Common Core: Opt Out of Fall Testing

Art credit: Dailycaller.com and Edvard Munch

This just in from the Mansfield Tea Party:

Opt Out of Fall Testing Now!

Take the Pledge to Protect Your Child

 
The first round of fall tests starts October 6th, but did you know that you, as the parent, can opt-out your child?

These tests are used to "benchmark" your child for "Value Added Measures", but are not state mandated. Common sense would tell you that any student is going to perform better in the spring than they do in the beginning of the school year, but now we have to prove it by administering more tests, leaving less time for learning.

The state mandates that the schools administer one test per year.  In the past it has been the spring OGT's and the OAA's.  Unless we pass HB 597, and Common Core gets repealed, the data gathering replacement testing - PARCC - will add six weeks of testing to the school year this spring.

Don't subject your child to this scrutiny.  Exercise your right as a parent and opt-out your child. Click Here to Download OPT-OUT form and  Click Here to learn more about the assessing of your child.

Please note all forms must be submitted by October 3rd, 2014 to ensure your child's protection. 

• Print out Opt Out Form
• Fill out Child's Name (must do separate form for each child)
• Read and check all three boxes on opt out form
• Complete bottom portion of the form 
• Be sure to leave Received by, Signature, and Date Received blank (this is for school officials to fill out)
• Take the completed form to the school office. Request signatures.
• Request two copies. One for your records and one to mail to your State Representative

# # #

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman just threw Ed FitzGerald under the bus

Art credit: One Old Vet

From Cleveland.com:

By Henry J. Gomez, Northeast Ohio Media Group 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The race for governor won't be decided for another 36 days.

But Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern is now publicly voicing his frustration with his nominee, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald.

In story posted Sunday night, the New York Times was the latest national news organization to weigh in on the collapse of FitzGerald's campaign.

The piece traced the former FBI agent's troubles to the 2012 incident, unearthed last month by the Northeast Ohio Media Group, in which police found FitzGerald parked after hours with a woman who wasn't his wife. That revelation led to the discovery that FitzGerald hadn't had a driver's license for a decade.

"I've never met a former FBI agent who doesn't have a driver's license," Redfern told the Times' Trip Gabriel, who described the exchange as a figurative finger pointed at FitzGerald. "It's akin to saying, 'Damn, I should have my umbrella' after it rains."

Redfern went on to blast the outside firm that the campaign hired to probe FitzGerald's past, saying he wouldn't hire the company "to clean out my bird cage."

FitzGerald, also the former mayor of Lakewood, faces Republican incumbent John Kasich this fall. Polls show him trailing the governor by double digits.

. . . 

Read the rest here.

# # #

Eric Holder: buh-bye

Tea Party Patriots’Jenny Beth Martin offered these comments on the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder:

He will go down in history as the nation’s most corrupt attorney general. Americans must never forget that the blood of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry is on his hands. Eric Holder’s illegal scheme to put guns in the hands of the Mexican cartels led to that brave patriot’s death. He became the first attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress, which is fitting, given his utter and open contempt for the American people and the Constitution.

He began his tenure by dismissing the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia, and he slithers out of office having played defense for Lois Lerner by his refusal to appoint a special prosecutor. He is a disgrace to that honorable office.

As one chapter ends in the Obama Administration’s war on the Constitution, Americans must remain engaged and vigilant. There’s no doubt the President will try to ram through a lame-duck Senate another partisan hack for Attorney General. We cannot allow that to happen.

Over at PJ Media,Roger L. Simon had this to say:

he was a political bagman, a low rent consigliere whose  unquestioning obedience to power was evidently appreciated by Barack Obama and rewarded with the full position of attorney general. Obama knew what he was getting for our number one law enforcement official.  With that background, no wonder Holder investigates nothing, leaving “Fast & Furious,” the IRS, Benghazi, all the scandals, untouched, stonewalled or deliberately obfuscated.  He was chosen to be a “Good German” and he was one.  He spent most of his time inveighing against what he perceived to be racial injustice.

Now I have a theory about the etiology of Holder’s fixation on race. When you know deep down you’re a dishonest person, when you have had to eat the bitter pill of your own corruption who knows how many times (even Clinton finally admitted that he had gone too far pardoning Rich and damaged his own reputation), you have to invent a narrative for yourself to justify your activities.  So over may years Holder developed what I have called elsewhere a “nostalgia for racism.”  No matter that racism was diminishing in our culture, he had to keep racism alive, believe it was alive.  If racism were going away, he would no longer have a raison d’être, an excuse for his biased behavior, an excuse, as it turned out, to go beyond the law, act unilaterally and punish political enemies.

