Author Archive
Lawmaker Sends Letter to Obama: Fire Jennings Now
Byron York has a story at the Examiner on the first lawmaker to call for the scalp of Kevin Jennings, “Safe School” Czar (no we can’t believe we just typed that title, either).
Republican Rep. Steve King is sending a letter to the president today calling for the firing of gay activist Kevin Jennings, head of the Education Department’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. “The totality of Mr. Jennings’ career has been to advocate for public affirmation of homosexuality,” King writes. “There is more to safe and drug free shools than can be accomplished from the narrow view of Mr. Jennings who has, for more than 20 years almost exclusively focused on promoting the homosexual agenda.”
In the letter, King points to a foreword Jennings wrote for a 1999 book entitled Queering Elementary Education, as well as Jennings’ work as founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. King also mentions a 1988 incident in which Jennings, then a teacher, chose not to alert any authorities when he learned of a teenage boy, a student, who had become involved with an adult man. Finally, King points to stories Jennings has told of his own drug use. “Kevin Jennings cannot gain the approval of parents who want their children safe and their schools drug free,” King writes.
Full story here. Personally, we’re not so much offended by Mr. Jennings as we are that this position even exists. We don’t believe anyone should occupy this position.
Tags: Big Government, Breitbart
Sen. Durbin ‘Blacklists’ Home-State Radio Station
Arrogance, thy name is Sen. Dick Durbin. Big Government contributor Bob Gough has a breaking story at his news site, Quincy News.org. It seems Sen. Durbin is upset that a local media outlet informed the public that their Senator was going to be in town to discuss health care.
A spokesman for U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) has said the senator’s office will no longer send media information to Quincy’s oldest radio station.
Mike Moyers, general manager/vice president of STARadio Corporation, which owns WTAD-AM (930), said Christina Angarola of Durbin’s Chicago office called WTAD on Monday to inform them they would no longer be included on the list of those receiving news releases from the senator when he plans to visit West-Central Illinois.
Moyers said Angarola was not pleased that WTAD chose to make public the time and place of Durbin’s September 4th visit to Quincy’s Blessing Hospital to hold a meeting on health care with officials from the hospital, Quincy Medical Group and politicians Quincy Mayor John Spring and State Senator John Sullivan (D-Rushville).
The news release sent by Durbin’s office on the afternoon of September 3rd said “NOTE: The times and locations of these events are for media planning purposes only and should not be published or aired in any form.”
Angarola did not respond to an e-mail from QuincyNews.org for comment.
Moyers said he believed it was important for the public to have the opportunity to approach Durbin on the health care issue when he was in Quincy, regardless of the directive in the e-mail.
“I’m disappointed the senator and his office have chosen to silence the press,” Moyers said.
Read the full story here.
Tags: Big Government, Breitbart
Big Mayor: Bloomberg War on Indian Tribes For Taxes
No fight, nor sovereign nation, is too small to find tax revenue:
On August 25 of this year, a federal-court judge in Brooklyn handed down a verdict addressing the Unkechaug’s motion to dismiss. Federal Judge Carol Amon denied the motion and ruled that the state appellate court had misinterpreted the law in question. She ruled that regular tax law indeed applied to the tobacco trade on Indian reservations, as it does everywhere in the state. She issued a temporary injunction banning all further cigarette sales at four stores identified in the city’s suit. Chief Wallace and the Unkechaug appealed. On September 25, the court announced that though the appeal would be heard, the injunction would continue. But that leaves ten other smoke shops in the Poospatuck reservation, and the cars are still backed up around Squaw Lane. “The city will go after every dollar that is owed to city taxpayers,” said Bloomberg in a statement.
Wallace is far from ready to smoke the peace pipe, however. He says it’s the same as it was with whaling in the seventeenth century. “The goal here is not to stop us from selling cigarettes,” Chief Wallace said. “It’s to try and destroy us as a people, because every effort that we made to resolve these things has met with resistance. They don’t want to do it. They want to take it as far as they can to try and kill us.
“They need a scapegoat for not blaming his friends on Wall Street,” said the chief, his tone slowly rising. He began pacing in circles, literally hopping mad. “Who is a convenient scapegoat? The smallest tribe in New York, selling a demonic product—that’s a good scapegoat.”
Read the whole thing here.
Tags: Big Government, Breitbart
Breaking: Louisiana Attorney General: Rathke Embezzled $5 Million From ACORN
Posted by Publius in ACORN, Featured Story, Politics, Wade Rathke on October 5th, 2009
From NOLA.COM:
An internal review by the board of directors of the community organization ACORN determined that the amount allegedly embezzled from the community organization was $5 million, well more than the previously reported amount of nearly $1 million, according to a new subpoena in an investigation by Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell.
The subpoena, released this afternoon, says, “It is still unclear if some of the monies embezzled are from state, federal or private funds.”
