Governor Fallin Threatens Public School Funding, Over Opposition by Local Superintendents to State's System of Grading Schools

UPDATE:  11/5/2013:  After a host of parents and educators went through the roof at the threat of Gov Fallin pulling school funding, the comments were updated:

Gov. Mary Fallin’s spokesman Alex Weintz said some have misconstrued comments he made earlier this week to the Tulsa World as a “threat” to educators to stop criticizing the A-F grading system. 

“Gov. Fallin has not and will not threaten (additional state) funding for schools based on opposition to the A-F grading system,” he said in a written statement released Tuesday.
In a Tulsa World story published Sunday, Weintz said Fallin wanted to warn educators that continued criticism of the A-F school grading system could affect whether public schools get additional state funding for fiscal year 2015. 

Educators and parents statewide interpreted that as a threat by the governor to stop criticizing the A-F grading system or forfeit additional state funding next year to help fill a $200 million-plus budget shortfall from cuts made during the recession.

Where is Gov Fallin to speak to the media and answer these questions instead of sending out a handwritten comment?  She got caught and she knows it so she is avoiding the media, educators, and parents.  IMHO she meant what was said and backtracked when she got caught.

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Governor Fallin says that the new grading system is "the law" and therefore we need to accept it regardless of whether we like it or not. However, Obamcare is also "the law" yet she does not accept it because she does not like it. Aren't we as a people just following the example of our leaders in regard to following "the law"?  Jody, Tulsa World

What can you say when you read this except that ALEC has taken over the Governor's Office of the State of Oklahoma when the Governor's Spokesman disses the report from the two major state universities -- University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.  Guess the Governor and the State School Superintendent know better then the two recognized university staffs who prepared the report or our local school superintendents:

Gov. Fallin counters critics of A-F system for grading schools

Strong opposition to the state's system of grading schools may hurt funding, the governor says.By KIM ARCHER World Staff Writer  

Related Documents:

Oklahoma A-F report Read a report from University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University researchers analyzing Oklahoma's A-F grading system. 

Gov. Mary Fallin is warning educators that continuing public criticism of the state's A-F school grading system may affect whether common education gets additional funding next fiscal year. 

"It's not helpful to anyone's cause. It seems to be some opponents are absolutely bent on undermining the credibility of the entire system," said Fallin spokesman Alex Weintz. 

"The fact of the matter is this grading system, regardless of whether or not you believe it should have been put together differently, is the law." 

Last week state Superintendent Janet Barresi unveiled her education budget request for fiscal year 2015, in which she is asking for an additional $174.9 million for a total of $2.5 billion. On the same day, the governor's office spoke out on the A-F issue, urging education supporters to get behind the grading system and stop endorsing a report that criticizes it.

The A-F grades for schools across the state are expected to be released this week.
Weintz said the governor is "dismayed" to see groups representing the education community touting a report issued by researchers at University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University as a way to wage a campaign against A-F.

Do you know how stupid they sound saying the A-F school grading system is the "law" no matter if you agree or not when we live in a state that has challenge ACA and is still challenging it when it was passed into law, signed by the President and upheld by SCOTUS.  The Governor and her ALEC Legislature still won't recognize the ACA law but now want to tell all of us that the A-F grading system is the law so sit down and shut up or lose funding.  Sounds pretty dictatorial in my book.  

This part of the article would be funny if not so serious:

Educators statewide have complained that the formula underlying the simple A-F grades is flawed. They point to two analyses by OU and OSU researchers that concluded the formula "has very little meaning and certainly cannot be used legitimately to inform high-stakes decisions." 

Weintz said Fallin disagrees with the latest study and believes its conclusions are harmful to public education.

Fallin will never go down as being one of the smarter Governor's of Oklahoma but like Keating her regard for public education leaves a lot to be desired.  When she thinks she knows more then our two State Universities, there is a real problem and it is not with the report from the Universities.  Two universities who turn out teachers for our public schools are harmful to public education?  What is harmful is being a state owned by ALEC and the Koch Bros with a State School Superintendent that believes in charter schools over public schools.  I know because I got in a fight with one of her disciples about that very issue.

Oklahoma ranks #1 in the Country for cutting school funding by 28% since 2008 and now if schools don't do as they are told the Governor wants to cut them more?  Give me a break!

When you think that Oklahoma's Governor Fallin cannot stoop any lower with Janet Barresi, who is one of the most detested State School Superintendents ever in this state, it happens.  These comments from the Tulsa World article say it all and these are just a few.   Oklahomans are mad starting with the local Superintendents  who are asking for a NO Confidence vote on Barrissi.  Finding her biography was not easy but when you do you find Barrisi was a dentist, speech pathologist, and Board President of Harding Charter Preparatory High School.  She had no executive experience in running a public school just a charter school which was not a well known fact in the election when the hard right Tea Party led the GOP to take all state offices.  Don't know anyone who respects her as state school superintendent except Fallin and her group as Barrisi is dictatorial and refuses to listen to ideas even in meetings.  

