Stockman opposes Senate immigration plan

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Stockman (R-Texas 36) released the following statement Monday afternoon:

I will not be supporting the Senate’s proposed “immigration reform” should it reach the House.  I cannot and will not support any immigration reform proposal that institutes an amnesty program or does not begin with a comprehensive plan to secure the borders.

The Senate’s proposed plan does not fix our nation’s broken immigration system.  It rewards law breaking and encourages a new flood of illegals, perpetuating the very problems it claims to solve.  Our nation’s failed experiments with amnesty have proven it only encourages more illegals willing to wait it out for their turn at free citizenship.

It insults the many legal immigrants who have spent tremendous time and money seeking legal residence.  The surge of illegals also strains relations with legal Hispanic citizens, many of whom come from families who have been in the United States longer than most white residents.
It also does not crack down on human trafficking.  Our failure to secure our border has led to horrific, tragic stories of innocents brutally smuggled into the United States to serve as slave labor, and thousands of young girls forced into prostitution.  It is largely young Hispanic girls who suffer from this failure.

It also does not even address the tremendous burden illegals have placed on state and local governments.  The crush of illegals have bankrupted local governments, shut down hospitals, overwhelmed schools and crashed local economies, hurting largely Hispanic citizens.  That failure has fueled the growth of violent gangs, like MS-13, that prey upon illegals and target the children of Hispanic citizens.

This is not a serious proposal to fix immigration.  It ignores the issue of border control, insults legal immigrants and fails Hispanic citizens.  It makes border states and communities even more dangerous for both immigrants and residents.

States like Texas, with large and growing Hispanic populations, have an obligation to offer our residents something better than the Senate’s flimsy proposal.  We need an immigration system that allows for safe migration, safe communities and a healthy economy.  This proposal does not, and I will not support it in its current form.

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Stockman statement on federal court ruling against Obama

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Stockman (R-Texas 36) released the following statement Friday after a federal appeals court ruled today President Obama’s three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board violated constitutional restrictions on recess appointments.  (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/25/federal-court-obama-broke-law-recess-appointments/)

The three appointments were ruled invalid, and the NRLB no longer has a quorum to conduct business.

“I am not surprised a federal court has ruled President Obama abused his power and engaged in unlawful executive actions.  President Obama sees the rule of law as a curious antiquity.  Millions of Americans gave President Obama this historic opportunity at the Presidency.  Rather than focus on the economy, President Obama has so far squandered their trust on reckless power grabs.  I hope this strong judicial rebuke will humble President Obama and cause him to reconsider his ill-guided actions and agenda.

“No matter their party affiliation or political opinions, all members of Congress should be concerned when the executive branch assumes for itself unchecked, unlawful and unconstitutional new powers.  Each of have a moral duty to consider the long-term impact of our actions, instead of the immediate partisan political benefits. 

“That is why I and Senator Paul have introduced legislation restoring executive actions to their constitutional boundaries.  H.R. 410, the "Restore the Constitution Act," is an important first step toward restoring our constitutional system of separation of powers, which is necessary for a healthy and secure republic.”

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Stockman disappointed in Clinton’s Benghazi testimony

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Stockman (R-Texas 36,) a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement Wednesday:

I first want to wish Secretary Clinton a full and speedy recovery.  Concussions and blood clots are serious, life-threatening medical issues.  My staff and I have been praying daily for her health and good spirits.

Secretary Clinton testified Wednesday to the House Foreign Affairs Committee as we investigate the
Obama administration’s handling of the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. 

That attack left four Americans dead, Ambassador Chris Stevens, Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith and security personnel Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.

These men were someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s best friend.  Their families, and everyone serving overseas so others can be free, deserved full and forthright answers.

Secretary Clinton did not fully and sufficiently answer the Committee’s reasonable questions.  Her testimony was incomplete and evasive.  Given the gravity of the situation, that is unfortunate.

To blame an imagined lack of funding is a weak attempt to deflect blame.  Our ambassador in Paris has a Marine detachment guarding him.  To fail to give that security to our ambassador in an unstable country with an active terrorist presence is an utter failure by the Administration.

Funding for embassy security is more than adequate.  The Heritage Foundation reports:

“Comparing FY 2011 actual funding versus the FY 2012 estimate, there appears to be a reduction in Worldwide Security Protection and Embassy Security, Construction and Maintenance. But that reduction does not account for additional funding in FY 2012 from Overseas Contingency Operations funds amounting to $236 million for Worldwide Security Protection (p. 63) and $33 million for Embassy Security, Construction and Maintenance (p. 467)... Together, there is a net increase.

“In terms of people, the budget justification reported that Worldwide Security Protection had slightly fewer positions budgeted (1,777 in FY 2011 versus 1,707 in FY 2012) and Embassy Security,
Construction and Maintenance had the same number of positions budgeted (1,014 for both years).