Toward this end, in a sense, Holder encouraged racism, as did Obama.  They are both slightly more polished versions of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.  Like Jackson and Sharpton, they act as if they care about the black man or woman in the street, but in actuality they just care about themselves.  The racial posturing is a form of moral narcissism that works to preserve racism, not to defeat it.

It’s not by accident black America is suffering under Obama/Holder.  At least subconsciously, it’s by design. . . .

 

Who will be the next AG? The WaPo reports that

Possible contenders include U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr.; former White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler; Tony West, the former associate attorney general who just stepped down; Loretta E. Lynch, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York; and Jenny Durkan, who is about to step down as the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington state.

Perhaps I am not paying close enough attention, but I never heard of any of them. I doubt that the Obama administration would consider, oh, Kris Kobach.  

# # #

Leonardo DiCaprio and climate hypocrisy

Here’s part of the report on Breitbart Hollywood a couple of days ago:

Leonardo DiCaprio has been awarded the "Messenger of Peace" title, and on Tuesday morning, at the UN Climate Summit in New York, he demanded that the 193 world leaders in attendance take urgent action against climate change.

The environmental activist was recently nominated as the "new voice for climate advocacy" by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. 

"I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters often solving fictitious problems. I believe that mankind has looked at climate change in that same way," the Hollywood actor confessed. "As if pretending that climate change wasn't real would somehow make it go away. But I think we all know better than that now." 

DiCaprio participated in the People's Climate March on Sunday in New York, where hundreds of thousands of people marched around the city to bring attention to the alleged "climate crisis."

"I stand before you not as an expert, but as a concerned citizen, one of the 400,000 people who marched in the streets of New York on Sunday, and the billions of others around the world who want to solve our climate crisis," he said.

And here is the report of his visit to Brazil to attend the World Cup from The Daily Caller :

It’s been a crazy, busy, gas-guzzling summer for Leonardo DiCaprio, the famous actor and environmental activist. 

On Sunday, as the summer wound down, the mega-rich DiCaprio (estimated net worth: $220 million) was in New York City to join a mile-long swath of protesters for the People’s Climate March, reports the Daily Mail. 

At the very beginning of this summer, in mid-June, DiCaprio jetted into Brazil on a private plane to take in the opening match of the 2014 World Cup. 

While in Brazil, the 39-year-old plump playboy stayed on a 470-foot yacht owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, according to Arab News. The glitzy yacht, called the Topaz, is the fifth-biggest yacht on earth. The fancypants vessel boasts a gym, a movie theater, two helipads and three swimming pools.

Here’s the yacht:

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Here’s the report by Doug Powers on DiCaprio’s gas-guzzling trip to South Africa for the World Cup in 2012: 

Leonardo DiCaprio says he drives a hybrid car, and that makes for some good, clean transportation when he’s heading to the airport to get on his private jet — in this case to travel to South Africa, where he contributed to an air traffic jam induced by jet-set eco-hypocrites, causing many others miss the game

And via Dr. Eowyn's blogsite, here is just one of DiCaprio's 5 luxury homes, this one  

a $5.2 million 6-bedroom mansion in Palm Springs, California, purchased in February 2014. The 1.34 acre property has 7 bathrooms, a detached state-of-the art gymnasium, a pool house and a tennis court with a glass pavilion surround.

Is Leonardo DiCaprio’s carbon footprint now in competition with Al Gore’s? The hypocrisy is breathtaking.

Your dishwasher is not broken

Photo credit: www.pinterest.com

A little household break in this wild run-up to the mid-terms...

The EPA cannot stop meddling, and even though the phosphates were eliminated from your detergents over four years ago, I am still doing battle with our dishwasher. Glassware doesn’t come out bright and clean but often has a dull haze. Occasionally, particles stick to the dishes. I have known for several years that it’s not the dishwasher. From Mona Charon at theSpokesman-Review blog: 

Our dishwashers are fine. The reason our dishes are dirty is that the environmentalists have succeeded in banning phosphates from dishwashing soap.

There are interim and ongoing remedies. None of them are energy efficient or what the green environmentalists would approve of.

PROBLEM: My dishwasher repairman suggested the All-In-One Finish detergent along with a super rinse. It’s better than the regular products. But half the time, when the wash cycle is finished, lots of soapsuds remain.

A SOLUTION: Close the door and run the “Rinse and Hold” cycle one or two times until the soap is gone. Open the door to let the dishes dry.

PROBLEM: Glassware comes out of the wash cycle with a haze; dishes have bits of food stuck to them.

