David Brooks: How to Fix Politics

In the middle of this depressing presidential campaign I sometimes wonder, How could we make our politics better? --It’s possible to imagine an elite solution. The next president could get together with the leaders of both parties in Congress and say: “We’re going to change the way we do business in Washington. We’re going to deliberate and negotiate. We’ll disagree and wrangle, but we will not treat this as good-versus-evil blood sport.” That kind of leadership might trickle down. --But it’s increasingly clear that the roots of political dysfunction lie deep in society. If there’s truly going to be improvement, there has to be improvement in the social context politics is embedded in. Read more at New York Times Read More......

Wisconsin’s Shame: ‘He Could Have Been Shot. Over Politics’

It was still dark outside when “Jonah” (not his real name) heard the pounding on his front door. As luck would have it, he was awake — or mostly awake. He’d gotten up at 4:00 a.m. on October 3, 2013, to see his parents off to the airport. They were leaving on a quick trip to raise money for the children’s charity his father runs. Jonah was 16 at the time, old enough to stay home alone for a short time, but not old enough to deal with what awaited him on the other side of the door.
The pounding continued, and Jonah peered out the window to discover its source. To his horror, he saw uniformed officers, their guns drawn. “Police,” they yelled. “We have a warrant.” An officer shined a flashlight on a document Jonah couldn’t read. Unsure what to do, but unwilling to defy the authorities, he let them in.


Read more at National Review Read More......

5 Things Every Young American Should Know About Politics

"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you." – Pericles "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." -- Groucho Marx Politics requires you to be cynical without losing your idealism, skeptical without giving up on problem solving, and it demands that you compromise with people who disagree with you on almost every issue. It has also become so complicated that the politicians don’t even bother to read the bills anymore. So, imagine being a young inexperienced kid who’s trying to figure out what’s going on in a world full of lying politicians, partisan hacks and slanted media.

Read more at Townhall.com Read More......

Jon Stewart Throttles Democrats For Hypocrisy on Campaign Spending

Jon Stewart attacked top liberals/Democrats on Monday's Daily Show for their blatant hypocrisy on the influence of money in politics. Stewart particularly mocked former Democratic senator and current Secretary of State John Kerry for his past lament that "the unending chase for money threatens to steal our democracy itself," while his party raises hundreds of millions of dollars for its campaigns.

Read more at NewsBusters Read More......

Charles Koch: I'm Fighting to Restore a Free Society

Op-Ed by Charles G. Koch - Instead of welcoming free debate, collectivists engage in character assassination.
I have devoted most of my life to understanding the principles that enable people to improve their lives. It is those principles—the principles of a free society—that have shaped my life, my family, our company and America itself.

Unfortunately, the fundamental concepts of dignity, respect, equality before the law and personal freedom are under attack by the nation's own government. That's why, if we want to restore a free society and create greater well-being and opportunity for all Americans, we have no choice but to fight for those principles. I have been doing so for more than 50 years, primarily through educational efforts. It was only in the past decade that I realized the need to also engage in the political process.

Read more at the Wall Street Journal Read More......

For Earth. For Humanity. For Freedom.

For decades the Green Movement has claimed that Earth is threatened by the activity and even the existence of mankind. Green policies dictate that the noble response is relinquishing our liberties to "save" the planet from peril. Award-winning filmmaker JD King sets off on a cinematic journey to challenge these Green philosophies, and overturn the tables on issues like carbon emissions, climate change, over-population, natural resources, and unmasks the UN's Agenda 21 plan. BLUE casts a bold new vision: that through greater freedom we can realize a fuller potential for our fellow man and this beautiful blue planet we call home. BLUE BEATS GREEN.

Watch the official BLUE trailer at BlueBeatsGreen.com Read More......

It turns out the 'Evil' Koch Bros are only the 59th biggest donors in American politics. Can you guess who is number one?

WASHINGTON EXAMINER - Charles and David Koch are the two most evil people in American politics, right? We know that because Jane Mayer proved it with her landmark "Covert Operations" tour de liberal force in 2010. ✧ Well, it turns out that Mayer's aim was off just a little, by like 58 slots on the all-time biggest donors in American politics list, as compiled by OpenSecrets.org. ✧ OpenSecrets.org tallied the top donors in federal elections between 1989 and 2014. Koch Industries -- privately owned by the Evil Koch Bros -- is on the list, to be sure, but doesn't appear until the 59th slot, with $18 million in donations, 90 percent of which went to Republicans. ✧ So who occupies the 58 spots ahead of the Evil Koch Bros? Six of the top 10 are … wait for it … Read More......

