4 ProPosed resolution - Primary

6 involvement CruCial to viCtory

8-9 about CCssi

10 alabama’s immigration law

14 obama administration bans truth

16 sPaCe raCe never ends

featured topic:

education in alabamaarticles pages 3, 8, and 9

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Since our last issue of The Shelby Delegate, we have seen a number of topics and events that have become prominent. One of those is the phenomena known as Occupy Wall Street, and its various outcroppings that have sprung up around the country, supposedly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, particularly directed to the financial services sector—and lobbyists. The movement’s slogan, “We are the 99%”, refers to the difference in wealth between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population, giving the erroneous perception that their movement speaks for 99% of the nation. One wonders just how many of those “Wall Street” brokers actually really cares what a bunch of protesters think.

We haven’t seen any “Occupy Shelby County” protests spring up around us, although the participants certainly have “cause” to vent their resentment – or perhaps more appropriately described as envy - of our prosperous and desirable community. While not particularly threatening to our Shelby County way, it is indeed troubling nonetheless that such socialistic and anti-capitalist views are accepted, or at least viewed sympathetically, by nearly one-fourth of the population.

Speaking of public opinion surveys, The Washington Post, among other news outlets, reported in October that only nine percent of national adults polled said they approve of the way Congress is handling its job. The nine-percent figure is “the lowest ever recorded in the history of NYT/CBS polling” while, conversely, eighty-four percent of the 1,650 respondents disapprove of the job Congress is doing. Some members were philosophical about the survey results. freshman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.). was quoted in the liberal publication Politico, saying “We’re below sharks and

contract killers.” Several members, both Republican and Democrat, candidly indicated that the nine-percent consists of “friends and relatives” of Senators and Representatives.

While somewhat higher than that of Congress, President Obama’s approval rating is rather dismal, further indicating the imperative for Republicans to be ready to elect his replacement in 2012. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday, October 30, shows that only 23% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president.

These numbers, especially those corresponding to the President, give us hope as Republicans that we can successfully take the White House in 2012. However, the approval ratings of Congress should sober us to the effects that out-of-control spending, excessive regulation, increasing debt, and over-extended government entitlements have on both parties. Our party must effectively govern us away from such practices, and simultaneously, continue to elect those who are committed to and have a record of supporting policies reflective of Republican ideals and principles.

With elections approaching in 2012, our county party is feeling the effects of the earlier primary calendar. Unlike previous presidential election cycles, in which the county and state offices are elected during the June primary, the 2012 Republican primary election slated for March 13 will not be just the presidential primary. Advocated as a legitimate cost saving measure, the Republican-controlled Alabama legislature during its 2011 session scheduled the county and state primary elections to coincide with the presidential primary. Consequently, the primary and the qualifying season is pushed up as well. Whereas we are normally getting

Chairman’s CornerBy Freddy Ard

Editor-in-Chief Freddy Ard

Executive Editor Alan Reyes-Guerra

Creative Editor Laura Joseph

Managing Editors Andrew Plaster

Photographers Tom Fridy, Leigh Bratina

Contributing Editors Andrew Plaster, Bill Armistead, Steve Ross,

Stephanie Bell and Randy Mazer

Paid for by the Shelby County Republican Party

1920 Valleydale Road, Suite 154 Birmingham, AL 35244

205-994-6497 • www.shelbycountygop.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2 Chairman’s Corner

3 Mary Scott Hunter Speaks

4 Proposed Resolution - Primary

5 Political Bio: Marcelo Munoz

6 Involvement Crucial to Victory

7 Drake Defeats Alexander

7 Supporters Complete Boston Marathon

8 About CCSSI

9 Proposed Resolution - CCSSI

10 No Reason to Block Immigration Law

11 Removing Illegal Immigrants a US Jobs Program

11 What is it about “Illegal” They Don’t Understand?

12 Occupy Wall Street (Hearts) Wall Street

14 Obama Admin Bans Truth About Islam & Jihad

16 Space Race Never Ends

18 When Will Obama Crack In Public?

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qualifying underway in February, closing in early April for an early April primary election, this year is different. Candidate qualifying will open on November 14, with closing on Friday, January 13, 2012 (5:00pm). The primary election is 60 days later on March 13, 2012. Details on the qualifying procedure, dates, and forms are found in other sections of this publication, as well as on the Shelby County Republican Party website.

Qualifying is also underway for delegates to the Republican National Convention slated for the week of August 27, 2012 in Tampa, Florida. A delegate candidate must select to run for either a specific Presidential candidate or as uncommitted to any candidate. In addition, delegate candidates must choose to run for a specific slot on a State at Large basis (26 places) or a Congressional District basis (3 places per Congressional District) under a specific candidate or under the uncommitted label. (To clarify, there are 26 places statewide and 3 places in each Congressional District under every candidate). No person may run in more than one place as a delegate and Congressional District candidates can only run within the District in which they reside. For more information, and to view the current list of candidates and delegate candidates, visit www.algop.org.

As you can see, there is much activity just ahead for our county party, all of which is approaching rapidly and positioned on the calendar far earlier than in previous election cycles. I encourage you to find a place where you would like to engage in the various upcoming phases of the 2012 election, whether as a candidate, a volunteer, an advocate for our party, or a financial contributor. In the mean time, please accept my sincerest appreciation for your support, as well as my best wishes for wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year holidays in the coming weeks.

Mary Scott Hunter grew up on the Alabama Gulf Coast. Her parents are Scott Hunter, former University of Alabama and NFL championship quarterback, and mother, Deborah Hunter of Daphne, Alabama. She graduated cum laude from the University of Alabama in 1995 and went on to the University of Alabama School of Law.

After graduating from law school in 1998, Mary Scott felt called to serve her country and was commissioned as a United States Air Force Lieutenant. She served ten years as an Air Force Judge Advocate General (military attorney) first in the active duty Air Force, then in the Reserves and finally in the Alabama Air National Guard, attaining the rank of major. Her assignments included two overseas tours to Korea and Germany and a wartime deployment to the Middle East. Her military awards include: Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Overseas Short Tour Ribbon, Longevity Service Ribbon, and a Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon.

Mary Scott’s husband, Lt Col(s) Jon Shultz, is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and is now a traditional guardsman with the Alabama

mary sCott hunter to speak at next sCGop exeCutive Committee meetinG

Air Guard at Dannelly Field, Montgomery where he flies F-16 fighter jets. Lt Col(s) Shultz has been twice decorated with the Bronze Star for combat service. He is a Principal Engineer with Gray Research, working on a contract with NASA.

Jon and Mary Scott jointly own a small company, Torel Technology, LLC. They have three children, two boys and a girl, ages 7, 5, and 3. The family attends Trinity United Methodist Church where Mary Scott teaches adult Sunday School and serves on the Church Council, and Jon is a musician.

Mary Scott and Jon brought their family back to “God’s Country,” as Mary Scott calls it, in 2006 after serving out their last active duty Air Force assignment in Germany. In 2007, Mary Scott joined the law firm of Siniard, Timberlake & League, P.C. There she has an employment practice - advocating for the disabled, representing clients involved in federal workplace disputes, and national security clearance litigation. In November 2009, Mary Scott announced her candidacy for the Alabama Board of Education, and in November 2010, she was elected to the position.

Mary Scott is a proud product of Alabama public school. She has a vested interest in the strength of our education system with her first child in public elementary school and her younger two close behind.

“I love this state and its citizens. Thank you for the privilege of serving you.”

