Daily Archives: May 29, 2014

05/29/14

The Main Event This Weekend: Slavery vs Freedom

By: Lloyd Marcus

This weekend, the state convention will decide if State Senator Julianne Ortman will climb the next step up the ladder to the August 14 primary to become the Republican U.S. Senate nominee to ultimately defeat toxic flaming-liberal Democrat Al Franken in the general.

Ortman released her Twelve-Point Turnaround Plan for Minnesota and America. http://on.fb.me/1nwoxJ0 Upon comparing Ortman’s plan to Franken’s failures 2009-2014, the contras was striking. I thought, “Oh my gosh. Franken equals big government controlled slavery. Ortman equals liberty and freedom!”

The battle between Franken and Ortman really comes down to slavery vs freedom.

Here are a few examples. As a loyal enforcer for our supreme imperial dictator Barack Obama, Al Franken cast the deciding vote for Obamacare which is a huge iron-fist take-a-way of our liberty and freedom. Ortman will fight to repeal Obamacare and rely on a state model like MNCare.

Franken supports King Obama’s lawless Executive Orders; his refusal to enforce immigration laws and desire to implement amnesty. Ortman says we must secure our borders and enforce existing immigration laws.

These are just a few of the issues Ortman deals with in her Turnaround Plan. When you compare Ortman’s agenda with Franken’s, it is quite obvious that Franken is one of King Obama’s many overlords along with the IRS, DOJ, NSA and other governmental agencies, all working together in concert to keep We the People slaves in check.

Let us not forget that Franken demanded that the IRS harass conservative and Tea Party groups, lest we patriots escape from Obama’s unprecedented intrusive all-powerful and all-controlling big government plantation. http://bit.ly/1mBRRNd

In terms of their war-chest, we are talking David vs Goliath. As of March 31, Ortman has a little over $600 thousand compared to Franken’s $6 million.

I am chairman of CCC (Conservative Campaign Committee). Our seemingly impossible mission which we have passionately chosen to accept is to travel the country launching independent expenditure campaigns to help conservatives get elected in key House and Senate races. On several occasions, we have faced the challenge of first defeating the GOP’s anti-Tea Party establishment candidate before taking on the Democrat. Ortman for U.S. Senate is one such race.

Here is our TV ad supporting Julianne Ortman for U.S. Senate, Minnesota. http://bit.ly/1kIOJz4

Ortman is an extremely bold, brilliant and capable fighter for conservative principles; a student of Minnesota for 14 years. She has built/earned confidence and public trust, proclaiming that she has taken 14 years of public votes.

Ortman says, “It has become all too clear that Washington is broken and that it no longer serves anyone but itself and monied special interests.” She added, “We need more Minnesota in Washington and less Washington in Minnesota.”

I had the pleasure of hearing Sen Mike Lee speak in an intimate setting. Sen Lee explained how vitally important it is to send conservatives to Washington. He explained that the impact of every additional conservative extends much further and is far greater than just one more vote. It encourages, strengthens and empowers their ranks.

Ortman will be a tremendous asset to our “good guys” fighting Obama-ism in Washington. So folks, whatever you can do to help push Ortman across the finish line is a victory for freedom over slavery. http://bit.ly/1kIOJz4

The choice is clear. Freedom and liberty through Ortman vs ever-increasing slavery through Franken.

Lloyd Marcus, Unhyphenated American
Chairman, Conservative Campaign Committee

05/29/14

Sen. Rand Paul: With Utmost Respect, You’re Wrong About This

By: Lloyd Marcus

Perhaps it is due to me being a PK (preacher’s kid) with fond childhood memories of adoringly watching my dad preach well prepared sermons at the Holy Temple Church of Truth storefront in a Baltimore ghetto, the Bible remains my ultimate reference source for wisdom and leadership.

Moses who led the Israelite people out of slavery is an excellent example of what to do and what not to do as a leader. His decisions were rooted in obedience to God’s instructions which proved to be most beneficial to his flock. Moses ignored vehement critics and even them threatening to stone him to death. He did the right thing even when it did not jive with popular opinion. That is leadership folks.

On one occasion, due to pressure from his people, Moses disobeyed God and took matters into his own hands. God’s punishment was harsh. God told Moses he would not be permitted to bring his people into the Promised Land. Leaders do not surrender, making decisions which they know to be wrong to appease bullies, manipulators and the ignorant.