These comments from the Tulsa World article sum of what I have heard from educators in my own area of the state:

Fallin apparently has cornflakes for brains. She refuses to expand Medicaid, denying affordable health care to thousands, even though it will be heavily subsidized with federal dollars -- even Republican governors Jan Brewer and John Kasich saw the wisdom of not sending their own taxpayers' federal dollars to other states -- and now she is using fear and extortion -- tools Republicans reach for first -- to threaten school superintendents if they question the failed performance of her girl Barresi. It is time to retire the mistress of Koch Industries to Wichita and elect a governor who is interested in serving the people of Oklahoma. Oklahoma horses will also likely be glad to see her go. (Frank, Tulsa World)

Governor, I am in awe of your threat of possible education funding for our public schools could be halted because of the failure of school administrators not accepting these flawed standards trying to be promoted by your administration. You haven't even tried working with them nor even accepted the analysis of the education professionals from O.U. nor O.S.U. These are educational scientists who RESEARCH educational factors on a daily basis. What does your research say to counter theirs since you discount their assessment?
Also, "grading our public schools" is part of a system that conservatives have initiated throughout our nation to try and privatize our public schools for profit and not necessarily to improve our schools. Hopefully, Oklahomans will begin to recognize this scheme for what it is - dismantling our public school system, a cornerstone of our great democracy! (Ann, Tulsa World)

In other words Fallin is so dedicated to the destruction of Public education she would throw a bomb and disrespect our Best Educators....these corporate pawns will stoop to any low imaginable..No wonder Johnny cannot read .Just be sure the kids do not learn their science..they would know how bad humans have made the planet in the Name of profit SSSSS  (Jean, Tulsa World)

Alex Weintz make clear that the governor’s agenda is - gut public education funding in a fit of pique, use a flawed grading system and then announce "Public education has failed." , with all that implies. 

I hope she does not pursue this scorched earth approach that the threat of tying funding for the education of Oklahoma’s children to the acquiescence of the adults to a grading plan, flawed or otherwise, seems to imply. To quote Ronald Reagan “Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things." I can hope the governor realizes she has overplayed her hand on this, comes down on the side of freedom and backs away from Mr. Weintz’s statements.  (Robert, Tulsa World)

This is typical of the Governor to send out her spokesman to say what she thinks rather than talk with the media on where she stands.  Her ties to the Koch Bros and ALEC did me in plus I find more and more I have lost total respect with her stance on education, ACA, women's rights, minority rights, etc. The audacity to say the new grading is the law but the ACA which is the law has to be overturned shows a shallowness and someone who is bought and paid for like so many of our GOP Governor's today.

Truth Wins Out -- GOP in Congress Sabotaged Obamacare Rollout -- Some GOP Governors Complicit

In fact, putting an excessive burden on the federal government was the explicit aim of the law’s opponents. “Congress authorized no funds for federal ‘fallback’ exchanges,” the Tea Party Patriots website noted as long ago as last December. “So Washington may not be able to impose exchanges on states at all.” The group went on to suggest that since Washington was not equipped to handle so many state exchanges, “both financially and otherwise — this means the entire law could implode on itself.  Todd S. Purdum, Politico

Anyone who knows me knows I have been blaming Republicans for the problems with Obamacare knowing some State Governors like Oklahoma's Mary Fallin, pulled back at the last minute.  It just made sense it would put an extra burden on the main site.  Lo and behold that is just what happened. 

The lowlife, underhanded GOP sabotaged the rollout of ACA and then criticized it for having problems.  Despicable, lying, overpaid, lazy, and arrogant Republican members of Congress are going to find out the Democrats they are dealing with today are not the rollover types and are willing to stand up to the lying GOP like Rep Pallone of New Jersey.  This may be one of the funniest exchanges I have seen from the House in a long time.  I applaud Rep Pallone for standing up and not backing down.  

The Wrecking Crew courtesy graphic is courtesy of Politicususa.com from Crooks and Liars which is a perfect description of today's GOP:

 

From Sarah Jones, Politicususa:

For weeks I’ve been wondering why no one is talking about how Republicans sabotaged the ACA rollout by refusing to implement state run marketplaces, and thus unexpectedly forcing all of that additional burden on to the federal website.

It reminded me of Republicans denying security funding for Benghazi and then blaming Obama and Clinton for the lack of security in Benghazi. The media were oddly uninterested in that alarming fact. 

But today, Todd Purdum at Politico exposed how Republicans sabotaged the ACA rollout. One small part of their plan was the rejection of the state run exchanges.

But also, Purdum points out, Republicans refused to fund the extra work on the website after the states refused to do their parts, leaving the administration to cobble funding together for Healthcare.Gov. Putting this extra burden on the website was a deliberate effort to cause the law to “implode” on itself.

When I saw the above on Politicususa, it all made sense and answered my questions on how the lowlife Republicans caused the problems and then blamed President Obama.  The theory was correct that the MSM was complicit with Republicans and hard right in the lies about the ACA rollout refusing to get to the heart of the problems and took to blaming the Obama Administration.  Daily we see the MSM reporting the GOP narrative on ACA as facts with some reporters actually saying it is not their job to determine the truth like Chuck Todd and Lisa Myers of NBC.  If a reporters job is not to report the facts, then he should go to work for Fox News where facts and truth rarely see the light of day.

The excerpted article by Politico is outstanding as Purdum put the facts together and shows how a real investigative reports works.  Great knowing there are still some around today -- his full article is well worth the read:

The Obamacare sabotage campaign 

By TODD S. PURDUM | 11/1/13 5:04 AM EDT Updated: 11/1/13 8:31 AM EDT 

To the undisputed reasons for Obamacare’s rocky rollout — a balky website, muddied White House messaging and sudden sticker shock for individuals forced to buy more expensive health insurance — add a less acknowledged cause: calculated sabotage by Republicans at every step. 

That may sound like a left-wing conspiracy theory — and the Obama administration itself is so busy defending the indefensible early failings of its signature program that it has barely tried to make this case. But there is a strong factual basis for such a charge. 

