Thoughts on Labor Day

Thoughts on Labor Day from Marianne G., Mansfield Tea Party:

Because the history of Labor Day is no longer taught, it is relatively unknown these days. 

The first Labor Day was held in 1882. Its origins stem from the desire of the Central Labor Union to create a holiday for workers (I guess regular holidays weren't enough). It became a federal holiday in 1894, thanks to President Grover Cleveland.

It was originally intended that the day would be filled with a street parade to allow the public to appreciate the work of the trade and labor organizations.

Notice the last sentence - "appreciate the work of the trade and labor organizations".  It was not to show appreciation for the laborer, but to pay homage to the labor organizations.

It is these same labor organizations that have turned their back on workers by supporting illegal immigration.  The influx of illegal immigrants will destroy the wage of the American worker, and destroy the middle class - the very people the unions are supposedly protecting!

Where are the labor organizations now?  Why aren't they fighting for American jobs rather than supporting cheap, illegal labor for their big business cronies?

I think we all know the answer.  It's not about the laborer, it's about the leaders and their pockets.

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Cleveland Air Show 2014

In case you missed the Blue Angels this weekend:

Labor Day Weekend 2014

Labor Day Special: Democrats Support of Illegal Immigrants is War on U.S. Workers!

As we routinely hear how the Democrats support U.S. workers, in the below article & video link, a former liberal clearly shows the Democrats desire of amnesty for illegal immigrants is clearly a War on U.S. workers.  (Click to watch video)

From The Daily Caller -- 

As Labor Day looms, President Obama’s immigration policy looks to become a war on American workers. Without prioritizing who’s allowed to come to America, former liberal Ann Corcoran says “the American worker loses. The numbers are too high. We can’t assimilate this many people.”

Marylander Ann Corcoran, who says she was “tea party” before the movement existed, has written a daily blog, as a volunteer activist, at Refugee Resettlement Watch for the last seven years to inform and engage citizens.

Refugee Resettlement Watch is a small but growing daily blog focused on how the government has resettled over 3 million refugees since 1975. Without any financial backing, she is doing what the media and Congress have failed to do – tracking how a federal program is functioning. Corcoran, who has published over 2,500 posts now, says “the open border left wants no borders.” And those involved with resettling refugees with the U.N. and Washington want no scrutiny of this program.

American-bound refugees are selected by the U.N. Then the State Department and the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement, are tasked to operate with nine major federal contractors who monopolize the program and contract work to 300 subcontractors to place refugees throughout the nation. According to Corcoran, HHS has now identified growing “pockets of resistance.” Ever vigilant, HHS sends another contractor, “Welcoming America,” to set communities’ “minds right.”

In this 22 minute video interview, Corcoran discusses what might surprise most citizens about this federal program. Specifically, she discusses how church groups are being paid lucratively — by refugee — to do charitable work, the U.N.’s dominant role in our refugee program and the lack of substantive consultation with states and cities about these immigrants. (Click here to watch video)

With all the persecution of Christians going on in the world today, you would think the largest Christian contractor would ask the government to only allow Christians for a time period. Yet, Corcoran says she was “shocked to hear the representative for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops testify at the State Department for more Burmese Muslims next year.”

With a watchful eye on how communities are reacting to new refugees, Corcoran mentions in this interview Dover, NH; Salt Lake City, UT; Nashville, TN; Amarillo, TX; Springfield, MA; and Athens, GA.

Lastly, she gives advice on what citizens can do and shares her ideas on how to reform the program, such as ensuring communities can request economic and social impact statements along with public hearings.

More Obamacare Lies: Obama looking to Win 2014 Lie of the Year!

President Obama, in winning the 2013 Lie of the Year Award with his, "you can keep your health plan and your doctor under Obamacare," may have one upped himself and is in contention for 2014 Lie of the Year. 

Rivaling his 2013 lie, as explained in the below video by Ezekiel Emanuel (Rahm's big brother), Obamacare will also cause the demise of any employer based health insurance with an estimated 80% disappearing in the next 10 years.

The only way we can Constitutionally shed the shackles of Obamacare is through the Health Care Compact.

At the federal level, in February 2014, Congressman James Lankford (R-OK) introduced the Health Care Compact (H.J. Res. 110)

To date, passing legislation at the state level, nine states have joined the Health Care Compact (Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Kansas), and legislation has either passed the state legislature or is being considered in 11 additional states.

