Via RedState
Posted by Congressman Jim Jordan (Diary)
Friday, February 17th at 3:30PM EST
Three years ago today, President Obama signed his infamous stimulus package into law. In exchange for $1.2 trillion (including interest), liberals said their plan would bring the unemployment rate down to about 6% today. It hasn’t fallen below 8% at any point in the last 36 months.
There has been a recent drop, though, which some Democrats claim as proof that their stimulus plan finally worked. But if that’s true, then where are the jobs?
As more and more people have learned recently, the official unemployment rate doesn’t actually count unemployed people who have given up looking for work. The above chart offers another look at the jobs data. It shows the “labor force participation rate,” which represents the share of working-age Americans who are either employed or unemployed but looking for work.
As you can see, only 63.7% of working-age Americans are currently in the workforce. The rate hasn’t been that low in almost 29 years! To put it another way, 36.3% of working-age Americans do not have a job and are not even looking.
Liberals think they can fabricate jobs by growing the government. What we need is to create jobs by growing the economy. That’s why conservatives in the Republican Study Committee are getting behind H.R. 3400, the Jobs Through Growth Act.
It ramps up energy production. It fights back against regulation-gone-wild. And it allows you to throw out the old tax code for one that’s simpler, flatter, and fairer.
The past three years have made clear what doesn’t work. Let’s go with what does.
THE ILLEGAL FLOOD OF DISEASE
Did you know hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants crossing our borders without being health screened have brought us thousands of new cases of leprosy in the past years since we opened the southern border back door? (Dumb Question). Additionally, they brought 10s of thousands of cases of incurable (multiple drug resistant) tuberculosis, hundreds of thousands of cases of high resistant hepatitis (ask me about it), blood parasites (ask me about it), head lice (not yet) no hair and many other diseases.
Chagas Disease (Chagas (SHA-gus) disease is an inflammatory, infectious disease caused by a parasite found in the feces of the triatomine bug. Chagas disease is common in South America, Central America and Mexico, the primary home of the triatomine bug. Rare cases of Chagas disease have been found in the southern United States as well, but it is coming close to high levels now and can be passed from person to person.
Exotic Newcastle Disease (ND) is another newcomer. A catastrophic outbreak of exotic ND led to contact between chickens that were packed in crates and brought across the unguarded section of the border from Mexico. The chickens were raised in a farming district in California. Poor security at a chicken farm led to contact with the infected chickens and the commercial poultry business. The disease spread rapidly from 1971 through 1973 within the California poultry farms. The disease was eradicated after eight Southern California counties were quarantined and millions of chickens destroyed (Colonel Sanders rolled over in his grave after seeing all those chicken wings going to waste).
The cost to the tax-payers was $56,000,000.00 (chicken feed to the US Congress) (Pun intended) in 1973 dollars. But it was not the illegal chicken immigrants that caused the problem, it was the “poor security failing” as our liberal friends would say. They (liberals) shed blame like water off of a duck’s back (I wanted to keep this section in the fowl mind set).
Don’t take this letter to mean that our country shouldn’t have an “open arms policy” towards immigrants, but it should be the legal way. But we cannot continue to let our Leaders (I use that term very loosely) keep this flood of people that will shortly cost us trillions of dollars (“trillion” a very small amount of money in a politician’s mind) to pay their health costs and schooling, taking away jobs from the America poor. The liberal answer to that is “Don’t worry, we always have “Obama’s stash” to fall back on.” But remember, that “stash” is our tax dollars, which was your “stash” for old age enjoyment, if there is such a thing. I’ll be 70 in May and don’t feel a day over a 105 (I do get some of Obama’s “stash”) but I’m still out there working, paying into Obama’s “stash” also.
Remember, thousands of children that have never been vaccinated or even seen a doctor in their lifetime are now mingling with our children in all of the school systems in the country. I’d like to see their health/shot records that a school is supposed to get (or at least they used to) before they start school, but in the liberal’s mind, that would be called the “BAD old days – it’s not progressive”.
I served my country for 28.5 years and got blood parasites and hepatitis from serving as a liaison on a Vietnamese patrol boat on the Mekong Delta. I had the best health care, yearly shots and check-ups and I still came home with a host of diseases (but no new holes) that still give me problems (the diseases, not the lack of holes) sometimes.
Don’t worry, I’m not Typhoid Mary, I am not contagious, I may be a bubble out of plumb, but I don’t want my country to go down the drain now. I do worry about what my son/daughter, grandsons and granddaughters will have if this keeps on going as is.
I did have to go to Long Bien Hospital to be treated. That’s where there were a lot of guys that didn’t have the lack of holes, some had way too many. Somewhere along the line I got separated from my uniforms; all I had was one pair of “Tiger Greens”, those that were there know what they look like.
