As America begins the withdrawal from Iraq, I thought it appropriate to remember the first soldier killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery:

Captain Russell B. Rippetoe, 27, was assigned to A Company, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia, and died April 3, 2003, from wounds sustained at a checkpoint suicide bombing near the Hadithah Dam northwest of Baghdad, Iraq.

Russell Rippetoe served with distinction in Operation Iraqi Freedom, earning both the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. On the back of his dog tag were engraved these words, from the book of Joshua, “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee.” When Russ’ father, Joe, collected his personal effects they included his dog tags, a scorched religious symbol, and two Bibles. “Rusty knew the Lord,” Joe said. “I told him, get to know the Lord, so if you get hurt, you’ll be on a first-name basis. . . . We celebrate Rusty’s new assignment. Now he’s a soldier in the Lord’s army.”

I encourage everyone to follow this link to the official Arlington Cemetery Memorial page for CPT Russ Rippetoe and read the heart-warming biographies and stories of this leader, friend, son and soldier. Russ was my brother’s “Ranger Buddy” (best friend) and I know he is dearly missed.

Below is an ongoing e-mail discussion with NC Rep Rick Glazier concerning the allocations of the North Carolina Education Lottery proceeds. I will post his response in subsequent blogs.

Representatives Rick Glazier,
In view of the pending $8 million dollar budget cut that is proposed for Cumberland County Schools, I am compelled to point out that Cumberland County Schools only receive 29% of the money spent in this county on the lottery. When the lottery was narrowly approved, a full 35% of proceeds had to go to the schools. This shortfall equals over $6 million dollars. Statewide the lottery is only returning 32.6% of proceeds. The change in the 2007 budget allowing for this multimillion dollar disparity was not nearly as well promoted as the 35% number was before NC had a lottery.

My question to you is, how many teachers and staff would keep their jobs if the lottery gave back what was promised?

I am certain that Cumberland County could better find 2 million dollars in cuts than the 8 million they are now facing. It is time to keep those campaign promises and represent your constituents. I appreciate both of you for your time and service. May God grant you wisdom and fortitude in these trying-times,

-Patrick McKinney
NCVeteran
_________________________________________________________________
From: Rep. Rick Glazier [mailto:Rick.Glazier@ncleg.net]
Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2009 11:20 AM
To: McKinney Patrick C MR
Subject: RE: Education lottery allocation shortfall of $6 million

Thank you for writing and the lottery returns abouot $350 million per year to education–10% goes to low income college scholarships; 40% to school construction; and 50% to fund class size reduction postions in K-3 and pre school. The governor this spring only took the school construction money that had not been committed in order to meet school salaries and state employee salaries. The lottery was never promised to do more than it is–funding early childhood faculty and assisting in school construction. The budget deficit the state faces this year is $5 billion and in education it is about $1.8 billion so the lottery has little affect at all on the operational deficit of the state or education. In fact, CCS is probably getting more out of the lottery still than most counties–but as I said, it is all but irrelevant to the state operational budget issues. Thank you again for raising the question and hope this info helps. Rick Glazier
________________________________________________________________________
Rep. Glazier,
I appreciate your attention to my concerns, and those of the parents and teachers I communicate with. I will certainly share your response with the same.
You have outlined for me the details of allocations made, but not if those allocations met statute guidelines. I will clarify my two concerns. Below are the current requirements. (1) Have these requirements been met? (2) Where in the statute does it authorize the transfer of monies to the general fund by the sitting Governor?

• Statute set guidelines for allocating revenues:
– 50% for Prizes
– 35% for Education Programs*
– 15% for Administrative Costs (8%) & Retailers (7%)

*35% of Total Lottery Revenues
• 50% for More-at-Four and Class Size Reduction
– Particular amounts for each activity not specified
• 40% for Public School Construction
– 65% based on Average Daily Membership (ADM)
– 35% based on “local effort’
• 10% for Scholarships for Needy Students

• Education Program Transfers
– 1st Quarter education transfers were $79.9 million
– At this pace, total transfers would be $30 million below
appropriation
– Lottery public school appropriations are approximately 4% of
all 2007-08 total State public school funding

The lottery cannot be touted as significant to gain support, and then deemed insignificant to avoid accountability. I have asked straight forward questions, Sir, and look forward to your response so that I might share it with other voters interested in this topic.

