A personal reflection on Sandy Hook

By Congressman Randy Forbes
December 14, 2012


There are times that news shocks us. And, then, there are times that news sends adrenaline snapping in our veins and bile churning in our gut.  News that makes thoughts charge at our own brain and our hearts stiffen against the walls of our chest.

Saturday's winter sun rose over an elementary school that just hours before had held twenty-six lifeless bodies.  America is reeling.  Twenty coffins will be cut and fashioned to fit the tiny bodies of precious children. Children yesterday pressed off to the bus stop, milk-laden cereal abandoned in sunny kitchens, beds unmade, lunches packed but never eaten.  Now ashes. Their little dreams frozen, their tiny handwritten school work crudely fashioned on straight lines savagely halted, their fingers never to drum softly on mother's arms again or tighten around papa's neck.  "I want to be a ballerina, and a doctor, and a singing star, Mama."  Gone.

We hunt for words that might mirror the tumult raging in the corridors of our minds.  Tragic. Senseless. Unimaginable. But each word, once rendered on our tongue, is inept at carrying the confusion and horror and pain inside. For those that can, we pull our children close holding their little frames until they pull away and gaze up at us pleasant, but confused.  "Daddy, why are you staring at me?"

Why?  Because our minds are at work painting the faces of our own children, their sweet clear eyes, on the students of Sandy Hook. Because the hollow sounds of gunshots echo in our souls, just as they blasted through the intercom down a hallway in Newtown, CT yesterday morning.  Because we feel the deep chasm between what was once a warm school filled with the high-pitched, off-key singing of gradeschoolers…. now, whose icy stillness is interrupted only by the sobs of grown men and women who have stared directly into the eyes of evil.  

The shoulders of our nation are bent under the weight of such heaviness.  Our raw, blistering grief is center stage for the world.  There will be a day for the what-ifs, and the should-haves, and the if-onlys and the we-musts.   Yes, there will be. 

But today we are left seeking a balm to cover our wounds. Each of us will search differently as we are free to do.  Perhaps some hands will cease feverishly wrapping gifts and tacking up Christmas lights and might instead rest in laps, heavy with the realization that we have little power to wipe away these hot and sticky tears.  Such deep horrible groans of grief we cannot silence.  Such evil we cannot undo. "Help us," we might whisper. "Please."

As we teeter on the edge of such sadness, though, there is a tug in many of our hearts.  A pull that reminds us that there is good, and that this good is far surpassing in portion to the evil we now confront.  Our minds are forced back to a God often forgotten in the times of prosperity.  A God swept aside even in our times of great challenge as we have stiffened our backs and trusted our hands to do work of fixing what must be fixed.  But now, here, in our pain, we see our own fragility in fresh light.  Here we sit, shaking and inadequate.  We cry not to some moth-eaten relic, but to an all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful, all-healing God whose handprint can be traced across the pages of our national triumphs and tragedies.  We'll trust you.  We must.  "Help us," we whisper.  "Please."

Handbook For Cultural Surrender

Gary L. Bauer
Campaign for Working Families
 

President Obama not only wants to gut the Defense budget, which will make it harder to win the war against Islamofascism, he also wants to gut America's moral example around the world. The Wall Street Journal broke a truly shocking story this week about the latest draft Army handbook on how our troops should conduct themselves in Afghanistan.

According to Obama's Army bureaucrats, the recent attacks by our Afghan "allies" against U.S.-led coalition troops, that have left 63 of our troops dead, are our fault! Consider this excerpt:

"Many of the confrontations occur because of [coalition] ignorance of, or lack of empathy for, Muslim and/or Afghan cultural norms, resulting in a violent reaction from the [Afghan security force] member."

The handbook goes on to advise our troops to avoid the following when speaking with Afghan security forces: "making derogatory comments about the Taliban," "advocating women's rights," "any criticism of pedophilia," "mentioning homosexuality and homosexual conduct" or "anything related to Islam."