A SOLUTION: Empty the dishwasher and run a complete wash cycle with no detergent. Close the detergent tray so you can hear when it flips open. When it does, open the door (slowly to interrupt the water flying all over the place) and dump in one cup of white distilled vinegar. Close the door to resume the cycle, and check in on the proceedings after several minutes. If the water is very soapy, it’s because the vinegar is breaking up caked detergent and grease in the dishwasher mechanisms. Repeat wash cycles with vinegar until the water runs clear in mid-cycle. 

ANOTHER SOLUTION: Buy Tri-sodium phosphate by the bag at your local hardware store. Add it into the wash cycle at the same as the detergent is released, or add a pinch into the soap compartment. (Disclaimer: This is not intended to be legal advice.)

ANOTHER SOLUTION: Use disposable paper plates. More trash, of course. Plastic plates and utensils would be even worse.

ANOTHER SOLUTION: Find detergents with higher phosphate content. It used to be easy to buy commercial products on the web. But most of the vendors have started asking for identification to prove you are ordering the product for commercial use. 

Restaurants are exempt from all this nonsense, which rather proves the obvious: Reducing or eliminating phosphates from detergents result in dishes that are not clean. The EPA was worried about negligible, and in some cases, hypothetical damage to the environment by phosphate run-off, but they won’t be happy until we cast our dishwashers into the landfills of history. In the meantime, the EPA rules are counter-productive, resulting in more water and electricity consumption and yet more dirty dishes.

Another phosphate resource, ActiveRain, is here.

# # #

Governor Kasich, Get A Clue!

More on Governor Kasich continuing his lies and deceit on his support for Common Core in Ohio - which is opposed by most residents of Ohio.

From Ohioans Against Common Core --

It’s hard to determine which of Governor’s Kasich’s remarks that appeared in the 9/9/14 Columbus Dispatch article, “Common Core repealed in Ohio? Kasich doubts it“, are the most concerning. Running the gambit from insinuating Ohio’s legislature is playing lip service on the issue of Common Core to his flippant remark, “Is the test good? Well, I don’t know”, one is left begging the question, just where has Governor Kasich been for the last eighteen months? Considering that Ohio has had repeal legislation for well over a year, that Ohioans have turned out by the hundreds to events and hearings, and that the Republican caucus’ own polling has found Common Core to be the number one election issue, it is baffling that the Governor would utter such nonsense.

It’s shocking to hear how out of touch Governor Kasich has become with Ohio’s parents and families. Hours and hours of testimony against Common Core has taken place since August 18th, on HB597, a bill joint sponsored by a member of the Republican leadership. This testimony has come from Ohio parents and teachers, as well as nationally recognized experts, who have provided our state legislators with concrete and concerning evidence that the Common Core is NOT good for Ohio’s children. His remark, “there may be an effort to talk about it”, indicates he’s as clueless about what’s going on in the Ohio legislature as he is with Ohio citizens.

What’s the source of such arrogance, lack of empathy, and sheer disregard? Could it partly be that Governor Kasich’s inability to relate to the plight of Ohio’s public school parents lies in his choice and luxury to privately educate his children? Governor Kasich and his children are protected from the Common Core madness experienced at the kitchen table of our public school students, who represent the vast majority of Ohio families.

To hear our own governor suggest we should simply re-brand Common Core is beyond the pale. This, too, must be off his radar. He is completely unaware of what is going on around the country and right next door in Indiana with just such a ruse. Hoosiers are fed up with Governor Pence and laugh at the idea he could possibly run for President after betraying his own on such a fundamental issue as education. Governor Kasich should take pause and realize the same will be said of him.

News tip, Governor – There’s an election in a few weeks and Ohio polling says…Voter support for a Governor who supports Common Core? Ohioans doubt it.

To keep up to date on efforts to Repeal Common Core in Ohio, please go to the Ohioans Against Common Core webpage by clicking here. 

And for Facebook & Twitter users, please join in the below state-wide Thunderclap effort to send a message and continue the pressure on Governor Kasich.

Scotland votes no: any lessons for Gov. Kasich?

art credit: zazzle.com

On Breitbart London, James Delingpole commented on yesterday's vote in Scotland for or against independence from Great Britain. 

With hindsight, we can all tell ourselves that last night's victory for the "No" vote was inevitable. With almost the entire British political establishment - including three prime ministers - behind it, not to mention an exceedingly rare and unlikely union of the left and right media (and The Daily Mail shall lie down with The Guardian and the BBC...), as well as three hundred years of history, the continuation of the Union ought to have been a foregone conclusion.

