Debbie -

Just wanted to update you that I cannot make tomorrows meeting of SMIA at Jersey Mike’s at 9:00 a.m.

The Courier-Journal is interviewing/videotaping me and my opponent at 8:30 a.m., then the Kentucky Right to Life walk is at 10:00 a.m. at St. Martin of Tours church, I plan on going to that right after my C-J interview.

I am sorry I can’t make it, but please ask your members to vote for me, and I look forward to seeing you all again at your October meeting, if not sooner.

Pass it along that the Middletown Festival and Fair is Friday and Saturday, and Saturday night at 9:45 the Southeast Christian Mens Choir will sing patriotic songs during the fireworks finale.  The choir is 100 members strong and mostly veterans.  Lets celebrate America’s greatness! Hope to see you all there.

Thanks.

Tom C.

Sept. 10, 2010, Louisville KY – Last night’s Tea Party Social, held at Zazoo’s, was attended by about 50 people, overwhelming the little bar/restaurant in St. Matthews, but a good time was had by all.  The first hour included a lot of socializing and networking.  There were new-comers who were just checking out the group to see whether they were a bunch of “evil haters” as portrayed by the media or whether they were the mild-mannered, taxpayers and backbone of America types (which they are).

There were several speakers, including KY State Senator Dan Seum, who said he was very glad to find some kindred spirits.  He recommended that we keep an eye on the legal bribery that goes on in state government, with the state providing jobs or contracts to legislators or their family members in exchange for votes.  Unfortunately, he did not say how we are going to find out about these legal pay-offs, but we will be glad to publicize them here if anyone finds out and tells us about them.  Senator Seum praised David Williams and discussed the legislation they are co-sponsoring that would give parents the right to send their children to their neighborhood schools.

Most of the speakers talked about the Jefferson County Schools, their opposition to busing, the poor return they get on their investment, the fact that the school system ignores parents, the need for charter schools and other competition, and the need to improve the government schools.  Wendy Caswell said she has put together all the information about the various elected officials, their districts, their responsibilities, etc., so we can find out about them, and she hopes to post it on the Louisville Tea Party web site.  Two mothers, including Charity Edmonston,  spoke about a group they formed, called PIKE, which is promoting charter schools.  One of the mothers actually established a charter school in the San Francisco area and is now home schooling in Kentucky.  They asked people to go to their web site to learn about charter schools, to ask their elected officials what their position is on charter schools,  and to sign up to be ready to support them when a phone call to a legislator or other similar type of help is needed.

It appears that many people have awakened to the need for continued citizen involvement in government, and they intend to stay involved and to demand that the government be accountable to the people.

A few months ago, President Obama received and was reading a report that there were over 100,000 cattle guards in Colorado .  The Colorado ranchers had protested his proposed changes in grazing policies, so he ordered the Secretary of the Interior to fire half of the “cattle” guards immediately! Before the Secretary of the Interior could respond and presumably try to straighten President Obama out on the matter, Vice-President Joe Biden, intervened with a request that…before any “cattle” guards were fired, they be given six months of retraining for Arizona border guards.  ’Times are hard’, said Joe Biden, ‘it’s only fair to the cattle guards and their families!’   And these two guys are running our country, OMG!

August 30^th in the year of our Lord Christ 2010

Liberty is a gift from God and in this greatest nation on earth we revere Liberty and understand it is not government that provides it. The Restoring Honor Rally was all about the restoration of honor in our hearts first having faith that we will then move our nation to honor the foundational principles recorded in our Declaration and Constitution and carved in stone in our memorials and buildings.

Without God, whatever we do is of little value, of that I am sure, and His Holy Spirit was certainly working in the hearts of our countrymen this past weekend in Washington, DC as Faith, Hope, and Charity were evident everywhere. Glenn Beck and those who stood up with him understand that because each and every one of the speakers acknowledged Jesus Christ, even the Jewish Rabbi.