MARY SCOTT HUNTER

Representative Alabama Board of Education

District 8 (Limestone, Madison, Jackson, DeKalb, Etowah)

P.O. Box 18572, Huntsville, AL 35804 1-888-531-1312

BE IT RESOLVED by the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee at its regular quarterly meeting assembled in Pelham, Alabama on November 8, 2011, as follows:

The Shelby County Republican Executive Committee hereby acknowledges and ratifies any actions of the Alabama Republican Executive Committee taken with regard to the 2012 Republican Primary Election, accepting on behalf of the Republican Party of Alabama, and coming under, to the extent therein indicated, the primary election laws of the State of Alabama for the 2012 elections.

Each person desiring to be elected as a nominee of the Republican Party for any county office in Shelby County pursuant to Section 17-13-5 of the Code of Alabama of 1975, as amended, shall file with the Chairman or Secretary of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee on or subsequent to Monday, November 14, 2012 , but no later than 5:00 PM (CDT) on Friday, January 13, 2012, a Declaration of Candidacy in substantially the form attached hereto as Exhibit “A”, and simultaneously therewith pay to the order of the Shelby County Republican Party the following qualifying fee:

The amount computed as 2% of the sum of the annual salary and any fixed expense compensation applicable to the office for any remunerative public county office in accordance with Section 17-13-47 of the Code of Alabama of 1975, as amended, the computation of which appears on the table attached hereto as Exhibit “B”,

$50.00 for any non-remunerative office other than county office in accordance with Section 17-13-47 of the Code of Alabama of 1975, as amended, including, if applicable, membership in the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee.

Persons desiring to qualify for more than one office which is to be elected or nominated shall file a separate Declaration of Candidacy as to each such office, and shall pay the qualifying fee prescribed herein for each such office. A person may not qualify for more than one public office in the event state law would prohibit holding the offices simultaneously.

No candidate shall be required to sign any so-called “loyalty” pledge, no candidates shall have been convicted of a felony under the laws of the United States of America, the State of Alabama, or of any other state, and

PROPOSED RESOLUTION (vote occurs on Nov. 8, 2011)

2012 REPUBLICAN PRIMARY ELECTION IN SHELBY COUNTY

all qualifying fees shall be uniform within the county for the same office and shall not exceed the amount as specified by law.

In the event a candidate is unable to pay any qualification fee prescribed above, such candidate may certify inability to pay the same, and such inability shall be reviewed and its truthfulness shall be ascertained by the Elections Committee provided for herein. In the event such candidate’s certification of inability to pay is found by the Candidate Committee to be untrue, his or her candidacy shall be disallowed.

The Chairman of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee is hereby authorized and directed to appoint, from among the members of the Executive Committee, an Election Committee for the Shelby County Republican Primary Election. The Election Committee shall consist of five (5) members and shall be appointed on or before, Monday, November 14, 2012 and any vacancies which thereafter occur on said Election Committee shall be promptly filled by the Chairman of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee. The Election Committee shall meet on the call of the Chairman of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee, a majority of its members shall constitute a quorum and the action of a majority of its members present at a meeting at a time when a quorum is present, shall be binding upon, and constitute action of, the Election Committee; provided that action consented to by at least three of the members of the Election Committee by telephone, verbally, or in writing and without a formal meeting, shall be binding upon, and shall constitute action of the Election Committee, but a description of such action shall be reduced to writing and promptly mailed to each member of the Election Committee. The Election Committee shall have and possess the following powers: (a) to review any declaration of candidacy, to determine if the candidate meets the qualifications prescribed in this resolution, and to direct the Chairman of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee not to certify a candidate which the Election Committee finds does not meet such qualifications; (b) to fill vacancies in any nomination for any public or party office with regard to the primary or other election and the general election where such vacancy exists by reason of death, resignation, disqualification, revocation or otherwise, and; (c) to hear, consider, and decide and generally to have all the rights, duties, powers, and

authority of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee with regard to the contests presented to said county committee under the provisions of Article 2 of Chapter 16, Title 17 of the 1975 Code of Alabama, as amended, including the right to prescribe appropriate rules governing any such contest, provided, however, that such rules shall grant to the parties to any such contest their basic Constitutional rights and privileges and shall not conflict with the provisions of said Article 2.

The Chairman of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee is hereby authorized and empowered to appoint from time to time such subcommittees as deemed appropriate to look after, supervise, and conduct the primary or other election and the general election which are the subject of this resolution; to receive returns from, canvass, and tabulate and declare the results of, and certify to any primary or other election held under the laws of the State of Alabama; and generally to delegate to and confer upon any such subcommittees the right, power, and authority to do and perform any act or duty which the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee could do or perform with regard to such primary or other election, or the general election.

The Chairman or Secretary shall, within reason and by appointment, be available to receive the documents and fees throughout the qualifying period, all of which as heretofore described in Paragraph 2), and otherwise for said purpose both shall be present and available in Shelby County Courthouse on Friday, January 13, 2012 beginning at 3:00 P.M. (CDT) until the closing deadline of 5:00 PM (CDT).

Copies of this resolution and call shall be delivered or mailed to the Judge of Probate Court of Shelby County, Alabama, to the Secretary of State of the State of Alabama, to the legislative district (precinct) chairman of each legislative district of Shelby County, Alabama, and to the Chairman of the Republican Party of Alabama.

RESOLVED, this, the 8th day of November, 2011, by a vote of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee.

FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE SHELBY COUNTY REPUBLICAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE,

Freddy Ard, Chairman Andrew Plaster, Secretary

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politiCal bio:

marCelo munoZVice-Chairman of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee

Marcelo Daniel Muñoz Perez was born in 1967 in Santiago, Chile to the late Sergio Daniel Muñoz Cisternas and Lucila Edith Perez Madrid. He is the oldest of three surviving children and older sibling to the noted South American artist Patricia Terruelo and nephew of the poet Patricia Madrid.

His parents left Chile in 1972 due to the rise of Salvador Allende and his Marxist regime to power. The family settled in Patterson, New Jersey where they welcomed two more children into the family.

Briefly returning to Chile after the fall of Allende, the family finally settled in Miami, Florida. Marcelo attended Riviera Junior High where he excelled in music and Southwest Miami Senior High School where he earned three varsity letters and all-county honors in soccer.

While Marcelo was a freshman in college his father contracted Leukemia. Marcelo was forced to start working full time to finance his full time studies and help support his family.

After his father’s death a year later Marcelo moved to Mobile, Alabama where he attended the University of South Alabama. While there he was elected officer of the Student American Marketing Association and served as a “Southerner”, the University’s highly selective student ambassador group, and earned a scholarship from the Mobile Traffic and Transportation Club. During this time he met his future wife and started a family. He graduated from South Alabama with a Marketing-Transportation.

After graduation he heard the call of his new country and joined the U.S. Air Force. He graduated from the 3701st

Basic Military Training Squadron at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas as an honor graduate and completed his technical training at the United States Army Intelligence School in Fort Devens, Massachusetts. While at Fort Devens he received top honors as a student and received commendations for early completion of both the basic and advanced training courses he undertook.

His first military assignment was in Crete, Greece as an analyst. Within a year of service he was promoted to the highly touted position of Intelligence Instructor, an honor generally reserved for personnel much more senior than him. He ultimately attained the grade of Master Instructor while serving in Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

Upon ending his enlistment in the Air Force Marcelo returned to Santiago, Chile where he worked as transportation director for a major South American retailer and played soccer in Chile’s 4th division. After living 3 years overseas, the family decided to move back home to Greensboro, Alabama for a simpler life.