In Afghan society, buggering little boys is widespread and women are treated like cattle. But, according to the Obama leftists running our government and military, the REAL problem is that U.S. soldiers, being good men and women, despise injustice and are inclined to be critical of such disgusting "traditions" like molesting little boys and treating women like slaves.

The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. John Allen, is refusing to endorse the handbook. I admire his courage, but he should be careful. In Obama's military, the general may find that his next assignment is in Benghazi.

Media Bias: Union Violence Ignored

Gary L. Bauer

Campaign for Working Families

There's an old saying in journalism, "If it bleeds, it leads." In other words, violence makes headlines. Unless, of course, it is left-wing violence against conservatives. In that case, the media collectively shrug and spike the story.

That was the case in Michigan yesterday as union thugs went on a rampage outside the state capitol after the legislature passed a right-to-work law. We reported yesterday that a tent sponsored by a conservative organization was torn down while people were still inside. But unless you were watching Fox News, you probably saw nothing about the attack on Steven Crowder, a conservative comedian and Fox commentator.

Crowder was pummeled by union thugs. The vitriol and the vicious attack were caught on tape. You can watch it here.

Crowder wasn't the only one. Clint Tarver, a hot dog vender, had his cart trashed and was called "Uncle Tom" and a "ni--er" because he was selling hot dogs to conservatives.

Yet even with one liberal legislator warning, "There will be blood" as a result of the vote, there wasn't a single story about this left-wing union violence on CBS News last night.

I raise this to once again demonstrate the incredible bias conservatives are confronting in the "main stream" media. When the Tea Party movement began in early 2009 around the idea of reducing federal spending, polls showed favorable public support for the movement. Then the media smear machine went to work.

Almost immediately Tea Party supporters, largely middle-aged and senior citizens, were portrayed as semi-fascists who were trying to hijack the democratic process. Two years later, after a barrage of distorted lies by the media, the public had soured on the Tea Party. Consider this excerpt from an April ABC News report about the polling data:

"While overall support is roughly balanced with overall opposition, 'strong' opponents outnumber strong supporters by 2-1. But perhaps most damaging is the buzz: Fifty percent of Americans say the more they hear about the Tea Party, the less they like it; just 27 percent say they like it more."

When there was a massive anti-Obamacare rally in Washington, D.C., the media went wild with claims that black members of Congress were subjected to racial slurs and that one was spit on by a Tea Party member. Despite thousands of people present with cell phone video cameras, there was never any proof the allegations were true. In fact, videos taken of the event refuted the allegations, but the left-wing narrative stuck.

Liberal Hypocrisy

Gary Bauer
Campaign for Working Families

Google's CEO Eric Schmidt is a big supporter of President Obama. Schmidt endorsed and campaigned for Obama in 2008. Contributions from Google's employees were the third largest source of campaign contributions for the president's reelection effort. And there was even talk of Schmidt joining President Obama's second term cabinet.

Given their close relationship, I urge President Obama to call out Google's tax avoidance practices as he continues making the case for raising taxes on small business owners to ensure that the well-off are paying their "fair share."

It was reported yesterday that Google has transferred about $10 billion to offshore accounts in Bermuda to avoid paying taxes. Where is the outrage?

According to Businessweek, Google's $10 billion amounts to roughly 80% of the company's 2011 pre-tax profits. And get this: "Last year, Google reported a tax rate of just 3.2 percent on the profit it said was earned overseas." Google may be known as a tech company, but it evidently also has some of the world's best lawyers and accountants!

And there's more. We recently told you about the hypocrisy of Costco's CEO Jim Sinegal, another big Obama supporter. Sinegal is saving $4 million in taxes because his company is rushing a special dividend payment before the end of year, when higher tax rates kick in. As it turns out, Costo isn't the only liberally-led company that is rushing to dodge tax hikes.

The Washington Post, which endorsed President Obama, has announced that instead of quarterly dividend payments next year, stockholders will receive all of 2013's dividends paid out in one lump sum on December 27th of this year.