Have allocations met the requirements set forth in the statute? Does the statute authorize the transfer of monies to the general fund?

-Patrick McKinney
NCVeteran

Obama and his Congress has promised another new deal. America accepting this promise is proof of an entitlement society that never learned what our nation was before the great depressionary shift towards a single American State under federal government control. One only needs to look at the supporters of this new deal to understand its dangers. When socialist, fascist, and communist leaders around the world trumpet an American President’s plan, it is clearly cause for alarm.

Hitler did not rely on seasoned veterans, but rather formed his youth brigades to take advantage of the adolescence. This is why we should keep an eye on homeland defense’s profiling of war veterans and Obama’s forming youth into community service brigades. We need to watch always for those who would subvert our nation and turn it into something unrecognizable by its founders, or by those who have fought and died in its defense.

No people ever lost their sovereignty for being too vigilant, but rather due to complacency and misplaced trust. When FDR first tried to enact his New Deal social programs the Supreme Court stopped him because the programs were unconstitutional, violated State’s rights and individual property rights. FDR systematically replaced aging judges with those who would support his agenda.

This threat of reorganizing the court was enough to weaken the courts willingness to oppose FDR. He also broke tradition and ran for 4 consecutive terms. Those new deal social programs, and their tremendous burden on workers, did not end when WWII and the depression ended. FDR’s legacy is one of massive government growth and loss of personal freedoms, but people in fear of losing their means of survival were willing to give up their constitutional rights.

The Constitution is being violated now and people are only concerned with holding onto their own personal comforts and material wealth. Bush started expanding the government’s role, and Obama is following through. At some point the Constitution will have to be defended, and the people will have to demand their freedoms. I believe that once taxes start to rise and inflation really takes off, people will begin to push back because they will feel the hurt.

I do not think that a revolt scenario is inevitable, but I see a trend towards a popular uprising if Americans are so used to living free without cost that they do not believe it could ever change. Too many remain unprepared for hardship because they believe, “it will never happen to me”, until it does.

Every mass movement is of the people. No insurgency or counter-insurgency can succeed without the people. Rather you believe the way to the people is through the military, the urban centers or the rural community depends on which analyst you ask. President Obama’s only claim of experience during the campaign was as a community organizer in the corrupt city of Chicago. I am pretty sure the urban model would be his approach. Watch for programs that benefit the poverty class in the cities, and pit the haves against the have-nots.

This question came up in an irregular warfare course I took and it spurred quite a bit of discussion and debate. I have written here some of my thoughts on the subject and I would like to hear your answers as well:

If America cedes power to a foreign or world body, through treaty or charter, to whom would the U.S. Military answer according to U.S. Constitution; the people or the state? When the United States goes into a foreign country and works with the remnants of the military once loyal to the disposed leader, we are asking those soldiers to answer this question of people versus state for themselves. The only way for us to understand the dilemma we put them in is to cast ourselves in the same role.

The militarization of this nation over the past 50 years makes this a topic, in my opinion, worthy of consideration by American citizens as well as the military. Muskets and hatchets will no longer suffice in a popular uprising, nor will the small arms available to the public. So who gets the professionals and their tax dollar purchased weapon systems in this scenario. Can you safely assume that you and your family will be considered the good guys if our nation is thrown into martial law? What happened in New Orleans when the criminal element began causing trouble? The police and Army immediately attempted a weapons collection program. No citizen militia was called to protect homes and businesses from thieves.

