It’s business as usual for those protecting Obama and his insane fiscal policies @Theblacksphere

Remember the good old days, five years ago, before Obama established the “new” normal?

This was a time of white presidents you could criticize without being attacked as a racist. For me and my fellow black conservatives, it was a time when we wouldn’t be called an Uncle Tom because we didn’t support “the brotha.”

I long for the good old days, when gasoline prices passed $3 a gallon and I screamed at President George W. Bush from high Heaven. Gas prices settled below $2 a gallon before Bush left office, and the Left said it was because the Bush family killed Iraqi’s for oil.

Today, gas prices remain at least a dollar above “Bush gas,” and Leftists are spiking the football.

– Kevin Jackson of The Black Sphere

CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS IT!

The Black Sphere – Obama has established the NEW normal.

Remember the good old days when I wasn't called an Uncle Tom for criticizing “the brotha”? (aka Obama)… http://t.co/dUEfiODcpr

— Kevin Jackson (@Theblacksphere) November 19, 2013

Weekly Update from Allen West via Next Generation TV

The Quest For Electoral Integrity – America needs it but won’t get it from this administration

Based upon my most recent experience with elections last November, I have learned quite a bit about voting irregularities. I clearly admit that I have never seen such a lack of professionalism and integrity as in evidence last fall. And if we continue down the path of suspect elections like those in South Florida, among other places, then we no longer will have the consent of the governed.

Therefore, when I found out this Monday, April Fool’s Day, that President Obama had signed an executive order last Thursday, right before Good Friday and Easter Sunday, establishing the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, well, I figured that news, along with the declaration of April as National Financial Capability Month, was a really bad hoax.

To my chagrin, I learned that neither report was a hoax. Unfortunately, the election commission, nine members all appointed by Obama, is a joke in a very real sense.

Their mission is to identify best practices and otherwise recommend ways to promote efficient election administration so that all eligible voters can cast ballots without undue delay. They also have the task of improving the experience of voters who face ballot obstacles, such as members of the military, overseas voters, those with disabilities and people with limited English proficiency.

The commission can consider:

• The number, location, management, operation and design of polling places;
• The training, recruitment and number of poll workers;
• Voting accessibility for uniformed and overseas voters;
• The efficient management of voter rolls and poll books;
• Voting technology and machine capacity;
• Ballot simplicity and voter education;
• Voting accessibility;
• The management of provisional ballots on Election Day;
• Absentee balloting programs;
• The adequacy of contingency plans for natural disasters and other emergencies that may disrupt elections;
• And other election administration issues that the co-chairs agree the commission should address.

The stench of hypocrisy

So the administration that did nothing to prosecute the New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation in Philadelphia in the 2008 presidential election is supposed to be trusted to assess obstacles to voting?

The administration that has yet to bring any charges against poll worker Melowese Richardson, who arrogantly admitted to voting six times in Hamilton County, Ohio, last year, is supposed to assess poll-worker training and voter suppression?

The president who heads the party that believes showing a picture ID before voting is voter suppression – but who ironically was nominated at a convention where entrance required picture IDs – is supposed to be objective?

The hypocrisy is incredible.

This executive order truly extends the reach of the president into the business of states, which is exactly what he intends to do. One can only imagine the recommendations the commission will make.

I wonder if the commission will investigate the actions of St. Lucie County, Fla., Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker, who admitted to submitting election results with irregularities. She also faces a lawsuit brought against her based upon questionable actions in November.

Will this commission investigate Palm Beach County, Fla., Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher, who extended early voting without consent of the state and informed only Democratic campaigns?

Are those the type of “best practices” this commission will examine?

Election reform minus the commission

At a time when America is facing a horrendous economic situation, rising energy prices and a national security meltdown on the Korean peninsula, we see where Obama’s priorities are: attacking Second Amendment rights and eroding the integrity of the American electoral process.

Now, all you liberal progressives out there who read this missive and whose heads are about to explode, honestly ask yourselves, what if former President George W. Bush had done this by executive order after the 2000 election? Yeah, you would have gone apoplectic and every mainstream news outlet would have covered this story and demanded Bush’s impeachment.

My election recommendations are simple: Get rid of early voting. There should only be Election Day voting and absentee voting for those who cannot vote in person. Election Day should be a national holiday, paid, and polls should be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., with no rush for the media to proclaim winners.

We should not have same-day voter registration and voting. And in keeping with English being the language of America, ballots should only be in English. Anyone who cannot read and understand the language probably should not be a citizen and, therefore, should not be voting.

Voters should be required to show picture IDs to verify they are who they say they are. Tell me where anyone can go in America without such identification. That is not voter suppression.