The enemy within, the mainstream media, who long ago rejected the concept of Honor, are working to denigrate and destroy all that we do by attacking our character and ignoring what we say. Unfortunately for them, C-Span ran the event live and anyone who cares to check it out can see that we are not racists, fear mongers, or radical extremists. We are Americans – black, white, red, yellow, Christian and non-Christian, men and women, crippled and healthy, young and old. We all love our country’s heritage and exceptionalism and we want it RESTORED, not conserved. Some of us gave blood for it.

It was 47 years ago that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the very same day, August 28^th, inspired a peaceful multitude to meet at the Lincoln Memorial and stand for those same principles and values that make America the greatest and most free nation ever to exist, a nation that carries the torch of Liberty for all of mankind.

Dr. King was reverently honored at the Restoring Honor Rally and his dream became a reality as Americans of all stripes came together to again send the message that we stand for Liberty, not tyranny, and we will accept nothing less. Those present were truly Americans who judge another not by skin color, religion, or gender, but by one’s character.

Dr. King’s niece, Alveda King, was one of the speakers and what an honor it was to have Dr. King’s blood relative at this event on this day. Her message was positive as was every message delivered.

This Veteran was moved to see the Honor of some of our Veteran Heroes recognized and to know that the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a charitable organization which provides scholarships and other assistance to the children and families of our fallen Special Operations Warriors, was the recipient of over 5.5 Million Dollars due to this event and the people who made it happen.

Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of our country and carry the torches of Liberty to our towns and cities, and to the countryside. We must not give up.

It was an absolutely awesome event and this Christian Veteran Patriot would classify it as a spiritual event, not a political event. Nobody will be able to properly put it into words. You had to be there to witness the Spirit moving in the hearts of our countrymen.

Many of us did not know it, but last year we had an 81-year old man saved on our bus to the 9-12 Event and he gave his testimony to us this year in tears. You see, on the way to DC for the 9-12 Rally last year, Brother Howard heard several of our testimonies, mine included, and he decided right then and there to stop fighting it accepting Christ as his Saviour. We could have turned the bus around at that point and it would have all been worth it, but we marched onward to the nation’s capitol.

Let’s roll brothers and sisters. Let’s take America back and Restore her to her proper place of Honor. We are the standard.

“So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.”

–Isaiah 59:19 KJB

Are you as tired as I am of politicians who are constantly trying to pit one American against another – laborers against employers, middle class and poor against the rich, tenants against landlords, patients against pharmaceutical companies, whites against blacks, and more?  They like to tell us that we are victims and need them to protect us against the “bad guys”.  Of course, at the same time, they take huge political contributions from the “bad guys” and cut deals with them.  They’ve got quite a scam going.  While it may be working out well for the politicians and power brokers so far, it is very destructive and harmful to the American people – especially to those people the politicians claim to be protecting.  We have seen in Russia, China, Cuba, Korea, and even in Greece how the politics of envy and the “workers of the world unite” game plays out, and it does not end well for the workers.  It is time for us to stand up and bring this scam to an end.

In this “us against them” game, the government attacks employers as being evil and greedy, severely regulates them and increases their cost of doing business, and then is shocked to find that the unemployment numbers have gone up, and more people are out of work.  They change the rules of the game every day and threaten even more changes, creating tremendous uncertainty, and then they are surprised to find that people are afraid to invest and take the risks that are needed for a healthy economy and for job creation.  They punish the producers, reward the non-producers, and drag us all down.  Same old story.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Instead of rewarding politicians who are constantly trying to pit one American against another for political advantage, the American people need to join together and demand that the government treat us all with respect.  Demand that they stop trying to rob Peter to pay Paul, and stop trying to put their boot on the neck of Peter, Paul, or anyone else.  This is America, and no American should have the government’s boot on his neck.  (Especially since it could be your neck next!)

Instead of cheering for politicians and judges who ignore the rule of law in order to stick it to the “bad guy” (whoever they are scapegoating at any given moment), we need to demand a return to the American way, in which every person is held to the same rule of law and the government does not play favorites.  All the name-calling and scape-goating needs to stop.  Any politician who tries to pit one American against another or who engages in name-calling or scape-goating should be soundly rejected by the American people.

