Opportunity serves future better than fairness efforts: February 28, 2015

AJ has a story that would rarely be expected to lead to an active role as a conservative. AJ started life born to young inexperienced teenage parents with few resources and fewer skills. There were many places called home as a child, including living in a tent working alongside seasonal immigrants picking strawberries in Oregon and experiencing a middle eastern culture first hand. But rather than a life looking for handouts and free stuff, AJ had an internal drive leading her to this firsthand understanding.

The odds were not in my favor…..Nevertheless, I did have one critical circumstance on my side. I was born in America.

In contrast to the “occupy ” mentality demanding government interference in efforts to create equal outcomes, AJ served her country and knows firsthand;

Under the constitutional framework of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, I had the same opportunity as any other American to achieve and, just as importantly, the incentive to achieve with the promise to retain what I had worked so hard for.

Common Core Shows Power of Cash: April 1, 2015

With the Every Student Succeeds Act, virtually replacing NCLB, the push for free universal pre-school will expand.  The goal by the left, once again supported by Establishment Republicans, seeks to institutionalize 4-year-olds with the feel good argument of being the Holy Grail to solving academic woes. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children & Families reported,

There were initial positive impacts from having access to Head Start, but by the end of third grade there were very few impacts found.

After reviewing 10 ‘scientifically-based’ studies used to support the expansion of Early Child Development Programs, former director of the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education, Grover J. Whitehurst concluded,

The best evidence raises serious doubts that a large public investment in the expansion of pre-K for 4-year-olds will have the long term effects that advocates tout.

The truth is that a very small group of disadvantaged kids may benefit from a preschool program but, most kids are better off without it.

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Visas, TPP deal threaten U.S. workers: July 1, 2015

TPA and TPP are diminishing the sovereignty of the United States pushing the American people into submission to global governance and out of the job market.

Not only are corporations seeking immigrants and refugees for cheap foreign labor to fill blue collar positions but, also influence members of congress to increase the number of H-1B visa workers replacing the American worker in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Michael S. Teitelbaum, vice president of the Sloan Foundation, opined that there are no general shortages of scientists and engineers. He went even further, to state that there is evidence suggesting surpluses: there are significantly more science and engineering graduates in the United States than attractive positions available in the workforce. Similarly, B. Lindsay Lowell and Harold Salzman have pointed to the disproportionate percentage of bachelor’s degree STEM holders not employed in STEM occupations.

Looking at the STEM labor market, Salzman and colleagues concluded that, for every two students graduating with a U.S. STEM degree, only one is employed in STEM and that 32 percent of computer science graduates not employed in information technology attributed their situation to a lack of available jobs. In 2014, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 74 percent of those who have a bachelor’s degree in a STEM major are not employed in STEM occupations.

‘for every two students that U.S. colleges graduate with STEM degrees, only one is hired in a STEM job.’

Low-skilled, temporary and seasonal workers brought in through the H-2B visa are also competing with Americans.

While the TPP erodes national sovereignty, the increase of cheap foreign labor at all levels influences the stagnation of wages, negatively affecting the standard of living and the average American household income.

The Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), known as “fast-track,” supported by Congressman Tom Emmer and the Establishment party, prevents Congress from amending any deals negotiated by the president. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, almost 6,000 pages, is not free trade but, controlled trade.  Under the TPP unelected bureaucrats sit on committees, such as the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS),  adopting international rules for:

  • Labor
  • Environment
  • Immigration
  • New rules for every aspect of global commerce

Rather than citizen driven—policies at all levels of government would be required to comply with TPP rules. The American people are losing their voice and representation.

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High court affirms HUD’s ability to rezone your city: September 2, 2015

On July 16, HUD provided its overreaching final version of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule known as AFFH. Claiming to further the purposes and policies of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, HUD will dangle federal dollars as an incentive to direct communities to

take significant actions to overcome historic patterns of segregation, achieve truly balanced and integrated living patterns, promote fair housing choice, and foster inclusive communities that are free from discrimination.