Last year, Sen. Dick Lugar was the tea party’s top target — a 35-year veteran who lives in Washington, strays from conservative orthodoxy and even criticized the right-wing movement in the wake of the 2010 elections.

But last week, Lugar was the tea party’s dining companion.

For more than two hours at a restaurant in Carmel, Ind., Lugar sat face to face with the head of one of Indiana’s largest tea party chapters, speaking at length about campaign politics, the senator’s voting record and some of his comments that have irked the movement. Lugar listened patiently and said he’d do more outreach, as he ate his eggs Benedict and peppermint ice cream.

“I was surprised,” said 62-year-old Chuck Ford, president of the Tea Party of Hamilton County. “I don’t usually dine with senators and congressmen.”

At least not in public he doesn’t. The fact is, the Hamilton County TEA Party leader supports  Senator Lugar. Ford recently ousted his vice president, who had expressed a dislike for reelecting Lugar. In an interview with AWB, the ousted VP stated, “Lugar gives Ford tingles up his leg.”

Late last year, when Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate, (HFCS) held their convention to declare support for Richard Mourdock, the Hamilton County TEA Party, (HTP) decided to hold a competing event.  Lugar did not attend the event but his spokesman and campaign coordinator David Wilke attended as Lugar’s representative. While Ford has denied to me his group is supported by the Republican party, the Hamilton County Young  Republicans donated $500 to the event. The Young Republicans generally march in lockstep with the state party. (read:support Lugar)

Ford’s group could not attend the HFCS convention due to their 501c3 status, however, they were invited to attend the rally afterwards, which was represented by the majority of Indiana TEA Parties. The time of the rally would not have impeded on their event, but they chose to not stand in solidarity and were no-shows.

By all impressions, this is not a TEA Party group. It’s merely a bunch of hacks parading to be a TEA Party group to make it appear as if Lugar has some TEA Party support. It should be noted that Mr. Ford at one time was a member of the Indiana State Teacher’s Association, (union), and negotiated union contracts on its behalf.

Back to Wilke for a moment. The 1940 Republican presidential nominee was Wendell Willkie, David’s grandfather.

From the blog, Welcome to my TEA Party.

Willkie was cozy with Democrats.  He joined with Eleanor Roosevelt to form Freedom House and was a delegate to two Democratic national conventions.

A Wilsonian Internationalist who promoted world government, Willkie wrote the book “One World.”  He supported Roosevelt’s controversial New Deal.

Late in his career, Willkie joined the New Liberal Party and attempted to push its agenda nationally.  Senator Lugar was a member of a liberal think tank, the Roosevelt Institute’s Campus Network.  And proving that he’s no statesman, he recently resigned under pressure from the Tea Party.<

So, while Ford states, “I don’t usually dine with senators and congressmen,”  according to another HTP member I spoke with, Mr. Ford has regular breakfast meetings with Lugar’s closest adviser, David Wilke.

Imagine that.

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Burton represents Indiana’s 5th congressional district. There are several vying for the slot, including former congressman and Kendallville native David McIntosh, attorney Jack Lugar, (Senator Dick Lugar’s son),  Susan Brooks, a former U.S. attorney and Fort Wayne native, and former Marion County Coroner John McGoff, who came close to defeating Burton two years ago.

The 5th District presently includes Huntington County, which joins the 3rd District for the next 10 years beginning with the 2012 elections.

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Fort Wayne / South Bend’s Bishop Kevin Rhoades  — and all of the Bishops of the United States – find themselves in a culture war with the Obama administration in 2012.  Sometimes you run to the front, sometimes the front advances upon you. 

Find here a column in the local newspaper reflecting on the recent march for life in the Fort (see picture below) and the test that has now come to the Catholic Church in the United States. 

The column contains quotes from three US Bishops that would have been considered quite radical just a few months ago.  Read ‘em and muster for battle.

Kulturkampf has come to us, with Kathleen Sebelius and Barack Obama driving the tanks in the general’s ranks.  Definition here:  http://www.archangelinstitute.org/americas-political-class-intensifies-the-kulturkampf/

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Indiana becomes the 23rd state to ban unions from collecting union dues from non-union workers.  Governor Daniels will likely have the bill in his hands, and signed, prior to the Super Bowl.

So much for the OWS and union protests that were planned for the Super Bowl, eh?

