The Republican Club of Sun City

N E W S L E T T E R

June 2016                Everett Schmidt, Editor               Sun City Texas

(Club Website: rcsctx.com)

(Subjects in this newsletter: Obama Letter re LGBT; Home Schooling as Alternate to Public Schools, Unconventional Means of Electing President Now Being Considered)

“AGENDA 21” TOBE EXPLAINED AT CLUB’S JUNE MEETING

Meeting is Scheduled at the Cowan Creek Amenity Center

     John Marler, community activist from the Georgetown area, will explain the significance to the nation of a UN resolution known as “Agenda 21” during the club meeting scheduled for Thursday, June 2 in the Cowan Creek Amenity Center. (Because the ballroom was not available for a night meeting in June, the meeting is scheduled at the Cowan Creek Center.)

The UN resolution adopted in 1992 known as “Agenda 21” containsprovisions designed to promote environmentally friendly development and to discourage urban sprawl. Although the resolution began in the UN, its concepts have been introduced in a number of states, Texas among them, and include issues of special importance to conservatives, such as private property rights and state sovereignty. A plank in the 2014 State GOP Platform indicates opposition to that effort in Texas. (A copy of the 2016 Platform, recently adopted, was not available at the time of this writing, so a check on any changes to that plank could not be made.)

BEGINNING TIMES: 6:00 PM -Doors Open for Appetizers and Beverages (wine,soda, lemonade, water, coffee) –dinner will not be served; 6:45 PM -Meeting and Program.

     COST: A fee of $8.00 is charged to each attendee. Checks made out to “The Republican Club of Sun City” should be mailed to: The Republican Club of Sun City, 1530 Sun City Blvd., Suite 120, Box 227, Georgetown, TX 78633, or left in a special drop box located on the front porch of club treasurer Bill Harron at 125 Stetson Trail. For information, contact Bill at 512-864-0965 or Bharron@aol.comThe deadline for payment or reservations is Friday, May 27.

VISITORS ARE WELCOME! (Non-members may attend a maximum of two meetings per year –as attendees for the dinner or as observers for the program –without having to pay membership dues.)

THE SUBJECT OF JULY’S CLUB MEETING: THE VULNERABILITY OF THE NATION’S ELECTRICAL GRID SYSTEM TO TERRORIST ATTACK

Bill Peacock, Vice President of Research and Director for Economic Freedom at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, will address the club during its dinner meeting scheduled for Thursday, July 14 in the ballroom of the Social Center in Sun City.

He will discuss the vulnerability of the U. S. electrical grid system to terrorist attack, the effect of which could, as a Defense Department official explained, cause “long term, large scale outage.”

Details of this meeting will be provided in the July newsletter.

OTHER CLUB NEWS

     Memorial Service Announced. The reader may recall seeing in the April newsletter the report of the passing of former clubHospitality Chairman and loyal club member Claudia Bailey. As of that issue, there was no news about a memorial service for her; however, there is now news that a memorial service is scheduled in her memory on Saturday, June 11, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, at the Cowan Creek Amenity Center.

     Statistics. Cathy Cody, VP for membership, reports that current membership stands at 348. The number of attendees at the May 18 meeting will be reported in the July newsletter.

TEXAS G. O. P. OFFICIALS ELECTED AT STATE CONVENTION

County party chairman Bill Fairbrother announced the election at the recent state convention of the following individuals to various positions in the state GOP structure:

STATE LEADERSHIP

Tom Mechler –Chairman

Amy Clark –Vice-Chair

Toni Anne Dashiell –National Committeewoman

Robin Armstrong –National Committeeman

WILLIAMSON COUNTY

Nita Davidson –SREC SD5 Committeewoman

Mike McClosky –SREC SD5 Committeeman*

Sue DeVillez –National Delegate*

Amanda Eisner –National Alternate*

Ronny Risinger –National Delegate

Pam Sherrin –National Alternate

Mike McCloskey –At Large Delegate*

Jeremy Story –At Large Alternate

Jon Jewett –Presidential Elector (as provided by Amendment XII)

*Member of The Republican Club of Sun City

LETTER FROM OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO SCHOOLS TRIGGERS RISING CLASH OVER L. G. B. T. ISSUES

     Foreword. A letter sent to schools on or around May 13 from the U. S. Department of Education and the the U. S. Department of Justice says transgender students should be allowedto use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity. The Obama administration’s new public school guidance is not federal law, but according to Fox News, “While the letter does not have the force of law, it does warn that schools that do no abide by the administration’s interpretation of civil rights law {particularly Title VII and Title IX] may face lawsuits or loss of federal aid.”

     The Wall Street Journalcomments as follows on some of the unprecedented issues which will emerge:

The new rules on transgender students push further into unknown territory. The Friday “Dear Colleague” letter posits that a student’s personal declaration of sexual gender, or what the letter calls “an individual’s internal sense of gender,” must be accepted without challenge.