Remember Melowese Richardson. How many votes did her multiple voting suppress?
Steadfast and Loyal,

Allen B. West

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Allen West “Ten years ago this week, I was honored to lead a Battalion of Soldiers in Operation Iraqi Freedom”

by Allen West via Facebook

Ten years ago this week, I was honored to lead a Battalion of Soldiers in Operation Iraqi Freedom. There were only two men in that unit who had previously served in combat, my Command Sergeants Major and I, and we knew the magnitude of that which we had been called to execute. There are those who still disparage America’s involvement in Iraq. There are those who still disparage my own service on that battlefield. To the critics I say, read Teddy Roosevelt’s ‘Man in the Arena’ quote and know that those of us who have fought and lost our brothers and sisters in arms shall never cower to cold, timid souls who have never known victory, nor defeat. Today, we remember and celebrate those who were willing to, and did, give the last  full measure of devotion.

Angela West Discusses – The Party Most Vilified: The Tea Party Movement – Part 1

The Republican Coffee Corner with Angela’s

The Party Most Vilified: The Tea Party Movement Part 1

The Tea Party movement is a political organization/movement adhering to three tenets: (1) adherence to the United States Constitution; (2) Reduction of Government Spending and thus taxes; (3) Reduction of the U.S. National debt and federal budget deficit.

This movement can be considered in equal measure conservative/libertarian/populist. A relatively new movement, it has supported candidates since 2009. As with anything new, the level of “gnashing of teeth, head banging, weeping and wailing” has been heard throughout the land —- and that is just among the old “checkered pant” Republicans. (smile — I love checkered pants as much as the next person).

While many politicians who have been involved with the Tea Party are registered Republicans, it is argued that they do not have to be. A commitment to the three aforementioned principals are necessary to be a part of this movement. Repeat, it is not a separate Party as such, it is a MOVEMENT.

I got this next area from the Wikipedia:

The Contract from America was the idea of Houston-based lawyer Ryan Hecker. He stated that he developed the concept of creating a grassroots call for reform prior to the April 15, 2009, Tax Day Tea Party rallies. To promote his idea, he launched a website, ContractFromAmerica.org, which encouraged people to offer possible planks for the contract. The top ten planks were decided by online voting at Hecker’s website (approval rates shown in parentheses below):

Identify constitutionality of every new law: Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does (82.03%).

1. Reject emissions trading: Stop the “cap and trade” administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants. (72.20%).

2. Demand a balanced federal budget: Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax modification. (69.69%)

3. Simplify the tax system: Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words – the length of the original Constitution. (64.9%).

4. Audit federal government agencies for constitutionality: Create a Blue Ribbon task force that engages in an audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities. (63.37%).

5. Limit annual growth in federal spending: Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth. (56.57%).

6. Repeal the health care legislation passed on March 23, 2010: De-fund, repeal, and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (56.39%).

7. Pass an “all-of-the-above” energy policy: Authorize the exploration of additional energy reserves to reduce American dependence on foreign energy sources and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation. (55.5%).
8. Reduce earmarks: Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a two-thirds majority to pass any earmark. (55.47%).

9. Reduce taxes: Permanently repeal all recent tax increases, and extend permanently the George W. Bush temporary reductions in income tax, capital gains tax, and estate taxes, currently scheduled to end in 2011. (53.38%).

The Tea Party Patriots have asked both Democrats and Republicans to sign on to the Contract. No Democrats signed on, and the contract met resistance from some Republicans who since created “Commitment to America”. Brendan Buck, a spokesman for that agenda explained that the Contract is too narrow in focus, and not exactly what the Republican party would include in its own top-10 list of priorities. Candidates in the 2010 elections who signed the Contract from America included Utah’s Mike Lee, Nevada’s Sharron Angle, Sen. Coburn (R-OK), and Sen. DeMint (R-SC).

Criticism:

As with all new organizations, which buck the establishment, you will find a great deal of opposition. Opposition from the Left is inevitable, but it has been the opposition from the right that is most perplexing. While it is understandable that the fear within the Republican establishment of losing their power as well as their “spot” in line running for president, Good Golly Miss Molly!!!!!! the only demographic they won truly in the last election was middle to older white males. I don’t sense a bumper crop of that demographic coming on.

TALK TO ME PEOPLE!  This a a REAL President’s Day discussion…….. Not just the barbecue.

CLICK HERE AND TELL ANGELA YOUR THOUGHTS – The Republican Coffee Corner with Angela

Angela West “The African American trend of voting for Democrats can be traced back to the 1930s”

by The Republican Coffee Corner with Angela West 

The Southern Strategy/Lee Atwater and the Chasm

The Southern strategy refers to the Republican Party strategy of gaining political support or winning elections in the Southern section of the country by appealing to racism against African Americans.

Just what was the Southern Strategy?

It was not developed by the Nixon team but was attributed to Nixon’s political strategist Kevin Phillips. Phillips stated in an interview in a 1970 New York Times article:

“From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don’t need any more than that…but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That’s where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats.”

This was the strategy that helped to win the Southern states for the Republican Party during the 1968 and 1972 elections.