“In its budget request for FY 2013, the Administration requested significantly more funding for embassy security—mostly through the Overseas Contingency Operations budget—but retained the same number of positions, apparently on the assumption that security staffing was adequate. Regardless, that budget, even if approved in its entirety, would have entered into effect after the events in Libya.”

We still need full answers to:

1. what her immediate actions were,
2. what actions she took in the days after the attack,
3. why the State Department knowingly offered false stories on the murders, first blaming an Internet video before admitting it was a known, planned terrorist attack we failed to prepare of, and
4. why Americans serving in such a dangerous area, where they would be targeted by terrorists, were left unprotected by the Obama administration.

As Secretary Clinton exits the State Department for a life of future public service, I had hoped would she leave as her legacy a full accounting of the Obama administration’s actions.

I encourage Secretary Clinton to speak frankly and help the Committee in our investigation of the killings.  For the sake of all those serving overseas we must make sure this never happens again.

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Stockman introduces bill to stop Obama’s Executive Orders

Working with Sen. Rand Paul, ‘Restore the Constitution Act’ blocks any Executive Order that violates Constitution

WASHINGTON -- Congressman Steve Stockman (R-Texas 36) introduced today the “Restore The Constitution Act.”  It is the House companion to Sen. Rand Paul’s “Separation of Powers Restoration and Second Amendment Protection Act.”  Stockman and Paul are working together on the joint effort.

“Last week I promised to thwart Obama’s unlawful orders, first by seeking to block, overturn and defund any action that violates the Constitution,” said Stockman.  “Promise made, promise kept.  No matter his intentions, the Constitution flatly prohibits the President from just making up his own laws.”

“The Orders issued by President Obama are not intended to execute laws passed by the Congress.  President Obama is abusing his authority to write his own unaccountable laws.  Regardless of your position on gun rights, Congress has an obligation to assert its constitutional authority as the only lawful rulemaking body,” said Stockman.

If passed, the Restore The Constitution Act would declare any past, present or future executive action that infringes on the powers and duties of Congress in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, or the Second Amendment to the Constitution or that would require the expenditure of federal funds not specifically appropriated for the purpose of executive action, is advisory only and has no force or effect unless enacted by law.

“Executive action” includes any Executive order, memoranda, proclamation or signing statement.  Any executive action in violation can be challenged in federal court by any member of the U.S. House or Senate, the highest-ranking official of any state or political subdivision or their designee, or any person deprived of liberty or property by an executive action.

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Stockman statement on Roe v. Wade’s 40th anniversary

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Stockman (R-Texas 36) released the following statement Jan. 22:

Forty years ago today the United States Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide.  They dealt human rights in the United States its biggest judicial setback since the Court’s 1857 Dred Scott ruling.

The right to life is a basic human right.  It is not negotiable or violable.  Sadly, our government has a history of treating entire classes of people with indifference and outright brutality.  We pray the horrors of abortion will be the final time our federal government sanctions and enshrines in law the dehumanization and brutal treatment of defenseless people.

Since that terrible day in 1973 over 55 million children have died in abortion clinics.  55 million Americans dead, more deaths than in all U.S. wars combined.

But the tide is turning.  Support for abortion is dwindling as science proves human life begins at conception. More Americans than ever consider themselves pro-life.

We are winning.  But we are still a long way from total victory over abortion.

That is why we in Congress are fighting to defund Planned Parenthood, pass laws overturning ObamaCare, laws banning the interstate trafficking of minors for an abortion, and pass a constitutional amendment overturning Roe v. Wade and recognizing the scientific fact human life begins at conception.

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Stockman responds to President Obama’s dangerous proposals

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Stockman (R-Texas 36) issued the following statement Wednesday in response to a raft of Executive Orders and legislative proposals issued this afternoon by the White House:

Gun bans and anti-gun laws have always lead to one thing – more gun violence.

We owe it to innocent people to make this country as safe as possible.  Sadly, in President Obama’s announcement every tragedy he mentioned was either in a state that aggressively restricts the right to keep and bear arms or was in a location that banned guns completely.

The White House has indicated they are willing to use Executive Orders to infringe upon the God-given right to keep and bear arms protected by the Second Amendment from government intrusion.

President Obama announced the specifics of his anti-gun sneak attack today, though he refuses to answer questions regarding his own illegal transfer of weapons to Mexican drug lords.

Among the Executive Orders issued are tracking of your firearms, which creates a de facto national gun registry, and a White House demand for laws regulating the private transfer of firearms.

In other words, if you give your son his first hunting rifle, you may face a prison sentence if you fail to get approval from the government.

Those proposals, along with others floated by the White House as presidential decrees, are cutting attacks on your right as a peaceable person to keep and bear arms for your defense.  The ability to defend one from aggressors is a basic human right.

