Kucinich to force House vote on troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and Pakistan

Kucinich to force House vote on troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and Pakistan

By Sabrina Eaton, The Plain Dealer

December 09, 2009, 2:30PM

Original Story
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich plans to force a House of Representatives vote early next year on whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Cleveland Democrat announced Wednesday that he has begun circulating a letter to colleagues that asks if they'd be willing to co-sponsor his two resolutions to "trigger a timeline for a timely withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Pakistan."

Although President Barack Obama has said prior congressional actions permit him to respond militarily to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Kucinich says Congress can still revisit the war. He says that the United States should keep trying to bring Osama bin Laden to justice but that pursuing wars throughout the Middle East backfires by inflaming anti-American sentiment.

The White House had no comment on Kucinich's plans.

Kucinich said he was motivated to act by hearing Afghan President Hamid Karzai assert that his country will probably need U.S. financial aid and training for the next 15 to 20 years.

"We shouldn't be there another 15 to 20 months, let alone 15 to 20 years," Kucinich said. "We can't afford the loss of lives. We can't afford the loss of taxpayers' money. We've got to get our priorities straight."

Kucinich expects his resolutions will be referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs when he introduces them in January. If the committee doesn't act within 15 days, he'll move to send the resolutions directly to the House floor. In the past few years, Kucinich used the maneuver to force a floor discussion on impeaching then-Vice President Dick Cheney.

"It is possible that someone could try to short-circuit the debate by moving to table the resolution, but I am hopeful that we will have a debate, given the gravity of the wars," Kucinich said. "The people of the United States are entitled to a debate."

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Firearms Freedom Act

Photo from Perrysburg Tea-Party

Introduced in the Ohio House on October 16, 2009, the “Firearms Freedom Act” (HB-315) seeks “To enact section 2923.26 of the Revised Code to provide that ammunition, firearms, and firearm accessories that are manufactured and remain in Ohio are not subject to federal laws and regulations derived under Congress’ authority to regulate interstate commerce and to require the words “Made in Ohio” be stamped on a central metallic part of any firearm manufactured and sold in Ohio.”

The bill was authored by State Representatives Morgan and Martin, and currently has 15 other co-sponsors. (h/t BuckeyeFirearms.org and OhioFreedom.com)

While the HB315’s title focuses on federal gun regulations, it has far more to do with the 10th Amendment’s limit on the power of the federal government.

Full Article HERE. Click Here to Read More..

Will Ohio Nullify National Health Care?

Hat tip to Michael Boldin

Following the lead of Arizona, Florida, and Michigan, in recent weeks legislators from Louisiana and Georgia announced that they were planning on introducing resolutions for State Constitutional Amendments that would allow the people of those states to effectively opt-out of any future national health care plan.

And now, Ohio joins them.

According to our friends at OhioFreeState.com, Ohio State Senators Grendell and Jones have introduced Senate Joint Resolution & (SJR7).

The resolution proposes:

"to enact Section 43 of Article II of the Constitution of the State of Ohio to prohibit a law or rule from compelling a person, employer, or health care provider to participate in a health care system."

If passed by the Ohio legislature, the proposal will go directly to Ohio voters for their approval:

If adopted by a majority of the electors voting on this proposal at a special election held February 2, 2010, Section 43 of Article II of the Constitution of the State of Ohio shall take effect immediately.

The resolution in Arizona (HCR2014) has already passed both the House and Senate, and in 2010, Arizona voters will be the final voice on their proposed Constitutional Amendment.

In Florida and Michigan, similar resolutions have been introduced, but have yet to have formal hearing or debates.

Legislators in GA and LA announced that they'll be introducing similar resolutions in the 2010 legislative session. And sources close to the Tenth Amendment Center indicate that more than 15 states will do the same in 2010.

Click here to read the full text of SJR7 Click Here to Read More..

Dreaming of Freedom AND Talking About Liberty

It is sad that the supporters of Obama cannot win an argument with ideas. It is sadder that they believe censorship of opposing points of view is a good idea. It is sadder even yet, that the chairman of the Democrat Party would lament those pesky First Amendment Rights, which allow people to openly express disagreement with the direction this country is going.



Obama critics speak minds in face of vandalism

By MELISSA TOPEY | Monday, August 31, 2009 1:57 AM EDT

A local couple discovered expressing their political views can come with a backlash -- but they aren't backing down.

Since June, the Morin family has had their home egged, a garage window broken and signs speaking out against the policies of President Barack Obama torn down.

"Why can't I have free speech?" asked Paula Morin, who lives at 328 Fulton St. "I'm very concerned about the direction this country's heading."

Paula said she disagrees with the government bailout of the auto industry and banks, as well as health care reform.

Paula and her husband, Desi, filed a complaint June 10 stating a small window on their garage had been broken out, according to Sandusky police reports. A "Stop Obama Now" cardboard sign taped outside of a bay window had been turned backward in an apparent act of censorship.

Undaunted by the vandalism, she proudly posted a new sign in her home's front window.

"I wasn't going to be deterred. This is my property," Paula said as she sat in her living room with her granddaughters on a recent Friday.

The sign continues to attract attention. Last Sunday, Desi met with officers at the house after noticing someone had thrown a dozen eggs on the house by the sign.

"I hope the police presence was seen," Paula said.

She said they did not report the numerous times signs were torn down.

She doesn't know who is responsible but said she hasn't had any recent trouble with her neighbors. Paula said during the presidential campaign, neither her sign for presidential candidate John McCain nor her neighbor's Obama sign was damaged.

Amy Grubbe, chairwoman of the Erie County Democratic party, said while she and others may disagree with Paula's views, no one has the right to target another person's property in protest.

"She has her First Amendment rights," Grubbe said. "I may disagree with her view, but expressing them is her right. Vandalism of someone's property is not the right way to go about it. It's unfortunate someone has chosen to go about it in that manner." Click Here to Read More..

Upcoming Events Planned

For those who wish to join in and
Water the Tree of Liberty:


1) Children of Liberty Rally

Who: The Children of Liberty

What: Nationwide Recess Rally

Where: Marcy Kaptur's Toledo Office

When: Saturday, August 22, 2009

Time: 12pm

In Association with: American LibertyAlliance http://recessrally.com/

Why: To send Representative Kaptur a clear message that the citizens of the 9th congressional district of Ohio say NO to the nationalized healthcare bill, as proposed by President Obama and the United States Congress.

Toledo, Ohio: On Saturday, August 22, The Children of Liberty will sponsor a local recess rally outside Marcy Kaptur's office. We will gather at 11:15 at International Park and march, together, to Marcy's Maritime office. We are calling on ALL citizens in Marcy Kaptur's districts in Lucas, Erie, Ottawa and Loraine counties to come together and show our discontent with the healthcare legislation. We will not stand for socialized, government controlled healthcare and this staged protest will say loudly, "Marcy, we said NO! Once arriving at her office, we will have speakers regarding healthcare issues. And, a healthcare "town crier" will also be present to read a summary of the bill aloud for all to hear. For more information, contact The Children of Liberty at thechildrenofliberty@yahoo.com or call 419-705-3702.

