#TeaParty endorsed candidates by state as of 24 April 2013

#TeaParty Endorsed Candidates (all are Republicans) - Party Line Voting in
the 112th Congress - Listed by State -

* with one exception, all vote with GOP at least 75% of the time

Tea Party Endorsed Candidates

112th Congress - Party Line Voting

LAST FIRST State Votes with Party:
Roby Martha AL 94.00%
Brooks Mo AL 94.00%
Crawford Rick AR 94.00%
Griffin Tim AR 95.00%
Womack Steve AR 94.00%
Gosar Paul AZ 94.00%
Quayle Ben AZ 93.00%
Schweikert David AZ 93.00%
Herger Wally CA 96.00%
Lungren Daniel CA 93.00%
McClintock Tom CA 87.00%
Denham Jeff CA 95.00%
Nunes Devin CA 95.00%
McCarthy Kevin CA 97.00%
Gallegly Elton CA 94.00%
McKeon Buck CA 94.00%
Royce Edward CA 91.00%
Lewis Jerry CA 94.00%
Miller Gary CA 95.00%
Calvert Ken CA 94.00%
Rohrabacher Dana CA 89.00%
Campbell John CA 87.00%
Bilbray Brian CA 90.00%
Hunter Duncan CA 94.00%
Tipton Scott CO 92.00%
Gardner Cory CO 93.00%
Lamborn Doug CO 95.00%
Coffman Mike CO 91.00%
Webster Daniel FL 94.00%
Ross Dennis FL 95.00%
West Allen FL 93.00%
Adams Sandra FL 94.00%
Rivera David FL 92.00%
Southerland Steve FL 93.00%
Scott Austin GA 95.00%
Graves Tom GA 90.00%
Labrador Raul ID 90.00%
Simpson Michael ID 92.00%
Dold Robert IL 82.00%
Kinzinger Adam IL 91.00%
Schilling Bobby IL 91.00%
Rokita Todd IN 94.00%
Bucshon Larry IN 96.00%
Young Todd IN 95.00%
Huelskamp Tim KS 90.00%
Jenkins Lynn KS 96.00%
Yoder Kevin KS 94.00%
Pompeo Mike KS 95.00%
Landry Jeff LA 92.00%
Harris Andy MD 89.00%
Benishek Dan MI 90.00%
Huizenga Bill MI 92.00%
Amash Justin MI 75.00%
Camp Dave MI 94.00%
Upton Fred MI 92.00%
Walberg Timothy MI 94.00%
Miller Candice MI 92.00%
McCotter Thad MI 91.00%
Paulsen Erik MN 93.00%
Bachmann Michele MN 92.00%
Cravaack Chip MN 92.00%
Hartzler Vicky MO 95.00%
Long Billy MO 94.00%
Nunnelee Alan MS 95.00%
Rehberg Dennis MT 92.00%
Ellmers Renee NC 96.00%
Berg Rick ND 94.00%
Fortenberry Jeff NE 90.00%
Terry Lee NE 91.00%
Smith Adrian NE 95.00%
Guinta Frank NH 96.00%
Bass Charlie NH 84.00%
Runyan Jon NJ 91.00%
Pearce Stevan NM 92.00%
Heller Dean * NV 41.00%
Heck Joe NV 89.00%
Grimm Mike NY 89.00%
Hanna Richard NY 85.00%
Chabot Steve OH 93.00%
Johnson Bill OH 93.00%
Stivers Steve OH 91.00%
Renacci Jim OH 92.00%
Gibbs Bob OH 96.00%
Sullivan John OK 95.00%
Lucas Frank OK 94.00%
Cole Tom OK 93.00%
Lankford James OK 96.00%
Walden Greg OR 92.00%
Kelly Mike PA 93.00%
Meehan Patrick PA 86.00%
Fitzpatrick Mike PA 81.00%
Marino Thomas PA 95.00%
Scott Tim SC 94.00%
Duncan Jeff SC 92.00%
Gowdy Trey SC 94.00%
Mulvaney Mick SC 88.00%
Fleischmann Chuck TN 96.00%
DesJarlais Scott TN 94.00%
Black Diane TN 96.00%
Fincher Stephen TN 95.00%
Flores Bill TX 96.00%
Canseco Quico TX 96.00%
Bishop Rob UT 93.00%
Chaffetz Jason UT 92.00%
Griffith Morgan VA 90.00%
Herrera Jaime WA 89.00%
Rodgers Cathy McMorris WA 96.00%
Duffy Sean WI 92.00%
Ribble Reid WI 91.00%
McKinleyDavid WV 90.00%
Lummis Cynthia WY 90.00%

Göbekli Tepe, Turkey: a new wonder of the ancient world - Telegraph

Göbekli Tepe, Turkey: a new wonder of the ancient world - Telegraph

Here Come the First of the Executive Actions

http://www.survivalblog.com/2013/04/here-come-the-first-of-the-executive-actions.html

Slayer -- Reign in Blood (live vid)

Google This: The Cult of Cesar Chavez

Google This: The Cult of Cesar Chavez

Tea Party News Network Director Falsely Smears Palin

Tea Party News Network Director Falsely Smears Palin:

In a bizarre rant--or "open letter"--at Townhall, Scottie Hughes, the news director for the Tea Party News Network, falsely accuses former Alaska Governor and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin of rushing out of this year's CPAC and having a pattern of ignoring grassroots conservatives.

While Hughes's motivation for writing such a column may only be known to her, her accusations are demonstrably false. 