Although political scientists have argued that the change in the southern voting patterns from Democrat to Republican had more to do with economic interests than with race, the change was in place. By the way white working class voters in the south still continued to vote for Democrats for national office until the 1990s, so the jury is still out about the true success of the Southern Strategy as regards to race.

By the way, in 1976, Jimmy Carter won most of the Southern states without offending northern Democrats, explaining, “I have no trouble pitching for Wallace votes and black votes at the same time.” Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

Democratic charges of racism have been made about Republican campaigns for the House of Representatives and Senate in the South. The Willie Horton commercials used by supporters of George H. W. Bush against Michael Dukakis in the election of 1988 were considered by many Democrats, including Jesse Jackson, Lloyd Bentsen, and many newspaper editors, to be racist.

In 1990 re-election campaign of Jesse Helms attacked his opponent’s alleged support of “racial quotas,” with an ad where a white person’s hands are seen crumpling a letter indicating that he was denied a job because of the color of his skin.

Lee Atwater:

Harvey LeRoy “Lee” Atwater (February 27, 1951 – March 29, 1991) was an American political consultant and strategist to the Republican Party. He was an advisor of U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and chairman of the Republican National Committee.

A man of many contradictions, Atwater played guitar in a rock band called the Upsetter Revue in Columbia South Carolina. At the height of his political power he played with B.B. King, and released an album called “Red, Hot, and Blue” featuring among others, the great Isaac Hayes. He was also a husband and father to three children.

All of this being said Atwater possessed An acumen for aggressive tactics. For example, as the campaign consultant to Republican incumbent Floyd Spence in his race for Congress against Tom Turnipseed , a Democrat, Atwater’s tactics included doctored push polls, fake surveys and statements that Turnipseed was not only a member of the NAACP but that he “got hooked up to jumper cables”. Atwater discovered Turnipseed underwent shock therapy as a teenager for depression.

The following is the infamous interview that Atwater gave on the “Southern Strategy”

ATWATER: You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger” — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”

Although Atwater was not directly responsible for the Willie Horton Ads, the campaign benefited from it. Atwater’s skills in the 1988 election led one biographer to call him “the best campaign manager who ever lived.”

After the election, Atwater was named chairman of the Republican National Committee. The scope of Atwater’s abilities are far beyond the scope of this page, however, there is one very notable achievement:

In 1989, Atwater became a new member of the historically black Howard University Board of Trustees. The university gained national attention when students rose up in protest against Atwater’s appointment. Student activists disrupted Howard’s 122nd anniversary celebrations and eventually occupied the university’s administration building. Within days, both Atwater and Howard President James E. Cheek resigned.

Atwater collapsed in March of 1990 at a political fundraiser for Phil Gramm. He was diagnosed with brain cancer. He underwent very drastic treatments which left him swollen and unable to move without a wheelchair. In his last written piece, he stated the following:

“My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood.”

Atwater died on March 29, 1991 of his illness.

The infamous Atwater interview: www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_8E3ENrKrQ

The Chasm:

President Barack Obama received 95% of the African American vote. But even before this, at least 88% of the African American vote.

The large majority of African Americans support the Democratic Party. In the 2004 Presidential Election, Democrat John Kerry received 88% of the African American vote compared to 11% for Republican George W. Bush. Although there is an African-American lobby in foreign policy, it has not had the impact that African American organizations have had in domestic policy.

The African American trend of voting for Democrats can be traced back to the 1930s during the Great Depression, when Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program provided economic relief to African Americans; Roosevelt’s New Deal coalition turned the Democratic Party into an organization of the working class and their liberal allies, regardless of region. The African American vote became even more solidly Democratic when Democratic presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson pushed for civil rights legislation during the 1960s. This along with the efforts by Truman, Eisenhower and others solidified this block.

THIS IS PART OF A TWO PART DISCUSSION TAKING PLACE HERE:

The Republican Coffee Corner with Angela

Related articles

• Angela West “Why the Democrats virtually own the African American voting bloc and how deep the reasons run” (allenwestrepublic.com)

Congressman Allen West’s Weekly Wrap Up – November 2, 2012

Dear Patriots-

Greetings to our Constituents, fellow Floridians, and all Americans. It is time for our weekly update. I pray all of your children and grandchildren enjoyed a wonderful and safe Halloween and got plenty of treats.

Speaking of which, today the October jobs report numbers were released, and no matter what the figure, the bottom line is simple, 23 million Americans are still struggling for employment in our nation.

I am pleased to hear nationally there were some 171,000 jobs created, and I pray these were full-time employment jobs and not predominantly part-time positions. However, we need a private sector jobs market that is creating 250,000 to 300,000 jobs per month to get us moving back to a national full time employment rate of 5%.

Today the unemployment rate released was 7.9%, but the projection from the almost $1 trillion stimulus package — one of President Barack Obama’s deemed legislative successes — stated unemployment would be at 5.8%. In other words, at the end of his first term, America is 2.1% worse off in reported unemployment. Were Americans tricked into believing the stimulus would work?