2)9/12 Protest at the Capital
We (Freedom Works Foundation) will be putting together the details of the week’s events soon. For now, this is our tentative agenda for 9-10 through 9-12.
Thursday, 9-10:
Morning: Liberty Summit with select Congressmen and Senators
Afternoon: Grassroots visits with Representatives and Senators
Evening: Time to explore Washington

Friday, 9-11:
Morning: September 11th Never Forget memorial
Afternoon: Grassroots leadership training seminars
Evening: Special Dinner

Saturday, 9-12:
8:00am Set up for stages and volunteers
10:00am Events begin at U.S. Capitol, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial
2:00pm March begins at Lincoln Memorial and ends at the U.S. Capitol Building

3) On Sept 15 Audit the Fed Ohio Rally Point.
We (Ohio Campaign for Liberty) will deliver the audit the fed petitions you have been helping to gather to our senators. If you can make the time please join us Sept 15th at 12:30 to delivery those petitions. More details soon but we plan to meet at the Ohio Statehouse west side (High Street).

Senators who have failed to co-sponsor S 604, the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act: Senator Voinovich, Senator Brown

Representatives who have failed to co-sponsor HR 1207 the Federal Reserve Transparency Act: Driehaus (1), Wilson (6), Sutton (13), Kilroy (15), Ryan (17) Click Here to Read More..

Ohio Judge upholds the Constitution

Judge's ruling is called 'unprecedented' when all he did was uphold the Constitution!


U.S. seizure of charity's assets ruled unlawful
Muslim group's rights violated, judge asserts
By ERICA BLAKE
BLADE STAFF WRITER

The U.S. government violated the constitutional rights of a local Muslim charity when it froze its financial assets in 2006 and prevented it from adequately defending itself against allegations of ties to terrorism, a federal judge in Toledo has ruled.

Judge James Carr released a 100-page order Tuesday that favored arguments by KindHearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development Inc., which sued the government in October.

The ruling, which attorneys have called unprecedented, agreed with the organization's assertions that KindHearts was denied due process and subjected to the unlawful seizure of its property.

However, the ruling did not go so far as to label as unconstitutional or even vague the legislation used by the government to investigate organizations with potential ties to terrorism.

"Judge Carr's historic ruling makes clear that the government can't circumvent the Constitution, which protects us against unreasonable searches and seizures and affords us the due-process rights of notice and a chance to be heard, even when the government invokes national security as an excuse. We should all celebrate the vindication of those crucial principles. As for KindHearts in particular, Judge Carr's ruling is a critical step toward its goal of defending itself against the government's allegations," said Fritz Byers, one of KindHearts' attorneys.

KindHearts, founded in 2002, was targeted in 2006 by federal agents, who in turn froze the charity's financial assets. According to court documents, the organization was under investigation by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury De-partment and would potentially be labeled as a "specially designated global terrorist."

Jihad Smaili, a KindHearts attorney who has since relocated to California, said yesterday that in the days and weeks after the organization's shutdown, he repeatedly tried to learn what evidence had been collected about the group's alleged affiliation with a militant-terrorist group. He said KindHearts was not allowed access to any information, including the group's own seized documents or its funds to hire attorneys.

"The opinion vindicates KindHearts' position all along, which is that it was shut down without evidence or without any opportunity to present its side to any court," Mr. Smaili said. "And 42 months later, a judge has recognized that there were constitutional violations."

Earlier this year, Judge Carr ordered the government to produce copies of all materials seized in 2006 from KindHearts' headquarters and the home of its president.

The organization's attorneys had argued that without access to the information, it could not defend itself against charges of terrorism by showing where its money was spent. The government countered that opening access could compromise its investigation.

The attorneys, including those from the American Civil Liberties Union, further argued that the government violated search-and-seizure laws when it froze KindHearts' assets without showing probable cause and without obtaining a warrant.

In his order this week, Judge Carr wrote, "KindHearts is indisputably one of 'the people' protected by the Fourth Amendment. If the Constitution affords KindHearts no protection from unreasonable searches and seizures, whom among 'the people' does it protect and who among the people can be certain of its protection?"

The judge further noted that finding the Fourth Amendment inapplicable to the government's "block actions" would disregard its "role as a bulwark against the abuses and excesses of unchecked governmental power."

Charles Miller, a spokesman for the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, said the lengthy opinion will be analyzed so it is wholly understood. He declined comment on the judge's conclusions.

"We're going to review it and then ultimately make a determination of how the government will proceed in this matter," he said yesterday. "It's not just a simple case of reading it, it's a matter of reading the nuances of what it means and then [figuring] out how to proceed."

Though the judge found the organization's rights were violated, he offered no opinion on to what extent KindHearts suffered as a result of the government's actions. Instead, he asked attorneys for both sides to submit additional information and set a Sept. 21 hearing date to review the matter.

Mr. Smaili said KindHearts had about $1 million in its coffers in 2006 that was headed to Pakistan for earthquake relief. Though the group now has access to its funds to pay attorneys, he questioned what will happen to the money he said was at one time slated for humanitarian relief efforts.

"It's a great thing to read, but in reality, KindHearts is shut down forever," Mr. Smaili said.

Judge Carr's decision may be appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. At a May 1 court appearance before the judge in which both sides argued their cases, the government indicated if the judge ruled the freeze of assets lifted, it would request a stay until the appellate court hears the case.
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We the people...Constitution rally in Perrysburg

Local Rally draws media attention.



We the people...Constitution rally in Perrysburg

Written by JENISE FOUTS Sentinel Staff Writer
Saturday, 01 August 2009 20:02

PERRYSBURG - Saturday's Northwest Ohio Pro-Constitution Rally at Hood Park was not organized by veteran protestors, irate taxpayers or disgruntled citizens. Its sponsors were two young women in their 20s who want to preserve the future of America.
Sara (George) Lewis, 24, co-organizer with her friend, Adrianne Lee, 25, was pleased it turned out to be a positive event, one of their primary goals. "All of our speakers kept focused on the Constitution and focused on positive activities," said Lewis, adding, "We weren't here to complain. We were here to celebrate the Constitution."
She has attended two TEA party protests which were much larger, while Saturday's rally had a steady crowd of 100 during its two-hour length. "I think one of the differences with the TEA parties, they had an organization behind it, not just two people behind it," said Lewis. "This is an independent cause started by two citizens."
One reason they organized the rally is because "it just seems like people aren't aware what's going on, and people have stopped reading (the Constitution) and understanding what it means," Lewis said. "Even though we still are young we have our futures in mind. When we have children we want them to have the same quality of life and liberty we have today.
"It's looking in the future and making sure we preserve what we have."
When it concluded, her husband, Army Tech Sgt. Joe Lewis, stated, "I think after this people'll open their books and read the Constitution and find out what this is going on. ... I just hope people take action."