I was told to report to Saigon. After I got there they offered me a choice to go back to a Vietnamese boat or go back to the USA……I’ll give you 25,000 chances to get the right answer. So off to San Francisco I went with orders to report to Alameda CG Base. After I got to the San Fran airport I called the base and told them I had enough money to fly back to the East Coast and report in there, where my family and next duty station were. They gave me the nod with verbal orders to go. Of course I had to borrow some money from another Coastie going to the East Coast (I’m still in tiger greens with a wallet with a service ID and a load of Dongs and “MPCs…Dongs/MPCs???? Ask a Viet vet.). I had my wife meet me at Philadelphia airport where I paid off the guy for my plane ticket. Boy, I did get the weird eyeball and a wide berth in a number of places. I don’t know if it was the way I looked, or was it smelled? My uniforms even arrived home before me.
A lot of people said that some people would spit on servicemen coming in from Vietnam and I was asked if that had happened to me. The only answer for that was “I’m not in prison for murder, am I?”
It is time for “YOU” to wake up, open your eyes, get involved, pull your noses out of the roses (always like to throw in a rhyme when I can) and take back our country from that POOL OF FOOLS in Washington, D.C. (and I like to end with a rhyme).
PS: I had the displeasure of serving a three-year tour in that POOL (everyone I know said I had a mental problem afterwards)…..visit, but don’t live there. It has to do with all of the self- adoration and the thought pattern that “anyone outside of the beltway is an idiot” that is in the air.
Every person, before they can be elected to Congress, should have to serve a year in a dirty/filthy combat zone.
CWO Roma D. Wade
USCG Retired
RALEIGH — State officials are pressuring local governments to plan for a one-meter sea-level rise by 2100, even though many independent scientists have argued the rise is highly unlikely if not impossible.
Even though a state advisory panel no longer recommends regulations based on the one-meter projection, local government officials worry that state regulators will try to implement those rules.
Such a policy, they say, would have a devastating impact on coastal economies, property values, and citizens’ ability to secure financing and property insurance. North Carolina also would become the first state to enact policies consistent with a projected sea-level rise of that magnitude.
In a 2010 report (PDF), the Coastal Resource Commission’s Science Panel said the sea level is likely to rise one meter by 2100. Now the commission is drafting policy “encouraging” coastal communities to consider accelerated rates of sea-level rise in local land-use and development planning.
A group of independent scientists have challenged the panel’s report, pushing the CRC to revise its draft sea-level rise policy so that the regulations in it read more like suggestions and the one-meter benchmark no longer appears.
There’s nothing scientific about the way the science panel came up with its one-meter projection, said John Droz, a physicist and environmental activist. Droz, with the help of more than 30 other scientists, wrote a critique (PDF) of the panel’s “NC Sea-Level Rise Assessment Report.”
Droz’s first complaint is that the panel based its one-meter projection on a review of scientific studies, but the review excluded studies concluding that sea-level rise is not happening. Also, the study cited most by the panel is no longer supported by its own author.
“They never mentioned this,” he said. “These people are either totally incompetent or they’re just totally dishonest.”
Droz also criticizes the broadness of the range of possible scenarios the panel came up with.
The report states that the panel has not attempted “to predict a specific future rate or amount of rise because that level of accuracy is not considered to be attainable at this time.” Instead, the panel predicts a “likely range of rise” between 15 and 55 inches and settles on 39 inches (one meter) as the “amount of rise that should be adopted for policy development and planning purposes.”
“It appears the authors want to have it both ways,” Droz said. “They rightfully acknowledge an accurate future prediction is unattainable, yet they make a future prediction that they expect North Carolina to use for development and planning purposes.”
Droz also takes issue with the tide gauge measurements the panel relied on. Of the eight measuring stations in North Carolina, the panel said it “feels most confident in the data retrieved from the Duck gauge,” which shows the highest measurements of all eight stations and which has been collecting data for the fewest number of years.
The Duck station’s 24 years of data show an average rate of sea-level rise at 16 inches per century. By contrast, a measuring station in Wilmington with 67 years of data shows an average rate of 8 inches per century.
Additionally, Droz calls the tide gauge measurements too crude to provide useful data. The report says that “a tide gauge can be as simple as a long ruler nailed to a post on a dock.”
It also admits “a drawback to tide gauges in North Carolina, in addition to their small number, is that most of them don’t extend back in time more than 50 years, making it difficult to resolve changes in the rate of rise over the decades.”
The report adds, “More accurate” satellite measurements have been available only since 2001. Droz argues that 10 years of data are “clearly insufficient in determining things like hundred-year trends.”
Droz said some scientists believe the sea is not rising at all. He points to a recent newspaper profile of Dr. Nils-Axel Morner, former head of the Paleogeophysics and Geodynamics Department at Stockholm University and former head of the INQUA International Commission on Sea Level Change.
“Despite fluctuations down as well as up, the sea is not rising,” Morner said. “It hasn’t risen in 50 years. If there is any rise this century it will not be more than 10 centimeters (4 inches), with an uncertainty of plus or minus 10 centimeters.”
Droz asked Morner what he thought of the science panel’s prediction.
“Sorry, simply physically impossible,” Morner wrote. “It is, for sure, not rising by one meter by year 2100. Our best estimate for 2100 is 5 centimeters with a 15 centimeter margin of error, and that is nothing to worry about.”