Doug McMarlin, who has been with Palin since 2008 and was with her at this year's CPAC, was also perplexed by Hughes's characterization of the event. Palin met with volunteers, supporters and CPAC leadership at this year's event. Palin keynoted last year's CPAC and was the conference's last speaker, which allowed for her to mix with the audience following her speech. 

This year, her slot fell on a Saturday afternoon, which meant there were scheduled speakers immediately after her remarks. It would not have been logistically possible for Palin to even greet the crowd or do talk radio hits from CPAC without causing a huge disturbance due to the crowds that would have swarmed her and disrupted the conference. 

"Never underestimate the level the uninformed with a keyboard will go to make a point based on a lack of information," McMarlin told Breitbart News. "Lamestream, mainstream, and no stream media, it's unfortunate when those who lack facts lash out without regard. Governor Palin, as always, was with volunteers, supporters and fellow conservatives throughout her days at CPAC." 

Hughes also implied that Palin only speaks to the grassroots through the teleprompter, but this accusation again does not even pass the smell test. 

Jason Recher, a Palin staffer who has been with Palin at nearly every event since 2008, told Breitbart News Palin never asks for a teleprompter. In fact, reporters have often said Palin improvises during her speeches, which forces reporters to pay attention to every word in order to quote her accurately. 

"I've been at almost every speech she's given since '08 and can't think of a time where she ever asked to use a Teleprompter," Recher told Breitbart News. The teleprompters at CPAC were part of the stage set up used for all the speakers; it was not something Palin personally requested. 

Hughes, with no evidence whatsoever, alleges Palin made a "rush to the exits" at this year's CPAC, implying Palin did not have time for the grassroots.

Again, not true.

As the photos below indicate, Palin spent hours after the speech meeting with volunteers. 

In addition, Rebecca Mansour, a Palin staffer, told Breitbart News that Palin had to catch a flight immediately after her speech. "She is a very busy working mom with many family and work obligations, including raising a son with Down syndrome who has scheduled therapies," Mansour said.

Finally, in what may be her most misguided and out-of-touch statement that reveals her ignorance, Hughes refers to Palin's "pattern of this behavior." 

What "pattern" is Hughes referencing? 

The hours that Palin spent with nearly everyone who wanted to speak to her after she keynoted CPAC in 2012, as can be seen in C-SPAN's coverage of the event?

The hours Palin spent in the lobby at CPAC in 2012 talking to bloggers and attendees, including Townhall's own Katie Pavlich? Hughes penned her column at Townhall, so it is worth noting that Palin spoke to that outlet at CPAC in 2012. 

Is Hughes referencing the time Palin spent with those who came to Iowa--in inclement weather--to listen to Palin denounce crony capitalism and the permanent political class in 2011? At the end of C-SPAN's coverage of the event, it is clear Palin is energized by grassroots conservatives, and they love her because she genuinely is one of them. 

Was Hughes referring to Palin visiting grassroots Tea Partiers at the Machine Shed restaurant in Iowa in 2011, comfortably mingling with nearly everyone in attendance?

Was she referencing Palin's appearance at the Iowa State Fair in 2011, where she talked to nearly every Iowan who approached her for nearly six hours? Where she won the respect of liberals and even mainstream media reporters who did not think highly of her for genuinely liking "common" people most politicians do not feel comfortable around?

If Hughes is really a part of the grassroots and not a part of an astroturf movement, she could have gone to any of these events--like thousands of grassroots Tea Partiers--and spoken to Palin. Instead, she sounds like mainstream media members who lash out at Palin solely because Palin does not speak to them whenever they wish. 

At these events, mainstream media reporters and liberals who did not even like Palin conceded how gracious and how accessible she is and how she thrives around the normal people Hughes purportedly claims to represent. Having written about Palin for nearly four years and having spoken to people who have been at nearly every event Palin has attended during this period, I have consistently heard people comment about how accessible--and down to earth--Palin is after all of her speeches and events, which is especially noteworthy given Palin's white-hot star power. 

It is unclear if Hughes wants Palin to spend time with her or her organization, but grassroots Tea Partiers who truly care more about fighting for the country instead of using the Tea Party to advance whatever agenda suits their interests never ask Palin for anything except to hold politicians and the permanent political class on the left and right to account, which Palin has relentlessly done. 

And while Hughes implies Palin does not pay attention to new media, it is worth noting that after Palin turned down Fox News' offer to renew her contract earlier this year, the first interview Palin gave was to Breitbart News--a new media outlet. 

While Hughes, to date, has not seemed like someone who would proverbially come to Washington claiming to change it and instead see the D.C. cesspool as a jacuzzi, her column reads like it was written by someone desperate to become a part of the permanent political class. Her comments are cribbed from remarks the elite Washington, D.C. Republicans and liberals she purportedly is against so often make to denigrate Palin because they, in their minds, think Palin somehow spurned them. They criticize Palin to get pageviews and ratings and to make a name for themselves so they can try to get 1/1000 of her star power and influence. 

They desperately crave to get 1/1000 of the bookings Palin most often has to turn down on a daily basis.

They wish their children could have the opportunities to influence pop culture--and would take that chance and go toward the glistening Hollywood spotlight faster than a moth to a flame--all the while acting as if they despise the Hollywood elite while secretly craving their affirmation and wanting all of the glitz and glamour associated with them. 

They want to use the Tea Party movement to become stars or cash out instead of fighting to elect candidates like Ted Cruz to the Senate. At CPAC, Cruz said he would not be in the Senate without Palin. Nobody mentioned Hughes, and she most likely will not have politicians knocking on her door to ask for her endorsement. 