Many of the speakers interwove ways to take action within their speeches. Jeffery Webber, 37, a father of four and founder of Network 1776, (www.network1776.org) suggested, "Call radio stations. Start your own Web site. Start a MySpace page. Twitter. Do whatever you can do to make your voice be heard."
Webber brought a huge American flag which he found in a gutter, frozen and tied to a 2-by-4. He had two volunteers hold it up so the audience could see how battered it was. Then Webber had the men turn it upside down.
"This reminded me about our country," he stated, noting its tears, rips and holes. When it was upside down he continued, "This represents our country in distress. America's back is against the wall. Nobody thinks they can make a difference. We can't do it one at a time. We have to do it together and make a stand."
He referenced speaker Scott Allegrini who started Children of Liberty. "There are groups out there. (Or) start your own. We're running out of time. Start doing your research."
Guests heard about a rally in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 12, as well as a class on the Constitution which speaker Ken Matesz will teach in October in Perrysburg. In addition, after the event, attendee Sue Goliver mentioned We By For (the People), a brand new organization which is attempting to preserve the country as a constitutional republic.
Speakers addressed issues such as why the Constitution was written, economic freedom, freedom of speech, the right to bear arms and the cost of freedom.
Co-organizer Lee welcomed the audience. "We gather today to celebrate nothing short of a miracle: The Constitution." She noted the country's Founding Fathers "certainly did not want us controlled by a Nanny State. We are paying attention."
Speaker Joel Rossol said the Founding Fathers understood negative rights, writing into the Constitution what Congress cannot do to impinge upon the rights citizens have.
The youngest speaker, Raymond George, 17, spoke about the Second Amendment's right to bear arms and asked, "If (it) is nullified by some form of law, what's there to stop other amendments from being changed? What about freedom of speech? ... If you start, where will it stop?"
Iraqi War veteran Corey LeRoux announced, "I learned what happens to a country, a people, that do not have a Constitution. Imagine your children playing in a street where a foreign army patrols it, and a bomb can go off. ... It means we must stand together, that with faith with a loud enough voice we can take action, turn our flag the right side up." Click Here to Read More..

A Great Moment in our History

by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano

Keynote speech at the Ohio Rally for State Sovereignty, August 1, 2009.

Full Text and Audio HERE.

Let me set down a couple of fervent beliefs that animate everything I do and everything I say.

I believe that God created heaven and earth and every single individual on the planet.

I believe that the God who gave us life gave us liberty and that freedom is our birthright.

I believe that the States created the federal government and not the other way around. And that the power that the States gave to the Federal Government - they can take back.

When we were colonists, and the King and the Parliament needed money from us, and they always seemed to need money, they devised ingenious ways to tax us. One of them was called the Stamp Act. The Parliament decreed that every piece of paper that the Colonists had in their homes; every book, every document, every deed, every lease, every pamphlet, every poster to be nailed to a tree had to have the King’s stamp on it. You think going to a Post Office is bad? You had to go to a British Government office and buy a stamp with the King’s picture.

Question. How did the King know that his picture was on every piece of paper in your house? The Parliament enacted a hateful piece of legislation called the Writs of Assistance Act which let the king’s soldiers write their own search warrants, and bang down any door they chose to look for the stamps or anything else that they were looking for.

It was the last straw.

We fought a revolution. We won the revolution. We wrote the Constitution. The constitution doesn’t grant power, it keeps the government off our backs.

When they were debating the Constitution in the Summer of 1787 in Philadelphia, there were two great arguments - one by the Jefferson and Madison crowd and one by the Adams and Hamilton crowd. Jefferson argued, though he wasn’t physically there in Philly, as he did in the Declaration of Independence that our rights are ours by virtue of our humanity. That as God is perfectly free, and we are created in his image and likeness, we too are perfectly free. The big government crowd - yes they had them even in those days - argued that you can’t have freedom without government, and that government gives us our rights, and therefore, that government can take them away. This is not an academic argument. Jefferson and the natural law argument prevailed because the Constitution was written to keep the government from interfering with our natural rights.

And so, your right to think as you wish, to say what you think, to publish what you say, to travel where you want, to worship as you see fit, to keep and bear arms to defend yourself against a tyranny. And, after the right to life, the greatest and most uniquely American of rights - and I say this in front of the seat of the government - is the right to be left alone.

We wrote a Constitution to ensure that the government would never interfere with these rights. Think about it - if rights come from the government, then the government, by ordinary legislation, or presidential decree can take them away. But if the rights come from our humanity, then unless we violate someone else’s natural rights, the government cannot take our rights away.
This is not just a democrat, upper case D, or a republican, upper case R, problem. It’s a problem with government today. There’s a republican version of big government just as assaultive to our liberties as there’s a democrat version of big government.

We fought a revolution because British soldiers could knock on our doors and demand that we house them, and demand that we turn over property to them because they could write their own search warrants. In the Patriot Act, the most hateful piece of legislation since the Alien and Sedition Acts, a republican congress and a republican president authorized federal agents to do the unthinkable - to write their own search warrants. And the republican administration didn’t even let members of the House of Representatives read the Patriot Act before they voted on it.

Why should the government be able to spy on us? We should be able to spy on them!

When some judge is rationalizing away our liberty, or some congressman is plotting to take away your freedom or your tax dollars, we should know what they do every minute that they do it.

I was speaking to a group of congressman from a neighboring state - I won’t tell you which state it was, but they don’t play football there - and they came up to me and said “this is the first time we have heard that the Patriot Act allows federal agents to write their own search warrants.” Remember, in the Constitution, we put in the 4th Amendment, the right to be left alone, to make sure that if the government had a target, no matter how guilty the target, no matter how widespread is the belief in the guilt of the target, no matter how dangerous is the target, the government has to go through a neutral judge with a search warrant before it can get to that target. These members of Congress said, “we didn’t know that the Patriot Act allowed the government to bypass the courts and write any search warrant they wanted.” Then I asked them a question I knew the answer to already - did you read the Patriot Act before you voted on it? The answer - no. What were you voting on? A summary we received. Let me guess who wrote the summary - some lawyers in the justice department, right? Of course.

Would you hire anybody to run your business that committed you to a violation of the very reason you’re in business if they didn’t even the document by which they were making that committment? Of course not.

The camera is the new gun. There’s nothing that government dislikes more than the light of day, and cameras recording what the government is doing, whether it’s on a street corner, or in there, or in Washington D.C., we have the right to know everything that they do and why they do it, and when they do it, and how they are taking our freedoms.

I have another one of my basic core beliefs. The individual has an immortal soul. Every individual is greater than any government.
Your government is based on fear and force. You don’t have to take my word on it. The 2nd president on the United States, John Adams, said “Of course the government is based on fear.” And the first president, George Washington, said “Government is not reason, it is force.” I think they knew what they were talking about.

Now fast-forward to modern times. Whenever the government wants something, it scares us. During the civil war, Lincoln tried civilians in this state where no battles occured, by military tribunal. After he died the supreme court invalidated everything the military tribunals did. During the first world war, the Wilson administration locked up 2000 people called anarchists - same thing as enemy combatants. No trial, no charge, just jail for the duration of the war. In world war II, FDR locked up 150,000 Japanese Americans, people born in the United States, who got no trial and had no charges, and when the war was over were given $25 and told to go home.

Today we have federal agents. You know I get in arguments with my friends at Fox News, and one of them, I don’t have to tell you who it is, but is truly the most irascible person there. And he said to me, you know you have a problem with Guantanamo Bay, and you have a problem with the Patriot Act, what will you do if I get sent to Guantanamo Bay, will you visit me? And I say, Bill - no, because they’ll probably keep me there as well.

Government likes to say that it’s taking an oath to uphold the Constitution. In the years that I was on the bench, it seemed that every time government lawyers were in my courtroom, if the government was prosecuting someone who was legitimately guilty or whether it was a mistake, or whether somebody was suing the government because government contractors or government doctors, or government workers made a mistake - the government doesn’t come in to the courtroom to enforce the constitution, it comes into the courtroom to evade and avoid it. That, ladies and gentlemen, must be stopped.

This is a great moment in our history. A crowd of this magnitude on a beautiful day, in the boiling sun, in the most middle-American of great middle-American states…comes together not because the president is a democrat, not because his predecessor was a republican, not because a war is just or unjust, not because the Fed is stealing or printing - you’re here because you believe in human freedom.