From the moment the bill was introduced, Republican leaders in both houses of Congress announced their intention to kill it. Republican troops pressed this cause all the way to the Supreme Court — which upheld the law, but weakened a key part of it by giving states the option to reject an expansion of Medicaid. The GOP faithful then kept up their crusade past the president’s reelection, in a pattern of “massive resistance” not seen since the Southern states’ defiance of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. 

But the bitter fight over passage was only the beginning of the war to stop Obamacare. Most Republican governors declined to create their own state insurance exchanges — an option inserted in the bill in the Senate to appeal to the classic conservative preference for local control — forcing the federal government to take at least partial responsibility for creating marketplaces serving 36 states — far more than ever intended. 

Then congressional Republicans refused repeatedly to appropriate dedicated funds to do all that extra work, leaving the Health and Human Services Department and other agencies to cobble together HealthCare.gov by redirecting funds from existing programs. On top of that, nearly half of the states declined to expand their Medicaid programs using federal funds, as the law envisioned. 

Then, in the months leading up to the program’s debut, some states refused to do anything at all to educate the public about the law. And congressional Republicans sent so many burdensome queries to local hospitals and nonprofits gearing up to help consumers navigate the new system face-to-face that at least two such groups returned their federal grants and gave up the effort. When the White House let it be known last summer that it was in talks with the National Football League to enlist star athletes to help promote the law, the Senate’s top two Republicans sent the league an ominous letter wondering why it would “risk damaging its inclusive and apolitical brand.” The NFL backed off. 

The drama culminated on the eve of the open enrollment date of Oct. 1. Congressional Republicans shut down the government, disrupting last-minute planning and limiting the administration’s political ability to prepare the public for the likelihood of potential problems, because it was in a last-ditch fight to defend the president’s biggest legislative accomplishment. 

“I think my Republican colleagues forget that a lot of people are enrolling through state exchanges, rather than the federal exchange,” Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) noted last week. “And if it wasn’t for the fact that many Republican governors, including my own,” failed to set up state exchanges, “then we wouldn’t be putting so much burden on the federal system.” 

In fact, putting an excessive burden on the federal government was the explicit aim of the law’s opponents. “Congress authorized no funds for federal ‘fallback’ exchanges,” the Tea Party Patriots website noted as long ago as last December. “So Washington may not be able to impose exchanges on states at all.” The group went on to suggest that since Washington was not equipped to handle so many state exchanges, “both financially and otherwise — this means the entire law could implode on itself.” 

Excerpt:  Read more at Politico  

The way some of the media is attacking President Obama over ACA shows how much they are in bed with the GOP.  For years we have heard that the MSM is liberal when he fact they are controlled by mostly conservative organizations who frankly don't like the President because he doesn't do favors for the wealthy like Republicans.  President Obama actually cares about regular people not just the top 2%.  

For years I have been told by some Republicans to blame the opposition for what you are doing.  My reaction was to say you have to be kidding because you will be found out but they weren't.  They even defunded ACORN after it had been destroyed.  How much of the voter fraud attributed to ACORN came from the GOP?  

At least the answers are out about ACA and once again just like Benghazi, the fault lies with the lack of GOP funding ACA websites while they blame Obama and the Democrats.  Politico and Politicususa made my day with these revelations.  About time someone tells the truth because you are not going to get it from much of the MSM who are too lazy to investigate anything except where their next meal is coming from and who they can get to pay for that meal.

Oklahoma State Agency Heads Get $40,000 to $50,000 Raises -- State Employees No Raises for Eight Years

It is unclear how many other state agency heads may have received large pay increases because agencies are not required to report the pay hikes to the Office of Management and Enterprise Services until August, said John Estus, spokesman for that agency.  Randy Ellis, The Oklahoman, who is a true investigative reporter

Just on the face of it, it is bad PR for the Governor and the Agency Heads but it is business as usual in Oklahoma -- move along nothing to see here.  Without Randy Ellis and his investigative reporting doubt if we would have known.   Almost speechless but not quite.  If I was a State Employee, I would be furious!

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin and other Republican office holders chose a Philadelphia Company to do a study on state government agency head salaries in Oklahoma where the cost of living is much lower?  This is who they chose:

Hay Group is a global management consulting firm that works with leaders to transform strategy into reality. We develop talent, organize people to be more effective and motivate them to perform at their best.

Why would they choose the Hay Group out of Philadelphia plus why would any State Agency in Oklahoma give a $40,000 or $50,000 pay raise to anyone when the state employees have received no raise in eight years?  The Governor's Office said -- it is because the study on raises for state employees is not finished.  What a cop-out.  Wish I could take back my vote for 2010.  This is insanity at any level but in the State of Oklahoma where we rank dead last or near last in many categories including teacher salaries.  The State School Superintendent wants to give a $2,000 raise to teachers who are ranked 49th in the nation for pay but after the $2,000 they will still be ranked 49th.  Yet we give the head of Tourism a $40,000 pay increase for being on the job 2 1/2 years.  The best one is the new Secretary of State going from $90,000 to $140,000 a year which is $50,000 salary increase for the former Speaker of the OK House.

Next question -- Where are the Democrat voices in this travesty?  So far I can find no comments out of Democrat Chair Wallace Collins.  I swear Republicans put him in office as he does next to nothing and you never hear a peep out of him no matter how great the travesty.  It is like Oklahoma Democrats have no voice in Oklahoma right now.  Republicans can do whatever they want and the State Democrats don't challenge them.  It is amazing to sit and observe the crickets out of the State Democratic Party. Yet they wonder why people don't switch who are totally fed up with the Republican Party?