Within days, not weeks, that entire New Orleans community lost their ability to provide for themselves their most basic needs; they were dependant on government for protection, food, water, information, medical care, everything. Dependant and submissive within days, in no way ready to mount an opposition to any form of tyranny. I am not suggesting tyranny existed in New Orleans, but rather use this to illustrate the state of the American people and their inability to respond to crisis without government, less against government.

The idea of the people acting as a check and balance on the powers of government through 2nd amendment armed militias, revolting if necessary, is a romantic view of a nation that is much different than the reality that is the American military power of today. In addition, the peaceful protest and counter-culture revolution of the 1960s failed to gain any ground on big government except maybe on the civil rights front, which when looked at in terms of voter blocks I do not know if those civil rights changes would not have happened spontaneously, as the political class is courting the Hispanic vote today. With both armed uprising and peaceful protest being ill-advised courses of action, what do we citizens have that can empower us to keep the government and the military in check?

Some would look to the courts, but there is no real power in the court. The courts give opinions that can and would be set aside in crisis. The numbers of citizens in this country are a tremendous force if the masses could be harnessed into a single effort. This massing of force would require a cause that the largest possible majority was vested in. Without a majority having a vested interest, the idea of any form of popular uprising or mass movement for the betterment of the nation is impossible. What binds a people with such broad ideological bases? I believe it is the nation’s wealth that binds this eclectic people, however much or little one has.

This need of vested interest, combined with a shared national wealth, is why it is so vital that the tax burden is shared across the entire population. Having no armed conflict option and the proven ineffectiveness of peaceful protest leaves the citizenry of the United States with a lone recourse that is found in the funding of the government. Tax reform is America’s only long term defense against any form of tyranny. A national sales tax, a flat tax, or fair tax is the power of the people.

Please reply with any views on the topic. I am interested in developing this subject further and value diverse thought. -ncveteran

Pres. Obama’s bowing to the Saudi King was a submissive gesture. Not seeing the significance in this is due to America’s collective lack of cultural understanding. Our ethnocentric world view gets us in trouble all the time in the Arab and Asian worlds. Bows are similar to flag protocol in that the American flag is never flown lower than the flag of any other nation. The flag, like the President of The United States, represents the nation and its people. In Arab culture, as in much of the ancient cultures, holding hands is a sign of unity and friendship, where bowing is a submissive gesture. The head bow is customary to show respect as you might when entering someone’s home; the waist bow is for Subjects of the Crown. The rule that makes this bow unacceptable is the same rule that saved Michelle Obama from further ridicule for touching the Queen of England. Because she is not a royal subject she did not receive the same condemnation as an Australian who once did the same, as Australians are the Queen’s subjects. The only thing more submissive than the waist bow is to kneel. To prostrate yourself is an extreme form of kneeling as in, falling prostrate before the King. President Obama was either displaying a young diplomat’s ignorance, was poorly instructed by his State Department advisor, chose not to listen to advice, or worse knew exactly what he was doing when he represented America as being submission, or a subject of the Saudi Crown. Fortunately for us, the rest of the world has long since become accustomed to American Presidents two-stepping all over protocol. This too shall pass.
-ncveteran

Raleigh Tea Party got a permit for 300; 1500 showed up. It is good to see the working class, those who provide the majority of the volunteer man-power and aid money in this country, getting involved politically. I hear plenty of noise from the non-working poverty class and the guilt ridden elitist who have done nothing but talk about compassion. No offense if you are a latte activist or welfare dependent.

I see a far more oppressive and viral tone coming from those who call themselves liberals, but will not defend my liberties. Are liberties and protections for all, or only for those who are anti-Christian? A Muslim in America has the right to not have any limitations put on the practice of his faith, yet I cannot teach my child that homosexuality is sinful according to the law of the God we worship.

Straight talk is not harmful rhetoric, but can be hard to hear if you are not a person of strong personal convictions. I wonder what the Pharisees thought about Jesus calling them hypocrites and vipers. Truth is that I am saddened that, because of the fundamental Pharisees of our day, I see people missing out on knowing that they can be forgiven their sin and have eternal union with a Holy God.