     Referring to those civil rights laws (above), Attorney General Loretta Lynch states, “There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex.”

But a number of legal scholars point out that those laws specifically refer to matters of sex as they have traditionally been defined. Further, attorney Matt Barber states, “Congress has, without fail, rejected efforts to include ‘gender identity’ or ‘sexual orientation’ in federal law.”

As a result of numerous news reports on the subject of pronouncements or regulations –not laws –promulgated by administrative agencies, the reader may find the following information of some help in understanding the substance and cause of the present clash of worldviews, and in determining if Obama is, once again, acting without authority, with political motivation.

     Background: The Role of The Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The processby which disorders are listed –or are removed–from the DSM should be noted inasmuch as it reveals how politics and the corruption of so-called scientific studies can affect one’s consideration of gender-related issues.

T     he Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disordersis published by the American Psychiatric Association. It is the manual used by insurance companies to write up health coverage and by criminal courts when considering sentencing. It purports to list disorders and diseases, but how such matters are listed or removedfrom listing should be noted. Medical doctor and a author Julian Whitaker describes the process: “A select group [of psychiatrists] isolate themselves in a room and conjures up new psychiatric diseases in the {Manual] .. . After some discussion, they take a vote on whether or not these behaviors qualify as a ‘psychiatric disease.’ Let me repeat: They create diseases by nothing more that a show of hands.” One might think that such procedure, lacking scientific verification, might result in decisions being made on the basis of political pressure. There is evidence that that has been and still is the case. Anne Hendershott, author of The Politics of Deviance, contends, “The [psychiatrists] organization has a long history ofsuccumbing to pressure by interest groups.”

     From “Gender Identification Disorder” to “Gender Dysphoria.” Author David Kupelian recently wrote a book titled The Snapping of the American Mind, in which he attempts to explain how America’s present collective mind has “snapped,” thereby making wrong appear to be right, up to be down, etc. More specifically, he explains that, “With the left’s wild celebration of sexual anarchy, its intimidating culture of politcal correctness, and its incomprehension of the fundamental sacredness of human life, it is also, whether intentionally or not, promoting widespread dependency, debauchery, family breakdown, crime, corruption, addiction, despair, and suicide.”

Kupelian dedicates an entire chapter of his book to what he calls “Gender Madness,” excerpts of which follow:

Indeed, the recent renaming of “gender identity disorder” as “gender dysphoria,” thanks to pressure from the powerful LGBT lobby, means the condition itself is no longer considered abnormal or “disordered” at all, but only the anxietyone may feel over it.

The American Psychiatric Association has revised its DSM and it no longer lists being transgender as a mental disorder. Transgender people will now be diagnosed with “gender dysphoria,” which means emotional stress related to gender identity. “Gender identity disorder” had, in the past, been listed as a mental disorder since the third edition of the DSM more than 20 years ago.

Many thought same-sex marriage would be the crowning achievement of the LGBT movement and that the juggernaut would finally wind down. But then, suddenly the focus shifted to “transgender rights.”

The secret of this never-ending, always expanding revolutionary movement, in case you haven’t realized, is that is has the full supportof the far left. Not because the left loves homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals for themselves, but because finally the left has found its spear-tip, with which –as it has dreamed of doing for decades –it can effectively attack, wound, marginalize, demonize and criminalize its greatest enemy: religion.

Indeed, the LGBT sexual anarchy movement has the unique potential to permanently corrupt our civilization’s core institution, marriage and family, as well as our core “operating system,” Judeo-Christian values. Yet ironically, it is one issue almost everybody is afraid to confront.

     An Absence of Pushback. If there is no largescale pushback and the advancement of the LGBT agenda continues to be accepted, the phenomenon described by Alexander Pope over200 years ago and quoted in these newsletter with increasing frequency will again surface:

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien

As to be hated needs but to be seen

Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face

We first endure, then pity, then embrace

HOME SCHOOLING EMERGES AS ALTERNATIVE TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

     Writer David French posits a hard-hitting evaluation of the Obama administration’s “letter” about gender issues. Some excerpts, which containing information which may not now be understood, follow:

You may not have realized it yet, but the Obama administration just destroyed the traditional American public school . . .

The administration’s letter sweeps far beyond bathrooms –imposing a new speech code on school employees and even students, opening girls’ showers to boys, requiring schools to allow boys to sleep in girls’ rooms on overnight field trips, requiring boys to room with girls even in single-sex dorms, and putting boys on girls’ sports teams.

Moreover, schools are prohibitedfrom making any inquiry to ensure that the boys using girls’ facilities are, in fact, transgender. They can’t ask for medical documentation. They can’t ask for treatment information. They can’t ask for identification. They have to take the boy at his word.

The progressive thumb is always on the scales, often nudging and sometimes shoving instruction in a comprehensively leftward direction: Islam is wonderful and peaceful. American history is a story of unrelenting repression and intolerance. Academic standards and in-school discipline matter less than social and racial justice. Orthodox Christians are bigots.