My staff is reviewing the Executive Orders.  Should President Obama issue Orders infringing upon your basic human right, I am prepared to fight back with peaceable legislative force.

>> I will lead the fight to defeat the President’s dangerous legislative proposals.

>> I will seek legislation overturning the Orders.

>> I will seek legislation barring funds to enforce the Orders.

>> I will seek legislation to cut White House funding should the President issue and enforce such Orders.

>> I will support legal efforts to overturn the Orders in court.

I ask you to contact your representatives in the House and Senate at House.gov and Senate.gov and politely urge them to support efforts to overturn or defund any proposed executive actions and to defeat the President’s dangerous legislative proposals.

Now, I would hope those measures are enough to either deter President Obama or thwart his efforts.

However, if they do not or are unsuccessful I will consider speaking with my colleagues and filing articles of impeachment.

Impeachment is not something to be taken lightly.  It is a grave and serious undertaking that should only be initiated in a sober and serious manner.  It should be reserved only for most egregious of trespasses by the President.

I would consider using Executive Orders to engage in attacks on a constitutionally-protected right and violating his sworn oath of office to be such a trespass.  The President cannot issue executive orders depriving the people of full access to an enumerated constitutional right.

I do not think it will come to that.  The President is not an absolute ruler, and his actions and orders can be checked and balanced by the Congress and the courts – if the Congress is willing.

That is why I ask you to please contact your elected representatives at House.gov and Senate.gov and politely urge them to support legislative efforts to overturn and defund the president’s Orders, and to defeat his legislative proposals.

The right to keep and bear arms is a basic human right that has kept us free for over two centuries. 

With a vigilant citizenry eager to contact their elected officials and make their voice heard, it will continue to be that way.

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Stockman warns Obama: Push for gun control will be met with White House budget cuts, possible impeachment

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Stockman (R-Texas 36th) released the following statement Jan. 14.

The White House’s recent announcement they will use executive orders and executive actions to infringe on our constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms is an unconstitutional and unconscionable attack on the very founding principles of this republic.

I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary, including but not limited to eliminating funding for implementation, defunding the White House, and even filing articles of impeachment.
The President’s actions are an existential threat to this nation.  The right of the people to keep and bear arms is what has kept this nation free and secure for over 200 years.  The very purpose of the Second Amendment is to stop the government from disallowing people the means to defend themselves against tyranny. Any proposal to abuse executive power and infringe upon gun rights must be repelled with the stiffest legislative force possible.

Under no circumstances whatsoever may the government take any action that disarms any peaceable person – much less without due process through an executive declaration without a vote of Congress or a ruling of a court.

The President’s actions are not just an attack on the Constitution and a violation of his sworn oath of office – they are a direct attack on Americans that place all of us in danger.  If the President is allowed to suspend constitutional rights on his own personal whims, our free republic has effectively ceased to exist.

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Stockman introduces Audit The Fed Act

WASHINGTON -- Congressman Steve Stockman (R-Texas) introduced Thursday “The Audit The Fed Act” which would require an audit of the Federal Reserve.

"The Federal Reserve is too big to be allowed to operate in secrecy. Congress has a right to know how the Fed operates and where the money is going.  The Constitution clearly gives Congress the authority to regulate our monetary system, yet we are not allowed to even see the books.  An audit of the Federal Reserve is a first step toward restoring our Constitutional Republic,” said Stockman.

An “Audit The Fed” bill previously sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) passed the House 327-98 in July 2012.  A Rasmussen poll shows 80 percent of Americans support it.

The bill is HR 33.

GOA: Stockman Introduces Legislation to Repeal School Gun Ban!

    “I have one concern -- protecting children from dangerous predators. By disarming qualified citizens and officials in schools we have created a dangerous situation for our children.” -- Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX)

    Dear friend,

    We told you that Rep. Steve Stockman would be the most aggressive defender of our gun rights on Capitol Hill.

    He proved us right on Thursday, when he introduced the Very First pro-gun bill in the Congress, in the face of a tidal wave of anti-gun hysteria.

    Congressman Steve Stockman has introduced H.R. 35, the Safe Schools Act of 2013 -- a bill to allow principals, teachers, and staff to possess firearms in order to defend their students.

    Before 1996, American kindergartners didn’t have to fear that if a crazed gunman burst into their classroom, they would be nothing but sitting ducks.

    Before then, they didn’t have to worry that federal law openly advertised that there would be no one to protect them.

    “In the 22 years before enactment of ‘gun free school zones,’ there were two mass school shootings,” Stockman said. “In the 22 years since enactment of ‘gun free schools,’ there have been 10 mass school shootings.

    “Not only has that bill utterly failed to protect our children, it appears to have placed them in danger,” said Stockman.