Alan Greenspan: What Went Wrong

Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, goes to a lot of parties. He and his wife, the TV journalist Andrea Mitchell, "sort of get invited everywhere," he says, sitting in front of the long bay window in his office on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C. Lately, though, cocktails and dinners seem to have guest lists drawn almost exclusively from one political party or the other. "It used to be a ritualistic 50-50 at parties—the doyennes of culture and partying were very strict about bipartisanship," he adds. "That doesn't exist anymore."

Read more at the Wall Street Journal Read More......

How North Carolina Became the Wisconsin of 2013

Nowhere is the battle between liberal and conservative visions of government fiercer than North Carolina. From the environment to guns, abortion to campaign finance, religion to taxes, Raleigh has become a battleground that resembles Madison, Wisconsin, in 2011.

Just as Wisconsinites seemed shocked that their state could become so polarized, North Carolina seems like an unlikely candidate for such fierce political clashes. North Carolinians like to boast that their state is "a vale of humility between two mountains of conceit." Until recently, it was certainly an oasis of political calm between Virginia -- a fast-changing purple state fighting battles over transvaginal ultrasounds -- and South Carolina, home of outspoken conservatives like Jim DeMint and Joe Wilson. The Tar Heel State was more moderate. For most of the last century, Democrats controlled the governorship, and they also tended to control the state legislature. Meanwhile, the state voted for a Republican in every presidential election from 1980 to 2004. In 2008, a major push by Barack Obama won him the state by a tiny margin, and it seemed that North Carolina, like Virginia, might be an emerging purple or even bluish state.

Then in the 2010 election, Republicans took control of both chambers of the General Assembly for the first time since 1870.

Read more at the Atlantic Read More......

Sen. Rubio on the Obama & Co. 'Culture of Intimidation'

Rubio On IRS Scandal: Obama's Culture Of Political Intimidation Leads to this Scandalous Behavior

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Henninger: Obama's Ruinous Course

Daniel Henninger: Where in his career did Barack Obama ever learn the art of the political deal? Nowhere. ✧ Barack Obama says his election victory is a mandate to pursue the policy course he's insisting on in negotiations with Republicans on the fiscal cliff. He wants a tax increase of $1.6 trillion, $50 billion of new and immediate stimulus spending and the end of congressional approval to raise the ceiling on U.S. debt—the debt that a ratings agency downgraded in 2011. Read more at the Wall Street Journal...

Note: Since the House is still in Republican control, Obama did NOT get a mandate. Spread this news whenever you hear the mandate claim! --bc Read More......

D'Souza: Sandwiches, Wagons & Politics

On October 8, 2012, the OSU Socratic Club sponsored a debate between Dinesh D'Souza and Michael Shermer. The topic was "Is Christianity Good for American Politics?" This 7 minute video is from the Q&A session following the debate. D'Souza presents fantastic (and humorous) analogies with a Christian viewpoint to explain his opposition to Obamacare and Obama's "fair share" ethos. (Hat tip: Patricia Anderson)

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0-414 vote: House clobbers budget proposal based on Obama's 2013 plan

The House on Wednesday night unanimously rejected an alternative budget proposal based on President Obama's 2013 budget plan, dispatching it in a 0-414 rout.  ✧ The vote came just hours after the White House cast the pending vote as a political "gimmick," an apparent attempt to downplay what many expected to be an ugly-looking vote for the White House. Read more at The Hill... Read More......

Newsletter: Big Government Runs Amok!

March 10, 2012 Newsletter - Benton County Republicans

IN THIS ISSUE: 

1. Whistleblower within Dept. of Interior Fired for Questioning Biased Science (Klamath Basin Dam Removal)
2. Two Robinsons run against DeFazio!
3. Obama's Press Conference Leaves Many Questions Unanswered
4. Final Gavel Falls - 2012 Legislative Session Adjourned
5. Benton County hosts opportunity to meet COO

 
Whistleblower within Dept. of Interior Fired for Questioning Biased Science (Klamath Basin Dam Removal)

TODAY, 11a.m.-noon (Pacific time). Listen live on KYKN (1430-AM) or, if you’re outside of the Salem (Oregon) listening area, go to www.kykn.com and hit the listen live button. Guest: Dr. Paul Houser 

This week: If you’re a regular listener to the I Spy Radio show, or the I Spy Minute, you know we’ve been following the situation down in Klamath. The Secretary of the Interior back in 2009 pledged that the effort to remove the dams, quote, “Will not fail.” Even worse, an eyewitness heard the Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation called the Klamath effort “precedent setting.” Meaning that if they can ram through the Klamath decision, the dams on the Snake and Columbia could also be on the chopping block.