Hughes needs to be careful, for more columns like this will make people think Hughes may be projecting or falsely seeing in Palin what she may see in herself. Columns that smear a politician like Palin who has held both parties to account in the true spirit of the Tea Party movement will begin to "worry" conservatives and Tea Partiers. They may begin to wonder what Hughes's intentions are for being in the Tea Party movement and whether Scottie Hughes puts herself before her country and the principles for which she purportedly fights.  

All photos below, from CPAC 2013, courtesy of Shealah Craighead/SarahPAC

Gov. Palin with CPAC attendees and volunteers:

Gov. Palin with college Republicans:

Gov. Palin greeting CPAC attendees and volunteers:

Gov. Palin with Whitney Pitcher, Illinois Organize4Palin Coordinator, and Stacy Drake, editor-in-chief of Conservatives4Palin:

Todd and Gov. Palin with Michelle McCormick, a volunteer and coordinator with Organize4Palin:

"We Got Out of Tamaulipas Alive"

"We Got Out of Tamaulipas Alive": Borderland Beat

Testimony #1: “We Got Out of Tamaulipas Alive”

Most of the times journalists are kidnapped in Mexico, it ends in murder. Raymundo Pérez Arellano got lucky—he survived, the article gives a good perspective of how it is in Tamps

March 9 2013 Text: Raymundo Pérez Arellano Translation from Spanish: Stuart Shield

I can give you an account of the censorship and intimidation of journalists in this absurd war being waged in Mexico. On 3 March 2010, I was kidnapped, along with a cameraman, in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, by a group of organized criminals.

We were covering the war between los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.  I felt the cold steel of a pistol being held to my head and heard the sentence of death:

“Take them away and finish them off!” In the end they didn’t kill us. But they warned us: “We don’t want to see any press people around here; you guys publish stuff and make things too hot for us.”

I am a victim of that war, a survivor; which is why I am able to come here and tell you about it.

I was lucky, very lucky. Many who were caught up in similar situations never came back. They were found dead—at best. Others have vanished without trace. In the days prior to my abduction, five local media reporters disappeared in Reynosa.

Only one returned. Nothing is known about the other four. Another reporter died in mysterious circumstances.

Since 2010, little has changed. There are still parts of the country where we reporters are unable go in search of a story; we cannot report what is taking place.

In February 2010, many people were very concerned to know what was taking place in Tamaulipas, particularly in Reynosa, one of the border towns along the Mexico-US border. Fragmentary reports were coming in to the editorial desks in Mexico City: shoot-outs, roadblocks, assassinations; in short a city caught up in a frenzy of violence.

But the media in the capital had trouble piecing together a picture of the events taking place in that part of the Mexican border region.

Reynosa, like Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo, is the historical seat of the Gulf Cartel and its then armed wing, Los Zetas. In early 2010, however, relations between the older members of the organization began to change. Where once there were pacts and fellowship, today there is only confrontation, treachery and death.

The Gulf Cartel emerged from a grouping of Tamaulipan drug traffickers who originally exported liquor to the United States and imported electronic products during the prohibition era. The business later evolved, and moved into drug and human trafficking.

Los Zetas, a group of former elite soldiers who had deserted from the army, were enlisted as hitmen by Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, head of the Gulf Cartel. In time, as they became more directly responsible for acts of extortion, kidnappings protection rackets and illegal operations such as prostitution or piracy, they abandoned their role as a private army and transformed themselves into a new criminal organization.

Today, the Mexican authorities officially recognize Los Zetas as another cartel among those operating in the country, and rank it as the organization with the most firepower.

I arrived at Reynosa towards the end of February 2010 to document the war being waged between these groups.

Classes at the University of Tamaulipas had been suspended due to the confrontations. Day and night, our peace was shattered by violent stand-offs between armed groups, in which the army and navy were also intervening.

The day of the kidnapping, 3 March, 2010, I received an e-mail message. The source was reliable; he told me that four reporters from Reynosa had not turned up for work.

Between the last days of February and the first few days of March 2010, six simultaneous abductions of media workers were reported in Reynosa, an unprecedented event in Mexico. One had died in a local hospital in mysterious circumstances.

Pedro Argüello and David Silva of the newspaper El Mañana, Amancio Cantú of La Prensa de Reynosa, and Miguel Domínguez of La Tarde were the names cited in that message. Later, I learned that Guillermo Martínez, director of the portal Metro Noticias del Golfo, had also disappeared.

José Rábago Valdez, a reporter on Radio Rey, died while in an alleged diabetic coma in a local hospital. According to one version, his high blood sugar level was due to the beatings he received while in captivity.

They found him sprawled in the street, where they had thrown him, his face swollen from the beatings he had received. Though still alive when the Red Cross paramedics picked him up, he didn’t survive.

I jotted their names down in my notebook and went to cover a shoot-out reported on Twitter. Out on the street, we saw a convoy of seven vehicles, filled with armed men. The windows of the pickup trucks had been marked with the letters CDG (Cartel del Golfo—the Gulf Cartel).

We waited until the traffic, which had halted at the sight of the convoy, began moving again. Two blocks further along, we turned right and saw them again. In a public park, the gang members—over twenty of them—were climbing down from the seven pickups and preparing for battle.

Some were checking their weapons, others were putting on their bullet-proof vests, while three or four kept look-out. They came straight for us the minute they spotted us. They ordered us out of our car and into the back of a pick-up. They drove us to the public park where we had seen the hit-men preparing their weapons just minutes before. The convoy leader came up to us.