But that is certainly not how it has felt in the last fortnight. Hence the unseemly scramble we witnessed in the last few days as Cameron and co headed north to grovel and abase themselves on broken glass promising Scotland anything and everything just so long as it remained in the Union.

And so it has come to pass: a small tactical victory has been gained at the expense of a massive strategic defeat.

. . . 

Great Britain could emulate the federal system of the US, with its newly Balkanised states granted the freedom to set their own local tax levels, either running themselves into the ground on the high-tax, overregulated, socialistic California model or emulating the can-do spirit of Texas and become thriving models of free-market capitalism.

Gov. Kasich: are you paying attention? Where is your “can-do spirit” to get off the federal dole and lead the effort to turn Ohio into a thriving model of free-market capitalism? Ohio can’t get there with Common Core, Obamacare, and expanded Medicare dragging it down.  

# # #

Michael Moore: Obama Will Only Be Remembered For Being First Black President

The looney liberal lard Michael Moore is experiencing a major case of buyers remorse on President Obama.

In making statements that would have any Tea Party, conservative or Republican labeled as a hate-filled racist that does not like Obama just because he is black, Moore pretty much states he believes that Obama is a failure and the ONLY reason he will be remembered is because he is the first black president.

From The Hollywood Reporter --

Michael Moore sees President Obama's legacy as set. The progressive documentary filmmaker couldn't help but express his disappointment with the legislative accomplishments of the politician. 

"When the history is written of this era, this is how you'll be remembered: he was the first black president," Moore said during a discussion at The Hollywood Reporter's video lounge at the Toronto Film Festival.

"OK, not a bad accomplishment, but that's it," the director said. "That's it, Mr. Obama. 100 years from now, 'he was the first black American that got elected president' and that's it. Eight years of your life and that's what people are going to remember. Boy, I got a feeling, knowing you, that -- you'd probably wish you were remembered for a few other things, a few other things you could've done."

"So, it is, on that level, a big disappointment," Moore said.

The documentary filmmaker appeared at the Toronto festival for a screening of his acclaimed title Roger and Me, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The film, centered on then GM CEO Roger Smith, kickstarted Moore's career in creating controversial political documentaries, including Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Capitalism: A Love Story.

A Blu-Ray version of Roger and Me will be released on Oct. 7 by Warner Home Entertainment.

Remembering 9/11

Never Forget

Gov Kasich needs some wake-up Tweets to Repeal Common Core

Art credit: ownedit.com

From the Columbus Dispatch (h/t Marianne, Mansfield Tea Party) :

Gov. John Kasich doesn’t expect to see a Common Core elimination bill land on his desk.

In a meeting yesterday with the Dispatch editorial board, Kasich was asked about the effort by some Republican legislative leaders to repeal the Common Core education standards for math and English/language arts, along with Ohio’s other standards and tests.

“I don’t know that there’s any effort to repeal Common Core,” he said. “There may be an effort to talk about it.”

Kasich has said he supports the Common Core standards, adopted by Ohio and more than 40 other states in 2010 after they were developed by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers as a way to boost college and career readiness among U.S. students.

“I wish we could just change the name to Ohio’s standards, or whatever,” Kasich said.

The curriculum to meet the standards is developed by local school officials, Kasich said, and parents can advise school boards.

“Until somebody can show me we’re eroding local control, I see no reason to do anything. And I don’t think they’re (the House) going to do anything, to tell you the truth,” Kasich said. “In my judgment, it isn’t going to get to me, and if it does, it isn’t going to look anything like it is."

This is our Governor, the man who is more interested in the wants of his financial backers than the pleas of his constituents, pleas of concerned parents and teachers from both sides of the aisle.  This is the man who wants your vote.

The level of arrogance and ignorance displayed in Governor Kasich's response is outrageous and downright offensive.

Join Us in Our Offensive

We may not have the financial backing of CCSS supporters,  but we do have social media.

Join us TONIGHT, Wednesday evening, the 10th, for a "Tweetfest" showing our support for HB 597, and our lack of support for John Kasich.

How does a "Tweetfest" work?

We are asking everyone to Tweet @JohnKasich, between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. on the 10th, and use the following #'s in your message:

#DoYourHomework

#StopCommonCore

#LostMyVote

#DoneWithKasich

Are you a parent or teacher?

#MomsAgainstGovKasich

#ParentsAgainstGovKasich

#TeachersAgainstGovKasich

If you see others Tweeting, Re-tweet theirs.

Let it be known that we expect his support of the complete repeal of CCSS and the support of our children's education with HB 597.

Post this "Tweetfest" information on all your social media, Twitter, FB, Pinterest, etc.