Damage control
After circulating his critique, Droz was invited to make a presentation to state lawmakers, who put pressure on the CRC to change the language in their sea level rise policy draft.
After reviewing his critique, Droz said one member of the science panel sent him a confidential message. “He apologized for signing off on it and said he was totally remiss in his obligation to do the right thing.”
Because of Droz’s work, the North Carolina Office of Emergency Management now is studying the impact of a range of potential levels in sea rise from zero to 15 inches by 2100, instead of 15 to 55 inches.
“We brought it down after talking with Droz and other individuals,” said John Dorman, director of the flood mapping program for the Office of Emergency Management. “We believe, as Mr. Droz says — and I’ll give him credit for that — that it needs to be based on science.
“None of us know what’s going to happen in the future,” he said. “The more we thought about that, the more we decided that while there’s value in showing what potentially could happen, when you get way outside the bounds of reason, it becomes more of a detriment than a benefit.”
Dorman said his department met with Droz and Tom Thompson of NC-20, a coalition of 20 coastal counties formed to protect their economic development interests from what they consider “unreasonable” environmental regulations.
“Honestly, they convinced us to run only the scientifically based, extrapolated rates [as opposed to the predicted accelerated rates] with some deviation to the lower side and upper side,” Dornan said.
“I agree with Tom Thompson and John Droz, you don’t want to put something out there that could impact North Carolina in a negative way, especially if it’s not based on science,” he said.
Full steam ahead
Chairman of the Coastal Resource Commission Bob Emory said he still is comfortable with the one-meter prediction and that his agency plans to continue “encouraging” local governments to use the benchmark in their land-use plans.
After local government officials expressed “some real heartburn” over the 39-inch benchmark, Emory says it was deleted from the CRC’s official policy. However, it still will be used for “education purposes.”
“It’s too soon to take a regulatory approach,” Emory said. “I don’t think people are ready for that. But it’s something they should start incorporating into their thinking.”
Carteret County Commissioner Doug Harris said coastal counties are being pressured to plan for a significant rise.
“Unfortunately, state bureaucrats are convinced that the presently not increasing rate of sea level rise will increase rapidly in the future, and, ignoring the second-guessing within the science panel, both the Division of Coastal Management and Sea Grant are aggressively educating and manipulating local government officials to impose 39-inch-sea-level-rise land planning immediately,” Harris said.
“Certainly, if sea level is rising more rapidly, or will begin to rise more rapidly, by any cause, we need to know it,” Harris said. But depending upon the final wording of the CRC’s sea-level rise policy, he fears it will in effect “take homes and businesses, raise insurance rates, diminish bank financing, and reduce property values by billions.”
Harris noted that North Carolina is the first state along the East Coast to propose a future sea-level rise rate and would be the first to develop a policy based on this future rate.
Sara Burrows is an associate editor of Carolina Journal
You might think we’re pulling your leg, but we’re not. There really is a group called “Democrats Against Agenda 21.” And they are serious. They’re very active in CA and they’ve had some successes. How can that be? It’s because they actually do something to educate and stop their government from mandating this crazy agenda. They are working to stop the government from taking property away from the rightful owners. Here is their web site Democrats Against Agenda 21. If you’re interested in taking some action yourself, they have some good suggestions. The first one is get up off the couch and do something. They suggest printing flyers, and standing on the corner passing them out to help educate the public. They even have a few examples that can be revised to fit your community.
There is a good YouTube video (here) that describes UN Agenda 21 in detail. It’s long, about an hour and 30 minutes, but packed full of information. Watch it on a rainy afternoon instead of watching the boob tube. You’ll be amazed at how much you agree with from this liberal, feminist Democrat (as well as somethings you don’t agree with). The thing is, she’s dead on regarding Agenda 21.
And why should you care? There are eight counties in NC who are contributing members to the ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability USA). See their members list.
The Weekly Standard reported earlier in an article in this blog that the IRS had imposed questionable requirements on the Richmond Tea Party. Here is another case of of Potential IRS abuse against the Tea Party. Considering the Obama IRS allows groups like Media Matters operate with a tax free status, it seems odd that they would be asking so much private information from Tea Party groups. Isn’t it time for you to call or write your congressman about this potential abuse of power. I did here.
From: Tom Zawistowski <tomz@portagecountyteaparty.com>
To:
Sent: Sat, Feb 11, 2012 12:05 pm
Subject: IRS Request for Information from the Ohio Liberty Council
Dear ———–,
I am writing to share with you a first hand look at how our Government looks at our movement and what they are intentionally doing, as a governement, to stop us. First of all, I know that many Ohio liberty groups have been waiting for months and even years to get their 501(c) 4 corporation applications processed by the IRS. We need to incorporate to protect our groups from liabilty and 501(c) 4 is the only IRS category for which our groups qualify – so we have to do this. But the government is not processing these applications which puts our groups at great financial risk until they are approved. As you will see below, this is no accident.