He was admitted into the MBA program at the University of Alabama with a full fellowship. At the end of his first year of schooling he was admitted to the highly selective systems consulting program (ranked number 4 in the nation at the time) where he studied under the legendary Dean Shane Sharp and Doctors David and Joanne Hale. While a student he joined the Alabama Army National Guard where he served as a Military Policeman. He was also elected to serve as an SGA Senator. Upon graduation he accepted a job with the consulting firm Accenture and moved to Birmingham to work at their Bellsouth engagement.

On his spare time he coached competitive soccer with Mountain Brook Soccer Club and later with Birmingham United. He attained a national level coaching license and eventually coached with the Olympic Development Program throughout the southeast.

He is currently employed as a senior Software Quality Assurance Engineer with EBSCO Industries Inc. in Birmingham.

Having traveled the world with the Air Force and having lived under a Marxist regime and a dictatorship, he is acutely aware of and values the freedoms we currently enjoy and knows how fragile they are.

Marcelo lived an apolitical life until he worked as a volunteer for Dr. Ron Paul’s presidential campaign in 2007. Since then he has helped found the Rainy Day Patriots Tea Party in Birmingham and was instrumental in helping it grow into the largest such group in the state. He is also the immediate former State Coordinator for the Campaign for Liberty in Alabama and has led a number of small-government and anti-tax efforts. He joined the Shelby County GOP executive committee in 2008 and was elected vice-chairman in 2010. He is also a member of the Alabama GOP State Executive Committee and founder of the Tea Party Caucus. He was recently named Alabama Campaign Chairman by the Ron Paul Presidential Campaign Committee.

He is married to the former Cassandra Rogers of Greensboro and together they have four children; Rodrigo Daniel, a senior at Princeton University. Andrea Carolina, a sophomore at Alabama. Daniela del Carmen, a freshman at Auburn. Dante Benjamin, a junior at Oak Mountain high school.

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Rasmussen Reports is one of the most respected polling firms in the U.S. and they released a poll showing that 77% of Americans think the country is going in the wrong direction. Even Time magazine released a poll showing that 80% believed the country is on the wrong track. Let there be no doubt about it, our country is restless and it is time to make a change in leadership.

Every God-fearing, patriotic American must get involved in the upcoming 2012 election. And the time to get involved is NOW! Unfortunately, most people in our country have never gotten involved in the political arena outside of voting and there are many who never bother to do even that.

However, in today’s environment more people are speaking up and getting involved. President Barack Obama and his liberal czars have awakened a sleeping giant. And, thankfully, many have responded by coming together to fight his socialistic agenda under the umbrella of the Tea Party. But, there are far too many still on the sidelines and it is time for all of us to roll up our sleeves and get to work to save our country.

In other words, “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country”. Have you heard this before? Back when I was in high school that is the sentence that we were taught to type over and over in order to learn the keyboard. But, it takes on much more meaning today.

So I ask you: is NOW the time for you to come to the aid of your country? Are YOU ready to help? If so, there are many ways you can help. Just click VOLUNTEER to see how you can

become more involved and sign up today. Someone will be in touch with you – no matter where you live - and discuss how you can become involved in helping to turn our country around. Because, NOW is the time for all men and women to come to the aid of their country.

One way that you can help is by making a financial contribution to ALGOP by clicking on DONATE or you can join the Capitol Club for only $15 a month. The money collected for the Capitol Club is used to manage the day to day operations of the Alabama Republican Party. There are many benefits to being a member of the Capitol Club including receiving discounts to all events sponsored by ALGOP (such as the recent summer dinner with Texas Gov. Rick Perry).

Right now we need your help to insure that Republicans continue to have a solid majority in the Alabama House of Representatives. As a result of the death of Rep. Owen Drake there is a special election in Jefferson and St. Clair Counties (House District 45). Rep. Drake’s brother – Dickie Drake – won the Republican nomination last week to fill out the unexpired term of his brother.

The general election for HD 45 will be held on November 29th and the Democrats are working overtime to take this seat from the Republicans. Democrat Chairman Mark Kennedy has said that

Your Involvement Is Crucial To VictoryBy Bill Armistead, Chairman, Alabama Republican Party

his number one priority for the Democrat Party is winning this seat and he will dedicate all the resources necessary to win. Kennedy has assembled a formidable team to help the Democrats win this seat. They have enlisted AEA, the Democrat National Committee and Organizing for America, which is Barack Obama’s political operation.

Since we know that we will be doing battle with Obama’s community organizers right her in Alabama, we realize that they will raise a ton of money and will get their voters to the polls, no matter what it takes. Our staff at ALGOP will be working tirelessly with Dickie Drake’s campaign to insure that we don’t lose this seat

We would like to help Dickie Drake win this election by raising $4,500 for his campaign ASAP. And we are asking you to join us in helping Dickie win this election. We are asking 100 people to donate $45 to help push him over the top. Will you be one of the 100 who donates $45 today? Just click $45 for Drake to contribute online. If you would like to mail a check, just make it out to ALGOP Drake and mail to P.O. Box 55628, Birmingham, AL, 35255. Thank you so much for participating in this very important election.

May God bless you and all that you are doing and will be doing to restore our country to greatness!

With your annual contribution of $180, you can help make sure that Alabama does not miss the opportunities we have to build a Foundation for our Future in which the Alabama Republican Party is the majority party for generations to come. Membership in the Capitol Club will entitle you to:

• LegislativewrapupconferencecallwithLieutenantGovernorKayIvey• DiscountedticketstotheannualSummerandWinterDinners,aswell

as special events• InvitationstomeetwithnationalVIPRepublicanswhentheycometo

Alabama• Regulare-mailupdatesfromtheGovernor,RepublicanLegislative

Caucus and Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party• AlabamaRepublicanlapelpinandwindowdecal

Please call ALGOP Headquarters at 205-212-5900 or email Clayton Turner at cturner@algop.org for information on how to join or visit algop.org and click “Join the Capitol Club”

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Drake defeats Alexander in Alabama House District 45 RunoffBy Victoria L. Coman -- The Birmingham News

Voters chose Leeds businessman Dickie Drake over Irondale Mayor Tommy Joe Alexander to be the Republican nominee in the Nov. 29 general election for the Alabama House District 45 seat.

Incomplete and unofficial results from Jefferson and St. Clair counties showed Drake with 1,110 votes to Alexander’s 965 votes.

Drake is vying to fill the seat left vacant by his brother, the late Rep. Owen Drake, R-Leeds, who died July 27 of cancer after serving months into his second term of office as the district’s representative.

Drake, co-owner and operator of Drake Lawn Maintenance, will face the lone Democrat, Paige Parnell, a Leeds businesswoman, in the November election. The winner’s term will end in 2014.

“It’s just hard to believe,” Drake said tonight from a campaign celebration at The Livery Event Center in Leeds. He said it was an honor to have voters elect him to be the Republican nominee. “I’m extremely appreciative of their votes and the support they’ve shown me.

“It’s crucial to return a true fiscal conservative to the seat previously held by my late brother, Owen Drake,” he said in a GOP release. “The election is about keeping and expanding our job base and getting our economy back on track, something that can only be done through

less spending, lower taxes, and decreased regulation.”

He credited the victory to hard campaigning, which included knocking on doors in district neighborhoods.

Alexander said despite the election outcome, he and the people in his campaign also worked hard with efforts such as walking neighborhoods in the district and getting notices out to voters in the mail.

“We just couldn’t get the people out to vote,” he said tonight while watching election results with supporters at Huck’s Rib Shack in Leeds. “Everything we could do, we did.”