It is time to recognize that every person has something to contribute, that we all need each other, and that we all deserve to be treated with respect.  In a healthy America, we are all workers, from Donald Trump running his business, to a farmer plowing his field, to a teenager flipping burgers at McDonald’s, and we are all employers, whether we are hiring someone to mow our lawn, or to repair our car, or to treat our sore throat.  We all want to sell our services at a high price and buy other people’s services at a low price, and the competition of the market prevents us from abusing each other. It is when the government steps in to disturb the market balance that we get into trouble.

We need to recognize that we all benefit when the government protects people’s private property rights, whether that property is our own house or car or pension plan investment or the property of our employer or of our neighbor, and that we all pay taxes, whether directly, in a check to the IRS or county clerk, or indirectly, in the cost of our rent and of the products and services we buy.  We all pay a price when the government takes away resources from the job creators and severely regulates them, even as they tell us they are just beating up on the bad guys for our benefit.  We really are all in this together, and we really are harmed when anyone in our community is abused or mistreated by the government.

We do not need the government to beat up on other people for our benefit, both because we are not victims and because beating up on other Americans does not benefit us.  We are resilient, creative, “can do”  Americans, with “Yankee ingenuity” (even in the South), and we are perfectly capable of solving most of our own problems if the government would just remove the shackles it has placed on us and go back to performing its basic functions properly.  We want a free society in which today’s burger flipper has the opportunity to be tomorrow’s entrepreneur and to keep the profits that he will earn if his dream succeeds.  We also want a society in which people are free to fail, because that’s how we find out what works and what doesn’t work, and we know that failure can be the springboard to future success.

As Americans, we should be very suspicious of anyone who claims he can solve all our problems for us.  If someone wants to categorize us into groups and to pit us against each other, trying to make us feel like victims, we need to remind them that we are not victims or groups but rather are individual, free Americans, each with our own special talents and gifts, and we need to demand the freedom to live our lives and to creatively use our own minds, talents, and resources to achieve our own goals and pursue happiness in our own way.  Many people have given their lives to secure those God-given rights for us, and any politician or power broker who does not respect those rights needs to be sent packing by us – the American people.

November is right around the corner, and that is when we will have the opportunity to remind the politicians that we don’t appreciate being treated as their subjects.  They are supposed to be serving us – not us serving them.  Can you hear us now, John Yarmuth?  We will remember in November!

A few days ago I caught the end of a Sean Hannity show, in which there was a panel discussing issues.  Lou Holtz said that the welfare state is bad for the people it is supposed to help, because it traps them in a mindset of dependency.  Bob Beckel, the Democrat, agreed with Holtz and said the welfare system had good intentions but has had a bad outcome, trapping three generations in dependency, and it needs to be changed.  However, he said, a crack baby is born every day, and those babies need to be taken care of, and that is why he is a Democrat.

But what if Beckel had thought a little bit more about that subject?  Which set of policies is better for crack babies – the current system in which the government provides money to keep the baby living with its dysfunctional, crack-head mother, or an arrangement in which the dysfunctional mother is not propped up with government money and instead allows her baby to be adopted by a healthy, loving family that can provide not only the material things, like food and shelter, but also a healthy set of values, nurturing, and all the other non-material things a child needs?

From my point of view, there is no contest.  Just because the mother was physically able to have the baby does not mean she is capable of raising it, even with the benefit of government money.  Propping up a dysfunctional family is of no benefit to the baby any more than propping up a non-competitive business is good for workers or the economy.  Everyone is far better off to deal with the reality and make the adjustments that lead to a healthier arrangement than to use taxpayer money to prop up an unhealthy situation.

So, if Bob Beckel thought it through a little further, I think he would conclude that the conservative approach would also be better for the crack babies than the liberal approach, and, contrary to what he originally thought, he would conclude that supporting the Democrats actually harms crack babies while supporting the conservatives would help those babies.