And guess who happens to be one of the Post's biggest shareholders? Warren Buffett's investment company Berkshire Hathaway. As you know, Buffett has been clamoring for years for higher taxes. Presumably he will be donating his windfall to the IRS!

FRC Abandons Ship with UPS

Family Research Council

In this busy shipping season, UPS will have at least one less customer to worry about: FRC. After 11 years as our official carrier, FRC is suspending its contract with UPS for openly discriminating against the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). In November, company executives announced that they would no longer support organizations that refuse to bow to their politically correct view of homosexuality. Although Vice President Kristen Patrella insisted UPS's decision didn't specifically target the Scouts, theirs was the only group affected. UPS promised to end its charitable donations to the Scouts "until gay Scout leaders are welcome within the organization."

According to most reports, the shipping giant altered its policy after an online petition drive at the liberal website, change.org, encouraged companies to end their BSA partnerships. But in the end, the 83,000 signatures it collected is a drop in the ocean compared to the 1,074,775 Americans who volunteered with a troop last year -- or the 2.7 million boys who were actual members of the Boy Scouts. Yet they, the overwhelming majority, are the ones for whom UPS has shown the greatest contempt -- and whose valuable activities will suffer as a result.

FRC tried to resolve the matter behind the scenes, even contacting Chairman and CEO Scott Davis with a letter of protest -- to which UPS promptly replied. Unfortunately, the company only reiterated its position that until the BSA puts a greater priority on the political agenda of LGBT activists than the protection of Scouts, they are not entitled to the same equality UPS claims to endorse. Apparently, the company isn't interested in true diversity but in strong-arming anyone who disagrees with their extreme agenda -- including a century-old youth development program, whose only crime is instilling character into millions of American boys. As for their longstanding policy on homosexuality, the Boy Scouts are doing what every parent would want them to: putting children's safety first.

Meanwhile, it seems UPS is not only anti-freedom, but anti-religion as well. Last week, the federal government sued the company for firing a Jehovah's Witness driver over a scheduling request. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) argues that the shipping giant violated America's anti-discrimination laws when it refused to modify the employee's hours so that he could attend a special church service. "When the employee refused to compromise his religious beliefs and attended instead of reporting for work, UPS fired him. UPS also assigned him a 'do not hire' status and refused to hire him when he applied for a different position at UPS's Staten Island facility," the EEOC press release explains .

If UPS wants to cater to the intolerant crowd, that's their business. But from now on, it won't be ours. FRC is taking its shipping needs elsewhere.

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Staff Members From Robert Hurt's Office To Hold Local Office Hours In Lunenburg, Campbell, Greene, And Cumberland Counties

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Staff members from Congressman Robert Hurt’s (R-Virginia) office will be holding Local Office Hours in Lunenburg, Campbell, Greene, and Cumberland counties on Friday, December 14^th, to meet with constituents who need assistance with federal agencies. For more information, please visit our Local Office Hours Interactive Map.

Friday, December 14, 2012: Lunenburg/Campbell

 

9:00 – 11:00 AM

Local Office Hours In Lunenburg County

Lunenburg County Administration Building

Conference Room

11413 Courthouse Road

Lunenburg, VA

 

9:00 – 11:00 AM

Local Office Hours In Campbell County

Campbell County Public Library, Rustburg Branch

Program Room

684 Village Highway

Rustburg, VA

 

Friday, December 14, 2012: Greene/Cumberland

 

9:00 – 11:00 AM

Local Office Hours In Greene County

Greene County Administration Building

Board Conference Room

40 Celt Road

Stanardsville, VA

 

2:00 – 4:00 PM

Local Office Hours In Cumberland County

Cumberland County Public Library Meeting Room

1539 Anderson Highway

Cumberland, VA 

Food Stamp Nation

Gary Bauer
Campaign for Working Families

Leading into the election, the Obama campaign assured us that the economy was on the mend. Unemployment had dropped a little, and there were other signs that another recession may be averted.