SCGOP Supporters Run the Chicago MarathonTwo Shelby county women, Missy Kittrell and Lynne Deshazo, a mother-daughter duo, just competed in and completed the Bank of America Chicago Marathon last Sunday. Missy’s husband own’s Marc I Carwash, and has been a regular supporter of Shelby County Republican Party, especially with contributions.

Congratulations to Missy and Lynne on your accomplishment!

RESULTS:

Melissa Kittrell Overall Place:11079 Gender Place: 3023 Half: 01:53:17 Finish: 04:11:34

Lynne Deshazo Overall Place: 35320 Gender Place: 15249 Half: 03:26:10 Finish: 07:01:35

Alexander attributed the low voter participation to the rainy weather and the fact that the election is a special election.

“People are just not interested in it,” he said.

House District 45 consists of most of Leeds; parts of Irondale, Center Point, Liberty Highlands, Crestline, Roebuck-South East Lake, Huffman and East Pinson Valley in Birmingham, Mountain Brook and unincorporated eastern Jefferson County; and small parts of Moody, Trussville, Grayson Valley and unincorporated western St. Clair County.

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On November 18, 2010, the Alabama State Board of Education voted 7-2 (board members Stephanie Bell and Betty Peters voting against) adopted the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and English Language Arts/Social Studies/Science.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) is an unconstitutional federal takeover of every facet of education, including one-size-fits-all national standards, curriculum, e-textbooks, assessments, professional development, teacher evaluations, extensive databases for children and educators, higher education and workforce preparation requirements, and future career determination.

Local and state boards of education surrender their statutory authority and become compliance officers who must ensure and monitor these federally-dictated common standards, curriculum, assessments, and reporting requirements.

I am not alone in predicting the common core system will be an enormous financial burden to state and local boards of education. As always, the federal government never fully funds federal mandates and the cost of implementing this unprecedented federal takeover of education will be extremely high at a time when schools are already suffering financially because of the economy.

Parents, teachers, and elected officials will no longer have a “voice” in the process of writing the course of study and selecting textbooks other than those already recommended for the Common Core System. (The recently proposed textbook list for the Common Core Math Standards is a good example, with “Common Core” in the book titles!)

What can Alabamians do to regain local sovereignty over education and join other

About the Common Core State Standards Initiative in AlabamaBy Stephanie Bell, State Board of Education Member

states (Texas, Virginia, Alaska, Minnesota, and Nebraska) that have rejected the Common Core State Standards Initiative? (Find out more about the CCSSI at www.truthinamericaneducation.com.)

1. Contact our Congressional delegation.

The Obama Administration did an end-run run around Congress and used federal funds (Race To The Top) to entice states to adopt these standards.

Now, Obama has offered an enticement to states (using an unconstitutional process) to grant waivers from No Child Left Behind requirements if states adopt the CCSSI. They have also promised to cut states’ Title I funding if they fail to adopt the CCSSI.

2. Contact the Governor and state Board of Education members (Stephanie Bell and Betty Peters are on record opposing the CCSSI).

The Alabama State Board of Education could have adopted better standards. In fact, Alabama already received high ratings for our courses of study (standards) in Math (B+) and English Language Arts (A, A-) BEFORE they were changed with the adoption of the “common” national standards.

In 2011, BEFORE THE CCSSI ADOPTION, Alabama was ranked 12th in the nation for standards, assessments, and accountability; 14th in the nation for transitions alignment between Pre-K, K-12, higher education, and workforce development; and 18th in the nation for standards, and support and accountability of the teaching profession in the respected Education Week magazine “Quality Counts” report.

The Shelby County Republican Executive Committee Resolution will make a difference!

As of 10/29/11, those opposed to the CCSSI include:Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP)Alabama Conservative NetworkAlabama Federation of Republican WomenAlabama Policy InstituteAllied Women of AlabamaAthens-Limestone PatriotsBarbour County TEA PartyBullock County TEA PartyCATO InstituteChristian Educators InternationalCommon Sense CampaignCommon Sense TEA Party Patriots of Covington CountyCommon Sense PatriotsConcerned Women for America of AlabamaConservative Patriots ClubCovington County TEA PartyEagle Forum of AlabamaFairhope TEA PartyFamily Research CouncilFocus on the FamilyFt. Mitchell PatriotsGreenville TEA PartyHeartland InstituteHeritage FoundationHome School Legal Defense FundLexington InstituteMontgomery TEA PartyNational Association of ScholarsNational Conference of State LegislatorsPacific Research FoundationPatriots of Liberty TEA PartyPioneer InstitutePrattville TEA PartyRainy Day PatriotsReason FoundationSmart Girl Politics of AlabamaTea Party Patriots of AlabamaU.S. Coalition for World Class MathWetumpka Tea PartyWiregrass Patriots

The Alabama (and National) Federation of Republican Women and the Alabama Republican Steering Committee unanimously passed a resolution urging the State Board of Education to rescind CCSSI.

The following county committees have passed or are expected to pass the same resolution:

Autauga - unanimousCoffee - one no voteDale - unanimousHouston – unanimousJefferson – one no voteLimestone – unanimousMadison – only 2 no votesMobile – unanimousMorgan - unanimousShelby County Steering Committee - unanimous (Entire committee votes 11/9)Tuscaloosa - unanimousWalker - unanimous

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Elected officials opposed to the CCSSI include:

Gov. Robert Bentley*U.S. Senator Richard ShelbyU.S. Rep Robert AderholtU.S. Rep. Martha RobyU.S. Rep Mike RogersState BOE Member Betty PetersState BOE Member Stephanie BellSenator AllenSenator BeasonSenator BrewbakerSenator BrooksSenator BussmanSenator GloverSenator HoltzclawSenator MarshSenator OrrSenator ReedSenator ScofieldSenator WardSenator WaggonerSenator WhatleyRepresentative BeckmanRepresentative BaughnRepresentative CarnsRepresentative HenryRepresentative JohnsonRepresentative LongRepresentative McClurkinRepresentative MooreRepresentative RichRepresentative Tuggle

PROPOSED RESOLUTION

The entire body of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee will vote on the following resolution concerning the Common Core State Standards as they relate to the state of Alabama and our educational system at the Executive Committee meeting at 7 p.m. on Nov. 9, 2011. The exact wording of the proposed resolution is below:

Urging the State Board of Education to rescind their adoption of the Obama Administration’s National Standards

for Alabama Schools and students

WHEREAS, The national standards-based “Common Core State Standards” initiative is the centerpiece of the Obama’s Administration’s agenda to centralize education decisions at the federal level; and

WHEREAS, The Obama Administration is using the same model to take over education as it used for healthcare by using national standards and boards of bureaucrats, whom the public didn’t elect and can’t fire or otherwise hold accountable; and

WHEREAS, National standards remove authority from States over what is taught in the classroom and how it is tested; and

WHEREAS, National standards undercut the principle of federalism on which our nation was founded; and

WHEREAS, There is no constitutional or statutory authority for national standards, national curricula, or national assessments and in fact the federal government is expressly prohibited from endorsing or dictating state/local decisions about curricula; and

WHEREAS, The Obama Administration is attempting to evade constitutional and statutory prohibitions to move toward a nationalized public-school system by (1) funding to date more than $345 million for the development of national curriculum and test questions, (2) tying national standards to the Race to the Top charter schools initiative in the amount of $4.35 billion, (3) using the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) to pressure State Boards of Education to adopt national standards, and (4) requesting Congress to include national standards as a requirement in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary School Act (No Child Left Behind).

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Steering Committee of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee hereby urges all members of the State Board of Education to rescind their November 18, 2010 vote to adopt national standards for Alabama schools and students; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee is hereby requested to mail a copy of this resolution to Governor Bentley and all members of the State Board of Education.