Watch this video, it’s priceless.

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Percentage Real Growth in Private-Sector Employee Compensation (2000-2010)

Right to Work States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.3%
Forced-Unionism States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.7%

Percentage Growth in Real Personal Income (1999-2009)

Right to Work States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.3%
Forced-Unionism States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.7%

Source: National Institute for Labor Relations Research

In Indiana, those employed in a Union Shop that are members of a union only represents 10.9% of the total workforce. Of those represented by a union, but are not members, (but are forced to pay dues), 2.3% of the total workforce.

That’s 34,000 non-union workers being forced to pay union dues against their will. All the unions care about is the estimated $1.4 million dollar loss in dues.

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Rep. Bauer and The Mother of All Hypocrisies

It is not my intent to weigh in on the “right to work” issue, but the high drama is hard to leave out of any discussion of what is happening at your state capitol.

Last night, House Democrats walked out for the third time this session. This action holds up the process and reminds everyone of their five-week trip to a Comfort Inn in Illinois last year. That departure killed numerous bills including a 2011 right to work proposal.

Late last week, House Democrats threw out a new notion that could stall right to work for a while.Rep. Pat Bauer wants right to work to be a referendum issue rather than a legislative one. However,the irony of this proposal is remarkable. Former Speaker of the House, Pat Bauer, single-handedly blocked Marriage Protection referendums for more than six years. If he were Speaker today, he’d still be blocking a people’s vote on marriage protection. 

Now, Rep. Bauer says that the people should be allowed to vote on right to work. The differences between the two issues are not insignificant. Marriage is under assault from unelected judges who have virtually no voter accountability and only a voter approved Constitutional amendment can protect our marriage laws. This is very different than a statutory proposal moving through the elected bodies of the legislature in which people can express their opinions and hold their Senators and Representatives accountable. An employment policy law can be changed at any time following an election, an activist judge’s ruling cannot.

Our web site poll found that 75% of you support right to work. I recognize that there are many readers who may live in union households or simply oppose right to work but agree with AFA on family and moral matters. This is not an issue on which AFA is taking an official position.

(I do have my own views on RTW and its supposed pros and cons. I will admit that I do have a hard time ignoring what Thomas Jefferson said about compelling a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors being tyrannical in regard to some of the liberal anti-family agendas and politicians many unions support. Yet, I realize that many union families agree with me on their money going for such political agendas, but honestly worry about future wage earnings under right to work.)

Last night the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency issued an opinion on the Democrat’s referendum amendment calling it “unconstitutional.” It will be interesting to see how this referendum idea unfolds, if it is legally viable. We will wait and see if it is adopted, and if Hoosiers will be swayed one way or another after hearing hundreds upon hundreds of radio and TV ads for and against forced unionization.

Out of the Mouth of Anti-Family Activists, True Intent is Revealed

A leading activist in Canada has put in writing what many parents and pro-family leaders have believed for a long time. Writing for Xtra Vancouver, Managing Editor Robin Perelle blasted parents with traditional beliefs saying, “your outdated morals are no longer acceptable, and we will teach your kids the new norms.” Perelle said that children should be taught to endorse the homosexual agenda.

In response to Ms. Perelle’s public admission, homosexual blogger Daniel Villarreal wrote, “I and a lot of other people want to indoctrinate, recruit, teach, and expose children to queer sexuality AND THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! We want educators to teach future generations of children to accept queer sexuality. In fact, our very future depends on it.” (This is an interesting imperative if gay activists really believe that homosexuality is an in-born genetic behavior.)

Villarreal didn’t stop there. He added: “Why would we push anti-bullying programs or social studies classes that teach kids about the historical contributions of famous queers unless we wanted to deliberately educate children to accept queer sexuality as normal?”

Indiana BMV Celebrates Homosexual Recruitment Center

Homosexual activists are celebrating the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles decision to allow a specialty license plate that celebrates and helps to fund a homosexual teen recruitment center called the Indy Youth Group.

The BMV had rejected the homosexual plate, and even withstood a failed legal attempt by the ACLU of Indiana to force such a plate into existence. This year, for some reason, they have approved the plate. Other plate efforts, which have not been initially approved by the BMV, such as the In God We Trust plate now appearing on 2 million Hoosier cars, went to the legislature for approval.   It is highly unlikely that a license plate for a group encouraging homosexual behaviors among minors would even get a committee hearing.