It is the essence of our existence that we should be free. But remember this: the government hates freedom. It is an obstacle to every one of their designs. Whenever they write laws, whenever they take your tax dollars, whenever they regulate your private behavior, whenever they tell you how to spend your money, whenever they tell you what medicines to take, whenever they tell you what food to eat, whenever they tell you with who you may or must associate, they are taking away your freedom and they love to get away with it. And they cannot get away with it any longer.

In the long history of the world, very few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its maximum hour of danger. This is that moment and you are that generation! Now is the time to defend our freedoms.

Jefferson was no saint but he was the greatest of our American presidents. He believed that the individual was greater than the state. He believed that the states were greater than the federal government. And when he wrote that our rights come from our creator, and that our rights are inalienable, he forever wed the notion of natural rights to the American experience and the American experiment. We must be vigilant about every right that the government wants to take away from us.

You’ve heard the president say, present president and his predecessor, “my first job is to keep you safe.” He’s wrong! His first job is to keep us free. It is his only job to keep us free.

Shortly before he died, Jefferson lamented, that in his view of the world that is was in the natural order of things for government to grow and freedom to be diminished; how ardently he wish that that wouldn’t happen. And in order to prevent it from happening he had a very simple remedy, “When the people fear the government, that is tyranny. When the government fears the people, that is liberty!”

Andrew P. Napolitano [send him mail], who was on the bench of the Superior Court of New Jersey between 1987 and 1995, is the senior judicial analyst at the Fox News Channel. His newest book is Dred Scott’s Revenge: A Legal History of Race and Freedom in America, (Nelson, 2009) His previous books are A Nation of Sheep, The Constitution in Exile and Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the Government Breaks Its Own Laws.

Copyright © 2009 Andrew P. Napolitano
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August 1, Rally at the Satehouse

The Ohio Liberty Council held a Rally in Columbus this weekend. Here is some after-Rally media coverage of the event.

Fox 8 News:
Ohio Group Protest Federal Government Power

and,
The Columbus Dispatch:

Anti-tax activists stage protest
Group slams federal, state, local government at Statehouse
Sunday, August 2, 2009 3:24 AM
By Jim Siegel
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Shari Lewis | Dispatch
Cheering messages of limited government, lower taxes and states' rights, thousands rallied yesterday at the Statehouse, hoping to continue a movement that began in the spring with nationwide tea parties.

The enthusiastic crowd took aim at government bailouts, rising national debt, "socialized" health care and even Columbus' proposed income-tax increase.

If approved, the tax would increase from 2 percent to 2.5 percent and generate $90 million to $100 million a year. City voters will decide the issue on Tuesday.

"That's $1 billion over the next 10 years taken out of wallets and given to an institution right over there that has proven to us that they can't manage our money at all," City Council candidate Matt Ferris told the crowd while pointing toward City Hall.

"Say 'no' to this massive tax."

Organized by the Ohio Liberty Council, people arrived by the busload and expressed anger over issues such as taxes and government intrusion.

Some collected signatures in hopes of eliminating Ohio's estate tax with a 2010 ballot initiative. Many wore or carried messages with them, such as a sign that read, "Grow your own dope plant a politician."

"I want the right to drive a gas-guzzler and choose my own health care," said Amy Chauvette, 45, of Toledo, who held a sign that read, "America home of the free? Not lately."

"Government is losing sight of what they are really there for. They are not there to run car companies or health care. They are there to keep this country free."

The featured speaker, Andrew Napolitano, a New Jersey Superior Court judge and a Fox News commentator, got the crowd into a "freedom" chant and blasted the expanded government authority and lack of oversight contained in the Patriot Act.

"Remember, the government hates freedom. It is an obstacle to what everyone there desires," said Napolitano, whose speech ended with Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take It blasting from the speakers.

Though there was plenty of anti-Obama sentiment in the crowd, speakers took aim at both parties.

Liberty Council co-founder Mike Wilson asked everyone to punch the numbers of U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and George V. Voinovich into their cell phones.

"If they have voice-mail, I suggest you blow them up today."

Jason Rink of Clintonville, a member of the Liberty Council, reminded the crowd that President George W. Bush got the ball rolling by approving the federal bank bailout.

"Now that Obama is in office, all of the Republicans oppose the bailouts," he said. "They are born-again fiscal conservatives. That's convenient."
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July 4 T.E.A. Party in Perrysburg

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Obama's revealing body language

Come with me,
Over here.......
I want to show you something.

This picture truly is worth at least a thousand words. Click Here to Read More..

Dennis Kucinich Bravely Speaks the Truth

HAT TIP to David Edwards and Mike Sheehan
at PrisonPlanet.com

Appearing on CNBC’s The Call, Kucinich was highly critical of Paulson’s interpretation of events that involved Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis.

“Why wouldn’t Secretary Paulson take action to remove management and Mr. Lewis if he knew, and apparently he did know, that Merrill Lynch had all these losses and that Bank of America didn’t inform [the] shareholders?” said Kucinich.

“You have a signal being sent to Wall Street that if there’s [sic] potential misdeeds, you can still stay in the game,” Kucinich continued. “That creates a moral hazard.”

Hosts Trish Regan and Larry Kudlow took issue with Kucinich’s zeroing in on Paulson, with both suggesting Lewis was more to blame.

Kudlow shouted at the two-time former presidential candidate over inconsistencies in his assessment of the situation, saying, “None of this makes any sense to the viewer, to investors, whatsoever!”

Kucinich countered, “We have to have the ability to tell shareholders that things are legit, and they weren’t legit for the shareholders of Bank of America.”

This further inflamed Kudlow, which led to loud crosstalk between him and Kucinich, before co-host Regan stepped in and again questioned the congressman’s stance. Taken aback, Kucinich said, “How can you even have a show about this when you say shareholders can be notified after the fact?”

Kucinich is not the only lawmaker to grill the embattled Paulson.

“Hank Paulson never should have had that job in the first place,” Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) said on MSNBC. “He had a $700 million conflict of interest and everything that he did while he was Treasury Secretary, every single thing that he did, has one explanation – what’s good for Hank Paulson?”

Veteran journalist Robert Scheer also blasted Paulson over his connections to investment giant Goldman Sachs in a column that appeared Wednesday at Huffington Post.

“Goldman Sachs made $3.44 billion in profit this past quarter, while the U.S deficit topped $1 trillion for the first time in the nation’s history,” wrote Scheer. “Since most of the increase in the federal deficit is due to bailing out the banks and salvaging the greater economy they helped destroy, why is the top investment bank doing so well?

“Because that was the plan,” Scheer continued, “as devised by [Paulson], a former CEO of Goldman Sachs.”

This video is from CNBC.com, broadcast July 16, 2009. Click Here to Read More..

FNS Interviews Boehner

Fox News Sunday interviewed John Boehner (R-Oh) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md) this week.
Hilarious!

Boehner spanks Hoyer and the Democrat administration!

Boehner: Come on, Steny, you sound like the kid who showed up without his homework every day...

HOYER: Come on.

BOEHNER: ... and he wants to blame the dog for eating his homework. The president said unemployment wouldn't get above eight percent. We said early this year that this plan was not going to work.

Hoyer rebuts with "We inherited.....blahblah" and "Economists agree.....blahblah" along with other scripted excuses for why GW's administration has not ended.

Hoyer clumsily fumbles around health care, stimulus and job creation which made Boehner's slam dunks easy! If this is any sort of an indicator of the up coming election cycle debates, Republicans will regain control of Washington.