What we are discussing here however is the demonizing of a group of Americans because their viewpoint is associated with a moral standard that, though far less radical than the Muslim standards that will be imposed if sharia law were to be imposed, is in opposition to the radical agenda of the far left.

-ncveteran (self diagnosed islamaphobe)

The “Majority in America” is not a political party’s position in Congress or a division along racial, ethnic, or socio-economic lines. The most important majority is this country is the collective people, the citizens of these United States. The political class has forgotten that they represent the majority; they are not ruler over it. Politicians need to stay home next week and listen to the people. No Tea Party guest list should have a single politician’s name on it.

Unfortunately the first Tea Party in Fayetteville, NC was a mostly partisan remonstration of political activists who, without the benefit of an ideology having any particular origin of authority, had little unity of effort. Authority perceived from a political party is only as legitimate as the legitimacy of its members.

The political parties in America do not hold enough of the citizenry’s trust to fuel a sustained people’s movement. When President Bush claimed conservatism on the social front, only to act liberally on fiscal issues and to grow the size of government, the Republican Party lost legitimacy. When President Obama runs on transparency and bipartisanship and then pushes through a stimulus bill that not a single person who voted for it had time to read, the Democratic Party loses legitimacy.

A tax reform movement, like any social movement, will need an ideological statement that appears general and able to address broad issues if there is any hope of attracting the large numbers of adherents necessary to institute change. If Party politics remain divisive enough, the people will never mass and the power will remain comfortably in the hands of those able to focus special interest groups to targeted efforts. Special actions of a political class, not a political party, have eroded the power of an American people to impose its will on government.

Why protest now? Where were the protesters during the Bush administration? First of all; there were protest and outcries for eight solid years. The National Mall did not go unattended by protesters. The question that should be asked is; why is the silent majority just now speaking out? The answer is found in two words, cognitive dissonance. We humans simply do not like to be unhappy about something that we have no control, or even perceived control over. We can tolerate a great deal so long as we have a voice to try to bring about change. We will endure great suffering if by choice and with the hope of greater gain for the suffering. It is when we believe we are trapped in our current state of discomfort that we experience dissonance.

So what does cognitive dissonance have to do with Tea Parties? During the Bush years the Democrats, liberals, centrist and all others who were at odds with the administration had a chorus of media trumpeting their cause. If you had a complaint about the President, all you had to do was watch a little television and you would hear someone with a worldwide audience speaking out about George Bush. There were also members of Congress speaking out from both sides of the political aisle against Bush’s decisions. Compare this with the minority voice today. Conservatives have a Republican Party Congress that has clung to the center and the handful of AM radio figures are so obviously set in the Republican ideology trench that they refuse to criticize anything with an elephant on it. Without representation the fiscal conservatives who believe in a smaller government are beginning to speak for themselves.

America is a representative democracy, a republic. Democracy is the rule of the majority, which is only sustainable if the majority were able to cast off self-interest. Majority rule does not mean the majority will make the decisions best for the majority. We are not a democracy, no matter how much the political class wants to keep us divided for their gain. We are a collection of individuals who, recognizing our weaknesses, elect representatives to make decisions, based on the rule of law, that are in the best interest of the group.

The majority in America is not a political party’s position in Congress or a division along racial, ethnic, or socio-economic lines. The most important majority is this country is the collective people, the citizens of these United States. The political class has forgotten that they represent the majority; they are not ruler over it. Politicians need to stay home next week and listen to the people. No Tea Party guest list should have a single politician’s name on it.

Unfortunately the first Tea Party in Fayetteville was a mostly partisan remonstration of political activists who, without the benefit of an ideology having any particular origin of authority, had little unity of effort. Authority perceived from a political party is only as legitimate as the legitimacy of its members.

The political parties in America do not hold enough of the citizenry’s trust to fuel a sustained people’s movement. When President Bush claimed conservatism on the social front, only to act liberally on fiscal issues and to grow the size of government, the Republican Party loses legitimacy. When President Obama runs on transparency and bipartisanship and then pushes through a stimulus bill that not a single person who voted for it had time to read, the Democratic Party loses legitimacy.

