The Republican Club of Sun City NEWSLETTER
January 2015 Everett Schmidt, Editor Sun City Texas

POLICY ANALYST ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM TO ADDRESS CLUB

Derek Cohen, policy analyst in the Center for Effective Justice of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) and author of several published articles on criminal justice reform, will address the club during its dinner meeting scheduled for Thursday evening, January 15 in the ballroom of the Social Center in Sun City.

His address will be extremely timely inasmuch as the legislature will, during the coming legislative session, be considering a number of changes in the state’s current criminal justice system which underwent reform a decade or more ago. Texas has become leader among state’s seeking to reform their judicial systems.

He will explain the role of the TPPF and its subsidiary organization, the Center for Effective Justice, in establishing Texas as a leader in the prison reform movement, and will also explain the Right on Crime Campaign, an initiative of those two organizations, which, according to Wikipedia, focuses on “over criminalization, juvenile justice, substance abuse” and other related matters.

This initiative is not the product of a left-wing, utopian-based ideology. It has, instead, a basis in conservatism as evidenced by the fact that among its signatories are such conservative stalwarts as Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist, Edwin Meese III, William Bennett, Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), David Keene (American Conservative Union), Richard Vigueri and others.

Evidence of success in Texas is the reduction of the prison population, a reduction of cost, and a reduction of recidivism. Evidence that Texas has become a leader in the reform movement exists in the fact that at least 29 other states are engaged in a Right on Crime Campaign effort, and the fact that, at the national level, Senator John Cornyn has sponsored federal legislation based on initiatives begun in this state.

A news article appearing below reports the evolution of the prison reform movement in this state.

The Social Period, Diner and Program. A social period will begin at 6:00 PM. The dinner will begin at 6:30 PM and will be followed by the program. The dinner will consist of Italian samplers buffet featuring garlic cheese bread and caesar salad; entrees of chicken pesto alfredo and spaghetti with meat sauce; chef’s sauteed garden medley.

Cost. Cost is $16 per person. 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. The deadline for payment or reservations is Friday, January 9, 2015.

Club treasurer Bill Chiles has set up a special collection box on his front porch at 104 Scissortail Trail for individuals wishing to hand-deliver payments, with the proviso that the Friday deadline has been met. For information about reservations, contact Bill at 512-868-1391 or wachiles@amail.com

VISITORS ARE WELCOME!

MEETING DATES FOR 2015 ANNOUNCED

Club president Robert Fears announced the following schedule of club meeting dates for the year 2015:

Thursday, January 15 Thursday, February 5 Thursday, March 12 April – NO MEETING

Thursday, May 14 Thursday, June 4 Thursday, July 16 Thursday, August 20

Wednesday, September 2 Sunday, October 11 Thursday, November 19

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE FOR 2015 CONTINUES

Former 2014 members who wish to renew for 2015 do not need to submit an Application with their membership dues ($15 per person) if they had no change of address from that reported in connection with 2014 membership. Renewing 2014 members who wish to update address information, and new 2015 members must submit an Application along with dues payments. Applications are available at the club’s web site, www.rcsctx.com., and at meetings.

Payments and Applications (if needed) should be mailed to the address shown in the first news article (above) or they may be hand-delivered at a club dinner meeting.

According to club bylaws, renewals must be paid by February 28. Names of 2014 members who did not meet that deadline will then be removed from the club roster.

While the next presidential election is not until 2016, it is important that Republicans are aware that the

process of both selecting GOP presidential candidates and of determining positions on policy and law is already well underway. This means involvement must begin now and not only in 2016.

It is important to understand that issues no longer center around a Democrat v. Republican contest. Today there are other contenders in the fray, including “the establishment,’ “grass roots,” “tea party,””donor class,” “ruling class” and other factions which can confound understanding of issues. Membership in the club – because of the association with kindred spirits it provides, its speakers and its newsletter – can be helpful in gaining understanding of this phenomenon. As is generally acknowledged, the outcome of the 2016 election can very well determine whether or not the nation, as we have known it, will survive.

PROGRAM FOR FEBRUARY MEETING ANNOUNCED

Meredith Chiles, vice president for programs, announced that the program for the club’s Thursday, February 5 dinner meeting will be Matt Miller, Managing Attorney of the Institute for Justice-Texas. His opinions and views on legal issues have been featured in The Atlantic Monthly, Associated Press, CNN Money, Freedom Watch With Judge Napolitano, and other nationwide outlets.