To put this in perspective, regular members of Congress are paid $172,000 a year and maintain two residences with DC being very expensive.  Cost of living in OK is relatively cheap compared to other states and the new Secretary of State gets a $50,000 pay raise done by a study out of a firm in PA? You cannot equate salaries of Government employees with the private sector -- it doesn't compute for those that want to compare to oil and gas executive salaries to state Government.  No one deserves this type of pay raise - noted they went for the top amount recommended almost every time.

Where is the accountability to the taxpayers?  The whole process should be transparent and every Oklahoman informed of what the heads of agencies make.  Lt Gov Lamb was right to vote against this IMHO!  He was one of two honest people on the Tourism board appointed by the Governor so no one needs to say that she has no input as she and the legislature appoint the board members.    

State employees haven't had a raise in 8 years, yet the Boards of State Agencies appointed by the Governor are giving $40,000 to $50,000 raises which are obscene to heads of their agencies.  The new Secretary of State who works directly for the Governor is getting a $50,000 raise even though he was just hired.  BTW Chris Benge is the former Speaker of the Oklahoma House.

Oklahoma state legislature is one of the highest paid of surrounding states for four months of session every year and yet get year around healthcare provided by the State.  Thought Democrats were bad when we first moved here but the GOP has caught up and gone around them in wasting taxpayer dollars.  That tax cut never should have happened last session until schools are fully funded, infrastructure is fixed, and state employees get a decent wage among other items.  Discovering ALEC controls this state makes me shake my head.

FYI, Deby Snodgrass, who now heads tourism was part of the original consulting firm of now Congressman Tom Cole, known as Cole, Hargrove, and Snodgrass.  Is the picture clearer?  Anyone involved in politics here knows there are several factions in the GOP from the last Governor's race. Suffice to say that Snodgrass's former partner was not on the same side as the current Governor.

Still stunned at how high these raises are for heads of agencies we know about - who knows how high some others are because they don't have to report until August 2014.

Oklahoma agency heads granted five-digit pay increases 

Oklahoma Tourism Executive Director Deby Snodgrass was granted a $40,000 pay increase last week, making her the latest of several state agency heads to be awarded huge salary increases and sparking criticism from the Oklahoma Public Employees Association. 

By Randy Ellis Modified: October 28, 2013 at 9:51 pm • Published: October 28, 2013 

Oklahoma Tourism Executive Director Deby Snodgrass was granted a $40,000 pay increase last week, making her the latest of several state agency heads to be awarded five-digit salary increases and sparking criticism from the Oklahoma Public Employees Association.

Tom Dunning, communications coordinator for the Oklahoma Public Employees Association, said the raises are frustrating to rank-and-file state employees — many of whom have gone years without raises and been told by lawmakers that they would have to await the results of a compensation study due out in November before they would be given pay hike consideration. 

“These raises should only happen after the study is released and the state begins addressing front line staff pay,” Dunning said. “Raising top administrators' pay while their staff waits sends a message to staff that the top jobs are important and the other jobs are not. This just further demoralizes state agency staff, many of whom have not had a raise in years.” 

Besides Snodgrass, other state agency heads confirmed by The Oklahoman to have received large pay increases this year include Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Director Stan Florence, whose pay was increased by nearly $47,000 in June; Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Commissioner Terri White, whose salary was raised by nearly $40,000 in September; and state Banking Commissioner Mick Thompson, whose salary was raised by about $14,000 in May. 

Florence's salary went from $80,138 to $127,000, White's salary rose from $133,455 to $173,318, and Thompson's salary went from $137,239 to about $151,000. 

In addition, the salary of Oklahoma's secretary of state was raised from $90,000 to $140,000 when Gov. Mary Fallin announced last week that she had appointed former House Speaker Chris Benge to succeed Larry Parman in that position, said Michael McNutt, the governor's press secretary. 

It is unclear how many other state agency heads may have received large pay increases because agencies are not required to report the pay hikes to the Office of Management and Enterprise Services until August, said John Estus, spokesman for that agency. 

The Tourism Commission voted 5-2 last week to raise Snodgrass' salary from about $86,000 to $126,508. 

Snodgrass said she was grateful for the raise. 

“I am humbled and grateful to the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Commissioners for the trust and faith they have placed in me,” she said. “They have decided to increase my compensation to the midpoint established in the OMES Human Capital Management Division's Agency Director Salary Review.” 

“Tourism is a $7.1 billion industry in Oklahoma and continues to experience significant growth, year over year. It is the state's third-largest industry. I am honored to serve in this position and help fine tune this vital economic engine so the industry can go further and faster toward revenue increases and job growth that benefits all Oklahomans.” 

Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb cast one of the two votes against the pay increase. Lamb, who serves as chairman of the commission, said his vote was “no reflection on the job of the director or the tourism staff.” 

“They work very hard for the people, but I believe we should be very diligent in how we spend taxpayers' money,” Lamb said. “At this time with our state budget, and also with the current study that is taking place … with all the state employees, that gave me a little pause. And a greater pause and concern that I have is that we're currently in the middle of a state trooper shortage … and the trooper pay in the state is significantly low compared to the region.” 

Law enforcement is a “core function” of government and should get top consideration, he said. 

Many of this year's executive pay increases are linked to a study of agency director salaries done by the Hay Group, a consulting firm retained by the state Office of Management and Enterprise Services to recommend maximum and minimum salaries for each position. The Legislature directed the Office of Management and Enterprise Services to have the study done in HB 1717. 