In This Issue Tea Party Comes to St. Matthews 10.10.10 Media Blast: Your Opinion? Recovery???

Dear Patriots! It is an exciting time to be a Louisvillian….and an American.  It is neither numbers nor resources nor blathering by the powers that be that are decisive.  It is an impassioned minority, convinced and convicted by Constitutional principles that make all the difference.  It has always been so.  And it thus will always be.  Todd Lally is in a virtual dead heat with well-entrenched, abundantly-funded, Pelosi “Yes Man,” John Yarmuth, and that in a predominantly liberal city (see link below).  Amazing.  Yarmuth is vulnerable.  His far left extremist policies, spending America into oblivion and a voting pattern that is anti-business, anti-prosperity and anti-recovery, make him wholly out-of-step with everyday Americans like you and me.  So is Hal Heiner in his campaign vs. Greg Fisher: essentially a tie a mere two months before November 2nd.   The backlash is rising.  The tidal wave of resistance is cresting. We the People are fed up with wealthy, well-connected politicians–of ANY party–presuming to know more about what’s best for us and our families than we do! Vigilance is the word of the day.  We must go into “Preschooler Mode”: being relentless, persistent and tireless in our efforts to ensure that we are successful in restoring America once more to her intended stature.   Your Louisville Tea Party is focused, determined and will not let up until we are victorious. Yarmuth Visibly Stunned that Lally Has Closed to 47-45 ~~Dan Blanchard Tea Party To Descend On St. Matthews September 9th Social to be at Zazoo’s Our next roving social will be at Zazoo’s 102 Bauer Avenue, Louisville, KY (502) 894-8030, Thursday, Sept. 9th, from 6-8pm. As we bear down on the mid-term elections, look for these events to be much more content-rich as we address those issues most relevant to Louisville’s voters.  Speakers confirmed include Tea Party Board members Marilyn Parker, Wendy Caswell and Dan Blanchard; and Charity Edmonston, with Parents for Improving Kentucky Education.  Other invitees will include Senator Dan Seum, Patrick Duerr, Scott Judd and Hollis Smith. 10/10/10 “Remember in November” Rally 4pm – 6pm on Jefferson Square The Louisville Tea Party invites you to come out and bring a friend or two with you for a day of timely teaching on founding principles, celebrating with patriotic music and being energized and mobilized to impact the election cycle as never before.  This will be a strictly grassroots citizens’ event.  Guest speakers will include Mica Sims (Lexington Tea Party and Conservative Edge contributing writer) and one-time US Senate candidate and strong Constitutionalist, Bill Johnson.  Also taking the podium will be Marilyn Parker (”Mom Without a Teleprompter,” one-time Congressional  candidate and political activist), Wendy Caswell (Louisville Tea Party founder), Les Naiman (The Voice of Liberty in Louisville), Dan Blanchard (Louisville Tea Party President) and former 3rd District Congressional challenger, Larry Hausman.  Other speakers TBA.   Our MC for the event will be the resonant voice of Tea Party VP, Jim Coyle. Patriotic and celebrational music will be provided by Louisville’s own acappella vocal band, Water’s Edge.   And the Over-Reactors will take the stage as well. Media Blast Coming $ Bomb Success Translates Into Radio/News Ads When the dust settled, the total raised for our Money Bomb was just under $2600.  This is awesome and we are so appreciative as your grassroots activists, that we have these resources to utilize to make an impact over the last two months leading up to the mid-term elections.   We are we are well-under what we need for a billboard presence.  However, we can, with planning and precision, make a decided and significant impact on the outcome of the November elections via other media. Therefore, we’re inviting you, the true Tea Party of Louisville, to participate in developing our media blast for the remaining 59 days before the election.  Of the issues that face us all, as Louisvillians and Americans, please select the THREE (3) that you believe are the most pressing and significant and let us know which you believe we should most champion as the Tea Party cause between now and November. Immigration (Securing Our Borders) The Debt (Keeping America from Total Bankruptcy) Terrorism (The Ground-Zero Mosque, etc.) Education (Busing, Charter Schools) Healthcare Law (Mandating that Americans buy a Product) Unemployment (Which just increased in August, to 9.6%) Foreign Policy (Threats from Iran, etc.) We will be coming out with targeted, precise, strong ads on local radio and print media along with press releases in the 8 weeks.  But we want your input in shaping our message as we articulate it in pushing back over-reaching, intrusive government.  On to victory! A “Jobless” Recovery? Unemployment Rises in August: US Economy Running on Vapors