Don't Tweet?  Call or Email

Call the Governor at (614) 466-3555 or email at http://governor.ohio.gov/

Let him know that his arrogance and unwillingness to listen to the people, and his deliberate interference in the due process of the law is unacceptable.

# # #

TX Governor Rick Perry: An Imbecile or Clueless Establishment RINO?

While Texas Governor Rick Perry, with an eye on the White House, continues trying to fool voters by masquerading around as a true conservative, the curtain on this Wizard of Oz Governor continues to be pulled back showing his true colors -- GOP Establishment Red!

Just yesterday we posted how, in not falling for his tough Texas talk, many of the conservative groups in Texas are calling out Perry for his lack of "real" action with the invasion of illegal immigrants they are facing on their southern border.

Now, with a kick in the groin to conservatives and in showing a complete lack of personal integrity & decency, Perry has hired the GOP establishment lobbyist Henry Barbour and his group of race-baiting grifters.  (Click here to read more about Barbour & his race-baiting grifters)

And while he eyes another run at the White House, like Ohio Governor Juan Kasich, Perry has shown that not only is he a tool of the establishment GOP and not fit to run his state, they are surely not fit to run the country.

In the end, you can be sure as quoted below by Keli Carender of Tea Party Patriots, whether Perry is an imbecile or just clueless on who he is associating with, we will make his hiring of Barbour an issue in the 2016 GOP primary.

Barbour and the other party hack consultants auditioning for a job can put all the lipstick they want on this establishment RINO, but as we know - it is still an establishment RINO!

From The Daily Beast --

For a second there, diehard conservatives thought the Texas governor was something of a badass. Now they’re pissed about his new aides.

When Texas Gov. Rick Perry was indicted last month on two felony charges stemming from how he dealt with a misbehaving Democratic state official, the image of the stuttering 2012 Republican primary challenger was replaced with that of a hero-cowboy in the eyes of many conservatives. Perry was under attack from the left wing, and his response was not to apologize but to walk through a hail of blue-hued bullets and emerge laughing, without a mark on him. But some conservative true believers have begun to notice something rather suspicious: The company Perry keeps seems more suited to a mainstream Republican—or a right-of-center Democrat—than to their hero-cowboy.

Perry is associated with three operatives who have concerned some members of the die-hard right wing: lobbyist Henry Barbour, former Bill Clinton aide Mark Fabiani, and McCain-Palin campaign chief and MSNBC pundit Steve Schmidt.

Well, maybe “concerned” is putting it somewhat mildly.

“The only two options are that Rick Perry is a complete imbecile and he has no idea who these people are and what they’ve done and how the conservative base—who votes in primaries—feels about these guys, or he’s doing it on purpose because that’s the kind of message he wants to send,” said Keli Carender, the national grassroots coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots. Either way, she assured: “It will be an issue. We will make it an issue.”

Barbour is already working on Perry’s 2016 bid for the White House. But conservatives know him best for his role running the political action committee Mississippi Conservatives, founded by his uncle, Haley Barbour, the former governor of Mississippi. In this year’s Magnolia State primary fight—and “fight” is an understatement—between U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran and state Sen. Chris McDaniel, Barbour reportedly played an influential and controversial role.According to National Review, his PAC funneled money to produce ads against McDaniel that alleged he would set back “race relationships between blacks and whites and other ethnic groups.” The ads, which seemed intended to drive African-American voters to the polls, enraged McDaniel’s Tea Party supporters.

As reported by Breitbart News, some conservatives loathe Barbour so much that they tried to get the Republican National Committee to censure him, to no avail.

“Republicans should not hire Henry Barbour unless and until he apologizes for the tactics he helped fund in Mississippi...I don’t think [keeping Barbour around] necessarily means Perry is endorsing what he did, but it means he’s certainly not properly condemning it or taking it seriously enough,” Quin Hillyer, a conservative writer and activist, told The Daily Beast. “What he helped finance was so far beyond the pale that he should be blackballed by conservatives, and if Perry wants to be considered a conservative, he should no longer employ Henry Barbour.”

Rick Shaftan, a Republican consultant who involved himself in the Mississippi primary, offered a somewhat different view of Barbour to The Daily Beast: “I don’t like what he did in Mississippi, but you know what? It shows he’s a ruthless, cutthroat operative, and there’s something to be said for that on the Republican side. Because we don’t have enough of them. If the force of evil can be brought to do good, then that’s a good thing.”