Members should note that February 5 is only 3 weeks after the January meeting. See February newsletter for information.

OTHER CLUB NEW
Club Elects Officers for 2015. During its November meeting, the club elected the following slate of

officers for the year 2015: President – Robert Fears; Vice President (for membership) – Meredith Chiles; Second Vice President (for membership) – John Congdon; Treasurer – Bill Chiles; Secretary – Sue Goodenough.

Attendance and Membership Information. Club treasurer for 2014 John Congdon reports that at the November 6 meeting there were 140 attendees for the dinner with an additional 12 individuals attending as observers. Club vice president (for membership) in 2014 Bill Chiles reports that membership for that year reached 294. Current vice president for membership John Congdon reports that 2015 membership now stands at 134 of which 27 are new members.

Project Directors Appointed. President Fears announced the appointment of the following project directors.

Hospitality Director – Claudia Bailey Newsletter Editor – Everett Schmidt

Wine Steward – Gary Preston Voter Registration Coordinator – Bill Harron Club Web Site. The club maintains its web site at www.rcsctx.com where information concerning bylaws,

membership, current and past issues of the newsletter and other matters may be viewed.

THE EVOLUTION OF TEXAS AS LEADER OF PRISON REFORM EFFORTS Some Historical Background. Marc Levin, Director of TPPF’s Center for Effective Justice and coauthor of a 2013 news article appearing in The American Conservative, stated, “Since the 1980s the United States has built prisons at a furious pace . . “ probably because from the 1960s through the early 1990s crime was perhaps the dominant issue in American politics – witness Michael Dukakis’ difficulty in responding to George Bush’s “Willie Horton” ad and the sensation it created. Also the notorious stories about New York’s crime wave which

surfaced subsequent to a publication in Time on that subject. The reader may recall other such instances.
Levin explains that at the state level, in Texas, during this time period, there was some division of thought. Many liberals averred that crime stemmed from social problems like poverty and racism, while conservatives put their foot down and insisted on more incarceration. Governor Ann Richards, a Democrat, not wanting to appear to be “soft on crime” in elections, set aside her liberal inclinations and increased the rate of

incarceration and helped build a bevy of new prisons.
The Texas Jail System. As a part of the building system, Texas created in 1993 a state jail system

which, while a part of the Texas prison system, was created to move individuals convicted of low-level offenses (generally drug or probation offenses) out of crowded state prisons to serve, generally, sentences of between 6 months and two years behind bars. The theory was that prisoners in state jails would serve a short treatment and training period and then successfully reintegrate back into the community.

But according to author Jeanette Moll, also of the Center for Effective Justice, “Before the first state jail even opened its doors, later Legislators removed the requirement of community supervision from state jail sentences and greatly reduced rehabilitation programming within state jails.” The prison population was thus maintained. The reason for this change of direction may have been the efforts of politicians to gain political advantage, and of efforts of union supporters to promote their agenda.

Texas Balks; Starts New Approach. In 2007, estimates projected that over 17,000 new prison beds, at

a cost of $2 billion to tax payers, would be needed to be built in Texas by 2012. But the legislators refused to fund such effort, electing instead to allocate a smaller amount to expand community-based options such as probation, problem-solving courts, and evidenced-based drug treatment.

Lessons Learned From The Past. There were now lessons lessons to be learned from the past efforts of the state to deal with non-violent, primarily drug-related offenders. Those lessons were phrased as follows in an editorial appearing in the Austin American-Statesman: “Treatment and rehabilitation programs cost a fraction of what is costs to imprison someone. And mixing nonviolent inmates with hardened, violent offenders only creates more problems.”

The new programs adopted pursuant to these learned lessons have been successful. The Wall Street Journal reports as evidence of success that the state has closed three prisons it had already built, including a 1,060 bed unit at Sugarland, since 2011. In Littlefield, Texas – population 6,400 – the city has had to raise taxes to help service its $8 millions in debt outstanding on a prison that has been empty since 2009.

Other indicators of the success of the Texas plan is in the fact that at least 29 other states have bought into it, and the fact that Senator Cornyn has sponsored federal legislation incorporating elements of the Texas plan – as was reported above.