Lets all hope a viable third party emerges soon. The choices last election were Republico-fascism or Demo-socialism. Americans deserve to choose a Constitutional government based on Freedom.

Read the transcript HERE. Click Here to Read More..

GOP Minority Whip Slams Stimulus

Click Here to Read More..

Ohio Sovereignty Rally

Ohio Sovereignty Rally!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Ohio Statehouse, Columbus



Come and let the world know that Ohioans stand for freedom, HCR 11, and SCR 13!

From the Ohio Liberty Council:

On Aug. 1st at 2PM, Citizens from across the state of Ohio will converge on the Statehouse in Columbus for the first state wide Ohio Tea Party. The Ohio Liber-Tea Party, being organized by The Ohio Liberty Council, will focus on promoting and initiating local action and Constitutional solutions to problems.

What can you expect from The Ohio Liber-Tea Party? The Ohio Liber-Tea Party will focus on principles over politics. You will hear from citizens from our communities and leaders of respected liberty and freedom organizations about why they are concerned about the direction of America. But more importantly you will hear about how local action, constitutional principles, and state sovereignty (10th amendment movement) offer real solutions, and what we can all do to get involved. Click Here to Read More..

4th of July Tea Party

There are 10 Tea Party Events planned in Ohio for the 4th of July.

Tea Party at Perrysburg Perrysburg , Ohio Saturday, July 4, 2009 10:00 a.m. -11:00 a.m. Hood Park, Perrysburg Louisiana Avenue and Front Street Joni King (organizer) 4198742432 (organizer phone)
Contact Organizer | Website | Facebook http://teapartyatperrysburg.blogspot.com/ All citizens concerned about big government, adherence to the Constitution and out of control government spending are invited!

Click Here to Read More..

House Minority Leader John Boehner: Where are the jobs, Mr. President? | OpEd Contributor | Washington Examiner

House Minority Leader John Boehner: Where are the jobs, Mr. President?

By: OpEd Contributor
Examiner Staff Writer | 6/23/09 5:54 AM

All year, Democrats have made promises about job creation. If Congress passed the trillion-dollar "stimulus," they promised unemployment would not rise above eight percent.

Five months later, unemployment has spiked to 9.4 percent, with President Obama now admitting that he expects it to reach 10 percent later this year.

So what has the "stimulus" given us? Spending on projects like a new auxiliary runway for powerful Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. John Murtha's "Airport for No One" - but no jobs. In fact, we've lost almost three million jobs this year.

House Republicans offered a better economic plan to create more jobs and let Americans keep more of what they earn. According to a methodology developed by White House chief economic advisor, Dr. Christina Romer, our plan would have created twice as many jobs as the Democrats promised at half the cost.

Unfortunately, Democrats balked and commenced the biggest domestic spending binge in history. They've since passed a $400 billion "omnibus" spending bill loaded with 9,000 earmarks, a $3.6 trillion budget, and endless bailouts.

Yes, more should have been done to rein in spending when Republicans controlled Washington. But while Republicans have acknowledged this mistake and offered alternatives to curb spending, create jobs, and control the debt, Democrats have stepped on the accelerator, telling taxpayers that more government spending equals more jobs. We've certainly seen plenty of spending, but where are the jobs?

Matters are about to get even worse for middle-class families and small businesses, as Democrats have turned to health care, energy, and the environment. They're pushing a government takeover of health care that costs at least $1 trillion, forces at least 23 million Americans off their current health plans, and leaves at least 36 million uninsured.

According to Romer's methodology, 4.7 million jobs will be lost over five years under their proposal, with the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) predicting that the Democrats' new mandates would cost 1.6 million jobs among small businesses.


Tomorrow night, the President will use a primetime campaign-style event in the White House to sell his plan, but his own party isn't even buying it right now. The President's proposal would empower bureaucrats - rather than patients and doctors - to make key medical decisions, limit treatments, and ration care, raise taxes, and kill jobs.

The American people simply don't support it. The best hope for real reform is for both parties to work together. House Republicans have introduced a plan that will reduce costs, expand access, and increase the quality of care in a way Americans can afford - without new taxes, costly mandates, or a government takeover.

On energy and the environment, under the guise of reducing carbon emissions, Democrats are poised to force anyone who drives a car, buys an American-made product, or flips on a light switch to pay a national energy tax.

Not only will this drive up prices for food, gasoline, and electricity, it will ship millions of jobs to competitors like China and India that refuse to take the same approach. A study by the National Black Chamber of Commerce estimates the Democrats' plan will cost 2.5 million jobs.

House Republicans have a better way: An "all-of-the-above" strategy to clean up the environment, lower energy costs, and create more jobs. Our legislation, the American Energy Act, will increase environmentally-safe energy production, promote alternative fuels to reduce carbon emissions, and encourage increased efficiencies and technologies to maximize America's energy potential.

Saddling future generations with more debt is no way to create jobs. We need policies that help small businesses, the engine of our nation's economy, weather the storm and get back to creating jobs.

Republicans are offering common-sense solutions that will make a real difference in creating jobs, making health care more affordable, promoting a cleaner, healthier environment, and reducing energy costs. We hope our Democratic colleagues will change course and work with us to make these reforms a reality.

Rep. John Boehner, R-OH, is Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives Click Here to Read More..

Ohio Sovereignty Update

Ohio Sovereignty Resolution Hearing Tuesday, June 23 10:00am- CANCELED
June 22, 2009

Sen. Bob Schuler, a longtime veteran of the legislature and one of the co-sponsors of SCR-13, died Friday night at home after a long battle with cancer. Senate President Bill Harris canceled Tuesday’s session so members and staff can attend funeral services and consequently all committee hearings have been canceled as well.

Our thoughts go out to Senator Schuler’s family.

We expect the hearing will be rescheduled soon and will keep you updated. Our apologies for any inconvenience.


Please contact members of the committee and request their support of SCR-13, or you may use the SLAM (State Liberty Action Mailer). When the hearing is rescheduled, if you can make it to Columbus, your support is greatly needed! And if you wish to testify, all the better!

If you're planning to testify, click here for details about how to prepare. Click Here to Read More..

Climate Bill Contains Hidden Tax

Last year, among friends in San Francisco, Obama explained what his cap-and-trade energy tax is supposed to do to ordinary Americans:

"Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket... whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers."

The News-Messenger: Ohio Rep. signs the ‘No Climate Tax Pledge’

CLEVELAND — The Ohio chapter of the free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity recently applauded Ohio State Rep. Jeff Wagner (81st District) for signing the group’s “No Climate Tax Pledge.” By doing so, Wagner joins more than 100 lawmakers on the federal, state and local levels pledging to “oppose legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue.” U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-4) has also signed the pledge.

The pledge is available online at www.NoClimateTax.com.


Don't Use Climate Change to Hide Tax Hikes!


A climate bill should not be a vehicle for hiding a tax hike.
Let your elected officials know that you're watching how they vote on hidden energy taxes.

Congress is debating the largest tax increase in history, the cap-and-trade energy tax.

Cap-and-trade is a tax on coal, oil, and natural gas but instead of being a specific tax rate, the total level of use is capped and companies are forced to pay the government for emissions permits. They bid against each other to stay in business, and nobody knows how much the tax will be until they hold the auctions.

It's a crazy, unpredictable tax, but it's certainly a tax.

The Pelosi/Reid/Obama strategy is to hide the gigantic tax hikes they want to fund their bailouts and big government spending inside a global warming bill. However, the bill is stalling in the U.S. House of Representatives because of political infighting and citizen outrage over the cost.