SIGNED: _______________________________________ Chairman, Shelby County Republican Committee

10

Alabama attorneys urged a federal appeals court not to grant a Justice Department request to stay the state’s immigration law.

The 46-page filing is in response to requests made by the U.S. Justice Department and a group of 36 plaintiffs who want the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the law while their appeal of the judge’s order, which mostly upholds the law, is pending.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange argues illegal immigrants are taking jobs from U.S. citizens and others authorized to work in the U.S., that it is difficult to collect taxes from them and that illegal immigrants make up a “substantial” part of the state’s prison population.

The filing argues that the law does not infringe on the federal government’s lead role in immigration enforcement, as the Justice Department argues, but instead helps ensure federal immigration law is respected.

“The Plaintiffs contend, however, that Alabama has no room to act in the area of immigration, even to gather information or to cooperate with federal officials,” the filing argues. “They claim that the inaction of the Executive Branch -- not the directives of Congress -- preempts state action. The mantra of the Department of Justice is ‘If we ignore the law, States,

so must you -- and you also must bear the costs thereof.’”

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signed the far-reaching immigration measure into law in June. The plaintiffs and the Justice Department both sued to block it before it went into effect Sept. 1.

Those efforts to block the law were generally rejected by U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn Sept. 28. The law went into effect the next day.

The judge let stand measures requiring people to carry proof they have the right to be in the U.S.; directing police to check the immigration status of drivers involved in traffic stops and arrests; barring entering contracts with illegal immigrants; requiring schools to check the immigration status of enrollees and prohibiting illegal immigrants from entering into business transactions with state and local government.

The plaintiffs are appealing Blackburn’s ruling and want the 11th Circuit to temporarily stay the law until it rules on the appeal.

The Department of Justice has argued it has exclusive authority over immigration law and states cannot develop a “patchwork” immigration system across the U.S.

Alabama tells appeals court there is no reason to block state’s immigration lawBy Brian Lawson - The Huntsville Times

Also, as the Associated Press has reported, a staff attorney for the Alabama Administrative Office of Courts is advising local magistrates that the immigration law does not appear to require people be detained, while immigration status is being checked if they are arrested for failure to carry a driver’s license.

The opinion notes that Judge Blackburn said the law does not explicity require that a person arrested for lack of driver’s license be detained during the verfication check. It finds that there is no requirement that the law enforcement officer hold the defendant in jail until they can go before a magistrate. The law does require they be taken before the “nearest and most accessible magistrate.”

The opinion suggests the “safest practice” is for the magistrate to set a signature bond - a non-cash promise they will appear for their court date. The opinion finds that the law does not require the magistrate to conduct the immigration status check.

AOC also advises that it is still studying the law.

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A House Republican freshman called on the federal government to step up enforcement of U.S. immigration laws, and said removing illegal immigrants is one way to create needed jobs for Americans.

“There is a surefire way to create jobs now for American citizens,” Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said on the House floor. “Evict all illegal aliens from America and immediately open up millions of jobs for unemployed Americans.

“The eviction of illegal aliens from America has the side benefit of eliminating the abundance of cheap, illegal alien labor, which, in turn, forces blue-collar wages up, thus helping American families afford and pursue the American Dream.”

Brooks and several other House Republicans said illegal immigrants commit violent crimes against law-abiding American citizens and that the federal government has failed to protect the latter.

“Illegal aliens commit horrendous crimes against American citizens, crimes that strain state and federal judicial systems, police and sheriff departments and prisons that are already overcrowded in a financial crisis,” Brooks said.

Brooks and his colleagues cited the story of Tad Mattle, an Alabama teen who was killed when an illegal immigrant driving a pickup truck struck his vehicle while trying to evade police.

Brooks and others called for the federal government to allow local law enforcement to help enforce immigration laws. Brooks spoke in favor of his Jobs for Americans Act, H.R. 2670, which would make that change.

Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) voiced her support of H.R. 100, better known as the CLEAR Act, which would also allow state and local governments to assist the

federal government in its efforts to enforce immigration laws.

The GOP call to make explicit state and local enforcement of immigration laws came more than a year after a federal judge struck down parts of an Arizona law that allowed local law enforcement officials to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. The law also criminalized failure to carry immigration documents.

House Republicans made mention of other bills dealing with illegal immigration that have been introduced. Earlier this year, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) introduced the Birthright Citizenship Act, H.R. 140, which would grant birthright citizenship only to a person born to a U.S. citizen, a permanent alien whose residence is in the U.S. or an alien performing active service in the U.S. armed forces.

Another bill from Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), the National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act, would protect public lands used for border security activities by the Department of Homeland Security from interference by the secretary of the Interior and the USDA.

Brooks also blamed illegal immigrants and illegal immigrant children for rising healthcare costs and overcrowded schools.

“The issue of illegal aliens is greater than just jobs and better incomes for American citizens,” Brooks said. “Illegal aliens crowd our hospital emergency rooms, delaying treatment for Americans and driving up healthcare costs, because too many illegal aliens don’t pay their bills. Too often, illegal aliens get free healthcare on the backs of already stressed American taxpayers.”

GOP rep says removing illegal immigrants a US jobs programBy Sarah Peters

Earlier this year, legislators freely chosen by the citizens of Alabama passed, and Governor Bentley signed a law to drastically reduce the flow of illegal aliens into the state. The new law attempts to discourage illegals – let’s call them what they are -- from taking jobs that Alabama citizens could do, and to restrict their use of, and impact upon, public services paid for by Alabama taxpayers.

The new law is supported by more than 70 percent of Alabama voters for obvious reasons. With an estimated 120,000 illegal aliens currently living here, and given our economic difficulties, the need to encourage as many as possible to leave, and to discourage others from coming here, should be readily apparent. Yet getting it passed required years of lobbying by citizens and an historic change in Alabama’s political landscape.

Reading Alabama’s new law in its entirety reveals two key facts. It is tied in almost all respects to existing federal laws concerning illegal immigration -- laws which the federal government has largely failed to enforce in clear violation of its constitutional duty. Alabama’s law is meant to address that lack. It also clearly prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion or ethnic origin by anyone acting under its auspices. Yet the ink on the document was hardly dry before the “usual suspects” – and some not-so-usual ones - took up a full hue and cry against it.

I speak of the solons of several mainline religious denominations around the state, including here in the Jefferson-Shelby county area. At least one downtown Birmingham church I personally know of has resolved through its governing elders to “not deny ministry or pastoral services…to any of God’s people” regardless of any “status assigned by human agency.” I can accept that as an act of conscience. I support the right of any person or institution to challenge the law in the federal courts. Our system is designed to protect the right of dissent -- when it’s done within the law.

continued, page 15

What is it about “illegal” they don’t understand?By Steve Ross

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The worst thing about Occupy Wall Street is that it’s ruining a good cause: hating Wall Street. Just when opposing Wall Street was gaining momentum, these brain-dead zombies are forcing us to choose between thieving bankers and them.

If the Flea Party were really concerned about the greedy “Wall Street 1 Percent,” shifting money around to make themselves richer and everyone else poorer, their No. 1 target should be George Soros.

Of course, we don’t know exactly how much money Soros has, since he keeps all his money in offshore bank accounts.

We do know that Soros has been convicted of insider trading. And we know that his general modus operandi is to run around the world panicking sovereign nations, so he can pocket the difference when their currencies collapse.

But the Occupy Wall Street protesters love Soros! It’s Fox News they hate.