Many groups have also had to file what is called an IRS 1024 form to apply for Federal Tax Exempt Status so that we can do our income taxes. Our own Portage County TEA Party has been waiting for over a year just to get a response from the IRS so we can file our 2010!!! tax return. In the attached PDF’s I am going to share with you the “Additional Information Requested” of the Ohio Liberty Council from our June 30th, 2010 1024 application which we just received on January 30, 2012. Yea, they took a year and a half to respond to our application and they are giving us two weeks to respond back. As you will see, this is no simple request. We have been told by people in Washington that the IRS is under specific instructions to delay and scrutinize any applications having to do with TEA Party or Liberty Groups. I have ask our “representatives”, and your should be asking them as well, when they are going to call the IRS in front of a Congressional Committee and demand to know if this is true and who has implemented this policy and why?
Now, I want you to share with all your friends and relatives who think we are all paranoid about government intrusion into our lives the attached two pages of PDF’s. Have them read what our government is asking from us, so that we, as a group, are able to have free political speach and be able to support the causes and individuals we choose to support. See if they think these requests are “resonable”. Would they want me to share this information about them? These documents are real – not something from our imagination or from the Soviet Union. I have to repond to them. It’s not just the absurd requests like “provide a hard copy printout of your organizations website” and “list the social media outlets (you use to promote and publicize your organization) and provide hardcopy printouts of those outlets.” Take a look at how many pieces of paper that takes. They don’t just want the URL of our website, they want a hard copy and yes they want us to fax it to them, not email a pdf – I am not kidding. How about asking us to provide a list of anyone we invite to speak to our groups, including their “qualification” and contact information, and provide hard copies of everything that was handed out, and a list of everyone who attends those events? You like that one? How about wanting the “name, address, and corporate federal ID of all organizations that are members of our organization” or who attend one of our events? What does that have to do with our organization being classified as being not-for-profit? You think that is not government over reaching? Does this sound more to you like something the KGB would want to deteremine if you are a threat to the “cause” Comrade? You haven’t gotten the half of it. Print out these PDF’s. Then read them carefully, because they will scare you and then they will make you VERY angry.
These document are what the Democrat/Socialist party has in store, not just for TEA Party groups, but for your business, your church, your boy scout troop, your gun club, your favorite charity, your doctor, your life. If we do not rise up and defeat Barack Obama and then FORCE the Republican’s we elect to wake up and disassemble this big government machine that is bent on enslaving us all, we will all suffer the same fate of all the people in communist and socialist states throughout history who failed to demand and defend individual liberty. Show this to the people you know, who do not yet believe we should fear this government, in an effort to get them to join us in pushing our nation back from the brink of disaster and on toward a renewed committment to individual freedom and liberty. Together, we can not fail.
Sincerely,
Tom Zawistowski
President
Ohio Liberty Council
1-800-846-4630 Ext 104
tom.zawistowski@ohiolibertycouncil.org
CRYSTAL COAST TEA PARTY PATRIOTS
MINUTES OF
14 FEBRUARY 2012
NOTE; Secretary PEGGY GARNER was absent tonight, but her recorder was in attendance. Please bear with the following:
Meeting was held at the Golden Corral, Morehead City, NC
Meeting called to order by Chairman BOB CAVANAUGH
Pledge of Allegiance was led by ROMA WADE
Invocation by Representative Norman Sanderson
BOB apologized for the meeting starting late, because he and KEN LANG had been on the radio with Lockwood Phillips. Wanted to know where HOWARD and PEGGY were tonight. KEN said they were on a Valentine’s date. BOB said why, they’ve only been married about 80 years, right? DIANE said that is why they are still married.
BOB recognized our visiting dignitaries: House Representative Norman Sanderson, who is running for Jean Preston’s seat in the Senate. Asked Mr. Sanderson if he was District 3 or District 1 right now, to which he replied House District 3, which is all of Pamlico, and about 75% of Craven. He also recognized County Commissioner Chairman Robin Comer. BOB asked about the protest tonight. STEVE BEST said he understood it was at the Train Depot in the park. BOB asked who were they protesting? STEVE said they were protesting against the Marriage Amendment. BOB wanted to know if there was a big crowd down there. STEVE said probably 50 or so and he thought the newspaper and radio were there also. BOB also introduced Doug Raymond, a former radio personality. BOB asked, didn’t he have the talk station before Lockwood. Mr. Raymond said he worked on the talk station, Lockwood has always had it. BOB said you (Mr. Raymond) also took over Frank Rouse’s TV operation and you are now soon to be senator Sanderson’s campaign chairman as I understand it. Mr. Raymond said he was an advisor. He did not like titles. He was helping Norm in any way he could.
BOB asked if there were any new faces here tonight. He asked who the lady was with STEVE tonight. STEVE said it was his wife Susie and tonight was their anniversary.