A case in point is Senator Rand Paul. Sen. Paul is out there saying that the GOP should back away from requiring a photo ID to vote. http://bit.ly/1o71Ltg

Common sense tells us that requiring a photo ID to vote is a reasonable logical way to prevent voter fraud. Since a photo ID is required to complete a plethora of transactions, what is the big deal? Thus, it is absurd to call the photo ID requirement to vote racist.

In essence, Sen Paul is surrendering to the mainstream media supported Democrat absurd lie that requiring a photo ID to vote is racist. During a radio interview Senator Paul said that the GOP should not push something that is “offensive” to a group of people.

Senator Paul with all due respect, and I truly do respect and like you, I find your pandering to my fellow blacks disappointing.

Since Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 War on Poverty, the Democratic party has implemented programs and lowered standards which have wrecked havoc on black families; http://bit.ly/1eqdeLJ treating us as inferiors in need of special concessions and endless government handouts to survive. Sen Paul, the last thing we Americans who happen to be black need is for the GOP to embrace the Left’s paradigm that we are lesser Americans. Do not expect too much of us poor black folks because we “be” special.

Okay, I get it and wholeheartedly agree that the GOP should reach-out to black America. Frankly, the GOP is a little late to the dance. For years, I have been pestering the GOP to reach-out to the black community with “Reach Your Dreams” tours.

My concept is simple. The tour would feature great music. I know awesome conservative rappers and dancers who could capture the ears of the young and hip seniors. Imagine successful minority speakers like Herman Cain, Katrina Pierson and others on stage sharing how they achieved their American Dreams via education, hard work and right choices (conservative principles). The GOP defeatist response has been, “Why bother? The Democrats will get 95% of the black vote no matter what we do.”

Apparently, that opinion has changed and the GOP is wisely pursuing black voters. But for crying out loud, offering a liberal Democrat-Lite agenda and treating blacks like inferiors too stupid to find their way to the DMV is not the way.

Sen Paul rather than surrendering to the Democrats’ and MSM’s spin that requiring a photo ID to vote is racist, show real “presidential candidate” leadership. Turn the table on the Dems. Tell black voters that the Democrats are insulting their intelligence. The Democrats talk down, expect less and treat them like lesser Americans.

When these supposed advocates of black empowerment (NAACP, Congressional Black Caucus, Obama Administration and the MSM), say requiring a photo ID to vote disenfranchises blacks, it is a major “dis”. Black America should be outraged. With friends who think so little of us blacks, we do not need enemies.

I am not just picking on Senator Paul. I am simply saying voters are discouraged and frustrated with soulless politicians/candidates whose every decision is a political calculation and an attempt to win votes at any and all cost. It is not unreasonable for voters to expect political leaders with character and backbone who simply desire to serve and do the right thing for their constituents and America.

Steve Lonegan running for U.S. Congress in New Jersey http://bit.ly/1qYaY9k and South Carolina U.S. Congressman Trey Gowdy http://bit.ly/1qcDhjX are two guys that fit the bill. I love these guys. Neither give a hoot about being politically correct. Both are fearless fighters for truth, justice and defending our liberty and freedom. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

I have not selected my preferred 2016 GOP presidential nominee. I want someone trustworthy who will always do what is honorable, righteous and best for my country; no divisive pandering or special concessions to groups to win votes. Please, we have had enough of that low rent politicking in government.

Nor, will I support a GOP candidate who sticks their finger in the air to see which direction the MSM endorsed and consultant’s political wind is blowing and designs their platform accordingly. Stop insulting our intelligence and morality by continuously advocating lowered intellectual and moral standards and calling it outreach and creating a “big tent”.

We are Americans http://bit.ly/1jaBEtE, products of a remarkably successful unique experiment. GOP, deal with us accordingly with respect; not like the Democrats who treat Americans, particularly minorities, like incapable inferior entitlement junkies in need of government managing every aspect of our lives.

We need a conservative leader who will grab the steering wheel and reverse the direction of our country away from Obama’s Government Controlled Welfareville. A true conservative will drive us back toward our Founding Fathers’ Promised Land of liberty and freedom where Americans are encouraged to be all they can be.

Sen Paul, America needs leadership, not surrender and pandering.

Lloyd Marcus, Unhyphenated American
Chairman, Conservative Campaign Committee

05/29/14

A Ticker-tape Parade for Treason?

By: Cliff Kincaid
Accuracy in Media

“For the foreseeable future,” says President Obama, “the most direct threat to America at home and abroad remains terrorism.” Yet his remarks at the United States Military Academy Commencement Ceremony included no acknowledgement that NSA traitor Edward Snowden has made this kind of terrorism more likely. And there were no demands for Moscow to turn him over to U.S. authorities to face espionage charges.