Normally, staffers don’t matter much to voters, Carender noted. But Mississippi is different for many on the far right. It’s become the ultimate test of Tea Party fidelity, a measuring stick for whether a conservative will sell out his principles to inside-the-Beltway Washington RINOs or will stay true to the cause and the grassroots activists who are the heart and soul of the movement.

People don’t recognize, Carender said, just “how plugged in the conservative base is to Mississippi…If you’re a man of integrity, you don’t associate with Henry Barbour as far as we’re concerned.”

Perry has associated with Barbour since at least 2012, when Barbour served on his ill-fated but memorable presidential campaign. (Haley Barbour, for his part, supported Newt Gingrich.)

Publicly, Perry may have shrugged at last month’s indictment—but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been taking Lone Star State-size measures to ensure it doesn’t sink him for good.

As part of his legal team, Perry has hired the Harvard-educated Mark Fabiani, best known for his ties to the Democratic Party. From 1994 through 1996, Fabiani worked as special counsel to President Bill Clinton. He then served as Al Gore’s communications director during his 2000 presidential campaign. Fabiani has worked for the Democratic former San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom as well.

Perry also has hired Steve Schmidt, a Republican strategist and former consultant to John McCain in 2008. Schmidt has long enraged Tea Party conservatives with his candor about members of his own party. Schmidt has called McCain’s VP pick, Sarah Palin, “someone [who] was nominated to the vice presidency who was manifestly unprepared to take the oath of office should it become necessary and as it has become necessary many times in American history.” Asked whether Palin would have a future in politics, Schmidt once remarked: “I hope not...And the reason I say that is because if you look at it, over the last four years, all of the deficiencies in knowledge, all of the deficiencies in preparedness, she’s done not one thing to rectify them, to correct them.”

Then Schmidt described Palin’s unflattering qualities, which could, unfortunately for Perry, double as descriptions for most members of the Tea Party: “She has become a person who, I think, is filled with grievance, filled with anger, who has a divisive message for the national stage...”

Conservative radio host Mark Levin wondered of Schmidt, “Why would Perry hire this conservative attacker and Palin hater?”

Schmidt made those comments on MSNBC, where he is employed as a political analyst. Shaftan said of Perry hiring the strategist: “If they have Steve Schmidt working for them, why are they telling people? That I don’t understand.”

Perry has been basking in the glory of the conservative credibility his fight with Texas Democrats has lent him—so much so that his mugshot features a prominent smirk, one you can wear on a T-shirt being sold by his PAC for just $25. Some Republicans made that same image their Facebook profile pictures in a show of support, in the way some do for gay marriage, or to end violence against children. But you’re only as good as the company you keep, according to some members of the far right who have in the past proved themselves to be loud enough to get their way.

Conservative HQ columnist Richard Viguerie wrote of Perry’s team: “When you hire a consultant, you hire his reputation, strategy, and tactics. We doubt that Governor Perry plans to win the Republican presidential nomination by race-baiting, recruiting Democrats to vote in Republican primary elections, and trashing as ‘poisonous’ conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh…”

Hillyer agreed: “A very important law of politics and government, as emphasized again and again by conservative movement leader Morton Blackwell, is that personnel is policy. If somebody wants to get a sense of how a political leader might govern, it certainly is important to see who he hires.”

One of a Kind - "In God We Trust" Commemorative Art Work

Our dear friends and dedicated patriots at Piccadilly's have a special offering of some absolutely beautiful art work and a one of a kind bottle of Cabernet with an etched American Flag in remembrance of the attacks we faced on September 11, 2001.

From Fine Art from Piccadilly's --

This month is very poignant for many Americans because we reflect back to the horrific events of September 11, 2001.

Many of us lost loved ones, and I was personally affected by this tragedy, losing a dear friend who was on the 100th floor of the North Tower.

We have a very special offer for this month’s Arvid titled “In God We Trust.”

We are giving away an etched bottle of the Sherwin Family Cabernet with the American Flag with all framed purchases. Imagine having Arvid’s “In God We Trust” hanging on your wall and next to it the etched bottle from the painting?



Here’s a brief story about the etched bottle.

Right after the attack on America in 2001, the Sherwin Family, community minded and deeply patriotic, decided to create an etched, hand-painted wine bottle that was to be a commemoration of the events of September 11 with proceeds going to the families and charities that supported those efforts.

The wine bottle, from their “Patriot Pour” Collection, was the first wine bottle ever permitted to display the American flag design on it, meeting the rigid approval of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

The full story of the Sherwin’s efforts to get the government’s approval can be found on this link.

Arvid’s latest work highlights the Sherwin Family Vineyards and he has created a stunning composition featuring the American Flag bottle with brilliant colors and smooth curves. Here is the suggested framed presentation using our famous natural cork liner.