BOB then talked about the little protest rally (some of the TEA Party folks showed up in Beaufort as well as some non-TEA Party folks) against Mr. Randy Ramsey who is running for Jean Preston’s seat under the Republican ticket. He is a registered Republican. BOB went back and checked the 2010 registration and party affiliation and he has been a registered Republican as far back as he checked. But he has been a real heavy donor to the Democrat Party and Beverly Perdue, Mike Easley, and also Mark Basnight. He said he did not want to pick a dog in this fight but the TEA Party is a very conservative organization and we have three basic principles that we are guided by. To try to get those principals disseminated, that is our goal, to educate the voters. It is one issue we thought was needed to bring to attention, and we hoped it would be a media event and we were led to believe that there would be TV and other media there. But just three newspaper reporters showed up but that still will get the word out; along with KEN and I being on the radio tonight. KEN spoke up and said they did have channel 14 stop by but without cameras. He gave the reporter with channel 14 a copy of the fact sheet they had made up to pass out. The reporter didn’t even have a notebook or anything to write on. KEN said he thought he was just passing by and noticed the crowd. BOB said he was surprised to hear that Ramsey was waiting until after we left to show up to register. KEN said it was obvious that he got a phone call letting him know we had left. BOB said anyway he hoped we shot a torpedo in the side of his submarine trying to sneak in under the public umbrella. Someone in the audience said they were trying to take care of him. They are trying to prove that there is a bus that leaves Havelock each morning loaded with illegals that goes to Jarrett’s Boat Works. BOB said he heard that they were investigating that. BOB said Jarrett has more than 25 employees too. The member said Jarrett was not the only one using illegals, there were several more doing the same thing. Where we have been getting that this bus leaves Havelock, they contracted with (Greenbar?) to haul bus loads to Jarrett Boat Works and he gets paid for all of them in cash. If we can get them on camera, we can take care of Randy Ramsey. BOB called on ROMA WADE who had his hand up. ROMA said he just wanted to say, ’when that goes, every boat builder out there by Jarrett Bay is gone also.” BOB said as a landscaper one of the things that really amazed him was when he retired from the Marine Corps was the lack of work ethic out here amongst our younger folks. He was totally taken by surprise by that. He had no idea how much power the youth uniform code of justice had over the young folks to make sure they worked.
BOB announced that he, KEN and FRED DECKER were going to have to leave early tonight and he believed our distinguished guests would be leaving early also. They had the Court House Meeting. He would be leaving the rest of the meeting in the hands of ERIC BROYLES, Vice Chairman. Before they had to leave he wanted to take this opportunity to ask Norman Sanderson to have the floor and speak to us about whatever he felt like.
Norman thanked BOB and said he just wanted to commend him and KEN for the outstanding job they did on the radio. He had done interviews with Lockwood. ‘They can be a little tricky at times. Lockwood is a good man and he means well. Anyway, I thank you for giving me a couple of minutes of your time tonight. I want to just start out by giving you a little background on me. I have lived in this area since 1972.’ Used to live right next door to Willie and since 1972 Norm has raised both of his children here. They went to high school in Pamlico County, graduated from Wake Forest University. His daughter, three grandsons and her husband live just ten miles down the road from them so that is a blessing to have them that close. But he wants to talk about himself a little bit. He knows he could spend this whole ten minute period talking about his opposition and the people running against him but he wants to tell us where he is coming from). From 2008, he believes, they started back up the Coastal Tax Payers Association which is his (and the Craven area) TEA Party version of what we do here in Carteret. When they got the CTPA going again, he was the Vice President. They used to have one years ago but it kind of died, he and the others lost interest, but when they began to see what was happening across our state and nation and even in our own county, a group got together and said we need to bring the CTPA back on line because we need someone out here that is a watch dog for the general public, because most of the public doesn’t have a clue as to what is going on. If they hear it on the 6:00 news that is great but who can believe what you hear anymore. And so they re-started that organization and he was really pleased to be a part of the first rally that they had. They had about 1500 folks that marched from the court house to Union Park in New Bern and had a fantastic rally about bringing life to what was going on in our government. He is just like those of us here tonight, he believes in the same three basic principals that BOB mentioned. He believes in less government, less government intrusion in our lives; the government has far too many tentacles in our lives; believes our government costs us way too much money for what they do for us, and so he believes in lower taxes for everybody concerned. He believes that we, the people/the citizens are the ones that have to rise up and take our state and country back because if we just let government go unchecked, it is just going to continue to get bigger and bigger. It is like fire; as long as you keep giving it fuel, it is just going to grow and never satisfy itself. So, what you do, when you talk about educating the voters, and that is what we have to do; we have to educate and let them know what is really going on. When we have someone come along that says they are one thing but all the indicators are pointing that they are something else, then we as citizens have a right to really ask the hard questions. We need to get answers to our questions. We don’t need to take anything for granted just because somebody claims to be a good person and they claim to be on your side; I say let them show me the proof. He will take the record that he has for the one term he has served. They went through probably one of the hardest legislative terms that they have ever had to do. It was the first time in one hundred years that the Republicans had control of the House and the Senate and they were left with a three billion dollar shortfall in their budget, which is required by law to be balanced. They did it without raising taxes. It took a lot of hard decisions; they took a lot of hits; a lot of criticism; were demonized; and were told everything in the state is going to die because of what they had done and he is here to tell us that none of that is going to happen. Our government had gotten so big that even government itself didn’t know how big it was. We did those hard things. We let the sales tax expire; and let the special taxes on couples who made over a certain amount of money, go away; and we did it without increasing….and he was proud of it. He had the ninth most conservative rating in the North Carolina House on his voting record last year. He will put his voting record up against anybody else’s. Any time we could reduce the size of government, he voted for it. Any time they could reduce taxes, he voted for it. Anytime they could reduce regulatory forms that were killing small businesses, he voted for it. That is the only thing that is going to turn our county and our state around is to get government out of the way. As you have heard many times ‘let business take over, cause business knows how to do it’.