More Needs to be Done. But despite the noted success, more needs to be done in Texas – so contends Bill Hammond of the Texas Association of Business who notes: “We spend between #2.5 billion and $3 billion a year incarcerating more people than any other state. Almost 140,000 people are in Texas prisons, another 11,000 are in state jails. That doesn’t count the 1 million admissions to county jails every year. In excess of 45 percent of those who are in prison are there for a nonviolent and nonsexual offense.”

The Flexibility of a JP. Judges now have to deal with problems involving juveniles and early adults unheard of a couple of generations ago – problems such as homelessness, and poverty stricken children with a drug problem but with no adult supervision. These problems necessitate more flexibility than is provided by sentencing guidelines. The Austin American-Statesman describes a flexible program of Justice of the Peace Bill Gravell has for individuals between the ages of 13 and 21 with a history of drug or alcohol abuse, provided they do not have a serious violent felony or sex offense:

Juveniles enrolled in Gravell’s program are required to report to court every Monday with a parent or guardian for the first two months to visit with the judge. A team of eight other people will also meet every Monday to assess the juveniles’ cases and determine how they can help. The team includes a prosecutor, a counselor, a representative from Bluebonnet Trails Community Services, a juvenile probation officer, a juvenile case manager, a pastor and a police officer.

Juveniles who successfully complete the program are eligible to have charges against them dismissed. But not every individual eligible for such program is willing to accept its terms. According to Hammond:

Probation is not a walk in the park; in fact, some people choose a short time in jail rather that probation because it is a long-term commitment under strict supervision. People on probation are subject to random drug testing, strict reporting requirements to a probation officer and the prospect of going to prison if they violate the terms of their probation.

The Involvement of Sun City Residents. The American-Statesman reports that enrollees in Gravell’s program will also work with mentors from Sun City who have experience helping teens in court. The new alcohol/drug court also includes a therapy dog named Lady from the Sun City pet club. Teens can pet this dog while standing in court because it sometimes helps them talk about their problems.

WILL JOHN BOEHNER BE RE-ELECTED SPEAKER?

On the first day of every Congress – that would be January 3 in the year 2015 – the House of Representatives elects a Speaker of the House as one of its first acts. To be elected, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of all votes cast for individuals by both parties, excluding abstentions. Normally, there are two nominations determined in advance, one from each major party; however, Representatives are not obliged to vote for the nominee. This means the Republicans are not obliged to vote for Boehner as Speaker; they could vote for – and possibly elect – someone else.

If no candidate wins a majority, then the roll call is repeated until a Speaker receives the needed majority vote. The last time repeated votes were required was in 1923, when the Speaker was elected on the ninth ballot.

Here are some important statistics:
The number of House members: 435
The number of Republicans in the House: 247

The number of votes needed to elect a Speaker: 218
The number Republicans needed to vote against Boehner to deny him Speakership: 30
(If the number of votes cast is reduced by absence, no votes, etc., the number needed to elect

could go down, but the number of needed defectors could change)
Efforts to deny Boehner the Speakership are already underway. Rep. Walter Jones (R., NC) stated in

December, “Right now, I’ve been meeting with a small group, and we – about 16, 18 – we’re hoping to have a name of a sitting member of Congress that we can call out their name.” He expresses the sentiment probably reflective of other House Republicans when he states, “I’ve already said I cannot vote in good conscience for John Boehner.”

The results of the 2013 election for Speaker are instructive. It should be noted that while Boehner won then with 220 votes, there were some 14 opposing votes (as for Eric Cantor, Allen West, Colin Powell and others), with 6 members not voting, and 1 answering “present.” Given the hostility in the general public to House members for their votes on amnesty, ObamaCare and other matters revealing a reluctance to fight, the dissenting votes in 2015 may be higher than in 2013.

In what may described as the “grass roots” level, a major and unique effort has been launched by World NetDaily, a web site whose CEO is Joseph Farah, a person who has considerable name recognition by virtue of being a writer and publisher/ CEO of Whistleblower, a monthly magazine, and a guest on a number of radio and TV shows.

