Veterans Day : honoring all who served

Today is Veteran’s Day. From the government website:

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.” 

. . . 

Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. The restoration of the observance of Veterans Day to November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. 

Today we honor our veterans, but as columnist Mark Baisley points out at Townhall, we need to have their back. He previews a book just out : “Betrayed: The Shocking True Story of Extortion 17 as told by a Navy SEAL’s Father”. From the article / preview:

The book details the events of August 6, 2011 in Afghanistan surrounding the shooting down of an American Chinook helicopter that held the evocative name of “Extortion 17.”A high-value Al-Qaeda leader was pinned down in a village by U.S. Army Rangers. Three hours into the intense ground engagement, Extortion 17 was tasked to carry seventeen SEALs into the battle with the onerous task of capturing the Al-Qaeda leader alive.. . .

Under the Obama Administration’s new rules of engagement, no strike could be made on that building without assurance that no civilians were inside. The enemy knows these rules, which is why they run into buildings where civilians may be located.

Under the protection of Obama rules, the enemy set up on the tower of the building and shot down Extortion 17 using three rocket-propelled grenades. The Chinook fell to the ground in a tremendous explosion, killing all 30 people on board.

The parents of those SEAL Team members who died were gathered for a briefing and were given hundreds of pages of information from the investigation of the event. Betrayed includes many pages of that original material; material that raised enough unsettling questions that Billy Vaughn wrote a book.

One question asked at the briefing was why, even in the minutes following the shoot-down of Extortion 17, America’s massive firepower was withheld. Three-star Admiral Robert Harward explained to the parents that a drone strike wasn’t used because, “we need to win their hearts and minds.” 

Evidently, this policy of social politeness on the battlefront motivated the Obama Administration to relegate authority over American troops under Afghanistan command one year before the Extortion 17 crash, the greatest loss of U.S. military SEALs in a single incident. 

The parents of Special Operations Chief (SEAL) Aaron Carson Vaughn have a website for our son, with their tribute and book. 

Not only does this Administration not honor those who serve, it is undermining and weakening the military. The story of Extortion 17 should be front page news. Of course, the media is ignoring it. Please share this story with your family and friends.

Ohio Health Care Compact: moving the ball down the field

From our Ohio Tea Party Patriot co-coordinator, Marianne:

Many of you are aware of the work Tea Party Patriots of Ohio has been doing with Rep Wes Retherford and the Health Care Compact, to stop the Obamacare train wreck.

The Health Care Compact is an interstate compact.  It has already been passed in eight states and has been introduced and under consideration in nine other states, including Ohio.

Rep. Retherford will be giving his sponsor testimony on HB 227 November 19th, and is asking for our support and presence. Please let us know if you'll be able to join us, and we'll continue to forward information regarding the testimony and the Health Care Compact, as we are updated.

Eight states and their governors have already signed the Health Care Compact legislation into law.  Let's make Ohio the 9th!

Want to Learn More?

Take Action

The Health Care Compact is our answer to the question "Who should govern?"  The Health Care Compact promotes:

* self-governance by bringing the decision making process closer to the people.

*  Click here for a brief video explaining the Health Care Compact

*  Visit the Health Care Compact website

*  Join us in Columbus in support of Rep Retherford's testimony on HB 227  Click Here if you can join us or participate in a conference call

*  Sign the petition to show your support of self-governance through the Health Care Compact.  Click Here to Sign.

We received over 2,000 signatures in one week's time when showing our opposition to Medicaid expansion.  Let's show our support of self-governance and sign the petition for the Ohio Health Care Compact. 

Shouldn't our elected representatives be allowed to represent us, rather than being stripped of their authority to do so?

*  Forward the Ohio Health Care Compact petition to all your friends and family, and ask them to forward it to all they know.

# # #

Second hearing to repeal Common Core "standards" in Ohio

From Ohio Tea Party Co-cordinator Marianne:

The second hearing for HB 237, the bill to repeal Common Core, has been scheduled.

WHEN:    November 20th

                5:00 p.m. (tentatively)

WHERE:  Room 313 (same as last hearing)

                 The Atrium has been requested as the overflow room.

When visiting Richland County, Rep. Thompson stated that he believed one of the reasons he is receiving a second hearing is because of the strong show of support for this bill at the first hearing.

We must show that support again, and more if possible.

Dueling headlines: unemployment ups and downs

From The Plain Dealer online here:

U.S. adds 204,000 jobs, 

jobless rate up to 7.3 percent

From Breitbart Big Government:

720K AMERICANS LEAVE LABOR FORCE IN OCTOBER

And at Gateway Pundit, a very sad chart of the Labor Force Participation Rate:

The US labor force participation rate, plunged from 63.2% to 62.8% in October. Zero Hedge added that the number of people not in the labor force exploded by nearly 1 million, or 932,000 to be exact, in just the month of October. It is the lowest participation rate since 1978 – during the Carter years. 

Congress Passes "The Affordable Boat Act"

From Right Punditry -- (Satire)

“The U.S. government has just passed a new law called: “The affordable boat act”declaring that every citizen MUST purchase a new boat, by April 2014. These “affordable” boats will cost an average of $54,000-$155,000 each. This does not include taxes, trailers, towing fees, licensing and registration fees, fuel, docking and storage fees, maintenance or repair costs.

This law has been passed, because until now, typically only wealthy and financially responsible people have been able to purchase boats. This new laws ensures that every American can now have a “affordable” boat of their own, because everyone is “entitled” to a new boat. If you purchase your boat before the end of the year, you will receive 4 “free” life jackets; not including monthly usage fees.