We still have an alarming U6 employment rate (unemployed, underemployed, and dropped from the rolls) of 14.6%, just down from 14.7%. And lastly, our workforce participation rate remains very troubling, at an historic low rate of 63.8%. The key point here is that we have more Americans forced into part-time employment or simply forced out of the workforce.

We also must consider that President Obama promised to cut the annual federal deficit in half at the end of his first term. To put that into perspective, the first annual deficit under President George W. Bush (when Nancy Pelosi was House Speaker and Harry Reid was Senate Leader) was $458 billion. According to President Obama’s promise, we should be looking at an annual federal deficit in this fourth year of his term at $230 billion.

Instead we have had annual deficits under President Obama of $1.42 trillion, $1.29 trillion, $1.3 trillion, and now at the end of his first term… $1.1 trillion. How many Americans were tricked into thinking our deficits would reduce?

President Obama likes to talk about his economic plan. Well, his Fiscal Year 2013 budget is evidence of his economic vision. It includes $1.9 trillion in new taxes, but the debt — which was $10.6 trillion when he came into office and is now $16 trilliion — grows to $20 trillion in four years, and $26 trillion over the next ten years. Annual deficits never go below $900 billion. His budget never balances. And all the American people get is a 53% increase in the Federal Government… if they’re tricked into accepting it.

Considering the looming “fiscal cliff,” we are hardly out of the woods, and could easily slip into a double-dip recession. Higher taxes on job creators will result in more uncertainty, higher unemployment, and economic malaise.

Let us not forget that we are limping along with a Gross Domestic Product that is not going “Forward” — it is positively anemic, with the last report for third quarter at only 2%, actually 1.6% when one eliminates Federal Government spending.

Al Qaeda is not decimated. And we are not ending combat engagements, we are just going home. The horrific incidents of the 11^th anniversary of 9-11 where we had countless United States Embassies and Consulates attacked, a United States Ambassador killed for the first time since the Carter Administration, and three other Americans, including two former US Navy SEALS, all remind us that the world is more unstable and the Obama foreign policy has proven the projection of weakness is provocative.

The saving grace America is that in September of 1980 the final unemployment statistic for the Carter Administration before the election was 7.5%… and subsequently America got a treat: President Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Today, we learned the unemployment rate today was 7.9%…Trick or treat, America.

Steadfast and Loyal,

P.S. The thoughts and prayers of my wife Angela and I continue to be with the people of New Jersey and New York City who have been severely affected by Hurricane Sandy. Many here in South Florida have relatives and connections to the areas worse hit by the storm. In this time, we pray God will provide you the comfort and perseverance to weather this storm. Just as a new day began the day after the storm passed, so shall, in the coming days, an even better sun rise upon your restored lives and communities… America is always here for you.

Highlights of the Week:

– Monday, 29 Oct; addressed the Jupiter High School leadership skills development class to discuss principles of leadership, time management, styles of leadership; had lunch with several veterans, including a World War II bomber pilot, at Schooners restaurant in Jupiter where we told old warrior stories and shared perspectives about serving our great nation; addressed three classes of 6^th and 7^th Grade civics students at Manatee Academy in Port St Lucie.

– Tuesday, 30 Oct; addressed the entire 7^th Grade of civics students at Western Pines Middle School, even played a game of civics trivia.

– Wednesday, 31 Oct; visited the Riviera Beach United Parcel Service (UPS) distribution center to address employees, drivers, and hand out drivers recognition awards… even donned a set of “Browns” to make several deliveries to local small businesses in the North Palm Beach County area; addressed a group of real estate professionals at Golden Bear Realty in Palm Beach Gardens on current issues affecting the mortgage industry.

– Thursday, 1 Nov; spoke at the Ft Pierce Kiwanis Club Annual Farm City BBQ. Addressed tax, regulatory, and access to capital concerns for Agriculture industry along the Treasure Coast; visited Genuine Bio-Fuel in Indiantown where they are converting used restaurant oils into actual diesel fuel. Walked through the entire process and watched as a tanker came and was fueled with the diesel product.

– Saturday, 3 Nov; will attend a ribbon cutting in Port St Lucie for Teens in Action Training Center for Community Development Outreach

– Sunday, 4 Nov; will address congregants at two church services: Grace Place in Stuart and Common Ground in Ft Pierce.

Congressman Allen West’s Weekly Wrap Up and Highlights of the Week

Dear Patriot,

Greetings to our constituents, fellow Floridians, and indeed all Americans.  It is time again for our weekly update for dissemination.

My biggest concern from this past week is the numbers from the monthly jobs report released on Friday. There is no doubt that we all want to alleviate the suffering of our fellow Americans from this horrific epidemic of joblessness. However, it is the manner by which we are “recovering” that has me somewhat scratching my head.