He punched my face again and again, each blow punctuated by accusations delivered with the same force and vehemence: “You’re a lousy Zeta, aren’t you?” “You’re a f***ing soldier! You're a federal agent!

You’re watching us. You’re a spy; tell us the truth; this is your last chance, or we’ll whack you right here!” “We’re reporters. We’re from Mexico City; we came to write a report for the Twitter account created by the Reynosa government. The editorial office phone numbers are on my ID. Call Mexico City and you’ll see we’re telling the truth,” I managed to reply.

But reason was powerless against the logic of war. The slaps and blows resumed, and in desperation at not getting the answers they wanted, they launched into the preliminaries of an execution.

They rummaged through our belongings, including my reporter's notebook, where I had written down the names of the disappeared colleagues from Tamaulipas. The leader of the gunmen recognized their names and asked us where we had got the information.

“What do you want to know about them, why did you write their names down in your notebook?” He thought for a moment, then added: “Take them away and finish them off. Kill them!” (continues on next page....)

They handcuffed the cameraman, Juan Carlos Martínez. I was luckier as they couldn’t find another pair of handcuffs. They covered our heads with black hoods, marched us up and onto the Escalade, and ordered us to bow our heads.

The truck moved off, our captors still holding a gun to our heads.

They took us to a safe house, where the blows and interrogations continued. “Who were we, who did we work for, were we Zetas, were we the military, or the police?”

After a few minutes, the leader got on the telephone and reported that they were holding two reporters. I assume he was informing his superiors.

“How much money did you have on you,” asked the leader. Juan Carlos said he had about four thousand pesos; I had a couple of thousand. “Here are your things, your money, your wallets, everything. We’re not thieves.”

The leader continued his harangue: “Our beef is not with you; right now our dispute is with the Zetas. But you guys come here, talk a lot of crap and bring the heat down on us. The next thing we know, we’re up against the military.”

He was categorical: “We’re letting you go, but we don’t want to see you around here again,” he said. “If you come back, we’ll pick you up and whack you. And nothing happened here, got it? If you start shooting your mouths off in Mexico City, we’ll come after you. We have people operating in the Federal District and they'll come looking for you.”

Today, the situation in Reynosa has changed. Though they haven’t stopped altogether, shoot-outs between cartels are less common. Confrontations between Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel have moved to other states: Veracruz, Nuevo Leσn or Coahuila. Increasingly evident, meanwhile, is the presence of army and navy units conducting operations against organized crime.

What hasn’t changed is the content of media reports in Reynosa. They deal with water leaks, chronicle hard times in local communities, even cover violence in other states like Chihuahua or Guerrero, but they don’t inform their readers how, where and when organized crime groups are operating in this city.

Of the five journalists kidnapped in Reynosa last year, only David Silva returned alive. Of Amancio Cantϊ, Pedro Argόello, Miguel Domνnguez and Guillermo Martinez nothing more is known.

Not even the PGR opened an investigation into their disappearance. Nor has an effort been made to clarify the circumstances in which the reporter Josι Rαbago Valdez.died.

"I'm going to die because they believe I am a Zeta" 

Scientists find 8 impossibly adorable new frogs in a single forest

Scientists find 8 impossibly adorable new frogs in a single forest

Starling murmuration (short amazing video)

The Hockey Stick, Broken Again

The Hockey Stick, Broken Again: (John Hinderaker)
We wrote here about a recent effort by a group of climate alarmists headed by geologist Shaun Marcott to resurrect Michael Mann’s discredited hockey stick. The Marcott paper, as you would expect, received uncritical coverage in the liberal press. But it didn’t take long for climate scientists to begin taking it apart, as we noted in our post.
Now Steve McIntyre, who was principally responsible for showing that Mann’s original hockey stick was a fraud, has gone over Marcott’s data on the key proxies he uses for 20th century temperatures, ocean cores. McIntyre found that Marcott and his colleagues used previously published ocean core data, but have altered the dates represented by the cores, in some cases by as much as 1,000 years. Anthony Watts sums up:

It seems the uptick in the 20th century is not real, being nothing more than an artifact of shoddy procedures where the dates on the proxy samples were changed for some strange reason.

McIntyre’s post on his research is here. This chart shows how critical Marcott’s re-dating was to his conclusion that temperatures spiked in unprecedented fashion in the 20th century. The red line shows ocean core temperatures using the original dates under which the data were published: it shows cooling during the 20th century. The black line shows the same data, only with the dates changed by Marcott. It shows temperatures rising significantly, rather than declining:

McIntyre explains why Marcott’s date-changing was so critical:

The final date of the Marcott reconstruction is AD1940 (BP10). Only three cores contributed to the final value of the reconstruction with published dates (“pubend” less than 10): the MD01-2421 splice, OCE326-GGC30 and M35004-4. Two of these cores have very negative values. Marcott et al re-dated both of these cores so that neither contributed to the closing period: the MD01-2421 splice to a fraction of a year prior to 1940, barely missing eligibility; OCE326-GGC30 is re-dated 191 years earlier – into the 18th century.
Re-populating the closing date are 5 cores with published coretops earlier than AD10, in some cases much earlier. The coretop of MD95-2043, for example, was published as 10th century, but was re-dated by Marcott over 1000 years later to “0 BP”. MD95-2011 and MD-2015 were redated by 510 and 690 years respectively. All five re-dated cores contributing to the AD1940 reconstruction had positive values.