    Indeed, it has.

    Within a couple of years of the reenactment of the Gun Free School Zones Act, the Columbine tragedy occurred. And the series of copycat school massacres has shocked and saddened our country ever since.

    Clearly, the gun ban is not working. And it’s past time to try a new approach.

    It’s time to go on the offensive! It’s time to repeal gun control, rather than talk about “enforcing the gun laws on the books.”

    We don’t want to enforce gun control laws -- that’s what makes innocent people, including children sitting in their classrooms, less safe.

    Anti-gun zealots who have enacted one unsuccessful gun ban after another have come up with a slew of reasons why our nation’s lawmakers should be protected by an army of heavily armed guards, but our children should be vulnerable.

    There is a word for this -- it’s “hypocrite.” It is time to protect our children with the same tools and the same zeal we use to protect our congressmen.

    It is time to pass the Stockman bill and give real protection to our children.

    Contact your Representative. Ask him to cosponsor H.R. 35, the Stockman repeal of the gun-free school zone ban.

    Click here to contact your congressman.

STOCKMAN TO VOTE NO ON SPEAKER BOEHNER

STOCKMAN TO VOTE NO ON SPEAKER BOEHNER

Congressman-elect Steve Stockman (R-Texas 36th) released the following statement Wednesday afternoon:

"I will not vote for or support Congressman Boehner’s bid to remain Speaker of the House.
"This is not something I do lightly, but out of bedrock conservative principle and a dire need to save this nation from its current course. We cannot tolerate betrayal of conservative principle and economic reality.

“I have known Congressman Boehner since I first came to the House in 1995. He is a decent man. But I have sharp disagreements with the manner in which he has handled President Obama and House conservatives. While he is all too eager to favorably negotiate with a liberal White House that has outmaneuvered him at every turn, he has been harsh and punitive in dealing with conservatives.

“He has given President Obama billions in increased taxes, while unceremoniously booting conservatives from key committees without so much as the courtesy of a face-to-face meeting. Past Republican leaders, such as Tom DeLay, at least had the decency to directly tell you they were punishing you for voicing conservative principles.

"The 'fiscal cliff' spending package negotiated by Congressman Boehner was the final, unacceptable straw. It raises taxes on more than 80 percent of families with combined incomes between $50,000 and $200,000 by an average of $1,635, while dealing special-interest tax breaks to Hollywood leftists, algae growers and millionaire wind corporations. It raises $41 dollars in taxes for every $1 in spending reductions, with no agreement to halt planned new spending of any theoretical tax revenues. The Congressional Budget Office finds it will add nearly $4 trillion to our job-killing deficit.

“Each time our nation's fiscal policies have been up for debate, Congressman Boehner has told Americans they'll get spending cuts 'next time.' Enough is enough. There cannot be another 'next time' for fiscal responsibility, or Congressman Boehner. His acquiescence has only emboldened the liberal drive for more expensive government. Congressman Boehner has allowed Obama use to class warfare rhetoric to split the Congress.

"In short, Congressman Boehner signed our country on to a fiscal suicide pact.

"Unless there is drastic change to the United States' taxation and spending trajectories our government will become insolvent and our economy will collapse. Obama’s 50.8 percent of the vote is not a mandate for higher taxes and more spending that majorities of Americans oppose.

"Removing Congressman Boehner is only the first step on a long journey back to our constitutional foundations. I didn't come to Congress to collect a pension. I came to Congress to restore limited government. I look forward to this fight and I will continue to uphold my conservative principles and my sworn oath to the Constitution."

BACKGROUND:

Congressman Stockman was a member of the 1994 "Republican Revolution" freshman class of the 104th Congress, serving one term from 1995 to 1997. Congressman Stockman returns to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2013 with a vision of limited government and strong support for American families, robust military and a balanced budget.

On November 8, 1994, with enthusiastic grassroots support of some 2,100 volunteers, Congressman Stockman put an end to the 42-year congressional career of the dean of the House, Texas Congressman Jack Brooks. This earned Congressman Stockman the title of “Newsmaker of the Year for 1994″ and the nickname “Giant Killer.”

During the first 100 days, Congressman Stockman fought to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, starting with Congress itself. As sponsor of the Drier/Stockman package of opening day reforms, Congressman Stockman dramatically pared down the hierarchy of the House by eliminating three full house committees, 23 subcommittees and cutting committee staff by one-third saving taxpayers millions of dollars each year. Congressman Stockman voted to cut taxes, his own pay and pension, and the number of congressional committees. Congressman Stockman never asked for nor received a federal earmark to benefit his district. Instead, he believed the best “earmark” he could do for his district was to leave a balanced budget for the next generation.

