About: We are now just over three weeks away and counting for what promises to be the greatest grassroots gathering that the Commonwealth of Kentucky has ever seen. Buses are being chartered already from both the Louisville and Cincinnati areas. The collaboration across organizations has been what you might expect from like-minded “We the People” types: smooth, eager and focused on educating, motivating and mobilizing conservative Kentuckians to have a powerful voice in determing the direction of America. We’ll converge on the epicenter of the political landscape in KY: The “Great Lawn” at the Capitol, in Frankfort, from 5pm-8pm. In the heart of of summer, we’ll have ample cold water available at a nominal cost. But do bring your own lawn chair!

Speakers: This is not a “candidate’s forum,” though your conservative candidates for both the US Senate and US Congress are slated to speak. We DO  want you to get to know them better and help them take your concerns to Washington to help move our federal government toward the Constitution. This is instead a celebration of FREEDOM and those ingredients that made America great and can restore her to greatness once again. To that end, a number of grassroots speakers have been invited and will speak on topics such as Immigration Reform, Healthcare, Education, Energy Independence, Terrorism, the Founders and the Constitution itself. Those confirmed to speak (to date) include:

KEYNOTE SPEAKER AND SPECIAL GUEST: KEVIN JACKSON

Leland Conway of Lexington’s AM 630, WLAP
Kent Masterson Brown, Attorney & Historian
Brian Goettl, of Conservative Edge
Jerry Stephenson, of the KY Education Restoration Alliance 
Bobby Alexander, Sgt. Major (Ret), Central Kentucky Tea Party Patriots (invited)
Dan Blanchard, President, Louisville Tea Party
Jim Waters, of the Bluegrass Institute
Joyce Mucci, of the Federation for American Immigration Reform
Dr. Rand Paul, Conservative Candidate for US Senate
Andy Barr, Conservative Candidate for US Congress, 6th District
Todd Lally, Conservative Candidate for US Congress, 3rd District

Music: What would a decent celebration of freedom be without music? There will be plenty of it, patriotic, pop and inspirational. Those bands invited to take the Freedom Festival stage are:

~Louisville-based acappella vocal band, Water’s Edge (www.watersedgevocals.org )
~Lexington’s Mike Huff (will perform “God Bless the USA”)
~Louisville’s own “The Over-Reactors” (www.over-reactors.com)
~Nationally-known Patriotic duo, “Rivoli Revue” (www.rivolirevue.com )

Booth Space: If you wish to have a booth on July 10th please contact Wendy Caswell today at eleganceshoestring@yahoo.com They are a mere $50, paid in advance. Please note that the $50 must be paid in advance. Your booth registration will not be reserved until after the $50 fee is received. The booth placement is on a first come, first served basis so please act soon. (And this is for booth SPACE. Each group’s table and set-up is their own responsibility.) Don’t miss this opportunity to have your group, business, or organization represented at what is quickly shaping up to be the biggest rally of WE THE PEOPLE Kentucky has seen thus far…

Pence: American Taxpayers Should Not Be Responsible for Bailing Out Europe

Few groups are more radical, subversive, and dangerous.

The movement is led by Jamil al-Amin, (H. Rap Brown) from his cell in a maximum security prison on the outskirts of Florence, Colorado, where he is serving a life sentence for killing two police officers.

Some of the Ummah mosques maintain armed militias. Others provide training in marital arts and guerilla warfare. Almost all operate beneath the radar of local, state, and federal law enforcement officials.

Last October, after conducting a raid on Ummah congregations in Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan, federal investigators said that the movement was small and regional with only a few hundred active members.

But thousands of African American Muslims pledge their allegiance to the Ummah (Arabic for “community”) and a short list of mosques affiliated with the movement is as follows:

The Universal Islamic Brotherhood in Cleveland

West End Community in Atlantic

Ta’if Tul Ministry in Los Angeles

First Cleveland Mosque

Masjid al-Islam – Washington, DC

Dar al-Hijrah – Falls Church, Virginia

Masjid Mohammad – Washington, DC

Peace in the Hood – Cleveland

Masjid Bilal – Lexington, Kentucky

Masjid Waritheen – Oakland, California

Masjid Ibrahim – Sacramento

Sankore Institute – Green Haven Penitentiary

Community Mosque – Winston-Salem

Adams Center – Washington, DC

Masjid Mujahidin – New York City

Masjid al-Mumin – New York City

Masjid al-Taqwa – New York City

The movement is an outgrowth of Dar ul-Islam, an Islamic street gang in Brooklyn. Many members of the gang ended up in Green Haven, a maximum security prison in upper New York where they established Masjid Santore, a mosque within the prison.

(Editor’s Note:  Islamo-fascism is real.   While we do believe, along with Islamic experts such as Brigitte Gabriel, that the jihadists are a small fraction of Islam, a tiny percentage of 1.2 billion (!) is still tens of millions.  And the vast majority of Muslims, peace-loving though they be, are themselves fearful of those who are part of the extremist’ efforts throughout the globe.  And the problem has come to roost here in America, if we open our eyes to see it.  For the rest of the article, see the link below.)

http://1159pmgmt.blogspot.com/2010/05/ummah-on-march.html

The frustration had been building for years in Arizona with every drug-related kidnapping, every home invasion, every “safe house” discovered crammed with illegal immigrants from Mexico.  The tensions finally spilled over this month with passage of the nation’s toughest law against illegal immigration, a measure that has put Arizona at the center of the heated debate over how to deal with the millions of people who sneak into the United States every year, says the Associated Press (AP). 

“The public wants something done. They’re tired of it,” said state Sen. Russell Pearce, who sponsored the legislation.  “They’ve seen the ineptness and the malfeasance on the part of the government, and they’re frustrated.” 