You see, a savvy Commander always looks for trends and inconsistencies in order to understand the battlefield and develop a sound strategy. In this case, I have been absolutely perplexed with the amount of statistical revisions emanating from the Obama Administration.

Case in point, last year in the final quarter of 2011, October through December, we were initially told the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth was at 3%. That number was later revised upward to 4.1%. Two quarters later the GDP growth number for Second Quarter 2012 was reported to be at 1.7%.  Yet, just a month ago that number was revised downward to 1.5%.

The September jobs report put national unemployment at 7.8%, down from 8.1%. Amazingly enough, that is the exact same number from January 2009.

However, there was no change to the workforce participation rate, which remains at a 30-year low at 63.6%. Accompanying that is the fact that the U6 computation, which includes unemployed, underemployed, and discouraged Americans who are no longer counted, remained unchanged at 14.7%.

How is it that the national unemployment rate could drop .3% yet not yield commensurate change in other measurable categories?

In South Florida, we still face very high percentages: Palm Beach County in the mid 9%, Broward County hovering around 8 %, Martin County almost 10%, and St. Lucie County near 13%. We are not seeing this major shift down here in our little piece of paradise.

The Thursday before the monthly jobs report, we were told there had been an increase in first time jobless applications, up from last month.

Regardless of this 7.8% report, the Obama Administration stimulus promised in its projections an unemployment rate somewhere between 5.8%-6% at this point in time. Therefore, we still blew almost a trillion dollars and fell short of designed expectations.

Well, at least we did drop $2 billion from last year’s deficit of $1.3 trillion to come in at $1.1 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It is still our fourth straight trillion-dollar-plus deficit. Supposedly, President Obama was going to cut that deficit in half.

Remember, the deficit was “only” $458 billion in 2008, President George W. Bush’s last year, and Bush had to contend with a United States House of Representatives run by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a United States Senate run by Majority Leader Harry “Where’s That Budget” Reid.

10 Key Facts on Jobs and Unemployment:

1. 4.1 Million Fewer Jobs than Projected: In January 2009, the Obama Administration forecast there would be 137.6 million jobs in December 2010. Instead, there were 130.3 million jobs in December 2010. Even 21 months later in September 2012, there are just 133.5 million jobs – 4.1 million fewer than the Administration’s forecast for late 2010.

2. Slower Jobs Recovery than during the Great Depression: This is the only “recovery” since World War II that the jobs lost in the recession had not been recovered by this point. In fact, the recent pace of job creation during the “Obama recovery” has been slower than during the Great Depression.

3. Less Full Time Work: Since January 2009, the number of full-time employees has fallen by more than 600,000 while part-time employment has grown by almost 1.4 million. This means part-time workers account for all of the net employment growth in the Obama years – the opposite of what Democrats predicted when they said their stimulus plan was “likely to move many workers from part-time to full-time work.”

4. Manufacturing Jobs Down: Since January 2009, more than 600,000 manufacturing jobs have been eliminated—the opposite of the Administration’s projected increase of 408,000 manufacturing jobs due to their trillion-dollar stimulus.

5. Ten Times More New Dropouts than New Employees: During the Obama Administration, the number of people not in the labor force has grown by 8.2 million, while total employment has grown by less than 800,000. This means that during the Obama years, new workforce dropouts have outnumbered new employees by 10 to 1.

6. Far Higher Unemployment Rate than Projected: September’s 7.8% unemployment rate remains far above the 5.5% rate the Administration predicted for this month in their January 2009 report on the projected effects of stimulus. Democrats actually predicted unemployment would fall to 7.8% in September 2009 – a full three years ago.

7. Real Unemployment Is Almost 11%: If the unemployment rate included the “invisible unemployed” (discouraged workers who dropped out or never joined the workforce), the September 2012 unemployment rate would be 10.9%.

8. More Unemployed Now than When Economy Was in “Free-Fall”: In September 2012, there were 12.1 million officially unemployed workers. That’s 39,000 more than when President Obama took office in January 2009 – when the Administration said “we were in economic free-fall.”
9. Two Million More Long-term Unemployed: In September 2012, there were 4.8 million long-term unemployed for more than six months – more than two million more than when President Obama took office in January 2009.
10. Economic Misery up 80%: The “Obama Misery Index” shows that unemployment and debt have risen by a combined 80% since the start of the Obama Administration.

This all reminds me of a certain novel, “1984” by George Orwell.

Steadfast and Loyal,

Highlights of the Week:

*met with Riviera Beach City Councilwoman Dawn Pardo to discuss resolution to Army Corps of Engineer permitting to improve economic development for the City waterfront.

*addressed the Palm Coast Association of Health Underwriters on Affordable Care Act and Small Business concerns.

*participated in the New Horizons 5K Race in Port St Lucie; attended the University of Tennessee South Florida Alumni picnic; threw out the first pitch at the Brothers in Arms Saluting our Heroes Softball Showdown.