Congressman Stockman's opening day reforms required Congress to operate under the same laws as everyone else and eliminated many of the “perks” the former Democrat-controlled Congress had enjoyed. They also required Congress, for the first time, to open Congressional proceedings each day with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Congressman Stockman worked tirelessly to protect the US Constitution. In less than 100 days, he pushed welfare reform legislation, a $500-per-child tax credit for families, a balanced budget amendment and regulatory relief legislation. He was known as one of the most ardent defenders of Constitution in Congress and was named “The Taxpayer’s Best Friend.”

Some of the awards and commendations awarded Congressman Stockman were the “Taxpayers Best Friend Award” by Citizens for Tax Reform; a consistent “100 percent” rating by the American Conservative Union; “Taxpayer’s Hero Award” by Citizens Against Government Waste and “Pro-Family Congressman” of the year by the American Family Association.

# # #

Ferguson: Vote NO on Speaker Boehner

John Boehner cannot remain as Speaker of the House.

The 'fiscal cliff' spending package negotiated by Congressman Boehner was the final, unacceptable straw. It explodes spending on Gang Green's pet projects while dealing special-interest tax breaks to Gang Green's bankrollers such as  algae growers and millionaire wind corporations.

It raises $41 dollars in taxes for every $1 in spending reductions, with no agreement to halt planned new spending of any theoretical tax revenues. The Congressional Budget Office finds it will add nearly $4 trillion to our job-killing deficit.

All to hand a few special interest giveaways to Gang Green.

This is unacceptable.  American Tradition Partnership's large and growing grassroots membership urges Congress to remove John Boehner as Speaker.

Please call your Republican Congressman RIGHT NOW at 202-224-3121.  Tell them to vote NO on John Boehner as Speaker.

The vote will take place tomorrow, so call IMMEDIATELY.

Sincerely,

Donald Ferguson
Executive Director
American Tradition Partnership

P.S.  Please help ATP keep fighting in 2013.  Go here to chip in $10 or more.

ASPCA ordered to pay $9.3 million for harassment, abuse

Feld Entertainment, Inc., the producer of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, announced today that the company has reached a legal settlement with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in connection with two federal court cases.

Under the settlement, ASPCA has paid Feld Entertainment $9.3 million to settle all claims related to its part in more than a decade of manufactured litigation that attempted to outlaw elephants in the company's Ringling Bros.  Circus. This settlement applies only to the ASPCA. Feld Entertainment's legal proceedings, including its claims for litigation abuse and racketeering, will continue against the remaining defendants, Humane Society of the United States, the Fund for Animals, Animal Welfare Institute, Animal Protection Institute United with Born Free USA, Tom Rider and the attorneys involved.

"These defendants attempted to destroy our family-owned business with a hired plaintiff who made statements that the court did not believe. Animal activists have been attacking our family, our company, and our employees for decades because they oppose animals in circuses. This settlement is a vindication not just for the company but also for the dedicated men and women who spend their lives working and caring for all the animals with Ringling Bros. in the face of such targeted, malicious rhetoric," said Kenneth Feld, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Feld Entertainment.

The parties filed dismissal papers today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia as a result of their settlement. The settlement covers only Feld Entertainment's claims against ASPCA for attorneys' fees and damages in the initial Endangered Species Act (ESA) case filed in 2000 by the animal rights activists and the resultant racketeering (RICO) case brought by Feld Entertainment in 2007. Discovery in the initial lawsuit uncovered over $190,000 that these animal activist groups and their lawyers paid to Tom Rider who lived off of the money while serving as the "injured plaintiff" in the lawsuit against the circus.

"Our firm has been defending Feld Entertainment against this onslaught of misguided litigation brought by animal activist groups for years. As their attorneys, it is gratifying to finally have a settlement that begins to make up for the harm inflicted on this company, the family who owns it, and its employees," said John Simpson of Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P., lead counsel for Feld Entertainment in all of the cases covered by the settlement with ASPCA.

Background of Case

The original complaint was filed in July 2000 by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), the Animal Welfare Institute, the Fund for Animals and Tom Rider, who is a former Ringling Bros. employee. The case was dismissed in 2001 but was reinstated in 2003 after an appellate court ruled that if Tom Rider could prove that he was injured by Ringling Bros.' treatment of the elephants, the case could proceed. The Animal Protection Institute joined the case in 2006.

The trial began on February 4, 2009 and lasted approximately six weeks. The case is ASPCA, et al., v. Feld Entertainment, Inc., No. 03-2006 (D.D.C.)(Hon. Emmet G. Sullivan presiding).