Last week, the great minds of the OWS movement, bored with playing bocce ball and getting stoned, decided to protest at the homes of Wall Street’s robber barons. They then proceeded to walk right past George Soros’ apartment building in order to protest at the homes of Rupert Murdoch and David Koch.

THEY’RE NOT WALL STREET!

You may not like Koch and Murdoch’s products -- fertilizer and media -- but neither one has anything to do with Wall Street. Unlike money manipulators such as John Corzine (Democrat), Robert Rubin (Democrat) and George Soros (Democrat and Obama’s biggest supporter), Koch and Murdoch make money from corporations that actually produce something.

They take risks, make things and get menaced by the government. Wall Street schemers take no risks, produce nothing and get bailed out by the government. Even assuming, for purposes of argument, that Koch and Murdoch are as evil as these morons seems to think, the protesters call their demonstration “Occupy Wall Street,” not “Occupy Businesses Whose Products We Disapprove Of.”

This would be like protesting the Holocaust by walking past Adolf Hitler’s house and protesting at O.J. Simpson’s house.

The Flea Partiers try to win good will by pretending to protest “Wall Street” -- but they ignore Wall Street’s villains. They claim to speak for 99 percent of Americans, but their sponsor, George Soros, would be delighted if America collapsed and the 99 percent were impoverished. All he cares about is his own power and pocketbook.

Recall that when the markets first opened after 9/11 and little grandmothers in Iowa were patriotically calling their local savings banks to find out how to buy a share of stock so that the American stock market wouldn’t crash because of the terrorist attack, Soros said: Sell, sell, sell!

Now he’s helping the cretinous Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Liberals love mob movements because you can’t get mobs to think, which is perfect for Democratic ideas.

Do the Wall Street protesters even know that Obama got more money from Wall Street than any other candidate, ever?

These pea-brained protesters either admire or have never heard of the most egregious of the Wall Street looters and their co-conspirators: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick, Jim Johnson, Rahm Emanuel, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. Democrats all!

They have no idea that George Soros has a hand-in-glove relationship with the Democrats, having bought a whole slew of them, including Obama, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, Charles Schumer, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Patrick Leahy, John Corzine, Barbara Boxer, Mary Landrieu, as well as the Democratic National Committee.

Hamptons-vacationing, helicopter-flying, Russell Simmons party-attending

Occupy Wall Street (Hearts) Wall StreetBy: Ann Coulter

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New York bankers always give about 80 percent of their political contributions to Democrats. And the Democrats always return the favor.

In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton repeatedly bailed out his friends at Goldman Sachs and Citibank under the tutelage of his Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin -- former chairman of Goldman Sachs. U.S. taxpayers were fleeced to prop up nations that were about to default on risky bonds purchased by Goldman and Citibank, such as Mexico (in 1995), Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea (in 1997), and Russia (in 1998).

Of course, if the bonds turned a profit, only Goldman and Citibank would benefit.

This is the Democrats’ idea of “capitalism”: Rich, Democratic-donating bankers get to engage in wild risk-taking; if the bets pay off, they keep all the winnings, but if the bets lose, they still keep the winnings, and the taxpayers get stuck with the bill.

Democrats are firm believers in the welfare state for their own constituents, whether that’s a crack addict mother of five or a Wall Street banker.

Are the protesters aware that the Democrats’ 2010 “financial reform” bill provides for future bailouts of reckless banks? Goldman Sachs and Citibank strongly supported the bill.

The protesters don’t care -- they have no interest in actual malfeasance by actual Wall Street bankers. They’re too busy denouncing Fox News. (Which did not, incidentally, receive a taxpayer-funded bailout.)

And these are the intellectuals of the Occupy Wall Street movement! Never mind the ones who just think stuff should be free and America is the moral equivalent of al-Qaida. They either know that they are benefiting Wall Street looters or are utterly brainless.

Given a choice between Wall Street looters and protesters defecating in the street, throwing rocks at police and chanting “F—k the USA,” most people will choose Wall Street.

As always, the mob is serving liberalism.

What is it about “illegal” they don’t understand? Continued from page 9

In that church, however, I’ve personally heard a visiting pastor urge congregants to ignore the new law if they disagree with it. Her “sermon” amounted to an assertion that rules are made to be broken if they “prevent us from being fully alive.” She concluded with these words: “For God’s sake, don’t play by the rules when the rules get in the way.” I’m no biblical scholar, but in all my church-going and religious training since childhood I have never read, nor been taught that Jesus urged his followers to flout civil laws they disagreed with. In fact, “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s” – Jesus’ own words – clearly says exactly the opposite of what this sermon attempts to argue. These days it seems the left-wing concept of ‘social justice’ trumps the New Testament.

Some in the faith community claim the new law may prevent pastors and congregations from preaching, counseling, or servicing other needs of illegal

immigrants. Yet state Senator Scott Beason, the statute’s main author, has said repeatedly that it aims to prevent businesses from hiring illegals, and is not intended to be used against churches or their affiliated facilities. Nevertheless, opponents have gone out of their way to demonize Senator Beason as the second coming of Bull Connor. The law’s opponents do not occupy the moral high ground on this issue. That ground belongs to the majority of Alabamians who support the law, the legislators who enacted it, and the governor who signed it. As Dale Peterson says: “when someone breaks into your house, you don’t invite them to dinner. If you break into my state and my country illegally, there’s nothing more to be said.”

Amen, Brother!

Steve Ross, member, Shelby County Republican Executive Committee

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It has been a long time coming, but the Obama Administration has now officially banned the truth. Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole declared at a conference in Washington that he had “recently directed all components of the Department of Justice to re-evaluate their training efforts in a range of areas, from community outreach to national security.” This “reevaluation” will remove all references to Islam in connection with any examination of Islamic jihad terror activity. The Obama Administration has now placed off-limits any investigation of the beliefs, motives and goals of jihad terrorists.

Dwight C. Holton, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, emphasized that training materials for the FBI would be purged of everything politically incorrect:

“I want to be perfectly clear about this: training materials that portray Islam as a religion of violence or with a tendency

obama administration bans the truth about islam and Jihad

By: roBert Spencer

towards violence are wrong, they are offensive, and they are contrary to everything that this president, this attorney general and Department of Justice stands for. They will not be tolerated.”

Holton said that he had spoken with Attorney General Eric Holder about FBI training materials that Holton claimed were “egregiously false,” and that Holder “is firmly committed to making sure that this is over….we’re going to fix it.” Holton said that this “fix” was particularly urgent because the rejected training materials “pose a significant threat to national security, because they play into the false narrative propagated by terrorists that the United States is at war with Islam.”

Cole suggested that these training materials had done damage domestically as well:

“One of the many, tragic legacies of 9/11 has been an increase in prejudice, discrimination and hatred directed

against persons of the Muslim and Sikh faiths and those who are, or who are mistakenly perceived to be, of Arab or South Asian descent. Some have wrongly sought to blame the horror of 9/11 on Arab-American, Muslim American, Sikh-American and South Asian American communities. It has led to attacks against places of worship and other hate crimes, to job discrimination, and to the tragic harassment of children in our schools.”

After sketching out this horror tale, Cole declared:

“We must never allow our sorrow and anger at the senseless attack of 9/11 to blind us to the great gift of our diversity.”

And this, he said, must involve a rejection of the stereotyping of Muslims:

“All of us must reject any suggestion that every Muslim is a terrorist or that every terrorist is a Muslim. As we have seen time and again – from the Oklahoma City

15

bombing to the recent attacks in Oslo, Norway – no religion or ethnicity has a monopoly on terror.”