As news of this first of a kind in the nation license plate circulates, questions may arise about the Daniels Administration’s trickle down values or oversight of this agency and why the BMV reversed course in less than a year.

One has to wonder, since health risks are obviously not a consideration, if a cigar-smoking club could get a specialty license plate now.

What if there was an effort for a specialty license plate to fund an Exodus affiliate ministry in Indiana that helps people overcome same-sex attraction? Can you imagine the outcry or an ACLU lawsuit over an ex-gay organization plate?

Yet, it is not merely the approval of a controversial plate. The BMV web site, which has a large “PRIDE” title, states that part of the plate fees will “build capacity for gay straight alliances in high schools across the state.” Do you think the BMV would have ever approved funds from theChoose Life plate to set up “Teens For Life” clubs or “Exodus Youth” programs in Indiana high schools?   (The choose life plate doesn’t fund anything political or associated with the right to life movement. The funds go for adoption aid and agencies.)

Indiana agencies should remain neutral in the political culture wars raging over societal values. They shouldn’t take actions that undermine the family or support risky lifestyle choices for minor children.

Family And Freedom Days Educate on Legislative Process

Last week I mentioned Advance America’s Family and Freedom Days. I mistakenly implied that these educational events occurred every Tuesday. They, in fact, are scheduled for January 24th andFebruary 14th. You can print out a church bulletin insert and learn more about these events at this link: http://www.advanceamerica.com/pdf/AAIFamilyFreedomDays2012.pdf

Grassroots Training Event this Saturday!

Our Grassroots training event in Westfield will occur this Saturday starting at 8:30 am and going until noon. We need a certain number of attendees for our workshops to be effective. If you plan on attending, but have not yet let us know, please email me at micah@afain.net The cost to attend the seminar at The Journey Church, 17716 Eagletown Road in Westfield is $20.

Court Turns Away Challenge to Indiana Voucher Program

Late last week, the Indiana State Teachers Association lost their first legal effort to block the state’s new school voucher program for lower income families. On Friday, Marion Superior CourtJudge Michael Keele ruled that the School Choice Scholarship Program did not violate the Indiana Constitution because the state isn’t directly funding religious schools. The Judge found that like other aid programs, it gives vouchers to parents, who can choose where they want to use them.

The ruling also rejected arguments that the program unconstitutionally took funds away from public schools and sent money to private schools. Judge Keele wrote that the Indiana Constitution allows “educational options outside of the public school system.”

Around 4,000 of roughly a million Hoosier school students are in the new voucher program. Those numbers are expected to grow this fall. Many news stories have called this a major defeat for the opponents of the program. Nevertheless, the ISTA is expected to appeal the ruling on to higher courts.

Including Creation with Evolution in Public School

Senate Bill 89 is a one-sentence bill authored by Senator Dennis Kruse. It allows a local school board to choose to allow alternatives to the theory of evolution to be taught in life origins discussions as alternative theories. The bill is simple and it leaves the decision up to local school authorities. Still, we expect fierce opposition to even this modest proposal when the bill receives a public hearing on the afternoon of January 25th.

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This gathering of mostly Evangelical, political activist firepower sent a few strong messages across the fruited plain.

First and foremost, they sent a message to Rick Perry to immediately suspend his campaign for president.  Secondarily they sent a message to their compatriots to all back Rick Santorum for president, at least in the upcoming South Carolina race.  Thirdly, they sent a message to those advancing federalism ala Ron Paul’s principled libertarianism as a cure to America’s ills.  That former message is “fahgettaboutit.”

The call to rethink the embrace of big government solutions to every social ill — a GOP political pattern that began with the Rockefeller Republicans in 1964 — has been answered.  No break is necessary is the clear answer.  Let’s party like its 2007 and get on with the bombing of all evildoers in the Middle East.

By so trumpeting their intentions these so-called social conservatives have laid a red carpet out for the likes of Gary Johnson and Donald Trump.  The GOP is breaking into two spheres, big government conservatives who put international finance first headed by Romney, and big government conservatives who put the themes of the 1990′s culture war first headed by Santorum.  Both being the party of endless war.

