vetoed the legislation two times, most recently in December.

“Our industry came together to aggressively challenge the disastrous, proposed $3 tax cap,” wrote Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR, in the email.
The new legislation also does not have a floor tax on cigars, although certain other tobacco products would be subject to the floor tax.