Farah believes that the most effective method of reaching out to Congress is the sending of individual letters – as opposed to phone calls and e-mails – to members of the House. Consequently, he has composed a letter addressed specifically to individual Republicans in the House in which he states that Americans, during the recent election, turned to the Republican Party in droves because of Obama’s unconstitutional executive actions regarding amnesty and his deceptive restructuring of America’s health care system.

He reminds Congressmen that virtually everyone running for office vowed to stop this lame-duck president, but that won’t happen with Boehner. These Congressmen now have a constituency which feels betrayed.

He will, for a fee payed for by partipants, arrange for this letter to be printed, to be individually addressed, and to be delivered via FedEx to congressional offices. He will measure the results, gather and chronicle responses and work with the media.

As of December 19, over 400,000 letters had been processed. That represents a stack of letters more than 13 stories tall!

Farah is a skilled media person whose contact with TV and radio news and the print media could enhance his efforts.

AMERICA STRUGGLES WITH “LGTB” ISSUES

This report is on the ever-increasing number and scope of issues related to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) movement.

This is an important topic inasmuch as the movement can impact a number of social issues, including the free exercise of religion, school curriculum and policies, employer prerogatives, and provisions of insurance policies – to name but a few of the ways impact can be experienced. In other words, the very culture of the nation could be affected.

Without some knowledge of “what is going on,” citizens could be “blindsided” by events of which – because of media disinterest or bias – he or she may not be aware. This means that without citizen awareness, the nation’s form of government could be totally “transformed” (Obama’s term) away from one based on the Judeo-Christian values of its founding, and that the traditional relationship between men and women may be “transformed” into some kind of “unisex” one – all without the consent of the citizenry.

This report is divided into 3 parts. Part I is to provide an awareness of the many-faceted LGBT issues stemming from multiple sources, such as bureaus, educational institutions, medical community, etc. Part II is to provide an awareness that much of the evidence portrayed in support of a certain viewpoint by the scientific and legal communities may be flawed – if not manipulated. Part III is to provide an awareness that there is solid medical opinion which diametrically opposed to opinion portrayed in the media and even in scientific publications about treatment of individuals having LGBT issues.

Part I – A Sampling of LGBT Issues

By now, the reader is probably aware of the following sampling of lawsuits which have implications on the religious liberty of business owners:

• A baker declined to provide a wedding cake for a lesbian couple on religious grounds. (The owners are now fighting a $150,000 lawsuit)

• A photographer declined to photograph a marriage commitment on religious grounds. (He was ordered to pay $6,637.94 in attorneys fees.)

• A florist declined on religious ground to provide flowers for a homosexual wedding. (The florist is now being sued.)Following are examples of how city governments have gotten involved in LGBT issues:
• The Plano (TX) city council voted 5-3 to pass a new controversial non-discrimination ordinance similar to the ordinance passed in Houston. The ordinance will include sexual orientation and gender identity (a term that does not appear in state law) and potentially will allow transgender persons to demand access to the bathroom of their choice.

• On August 20, the Fayettville (Ark) city council passed an ordinance that provides special rights for LGBT people. The ordinance was subsequently repealed by a vote of the citizens of that city.

• Houston, where citizens gathered enough signatures to subject the ordinance to a vote of the people, rejected the referendum. So the issue is now headed for trial in January in state district court.

Following are some examples of how educational institutions have gotten involved in LGBT issues:

• At Bellevue College in Washington State, no less than seven gender choices are included in two questions about students’ sexuality contained in the school’s application form. They include bisexual, gay, lesbian, queer, straight/heterosexual, other and prefer not to answer.
• A male-to-female transsexual in Minnesota is currently undefeated in martial arts contests, and some of his/her opponents have had the temerity to suggest that a former man who successfully beats a woman may have unfair advantage.

• The U. S. Department of Education sent out a memo stating that under Title IX of the 1972 education amendments, “all students, including transgender students and students who do not conform to sex stereotypes, are protected from sex-based discrimination,” and that “transgendered” students could use the facilities of their chosen gender.

Following are samples of how public policy can be affected the LGBT matters:

• Even history can be “amended.” In 47 states and the District of Columbia, a person can change his or her birth certificate to reflect a sexual conversion.
• A recent article in the New York Times insists current law dealing with pedophilia is “inconsistent and irrational,” and that it is time to “revisit” categorical exclusions contained in the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that prohibited pedophilia from receiving the same kind of protection afforded other mental disabilities.