Read More at The Oklahoman about this travesty

Going to take a while to get over this because it makes little to no sense to give that big of raises to state employees.  It is like taxpayer dollars are being used to buy support for the Governor's re-election campaign by making sure the agency heads are very well paid in a state with a low cost of living.  Note to boards -- Oklahoma is not on the east or west coast with high cost of living but you just gave out huge raises like we are.

Most people I have talked with since I found this last night are appalled and asking why would Oklahoma do this when they refuse to fully fund education or or infrastructure.  The Governor won't even allow a bond to be put to the vote of the people to provide safe rooms in our schools but she has no problem with huge pay raises for her appointees.  Something is wrong!

Air Force Academy Follows Constitution on Cadet Oath While Tony Perkins, Focus on the Family, Throws a Temper Tantrum!

Perkins says he wants to know “Who’s running the United States Air Force: General Mark Welsh or Mikey Weinstein?” It turns out who is running the United States Air Force is the United States Constitution, the document the Religious Right most loathes.

When the Constitution says "Freedom of Religion" the founders didn't say that we all had to worship the same God or worship a God at all.  They said we have the freedom to worship as we please. Shame the evangelicals never got that through their heads as they try to tell the rest of us how to think and lead our lives.  This is the latest in the campaign to make America all evangelical which will never happen. Perkins makes money when he goes after things like this.  Would be dollars are flowing into Focus on the Family this week to support Perkins fight against the Academy.  IMHO this is nothing more than a fundraising gimmick.

The Cadet Chapel at the Air Force Academy is beautiful especially when you come in from the north entrance and look at the Chapel against the Rocky Mountains.  No matter your faith, your religion, or no religious beliefs it is a beautiful structure that is just as impressive inside.  Some facts about the Chapel are listed below the picture.  The Academy as a whole is beautiful but this Chapel is magnificent!  If you are in Colorado Springs, please take the time to go visit the public areas of the Academy and take a tour - you won't be disappointed.

Soaring 150 feet toward the Colorado sky, the Air Force Academy Chapel is an all-faith house of worship designed to meet the spiritual needs of cadets. It contains a separate chapel for Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Buddhist religious faiths, plus two all-faiths worship rooms. There are two main levels, with the Protestant nave on the upper level (seats 1200). 

The Catholic (seats 500), Jewish (seats 100) and Buddhist chapels are located beneath it. Beneath this level is located a large all-faiths room and two meeting rooms. Each chapel has its own entrance, and services may be held simultaneously without interfering with one another. 

The worship area known as the Cadet Chapel - Falcon Circle came about through a request from the Air Force Academy's followers of Earth-Centered Spirituality, an umbrella of traditions that includes Wicca, Paganism and Druidism. 

Note to Tony Perkins from Focus on the Family -- General Welsh is upholding the Constitution something the evangelicals of this Country more and more are ignoring unless it is the 2nd amendment which they have trampled on with their own version.  Guess Perkins missed the part that 'so help me God' is not part of the oaths at the Naval or West Point Academies.  

The West Point equivalent oath does not include the words "so help me God," said Frank DeMaro, a school spokesman. It states, "A cadet will not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do." 

Officials at the U.S. Naval Academy did not immediately return a call. "The Honor Concept" on the Naval Academy website includes similar proscriptions against lying, cheating and stealing but includes no religious reference.

Today it is no longer part of the AF Academy oath but we didn't hear him railing about the Naval Academy or West Point.  Is is because the AF Academy shares Colorado Springs with the religious hard right Focus on the Family that under Perkins has lost all sense of reality?

When I read this at The Examiner, all I could was think that the evangelical community has effectively jumped the shark and lost all common sense when Perkins is their spokesman who couldn't even get the facts right on George Washington:

Once again, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has deliberately attempted to confuse tolerance with religious persecution.

Tony Perkins still hasn't figured out that supporting any measure he disagrees with is not unconstitutional. 

Perkins, who had previously called President Obama's "pro-homosexual agenda" a "breach of trust", attacked Obama and his administration in his most recent fundraising letter for "colluding" with the Southern Poverty Law Center as part of some sinister plan to create a totalitarian government. 

"The President needs to be exposed for colluding with the SPLC to stifle debate on social policy issues by means of intimidation, fear-mongering, and spreading lies," he writes.  

"The majority of Americans do not agree with the President's leftist agenda to remake our country into a socialist state ruled by a totalitarian government bureaucracy. And the President knows this. So he is using—and abusing—his presidency to steamroll the American people and implement his radical vision for America." 

Perkins has been rhetorically at war with the SPLC since it designated the Family Research Council an anti-gay hate group in 2010.

In response to complaints from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the Air Force announced that the phrase "so help me God" at the end of the Honor Oath was now optional. 

Extra emphasis on that last word: Optional. As in cadets can still say "so help me God" if they elect to. 

Tony Perkins, however, asserts that the new policy is not only discriminatory to Christians, but disrespectful to George Washington.

"Anti-Christian crusader Mikey Weinstein recently probed the Air Force Academy," Perkins said on his radio show today. "The Air Force Academy Superintendent responded in 68 minutes, when he marked down his objections to the phrase, 'So help me God,' contained in the Academy honor code. ...

His (Weinstein) complaint this time was a poster that included the honor oath with the phrase, 'So help me God.' Lieutenant General Michelle Johnson said the oath is being reviewed because the Academy values an inclusive environment that promotes dignity and respect for all. 

"Really? Does that include those like General George Washington who initiated the phrase, 'So help me God,' or does that inclusion only make room for those who want to dismantle America's Christian heritage?" 