Our intelligence experts are worried that more terrorism is being planned. S. Eugene Poteat, a retired senior CIA Scientific Intelligence Officer and the current President of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, tells the most recent edition of Homeland Security Today that “Terrorists will now find it easy to counter our intelligence capability, which was based on NSA’s metadata, so we can expect more terrorism in the U.S. in the future.”

Asked by editor-at-large Timothy W. Coleman if Snowden received help from a foreign intelligence service, he commented, “[I] have no idea if he [Snowden] was already in Russia’s pocket, but I feel certain he is by now, and they will already have emptied his computers into theirs. The Chinese, I think, cleaned his clock also.” This was a reference to Snowden stopping in Hong Kong before going to Russia.

But some journalists, on the left and right, seem to think they know more than the experts, and that they are better equipped to judge.

Kirsten Powers is supposed to be one of the more level-headed liberals on the Fox News Channel. But her USA Today column on Wednesday praising Edward Snowden mouthpiece Glenn Greenwald is amateurish in its analysis of what happened in this case, and cavalier in dismissing the real possibility that American lives will be lost as a result of this anti-American intelligence operation.

“That Greenwald is not a member of the Washington insider club seems to be the real problem here,” she writes, in regard to some relatively mild criticism of Greenwald’s role. No, the real problem is that Greenwald’s role in publishing Snowden’s classified documents is a clear-cut violation of the Espionage Act. The former gay pornography executive deserves more, not less, media criticism.

Powers, whose bio says she graduated from the University of Maryland (but doesn’t say in what), doesn’t seem familiar with the law. She noted that NBC’s David Gregory asked Greenwald, “To the extent that you have aided and abetted Snowden…why shouldn’t you, Mr. Greenwald, be charged with a crime?” She then commented, “This accusation, dressed up as a question, was nonsensical. That it came from a fellow journalist was bizarre. How could reporting news be ‘aiding and abetting’? What crime could Greenwald possibly have committed?”

As we said at the time, “The question is entirely legitimate. Section 798 of the Espionage Act absolutely prohibits the publication of classified information in the area of communications intelligence. That would include programs of the National Security Agency (NSA).”

The “crimes” are clear to anyone who reviews the law. The fact that Greenwald has not been charged is more evidence that the Obama administration is not enforcing the law. This seems to be a habit of this administration.

Powers says journalists who criticize Greenwald “seem to labor under the delusion that it’s their job to protect the government.” No, the government, in this case, is the people who expect the laws to be enforced. Snowden was a government employee who stole the property of the government. That is why he has been charged with theft of government property, in addition to espionage.

She also turns her attention to Michael Kinsley’s observation that “There shouldn’t be a special class of people called ‘journalists’ with privileges like publishing secret government documents.” Powers comments, “Actually, there should be, and there is. Without that protection, The Times could not have published the Pentagon Papers. Take that protection away, and we have zero oversight of the government from outside forces.”

In this case, Powers is horribly confused. The “protection” was given to the paper to publish the documents without prior restraint. The charges against Daniel Ellsberg, who stole the Pentagon Papers and provided them to the Times, were pursued. However, they were eventually dismissed because of allegations of government misconduct.

Finally, Powers writes, “Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg noted that the friendly fire against Greenwald is unusual. Ellsberg told an interviewer last year that though he himself was an enemy of the government for leaking secrets during the Vietnam War, ‘journalists were not turning on journalists.’”

First, Ellsberg was not a journalist. Second, as noted, the legal issue was prior restraint, not prosecution of the leaker. In addition, the Pentagon Papers were a history of the Vietnam War, unrelated to ongoing intelligence and military operations. That makes the Snowden-Greenwald case far different.

Finally, it is not a case of journalists turning on other journalists to question their behavior and point out when they violate the law.

Powers called journalistic criticism of Greenwald “strange fury.” No, it’s strange to promote the view that Greenwald should be above criticism and that questions about his conduct are somehow out of bounds.

Even more bizarre than Powers was a column by Joseph Farah in WorldNetDaily saying that Snowden, living in Moscow, should be given a ticker tape parade in the U.S. and welcomed back as a whistleblower. This was strange because Farah’s publishing house, WND Books, released the blockbuster, Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism, which examines how the Soviet Union/Russia remains a major threat to the U.S. Its co-author, Lt. Gen Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest-ranking Soviet bloc intelligence official ever to defect to the West, told AIM that Snowden’s arrival in Russia was “the result of a well-prepared Russian intelligence operation” against the United States and that his analysis of the evidence shows that Snowden “is an agent of the Russian foreign intelligence service.”