Last year, among friends in San Francisco, Obama explained what his cap-and-trade energy tax is supposed to do to ordinary Americans:

"Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket... whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers."

There is one simple way to put members of Congress on the record and figure out if this is about the environmental at all, or just an excuse to hide a big tax increase: Ask them to sign the Americans for Prosperity No Climate Tax Pledge, which pledges members to "oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue."

So far we have over 100 lawmakers on the federal, state and local level. To stop this massive, hidden tax hike we need a lot more and we need your help!
Click Here to Read More..

Kucinich - Made in America - WAR

Hat tip: OpEd News June 16, 2009

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement against the war supplemental on the House floor:

"We are destroying our nation's moral and fiscal integrity with this war supplemental. Instead of ending wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan now by appropriating only enough money to bring our troops home, Congress abdicates its constitutional authority, defers to the president, and asks for a report. That's right, all we are asking for is a report on when the president will end the war.

"There is also money for the IMF, presumably to bail out private European banks. Billions for the IMF so they can force low and middle income nations to cut jobs, wages, health care and retirement security, just like corporate America does to our constituents.

"And there's money to incentivize the purchase of more cars, not necessarily from U.S. manufacturers because a 'Buy America' mandate was not allowed.

"Another $106 billion dollars and all we get is a lousy war. Pretty soon that is going to be about the only thing made in America – war.

Dennis Kucinich is a congressman from Ohio and a 2008 presidential primary candidate. http://kucinich.us/ The best way to reach congressman Kucinich is through the information on his his more...)

Click Here to Read More..

Brown and Kaptur Seem Surprised, Kucinich Saw it Coming

Obama backs away from reforming free trade deal
By: Susan Ferrechio
Chief Congressional Correspondent
The Washington Examiner
05/17/09 8:30 PM EDT

Congressional Democrats from economically struggling regions are getting frustrated as President Barack Obama backs away from campaign promises to renegotiate NAFTA.


"I’m disappointed,” Brown said. “There is pent-up demand for a new approach that starts with fixing what is not working, including NAFTA.”




Obama not only verbally promised voters there a NAFTA re-do, he did it in writing. “Bad Trade Deals Hit Ohio Harder Than Most States and Only Barack Obama Consistently Opposed NAFTA,” declared an Obama campaign leaflet picturing a shuttered factory.

“He made those statements in the Youngstown area,” Kaptur recalled. “And when these words are heard, they mean something. Now people are waiting for the results of that.”




“There is no way the Obama administration is going to reopen NAFTA,” said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic presidential candidate and staunch opponent of the trade agreement. “The candidates always say that.”



Congressional Democrats from economically struggling regions are getting frustrated as President Barack Obama backs away from campaign promises to renegotiate NAFTA.

“I am greatly disappointed that the administration seems to have backpedaled on trade, specifically on the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement,” said Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine., who says his state has lost thousands of jobs because of NAFTA. “President Obama campaigned on this issue, and I’m disappointed that he’s walking away from that commitment.”

Just last month, Obama’s trade representative, Ron Kirk, backed off the much tougher stance on the 15-year-old trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada that the president took last year as he vied for votes in some of the most economically depressed areas of the country.

“The president has said we will look at all options,” Kirk told reporters in April. “But I think they can be addressed without having to reopen the agreement.”

Kirk’s statement dealt a blow to senators such as Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Kay Hagan, D-N.C., who blame NAFTA for destroying the manufacturing economies in their states.

“I’m disappointed,” Brown said. “There is pent-up demand for a new approach that starts with fixing what is not working, including NAFTA.”

Kirk’s words also surprised Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, who accompanied candidate Obama last year though places like Youngstown and Toledo, which she says have been devastated by cheap Mexican imports.

When Obama was trying unsuccessfully to close the gap on Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Ohio Democratic primary, he pushed hard against the trade agreement Clinton’s husband had championed.

Obama not only verbally promised voters there a NAFTA re-do, he did it in writing. “Bad Trade Deals Hit Ohio Harder Than Most States and Only Barack Obama Consistently Opposed NAFTA,” declared an Obama campaign leaflet picturing a shuttered factory.

“He made those statements in the Youngstown area,” Kaptur recalled. “And when these words are heard, they mean something. Now people are waiting for the results of that.”

In December, Obama decided to appoint Kirk to the job of U.S. trade representative. The former mayor of Dallas is a vocal supporter of NAFTA, as trade with Mexico has created jobs in Texas and a steady stream of truck traffic through his city.

In February, anti-NAFTA Democrats bent Obama’s ear on the matter at the Democratic retreat in Williamsburg, Va. To their horror, one witness said, Obama listened to their arguments, then simply blurted out “We can’t stop trade.”

An undeterred Democrat responded, “The option isn’t no trade, it’s balanced trade.”

But as comprehensive reform for health care and energy consume the legislative calendar, optimism for a NAFTA rewrite is fading.

“There is no way the Obama administration is going to reopen NAFTA,” said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic presidential candidate and staunch opponent of the trade agreement. “The candidates always say that.” Click Here to Read More..

Kaptur VS Considine

Marcy Kaptur explodes at AIG trustee
By EAMON JAVERS | 5/13/09 7:10 PM EDT

Read more: "Marcy Kaptur explodes at AIG trustee - Eamon Javers - POLITICO.com

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) grilled members of AIG’s board of trustees during a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Wednesday – but the real fireworks started when the hearing ended.

Approached by AIG trustee Jill Considine after the hearing had been gaveled to a close, Kaptur unleashed a burst of anger, alleging that AIG is sending money to banks and other institutions that are exploiting her constituents.

Standing just a foot or two from Considine, Kaptur said, “You are defending the worst-behaving corporations that are too big and too irresponsible.”

“They hire outside people to come in and rape us,” Kaptur said, her voice rising. “It’s outrageous.”

Chastened, Considine did not respond, instead folding her hands until Kaptur left the room.

Earlier, the two women had another head to head battle over Considine’s role as chairwoman of a Bermuda-based company that provides administrative services to offshore hedge funds.

Considine is one of three trustees appointed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to control the roughly 77 percent of AIG stock purchased by the taxpayers. But she also chairs the board of a Bermuda-based company that administers offshore hedge funds, called Butterfield Fulcrum Group. Who, Kaptur wanted to know, are that firm’s clients?

“Mainly hedge funds,” responded Considine.

Which ones? asked Kaptur, pressing for names.

“Very small, that wouldn’t be on your radar screen,” said Considine.

“Pick two,” said Kaptur.

“We are a private company and usually don’t come out with the names of our clients,” Considine said. “It’s not a U.S. company, it’s incorporated in Bermuda, its senior management is in the U.K.”

President Barack Obama has targeted offshore hedge funds as tax shelters for the wealthy. Asked whether her company’s business practices are at odds with Obama’s rhetoric, Considine said her company is perfectly legitimate. “What we're talking about is a global company that was actually founded in Bermuda,” she said. “It’s not one of these companies that just went there.”

Throughout the hearing, members of Congress of both parties struggled to understand who the trustees are and where their loyalties lie. At issue was whether they represent the interests of the American people as they say, or instead report to the Federal Reserve Board of New York, which is itself controlled by a board of directors heavily stocked with Wall Street banks. Many of the committee members seemed skeptical that the trustees were as independent of the Fed and the U.S. Treasury as they claimed to be.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) wanted to know whether the trustees release minutes of their weekly meetings.

