Do Dogs Have a Sixth Sense About Obama?

This dog understands what Obama supporters can’t seem to grasp when it comes to “government handouts.”

GOOD BOY!

Rep. Jackson: "Obama should ‘declare a national emergency,’ add jobs with 'extra-constitutional' action"

PRESIDENT ABRAHAM OBAMAThis past October, llinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. told The Daily Caller that congressional opposition to the American Jobs Act is akin to the Confederate “states in rebellion.”  Listen very carefully to this radical's analysis of today's economic situation and advice to Obama.

Read the full story…

Good Cop—Bad Cop

Alderman Steve Taylor’s stance on the 2012 City budget posted last month on his FranklinNOW blog “From the Fourth” read like a  “good cop—bad cop” scene from NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," with Alderman Steve Taylor taking one for Mayor Tom Taylor while simultaneously throwing himself and fellow aldermen and Finance Committee members Tim Solomon and Kristen Wilhelm under the proverbial bus.  Political ambitions take no prisoners.

Alderman Taylor writes:

[All emphasis added.]

The Finance Committee’s proposed budget which the Mayor has vetoed had a levy increase of 2.3% but savings of $35 on a home assessed at $235,000. Unlike the “shell game” which the Mayor boasts as a levy decrease the approved budget is extremely transparent with actual savings.

Common Council president Steve Taylor—as noted earlier— also serves on the City Finance Committee.  It strikes me as rather odd that Steve Taylor would boast that a committee he serves on, and has served on for several years, would openly “boast” that the Finance Committee proposed a budget with a tax levy increase of 2.3 percent; taking care to note in the same paragraph that the mayor vetoed the Finance Committee’s proposal, adding “Unlike the ‘shell game’ which the Mayor boasts as a levy decrease the approved budget is extremely transparent with actual savings.  Again, Finance Committee: BAD—Mayor Tom Taylor: GOOD.

Common sense would dictate that none of the current members of the Finance Committee should be renominated by Mayor Tom Taylor for appointment to this committee when their term is up, considering the fact that Mayor Taylor vetoed their proposed budget increase.

We also found it interesting that Alderman Taylor found it necessary to printout that the “… approved budget is extremely transparent...,” begging the question: Why wouldn’t it be?

Alderman Taylor continues:

The Mayor proposed a budget in September which lowered the tax levy but placed a separate fee for garbage pickup on your tax bill. The levy decreased by 2.4% which resulted in $101 savings on a home assessed at $235,000. However, a $104 dollar fee, also known as a tax, for garbage pickup would be added to your tax bill and it is also not tax deductible. There may be a time when the City of Franklin has no choice and has to separate the garbage service cost from the tax levy but now is not the time.  Shout it from the roof tops with me..."Finance Committee: BAD—Mayor Tom Taylor: GOOD."

Three months or so later, it was time to add a NEW garbage pick-up tax, which Alderman Taylor fails to explain what exactly has changed in the previous few months to make it necessary to create a new tax on Franklin homeowners.

Being a cynic of government and particularly Mayor Tom Taylor's arguably long-time corrupt administration, I ask you to consider this question: Is it possible that the Mayor’s proposed budget which, Alderman Taylor claims, lowered the tax levy by 2.4 percent, amounts to the City’s annual cost for garbage pick-up and in a budget shell game the 2.4 percent "savings" was appropriated somewhere else, necessitating the a separate fee for garbage pickup on your tax bill?

Is Public Education Getting a Failing Grade?

In an effort to inform the public and shape education reform in the upcoming year, members of the Hoover Institution’s Koret Task Force on K-12 Education released their second annual list of the top five best and top five worst events in American education in 2011. This list indicates that several positive developments led to greater parental choice, system transparency and teacher accountability; however, “the worst” events indicate that there remains considerable room for improvement.

In this video Hoover Institution scholar Dr. Bill Evers discusses whether taxpayers are getting what they pay for out of public education.