Farah claims ignorance about Snowden’s motivations, and doesn’t seem to care. He should have consulted the co-author of one of his books. The former spy chief of Romania clearly understands the KGB/FSB.

“Apparently Snowden is willing to face the consequences of his action—which also makes him a conscientious practitioner of civil disobedience in its highest form, just like Martin Luther King Jr.,” Farah writes, in another mind-boggling statement. He quickly goes on to say, “He is willing to face trial if there is a deal that allows him to serve only a modest prison sentence.” So he is NOT prepared to face the consequences after all.

In effect, he wants a form of immunity from prosecution, no matter how many Americans die as a result of his treason.

Rather than encourage this kind of thing, journalists should be asking why the Obama administration is not doing everything possible to get Snowden back on U.S. soil to face espionage charges. As for Greenwald, the law dictates that he should be facing a grand jury himself, rather than hawking a book and flaunting his anti-Americanism.

Contrary to what Powers says, it seems that Greenwald has been admitted to the Washington insider club.

Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism and can be contacted at [email protected]. View the complete archives from Cliff Kincaid.

05/29/14

White House “Mistake” Exposes CIA Officer

By: Roger Aronoff
Accuracy in Media

The Obama administration “mistakenly” revealed the identity of its CIA Chief of Station (COS) in Kabul, Afghanistan, over the Memorial Day weekend, by including his name on a list of senior U.S. officials who were taking part in President Obama’s unannounced visit there with American troops. The “pool report” listing the COS’ name was ultimately passed on by the White House to 6,000 people working for various news organizations. According to The Washington Post, the names on the list were “provided by U.S. military officials.”

The “pool report” had been filed by the Post’s Scott Wilson, who failed to notice this problem until after he sent the list back to the White House. “There were several misunderstanding and mistakes that happened, including my own failure to review the list before including it in my pool report and sending it back to White House press officials for distribution. I wish I had, and I regret not doing so,” wrote Wilson in an email.

It was not Wilson’s responsibility to protect the identity of America’s top intelligence officer in Afghanistan; it was the White House’s responsibility to protect the identities of its people in the clandestine services before sending information onto the press. But informing the press apparently took precedent that day over attention to detail and national security.

Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi (CCB) Member Clare Lopez, a former CIA officer herself, questioned whether an inappropriate mentality exists at the White House and whether this has trickled down to other offices. “Our national security leadership simply doesn’t view the enemy as the enemy….it’s all ‘potential partners,’” she said. “There is no understanding that there are implacable, remorseless enemies in this world who never rest, never sleep, and constantly plot ways to harm and destroy us.”

“Without that defensive mentality, even absent deliberate ill will, these kinds of things will happen over and over again,” continued Lopez.

In their coverage of this alleged “mistake,” both The Washington Post and the UK Telegraph, as well as other news organizations, pointed to the outing of Valerie Plame, blaming Bush officials. “In 2003, aides to George W. Bush leaked the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA agent, in an attempt to tarnish the reputation of her husband, a former U.S. diplomat who criticized the Iraq war,” states the Telegraph. According to the Post, “The only other recent case came under significantly different circumstances, when former CIA operative Valerie Plame was exposed as officials of the George W. Bush administration sought to discredit her husband, a former ambassador and fierce critic of the decision to invade Iraq.”

Once again, the assertion is made that Plame was exposed by Bush officials who sought to discredit her husband, Joe Wilson. The Telegraph picked up that line almost verbatim. The truth, however, is that the person who leaked that information was Richard Armitage, of the State Department—someone who was opposed to going into Iraq. And in 2007, following the unjust prosecution of Scooter Libby, The Washington Post was the one discrediting Wilson, calling him a “blowhard,” and said that all of the major claims in his famous 2003 op-ed “were false.”

If the media would like to go after someone for leaking identities, they should look closer to home, at the Obama Administration itself. Have they forgotten how Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, then CIA Director, “recognized the unit that conducted the [bin Laden] raid and identified the ground commander by name…” at “a ceremony at CIA headquarters honoring personnel involved in the May 2011 bin Laden raid,” as recounted by the Project on Government Oversight? Panetta’s remarks contained Secret and Top Secret information, yet a Hollywood screenwriter for the movie “Zero Dark Thirty” was in attendance. As for Panetta, he claimed that his disclosure was inadvertent, just like the Obama administration’s recent disclosure of the Chief of Station’s identity has been excused as a “mistake.”