*participated in the Annual Dunn’s Run 5 Mile race in Deerfield Beach to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Broward County.

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Congressman Allen West Weekly Wrap Up and District Highlights of the Week

Dear Patriot,

Greetings to our constituents, fellow Floridians, and indeed all Americans.  It is time for my weekly update for dissemination to all of you.

For starters, we received yet another very disappointing monthly jobs report from the United States Department of Labor this past Friday, with a mere drop in unemployment from 8.3 percent to 8.1 percent.  I’m sure there are plenty on the other side who will look at this dismal drop as some kind of sign of success or economic turnaround, however the underlying truth is quite telling. The facts are that 368,000 Americans are simply no longer counted, and are considered “discouraged,” and it is the only reason why the number dropped at all in the first place.

Our great nation created 96,000 jobs in the month of August, and we actually had a downward revision of 41,000 from the jobs report of June and July. This is an abject failure in leadership.

America is now coasting through 43 months of unemployment at or above 8 percent. We are at a 31-year low for workforce participation rate, at 63.5 percent. The true level of unemployment, based on the “U6 computation rate” (which includes unemployed, underemployed, and discouraged workers) is now at 14.7 percent, climbing more than 3 percentage points since President Barack Obama took office, at 11 percent.

In South Florida, we have unemployment rates below the national average. Nine percent of Palm Beach County residents are out of work,  9.8 percent of Martin County residents are looking for a job, and a whopping 12.8 percent of people in St. Lucie County are without work.

We are seeing gold prices skyrocket now that the Federal Reserve is about to initiate a third quantitative easing policy, after the first two were not productive. This means we will be printing more money with hopes of stimulating economic growth. The downside is that it will have an adverse effect on the dollar’s value.

American families are seeing an atmosphere of inflation at the grocery store and the gas station.  All of this, while median family incomes have dropped between 2.6 percent and 4 percent.

This is the middle class the liberal progressives state they want to protect:

The number of Americans on food stamps rose this past week to 47 million.

More than 9.3 million Americans are in poverty, a 46-year high.

The debt of America eclipsed the $16 trillion plateau this past week, including almost $5.5 trillion in new debt in just over three-and-a-half years under President Obama.

This is the worst economic recovery in the past 40 years. It is no time for excuses.  Our Gross Domestic Product is growing at an incredibly anemic 1.5 percent. With scores like this, most teams would look at changing the quarterback.

Our deficits have not been cut in half as promised. In fact, our deficits have exploded from what was a record high under the last year of George W. Bush’s presidency at $458 billion to $1.42 trillion, $1.29 trillion, $1.3 trillion, and an estimated $1.1 trillion for this year.

No more “shovel-ready” nation-building at home gimmicks are needed at this time. We don’t the federal government hiring more teachers,  which incidentally, I thought was one of the objectives of the nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.

Our national security and foreign policy is no better off either as we continue down the road towards the Obama Administration defense cuts known as “sequestration,” which will decimate our Armed Forces. Canada’s diplomats are leaving Iran and expelling the Iranian diplomats, a telltale signal. Egypt is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood.

A Russian attack submarine went undetected in the Gulf of Mexico for almost two months.  Hezbollah has training bases in Latin America.

Many do not realize that 70 percent of casualties in Afghanistan have happened over these last three and a half year.  Yet, we are just now declaring the Haqqani network as a terrorist group.

Our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel, finds itself surrounded on all fronts by enemies and met with a lack a clear support from the Obama Administration.

These are critical times, these issues are serious and the picture is not rosy.  There is an alternative plan and I have often presented it on these pages. The point is that we cannot continue on this road to perdition.

Steadfast and Loyal,

District Highlights of the Week:

–  Sunday, 2 Sept; had a nice visit with the family to services at Christ Fellowship Church in Palm Beach Gardens. Enjoyed being with dear friend Pastor Tom Mullins and his family and was honored to be asked to give a prayer for our men and women in uniform, as well as the service offering.

–  Monday, 3 Sept; rode with my motorcycle buddy Major Bobby Allen of the Palm Beach County SWAT through the open roads of Indiantown, Stuart and Jupiter.

– Tuesday, 4 Sept; met with the President/CEO and executive leadership staff for the Southeast Regional office for Scotts Miracle-Gro in their West Palm Beach headquarters to discuss economic growth policy issues. Met with representatives from the Palm Beach County Workforce Alliance to discuss job creation opportunities.  Attended my daughter’s volleyball game against Suncoast High School, which they won. Great to have the time to support my youngest daughter in her accomplisments!