RELATED STORIES

• "Great" Teachers… (FIJ)
• Best and Worst in American Education, 2011 (Hoover Institute)
• School Competition Rescues Kids (Human Events)
• The Debate within the Classroom (THE STANFORD REVIEW)

FDR's Ghost Is Smiling on Wisconsin's Governor

A history lesson for the Progressives and the public sector union leaders coordinating Governor Walker’s recall effort

Here is an interesting story regarding government unions published in Real Clear Politics on February 19, 2011.

Somewhere, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is grinning past his cigarette holder at Wisconsin's governor. They are on the same page regarding government unions.

Except that Scott Walker -- Republican cheapskate, his visage Hitlerized on signs waved by beet-faced union crowds besieging the Capitol -- is kind of a liberal squish compared to FDR. He's OK with some collective bargaining.  Walker, you might have heard, wants some changes in how Wisconsin deals with unions. He wants state employees to pay 5.8% of their salaries toward their pensions (they pay almost nothing now) and he wants them to cover 12.6% of their health care premiums (their share would go up from $79 a month to about $200; the average private-sector sap pays about $330).

Unions are enraged. They've been calling such increases unspeakable since Walker was elected handily in November. Then, Feb. 10, Walker went further. He'd allow public-sector unions to negotiate only pay, not benefits, mainly because he wants HSA-style health plans and 401(k)-style retirements for state workers, and unions would fight that, tooth and ragged red claw.

So unions erupted. Teachers faked illness in such numbers as to close school districts for days. Mobs beat on the doors of legislative chambers. And in some heavenly Hyde Park, the great liberal god of the 1930s is saying he saw it all along. 

Roosevelt's reign certainly was the bright dawn of modern unionism. The legal and administrative paths that led to 35% of the nation's workforce eventually unionizing by a mid-1950s peak were laid by Roosevelt.

 But only for the private sector. Roosevelt openly opposed bargaining rights for government unions.

"The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service," Roosevelt wrote in 1937 to the National Federation of Federal Employees. Yes, public workers may demand fair treatment, wrote Roosevelt. But, he wrote, "I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place" in the public sector. "A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government."  Read full story…

2011 in Review

Here is Fox News' look back at the headlines and biggest stories of 2011.

Ayn Rand and Objectivism: The Antithesis of Barrack Obama and Collectivism

In keeping with our goal… to enlighten, inspire, educate—and even entertain—our fellow Franklinites to become more active and engaged in Franklin government, today we bring you a 1959 interview with Ayn Rand conducted by Mike Wallace in 1959 (30:00), two years after the publication of Rand’s novel  “Atlas Shrugged.”

Before we get to that interview, here is “Rand-O-Rama: The Long Shelf Life of Ayn Rand's Legacy” (4:00) a video by Reason TV.

Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged

In 1957, a 1,168 page book by Ayn Rand, titled “Atlas Shrugged,” was published. According to one source, Rand was alleged to be a mistress to Philippe Rothschild, who instructed her to write the book in order to show that through the raising of oil prices, then destroying the oil fields and shutting down the coal mines, the Illuminati (New World Order) would take over the world. It also related how they would blow up grain mills, derail trains, bankrupt and destroy their own companies, till they had destroyed the economy of the entire world; and yet, they would be so wealthy, that it would not substantially affect their vast holdings. The novel is about a man who stops the motor of the world, of what happens when "the men of the mind, the intellectuals of the world, the originators and innovators in every line of industry go on strike; when the men of creative ability in every profession, in protest against regulation, quit and disappear."

As you watch this interview keep in mind that is was recorded in 1959.

LEARN MORE ABOUT AYN RAND’S PHILOSOPHY

• The Ayn Rand Institute
• The Atlas Society

A Soldier's Silent Night

It’s December 24 and we’re once again pleased to bring you our Christmas tradition, "A Soldier's Silent Night."  This marks the fifth year that "A Soldier's Silent Night" has appeared on one of Fred Keller’s online publications and the YouTube views since it was uploaded on Feb 17, 2007 has reached 206,927; something never imagined at the time.

The original version of the poem was written by Marine Lance Corporal James M. Schmidt in 1987 under the title "Merry Christmas, My Friend."

Wisconsin Connection

The audio recording of this adapted version was recorded by Father Ted Berndt and his daughter Ellen Stout. Father Berndt was a priest at Bread of Life Charismatic Episcopal Church in Dousman, Wisconsin, a proud Marine, and a WWII Purple Heart recipient and is pictured at the end of the video.