It was George Bush, he said, who after 9/11 “made clear to the nation that these terrorist acts were committed by individuals who distort the peaceful religion of Islam,” and now all government analysis of jihad terror would reflect that perspective.

Of course, the controversial training materials did not really claim that all Muslims are terrorists or that all terrorists are Muslims, and it is noteworthy that Cole had to resort to dismissive caricatures to make his point. For in taking this course, the Obama Administration is bowing to pressure from the Hamas-linked Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other Islamic advocacy groups. In a Los Angeles Times op-ed that appeared on the same day as the conference in Washington, Salam al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) roundly criticized existing training materials about jihad terror and demanded that the FBI and the Justice Department “issue a clear and unequivocal apology to the Muslim American community; establish a thorough and transparent vetting process in selecting its trainers and materials; invite experts who have no animosity toward any religion to conduct training about any religious community to law enforcement.”

Al-Marayati complained that training materials reflected “bigoted and inflammatory views on Muslims, including claims that ‘devout’ Muslims are more prone toward violence, that Islam aims to ‘transform a country’s culture into 7th century Arabian ways,’ that Islamic charitable giving is a ‘funding mechanism for combat’ and that the prophet Muhammad was a ‘violent cult leader.’”

In this al-Marayati was simply repeating talking points from an “expose” of FBI training materials by hard-Left journalist Spencer Ackerman in Wired, who has been conducting a campaign for some time to get the bureau to purge its terrorism training seminars of any hint of the truth about the global jihad and Islamic supremacism. Yet like virtually all Leftist and Islamic supremacist critics of anti-jihad and anti-terror material, Ackerman and al-Marayati take for

granted that such assertions are false, without bothering to explain how or why. Apparently they believe that their falsity is so self-evident as to require no demonstration; unfortunately, however, there is considerable evidence that they are true, and that in banning such materials, the Obama Administration has essentially banned the truth.

Are “‘devout’ Muslims more prone toward violence”? While certainly not all devout Muslims are terrorists, virtually all Islamic terrorists are devout Muslims. In recent years, not only Osama bin Laden but also devout Muslims such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, would-be Times Square bomber Feisal Shahzad, Arkansas jihad murderer Abdulhakim Muhammad, and other jihad terror plotters such as Khalid Aldawsari, Baitullah Mehsud, and Roshonara Choudhry, among many others, reference Islamic teachings to justify violence against unbelievers. Just recently, Detroit underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab declared in court that Muslims should only be judged by the Qur’an.

Is the “Islamic charitable giving” a “‘funding mechanism for combat’”? If not, one wonders why so many Islamic charities in the United States and around the world have been shut down for funding terrorism, including what was once the largest Islamic charity in the United States, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), as well as the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), the Benevolence International Foundation (BIF), and many others.

Was Muhammad a “violent cult leader”? Certainly one definition of a cult is that members are not free to opt out if they choose to do so – and it was Muhammad who enunciated Islam’s notorious death penalty for apostasy by saying, “Whoever changes his Islamic religion, then kill him.” (Bukhari 9.84.57). Also, there are several celebrated incidents in which Muhammad lashed out violently against his opponents, ordering the murder of several people for the crime of making fun of him — including the poet Abu Afak, who was over one hundred years old, and the poetess Asma bint Marwan. Abu Afak was killed in his sleep, in response to Muhammad’s question, “Who will avenge me on this scoundrel?” Similarly, Muhammad on another occasion cried

out, “Will no one rid me of this daughter of Marwan?” One of his followers, Umayr ibn Adi, went to her house that night, where he found her sleeping next to her children. The youngest, a nursing babe, was in her arms. But that didn’t stop Umayr from murdering her and the baby as well. Muhammad commended him, “You have done a great service to Allah and His Messenger, Umayr!” (Ibn Ishaq, 674-676).

Al-Marayati’s demand that the FBI and Justice Department “invite experts who have no animosity toward any religion to conduct training about any religious community to law enforcement” is at the heart of this entire affair, and illustrates the assumptions upon which the Obama Administration is now proceeding. For years Islamic advocacy groups like MPAC and Hamas-linked CAIR have asserted loudly and often that telling the truth about Islam’s doctrines of jihad warfare and supremacism constituted “hatred,” and endangered innocent Muslims. Hamas-linked CAIR has trumpeted and even fabricated hate crimes against Muslims in order to exaggerate this perception of Muslim victimhood.

The entire premise of all this, however, is false. The now-banned FBI training materials were not written out of hatred for Muslims. They were put together in order to give agents an accurate picture of the beliefs and perspectives of jihad terrorists. It is unfortunate but true that the Qur’an and Sunnah do contain doctrines of warfare and exhortations to make war against and subjugate infidels (cf. Qur’an 2:191; 4:89; 9:5; 9:29; 47:4, etc.), and it is not an act of “hatred” to point this out, or even to scrutinize the Muslim community in the U.S. in order to try to determine its view of these texts and teachings. The only people who are genuinely threatened by such scrutiny are those who wish jihad terrorism to be able to proceed unhindered.

And there’s the rub: in banning the truth about Islam and jihad, the Obama Administration has opened the door for increased jihad terror activity in the United States. Agents who do not understand the threat they face and are constantly surprised by the places where that threat is coming from will be powerless to stop this jihad activity. And the nation will reap the whirlwind.

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the spaCe raCe never ends, but our president is asleep at the Wheel

By: Jim McDade

Robert A. Heinlein may have been a science fiction writer, but if he were alive today, that great American writer would be very alarmed about the erratic and bizarre, real-life events that have unfolded at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration during President Barrack Obama’s administration. The White House and Congress are going head-to-head in a battle over national space policy. Some of the harshest criticism of the President’s space policy to come out of recent Congressional hearings, is coming

from members of the President’s own party.

While the entire NASA budget is less than 1% of annual federal expenditures, that is still a whole lot of money. President Obama and his political supporters have coveted the NASA budget from the earliest days of the 2008 Presidential campaign. Obama and his White House team sought to perform a makeover on NASA and use the bulk of NASA’s budget for helping to create a massive new progressive

educational program, award cash paybacks to political supporters through “commercial” space contracts, and even improve relations with Muslim nations.

It has been a long and winding road since then Presidential candidate Obama reversed his original 2008 campaign proposal to effectively kill NASA human spaceflight programs for “at least five years” by shifting most of NASA’s budget into a proposed national pre-school program. A loud protest by space workers

“Let’s sum it it. We both know that any Congressional hearing, no matter how the call reads, has as its real subject ‘Money’-- who gets it and how much.”

- Robert A. Heinlein, science fiction author

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We are now on Wikipedia!

Search for Shelby County, Alabama Republican Party!

in the key electoral state of Florida caused Obama to attend a meeting with space workers at the Titusville, Florida City Hall where he announced his intention to support Project Constellation, the successor to the now-retired Space Shuttle program. But later, Obama ordered NASA to kill Project Constellation anyway, forcing NASA to pay Russia to make room for American astronauts on the Soyuz rockets that rotate crews assigned to work on the International Space program.

In 2010, Obama further raised the ire of people who think that NASA has an important strategic role in US policy by ordering the NASA administrator to “find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering.” Those were the words of the man President Obama appointed to implement White House space policy, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. When it comes to space science, the only science the White House has spoken up for are efforts that support the study of climate change. Those plans were very pleasing to Obama’s White House science adviser John Holdren, the controversial band-leader of the global warming movement. Climate science studies pump millions of dollars into university coffers, which brought cheers from academics and university presidents, but only shoulder shrugs from people who believe that NASA is supposed to be at least as much about exploration as it is about solving scientific mysteries.