With the efforts in Ohio and the Ohio Health Care Compact (HB 227) pending in the OH House, hopefully Ohio will be 10th state to pass the Health Care Compact.  

Former Iowa State Senator Pleads Guilty to Accepting Money to Back Ron Paul

From Open Secrets --

A former Iowa state senator has pleaded guilty to federal charges that he accepted money from the Ron Paul 2012 presidential campaign to switch his endorsement from Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who was also running for the GOP White House nomination.

Kent Sorenson, of Milo, Iowa, has been at the center of accusations that he was paid for his endorsement, first by the Bachmann campaign and then by the Paul campaign, in late 2011. Sorenson switched his endorsement at the last moment before the Iowa caucuses in the 2012 race, but vehemently denied he had been paid to do so.

Last year, OpenSecrets blog published emails alleged to be between Ron Paul campaign officials and representatives of Sorenson discussing Sorenson’s demands for payment. Later, audio recordings emerged in which Sorenson discussed how a Paul operative named Dimitri Kesari offered him a $25,000 check, written in the name of a jewelry shop owned by Kesari’s wife, to switch sides. Sorenson denied cashing the check but later admitted to an independent investigator from the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee that he had received payments from a company in Maryland.

Today, the Department of Justice said that Sorenson pleaded guilty to two federal charges, for receiving payment to switch his endorsement and for obstructing justice in attempting to conceal those payments.

The DOJ statement does not name the campaigns involved, but describes Sorenson as admitting to receiving monthly payments of $8,000 from the campaign of the candidate he ultimately endorsed, and admitting the payments were funneled through a film production company and then through a second company.

The Paul campaign’s 2012 expenditures reports show that $82,375 was paid to a Hyattsville, Md.-based video company called Interactive Communications, Inc. According to bank records discovered during the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee investigation, Sorenson received payments from a firm called “ICT, Inc”, based at the same Hyattsville address, that closely matched the payments the campaign made.

For example, the campaign reported to the Federal Election Commission that on Feb. 8, 2012, it paid $38,125 to Interactive Communications. On Feb. 9, ICT Inc. wired Sorenson $33,000. Then, on April 3, the campaign paid Interactive Communications $17,770, and on April 9, ICT wired Sorenson $16,000.

On May 4, the campaign paid Interactive Communications $8,850, and on the same day ICT wired Sorenson $8,000. The same thing happened twice more, with Sorenson pocketing a total of $73,000 from ICT Inc. between February and July of 2012. The Ron Paul presidential campaign paid Interactive Communications $83,375 over the same period.

Neither Lori Pyeatt, Ron Paul’s granddaughter and the treasurer of his 2012 presidential campaign, nor Jesse Benton, who was Paul’s campaign manager (and is now manager of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s re-election campaign), had responded to requests for comment at the time this post was published.

It isn’t clear if the investigation is continuing, but Sorenson has been granted immunity from further prosecution on federal and state charges, as has his wife, according to the plea agreement. OpenSecrets.org has learned that two grand juries have been investigating the events in Iowa, one focused on the Paul campaign and one on Bachmann’s. Last August, OpenSecrets.org published a copy of a memowritten by Aaron Dorr, the head of the Iowa Gun Owners, in which he outlined Sorenson’s demands to switch his endorsement. Included in the emails surrounding the negotiations were several top Paul campaign officials, including Benton.

Nobody has been indicted in connection with making the payments to Sorenson.

Sorenson could face up to five years in prison on the first charge and 20 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine on each of the two counts.

How Obamacare Premiums Are Set

The only way to Constitutionally free us from Obamacare - is through the Health Care Compact. 

When the OH House starts back in session, be on the look out for our Action Alerts regarding the Health Care Compact efforts in Ohio (HB 227). Already passed out of Committee, we will be pushing for a full vote on the House Floor.

From Heath Care Compact.Org --

Merrill Matthews of Forbes describes the push and pull behind rate setting under Obamacare. What? The rates are set for a free market? Ok, not quite, but there are some bureaucratic ‘forces’ affecting them. And here are some that Matthews discusses:

Throw away your risk tables. “Actuaries set premiums for the upcoming year based on several factors, including the estimated ratio of sick and healthy people in the pool … However, actuaries had ZERO experience with Obamacare’s “metal plans” (bronze, silver, gold and platinum), plus the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and President Obama were making up or changing the rules as they went along—and still are.”