The poem was recorded in one take. The recording received a national A.I.R. (Achievement in Radio) award from the March of Dimes and continues to be played in radio stations across the country.

Father Berndt passed away March 19th, 2004 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. According to his daughter, "All he ever wanted to do was touch lives...to make a difference. We are blessed to share "A Soldier's Silent Night" again with you this Christmas."

May "A Soldier's Silent Night" transcend any opinion about war, and go deeper to foster an appreciation for the selfless sacrifice and courage of United States soldiers, Veterans and their families.

MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIENDS!

RELATED MEDIA

• The Story behind The Audio Recording

Country Music Friday: LeAnn Rimes

This week we again feature my favorite female Country star, LeAnn Rimes, Grrrrrrrrrr... as she pays tribute to LGBT youth everywhere, joining the 2010 GMCLA Holiday Concert honoring the memory of those who have taken their lives in desperation and to those who struggle with anti-gay bullying and discrimination. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

New York City Lawmakers Call for Ticker Tape Parade for Iraq Vets

What do you think?

Update on Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 10:40 AM by Basil Ryan

Obama Administration Nixes Ticker-Tape Parade for Iraq War Troops

Obama's contempt for the military is palpable. They say they are afraid a celebration "could spark violence overseas." How ridiculous. As if the jihadis weren't already trying to kill U.S. military personnel. Now the Obama Pentagon would have us believe that everything is fine and peaceful, but a ticker-tape parade for our troops will set the jihadis off? Please.  Read more...

The Dumbest School Board in America?

First Amendment of the United States Constitution

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Earlier this month the “Einsteins” on the school board of the town of Jackson, NJ, decided to test the First Amendment of the United States Constitution by giving the silent treatment to reporters they considered  unethical, which is their right under the first amendment.

The proposed policy would permit board members to decline to speak with reporters whom the Board of Education considers to be in violation of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics.

The thought of politicians passing judgment on others’ ethics is laughable.

The proposed resolution will address “people who are calling themselves journalists and are really just bloggers,” said board member Barbara Fiero.

This school board in a  township of nearly 60,000 residents is no stranger to controversy.

According to this December 20 story:

With a Township budget crisis and pending layoffs looming, Jackson Township Mayor Michael Reina is upset with the members of the Jackson Board of Education over their decision earlier this year to take unexpected, additional state aid that the school district received and defer it to next year’s school district budget instead of refunding it to taxpayers this year.  Read full story…

JTOWN magazine reported on December 19 that after receiving criticism from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Jackson School Board brain-trust chose to withdraw its policy proposal. Score one for the Bill of Rights, taxpayers and bloggers!

BOTTOMLINE: “Stupid is as stupid does.”—Forrest Gump

Send the ACLU a Christmas Card This Year

Let’s all Send the ACLU a CHRISTMAS CARD this year.

As usual, the ACLU is working very hard to get rid of the CHRISTMAS part of this holiday.  In the spirit of the season let's all send them a nice, card to brighten up their dark, sad, little world.  Here's the address, just don't be rude or crude:

ACLU

125 Broad Street, 18th Floor

New York, NY 10004

Some in this loosely coordinated movement suggest that a couple tons of Christmas cards would disrupt their operations because the ACLU wouldn't know if any of thismail were regular mail containing contributions.  So spend 44 cents and tell the ACLU to leave Christmas alone. Also tell them that there is no such thing as a “Holiday Tree".  It's always been called a CHRISTMAS TREE!

Congress Continues its Lies and Deception as the Payroll Tax Cut Deadline Nears

From the mouths politicians.

FNC’s Neil Cavuto interviews Representative Chris Van Hollen (D - MD) about the reindeer political games in both parties over the payrol tax cut bill before the House of Representatives.

I may not be the smartest guy in the room, but I do not see the logic in Speaker Boehner’s short-sighted stance on the length of the payroll tax cut and here is why; the Senate passed a bill that includes a two-month tax cut extension; Boehner wants a one year extension.  The Senate bill also includes the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline project that would run from Canada to Texas.  Seems like a no-brainer to me.