On December 30, 2009, the U.S. District Court ruled in Feld Entertainment's favor (published as ASPCA v. Feld Entertainment, Inc., 677 F. Supp. 2d 55 (D.D.C. 2009)). In its ruling the Court stated that, "the Court finds that Mr. Rider is essentially a paid plaintiff and fact witness who is not credible, and therefore affords no weight to his testimony regarding the matters discussed herein, i.e., the allegations related to his standing to sue." ( www.ringlingbrostrialinfo.com/uploadedFiles/ASPCA%20Memorandum%20Opinion.pdf )

That decision found that the plaintiffs' litigation was based on the untruthful testimony of a paid plaintiff and witness who the Court found received at least $190,000 in payments as his sole source of income over an eight year period by animal special interest groups, including ASPCA, their lawyers and an entity founded and controlled by those lawyers, the Wildlife Advocacy Project.

The Court also ruled, "that ensuring Mr. Rider's continued participation as a plaintiff was a motivating factor behind the payments to him, and that these payments were a motivating factor for his continued involvement in the case." The Court also ruled against the other plaintiffs in the case: "because the organizational plaintiffs have not established an injury in fact, traceable to FEI's actions that can be redressed by the Court, the organizational plaintiffs have no standing to sue under Article III of the United States Constitution."

Furthermore, the Court ruled that "based upon his failure to complain, the Court finds that Mr. Rider either (1) did not witness elephant mistreatment when he was employed by FEI or (2) any mistreatment he did witness did not affect him to the extent that he suffered an aesthetic or emotional injury." The Court's December 2009 ruling was affirmed in its entirety by the Court of Appeals on October 28, 2011.

Based upon what was revealed in ASPCA, et al., v. Feld Entertainment, Feld Entertainment brought suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against ASPCA, HSUS and other animal rights activists and their lawyers alleging violations of the RICO statute and Virginia Conspiracy Act, malicious prosecution, and abuse of process. The court denied the defendants' motions to dismiss that case on July 9, 2012. ( http://www.ringlingbrostrialinfo.com/uploadedFiles/First%20Amended%20Feld%20Entertainment%20RICO%20Complaint.pdf )

Via press release

Taiwanese news animation tackles Tommy Tuberville, Texas Tech

Gallup: More support putting gun in every school than support gun ban

Voters are more likely to support putting a loaded gun in every school than support a ban on the sale of semi-automatic guns, a new Gallup poll finds.
Sixty-four percent of the country say "having at least one school official at every school carry a gun" will prevent mass shootings.  Sixty-three percent believe the same of "banning the sale of assault and semi-automatic guns."

That means Barack Obama is about to lead his party into a disastrous 2014 defeat. 

That's because that 63 percent support for a semi-automatic gun ban collapses when voters learn just what exactly a semi-auto gun ban is -- and you'd better believe they'll be told on TV, radio and in the mail during the 2014 election.

Gallup finds support for a semi-auto handgun ban falls sharply to 52 percent when people are told a semi-automatic handgun is one "which automatically re-load(s) every time the trigger is pulled."  Putting one simple fact in front of a voter suddenly removes any mandate for a semi-auto ban.

Additionally, only 52 percent support for an issue at its most emotional time is a recipe for defeat for any politician who signs on, especially given the fact the poll is of all adults and not just active voters -- who are more pro-gun than the general public.

It gets worse for gun grabbers.  Gallup finds only 27 percent of Americans support a "a nationwide ban on the sale of handguns, except to law enforcement officers," which is what a ban on the sale of semi-automatic handguns practically is.  An astonishing 71 percent of the general public opposes such a handgun ban.

Backing that up is a CBS News poll conducted in the height of emotion after the incident.  It found only 26 percent believed stricter gun laws would helped prevent the tragedy.  Further smacking down Obama, half said stricter laws would have had no effect.

Americans believe more guns stop crime, not less.  If Obama continues to callously exploit dead children to push a radical agenda he'll find more, not less, defeated Democrats.

CNN Host: I'm 'gleeful a tragedy happened'

John Nolte has the story.

Liberals compare school reformers to Newtown killer, suggest healing by uniting against school choice

In what can only be termed sociopathic behavior, two prominent liberals are gleefully using the mass killing of children in Connecticut to push an unrelated political agenda against education reform.

Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education and teachers union activist Diane Ravitch started the disgusting spree by declaring the process of emotional healing in Newtown Conn. can begin by uniting the community against school reformers.

"Newtown does not need a charter school. What it needs now is healing. Not competition, not division, but a community coming together to help one another. Together. Not competing," writes Ravitch.

The deranged Ravitch then insinuated that tying tenure and teacher pay to performance is somehow related to the massacre.

"Oh, and one other thing, all these dedicated teachers belonged to a union. The senior teachers had tenure, despite the fact that 'reformers' (led by ConnCAN, StudentsFirst, and hedge fund managers) did their best last spring to diminish their tenure and to tie their evaluations to test scores," Ravitch wrote.