Perhaps this naiveté is just integral to the administration’s leadership. “A number of the new appointees, both senior and junior, seemed to lack an awareness of the world they had just entered,” former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates recounted about the fresh Obama team in his memoir Duty. “Symbolic of that, I noticed at our first meeting in the Situation Room that fully half the participants had their cell phones turned on during the meeting, potentially broadcasting everything that was said to foreign intelligence electronic eavesdroppers.”

“I mentioned it to Jim Jones, the new national security adviser, after the meeting, and the problem did not recur,” wrote Gates. How many other moments like this have the Obama team experienced?

Maybe there’s some sheer naiveté going on here, but the administration has had more than five years to improve on this situation since the day former Secretary Gates just described. For the sake of our nation, they need to learn a little faster.

Roger Aronoff is the Editor of Accuracy in Media, and can be contacted at [email protected]. View the complete archives from Roger Aronoff.

05/29/14

What’s this? Legal victories for constitutional rights?

By: James Simpson — cross-posted with permission from the author
WND

With “same-sex marriage” proponents winning victory after victory, free-speech rights under attack, the Constitution daily ignored by the Obama administration and fearsome agencies like the IRS, NSA and Justice Department turned against the American people, there’s precious little news these days of victories for the common man, for liberty, for fundamental rights.

And yet, there are important legal victories taking place, many under the national news radar but highly significant nevertheless.

Just ask the residents of Carroll County, Maryland.

The First Amendment

In recent decades, atheists have aggressively sought to extinguish all vestiges of Christianity from public life, citing the familiar but incorrect idea that the Constitution calls for the “separation of church and state.” Christmas trees now are “holiday” trees, kids get a “winter” break, and Nativity scenes and other traditional Christian displays have disappeared from the public square.

Among the issues are protests of Christian symbols on public grounds, threats against Christians in the military for publicly expressing their views and anti-Christian crusader Mikey Weinstein‘s pronouncement, “We are at war with a subset of evangelical Christianity … how many? Roughly 12.6 percent of the American public or 38 million people.”

But Carroll County, Maryland, Commissioner Robin Frazier made national news recently when she defied a court order banning the name “Jesus” in pre-meeting prayers.

“I think that is an infringement on my First Amendment rights,” she said. “I am not going to give up those rights. … I am willing to go to jail over it.”

She then proceeded to recite a prayer spoken by George Washington that specifically mentioned Jesus Christ twice.

The Supreme Court said she was right. In the landmark May 5 Greece v. Galloway decision, a case pitting the Greece, New York, town board against citizens who protested “sectarian” prayers in public meetings, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority:

To hold that invocations must be nonsectarian would force the legislatures that sponsor prayers and the courts that are asked to decide these cases to act as supervisors and censors of religious speech, a rule that would involve government in religious matters to a far greater degree than is the case under the town’s current practice of neither editing or approving prayers in advance nor criticizing their content after the fact.

Carroll County was among numerous local governments sued for initiating meetings with prayer. The National Center for Life and Liberty filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Greece case on behalf of Carroll County; Cobb County, Georgia; Rowan County, North Carolina; Lakeland, Florida; Franklin County, Missouri; Forsyth County, North Carolina; Hamilton County, Tennessee; and Franklin, Vermont. There were many more.

Second Amendment

In 2013, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed into law the Maryland Firearms Safety Act, or MFSA, over the objections of Maryland gun owners. The law requires an exhaustive procedure for handgun purchases and bans some so-called “assault” firearms and high-capacity magazines.

Senate hearings on the bill brought an unprecedented 2,644 people to testify against it, while thousands more rallied outside. A few witnesses hand-picked by the governor testified in favor of the bill. The Democratic Party leadership also stirred outrage when it called for a second vote after a Republican-proposed amendment won with support of some Democrats. After those Democrats were taken aside, they subsequently switched their votes, and the Republican amendment was defeated.

See the action:

Once again, Carroll County stepped in. Commissioner Richard Rothschild, the most outspoken board member, proposed that the board use “nullification” to neutralize the gun law in Carroll County. A law is nullified when a jury or elected officials declare a law to be invalid because it includes provisions reasonably deemed to be unconstitutional. The Maryland Firearms Safety Act is considered by some to be one such law.

Immigration

Progressives have been practicing their own form of nullification for years, for example, by supporting and promoting illegal immigration. O’Malley has created a de facto “sanctuary state” for illegals in Maryland by not enforcing existing laws, at a cost to Maryland taxpayers of about $1.7 billion annually.