• The new law makes it a state crime to be in the United States illegally and directs police to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal.
• Arizona is the biggest gateway into the United States for illegal immigrants; the state is home to an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants — a population larger than that of entire cities such as Cleveland, St. Louis and New Orleans. 

The law reflects frustration with what many lawmakers see as inaction by the federal government, says the A.P.: 

• Over the past three years, Border Patrol agents have made 990,000 arrests of immigrants crossing the border illegally in Arizona, or an average of 900 a day.
• The figures represent 45 percent of all arrests of illegal immigrants along U.S. borders.
• Authorities routinely come across safe houses and vehicles jammed with immigrants across the vast Arizona desert; last week, 67 illegal immigrants were found crammed inside a U-Haul truck — a fairly typical scenario in the state. 

The volume of drugs coming through the Arizona border is also eye-popping, says the A.P.: 

• Federal agents seized 1.2 million pounds of marijuana last year in Arizona — that amounts to an average of 1.5 tons per day.
• Pot busts have become so common that until recently federal prosecutors in Arizona generally declined to press charges against marijuana smugglers caught with less than 500 pounds.
• Phoenix has also been dubbed the kidnapping capital of the United States amid a surge of extortion-related abductions tied to drugs and human smuggling; the city has averaged about a kidnapping a day in recent years — some resulting in torture and death.  

Source: Jonathan J. Cooper and Amanda Lee Myers, “How Arizona became center of immigration debate,” Associated Press, April 28, 2010. 

For text:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hSQsFGWm5S9wHor0EpRyHxLk8YFgD9FBN88O0 

(Editor’s Note: The notion that any state or nation can simply tax its way out of debt and into prosperity demonstrates a profound ignorance of the most elementary principles of economics.  It only further cripples economies on every level.  Emphases added.)

Most Americans are bluntly aware that taxes matter.  Unfortunately, too many politicians and bureaucrats have forgotten that taxes change the incentives for people to work hard, save, invest and be entrepreneurial.  As the nation struggles with a sluggish recovery and deficits, it’s worth noting the tax differences across the states, says Forbes magazine. 

In “Taxifornia,” the new study by the Pacific Research Institute, the authors look at two distinct aspects of tax policy: burden and structure.  In other words, the study examines how many resources a government consumes from the economy and how, exactly, the state extracts those resources.  The premise is that both the tax burden and manner of imposition influence behavior and economic performance. 

For example, the total burden of government was calculated by comparing total state and local spending as a share of the state economy (gross state product): 

• South Dakota had the lowest burden of government (11.6 percent of the state’s economy); other low-burden states include Delaware and Texas.
• Alaska had the largest burden of government (20.2 percent of the state’s economy consumed by government spending); other large burden states are South Carolina, California, New York and New Mexico. 

The second component of the study looked at the structure or design of five major taxes:  personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, capital-based taxes, sales taxes and property taxes: 

• Delaware ranked first overall for its structure of taxes with a score of 7.7 out of a possible 10.
• Other high ranking states included South Dakota, Nevada and Alabama.
• New Jersey ranked last for its tax design (score of 2.8); Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island also ranked low. 

When burden and structure are combined to calculate an overall score, South Dakota achieves the highest rank with a score of 8.8 (out of possible 10).  Delaware, Texas and Louisiana also rank high.  California (score of 3.1) along with South Carolina and New York are the lowest ranked states, combining a relatively large burden of government with a poorly structured tax system, says Forbes. 

It should not be surprising, then, to learn that both California and South Carolina are facing historically high unemployment with shockingly high underemployment.  Both are signs of a struggling economy, in many ways explained by the economic incentives embedded in the tax system, says Forbes. 

Source: Jason Clemens and Robert Murphy, “The Most Tax-Burdened States,” Forbes, April 26, 2010. 

For text:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/26/tax-burden-california-state-government-opinions-contributors-jason-clemens-robert-murphy.html  

This inexperienced president ha(s) no answer. He’s like a young man excited about his first credit card who buys everything on credit and keeps paying the minimum while his debt explodes.

But adults attending the Tea Party events across America know that it’s our debt he’s exploding! The bill is coming due, and Americans for generations will have to pay for his excesses in higher taxes, higher fees for everything imaginable, and a possible VAT or sale tax. Somebody must feed the beast he’s birthed as it grows!

The Tea Party movement isn’t a dangerous display of civil unrest; it’s democracy in action. Why do they often hold their events after hours or on the weekend? These people work. They are responsible citizens who play by the rules. They hustle for work, apply their gifts, work hard, save and handle the adversity that comes their way. They take responsibility for themselves. They value liberty over government dependence. These people clean up after their own demonstrations.

When these hard-working Americans read that 47% of Americans pay no income taxes, they resent it. What’s fair about taking from the hard, honorable labor of half of Americans and giving it those who haven’t earned it?

The Tea Party crowd is sending them a message. They are tired of calling people who work hard to accumulate wealth and take care of their families greedy. The greedy ones are the ones who expect that they can elect politicians who will take money from other citizens to meet their wants and needs when they haven’t earned it.  (They) are turning the American Dream into a nightmare of debt and higher taxes!

…In November, the Tea Party faithful hope to have the last laugh.

For full article, go to:  http://townhall.com/columnists/TerryPaulson/2010/04/26/november’s_last_laugh!?page=full

(Editor’s Note:  The TEA Party movement’s pathos is hard to misunderstand: It is every day, ordinary, hard-working Americans who understand this simple truth:  When our economic freedoms are eroded away, the rest of our freedoms are not far behind.)