Now, he wanted to talk a little bit about this race…. There have been rumblings for the last few weeks. He made up his mind several months ago because people came to him and said ‘you know there is a possibility that Senator Preston is not going to run again’. He said he had had the pleasure of working with Sen. Preston this last year. They would sit in each others office and talk about the things that affected Craven and Pamlico (which is part of her district) and also those things which affect Carteret, too. So when she made the announcement that she was not going to run, after some prayer and talking to his family, he said he felt it was just a natural thing, and if he was ever going to do this, now is the time. He already represents two of these counties and he will just envelop and bring in Carteret County because a lot of the same problems and difficulties that you all look at, they face the same thing in Craven and Pamlico. They did not know about the recruiting that was taking place because they have some people in high positions that like to pick and choose who will come in and serve. As far as he is concerned, nobody in Raleigh should pick and choose who will represent you in the state senate or house. It is not their decision. It is your decision and you are smart enough to look at a candidate and listen to that candidate, talk to that candidate and ask him questions and listen to his responses and ask him his vision and then you are smart enough to choose who it is you want to go up there and represent you. He knows we are in a battle. He has met Mr. Ken Jones over at Pine Knoll Shores. He is a fine gentleman. They had a conversation Saturday night at the Carteret Reagan Day luncheon. A campaign ought to be about issues and how they as candidates will go about solving those issues. That is what he and Mr. Jones came to in agreement. That is what their campaign is going to be about. After this is over, whoever comes out on top, we pledged each others total support that we would jump in and help the other person win this seat because we need to keep this seat in conservative hands. We know we are in a battle, because of the very magnitude of the amount of money that this third party has. Money means a lot, and it has always been in the past that he who spent the most money won the election. That did not happen two years ago when he ran against a three term incumbent who outspent him almost three to one. He took almost 70% of the vote and it was because of people out working hard and everybody played a part. Everybody did what they could do, whether it was $10.00, 50.00 or $100.00; or whether it was putting on a teeshirt and marching in a parade; whether it was working at a poll outside handing out literature; whatever it took. That’s what we did and we can do it again. I don’t care how much money this man says he has. All we would like is for him to stand up and tell us where he got it from. We feel he has to be open to you the voter. He does not need to come out here as a conservative and say we are going to Raleigh or Washington; we are going to be transparent and let you know everything we do and then go in the back room and do the same thing that has been done for the last one hundred years. If that is the way it has got to be then we are all in trouble and I don’t know where our country is going to end up. All of our victories, all of our freedoms, everything that we have worked hard for in 2010, it is on the line this year because if we lose this election in Washington; if we lose this election in Raleigh, if we don’t get a conservative governor; and if we don’t keep the conservative legislature so that we can finish those things that the governor vetoed on us, we are in trouble. Not only are we going to suffer but our children are going to suffer also. So, he said he is here tonight to ask for support, help, anyway that you can. If you would like to make a financial donation, he just happens to have some financial donation envelops. Every bit helps. Don’t think that what you can do is not going to make a difference because it will. We have got to really dig this year and do everything we can folks, because you know what is going to come in here during the Presidential election. We know what is going to happen when the Democrats come to Charlotte for their convention. There is going to be more money spent in North Carolina because he thinks North Carolina will be a key state. The people who have it now will not want to give it up and they will not give it up without an all out fight. We are here and hopefully ready for that fight because our future’s at stake. He said he would be glad to answer any questions. ERIC BROYLES said “Norm, you say you are for the reduction of taxes. What can you do about the gasoline tax?” Norman said that is why he wants to go to the Senate. The House voted to cap gasoline tax but they could not get it through the Senate. The House were going to hold it where it was before this last forced increase and don’t think that it won’t go up January again unless we can do something with it. One thing he has to say about the gas tax is ‘we have the highest one but most people don’t understand why’. We have the highest gas tax in the southeast because North Carolina’s DOT does all the maintenance, all the repair work, and all the new construction in the state and we don’t charge the local county anything. A lot of these states who have lower gas taxes makes the counties raise their property taxes so they can do the maintenance on local roads. We don’t do that in NC. It does level it out a little but it is still too high. ERIC said ’when gasoline goes up a dollar, it is not fair.’ Norman agreed. ERIC said going up in relationship with the cost of living that is a different issue. Norman said they say it is based on cost of oil. Asphalt is a petroleum product and so when oil goes up so does the cost of asphalt. We have been looking for years for a different formula, but so far nobody has been smart enough to come up with one. He knows there is one out there we just have to keep looking. Our gasoline tax should not be tied to what foreign countries charge us for petroleum. ERIC said we need to get an energy bill passed.