President Obama also defied federal law by halting deportations of illegal aliens, even allowing the release of over 36,000 criminal aliens, including 193 murderers.

Rothschild decided that if the left can defy laws illegally, it was high time conservatives began doing it legally – targeting onerous laws that violate the highest law of the land, the Constitution.

Thus Rothschild and the Carroll County Commissioners passed a “Second Amendment Sanctuary County” Resolution. It declares the MFSA to be unequivocally unconstitutional and hence unenforceable:

The board reasonably believes the MFSA to be “pretended” (unconstitutional) legislation and be it further resolved that the board, in affirmation of the Second Amendment rights of the citizens of Carroll County, herein direct that Carroll County government will not authorize or appropriate government funds, resources, employees, agencies, contractors, buildings, detention centers or offices for the purpose of enforcing any element of the MFSA that infringes on the right of the people to keep and bear arms …

The resolution explains that no county resources will be used to administer or enforce the new law, including the sheriff and state’s attorney, unless it is coincident with other illegal activity. The resolution contains a number of stirring quotes from America’s Founding Fathers, including this from Thomas Jefferson:

Whenever our affairs go obviously wrong, the good sense of the people will interpose and set them to rights. … What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?

Property rights

Rothschild also made news nationwide three years ago by leading the Carroll County commissioners in the battle to expunge Agenda 21 planning programs from the county.

He explained it in terms everyone could understand: as an existential threat to property rights. He was subsequently asked to speak all across the country. He even joined the stage with outspoken Agenda 21 critic, Lord Christopher Monckton.

Local activists nationwide picked up the baton and ran with it, resulting in widespread rejection of Agenda 21 concepts in many municipalities and even some state legislatures.

Mass resistance

Meanwhile, up north, citizens in New York and Connecticut have been demonstrating their own “spirit of resistance” against new gun laws. As many as 90 percent of New York gun owners and tens of thousands of Connecticut gun owners have refused to register firearms as required by recently enacted laws. Connecticut gun rights groups have already gone to court once to challenge the Connecticut law, and are now doing so again.

The state is in turmoil in the face of this resistance.

Then, too, Coloradans threw out of office two of the state senators responsible for Colorado’s restrictive new gun laws. A third, Evie Hudak, resigned rather than face recall. Hudak earned particular ire in Senate gun hearings when she told a rape victim that self-defense with a handgun was futile.

“Chances are that if you would have had a gun, then [the rapist] would have been able to get that from you and possibly use it against you,” she said.

Using the law

Back to Carroll County, which used another little-known method to resist Maryland’s infamous “rain tax.”

Properly called a “storm water runoff fee,” the tax was enacted ostensibly to meet EPA-mandated Chesapeake Bay pollution targets. Maryland already has a “Bay Restoration Fee” that repeatedly has been raided by O’Malley to pay for other priorities, so there is little confidence the new fee will address the problem either.

But many citizens are unaware of a process called “coordination” that requires federal agencies to negotiate and compromise with state and local governments in implementing regulations. Coordination is embedded in the following laws:

  • National Environmental Policy Act
  • Federal Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
  • Federal Land Policy and Management Act
  • National Forest Management Act
  • Endangered Species Act
  • Clean Water Act
  • Clean Air Act
  • Others

In the Maryland case, Carroll County is further protected by a court ruling that the EPA cannot regulate storm water runoff as a pollutant under the Clean Water Act.

When the O’Malley administration proposed the rain tax, Carroll County had already been collecting revenues to pay for storm water management (less than 1 percent of the operating budget). The county objected to the new tax and refused to implement it.

The state backed down. No taxes have been increased. Frederick County, Maryland, reached a similar compromise, agreeing to collect a one-penny tax.

Many of these laws contain provisions that state and local governments use to resist federal overreach. For example, the Federal Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, passed in 1995 under a Republican Congress, was enacted to prevent the federal government from imposing mandates on state and local governments without providing adequate funding. The law applies to all regulations that could “significantly or uniquely affect small governments.”

There are other victories, too.

Ten Commandments

Judge Roy Moore, who was removed from his position as Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice in 2003 for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from state property, was re-elected as chief justice in 2012.

In February, the Alabama House passed a bill that would put a referendum to the public to decide whether or not to amend Alabama’s Constitution to allow the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public buildings. The bill is now before the state Senate.

And atheists took another hit May 9, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance is indeed constitutional.