RELATED STORIES

• Obama: Pleased with tax cut; no comment on oil pipeline
• Boehner: No payroll tax cut without pipeline
• Analysis: The Keystone Pipeline - He Said, She Said, They Said

Newt Gingrich: "I'm a Theodore Roosevelt Republican"

"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. “—Theodore Roosevelt

RELATED READING

• How Theodore Roosevelt Changed America

"The PROTESTER”: Time Magazine’s Person of the Year

"I wanted to die right then. I hear a voice yelling, 'Lieutenant ... Lieutenant ... oh my God ... I think the lieutenant is dead. ...' I remember being drug and put into a vehicle. ... I was screaming the whole time ... but with most of my face blown off and my mouth destroyed ... it came out as this ghostlike hollow sound ... not even human. The next thing I remember was waking up weeks later at Walter Reed Army Hospital in D.C."

--Lieutenant D.J. Skelton

You likely know by now that the last U.S. soldiers rolled out of Iraq across the border into neighboring Kuwait at daybreak Sunday.

The un-declared war cost nearly 4,500 American lives and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives and almost $1 trillion ($800 billion) from the U.S. Treasury.

With this in mind, from our point of view Time Magazine has its priorities all wrong with its choice of “The Protestor,” for its 2011 Person of the year. 

Our Person of the Year is the American soldier—especially as the last U.S. soldiers left Iraq—who through their service and sacrifice to this country for 236 years have defended and protected the rights of “The Protestor" to protest.

Roy Exum a so-called “grassroots contributor" to THE PATRIOT POST has a similar point of view in his commentary piece entitled: My 2011 Man of the Year (MUST READ). And although our troops have left the battlefields of Iraq, many will face another, potentially lifelong, battle here at home .  ABC’s Christiane Amanpour interviewed Army General Peter Chiarelli about the devastating “invisible wounds and scars” of war facing our returning troops and their families.

RELATED STORIES

• Capt. D.J. Skelton, the Army's Most Seriously Wounded Commander, Returns to Combat
• NC Soldier, 23, Was Last US Troop Killed in Iraq
• VA claims backlog approaches 1 million mark
• VA hopes to eliminate backlog in benefits claims by end of 2015
• Legion: 'Treat the root' of VA claims backlog
• Support Our Wounded Warriors This Christmas

"Great" Teachers…

Ask Franklin Schools Superintendent Steve Patz or any member of the Franklin school board and they will likely tell you: Franklin public schools have great teachers.  Arguably, “great” is relative, but Merriam-Webster defines great this way: An outstandingly superior or skillful person.  We do not doubt that Franklin Public Schools has some great teachers, but like any organization it more than likely has its share of not –so-great- teachers, as-well.

In researching what makes a great teacher, we came across a number of websites  that attempted to answer the question: What makes a great teacher?  You are welcome to Google that question to satisfy your own curiosity, but we settled for an article entitled: Top 5 (Plus 14) Character Traits Of Superior Teachers at a website named:  So you want to teach.com.

The article concludes that these are the Top 5 (Plus 14) Character Traits Of Superior Teachers and that if you want to be a great teacher, these are the things you should begin to develop first.  How do these traits  measure up to your expectation and definition of a great teacher?  Meet my hair-pulling fourth grade teacher, Miss Martins:

Top 5 Character Traits of Great Teachers

1. Inspired me and never let me settle for anything less than my best.
2. Compassionate, caring, made me feel important and welcomed, made a personal connection with me.
3. Were demanding, pushed me hard.
4. Had a great sense of humor.
5. Knowledge of the subject matter.

Other specifics

1. Wasn’t afraid of what other people thought.
2. Passion for the subject matter.
3. Challenged me to think beyond just the answer in the textbook.
4. Listened to my ideas.
5. Taught me new things.
6. A terrific fund raiser.
7. Kept things interesting.
8. They were interactive.
9. Added personal elements to the classroom.
10. Organized.
11. Wasn’t fake or shallow with comments to students.
12. Discipline.
13. Confidence.
14. They were problem solvers, rather than simply problem identifiers.