If this is not flat-out fraud–which, sadly, has come to typify the climate alarmism movement–then what is the justification for Marcott’s wholesale re-dating of samples? We are reminded of the NOAA/NCDC weather data on the U.S., which are routinely relied on by alarmists who claim that the last few years have been the warmest ever. In order to justify this assertion, NOAA has gone back and revised the data for prior decades. Instead of reporting temperatures for prior decades, like the 1930s, as it did at the time and for many years thereafter, NOAA has now changed those temperatures downward to support the politically-motivated claim that the last years of the 20th century were the warmest ever. If you look at NOAA data today for the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, etc., you will have no idea that the numbers NOAA now reports are not the ones that were measured by thermometers at the time.
In short, the global warming movement is corrupt to the core. Billions of dollars in government funding–I am too polite to say “bribes”–have bought not just the acquiescence but the eager collaboration of many scientists in a massive fraud. If Marcott wants to distinguish himself from fraudsters like Michael Mann, he has a great deal of explaining to do.
One more thought: the publicly available evidence suggests that alarmist scientists have repeatedly committed fraud in research conducted and papers published that were paid for by United States taxpayers. It seems inconceivable that felonies have not been committed in connection with those frauds. Are there not criminal statutes that prohibit the publication of fraudulent data in taxpayer-supported research? Eric Holder, obviously, will not pursue any such line of inquiry, but there must be state law enforcement authorities who could look into this question. Fraudsters like Bernie Madoff, for instance, have tried to hide the decline in the value of funds invested with them. But that is nothing compared to the fraud that the global warming alarmists have perpetrated.

Obama: "I am not a Dictator"

Obama: "I am not a Dictator":

Sure could have fooled us:

“I am not a dictator. I am the president.” (thanks to Drudge)

Coal Chamber (with Ozzy!) -- Shock the Monkey (video)

(@SooperMexican) Fallout From My #LiberalTips2AvoidRape Hashtag; How The Daily Beast Screwed Me Over | SOOPERMEXICAN

Fallout From My #LiberalTips2AvoidRape Hashtag; How The Daily Beast Screwed Me Over | SOOPERMEXICAN

Whiskey before breakfast! (music video)

FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE SPEECH YOU'VE BEEN HEARING ABOUT: Dr. Benjamin Carson Speaks Truth to Power

FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE SPEECH YOU'VE BEEN HEARING ABOUT: Dr. Benjamin Carson Speaks Truth to Power: Awesome.

Thank you so much. Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, Mrs. Obama, distinguished guests - which included everybody. Thank you so much for this wonderful honor to be at this stage again. I was here 16 years ago, and the fact that they invited me back means that I didn't offend too many people, so that was great. [LAUGHTER]

I want to start by reading four texts which will put into I want to start by reading four texts which will put into context what I'm going to say.

Proverbs 11:9 With his mouth the Godless destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous escapes.

Proverbs 11:12 A man who lacks judgement derides his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his tongue

Proverbs 11:25 A generous man will prosper. He who refreshes others will himself, be refreshed.

2nd Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.

You know, I have an opportunity to speak in a lot of venues. This is my fourth speech this week. and I have an opportunity to talk to a lot of people. And I've been asking people what concerns you? What are you most concerned about in terms of the spirituality and the direction of our nation and our world? And I've talked to very prominent democrats, very prominent republicans. And I was surprised by the uniformity of their answers. And those have informed my comments this morning. now, it's not my intention to offend anyone. I have discovered, however, in recent years that it's very difficult to speak to a large group of people these days and not offend someone. [laughter]

And people walk away with their feelings on their shoulders waiting for you to say something, ah, did you hear that? The P.C. police are out in force at all times. I remember once I was talking about the difference between a human brain and a dog's grain, and a man -- and a dog's brain, and a man got offended. You can't talk about dogs like that. [laughter] People focus in on that, completely miss the point of what you're saying. [laughter] And we've reached reach the point where people are afraid to actually talk about what they want to say because somebody might be offended. People are afraid to say Merry Christmas at Christmas time. Doesn't matter whether the person you're talking to is Jewish or, you know, whether they're any religion. That's a salutation, a greeting of goodwill. We've got to get over this sensitivity. You know, and it keeps people from saying what they really believe.

You know, I'm reminded of a very successful young businessman, and he loved to buy his mother these exotic gifts for mother's day. And he ran out of ideas, and then he ran across these birds. These birds were cool, you know? They cost $5,000 apiece. They could dance, they could sing, they could talk. He was so excited, he bought two of of them. Sent them to his mother, couldn't wait to call her up on mother's day, mother, mother, what'd you think of those birds? And she said, they was good. [laughter] He said, no, no, no! Mother, you didn't eat those birds? Those birds cost $5,000 apiece! They could dance, they could sing, they could talk! And she said, well, they should have said something. [laughter] And, you know, that's where we end up, too, if we don't speak up for what we believe. [laughter] And, you know, what we need to do -- [applause] what we need to do in this PC world is forget about unanimity of speech and unanimity of thought, and we need to concentrate on being respectful to those people with whom we disagree.

And that's when I believe we begin to make progress. and one last thing about political correctness, which I think is a horrible thing, by the way. I'm very, very come -- compassionate, and I'm not never out to offend anyone. But PC is dangerous. Because, you see, this country one of the founding principles was freedom of thought and freedom of expression. and it muffles people. It puts a muzzle on them. And at the same time, keeps people from discussing important issues while the fabric of this society is being changed. And we cannot fall for that trick. And what we need to do is start talking about things, talking about things that are important.