There's just one problem: There is no evidence whatsoever that George Washington ever said "So help me God" during his oath. James Madison excluded the words "So help me God" while working on a committee drafting an oath bill, and there is no documentation of Washington having added it back in. 

In fact, according to George Mason University history professor Peter Henriques, the first documented case of a President adding the words "so help me God" to his oath was that of Chester A. Arthur in 1881. 

Or, in a nutshell, Perkins attempted to attack religious freedom as religious persecution by presenting a myth as history: The political stupidity equivalent of a double-play.

The last paragraph made me chuckle as more and more we are finding the religious hard right like Tony Perkins using myths for facts.  Since when is following the Constitution, against Christianity.  Members of all religious faiths just not evangelicals can still use the words 'so help me God' if they choose but it doesn't mean every one is subjected to the same words if they choose to leave them out.  People like Perkins are acting more and more like dictators as time marches on.  It is their version of everything like someone died and made them king.  I don't need Tony Perkins and his ilk to tell me how to live my life or what to do.

This much to do about nothing which seems to describe the hard right of today!

'Worthless' GOP House About to Work Even Less Days in 2013!

"You guys are worthless!"  Hecklers to GOP Press Conference, 1 October 2013

Truer words were never spoken then calling this bunch of Republican Congressional welfare and drama queens worthless!   Taking a full salary when you work less then 1/3 of the time and passing so few bills makes them the worst Congress in modern history if not all of history.

Another week has started and House Republicans are already trying to figure out how to work even less days between now and the end of the year.  They are nothing more today then Congressional welfare recipients ripping off the American taxpayers for their salaries and expenses.  They are the most incompetent and annoying in history with their lack of passing legislation.  How they can rip off the taxpayers and then go back to their districts and face them -- wait a second -- most don't hold face to face Town Halls today so they don't have to face us.   They did have to face a few people at a press conference following their shutdown of Government which is priceless:


Guess this means no Immigration Bill, no Jobs Bills, no Veterans bills, etc., as they prefer not to vote on anything.  Should be no votes, no pay!  If any of us pulled this stunt on our jobs we would be fired but then we were be fired for drinking on the job like the GOP House was doing before that Saturday night vote on the shutdown.  No wonder they were happy -- they were drunk.  When you hear reporters talking about you could smell alcohol when they walked by, then you have a major problem. IMHO if they drink on the job, they should resign immediately.  Since the current GOP House Members have the ethics of a gnat, don't expect to see that happen.

From Politicususa.org comes this gem:

Republicans are pondering canceling some of the remaining days in their session because they can’t come up with anything to do now that their efforts to defund ObamaCare, shut down the government and take us to the brink of default have failed. It’s not as if Speaker Boehner would actually allow a vote on real legislation, after all. 

Politico reported:

For the first time in months, House Republicans are facing no immediate cataclysmic deadlines, and GOP leaders are struggling to come up with an agenda to fill the 19 legislative days that are left in 2013. 

Need evidence? The House votes Monday evening and will finish its work week Wednesday. After that, the House is out of session until Nov. 12. Internally, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and senior Republicans aren’t discussing coming back early from the scheduled recess, but instead, they are wondering if they’ll cancel some of the remaining days in session.   

(snip)

This shouldn’t be a surprise. The Republican-led House has set records for working fewer days and passing the least amount of legislation. In December of 2012, we reported that even though House Republicans are going to be in session for only 126 days in 2013, they are still demanding their full $174,000 salary. 

With that salary, House Republicans have wasted taxpayer money on pretend ObamaCare repeal votes, witch hunts over scandals they made up and fed to the press with lies, they wasted 24 billion on their government shutdown, and now they’re wasting more money on glitch hunts. They are not passing any actual legislation, however, which is their actual job. 

In July, we reported that this 113th Congress was historically lazy, having passed only 16 legislative items in six months. The 112th Congress set another historic low of 23 legislative items passed by the same time of year. “They made history as the most unproductive session since the 1940s (records only go back to 1947) for passing only 220 laws. For perspective, President Harry Truman labeled his Congress the “Do-Nothing Congress” for passing just 906 laws.”  

Excerpts:  Read more at Politicususa.org

Following are more stories about the 'worthless' GOP House:

House Plans No Immigration Vote in 2013
House Republican leadership has no plans to vote on any immigration reform legislation before the end the year.  —  The House has just 19 days in session before the end of 2013, and there are a number of reasons why immigration reform is stalled this year.

GOP may vote again to delay Obamacare
The House Republican with direct oversight of Obamacare hinted that the GOP might, once again, vote to delay a critical component of the health care law. 

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) hinted Friday that the House might vote to delay the sign-up date for Obamacare. The current enrollment period lasts through March.

House leaders plot new fall GOP strategy
On Monday, House GOP chiefs of staff are meeting with leadership and the House Administration Committee on how members and staff will handle enrollment in the health care exchanges mandated under ACA. Boehner and House Republicans unsuccessfully pushed legislation that would end the government’s employer contribution to health care for lawmakers and aides. Now that they have to sign up, House Republicans face numerous questions on how to do so and who is covered. 

In the meantime, it appears that the House will — once again — vote to delay portions of Obamacare, setting up another fight with Senate Democrats and the White House.

Right flanks join to push conservative goals
Building on the foundation laid by tea party godfather Jim DeMint, the right flanks of the House and Senate have been getting together for months — or in some cases years — to design an agenda around trimming food stamp benefits, impairing Obamacare, hacking away at spending and other reliable red meat. The informal group is viewed suspiciously by establishment Republicans and those in leadership, but conservatives say there’s nothing to hide.   