“In God We Trust”
38 x 30
Signed and numbered edition
$1,650.00 (unframed)
$2,295.00 (framed with Etched Flag bottle)*

Artist Proof Edition**
$3,150.00 (unframed)
$3,795.00 (framed Etched Flag bottle)*

----------------------------------------------------

Piccadilly’s Fine Art will be giving away with every framed purchase an American Flag bottle from the Sherwin Family “Patriot Pour” collection.



This etched, hand-painted bottle (with gift box) will be a thank you for your business with proceeds from the commemorate bottle going to the Sherwin Family’s various charities.

If you wish to purchase the American Flag bottle, the 750 ml 2006 Commemorative bottle can be purchased directly from Sherwin for $225.00 but will be your FREE gift with any framed “In God We Trust” by Thomas Arvid.

Supplies of the numbered bottle are limited so get your orders in quickly. You can purchase outright from Sherwin for $225.00.

Thank you for your interest and your time.

Follow us on Facebook to see other special offers for only our Facebook friends.

Call 888-579-4300

PS: Show your patriotism…….fly your flag on 9-11

Texas Tea Party Leaders Expose Governor Rick Perry over Lack of Action on Texas Border Plan

In the same way some conservatives living outside New Jersey were initially duped with a few YouTube videos and conservative sounding sound bytes into liking New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, we see the same case with many conservatives living outside of Texas gushing over Governor Rick Perry.

Perry, throwing on a pair of glasses in attempts to make himself look presidential, acting tough by sending the TX National Guard to the border for some good media coverage and making the rounds of the Sunday morning talking head shows, may have fooled those outside Texas, but not those living inside Texas.

Below you will read how the grassroots conservative groups and Tea Party activists, have pulled back the curtain and exposed Perry to be a tough talking phony like the Wizard of Oz instead of the Governor of Texas - 

From Breibart -- (Emphasis Added)

AUSTIN, Texas — Thursday at the Texas Capitol, a group of grassroots tea party activists gathered for a press conference to share the “Texas Border Crisis Action Plan” they had created after years of frustration with a government that they characterized as “criminally negligent in their duties.”

Speakers included JoAnn Fleming, the Executive Director of Grassroots America, Dale Huls, a board member of the Clear Lake TEA Party and Texas Border Volunteer, Mary Huls, the President of the Clear Lake TEA Party and Texas Border Volunteer, George Rodriguez, the South Texas coordinator for TEA Party Patriots and the President of the South Texas Political Alliance, Dwayne Stovall, the Director of Keep Texas Free, LLC and School Board Trustee for the Tarkington Independent School District, and Heidi Theiss, Vice President of the Clear Lake TEA Party and League City Council Member.

Several of these grassroots activists, including Fleming, had participated in an earlier press conference at the Capitol, back in July, where they laid out their frustration with both federal and state elected officials, requested Texas Governor Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott to call up the National Guard, and asked for Perry to call a special session of the Texas Legislature to address border issues. To date, Texas officials have not been receptive to the idea of a special session, but just a few days after their July press conference, Perry announced he was deploying 1,000 National Guard troops to the border.

Fleming and Dale Huls were the primary authors of the Texas Border Crisis Action Plan,which is available online at Grassroots America’s website. According to a statement released by the group:

The plan describes the roles the Governor, Attorney General, and the Legislature should play in framing a constitution-based justification for Texas securing its border. The plan stakes out the role state leaders should play in developing the proper mission for an effective border security effort and in making provision for necessary funding for the Department of Public Safety, the Texas National Guard, and the Texas Military (as defined by the Texas Constitution) to actually secure the Texas border with Mexico.

Fleming gave introductory remarks at the press conference, and outlined the long-standing frustration she and her fellow tea party leaders have with not just the federal government, but also the state government. “This country is spiraling out of control,” Fleming said, because we have abandoned the rule of law and are failing to protect our borders. She stated that she supported immigration, but emphasized that immigrants needed to come to this country legally, entering through one of the 29 legal ports of entry in Texas.

All of the activists who were there to speak at the press conference had visited the border in a trip organized by Breitbart Texas , Fleming explained. They had taken pains to make sure that “it was not a dog and pony show” for them, as they had visited not just the Rio Grande Valley sector that had gotten so much media attention, but also the Laredo Sector. Fleming noted that the RGV sector was the only sector that had an increased level of personnel, but it was “most assuredly” not yet secure.