Things that were important in the development of our nation. one of those things was education. I'm very passionate about education because it's made such a big difference in my life. But here we are at a time in the world, the information age, the age of technology, and yet 30% of people who enter high school in this country do not graduate. 44% of people who start a four-year college program do not finish it in four years. What is that about? Think back to a darker time in this our history. Two hundred years ago when slavery was going on it was illegal to educate a slave, particularly to teach them to read. Why do you think that was? Because when you educate a man, you liberate a man. And there I was as a youngster placing myself in the same situation that a horrible institution did because I wasn't taking advantage of the education. I was a horrible student. Most of my classmates thought I was the stupidest person in the world. They called me dummy. I was the butt of all the jokes. Now, admittedly, it was a bad environment. single-parent home, you know, my mother and father had gotten divorced early on.

My mother got married when she was 13. She was one of 24 children. Had a horrible life. Discovered that her husband was a bigamist, had another family. And she only had a third grade education. She had to take care of us. Dire poverty. I had a horrible temper, poor self-esteem. All the things that you think would preclude success. But I had something very important, I had a mother who believed in me, and I had a mother who would never allow herself to be a victim no matter what happened. Never made excuses, and she never accepted an excuse from us. And if we ever came up with an excuse, she always said do you have a brain? And if the answer was, yes, then she said then you could have thought your way out of it. It doesn't matter what John or Susan or Mary or anybody else did or said. And it was the most important thing she did for my brother and myself. Because if you don't accept excuse, pretty soon people stop giving them, and they start looking for solutions. And that is a critical issue when it comes to success.

Well, you know, we did live in dire poverty, and one of the things that I hated was poverty. you know, some people hate spiders, some people hate snakes, I hated poverty. I couldn't stand it. [laughter] But, you know, my mother couldn't stand the fact that we were doing poorly in school, and she prayed and asked god to give her wisdom, what could she do to to to make her sons understand the importance of wisdom? God gave her wisdom. At least in her opinion. It was to turn off the tv, let us watch only two or three programs during the week, and read two books apiece and submit to her written book reports which she couldn't read, but we didn't know that. [laughter] She put check marks and highlights and stuff -- [laughter] But, you know, I just hated this. And my friends were out having a good time. her friends would criticize her. they would say you can't make boys stay in the house reading books, they'll grow up and hate you. and i would overhear them and say, you know, mother, they're right. but she didn't care.

You know. [laughter] after a while, I actually began to enjoy reading those books because we were very poor, but between the covers of those books I could go anywhere, I could be anybody, i could do anything. I began to read about people of great accomplishment, and as I read those stories, I began to see a connecting thread. I began to see that the person who has the most to do with you and what happens to you in life is you. You make decisions. You decide how much energy you want to put behind that decision. And I came to understand that I had control of my own destiny. And at that point I didn't hate poverty anymore, because I knew it was only temporary. I knew I could change that. it was incredibly liberating for me, made all the difference.

To continue on that theme of education, in 1831 Alexis de Toqueville came to study America. The Europeans were fascinated. How could a fledgling Nation, barely 50 years old already be competing with them on virtually every level. This was impossible. De Toqueville was going to sort it out and he looked at our government and he was duly impressed by the three branches of government - four now because now we have special interest groups, but it was only three back in those days. He said, WOW, this is really something, but then he said, but let me look at their educational system and he was blown away. See, anybody who had finished the second grade was completely literate. He could find a mountain man on the outskirts of society who could read the newspaper and have a political discussion, could tell him how the government worked.

If you really want to be impressed, take a look at the chapter on education in my latest book, America the Beautiful, which I wrote with my wife - it came out last year, and in that education chapter you will see questions extracted from a sixth grade exit exam from the 1800′s - a test you had to pass to get your sixth grade certificate. I doubt most college graduates today could pass that test. We have dumbed things down to that level and the reason that is so dangerous is because the people who founded this Nation said that our system of government was designed for a well-informed and educated populace, and when they become less informed, they become vulnerable. Think about that. That is why education is so vitally important.

Now some people say, ahhh, you're over blowing it, things aren't that bad, and you're a doctor, a neurosurgeon. Why are you concerned about these things? Got news for you. FIVE doctors signed the Declaration of Independence. Doctors were involved in the framing of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, in a whole bunch of things. It's only been since recent decades that we've extracted ourselves, which I think is a big mistake.

We need doctors, we needs scientists, engineers. We need all those people involved in government, not just lawyers...I don't have anything against lawyers, but you know, here's the thing about lawyers...I'm sorry, but I got to be truthful...got to be truthful - what do lawyers learn in law school? To win, by hook or by crook. You gotta win, so you got all these Democrat lawyers, and you got all these Republican lawyers and their sides want to win. We need to get rid of that. What we need to start thinking about is, how do we solve problems?

Now, before I get shot, let me finish. I don't like to bring up problems without coming up with solutions. My wife and I started the Carson Scholars Fund 16 years ago after we heard about an international survey looking at the ability of eight graders in 22 countries to solve math and science problems, and we came out No. 21 out of 22. We only barely beat out Number 22 - very concerning.