“If they were secret, we wouldn’t have done it at Tortilla Coast,” said Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), referring to a meeting at the Capitol Hill eatery with Cruz and other conservatives two days before a crucial debt ceiling deadline this month. “We were very transparent that we were talking to one another.”

Senior Republican aides in both chambers — often furious with the scheming of the new brand of congressional Republicans — describe the relationship between the right flanks in the House and Senate as dictatorial. They argue Cruz and Lee come over to the lower chamber and deliver legislative marching orders that are difficult to achieve, like insisting on defunding the president’s primary legislative achievement. Democrats are quick to seize on that tension, urging that “reasonable” Republicans show some courage and stand up to the right and joking of a “Speaker Cruz” pulling the strings in the House.

Welcome to the United States Congress where many Republicans have taken their oath and tossed it out the window.  They are not for all Americans but for the Koch Bros ALEC agenda and what they are told to do by former Senator Jim DeMint who now heads Koch Bros Heritage, Freedom Works, and other organizations of the Kochs.  The hard right ideology doesn't compute with most Americans who frankly think the Tea Party is out of control with their hard right agenda who refuse to face reality while not having any common sense.  The Koch/ALEC agenda can be summed up simply with more money for the wealthy, no regulations, destroying Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid while using unlimited campaign contributions to buy more Republicans to put them in Congress.   

Have to admit that the Koch Bros bought and paid for some of the laziest members of the Republican caucus I have seen to date and they want to put more in the House and Senate.  Just say NO to the Koch Bros Tea Party and their hard right candidates in 2014! 

Cong Pete Sessions ($-TX) has Zero Class by Attacking the President in a Meeting!

Barack Obama has been a good president, but he is an even better person. Jason Easley

Couldn't agree more with Easley and why the Republicans are losing people like me every day because of their hate filled rhetoric toward the President, minorities, women, veterans, gays. etc.  It is so over the top that it lends credibility that some of it is racist toward the President.

Know one thing - I regret EVER working to elect any current Republicans - wasted my time and money on liars and people with no class as we witness every day.  Their mantra of accusing others of what they are doing is beyond disgusting.  When Cong Joe Wilson yelled "you lie" at the President during the State of the Union, I thought it was in poor taste but unfortunately, Pete Sessions (R-TX) topped that by a mile at a White House Meeing on the Shutdown and Debt Ceiling:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told his Democratic caucus last week in a private meeting that a top House Republican said to President Barack Obama, “I cannot even stand to look at you,” according to two Democratic senators who were present. 

The account was confirmed by two Senate Democratic aides who said they independently learned of the exchange from other senators. 

The two senators who spoke to HuffPost did not hear the Republican make the remark, but said a top White House aide who was present later told Senate Democratic leaders that the lawmaker who said he couldn’t stand to look at the president was Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Rules Committee. 

Reid then told the caucus about the incident on Tuesday and named Sessions, according to one of the two Democratic senators who spoke to HuffPost. Reid also told the caucus that he was “sorry” to have to tell them about it, per this senator, but gave Obama credit for his “dignified” response to Sessions. Reid reportedly told the caucus that Obama responded to Sessions by saying he understood that they disagreed on many issues and he respected their differences.

Will never venture into Texas again (used to live there) to help another Republican in the House or anyplace else in this Country.  This shows the low class of today's Republicans and the class of the President.  President Obama should not have to put up with these GOP idiots posing as Representatives.  I wouldn't make a statement like that to someone I detested no matter who it was. Shows Pete Sessions has zero respect for the Office of the Presidency.  Wish I could say his district would toss him but it is Texas and they have a low threshold for Republicans to pass.  Absolutely disgusting.

Must admit that I was one of those that figured the Durbin story was correct about what the GOP House Member had said to Obama - I just had the wrong GOP Member as I could see Cantor doing something like that but Sessions?  That shows how far right and negative the GOP is today in the House.  I couldn't see Kevin McCarthy or John Boehner saying that but others - definitely:

Sen. Dick Durbin’s claim about about the insult to the president was flatly denied by the White House, because this administration has a policy of ignoring and downplaying comments and events that could be viewed as racial attacks against this president.
Many people who follow politics, and understand the hatred that many congressional Republicans have for this president, suspected that Sen. Durbin was telling the truth. 

Majority Leader Harry Reid and other Democrats Senators and aides have now confirmed the story.

Been saying there were more then 30-40 hard right that were holding up a deal on the continuing resolutions and the debt ceiling.  IMHO this confirms that supposition.  It is more like 2/3rds of the GOP Conference is now hard right.  Not one Texas Republican voted to reopen Government or raise the debt ceiling.  Shows how hard right the Texas delegation has gone starting with Sen Cruz -- good chance they will lead the way for a takeover of Texas by Democrats in the next four years as more and more Republicans get fed up with the hard right lunge of the GOP.

If I was a Texas Democrat I would be going after Sessions seat,  Unlike what the Texas GOP spins not every Texas Republican hates this President or are hard right.  The problem is that only the hard right is heard in the Republican Party today and the rest of us have been told to take a hike more than once.

Some of these GOP strategists that go on the cable news shows repeat GOP rhetoric with their stupid comments but then in order to represent the Republican Party today you would to be hard right yourself or stupid because people with common sense could never defend the GOP of today.

President Obama showed class while Rep Pete Sessions is a classless jerk which represents the GOP well today who cannot seem to get over they lost the election.  Here's to many, many more losses by the hard right Republican Party!