In order to make sure everyone purchases an affordable boat, the costs of owning a boat will increase on average of 250-400% per year. This way, wealthy people will pay more for something that other people don’t want or can’t afford to maintain. But to be fair, people who cant afford to maintain their boat will be regularly fined and children (under the age of 26) can use their parents boats to party on until they turn 27; then must purchase their own boat.

If you already have a boat, you can keep yours (just kidding; no you can’t). If you don’t want or don’t need a boat, you are required to buy one anyhow. If you refuse to buy one or cant afford one, you will be regularly fined $800 until you purchase one or face imprisonment.

Failure to use the boat will also result in fines. People living in the desert; ghettos; inner cities or areas with no access to lakes are not exempt. Age, motion sickness, experience, knowledge nor lack of desire are acceptable excuses for not using your boat.

A government review board (that doesn’t know the difference between the port, starboard or stern of a boat) will decide everything, including; when, where, how often and for what purposes you can use your boat along with how many people can ride your boat and determine if one is too old or healthy enough to be able to use their boat. They will also decide if your boat has out lived its usefulness or if you must purchase specific accessories, (like a $500 compass) or a newer and more expensive boat.

Those that can afford yachts will be required to do so…its only fair. The government will also decide the name for each boat. Failure to comply with these rules will result in fines and possible imprisonment.

Government officials are exempt from this new law. If they want a boat, they and their families can obtain boats free, at the expense of tax payers. Unions, bankers and mega companies with large political affiliations ($$) are also exempt.

Cuyahoga County Elections results

On Tuesday, Nov. 5, Cuyahoga County voters approved every tax levy and charter amendment. Here are provisional counts from the Cuyahoga County Board of elections website:

          1- Cuyahoga County Tax Levy

            FOR THE TAX LEVY .  .  .  .  .    130,894   54.64

            AGAINST THE TAX LEVY.  .  .  .  108,681   45.36

          2 -Cuyahoga County Chart Amend II.2.03.2

           YES  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   111,921   52.85

           NO.  .  .  .  .  .  .    99,836   47.15

          3 -Cuyahoga County Charter Amend II.2.03.12

          YES  .  .  .  .  .  .   118,424   56.34

           NO.  .  .  .  .  .  .    91,773   43.66

          4 - Cuyahoga County Charter Amend III.3.10.5

           YES  .  .  .  .  .  .   107,986   53.12

           NO.  .  .  .  .  .  .    95,305   46.88

          5 - Cuyahoga County Charter Amend VI.6.02

          YES  .  .  .  .  . .  .   149,212   73.70

           NO.  .  .  .  . . .  .    53,243   26.30

79 - Cleveland Library Dist Tax Levy

           FOR THE TAX LEVY .  .  . .  .  40,204   75.86

           AGAINST THE TAX LEVY.  .     12,794   24.14

82 - Cleveland Cuyahoga County Port Authority Tax Levy

           FOR THE TAX LEVY .  . .  .  .  156,615   64.79

           AGAINST THE TAX LEVY.  .  .    85,113   35.21

Bottom line: more taxes.  

GOP Gives Up Virginia To Democrats

The Independent Journal Review had some sobering comments on the razor-thin election in Virginia yesterday:

GOP Gives Up Virginia To Democrats Instead Of Giving Tea Party and Social Conservatives A Win

When the facts are considered in the slim victory that terribly flawed Democrat Terry McAuliffe had against Ken Cuccinelli, it’s hard to deny the conclusion that the Republican party decided it was better to abandon Virginia to the Democrat party than to allow the Tea Party and social conservatives to win.

Here they are:§  The Republican National Committee spent three times as much in 2009 on the same race as they did this year.
§  The Chamber of Commerce spent one million dollars in the last Governor’s race, and not one dime on Cuccinelli.
§  While it’s often claimed that Tea Party candidates do poorly among independents, Cuccinelli actually won independents by 9 points, 47 percent to 38 percent.
§  “McAuliffe outraised Cuccinelli by almost $15 million,” and in the last weeks of the campaign, this left Cuccinelli with nearly no media exposure.
§  Even Politico wonders if Cuccinelli was beginning to turn the tide against the “War on Women” narrative, as he drove down McAuliffe’s lead among women from 24% in polling to 9%.

In the last month, Cuccinelli’s claim that the election was a referendum on Obamacare started closing the gap for him – the continuing debacle of Obama’s signature legislation was taking its toll on his opponent. But ultimately, he couldn’t close the gap without help.

Help that disappeared in the last weeks of the campaign, and could have pushed him over the top.

Finally, a libertarian third party candidate served as a spoiler, stealing a fair percentage of votes away from Cuccinelli, and diluting the conservative message.

But what this article left out is that the third party “Libertarian” candidate, Robert Sarlvis, was not just a spoiler -- he was supported by an Obama bundler. The Blaze broke the story here - but only just before the election. 

A major Democratic Party benefactor and Obama campaign bundler helped pay for professional petition circulators responsible for getting Virginia Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Robert C. Sarvis on the ballot — a move that could split conservative votes in a tight race.

Campaign finance records show the Libertarian Booster PAC has made the largest independent contribution to Sarvis’ campaign, helping to pay for professional petition circulators who collected signatures necessary to get Sarvis’ name on Tuesday’s statewide ballot. 

Austin, Texas, software billionaire Joe Liemandt is the Libertarian Booster PAC’s major benefactor. He’s also a top bundler for President Barack Obama. This revelation comes as Virginia voters head to the polls Tuesday in an election where some observers say the third-party gubernatorial candidate could be a spoiler for Republican Ken Cuccinelli.

Who said it was going to be fair? The bright side is that despite being wildly outspent, despite votes siphoned off by a stealth candidate, and despite getting no help from the GOP, Cuccinelli came close.