We went to these schools and we'd see all these trophies: State Basketball, State Wrestling, this, that and the other. The Quarterback was the Big Man on Campus. What about the intellectual Superstar? What did they get? A National Honor Society pin? A pat on the head, there, there little Nerd? Nobody cared about them. And is it any wonder that sometimes the smart kids try to hide? They don't want anybody to know they are smart? This is not helping us or our Nation, so we started giving out scholarships from all backgrounds for superior academic performance and demonstration of humanitarian qualities. Unless you cared about other people, it didn't matter how smart you were. We've got plenty of people like that. We don't need smart people who don't care about other people.

We would give them money. The money would go into a Trust. They would get interest on it. When they would go to college they would get the money, but also the school gets a trophy, every bit as impressive as a sports trophy - right out there with the others. They get a medal. They get to go t a banquet. We try to put them on a pedestal as impressive as we do the All-State athletes. I have nothing against athletics or entertainment. I'm from Baltimore. The Ravens won. This is great - okay. But, but - what will maintain our position in the world? The ability to shoot a 25 foot jump shot or the ability to solve a quadratic equation? We need to put the things into proper perspective.

Many teachers have told us that when we put a Carson Scholar in their classroom, the GPA of the whole classroom goes up over the next year. It's been very gratifying. We started 16 years ago with 25 scholarships in Maryland, now we've given out more than 5,000 and we are in all 50 states, but we've also put in Reading Rooms. These are fascinating places that no little kid could possibly pass up. And uh, they get points for the amount of time they spend reading, and the number of books they read. They can trade the points for prizes. In the beginning they do it for the prizes, but it doesn't take long before their academic performance begins to improve.

And we particularly target Title One schools where the kids come from homes with no books and they go to schools with no libraries. Those are the ones who drop out. We need to truncate that process early on because we can't afford to waste any of those young people. You know, for every one of those people we keep from going down that path - that path of self-destruction and mediocrity, that's one less person you have to protect yourself and your family from. One less person you have to pay for in the penal or welfare system. One more taxpaying productive member of society who may invent a new energy source or come up with a cure for cancer. They are all important to us and we need every single one of them it makes a difference. And when you go home tonight read about it, Carson Scholars, carsonscholars.org.

Why is it so important that we educate our people? Because we don't want to go down the pathway as so many pinnacle nations that have preceded us. I think particularly about ancient Rome. Very powerful. Nobody could even challenge them militarily, but what happened to them? They destroyed themselves from within. Moral decay, fiscal irresponsibility. They destroyed themselves. If you don't think that can happen to America, you get out your books and you start reading, but you know, we can fix it.

Why can we fix it because we're smart. We have some of the most intellectually gifted people leading our Nation. All we need to do is remember what our real responsibilities are so that we can solve the problems. I think about these problems all the time, and my role, you know, model was Jesus. He used parables to help people understand things. And one of our big problems right now, and like I said, I'm not politically correct, so I'm sorry, but you know - our deficit is a big problem. Think about it. And our National Debt - $16.5 Trillion dollars - you think that's not a lot of money? I'll tell you what! Count one number per second, which you can't even do because once you get to a thousand it will take you longer than a second, but...one number per second. You know how long it would take you to count to 16 Trillion? 507,000 years - more than a half a million years to get there. We have to deal with this.

Here's a parable: A family falls on hard times. Dad loses his job or is demoted to part time work. He has 5 children. He comes to the 5 children, he says we're going to have to reduce your allowance. Well, they're not happy about it but - he says, except for John and Susan. They're, they're special. They get to keep their allowance. In fact, we'll give them more. How do you think that's going to go down? Not too well. Same thing happens. Enough said.

What about our taxation system? So complex there is no one who can possibly comply with every jot and tittle of our tax system. If I wanted to get you, I could get you on a tax issue. That doesn't make any sense. What we need to do is come up with something that is simple.

When I pick up my Bible, you know what I see? I see the fairest individual in the Universe, God, and he's given us a system. It's called tithe. Now we don't necessarily have to do it 10% but it's principle. He didn't say, if your crops fail, don't give me any tithes. He didn't say, if you have a bumper crop, give me triple tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about proportionality. You make $10 Billion dollars you put in a Billion. You make $10 you put in $1 - of course, you gotta get rid of the loopholes, but now now some people say, that's not fair because it doesn't hurt the guy who made $10 Billion dollars as much as the guy who made $10. Where does it say you have to hurt the guy. He's just put in a billion in the pot. We don't need to hurt him.

It's that kind of thinking - it's that kind of thinking that has resulted in 602 banks in the Cayman Islands. That money needs to be back here, building our infrastructure and creating jobs - and we're smart enough - we're smart enough to figure out how to do that.

We've already started down the path to solving one of the other big problems, health care. We need to have good health care for everybody. It's the most important thing that a person can have. Money means nothing, titles mean nothing when you don't have your health, but we've got to figure out efficient ways to do it. We spend a lot of money on health care, twice as much per capita as anybody in else in the world, and yet not very efficient. What can we do?

Here's my solution. When a person is born, give him a birth certificate, an electronic medical record and a health savings account [HSA], to which money can be contributed, pre-tax from the time you are born, to the time you die. When you die, you can pass it on to your family members so that when you're 85 years old and you've got 6 diseases, you're not trying to spend up everything. You're happy to pass it on and nobody is talking about death panels. That's number one. Also -

For the people who are indigent, who don't have any money, we can make contributions to their HSA each month because we already have this huge pot of money instead of sending it to bureaucracy - let's put it into HSAs. Now they have some control over their own health care and what do you think they're going to do? They're going to learn very quickly how to be responsible. When Mr. Jones gets that diabetic foot ulcer, he's not going to the Emergency Room and blowing a big chunk of it. He's going to go to the Clinic. He learns that very quickly - gets the same treatment. In the Emergency Room they send him out. In the Clinic they say, now let's get your diabetes under control so that you're not back here in three weeks with another problem. That's how we begin to solve these kinds of problems. It's much more complex than that, and I don't have time to go into it all, but we can do all these things because we are smart people.