www.louisvilleteaparty.org

By Jim Waters

During the past week, Kentucky’s education report card took more hits.

First, the latest ACT college-entrance test scores show a favorite adage of Kentucky education watchers remains apropos:  “Thank God for Mississippi.”

Kentucky’s overall composite score — including all public, private and home school students — remained stuck at 19.4 for the second straight year.

The only reason the overall score didn’t drop? Private and home school students experienced the greatest score increase in history. Their composite rose from 22.3 last year to 23 this year. Otherwise, there might not have been any state for which to thank the “Almighty.”

Kentucky’s “educrats” often blame failure to improve test scores on the fact that all students must now take the ACT. Scores get dragged down when everyone tests, they whimper.

But author Catherine Pulsifer offered appropriate advice when she admonished: “Fix the problem, not the blame.”

At one time, blaming failure on higher participation rates might have held water. But now, more states require most kids to test, leveling the playing field.

Of the eight states with at least 96 percent of students taking the ACT this year, Kentucky finished ahead of only one – yep, that one. Meanwhile, Illinois, Colorado, Louisiana, Wyoming, Michigan and Tennessee all had high participation rates – and significantly higher scores.

See? It can happen.

The improved showing among Kentucky’s non-public students offers stark contrast to that of public school students, whose scores actually fell from last year.

But that’s not the only thing that’s gone down lately. Kentucky’s “Race to the Top” application dropped like the jaws of the union-backed bureaucrats who filed it when they got the news.

So, Kentucky gets none of the $3.4 billion in federal money for schools bestowed on nine other states and the District of Columbia, which has those dropping jaws playing the blame game. But they won’t impugn the most disingenuous player in the failed effort: the state teachers union.

Without question, the union offers the chief obstacle to genuine education reform.

What other conclusion can reasonable thinking Kentuckians reach when the union is willing to deny our state $175 million — Kentucky’s stake in the “Race to the Top” competition — during economically rough times just to keep charter schools out.

Sharron Oxendine, Kentucky Education Association president, must be feeling the heat. She’s now telling reporters her union “offered” to work on issues related to charter schools but was rebuffed.

That’s not what Oxendine indicated on KET’s “Kentucky Tonight,” when she labeled charter schools “a radical new idea” and accused charters of “allowing just a very narrow group of students to benefit.”

Such claims would be news to President Obama, who consistently emphasizes support for charters — one of the brighter spots in his presidency — and a must for states wanting “Race to the Top” money.

The performance of charter schools also has been a bright spot in Louisiana following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Before Katrina, Kentucky consistently outperformed Louisiana on the ACT by a wide margin. But even before hurricane winds started blowing, Louisiana was starting to turn the corner by taking over some of New Orleans’ habitually failing schools.

Following Katrina, the takeover process dramatically accelerated.

There were “unprecedented numbers of charter school authorizations in the hope that the entrepreneurial spirit of charter operations would be equal to the tremendous rebuilding task required,” said education researcher Dick Innes.

Yes, it’s been a bad week for ACT scores and charter schools in Kentucky. But it’s been just the opposite the past few years in The Big Easy, where — coincidentally or not, you decide — a dramatic increase in charter schools accompanied solid ACT progress that has Louisiana thanking “The Big Guy” for Kentucky and lots of other states.

— Jim Waters is vice president of policy and communications for the Bluegrass Institute, Kentucky’s free-market think tank. Reach him at jwaters@freedomkentucky.com. Read previously published columns at www.bipps.org.