     The reader is aware of a multitude of problems in the public schools, ranging from poor test results, to poor discipline, to improper relations between students and their teachers. Now comes the Obama-mandated guidelines regarding LGBT issues. And now parents –at least some parents –must worry about the very souls of their children.

     Home schooling may be a viable alternative for at least some parents. To provide the reader with some insights about that mode of instruction, the following excerpts of letters written by home-schooled children and home-schooling parents to The New Americanmay be of interest:

FROM ERIC (STUDENT):

I couldn’t imagine being confined to what looks like a prison system –bells telling me where to go, cutting short the time I wanted to spend on certain subjects; standing in line to have food dumped on a tray for me to eat.

I was very happy with the freedom that homeschooling provided. Not only was I able to spend as much time as I needed on a subject, but I wasn’t forced to wait for others once I mastered it. This allowed me time to spend on things I enjoyed, such as reading history books or being involved in extracurricular activities.

FROM JOHN AND VERA (PARENTS):

They learned to love learning, how to solve problems, and how to think and study on their own. They learned good work ethics and how to be accountable –all essentials for success. . . They were not confronted with gangs, drugs, sex, smoking, vulgarity, disrespect, and broken homes. They know what these things are, but they were not hounded or distracted by such things on a daily basis.

FROM TARYN AND MIRREN (STUDENTS):

We developed self-motivation and self-discipline as we studied on our own (finishing our first college semester with the surprise blessing of almost a 4.0 each!). Most importantly, being around our parents equipped us with their values and spiritual goals, accompanied by a deep sense of family love and commitment.

FROM THE MOTHER OF A 6TH GRADER ENROLLED IN A HOME-SCHOOL PROGRAM:

I have actually compared the work my daughter is doing with other friends of hers in public charter schools and what she is learning is light-years ahead of them. There are not limits here, no indoctrination, no left-wing agenda, no social engineering, and just good old fashioned Reading, Writing and Arithmetic . . . and Science, History and Language

PARTYS SEEK TO ELECT A PRESIDENT VIA UNCONVENTIONAL MEANS

Given the animosity which exists among factions of each of the two major parties, it should not be surprising to learn that efforts are now being considered or are already underway to secure the election of a particular candidate for president by what might be termed unconventional means. Following are three of those efforts:

•      There is currently an effort underway of several states banding together in a National Popular Vote Compact in which states, through their legislatures, agree to give all the electoral votes of a given state to the candidate who wins the national popular vote, regardless of how residents of that state vote. The effort is well underway with at least 10 states (plus the District of Columbia) –all of which backed Obama in 2012 –having signed the Compact. (This procedure is pursued by Democrat states.)

•      An alternative plan being considered is one by those Republicans opposing Donald Trump being elected president. As described in a Washington Postarticle, the plan is to have anindependentcandidate run for office, the objective of which is “to prevent both Clinton and Trump from clinching a majority in the electoral college and thus throwing the presidential election to a House of Representatives, under provision of the 12thAmendment of the Constitution. This scenario played out in 1824, when Andrew Jackson won a plurality of electoral and popular votes but was defeated in the House by John Quincy Adams.

•      With particular regard to the coming GOP National Convention, it should benoted that the requirement that delegates must vote consistent with state party regulations governing voting is publicly being questioned by a current member of the RNC Rules Committee, Curly Haugland and at least one other person. At this point, little is heard about that dispute surfacing at the convention –but stick around!

QUOTATION OF THE MONTH

     The “Quotation of the Month” for this issue consists to the lyrics to the song, “It’s a Wonderful World,” made popular primarily by Lewis Armstrong asvocalist.

It is presented on grounds that the poignancy of the lyrics when heard today may provide some counterbalance to a pervasive gloom which now exists about the future of the nation and the nation’s progeny. The gloom comes about because of a general perception that both government and society have become dysfunctional, that moral standards are disappearing, and that there is an increase in crime, drug use, pregnancies, etc. We now look for a light at the end of the tunnel, but with thirsty eye.

But if we could leave behind for a few moments the “world too much with us” and enjoy the beauty of nature such as we have in Sun City –the greenery, the beautiful and friendly animals, the pleasant climate –we may be able to experience the “wonderful world” mentioned in that song.

Those of us who live in Sun City are especially blessed not only by nature but also by the warmth of the camaraderie of friends and neighbors, each of whom is in the twilight of his or her years. A reference to that camaraderie can be noted in the lyrics to “What a Wonderful World” which now follow:

I see trees of green, red roses too

I see them bloom, for me and you

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white

The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces, of people going by

I see friends shaking hands, sayin’ “How do you do?”

They’re really sayin’ “I love you”

I hear babies cry, I watch them grow

They’ll learn much more, than I’ll ever know

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world

Yes, I think to myself

What a wonderful world

{Armstrong then adds, “Oh yeah”)