And let me begin to close here - another parable: Sea Captain, and he's out on the sea near the area where the Titanic went down. And they look ahead and there's a bright light right there - another ship he figures. He tells his signaler to signal that ship: deviate 10 degrees to the South. Back comes the message, no you deviate 10 degrees to the North. Well, he's a little bit incensed you know. He says, send a message, this is Captain Johnson, deviate 10 degrees to the South. Back comes the message, this is Ensign 4th Class Reilly. Deviate 10 degrees to the North. Now Captain Johnson is really upset. He says send him a message, this is a Naval Destroyer. Back comes the message, this is a Lighthouse. Enough said.

Now, what about the symbol of our Nation? The Eagle. The Bald Eagle. It's an interesting story how we chose that but a lot of people think we call it the bald eagle because it looks like it has a bald head. That's not the reason It comes from the Old English word Piebald, which means crowned with white. And we just shortened it to bald. Now, use that the next time you see somebody who thinks they know everything. You'll get 'em on that one.

But, why is that eagle able to fly, high, forward? Because it has two wings: a left wing and a right wing. Enough said.

And I wanna close with this story: two hundred years ago this Nation was involved in a war, the war of 1812. The British, who are now our good friends thought that we were young whippersnappers. It was time for us to become a colony again. They were winning that war and marching up the Eastern Seaboard, destroying city after city, destroying Washington D.C., burned down the White House. Next stop Baltimore. As they came into the Chesapeake Bay, there were armadas of war ships as far as the eye could see. It was looking grim. Fort. McHenry standing right there. General Armisted, who was in charge of Fort. McHenry, had a large American flag commissioned to fly in front of the Fort. The Admiral in charge of the British Fleet was offended, said take that flag down. You have until dusk to take that Flag down. If you don't take it down, we will reduce you to ashes.

There was a young amateur poet on board by the name of Francis Scott Key, sent by President Madison to try to obtain the release of an American physician who was being held captive. He overheard the British plans. They were not going to let him off the ship. He mourned. As dusk approached he mourned for his fledgling young Nation, and as the sun fell, the bombardment started. Bombs bursting in air. Missiles, so much debris He strained, trying to see, was the flag still there? Couldn't see a thing. All night long it continued. At the crack of dawn he ran out to the banister He looked straining his eyes all he could only see dust and debris.

Then there was a clearing and he beheld the most beautiful sight he had ever seen - the torn and tattered Stars and Stripes still waving. And many historians say that was the turning point in the war of 1812. We went on to win that war and to retain our freedom and if you had gone onto the grounds of Fort. McHenry that day, you would have seen at the base of that flag, the bodies of soldiers who took turns. Propping up that flag, they would not let that flag go down because they believed in what that flag symbolized. And what did it symbolize? One Nation, under God, [applause] indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. God Bless.

Please, oh please, Dr. Carson: put your hat in the ring.


Hat tip: @Slone.

Nanci Griffith & The Chieftains : Red Is The Rose (music video)

Terrific! GOP Highlights Obama’s Many SOTU Lies From Years Gone By (Video)

Terrific! GOP Highlights Obama’s Many SOTU Lies From Years Gone By (Video):
The House Republican Majority released this video to highlight Barack Obama’s many State of the Union lies and broken promises from previous years.
Tomorrow Barack Obama will do it all over again.

Visit www.GOP.gov/sotu to get the truth during this year’s State of the Union Address.
Don’t expect Obama to touch on any of these failures:
Under Barack Obama the middle class has been beaten and bloodied.
** The median household income has dropped $4,520, or about one month’s average wages, since President Obama took office.
** US incomes fell more during the so-called recovery than the recession.

(RSG)
** Gas prices have doubled.
** Taxes have ballooned.
** This year alone working Americans making between $30,000 and $200,000 will see their paychecks shrink by as much as 1.7 percent – or up to $1,784.
** Obamacare will punish working Americans with more taxes.

this is amazing! Toddler Makes Trick Shots! (Video)

Watch This Adorable Toddler Make Trick Shots! (Video):
Watch for the “behind-the-head” move!

Chuck Hagel's Bumbling, Stumbling Testimony at Senate Confirmation Hearings

Chuck Hagel's Bumbling, Stumbling Testimony at Senate Confirmation Hearings: Hagel's getting ripped on Twitter, and for good reason. God, he's looks like a blithering idiot:

And lots more at Twitchy, "Snort: Senators reportedly in ‘shock’ over Hagel’s ineptitude, bumbling," and "‘Cruzed’! Senator Cruz crushes Hagel; Chuck Todd, other lapdogs try to save Hagel, slam Cruz."

I'll update later when I find a video of Senator Cruz questioning Hagel.

Pygmy Elephants are a Real Thing

Pygmy Elephants are a Real Thing:
Unlike the mini-frenzy that occurred after DirectTV’s petite lap giraffe commercial, small “pygmy” elephants are both very real and very cute. They’re native to the island of Borneo, which is owned by the countries of Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. They’re smaller than other Asian elephants, a little chunkier, and have floppier ears and longer tails. They’re also relatively tame and only about 1,600 remain in the wild.








…Get me on the next plane to Borneo