Following are examples of how executive actions of the president and a governor can affect laws:

• According to the Austin American-Statesman, President Obama got involved in LGBT issues by (1) arranging for the transgendered to obtain health insurance under ObamaCare, (2) having the Office of Personnel Management announce that government-contracted health insurers could start covering the cost of gender reassignment surgeries for federal employees, and (3) having HHS overturn a decade-old rule preventing Medicare from financing gender reassignment.

• At the state level, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D., NY) issued a fiat calling for all insurance companies in his state to cover expenses of sex-change operations.

Part II – The Questionable Basis of Some Rulings

Following are some examples of some questionable rulings of professional organizations, courts and others:

• The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is 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 removed from listing should be noted. Medical doctor and 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 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 than 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 of succumbing to pressure by interest groups.”

• The American Psychiatric Association, possibly succumbing to political pressure, renamed what had been called “gender-identity disorder” to “gender dysphoria” [defined as “a state of feeling unwell or unhappy”] in order to remove the stigma of the word “disorder” from its entry in its Manual of Mental Disorders.
• The repeal of the 2010 law known as the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law came in the wake of a study commissioned by the Department of Defense. This 267-page report ostensibly showed that military personnel supported the repeal of that law, but there have been a number of writers who have pointed out flaws in that report. A WorldNetDaily writer points out that the response, 28%, was a very low number, especially for the military. Further, only 5 of the 103 questions were asked of every one of the survey participants. Ann Coulter notes that the survey polled military personnel and their spouces.

• National Review reported that in 2005 the American Psychological Association (APA) stated there was “not a single study” to find the children of gay and lesbian parents “to be disadvantaged in any respect.” That finding was used in courts. But UT- Austin professor Mark Regnerus, in a more recent study, reports adverse affects among those children with respect to involvement in crime, being on public assistance, suicidal thoughts and other matters. The APA sampling was small while Regnerus’ study involved 15,000 adults aged 18-39 and underwent a peer-reviewed investigation which found no flaw in that study.

• A report of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reports that doctors should not refer their patients for “reparative

therapy”; however, that organization appears to be highly engaged in political correctness when, in 2012, it issued a policy statement favoring gay marriage and opposing parents keeping guns in their homes. Adopted policies, although quoted in the name of the organization, are written by committees then adopted by the board while its 62,000 members did not have opportunity to vote on them.

• In a July 2014 issue of the Wall Street Journal, an article titled “The Corruption of Peer Review is Harming Scientific Credibility” explains why many science reviews lack discipline to bring about confidence. The writer reports that a monthly journal, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, found that 2/3 of 67 key studies analyzed by Bayer researchers could not be replicated, a fundamental requirement to establish validity of a study. The author of the WSJ piece contends that the guidelines of the National Academy of Sciences make clear that if one is member of that organization, “you can edit a research paper that you wrote yourself and only have to answer a few questions before an editorial board. . .”

• The reader will recall that in a study involving possible global warming the fraudulent involvement of researchers from East Anglia University (England) with American researchers to promote the climate-change agenda was exposed.

Part III – A Refutation of Some LGBT Treatments

In a June 2014 op-ed piece titled “Transgender Surgery Isn’t the Solution” appearing in the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Paul McHugh, the writer, takes strong exception to the prevailing view concerning the handling of LGBT issues. He speaks with a strong background in such matters having been the psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

In addition, he speaks about the insights he learned in the 1960s when that hospital was the first American medical center to venture into “sex-reassignment surgery.” A study carried out in 1970 found that while most of the surgically treated patients described themselves as “satisfied” by the results, their subsequent psycho-social adjustments were no better than those who didn’t have the surgery. Consequently, Hopkins stopped doing the procedure since it still produced a troubled patient.

McHugh provides a clarification directly at odds with those who inject the term “right” into the discussion, and warns of “grim psychological outcomes” resulting from treatment. Some of his comments follow:

• Yet policy makers and the media are doing no favors either to the public or the transgendered by treating their confusions as a right in need of defending rather than as a mental disorder that deserves understanding, treatment and prevention. This intensely felt sense of being transgendered constitutes a mental disorder in two respects. The first is that the idea of sex misalignment is simply mistaken – it does not correspond with physical reality. The second is that it can lead to grim psychological outcomes.