Shoot first, ask questions later. “So if some insurers announce lower-than-expected premium increases for 2015, it may be because they overpriced policies the first time—not because Obamacare is holding costs down.”

Game the price controls. “HHS has a 10 percent red-flag cap. Under Secretary Kathleen Sebelius HHS had warned insurers that if they raised premiums more than 10 percent in one year, the agency would closely scrutinize their justifications. That’s because such increases would undermine Obama’s affordability promise.” So insurers played games like having 9% increases two yerars in a row or increasing premiums against a rainy day, knowing they could not adjust prices in the future.

Politicians and bureaucrats are pressuring insurers to keep premiums down. We saw this in Massachusetts shortly after the passage of Romneycare. Health insurers asked for a premium increase and the state rejected the request. Then Governor Deval Patrick leaned on the insurers to lower their rates, which they did—a tactic that can only work a few times before there’s no more margin to give.

Unfortunately this also forces costs up. The firms make irrational decisions based on a strategy of minimizing bureaucratic caprice. All the classic outcomes of central planning -- hoarding, shortages, misallocation -- show up in the so-called markets. There is also the tactic of putting the premium in the fine print, by loading it onto the deductible.

Obamacare premiums are so expensive that many participants are choosing very high deductible plans. Health Pocket Inc. found the average deductible for an individual in a Bronze plan was $5,081 ,and $10,386 for a family. It was $2,907 for an individual in a Silver plan, and $6,078 for a family.

Matthews says this is actually good because the real proxy price of a policy migrates to its deductible. “That’s actually a very positive step. High deductibles dramatically lower health care utilization and, just as importantly, they encourage patients to seek value for their health care dollars by making them cost-conscious and shopping around for a better price. That practice puts downward pressure on premiums.”

The result is that the premiums contain only a fraction of the price information. Cheap could mean ‘unavailable’. Expensive could be ‘unavailable’ also because it was too cheap last year. Central planning has never worked well, not even when they were not called central planning.

Common Core: Louisiana Gov. challenges it, Ohio Republican embraces it

Art credit: blog.heartland.org

From cleveland.com, our Republican legislators at work:

Efforts to repeal the Common Core educational standards in Ohio are a disheartening "circus" that needs to fail, State Sen. Peggy Lehner said in a speech at the City Club today that was also filled with praise for Cleveland's school improvement efforts and attempts to create more preschool opportunities for city children.

Lehner, a Dayton-area Republican who chairs the Senate's education committee, blasted House Bill 597 as political maneuvering filled with several "hidden agendas." The bill, which had hearings in the Ohio House the last two weeks, would kill the multi-state Common Core standards if passed.

The packed room, filled mostly with educators and school supporters, applauded when she called the bill and its hearings a circus.

"It would be downright silly if it wasn't so sad," said Lehner, a longtime supporter of the standards that the state school board adopted in 2010.

Lehner has repeatedly said that the standards improve greatly on Ohio's old ones and will raise expectations of students, which will give them greater chances to be successful in life.

Meanwhile, Cheryl K. Chumley of The Washington Times reports that in Louisiana:

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said he was filing a lawsuit on Wednesday against the Obama administration over alleged manipulation of grant money to force states to accept Common Core as their school standards.

Mr. Jindal is also accusing the White House of manipulating the regulatory process to compel states to take the much-disputed educational program, The Associated Press reported.

The U.S. Department of Education used its $4.3 billion grant program and waiver policy to press states into accepting the same educational testing and standards program. Mr. Jindal said that action “effectively forces states down a path toward a national curriculum,” which violates the 10th Amendment of the Constitution — state sovereignty, AP said.

Mr. Jindal also alleged the action breaks federal laws that ban the federal government from taking control of school and educational content.

He was planning to file the complaint in federal court in Baton Rouge.

AP was provided a draft copy of the suit.

“The federal government has hijacked and destroyed the Common Core initiative,” Mr. Jindal said in a statement reported by AP. “Common Core is the latest effort by big government disciples to strip away state rights and put Washington, D.C., in control of everything.”

At least Gov. Jindal is now actively challenging a policy he once supported. And he is getting blasted in the press for doing a 180 on a policy he was for, before he was against it. 

The federal government should have NO say in education; that is what parents and teachers are supposed to do. Cleveland Tea Party Patriots thank all Ohio patriots who submitted testimony at the recent hearings in Columbus.