Ravitch is no nameless fringe character.  She is a Research Professor of Education at New York University.  "In 2010, the National Education Association selected her as its 'Friend of Education,'" she states in her biography.

Shockingly her depraved behavior was celebrated, not criticized, by school union bosses.  Karen Lewis, head of the Chicago Teachers Union, went so far as to commend Ravitch for politicizing the tragedy and even declared advocates of school choice are child killers themselves.

"There might have been a time where 'politicizing' tragic events, especially mass shootings was thought to be in poor taste. That has changed with the 24/7 news cycle that continues to focus far too much time and energy on the perpetrator of the massacre than that of our precious victims. (Teach for America vice president David) Rosenberg’s 'false outrage' needs to be checked. That same false outrage should show itself when policies his colleagues support kill and disenfranchise children from schools across this nation," rambled Lewis*.

The head of the Chicago Teachers Union just said charter school teachers are themselves mass child killers.

Both need to apologize, and be closely watched.

* That was her statement as written in her capacity as Chicago's top education union official, including punctuation errors and improper use of phrases.

EPA boss faces federal probe into lawbreaking

"The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) internal watchdog is looking into whether the agency uses separate internal email accounts to conduct government affairs," The Hill reports.

"EPA’s inspector general said the audit follows on a congressional request. Some lawmakers have pressed EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson for answers on her alleged use of a separate internal email account under the alias 'Richard Windsor.'"

The bogus email account was uncovered by Chris Horner, American Tradition Institute's Director of Litigation.

"Its office of the inspector general wants to know whether the agency’s email practices comply with federal laws. The concern is whether correspondence through internal accounts would show up in a search for federal records."

NAACP not happy about advancement of colored person

South Carolina Congressman Tim Scott will break a color barrier when he becomes the United States Senate's only black member and first black Republican since Reconstruction and some people aren't too happy about it.

Namely the NAACP, who are hinting they will seek to cleanse the Senate of the black representative.

"(H)is voting record in the U.S. House of Representatives raises major concerns,” NAACP senior vice president for advocacy and policy Hilary Shelton tells The Daily Caller.

“It is important, we believe, that he recognize that awesome responsibility and perhaps what we’ll see is a change in how he votes and what he advocates for in a way more consistent the NAACP has as well.”

He blasted Scott for supporting education reforms that would give parents and local communities more control over schools and curriculum.  The education policies supported by the NAACP have led to lower test scores and graduation rates for black students.

Shelton indicated the NAACP will try to deliver the black lawmaker's seat to a white politician, removing all black representation in the Senate, should he seek re-election.

Texas Democrat Party official issues terrorist threats to kill gun owners

Texas Democrat Party official John Cobarruvias issued multiple terrorist threats to begin hunting and killing people who voice support for legal gun ownership

"Can we now shoot the #NRA and everyone who defends them?," he wrote on Twitter, also writing on his blog, "They need to [be] wiped off the face of the earth."

Cobarruvias is a Houston-area precinct chairman and a State Executive Committee member for the Texas Democratic Party from Houston, setting official party policies.

The use of violence or threats of violence for social or political purposes is terrorism. There can be no tolerance for violence or those who advocate it.

When guns stop crime the media attach their silencers

I wrote this article over ten years ago, on Jan. 28, 2012.  It was published Feb. 4, 2002 in The (Virginia Beach) Virginian-Pilot, the Commonwealth's largest newspaper.

Give the media credit; they know how to selectively report a story. Covering last year's EP-3 reconnaissance plane crash, Communist China's People's Daily failed to mention Chinese pilot Wong Wei frequently buzzed American aircraft and likely rammed the slower plane. Cuba's Granma conveniently neglected to report that Elian Gonzales' supposedly loving father rarely saw the child prior to Elian's escape to the United States.

And just this month The Washington Post and other news outlets purposefully did not report that two armed students stopped the tragic shooting at Virginia's Appalachian School of Law.

The story itself is newsworthy. When Peter Odighizuwa began his deadly rampage, most students fled the premises in fear of their lives. Two students, however, bravely faced the armed maniac determined to end the killing. Tracy Bridges, 25, and Mikael Gross, 34 retrieved guns from their cars and with the help of police officer Ted Besen surrounded Odighizuwa. Bridges aimed his weapon at Odighizuwa, who dropped his and was tackled. Had Bridges and Gross obeyed the federal "gun free schools" law, Odighizuwa would have continued his deadly rampage, killing with impunity while unarmed citizens waited for the government's monopoly on force, the local police, to arrive and resolve the situation.

Given the fact that their actions saved countless lives, the omission of that critical fact is stunning. Had the men attempted to subdue Odighizuwa, at least one almost certainly would have been shot at point-blank range. A more likely scenario is a crazed Odighizuwa moving through the campus' buildings killing all those he came across as hundreds fled, powerless to stop him.