Chester Feldberg, who served as a Federal Reserve Bank employee for 36 years and is now an AIG trustee, said the minutes of the trustees meetings are released to the New York Fed. But he said he was unsure whether he could send the minutes along to Congress.

“It is my understanding that the minutes belong to the Federal Reserve,” Feldberg said.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) pronounced himself a skeptic of the creation of the AIG Trust in the first place. “It is inappropriate for shadowy regulators and bureaucrats to use any legal sleight-of-hand to obscure their influence in running the U.S. financial sector,” he said.

After more than an hour of questioning the AIG trustees, Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) threw up his hands in confusion. “It’s not clear to me and the other members exactly what you do,” he said.
Click Here to Read More..

Kucinich Rattling the AIG Cage!

Kucinich: This is NOT acceptable, Mr. Liddy. I'm not going to let you get away with it!

Click Here to Read More..

Kucinich: Talk to Iran before sanctions

Kucinich: Talk to Iran before sanctions

Thu, 14 May 2009 01:39:04 GMT

US lawmaker and former presidential contender Dennis Kucinich says the US must try diplomacy in dealing with Iran before pushing for more sanctions.

The Ohio Congressman from the Democratic Party told Press TV that the US has not the right to toughen sanctions on Iran before exhausting diplomatic ways. "I think it's important to engage in diplomacy with Iran we haven't tried it, why wouldn't we try diplomacy before we take other steps," he said.

The Obama administration seems to be pushing any deal with Iran to oblivion, as the State Department is following in the Bush administration's footsteps.

The liberal-wing of the Democratic Party, however, is entirely opposing more sanctions on Iran or pushing for "a regime change" in the country.

Kucinich added the US was going on with "a wrong policy" on Iran.

Rep. Brad Sherman, (D)-California believes that the US must slap more sanctions on Iran saying, "the time is ticking" for Iran's nuclear program and more sanctions are required in dealing with the country.

While the US says it is willing to change its approach towards Iran a group of lawmakers are pushing for a package of tougher sanctions which might include restrictions on selling gasoline to Iran.
Click Here to Read More..

House Republican Leader Calls on Obama to Fire Adviser Who Attacked Catholic Church

Obama has proven that he is not a fan of Free Speech. Remember when the Obama Campaign lawyers threatened Ohio T.V. Stations that their FCC license would be revoked if they ran a T.V. commercial produced by the National Rifle Association (NRA)which revealed Obama's voting record on gun control.

There is no provision in Article II of the Constitution—the article that created the Office of the Presidency—that allows the president to create any such thing as a faith-based initiative program or a so-called Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

House Republican Leader Calls on Obama to Fire Adviser Who Attacked Catholic Church
Thursday, May 14, 2009
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer

“Harry Knox is a hate-filled antithesis of this noble objective” of the advisory council, the letter says. “Knox is a virulent anti-Catholic bigot, and has made numerous vile and dishonest attacks against the Church and the Holy Father. He has no business on any council having to do with faith or religion.”

(CNSNews.com) – House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) joined nearly two dozen other prominent American Catholics on Wednesday in calling for President Barack Obama to fire a White House adviser who has attacked the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict XVI.

Boehner is the most high-profile public official so far to speak out against the appointment of Harry Knox to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Knox is director of the Faith and Religion Program at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a homosexual rights organization. Among other things, Knox has accused the pope of “hurting people in the name of Jesus” of "morally reprehensible" behavior and of "blatant falsehoods." He has accused the Catholic Church of "insulting" Jesus.


Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) also signed the letter, which was released Wednesday.

In recent weeks, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) has criticized Knox for his attacks on the Catholic Church, and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind) has called on the president to remove Knox from his advisory council.

Obama, who named Knox to the council on April 6, said that his faith-based program would “bring everyone together from both the secular and the faith-based communities.”

However, a May 13 letter from lay Catholic leaders said Knox does not fit that criteria, citing numerous examples of harsh comments Knox has made about the church, the pope, the bishops, and the Knights of Columbus.

“Harry Knox is a hate-filled antithesis of this noble objective” of the advisory council, the letter says. “Knox is a virulent anti-Catholic bigot, and has made numerous vile and dishonest attacks against the Church and the Holy Father. He has no business on any council having to do with faith or religion.”

The letter gives President Obama the benefit of the doubt on whether he has thus far been aware of Knox’s attacks on the pope and the church. However, the letter suggests that the president must act on Knox now that he has been made aware of his adviser's attacks on the Roman Catholic faith.

“As Catholics, we call on you to remove Mr. Knox from his position and to formally disassociate yourself from his militant anti-Catholicism. Failure to do so will result in the tainting of your Faith-Based Council--and indeed, your entire administration--as anti-Catholic.”

“As a leading Catholic lawmaker, Rep. Boehner felt it was important to weigh in, in condemning the abusive rhetoric this appointee has used towards the church and the pope,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told CNSNews.com.

The letter calling Obama’s attention to Knox's anti-Catholic statements comes just days before Obama is set to give the commencement speech and receive an honorary doctorate in law from the University of Notre Dame, one of the most well-known and most prestigious Catholic universities in America. The impending speech and honorary degree have sparked immense controversy.

The White House did not respond to written questions about Knox from CNSNews.com yesterday. Nor did the White House respond to earlier requests from CNSNews.com to comment about a statement by Knox that the pope was a "discredited leader."

Neither Knox nor the Human Rights Campaign responded to inquiries from CNSNews.com on Wednesday.

Knox, however, did speak with Newsmax on Wednesday. Concerning the letter from Boehner and other Catholics, Knox said: “It’s clearly not the truth.”

"I love the Catholic Church and love my Catholic sisters and brothers very much,” Knox said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Roman Catholic Church and for all the good that it does. I do think that we have a real disagreement about the role of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, both in the role of the church and in the role of public service."

L. Brent Bozell III, president of the Media Research Center, the parent organization of CNSNews.com, was one of the signers of the letter. Concerning Knox’s comment about loving the Catholic Church, Bozell said: “If Harry Knox truly loved the Catholic Church, the first thing he’d do is formally and publicly apologize to the Holy Father for his anti-Catholic bigotry.”

In addition to Boehner, McCotter, and Bozell, the letter was signed by Judie Brown, president of the American Life League; Larry Cirignano, founder of CatholicVote.org; Eileen Cubanski, executive director of the National Association of Private Catholic and Independent Schools; Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights; Chuck Donovan, executive director of the Family Research Council; Deacon Keith A. Fournier, editor-in-chief of Catholic Online and founder of Common Good; Deal W. Hudson, director of InsideCatholic.com; Phillip F. Lawler, editor of Catholic World News; Leonard Leo, president of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast; Tom McClusky, vice president of government affairs for the Family Research Council; Kate O’Beirne, president of the National Review Institute; Thomas Peters of the American Papist Blog; Al Regnery, publisher of The American Spectator; Patrick J. Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society; Charles Rice, professor emeritus at Notre Dame Law School; Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute; Phyllis Schlafly, president of Eagle Forum; Fr. Robert Sirico, president of the Acton Institute and Richard Viguerie, president of American Target Advertising.

“I don’t care about people who criticize the Catholic Church on public policy issues, let them have at it,” Donohue said. “But Knox is not content to disagree. He must demonize. He says the pope is not simply wrong about condoms, he implies he is lying.”