JEFFERY CRANE said he was a little confused about the gas tax is for the DOT? Norman said the DOT gets most of their money from our gas tax and from the fees that we pay for highways. JEFF said he was driving down 101 the other day and there were some people on a curve and they were mowing the grass. Usually they have people out there to slow you down and flag men, etc. because it was a dangerous situation. They said they did not have enough money to have flaggers when they are doing projects like that. He was curious as to what Norm thought about this. BOB said his question was why were they mowing grass in February? Norm said Tell you what we have to do, and it is just as important as the presidential election or the election of a Republican governor. When and only when we elect a Republican governor can we change the departments in NC from the top down and put people in there that are going to do better at running things. Someone said ‘with common sense”? Norm said right.
Someone (did not recognize the voice) said he would like to speak on Norman’s character. He had known him for forty plus years. He had lived across the ditch from him. He is the most straight forward, honest, upright person you will ever meet in life. He is a good Christian also. They go way back. Norm said thank you Will (so I presume the speaker was Willie Austin.) ERIC said he would also like to give Norm a compliment on what he did January 5th? They over road a governor veto to control the way monies are collected by the school’s unions/non-unions/teachers associations, (NCEA) whatever you want to call them. ERIC wanted to commend them on that, because he didn’t think anyone should be compelled to pay fees. Norm said we could spend a half day talking about that but we don’t have the time tonight. It is an organization that the state does not need to be helping in any way what so ever. Someone spoke up about the film industry in NC has gotten quite a bit of pull somehow. They are getting millions of dollars off the state now. Norm said he thinks it is an absolute waste. He has not seen anything come out of Hollywood in the last 15 years that he thought was worth anything. That was Gov. Perdue. She has gone and courted the film industry to come to Wilmington and a couple of other areas and she has lured them here with a whole lot of tax payer incentives. He doesn’t think anyone of them can show where it benefits…after we pay what we have to pay to get them here, he doesn’t see where it benefits the state. They bring in their own people, their own equipment…..we get a little bit of stuff around when they are eating, sleeping and housing…but then they are gone and take everything with them and we have given them a lot of money to make junk. Cause that is what comes out of it. BOB said they are part of the union so they are forced to hire union employees and we are a right-to-work-state.
BOB said he was going to cut this short because some of us have to go to Beaufort to the court house. He asked Norm to leave some of his donation envelopes with those who remain. BOB told Robin Comer that he wasn’t running against anybody, but did he want to say a few words before they left. Robin thanked him but said not at this time.
BOB said the TEA Party Patriots, Jenny Beth Martin and Mark Meckler, have published a book and all the proceeds go to the TEA Party Patriots. He had a free complimentary copy which he is putting in our library. Anybody can check it out free of charge any time you want. Someone asked if we also had a video library. BOB said we have a video library and STEVEN BEST, President and CEO of the Best Productions Corp., also known as The Cave, operates his home movie theater that seats 45 with various videos he has purchased and found. The next event will be this Saturday, February 18th at 3:00 pm at which time two movies will be shown, “Iranium” and “Agenda, Grinding America Down”, about communism in America. Call STEVE at 723-0493. Hoping to have a pot luck meal also. (So, if you would like to attend and bring something to eat, please fell free to do so. It will be appreciated.)
FRED said he wanted to tell Norm one thing…. during the primaries parties do not have people at the polls. The TEA Party does. Our plan is to work every one of them or at least as many as we can.
BOB called on EULA PARKIN. EULA said she was not going to talk about Muslims this week. She was going to talk about the owls. She had bought copies of booklets and wanted to read a couple of clips from them. If you are interested in the book, it costs $1.00, however, if you want to give more than $1.00 it will be appreciated. On page 29, “the organizers for OWS worked hard to portray their movement as being composed of people who live next door to you and have been financially blindsided by the 1% who allegedly control America. But New York magazine revealed a very different reality in a story published on October 2, 2011. A poll it conducted with 100 protestors in Manhatten disclosed that half were in their 20’s and 35% were of the opinion that the US government is no better than Al Quida. While 45% said Capitalism can’t be saved and is apparently immoral. Another survey of 200 OWS protestors 65% said the government has a moral responsibility to guarantee all citizens access to affordable health care, a college education and a secure retirement regardless of the cost. 77% supported tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans…52% had participated in political movements before…98% endorsed breaking the law to achieve their goals….and 31% said they would support violence to promote their agenda. Doug Shown(?) the Democratic pollster whose firm conducted the survey concluded that the OWS activists hold values that are dangerously out of touch with the broad mass of the American people and are bound by a big commitment to radical left wing policies.” She then read from the last two pages of the book: Barbarism vs. Civilization. As a way of normalizing Occupy Wall Street, it’s supporters have tried to suggest that it is the opposite side of the coin to the TEA Party demonstrations. President Obama has helped to propagate this view of observing that ‘in some ways the OWS demonstrations are not that different from some of the protests that we saw coming from the TEA Party. According to Vice President Joe Biden, OWS and the TEA Party have a lot in common, since they both think the system is not fair. But the TEA Party demonstrations resulted almost no arrests in contrast to the 4,800 that took place in the first two months of OWS and the TEA Party had no rapes, no deaths, no defecations and no $13 million dollar bill for police overtime and cleanup afterward. The OWS can be said to be the opposite side of the coin to the TEA Party only in the sense that barbarism is the opposite side of the coin to civilization. She bought 25 copies of the book and if you would like a copy just drop your dollar or whatever you wish to donate in the jar and pick up a copy. One more thing, EULA asked, how many of you shop at Food Lion and use your card for discounts? If you get on the internet, www.foodlioncentralnorthcarolina.orgdonate and enter the number on your card. A portion of whatever you buy goes to the food bank of central and eastern North Carolina. There are 500,000 people in this area that need help. All you have to do is go to this web site and sign in with your card number (the number between the 0‘s) .