– Wednesday, 5 Sept; spoke to the Fort Pierce Breakfast Club- a cross-section gathering of local business and government leaders- on the subject of economic, energy, and national security. Visited the Treasure Coast Food Bank distribution center and one of their service centers. It was there that I met young Emily who was celebrating her 10th birthday. We all sang to her and I presented her with a Congressional coin. My objective is to secure Emily’s family’s future so she will never have to go to a food bank again. Spoke to the seniors at Harbour Place Senior Center in Port St. Lucie and focused on mandatory spending programs supporting our retirement community, and the economy. Visited with Peter and Phillip Busch at Southeast Eagle Distributors in Fort Pierce and addressed their employees on current economic indicators and trends as well as tax code reform. Visited the Fort Pierce Police Athletic League facility and stepped into a boxing ring for the first time in quite a few years to take a picture with young people training. Ended the day with a spiritually rewarding Bible study at the Miracle Prayer Temple in Fort Pierce- hat tip to Pastor and Mrs. Brown.

– Thursday, 6 Sept; addressed the Stuart/Martin County Chamber of Commerce breakfast on issues affecting small business growth and tax, regulatory, and monetary policies. Visited the biomedical research facilities at Traditions in Port St. Lucie, including the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute and Torrey Pines Molecular Research Center. It was fascinating to see the important functional research being done to remedy invasive sicknesses by studying our genome, DNA, and cells relating to cures for Alzheimer’s and addictions. I visited a nuclear power plant in St. Lucie which provides some two-thirds of energy production to the State of Florida. They were undergoing a systems upgrade and it was phenomenal to see the work being done there. The major issues presented were overregulation and Yucca Mountain storage. Afterwards, I was able to get down to Boca Raton and see my daughter’s volleyball game against Pope John Paul II, which they won in a thrilling five-game match.

– Friday, 7 Sept; Finally got into the office and was able to catch up on paperwork.

Saturday, 25 August; ran the 5K 9-11 Heroes Run at Lance Corporal Justin Wilson Memorial Park in Palm City.  Attended the 30th Anniversary Gala of the Palm Beach County Business Development Board.

– Sunday, 9 Sept; addressed both morning services at the Morningside Church in Port St. Lucie on “God’s Challenges to a Nation.”

Congressman Allen West Weekly Wrap Up, Legislative Low Down and District Highlights

Dear Patriot,

Greetings to our constituents, fellow Floridians, and all Americans.  As I sit here writing this, I am recovering from the soreness of running the ING Miami Half-Marathon Sunday.   I finished respectfully around 2 hrs, 7 mins and really hit a wall at 10 miles- photo here. It was great to be out with some 25,000 runners trekking across Biscayne Bay, South Beach and Miami. With my hectic Congressional schedule, it is definitely difficult to get in the long distance training runs like I once was able. I just have to face the truth, getting older and I just do not have the speed I once did!This past week was certainly highlighted by the President’s State of the Union Address. I can actually sum it up with one simple quote: “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money”- Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America.

As I sat in the chamber of the House of Representatives taking notes on the speech, it came to my attention that President Obama seeks to bribe the American people with more largesse from the public treasury. He obviously will not recognize that these types of fiscal policies will be the detriment of our beloved Republic.  Never was there a mention in the State of the Union of our growing federal debt which for the first time since World War II is greater than our GDP. It is a debt which the President must confess responsibility for increasing under his watch. Americans can more easily accept mistakes and failure, if someone steps up and accepts responsibility. We believe in redemption as a Judeo-Christian Nation.  However, the rhetoric of divisiveness and envy is an indicator of a lack of accepting responsibility of failure.   There wasn’t any talk during his State of the Union of how we can reduce the three straight years of record setting trillion dollar plus deficits. As a basis of comparison, President George W. Bush’s largest annual deficit came in 2008 (Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were the leadership in the United States Congress) and it was $500 billion.

The President’s State of the Union also did not address the almost trillion dollar stimulus which was supposed to keep unemployment under eight percent and according to Obama Administration estimates, would currently be at 6.5 percent.   We heard nothing about the healthcare law which is falling apart, and how  the costs of our small business insurance premiums have risen.

Lastly, I noticed the President avoided the topic of Dodd-Frank in his  State of the Union, probably because one would have to admit it is killing our small financial institutions and precluding them from lending to our small business entrepreneurs.  We must return to the Glass-Steagall Act to restore financial institution responsibility.

As I entered the chamber of the House of Representative that night, I had such expectation and hope, that maybe, just maybe, the President’ sense of being an American would override his personal far left liberal ideology. Somewhere down inside I had hope that we would hear a President that understood that American exceptionalism does not come from Washington D.C., but rather it is a unique trait born into every American, and assimilated into all those who come to our shores.

I hoped that President Obama would come to accept and empower the ideal of an indomitable American will and spirit which makes us the greatest nation the world has ever known.   President Ronald Reagan recognized and embodied that American spirit and that is why a comparative analysis shows he had an average 6.4 percent GDP growth at this time in his Presidency. President Obama has a 2.4 percent GDP growth.