On March 17, in a statement published on the HRC Web site, Knox wrote: “The Pope’s statement that condoms don’t help control the spread of HIV, but rather condoms increase infection rates, is hurting people in the name of Jesus. … On a continent where millions of people are infected with HIV, it is morally reprehensible to spread such blatant falsehoods.

“The Pope’s rejection of scientifically proven prevention methods is forcing Catholics in Africa to choose between their faith and the health of their entire community. Jesus was about helping the marginalized and downtrodden, not harming them further,” Knox wrote. (See Previous Story)

On March 19, the San Francisco Bay Area Reporter quoted Knox as saying, “The Knights of Columbus do a great deal of good in the name of Jesus Christ, but in this particular case [Proposition 8], they were foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression.”

Proposition 8 was a California ballot initiative--which passed in November--that amended the state constitution there to define marriage as being between one man and one woman.

The Bay Area Reporter further reported that Knox said the Knights of Columbus “followed discredited leaders,” including bishops and Pope Benedict XVI. ‘A pope who literally today said condoms don’t help in control of AIDS.’”

Knox made several other comments in opposition to the pope and the church.

In 2007, when a Catholic bishop in Wyoming decided that a lesbian couple advocating same-sex marriage should not receive communion, Knox accused the Catholic Church of "insulting" Jesus.

"In this holy Lenten season, it is immoral and insulting to Jesus to use the body and blood of Christ the reconciler as a weapon to silence free speech and demean the love of a committed, legally married couple,” Knox said in a written statement posted on the Human Rights Campaign Web site. Knox also accused the church of an "act of spiritual and emotional violence" against the lesbian couple.

When the Catholic Church refused in December to support a United Nations resolution that would have equated all sexual orientations--and, in the view of the church, created an instrument to pressure nations into legalize same-sex marriage--Knox accused the church of indicating that violence against homosexuals was acceptable.

“By refusing to sign a basic statement opposing inhumane treatment of LGBT people, the Vatican is sending a message that violence and human rights abuses against LGBT people are acceptable," said Knox in a document posted on the Human Rights Campaign Web site. He declared the church's position on this UN resolution an "immoral stance in the name of religion.”

On April 6, the day Knox was named to the council, he told CNSNews.com: “The Pope needs to start telling the truth about condom use. We are eager to help him do that. Until he is willing to do that and able, he’s doing a great deal more harm than good--not just in Africa but around the world. It is endangering people’s lives.”

Donovan said he would expect similar outrage if a presidential appointee insulted another religion.

“We would be similarly concerned if there was a Christian or Catholic member of the council who publicly said a Synagogue had no right to have a bar mitzvah for a particular young person,” Donovan said. “It is simply inappropriate and it indicates that this gentleman, for whatever reason, is not aware of boundaries.”

Bozell said Knox’s appointment would essentially mean he is speaking for the federal government.

“We are working on the presumption that the president didn’t know about this man--as improbable as it may be in the vetting process that none of these statements, that are so easy to come by, were available to those who would vet,” Bozell said.

"They are now public comments and they are part of the public record. There is no longer any excuse on the part of the president not to act on this,” Bozell added.

Regnery said the Knox appointment goes against what Obama promised in forming the faith-based office.

"Certainly, having someone like Harry Knox on that committee does not do anything to bring people together,” Regnery said.
Click Here to Read More..

Way to Grow the Government

In this time of recession, many workers are facing either taking a cut in pay, or a cut in benefits or even losing their job altogether. There is one stark contrast to the losses that every wage earning Ohioan faces, that is the gains in government.

As income for hard working Ohioans shrinks, jobs disappear and homes are foreclosed, the government is increasing pay and hiring more staff.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray boosts staff and payroll
Posted by Reginald Fields/Plain Dealer Bureau Chief May 10, 2009 21:00PM
Categories: Open, Real Time News

COLUMBUS -- During his first three months in office, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray increased the size of the staff and raised the agency's payroll by nearly 5 percent, while the state's revenue dropped sharply and the governor pleaded for spending restraints.

The increases can partly be attributed to the fact that Cordray, who had been state treasurer, hired 42 people from that office to join him at the attorney general's office and gave all but two of them pay raises.

Between Jan. 3, the weekend before he took office, and April 11, the Democrat hired 131 people, while 79 employees quit or were fired during that period.

The office payroll per two-week pay period increased from $4.4 million in early January to $4.7 million -- a 4.6 percent jump in three months.

Cordray says the numbers don't tell the whole story, and that he has taken steps to eliminate positions, lower salaries and reduce overtime to address the state's financial difficulties.

Ohio's finances have been circling the drain. The state is struggling with plummeting tax revenues that have blown a hole in the current budget and have left lawmakers with another gap to fill as they plan for the next two-year budget.

Gov. Ted Strickland in April again urged state agencies and executive offices to comply with his written order from January 2008 to limit, not increase, payroll expenses.

But Cordray made dozens of hires, largely out of necessity after taking over an office riddled with vacancies following a sexual harassment scandal that led to the resignation of former Attorney General Marc Dann last May.

As a separate office not directly under the governor's administration, Cordray is not bound by Strickland's call for spending restraints. But the attorney general said he is sensitive to the state's budget troubles.

"We have eliminated a number of vacancies," Cordray said. "We've had to absorb budget cuts, so we are not going to fill some of those."

The attorney general said he took office with 177 vacancies and has since permanently eliminated 43 positions. He also lowered the top end pay for the office from $149,000 to $125,000 a year. And he said he is lowering overtime costs.

"Do we have more employees than we did in January? Yes," Cordray said. "But is that a fair comparison? I don't think so."

After The Plain Dealer inquired, Cordray said his office is now calculating payroll differently, too, eliminating certain "fees and processing costs." That brought the payroll figure to just below $4.4 million at the end of April, but it will fluctuate, he said.

A similar cost adjustment intended to lower the payroll figure was not made, however, for the January payroll numbers released by his office, making a direct comparison difficult.

Cordray, who was elected in November to finish Dann's vacated term, has also been generous with the pay he offered his newly acquired staffers, especially those most loyal to him.

For example, his top media representative, Holly Hollingsworth, earns $98,000 a year. The highest earner in that position under Dann and his appointed successor, Attorney General Nancy Rogers, earned $75,000.

Cordray, who is up for re-election next year, noted that he has three people working directly with the media while Dann had four. He also said the communications job at the attorney general's office is tougher than at the treasurer's office.

And the person directing communications for Cordray, Leesa Brown, who also handled communications for his campaign last year, earns $115,000 annually. The equivalent position under Dann paid $102,000, and Rogers' acting director made $75,000.

Cordray explained that Brown, whose title is executive director of policy and public affairs, has more duties and supervises more people than her predecessors.

The job still oversees external communications, constituent services and media relations but now also includes more outreach services and policy research.

In addition to Hollingsworth, Brown manages employees with titles like senior new media designer and senior new media strategist. Some of the titles did not exist prior to Cordray; others did but were shifted from other sections in the office.

Cordray brought along 42 employees from the treasurer's office -- including Hollingsworth and Brown -- and gave all but two raises. Twenty-three of them got a hike of 5 percent or better, including a dozen who got at least a 10 percent pay bump.

"If they had broader duties here than in the treasury, then I took that into account. I think there were minor salary adjustments for a lot of people," said Cordray, who doesn't believe money was the determining factor for most of those employees.

"I don't think I had to lure people over to the attorney general's office," Cordray said. "People who wanted to work for me came to work for me." Click Here to Read More..