But now with the election over there are plenty of counter indicators to that claim. A new report from the Labor Department shows 350,000 people left the labor force in November – nearly three times the number of people who got jobs. Economists are scratching their heads. What’s going on?

Here's a shocking statistic: one million people were added to the food stamp rolls in August and September alone. In September, more than 607,000 people became eligible for food stamps.

Could there be a cause and effect relationship here? According to the Heritage Foundation, recent research indicates that government expansion of transfer payments, including food stamps, plays a role in discouraging potential workers from returning to the labor force.

There are signs of an economic recovery, to be sure. Housing is looking better, as are the oil and gas industries, no thanks to the administration’s policies. But it appears that under Obama we really are creating two Americas. In one America, investors, entrepreneurs and workers are doing their best to overcome government regulations to put food on the table and create jobs. In the other America people are relying more and more on government programs.

Time To Come Together To Get Fifth District Virginians Back To Work

Congressman Robert Hurt

Weekly Column 12.10.12

 

As I travel the 5^th District, it is clear that the policies handed down from Washington have very real and very negative impacts on small businesses, families, and individuals throughout our district. There is perhaps no more visible indication of the impact these policies have than the unemployment report released by the Department of Labor each month.

 

For nearly three years Americans across this country have suffered as our unemployment rate remained above 8%. Last month alone 122,000 Americans lost their jobs. Small business owners across the 5^th District have faced over-regulation, excessive tax burdens, and lackluster economic growth that has threatened the very future of their businesses. And 5^th District Virginians have suffered as a result – with some communities in our district struggling through double-digit unemployment over the past four years.

 

Just last week, we learned that the 7.7 % of Americans remain without a job in this economy.  A drop in the national unemployment rate is encouraging; however, with 350,000 Americans leaving the labor force last month alone, we are discouraged by the growing number of Americans who are giving up the search for work. With millions of Americans out of work, there is much to be done before the year’s end as we look for ways to restore full employment.

 

The looming prospect of tax hikes on all Americans at the year’s end further threatens our fragile economy, and at a time when 5^th District Virginians have struggled through unacceptably high unemployment, we must ensure that we keep taxes low for all Americans. It is time for Washington to come together to address the great challenges that we face.

 

Washington has tried to spend its way out of this jobs crisis, but it is clear that more stimulus style spending does not create jobs for 5th District Virginians. We must return to our founding principles of limited government, free enterprise, and individual liberty, to put an end to the reckless spending and get Americans back to work. And we must first focus on creating certainty for our small businesses by keeping taxes low and reducing our debt so they may create the jobs and ensure that our next four years will be marked by responsibility, certainty, and prosperity, and not debt, doubt, and decline.

 

If you need any additional information, please visit my website at hurt.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-4711, Charlottesville office: (434) 973-9631, Danville office: (434) 791-2596, or Farmville office: (434) 395-0120.   

 

Rep. Robert Hurt Statement On November Unemployment Report

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Robert Hurt (R-Virginia) released the following statement after the Department of Labor issued the November unemployment report:

"While any drop in unemployment numbers is encouraging news, we are discouraged by the growing number of Americans who are giving up the search for work due to a downtrodden economy throughout the past four years. Fifth District Virginians have struggled through unacceptably high unemployment for too long, and the looming prospect of tax hikes on all Americans at the year's end only further threatens our fragile economy. It is time for Washington to come together to address the great challenges that we face. We must return to our founding principles of limited government, free enterprise, and individual liberty, to put an end to the reckless spending and get Americans back to work. More stimulus style spending will not create jobs for 5^th District Virginians; we must first focus on creating certainty for our small businesses by keeping taxes low and reducing our debt so they may create the jobs that this country so desperately needs."

Radical Islam On The March

Gary L. Bauer

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas returned to the West Bank this weekend a hero after the United Nations General Assembly voted to elevate the status of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas told a cheering crowd, "One day, a young Palestinian will raise the Palestinian flag over Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the state of Palestine!"