THE FRANKLIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL is a member of Michelle Rhee’s studentsfirst.

Here is Rhee discussing studentsfirst.org, school reform and great teachers.

RELATED MEDIA

• Studentsfirst.org Facebook link>

Not a “Facebooker”?

• Here is StudentsFirst’s website (videos) link>

Fortunately, we no longer have kids in Franklin Public Schools and feel comfortable writing about this subject without fear of reprisals to our kids from teachers doubling as union reps thug-enforcers.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! House Approves $1 Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill

The Hill is reporting that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives easily approved a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill Friday, sending the bill to a Senate for a likely weekend vote.

Senate passage would send the bill to the White House and avert a government shutdown, but would not end Congress's business for 2012. Lawmakers are expected to return to Washington next week to complete work on an extension of a payroll tax cut.

After a brief debate, the House easily approved the omnibus, funding most areas of the federal government through the 2012 fiscal year.

Despite the public “frictions” between the two parties throughout the week, the bill was approved in an overwhelming 296-121 vote. Thirty-five Democrats and 86 Republicans voted against it.  Read the full story…

RELATED STORY

•  House Republicans Bill adds $25.3 Billion to Deficit
• Senate Passes Short-Term Payroll Tax Cut Extension, Budget

Country Music Friday: Elvis and Martina McBride

Elvis;  Country music?  Yes and I know of only two Franklinites who probably know that Elvis is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.

Here is the King and Country Music Superstar Martina McBride performing Blue Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Liberty v the Fatal Cycle of Democracy

The following essay by Mark M. Alexander, Executive Editor & Publisher, appeared on his online publication: The Patriot Post, Thursday, December 15, 2011.

For those of you who believe that America is at a crossroads and that the 2012 general elections will likely be the most important election in our lifetime, we thought it was worth sharing with our readers:

The Path from Freedom to Bondage

"Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them." --Thomas Jefferson

December 15th marks the anniversary of the 1791 ratification of the Bill of Rights, the common name for the first 10 amendments to our Constitution. The purpose of the Bill was, and remains, to assert the enumeration of limitations on the national government in order to protect our natural rights to Liberty and property as "endowed by our Creator."

There was much debate among our Founders about the need to enumerate rights that are inherently endowed, especially as amendments rather than in the corpus of our Constitution. Alexander Hamilton argued this point in Federalist No. 84: "I ... affirm that bills of rights ... are not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution, but would even be dangerous. ... For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?"  Read full essay at The Patriot Post…

Is the Forward Franklin Economic Development Committee Spinning its Wheels?

We humbly submit this multiple-source REALITY CHECK for the citizens of Franklin, Mayor Tom Taylor and the Forward Franklin Economic Development Committee members and ask that you remember what you see and read here when our bloviating, misleading City leaders declare "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" and claim that Franklin’s economic climate is improving thanks to this committee which,  since its creation on June 21, 2011, has held five meetings and one workshop.  A look at the committee’s meeting minute’s reveals little to no substantive progress in achieving the primary goals of this new committee, other than considering whether to reappropriate funds and spend $110,484 for marketing materials and possibly a website.  Here are the meeting minutes for “Forward Franklin’s” October 24 meeting; providing readers with a glimpse of its work.

Basically, according to the City's website, the purpose of the Forward Franklin Economic Development Committee is to promote and enhance the City of Franklin; to actively pursue commercial and industrial business development/investment for relocation into the City of Franklin to achieve a balanced tax base; to work with the business community in the retention and expansion of the businesses already within the City; and to promote the City in various manners as an excellent place to live and do business.  Read More...

Here is the REALITY CHECK we promised earlier.

FBC’s Neil Cavuto discusses job creation in America with Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus.

RELATED STORIES

• What the New Unemployment Numbers Are Telling Us
• Fox and Friends "DNC Chair Denies Unemployment Has Gone Up Under Obama"
• Wasserman Schultz goofs on unemployment
• Dodd-Frank Act Overview
• Story of Stuff, Full Version; How Things Work, About Stuff (A Tides Foundation anti-capitalism video playing in classrooms across America)
• Job Creators Alliance