Caldwell issued subpoenas in August seeking documents related to Acorn International then-President Wade Rathke and his brother Dale Rathke, who kept the group’s books. Those subpoenas were focused on possible Acorn violations of state employee tax law, obstructing justice and violating the Employee Retirement Security Act.
Whole blockbuster story here.
Update: According to the new subpoena issued by the Louisiana Attorney General, it seems ACORN leadership was aware of the full extent of the embezzlement. That they have covered up the true figure cast doubt on their ability to truely reform the organization. In other words, they will only admit to what they get caught at.
Tags: Big Government, Breitbart
Breaking: Bi-Partisan Senate Bill to Defund ACORN
From the office of U.S. Senator Mike Johanns:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Ann Marie Hauser (202) 224-4796
October 5, 2009 Chris Hunt (402) 476-1400
Jake Thompson (202) 224-8795
JOHANNS, NELSON INTRODUCE BILL TO BAN FRAUDULENT ORGANIZATIONS FROM RECEIVING FEDERAL MONEY
WASHINGTON – Senators Mike Johanns and Ben Nelson today introduced a bill to cut off all federal funding for any organization whose employees have been convicted of voter fraud. The bill comes after Senator Johanns successfully barred the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), whose employees have been convicted on 70 counts of voter fraud, from receiving funding via three spending bills recently passed by the Senate.
“Senator Nelson and I strongly believe in the protection of taxpayer dollars, and this bill is a clear way of working towards that goal,” Johanns said. “Let the message be clear: Americans should not be helping to fund any organization whose employees use the money to commit fraud or any other reprehensible practices.”
“This legislation builds on actions taken to cut off federal funding for ACORN,” Nelson said. “To further protect taxpayers’ money, this bill extends that prohibition to all forms of federal assistance, and all groups who violate our election laws. And we require a report, so Congress can know exactly which organizations we need to watch out for.”
Full text of the legislation can be found here.
Tags: Big Government, Breitbart
NYC Government Crack Down on Bake Sales
Unfortunately, items like this don’t really surprise us anymore:
There shall be no cupcakes. No chocolate cake and no carrot cake. According to New York City’s latest regulations, not even zucchini bread makes the cut.
In an effort to limit how much sugar and fat students put in their bellies at school, the Education Department has effectively banned most bake sales, the lucrative if not quite healthy fund-raising tool for generations of teams and clubs.
The change is part of a new wellness policy that also limits what can be sold in vending machines and student-run stores, which use profits to help finance activities like pep rallies and proms. The elaborate rules were outlined in a three-page memo issued at the end of June, but in the new school year, principals and parents are just beginning to, well, digest them.
Read the whole dreadful thing here. Special pull quote:
“Schools are supposed to be a place where we establish a model environment, and the last thing kids need is an extra source of pointless calories.”
Tags: Big Government, Breitbart
ACORN: Campaign Issue?
Posted by Publius in ACORN, Hannah Giles, Politics on October 4th, 2009
This political ad first came out a couple weeks ago, when James and Hannah’s video sting first broke, but is still worth noting. If Ken Cuccinelli, running for Attorney General in Virginia this year, gets traction with this ad, look for the political floodgates to overwhelm ACORN. No matter how many people rise to their defense, if ACORN becomes politically toxic…game over. Watch this race:
[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]
Tags: Big Government, Breitbart
Wash Post: Big Foundations Defunding ACORN
We’ve always given at least bit of credence to the theory that the most interesting stories in the Washington Post and New York Times run on Saturday, when editors try to dump any real reporting that happens to slip through their filters. This Saturday, the Washington Post added another data point supporting this theory with decent reporting on ACORN’s troubles with its big donors:
The liberal political organizing group ACORN, battered by the release of embarrassing videos and allegations of financial mismanagement and fraud, has also been losing support from several major foundations.
The Ford Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation and Bank of America have stopped funding the group and its affiliates over the past year and a half.
Read the whole article here.
Tags: Big Government, Breitbart
Wash Post: Big Foundations Defunding ACORN
We’ve always given at least bit of credence to the theory that the most interesting stories in the Washington Post and New York Times run on Saturday, when editors try to dump any real reporting that happens to slip through their filters. This Saturday, the Washington Post added another data point supporting this theory with decent reporting on ACORN’s troubles with its big donors:
The liberal political organizing group ACORN, battered by the release of embarrassing videos and allegations of financial mismanagement and fraud, has also been losing support from several major foundations.
The Ford Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation and Bank of America have stopped funding the group and its affiliates over the past year and a half.
Read the whole article here.
Tags: Big Government, Breitbart
Rasmussen: Fear of Losing Private Insurance Trumps Hope of Public Option
Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters nationwide say guaranteeing that no one is forced to change their health insurance coverage is a higher priority than giving people the choice of a public option. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 29% take the opposite view. They say it’s more important to give people the choice between private insurance and a government-sponsored non-profit health insurance option.
Most liberal voters say giving people the choice of a public option is more important. But, most moderates take the opposite view and Republicans overwhelmingly agree with them.
Tags: Big Government, Breitbart