Notice that Abbas did not say the Palestinian flag would fly over East Jerusalem. He is demanding that the most significant city to Israelis be turned over to him and his thugs.

There is bi-partisan support in Congress for cutting off the flow of U.S. tax dollars to the Palestinian Authority. It is unconscionable that hard-working American taxpayers are bailing out these Islamic extremists. But what is the administration's response? Nothing.

Well, not exactly. At a forum on Middle East policy Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Israelis had demonstrated a "lack of generosity" and "the lack of empathy" toward the Palestinians. Seriously, Hillary? The Israeli government goes to extraordinary lengths to protect the lives of innocent Palestinians, including sending text messages to warn of air strikes! Israel provides education, health care and other services to millions of Palestinians living in Israel.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood is tightening its grip on Egypt. Last week, the Islamists drafted a new constitution. According to the Associated Press, Sharia law is new the basis of all Egyptian law, and the new constitution refuses to ban slavery.

Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have poured into Cairo's Tahrir Square in protest, demanding protections for religious minorities and equal rights for women. But according to foreign press reports, they are being met by gangs paid by President Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood allies. Men protesting the new constitution are being beaten up and women are being gang-raped.

Presumably President Obama will condemn Morsi's regime now. He spent the last year campaigning against a "war on women" when the main issue was paying for Sandra Fluke's birth control. Now women are being sexually assaulted in the streets of Cairo for the "offense" of demanding equal rights. How long can the political left stay silent about radical Islam's very real war on women?

Congressman Robert Hurt's Office To Hold Local Office Hours In Halifax County

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Staff members from Congressman Robert Hurt’s (R-Virginia) office will be holding Local Office Hours in Halifax County on Friday, December 7^th, to meet with constituents who need assistance with federal agencies. For more information, please visit: Local Office Hours Interactive Map.

 

Friday, December 7, 2012

 

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Constituent Work Day In Halifax County

Mary Bethune Office Complex

Public Meeting Room

1030 Mary Bethune Street

Halifax, VA

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Marco Rubio ‏@marcorubio

No one wants peace more than #Israel. But that is hard to achieve when her neighbors think Israel has no right to exist as a #Jewish state.

And The Hypocrisy Award Goes To…

Gary L. Bauer

AMERICAN VALUES

When it comes to finding winners for hypocrisy awards, Washington politicians are always frontrunners, followed closely by Hollywood and media elites. But today's hypocrisy award goes to a corporate executive.

Now, I'm a fan of free enterprise. But I have never understood the corporate chieftains who back liberal policies. If I could, I would gladly raise only their taxes!

So let's consider today's winner -- Costco CEO Jim Sinegal. You may recall that Mr. Sinegal gave a prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention this year. Presumably, he's all in for tax increases, right? Well, it doesn't appear that way.

This week Costco announced that it was giving shareholders a special dividend of $7 a share at a total cost of $3 billion. Costco is in such a hurry to rush this dividend out the door by the end of the year that it is actually borrowing the cash to make it happen.

Why the rush? Dividends are currently taxed at 15%. But new tax rates as high as 43.4% on dividends will kick in starting January 1st.

Now get this: Mr. Sinegal owns two million Costco shares, and his wife owns nearly 85,000 shares. He stands to make at least $14 million from the dividend. After taxes, he'll keep about $12 million. But if he waited until next year, he'd get only $8 million. By cashing in this year, he's avoiding $4 million in higher taxes. So much for "shared sacrifice."

Perhaps Joe Biden needs to have a talk with Mr. Sinegal about his "patriotic duty."

Congressman Robert Hurt's November Video Address

"The issues we now face are not Republican or Democrat issues, they are American issues, and throughout history, Americans have never backed down from a challenge. As your representative, I maintain my commitment to working toward finding bipartisan solutions to the great challenges that we face."

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Robert Hurt (R-Virginia) today released his November monthly video address to Virginia's 5^th District. You may view the video by clicking the image below:

[You may click HERE or above to view the November Address]