The fact that two men put their lives at risk and were able to heroically save numerous other students only because they had firearms is central to the story. But somehow it fell through the mainstream media's gaping editorial cracks.

The silence is deafening. In last Friday's New York Post, the American Enterprise Institute's Dr. John Lott reports that of the 280 news reports identified by Lexis-Nexis search engines, only four reported that two of the students who stopped the mass killing were armed. When only 1.4 percent of news stories mention the fact that those who stopped a potential massacre did so with firearms, that can't be chalked up to the constraints of a word count.

"In this age of 'gun free schools,' the vast majority of the news reports ignored the fact that the attack was stopped by two students who had guns in their cars," wrote Lott. Considering the sensationalized coverage afforded shootings by hostile armed students, it is disturbing to hear the silence surrounding peaceful armed students who heroically stop mass killings. While the minute handful who discharge weapons in schools are afforded days of network news coverage, stories on the two million defensive uses of firearms are found only in the newsletter of Gun Owners Of America and the local police blotter.

Lott's research shows Bridges' and Gross' actions aren't unusual. In his best seller More Guns, Less Crime, Lott finds that peaceable citizens use firearms to stop crimes more than two million times a year. In over 90 percent of those cases the gun is not even fired. Just the remote threat of a citizen using deadly force to defend his life and property is enough to quell a criminal's desires. Odighizuwa may have been deranged, but he was certainly rational enough to realize he was no match for an armed citizen.

For their efforts, the media still have a hard time restraining evidence that gun control causes crime and that an armed society is a polite society. The normally far-left BBC begrudgingly reported this month that handgun crime in Great Britain has increased 40 percent, despite a 1997 ban on handguns.

Despite that momentary lapse of anti-gun editorial judgment, the truth about gun ownership -- a firearm in the hands of peaceful citizen stops crime and saves lives -- goes largely unnoted.

Luckily, the proliferation of cable news channels and Internet-based information sources is breaking the media's anti-Second Amendment news monopoly. Pro-gun organizations such as Gun Owners of America and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership dutifully note, record and report statistics, evidence and first-hand accounts of lives saved by unabridged firearms ownership.

Declining crime rates in concealed-carry states embarrassingly refute years of anti-gun propaganda. And stories like that of Bridges and Gross, however underreported, trickle into the mainstream, proving that guns save lives and gun control breeds crime.

Bridges and Gross should be commended for their bravery and selflessness. Those reporters and editors who intentionally failed to note they could only do so because they chose to exercise a constitutional right should be ashamed.

Johnny Manziel's Letterman Top 10 Perks of Winning the Heisman Trophy

Johnny Manziel's Top Ten Perks of Winning the Heisman Trophy

Newtown and Lanza: Obama throwing lives away for electoral gains

President Obama is right. We should not accept acts of mass violence as routine or a byproduct of freedom.  

Thankfully the incidences of acts of mass violence have rapidly declined even as we have repealed gun laws and our nation becomes safer, and a wholesale reform of the nation's policies on mental health would not only prevent the loss of innocent victims but save the lives and restore the well-being of those who lose themselves to committing these acts.

If you want to stop tragedies like this we need to address the root of the problem - our inability to properly help people with health issues that make themselves a danger to others.

 We have an unaddressed social problem with people who have health issues that make themselves a danger to others. They are not being effectively treated or dealt with.

But rather than propose mental health policy reforms that would go a long way to solving the greater problem of acts of mass violence by dangerous persons Obama has instead announced he will seek cosmetic changes that don't address the issue of violent sociopathy itself, but instead allow him to attack his political opponents ahead of a 2014 election in which seeks to keep control of Senate and win control of the House while leaving the root of the problem completely ignored.

We are not solving the problem. We are just throwing lives away for electoral gains.

Opposition to Big Wind tax giveaway grows

More grassroots groups are joining American Tradition Partnership in opposing the “Wind Production Tax Credit” to bail out failing green corporations.

“They told 158 lawmakers in a letter that keeping the credit “essentially transfers taxpayer dollars from your constituents and subsidizes the states with such mandates’” The Hill reports.

Obama stopped arrest of sex offender working for Dem Senator

Earlier this year federal agents discovered Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta, an intern for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ,) is not just a convicted sex offender, but also in this country illegally.

A convicted sex offender working in an office with young women is a dangerous situation.

Naturally, federal agents moved quickly to arrest and deport the criminal.

One problem.

Senator Menendez is up for election this year.  Democrats stood to lose control of the U.S. Senate if a Democrat got bad press.

So the Obama White House blocked federal agents from arresting a sex offender working next to young women because it might hurt Democrats' chances of controlling the Senate.

Those federal agents contacted the AP to blow the whistle on Democrats harboring criminals and delaying arrests.