A tax reform movement, like any social movement, will need an ideological statement that appears general and able to address broad issues if there is any hope of attracting the large numbers of adherents necessary to institute change. If Party politics remain divisive enough, the people will never mass and the power will remain comfortably in the hands of those able to focus special interest groups to targeted efforts. Special actions of a political class, not a political party, have eroded the power of an American people to impose its will on government.

Why protest now? Where were the protesters during the Bush administration? First of all; there were protest and outcries for eight solid years. The National Mall did not go unattended by protesters. The question that should be asked is; why is the silent majority just now speaking out? The answer is found in two words, cognitive dissonance. We humans simply do not like to be unhappy about something that we have no control, or even perceived control over. We can tolerate a great deal so long as we have a voice to try to bring about change. We will endure great suffering if by choice and with the hope of greater gain for the suffering. It is when we believe we are trapped in our current state of discomfort that we experience dissonance.

So what does cognitive dissonance have to do with Tea Parties? During the Bush years the Democrats, liberals, centrist and all others who were at odds with the administration had a chorus of media trumpeting their cause. If you had a complaint about the President, all you had to do was watch a little television and you would hear someone with a worldwide audience speaking out about George Bush. There were also members of Congress speaking out from both sides of the political aisle against Bush’s decisions. Compare this with the minority voice today. Conservatives have a Republican Party Congress that has clung to the center and the handful of AM radio figures are so obviously set in the Republican ideology trench that they refuse to criticize anything with an elephant on it. Without representation the fiscal conservatives who believe in a smaller government are beginning to speak for themselves.

America is a representative democracy, a republic. Democracy is the rule of the majority, which is only sustainable if the majority were able to cast off self-interest. Majority rule does not mean the majority will make the decisions best for the majority. We are not a democracy, no matter how much the political class wants to keep us divided for their gain. We are a collection of individuals who, recognizing our weaknesses, elect representatives to make decisions, based on the rule of law, that are in the best interest of the group.

Tea Party protests are not a platform for politicians to voice their opinions. They are an excellent platform for people to speak and representatives to listen. Politicians truly interested in being the people’s representatives should maybe spend more time listening to the majority, the American people, of whom they are supposed to represent. In short, Politicians are not invited to this Tea Party.

The more I study the Fair Tax, the more I like it. If those sitting in office right now want to keep their seats they need to make a drastic move to convince us Americans that they are capable of leadership. As of now I see little difference between the Democrats and Big Government Republicans. We do not need a third party or years of tough seat by seat battles to win congress. What we need is a single piece of legislation that marginalizes government and empowers the people. The Fair Tax puts the power back in the hands of the people. The only ones who object to Fair Tax are those upset with the idea of fairness; those with entitlement mentalities who encourage government dependence and expect guilt for success. If we do not have reform, we will see revolt.

Tax reform is freedom’s defense.

Tax Reform is Freedom’s Defense. Freedom is a belief worthy of defense. Taxes fund the governments charged with defending that freedom. When freedom is no longer the ambition of government, government is no longer deserving of our taxes.
Keep in mind that we American citizens are not the insurgents; the political class that has taken advantage of our apathy, manipulated the courts, and seized power by deceit are the insurgents in this war for America. Insurgency always depends on the popular support of the people to succeed.
We must show unity and allegiance to the Constitution and Rule of Law so that the tyrants never gain the support of the masses. Tax reform, taxpayer insurrection and tax denial if need be is the only voice that the American citizen has that will be heard by deaf eared non-representing representatives from the State capitol to the Nation’s capitol. God Bless America the Free!

Despite having an employment eligibilty system in place, a provision was stripped from the Stimulus Bill allowing stimulus dollars to pay the wages of illegal alien workers.

See more at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1554013/no_stimulus_for_illegal_immigrants.html