This is an extremely important story. It’s big government run amok. This week we’re talking with a whistleblower, who alleges he was fired when he questioned how the science behind removing the dams—which is very uncertain—was being spun to the public. Tune in to hear his story and some of the chilling details of what’s going on behind the veil of secrecy of big government.

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Two Robinsons run against DeFazio! 

EUGENE, Ore. - Voters caught a glimpse of Matthew Robinson in TV ads 2 years ago when his father Art ran as the Republican nominee for Congress against Rep. Peter DeFazio, a 13-term Democrat from Springfield. Now voters in Oregon's 4th District will see more of Robinson - both Art and Matthew. In the run up to the May primary, Art Robinson intends to again seek the GOP nomination for Congress. Matthew Robinson wants to run, too - as a Democrat. He changed his voter registration from Republican to Democrat last August and filed to run against DeFazio in the May primary. The 24-year-old nuclear engineering graduate student at Oregon State University's birthday is in June, so he'll be old enough to meet the Constitutional age requirement. "I decided that DeFazio needed some competition in the primary, so I decided to run against him," Robinson told KVAL News. “We’re out to replace him,” he said, “and this is a fine chance to replace him in the primary.”  Read more at KVAL News. See related article in the Democrat Herald.

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Press Conference Leaves Many Questions Unanswered

Heritage Foundation - This week, President Barack Obama ended his months-long press conference drought and faced the White House press corps. Unfortunately for the American people, questions on some of the biggest issues facing the country remain unanswered. WHY DIDN’T the PRESS and the PRESIDENT DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING TOPICS? THE ECONOMY wasn’t discussed, although 8% (13 million) Americans are unemployed and only 63.7% of adult Americans are active in the labor force, the lowest since 1983. We’re in the slowest economic recovery in the post-war-era. OBAMA WANTS $$$TWO TRILLION IN NEW TAXES. How will massive tax hikes on job creators spur job growth? NO BUDGET?? It’s been over 1,000 days since the Senate passed a budget. No plan to reform unsustainable entitlement programs. The subject wasn’t raised in the Press conference by the Press or by the President. THE KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE. The President didn’t deny that rising gas and oil prices support his long term agenda. He didn’t address Keystone, regulatory hurdles to drilling and refining in the US, or his Energy Secretary’s policies to see gasoline cost at least $5 a gallon. IRAN and U.S. RELATIONSHIP with ISRAEL. The Press didn’t push the President on a number of vital issues regarding his policies with these two nations.

OBAMACARE’S ASSAULT on RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. All we got was political rhetoric. The question that brought this debate to the fore was ignored: Where in the Constitution does the President find the authority to issue a mandate that violates the conscience of religious organizations and people?

OBAMA REFUSES to DENOUCE INSULTS against REPUBLICAN WOMEN. Rae Lynne Chornenky, President of the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW), issued the following statement following President Obama's Tuesday news conference in which he ignored questions regarding insults made against Republican women.

“The hypocrisy displayed by President Barack Obama and liberal Democrats when Republican women are the targets of vicious attacks is shameful,” Chornenky said. “Yesterday, President Obama dodged questions from USA Today and the Daily Caller, flatly refusing to denounce or even criticize his liberal supporters for making vile remarks about Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and other prominent Republican women. What hypocrisy! And, what about the mainstream media? Where are the media when liberals utter demeaning, derogatory remarks about Republican women? Nowhere to be found. This liberal hypocrisy and media double standard must end.”