All plans for returning to the moon before the Chinese and Russians complete their plans to establish stations on those heavenly bodies were shelved by the Obama administration in favor of a token effort to provide so-called private space taxi services that NASA could hire to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, which orbits about 200 miles above our heads. Charges of political favoritism, corruption, and outright deception have accompanied the so-called “commercialization” of space launch services as at least one influential Obama political contributor is receiving hundreds of millions of dollars of our tax dollars to build space vehicles that are obviously crude and simple compared to the more robust Space Shuttle predecessor.

America appears to be moving backward in space under Obama, but Congress is trying to push forward a powerful new NASA Space Launch System (SLS) to replace the Shuttle and give NASA powerful new capabilities. Anti-NASA cynics quip that SLS stands for ‘Senate Launch System’, but advocates of the SLS received a boost when a back-handed White House release of deceptive SLS development cost estimates to a Wall Street Journal reporter forced a confrontational meeting between Obama and key Senators earlier this year. The opposition to White House space policy has not been wholly partisan. US Representative Donna Edwards, a Democrat from Maryland made her feelings known at an October hearing on space matters. Edwards addressed Obama’s space privatization plan by saying, “It seems to me that we’re running on a course of eventually the taxpayers subsidizing (at a cost of $6-billion) a monopoly.”

Another tough opponent of Obama space policy until the tragic assassination attempt against her was Representative Gabby Giffords, the wife of NASA astronaut Mark Kelly. Giffords used her Congressional platform to denounce Obama’s space policy on a number of occasions. Giffords complained that Obama’s plans were far too risky and would put US astronauts in danger.

Students of history can trace the philosophical origins of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration back to the “left-wing” progressive movement while many of NASA’s best friends over the decades have been staunch conservatives who recognize the strategic value of a robust and sustained space effort. Our national space agency was created by Congress in 1958. NASA, like the Tennessee Valley Authority and the large New Deal agencies authorized during the Presidency of Franklin D, Roosevelt, was charged with meeting a challenge that was “too big” to be met by non-governmental means. There is little doubt that corruption, negligent management and wasteful spending inevitably occur within any bureaucracy as large as NASA. The same is true at the Pentagon or any other large government organization where there are lucrative industry contracts to be won or lost. The

taxpayers have a right to demand that the expenditure every tax dollar is subject to question.

The space program is too important to be used as a political football or a cash trough for political supporters. The strategic, economic and technological value of our investment in NASA is of critical importance. In 1961, a former critic of space exploration, President John F. Kennedy said, “No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space’.

Contrary to what some people think, that space race did not end with the triumphant Apollo 11 moon landing or the fall of the Soviet Union. I won’t bore readers with yet another breakdown of how space technology or space-derived technology enabled the rise in quality of life that helps us live better, live longer, and with a higher standard of living than we would have had without it. Other governments in other lands are acutely aware of the leap that space prowess provided us with. That’s why nations like China, Russia, and Japan are developing their own robust space exploration plans, including the establishment of lunar bases. It remains to be seen if Americans will be satisfied with the administrations attempt to cripple NASA and making the USA a follower in space rather than the leader. The Presidential election in 2012 could be telling.

Jim McDade is a longtime space exploration advocate, writer, and lecturer and is a board member of the One Giant Leap Foundation, a California based space exploration advocacy group. He is an alumnus of UAB, where he worked in medical and information technology for almost 25 years. Jim and his wife Ann, former Pelham residents, live in Vestavia Hills.

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At a time when many Americans can barely afford Burger King and a movie, Obama boasts of spending a billion dollars on his re-election campaign. Questioned at a recent appearance about the spiraling fuel costs, Obama said, “Get used to it” – and with an insouciant grin and chortle, he told another person at the event, who complained about the effect high fuel prices were having on his family, to “get a more fuel-efficient car.”

The Obamas behave as if they were sharecroppers living in a trailer and hit the Powerball, but instead of getting new tires for their trailer and a new pickup truck, they moved to Washington. And instead of making possum pie, with goats and chickens in the front yard, they’re spending and living large at taxpayer expense – opulent vacations, gala balls, resplendent dinners and exclusive command performances at the White House, grand date nights, golf, basketball, more golf, exclusive resorts and still more golf.

Expensive, ill-fitting and ill-chosen wigs and fashions hardly befit the first lady of the United States. The Obamas have behaved in every way but presidential – which is why it’s so offensive when we hear Obama say, in order “to restore fiscal responsibility, we all need to share in the sacrifice – but we don’t have to sacrifice the America we believe in.”

The American people have been sacrificing; it is he and his family who are behaving as if they’ve never had two nickels to rub together – and now, having hit the mother lode, they’re going to spend away their feelings of inadequacy at the taxpayers’ expense.

Obama continues to exhibit behavior that, at best, can be described as mobocratic and, at worst, reveals a deeply damaged individual. In a February 2010 column, I asked, “Is Obama unraveling?” I wrote

When Will obama CraCk in publiC?By: MychAl MASSie

that it was beginning to appear the growing mistrust of him and contempt for his policies was beginning to have a destabilizing effect on him.

At that time, I wrote that not having things go one’s way can be a bitter pill, but reasonable people don’t behave as he was behaving. He had insulted Republicans at their luncheon, where he had been an invited guest. I had speculated that was, in part, what had led him to falsely accuse Supreme Court justices before Congress, the nation and the world, during the 2010 State of the Union address.

It appeared, at that time, as if he were “fraying around the emotional edges.” That behavior has not abated – it has become more pronounced. While addressing the nation, after being forced to explain the validity of his unilateral aggression with Libya, America witnessed a petulant individual scowling and scolding the public for daring to insist he explain his actions.

But during an afternoon speech to address the budget/debt, he took his scornful, unstable despotic behavior to depths that should give the nation cause for concern. Displaying a dark psychopathy more representative of an episode of “The Tudors” television series, he invited Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to sit in the front row during his speech and then proceeded to berate both Ryan and Ryan’s budget-cutting plan. Even liberal Democrats were put off by the act. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough questioned the sanity of Obama’s actions.

Today, criticism is coming from all sides. A senior Democrat lawmaker said, “I have been very disappointed in [Obama], to the point where I’m embarrassed that I endorsed him. It’s so bad that some of us are thinking, is there some way we can replace him? How do you get rid of this

guy?” (“Democrats’ Disgust with Obama,” The Daily Beast, April 15, 2011)

Steve McCann wrote: Obama’s speech “was chock full of lies, deceit and crass fear-mongering. It must be said that [he] is the most dishonest, deceitful and mendacious person in a position of power I have ever witnessed” (“The Mendacity of Barack Obama,” AmericanThinker.com, April 15, 2011).

McCann continued: “[His] performance was the culmination of four years of outright lies and narcissism that have been largely ignored by the media, including some in the conservative press and political class who are loath to call [him] what he is in the bluntest of terms: a liar and a fraud. That he relies on his skin color to intimidate, either outright or by insinuation [against] those who oppose his radical agenda only add to his audacity. It is apparent that he has gotten away with his character flaws his entire life, aided and abetted by sycophants around him. …”

With these being among the kinder rebukes being directed at Obama, and with people becoming less intimidated by his willingness to use race as a bludgeon, with falling poll numbers in every meaningful category and an increasingly aggressive tea-party opposition – how much longer before he cracks completely?

The coming months of political life are not going to be pleasant for Obama. Possessed by a self-perceived palatine mindset, that in his mind places him above criticism, how long before he cracks in public? Can America risk a man with a documented track record of lying and misrepresenting truth as a basic way of life, who is becoming increasingly more contumelious?