BOB turned the rest of the meeting over to ERIC (and my recorder left with the group going to Beaufort to the Court House. Thus the minutes end here. Will have to talk to ERIC to find out what happened after we left.)
Minutes submitted by PEGGY GARNER, Secretary.
Representative Norm Sanderson and Mayor of Pine Knoll Shores, Ken Jones, filed to run for Senator Jean Preston’s seat on February 13th. For weeks it had been rumored that Randy Ramsey, owner of Jarrett Bay Boat Works would also declare his candidacy for Senator Preston’s seat. Mr. Ramsey’s did not show up at the Board of Elections with the other candidates as his filing was being protested by some people concerned about his political connections. Mr. Ramsey delayed filing until the protestors left. So why did Mr. Ramsey avoid confronting the protestors? What is Mr. Ramsey hiding?
Both Representative Sanderson and Mayor Ken Jones are solid conservatives each who have public records to validate them as conservative Republicans. Voters have been able to judge both of these men based on their actions while serving in elective office.
Mr. Ramsey is a registered Republican, but his political views are largely unknown to voters. He does not have a public record that voters can judge what he may do as an elected official. Some might say that is a good thing. But wait, you might want to dig deeper, because what Mr. Ramsey has done “in the smoked-filled room behind closed doors” could be very telling. When you look at Mr. Ramsey’s political contribution and political associations for the last 15 years it gives a clear picture of his politics. If you go to this web site www.followthemoney.org (a site that tracks money in state politics) you will learn that since 1997, Randall Ramsey has given $36,950 to Democratic candidates in NC including, Mike Easley, Bev Perdue, Marc Basnight and the NC Democratic Party. But wait, there’s more… during that same period he gave only $2,750 to Republicans. Mr. Ramsey did not give a dime, not one red cent to Senator Preston, or Representative McElraft during the same period.
But wait, there’s more… Mr. Ramsey has been quoted in the press as saying “I’ve tried to support the candidate I’ve felt would best serve the people of our community.” He also said “I have supported the other party in the past, but it was because I thought they (the candidates) understood the issues in Carteret County and would support us the best.” Mr. Ramsey by his own declaration thought that Democrats including Mike Easley, Bev Perdue, Marc Basnight, and the Democrat Party would represent Carteret County better than Senator Jean Preston, or Representative Pat McElraft. The people of Carteret County certainly disagree with Mr. Ramsey because they elected Senator Preston and Representative McElraft over and over.
But wait, there’s more… in addition to the large donations to the NC Democrats, Randy Ramsey, the owner of Jarrett Bay Boat Works, was reported by NC Civitas to have used his corporate airplane to provide “unreported flights” for Governor Bev Perdue (also called Bev’s “Travelgate”) (Reference- http://www.civitasreview.com/elections-campaigns/travelgate-perdue/).
These actions follow a pattern dating back to the Easley administration of political donors providing free air travel and political contributions in return for political favors or political appointments. In Ramsey’s case, “pay to play” political favor was appointment to the NC State University Board of Trustees.
But wait, there’s more… Mr. Ramsey recently boasted in his own Press Release dated February 10, 2012 (http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=1b8f1d3fdc546a00dc3621b76&id=b80e336ca2) that he had amassed $132,827 four days before filing to run. Mr. Ramsey, who donated all that money to you? Are you willing to disclose your donors before the campaign reports come out just before the primary election? How many of these donors are political players like you who will be expecting political favors if you are elected? What is the quid pro quo? Do you expect you can simply spend a lot of money to create a smokescreen that the citizens of Carteret, Craven, and Pamlico Counties can’t see through? Do you really?
Randy Ramsey has been a major player in liberal Democrat “pay to play” politics and is not representative of the conservatives values in NC District 2. Anyone who expects the liberal Democrat machine of Mike Easley and Bev Perdue to “understand the issues important to the citizens of Carteret County” better than those representatives elected by the citizens of Carteret County to serve them does not themselves understand what is best for Carteret County citizens. Mr. Ramsey has supported Democrats because that defines his values.
We do not need or want a Democrat pretending to be a Republican to run for the Senate seat currently occupied by a fine Senator such as Jean Preston. This is no way to honor Senator Preston’s service to District 2 by electing a RINO Democrat hack to her seat.