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Final Gavel Falls-2012 Legislative Session Adjourned

This week the final gavel fell ending Oregon’s five-week, 2012 legislative session. For a complete list of what was accomplished during the 2012 Legislative Session. (Click here www.dennisrichardson.org/2012_keyvotes.pdf). The key goals for this short, even-year session: 1) Rebalance the State Budget, 2&3) Pass transformative legislation for education and health care, and 4) Clear the path for Oregon’s economic recovery and jobs for Oregon workers. Bipartisan cooperation and compromise enabled legislative success in meeting the first three of Oregon’s key goals. Unfortunately, Democrats would not cooperate when the legislature turned its attention to bills introduced by Republican legislators that had the key goal of creating a clear path for Oregon’s economic recovery and creating jobs for Oregon’s unemployed and underemployed workers. For the whole story, click on http://www.DennisRichardson.org/lu030712.htm

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Benton County hosts opportunity to meet COO

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Benton County Board of Commissioners will be hosting a Community Forum to discuss current happenings in Benton County as well as introduce Chief Operating Officer Dennis Aloia. The event is scheduled from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 14, at the Corvallis Depot Passenger Room, 700 Washington Ave., in Corvallis and will feature presentations by Benton County Board of Commissioners Chair Jay Dixon and Aloia. Dixon will discuss where Benton County has been in the last year and where it is going, followed by an introductory presentation by Aloia. Following the presentations the Benton County Board of Commissioners and other county leaders will be on hand to discuss issues pertaining to Benton County Government and county services. The event is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be provided.

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This e-mail is sent to you by Benton County Republicans and Benton County Republican Women, P.O. Box 808, Corvallis OR 97339. Our office is located in the Millrace Center at 1760 S.W. Third Street, Corvallis. Our telephone number is 541-754-9155. Please visit our website at: www.bentongop.org If you would like to subscribe to our e-mails, please contact us with your request. Thank you. Read More......

Boehner Urges Obama to Reschedule Jobs Speech

Boehner asks Obama to move date of speech to Congress after Republicans accuse president of 'political ploy' in picking same night as GOP presidential debate [Sept.. 7] — White House calls it a coincidence. Read more at Fox News...

UPDATE: Obama Agrees to Delay Jobs Speech Read More......

About Tax Cuts and Two Distinctly Different Philosophies

HUB PAGES - Both Parties Have Enacted Tax Cuts in Last Half Century: Here are links to two older articles dealing with economic philosophies that help sort out How Tax Cuts Work and Democrat vs. Republican Tax Cuts.

Interesting! Read More......

“It’s not about color, it’s about values.”

Not everyone we interview for The Daily Caller Leaders series is a household name. Such is the case with K. Carl Smith, but he is a local leader doing something in the political square worth noticing. He seeks to bring blacks and whites together in the political arena under the legacy of abolitionist Frederick Douglass. That’s new. Check him out. ✧ Cheers, ✧ Ginni Thomas

Highly recommend! Watch Part 1 and 2 of Mr. Smith's videos. --bc Read More......

Rich Man, Poor Man

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IBD Editorial: Want More Jobs? The Ideas Are Out There

INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY (IBD), 6/6/2011 - "Employment: The latest talking points from the Democrats on the slumping economy and jobs recession go like this: Gee, we've tried everything, but nothing works — and Republicans haven't put forward any ideas at all. ∴ This was on full display Monday when former White House aide David Axelrod, carrying water for the administration, said Republicans should stop "yammering" about President Obama's pathetic jobs record and come up with their own plan.

"Yammering"? The GOP has two good, workable plans already put forward — Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to restore fiscal balance to our nation, and another by House Speaker John Boehner to revive jobs growth. ∴ Clearly, Democrats in the White House and Congress haven't tried everything, contrary to their assertions. They've focused on old Keynesian tricks like more spending, higher debt and higher taxes on entrepreneurs. Things that have never worked and never will.

To help Axelrod and other economically benighted left-wing pundits, we've made a list of things to do right now — virtually overnight — to get jobs growing again. Read more at IBD...

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Gallup Poll: Americans Divided on Taxing the Rich to Redistribute Wealth

GALLUP, 6/2/2011 by Lydia Saad - Americans Divided on Taxing the Rich to Redistribute Wealth. Public is split over enacting heavy taxes on the rich to redistribute wealth.

PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans break into two roughly evenly matched camps on the question of whether the government should enact heavy taxes on the rich to redistribute wealth in the U.S. Forty-seven percent believe the government should redistribute wealth in this way, while 49% disagree, similar to views Gallup found four years ago. Read more at Gallup...

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