McHugh explains the emergence of the concept of “gender equality” and notes that this concept has led to several states – for good or ill – barring “reparative therapy” by psychiatrists, even with parental permission when dealing with a minor. His comments:

• For the transgendered, this argument holds that one’s feeling of “gender” is a conscious, subjective sense that, being in one’s mind, cannot be questioned by others. The individual often seeks not just society’s tolerance of this “personal truth” but affirmation of it. Here rests the support for “transgender equality,” the demands for government payment for medical and surgical treatments . . .

• With this argument, advocates for the transgendered have persuaded several states – including California, New Jersey, and Massachusetts – to pass laws barring psychiatrists, even with parental permission, from striving to restore natural gender feelings to a transgender minor.

Confirming the correctness of the decision at Johns Hopkins to discontinue sex changing surgery appears in a 2011 study from Sweden where a study which followed 324 people who had sex-reassignment surgery found that, beginning about 10 years after the surgery, the transgendered began experiencing mental difficulties. Most shockingly, their suicide mortality rose almost 20-fold above the comparable nontransgender population.

McHugh states a view which may be “truth” but which will be resisted by a segment of society:

• At the heart of the problem is confusion over the nature of the transgendered. “Sex change” is biologically impossible. People who undergo sex-reassignment surgery do not change from men to women or vice versa. Rather, they become feminized men or masculinized women. Claiming that this is a civil-rights matter and encouraging surgical intervention is in reality to collaborate and promote a mental disorder.

NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE
(Some random observations on this crazy world in which we live)

Who is Bill de Blasio? Bill de Blasio was born Warren Wilhelm, Jr. He later added his mother’s maiden name, de Blasio, so that his name now is Bill de Blasio. Here are some other facts about him: (1) he was campaign manager for Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign in 2000, (2) he ran Democrat New York Congressman Charlie Rangel’s re-election campaign in 1994, (3) he was a fervent supporter of the Marxist Sandinista government in Nicaragua in the 1980s, and (4) in 1994, he married a lesbian activist. They honeymooned in Cuba.

Cantor Gets New Job, Pay Raise. Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has a new job on Wall Street that, as is the case with other politicians, provides him a significant jump in pay from the $193,400 he earned as majority leader. His new job at Moelis & Co., an investment bank, will pay him an annual $400,000 base salary and will provide other stock benefits later.

Gun Range Owner Pronounces Her Gun Range a Muslim Free Zone – Legally. Gun range owner Jan Morgan explains her declining to admit Muslims to her gun range. “We deal in lethal firearms and we are given full discretion by the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to determine who can and cannot handle firearms and purchase firearms from this location,” she said. “All federal firearms license businesses are given that kind of discretion, and in fact we are directed by ATF . . .to err on the side of caution.”

She illustrate one revealing event. Two Arabic-speaking men wanted to rent a gun. “They had . . .ringtones on their phone [so] every time they got a message alert, a text message, an email or a phone call, what we heard was Allahu Akbar.”

Oregon, a Blue State, Rejects Driver’s Licenses for Illegals. Oregonians overwhelmingly rejected a ballot-measure which would have provided driver’s licenses to illegals. That vote followed one in which the legislature had approved such measure. Oregon is the only state in the country that gave its citizens opportunity to vote on that matter. Ten states, including California, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Vermont and Washington, plus the District of Columbia had no such option. The legislature could authorize issuance without any recourse by the public.

Court Provides No Relief for Harassment of “True the Vote.” In July 2010, Catherine Engelbrecht (a Texan) sought tax-exempt status for her Tea Party group, “True the Vote.” What followed was a litany of harassment that sounds something like one might expect from Cuba: Six FBI domestic terrorism inquiries, two IRS audits of her personal finances, and an inspection of her firm by the Bureau of ATF. Finally there was a Labor Department inspection for possible OSHA violations.

Despite acknowledgment the organization was illegally targeted by the IRS and the Department of Justice, a federal judge threw out her lawsuit on grounds that the issue was now moot because the IRA had finally granted True the Vote their sought-after tax exempt status. The ruling came in spite of evidence that her organization had suffered financial losses in the form of fees for attorneys and CPAs and loss of contributions from prospective donors. Her loss was estimated at nearly $90,000.