Fleming advocated for Texas to refuse to participate in the federal “catch and release” immigration policies, where illegal immigrants are released into the United States with little more than some paperwork setting a hearing date months or even years into the future. “When is it going to be enough?” asked Fleming, citing the high cost burden of illegal immigration on Texas and the Border Patrol agents who had lost their lives in the line of duty.

Dale Huls spoke next, and shared how he was “outraged” that his state government had failed to adequately take action in response to the border crisis, and he asked why the task of creating an action plan had fallen to “regular people” like himself. “In their own words, they have called this an emergency situation,” said Huls, sharing his view that many Texas elected officials had delivered sharp speeches blaming the federal government but failed to act to implement any substantive ideas that were, in fact, within their control

Huls was especially frustrated that he felt their demands for a special session had been dismissed or even flat out rejected. “We expected leadership,” he said, and called the refusal to call a special session “shocking.” The goal of the group, Huls explained, was to “remove the shield of ignorance” behind which our elected officials were hiding. “If something bad happens in our state, don't just blame the federal government…we [will] hold our state leaders accountable.”

Rodriguez, a fifth generation Texan, spoke next. He too was frustrated with current immigration policies and the humanitarian crises they were created. “We can’t be the orphanage for the rest of the world, we can’t be the ATM for the rest of the world,” said Rodriguez. “This border has been open since 1848 and we haven't done a darn thing about it,” he added, and the world is not what it was in 1848

Mary Huls spoke next to address the moral issues related to the their plan and the border crisis, which she described as “this really is a humanitarian issue.” She called the sympathy-inducing photos of the unaccompanied minors “a distraction,” noting as others have that the children are no more than twenty percent of those crossing the border, and they are providing cover for dangerous criminals.

“Texas’ heart does go out to the children,” she said, but it is impossible to separate the good from the bad without a secure border. Huls described the many women and children who end up killed, raped, molested, forced into sexual slavery, and so on. She then said that our current system ended up enabling all these horrifying crimes by providing not just a “magnet” of jobs and social welfare that encourages people to come, but also by releasing unaccompanied alien children to “sponsors” who are supposed to be relatives and family friends, but little was done to verify their identities. “How do we know who the people are who come to pick them up at the detention centers? …Are we selling these kids into a life of sex slavery?”

Theiss, a local elected official from League City, has lived in Mexico in the past, near the border with Belize. She told how she saw how strictly Mexico used to enforce its border, witnessing first hand scared Guatemalan immigrants running and hiding from Mexican authorities. Now, however, Mexico is actively encouraging and expediting traffic from Central America to Texas. Central Americans are given medical care, supplies, and a free travel visa to journey through Mexico, provided that they continue to American and do not try to stay in Mexico.

“The free flow of traffic is coming directly into Texas,” said Theiss, and the surge of immigrants we’ve seen so far this year is “going to be dwarfed,” with Mexico continuing to expand this program.

Theiss then had sharp words to critique Texas government officials. “We have a state government that is negligent, criminally negligent, in their duties,” she said. They campaigned on rule of law, she said, put on a tough act, but “they've failed in every regard” to actually address the broader border issues.

“Shame on the governor and all the way down,” said Theiss.

Stovall began his remarks by citing the rising cost of illegal immigrants to the state of Texas: from $8.9 billion in 2010, to $12 billion in 2013. By failing to take action to solve the problem, Texas government officials were essentially “accomplices” to the criminal activity associated with the border crisis.

Fleming then shared more details about how their plan was created and its key points. The Border Patrol agents are “begging the American people to stand up for them and let them do their jobs,” she said, but “what our state government is doing is not going to solve the problem.”

The main authority for what Flemings’ group hopes the state will do is Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, which states: "No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.” They want Perry to invoke the constitutional authority and declare a state of imminent danger in Texas from what is essentially an invasion of people streaming across our border.

Again, they did not want to wait for the regular 2015 session to start, but called for immediate action, partly through executive orders for items under the authority of the Governor of Texas, and a special session of the legislature to address all others.

Key recommendations in the Texas Border Crisis Action Plan:

• Form a “Texas military border brigade” from DPS officers, activating the National Guard, and authorizing extra funding from sources like the Rainy Day Fund and eliminating business incentives like the Texas Enterprise Fund, subsidies to Formula 1, etc.

• Fortify border security by adding fences, electronic monitoring technology, and boots on the ground.

• Stop providing social welfare services to illegal immigrants.

• End “sanctuary cities.”

• Prevent illegal immigrant children from attending Texas schools.

• Increase criminal penalties for employing illegal workers, especially for repeat offenders.

• Stop following the federal “catch and release” policies, but because of the declared emergency, hold illegal immigrants in jail until they can be returned to their home country.