The Republican led House of Representatives has passed 30 pieces of job creating policy legislation. See more here.  Twenty-seven of them sit on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s desk. Most of these pieces of legislation directly address the challenges President Obama articulated in his State of the Union. The fact that
the following day President Obama took off to several critical western states for his reelection campaign says it all.

President Obama called this speech, “An Economy Built to Last.”  I also want an economy built to last; however, not based on the foundation that President Obama says he is building on.

In closing,  the Republican Florida Primary will finally be upon us tomorrow and it is my wish that our candidates would view the movie “Gladiator.” In the scene when they first stood in the Coliseum, the character Maximus stated: “Whatever comes out of that gate, if we all fight together we shall survive.” Our Republican candidates must “together” make the moral argument to the American people of the detrimental effect of President Obama’s failed policies.  We need to let the people make the decision as to who is best to be our Gladiator to enter the arena.   Always remember, the contrast of  vision is simple.  Ask yourself,  Is America a country of equality of opportunity (Economic Freedom) or equality of achievement (Economic Dependency)?

Steadfast and Loyal,

Legislative Update: The House only had one day of legislative activity this past week, Wednesday. The House paid tribute to our colleague, Arizona Representative Gabriel Giffords, and passed her piece of legislation as she bid farewell by turning in her resignation. We all wish her well on her long recovery and honor her service to our nation.

Highlights of the Week:

– Monday, 23 January, participated in the first ever Conservative Black Forum on Capitol Hill, event was filmed in its entirety by CSPAN….be on the alert for the next forum. If you would like to watch the forum, you can see it on the front of my website, here. Spoke at the March for Life Rally and was just blown away at the amount of young Americans who were there. We must protect the life of our unborn Americans, my speech here. One has to ask themselves, what type of person would support a law stating that an American child surviving an abortion must be killed?

– Tuesday, 24 January, most ominous was that this was the 1000th day without the United States Senate having passed a budget… something else not mentioned by the President at the State of the Union. In keeping with fiscal responsibility, we had a House Armed Services Committee briefing on Department of Defense financial improvement and audit readiness efforts. Participated in a Frank Luntz focus group session and it was great to appear before Americans and articulate a Constitutional conservative vision for America. Was present in the House Chamber for the State of the Union.

– Wednesday, 25 January, House Armed Services Committee classified full committee hearing on Middle East operations and intelligence. I have major concerns about the direction of Egypt under Muslim Brotherhood legislative direction. Addressed students from Miami of Ohio University on a plethora of issues facing our Republic- see great pictures here.

– Thursday, 26 January, flew back to South Florida and conducted several District meetings with Constituents.

– Saturday, 28 January, attended the Palm Beach County Lincoln Day dinner, and delivered a speech to the gathered audience.

– Sunday, 29 January, ran the 10th Annual ING Miami Half-Marathon and made my first appearance, live, on CBS Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer from Biscayne Bay. If you would like to watch the my appearance on Face the Nation please watch at approximately 24 minutes in, click here.

– Monday, 30 January, participated in a Transportation and Infrastructure field hearing here in South Florida on Cuban offshore oil drilling and the response to a potential oil disaster to the beaches of South Florida. See pictures here.

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Sizing up a Gingrich-Romney showdown – by Jonah Goldberg

by Jonah Goldberg for TownHall

Whether the matchup between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney is the final bout on the GOP primary card is impossible to know. The whole season has been more like professional wrestling than boxing, with weird characters sporting implausible hair appearing out of nowhere to talk smack and explain why they are the greatest in the world. (I’m looking at you in particular, Mr. Trump.)

Still, let’s assume for the moment that it’s a Gingrich-Romney contest.

It’s quite a matchup. Romney has been brutalized for having too little personality, Gingrich for having way, way too much. Romney looks like the picture that comes with the frame. Gingrich looks like he should be ensconced in royal velvet as he gestures at you with a half-eaten turkey leg in one hand and a sloshing goblet of wine in the other. Romney seems terrified of fully committing to any idea. Gingrich speaks as if he just text-messaged with God.

Gingrich would have everyone believe he is the winner of the anti-Romney mantle not merely by default but by hard-won effort and a well-deserved reputation for conservative steadfastness. Many in the media, meanwhile, think that since Gingrich is taking the slot once held by Palin, Bachmann, Cain and Perry, he is a conservative of similar stripe. And many liberals think that since they hate him so much, he must be really right-wing. (They made the same mistake with Richard Nixon and George W. Bush, both of whom were far less ideologically conservative than their press clippings indicated.)

The reality is more complicated. For starters, it’s not altogether clear that Gingrich is that far to the right of Romney.

Gingrich’s record — political and rhetorical — is so vast and diverse, there’s plenty of evidence to build almost any narrative you want. He’s said some of the most bombastic right-wing things of any mainstream Republican in our lifetimes, but he’s also reached across the aisle more frequently than far-more-liberal Republicans would ever dare.

COMPLETE THE REST OF THE ARTICLE BY CLICKING HERE: TOWNHALL.COM