Judge Key Leaves GOP to Run as Democrat in San Antonio while FreedomWorks Matt Kibbe Details Plan for Tea Party Takeover of GOP

“My principles have led me to the Democratic Party,” Key said

When Judge Key of San Antonio says that the Republican Party has left him, that is probably the biggest understatement of the year.  There are thousands of us like Judge Key that can no longer call ourselves Republican after the hard right lunge of the Republican Party to a radical agenda that is going backwards in time to where minorities and women could not vote.  

From comments I have seen on the internet over the last ten years, the desire of many white male Republicans and third party members has been that only white males should be allowed to vote since all the Founding Fathers were white males.  Thought it was a joke gone wrong and treated it as such.  Lo and behold, they were serious and those people now are leaders in the 'old' Republican Party with 'old' ideas they still adhere to from the 'old' South.  Many still want to fight the Civil War and see if they can win this time.  In fact, they are acting like they are fighting a Civil War to take over the Country and put only southern white males in charge.  Many of them still consider Mitt Romney an epic fail as he may have been a white male but he was no southerner and governed more liberal then a centrist.  How he managed to convince people he was hard right is beyond me unless he was lying as Governor of Massachusetts.  Maybe he is just a liar all the way around. 

Judge Key tells the truth on what has happened to the Republican Party and how as a Party they have left him.  The hard right Platform approved at the Convention should tell any centrist we are not welcome in the GOP.  In fact, it should tell any fiscal conservative that if they are in a Red State and don't support social issues, they are not welcome.  Matt Kibbe, Head of FreedomWorks makes that quite clear in his interview on Chris Matthews last night (see video at Raw Story link below):

“We’re in the process of repopulating the Republican party with people that stand for something,”  Matt Kibbe

That statement sent me the roof along with his comments of upgrading elected officials from Red States which means hard right candidates instead of elected officials who work for what is best for all Americans not just the hard right.  No wonder people like Judge Key have finally had it with the GOP when they keep hearing elected officials like Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Marco Rubio, along with Govenor Rick Perry, and Lt Governor David Dewhurst go totally hard right with their off the wall rhetoric.  All of them and other hard right GOP are supported by the Koch Bros FreedomWorks headed by Matt Kibbe and other Koch organizations like the Tea Party, Americans for Prosperity, Heritage Foundation with their Heritage Action PAC along with numerous other Koch affiliated organizations all pushing the hard right agenda to end Government as we know it today.

If I lived in San Antonio, I would definitely be out working to elect Judge Key as a Democrat  His words are refreshing on how he sees the law.  Had enough ideologue justices to last a lifetime.

“I have tried to live a life of principles,” Judge Carlos Key says in the opening of his new ad. 

The Bexar, Texas County Criminal Court #11 jurist goes on to explain how intolerance in the Republican Party both on the local and national levels has convinced him to leave the GOP he once called home, and run for re-election as a Democrat: 

I can no longer be a member of the Republican Party.  

For too long, the Republican Party has been at war with itself. Rational Republican beliefs have given way to ideological character assassinations. Pragmatism and principal have been overtaken by pettiness and bigotry. Make no mistake: I have not left the Republican Party. It left me. 

I cannot tolerate a political party that demeans Texans based on their sexual orientation, the color of their skin or their economic status. 

I will not be a member of a Party in which hate speech elevates candidates for higher office rather than disqualifying them. I cannot place my name on the ballot for a political party that is proud to destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands of federal workers over the vain attempt to repeal a law that would provide health care to millions of people throughout our country.

Key is clearly referencing the government shutdown led by the refusal of Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and the House Republican “Suicide Caucus” to fund the Affordable Care Act, which has sunk the party new lows in several polls. 

He’s also alluding to recent comments by Republican City Councilwoman Elisa Chan that were secretly recorded during a meeting about San Antonio’s non-discrimination policies:

You know, to be quite honest, I know this is not politically correct. I never bought in that you are born, that you are born gay. I can’t imagine it. 

I don’t think homosexual people should do adoption. … You’re going to confuse those kids. They should be banned. 

If you wanted to choose that lifestyle, we don’t want to discriminate you, but you shouldn’t affect the young people. How terrible. … They’re going to be confused. You see two men go into a bedroom. You see two women kissing. Is that not confusing? It’s confusing. 

So disgusting. 

“My principles have led me to the Democratic Party,” Key said, before giving out his Twitter handle and website address. “I can only hope more people of principle will follow me.”

Turned Hardball on last night while finishing up dinner and ended up sitting down watching the interview with Freedom Works Matt Kibbe and The Daily Beast Michael Tomasky.  Kibbee laid out in detail the Tea Party plan to take over the Republican Party which you might as well say Koch Bros plan as they are behind all these groups.  He left no doubt about how they are going to challenge any GOP in a Red State that is not hard right.  There will be plenty of money to take on incumbent GOP who are not hard right enough according to Kibbe.  I know what I would do -- I would tell the GOP to shove it and do what Judge Key is doing -- run as a Democrat.

This interview with Kibbe is unbelievable -- arrogance personified along with disdain for any one who is not hard right.  

FreedomWorks CEO promises Chris Matthews: Tea Party will ‘upgrade’ southern GOP by 2014 (via Raw Story )

Despite reports that his group is nearly broke, FreedomWorks CEO Matt Kibbe predicted in an interview with MSNBC host Chris Matthews on Monday that his group would help Tea Party Republicans dominate the GOP within a year. “I think it’s a process…

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