It would seem that the GOP elite, right and left, have no place in their platforms for the smaller government conservatism of Barry Goldwater and Ron Paul or the foreign policy of the Founders.

I predict that a third party will fight hard to fill the vacuum between America’s daffy Left and mesmerized Right.  That third party will fight for the allegiance of Ron Paul’s followers as well as the Reagan Democrats who are leaving Barry Obama in droves.  That third party will pledge to be less militaristic, to eschew the military industrial complex, to reconsider the bane of runaway corporate power (crony capitalism) and to dramatically reduce the size of the federal government and our national debt.  It is a message that many Americans want to embrace.

Patrick J. Buchanan has oft written of the left and right wing of the same bird of prey to describe the modern GOP and modernist Democrat party and their tendency, led by mammon and other bad influences, to an ever expanding federal government.  It seems that the right wing of that bird of prey has  a well defined top and a well defined bottom, leaving no room for anyone who advances the idea (rejected when the Rockefeller’s finally triumphed) that said bird of prey is the real problem.

Those supporting the “classical liberal” approach of this nation’s founders — such as defined by George Washington’s “isolationism” and warnings about government being a dangerous fire and the framers of the Bill of Rights desire to hem in the feds — those supporting such views find little to hang onto in the polished prose of Mitt Romney or the overtly religious (in a modernist fashion) riffs of Rick Santorum.

As we are wont to say over at the ArchAngel Institute, “it is the culture, Pilgrim”. But do not believe for a minute that deep-seated cultural problems can be solved via legislation emanating out of Washington D.C.  We cannot elect a president who will make us moral or come to our, as the Stones sang, emotional rescue.  Or save our souls.   But we will, if we keep the trajectory of the past dozen years (yes Obama and Bush 43, both), find our problems resolved — via a complete and total financial and institutional meltdown.   A return to the tried and true principles of the Founder’s federalism and thus a massive restructuring of the role of our federal government is the only path to avert a European style crash.  Sadly, few among the Christian Right seem to be able to see past the crisis presented by their very own professional fundraisers (who write ever more hysteric direct mail solicitations demanding immediate reaction, even if the requested reaction could never result in longterm solutions for the West) and their many, many well-heeled and highly influential friends on K Street.  (“Pleased to meet you / Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah / But what’s puzzling you / Is the nature of my game”)

I want to support my brethren in Texas, and so I will, before going to bed tonight,  pray that Mr. Santorum is visited by an epiphany every bit as clear as the one that the social conservatives handed to Rick Perry this weekend.  Heck I will double down and even ask the same for Mitt Romney.

But I doubt that my desired “Tebow miracle” is in the cards given what we have already witnessed in the first half of this political season.

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Pat “the Toupée” Bauer is hinting at another walkout over the GOP proposal that would make Indiana the 23rd state to bar unions from mandating that non-union workers pay union fees.

What a bunch of pissants.

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Both Greg Fettig and Monica Boyer have confirmed this is not their account. It seems Lugar’s people will do just about anything.  Stay classy.

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Take Action Now before the Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners passes this ill-conceived ordinance on Tuesday!

On November 28th, the Evansville City Council rushed through an ordinance that grants special legal protection on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity with very little consideration of the implications of its actions. The Council listened to the demands of homosexual behavior advocates even though very few cities in Indiana have ordinances protecting cross-dressing, homosexual behavior or the actions of those with gender identity disorders. Many cities have rejected these ordinances when it became clear what threats the special legal protections actually pose to our freedoms.

Advocates of homosexual behavior are now pushing the Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners to rush through a countywide ordinance granting special rights for those engaging in homosexual behavior and seek to compel citizens like you to violate your sincerely held religious beliefs in support of their actions.

In fact, this ordinance discriminates against you. It could target your pastor, your church, faith-based charities, organizations like the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities and the Boy Scouts, or anyone who does not embrace the homosexual agenda. Ordinances like the one just passed in Evansville have often been used in this heavy-handed manner, even here in the heartland of America.

The nation’s largest religious liberty legal organization, the Alliance Defense Fund has now had time to review this new ordinance and has identified many problems and concerns.

Under this proposed ordinance to be voted on December 20:

• Churches and other organizations may be prevented from leasing a public facility like a park or larger venues for an event unless it had adopted policies which may contradict the church’s religious teachings on sexual matters. 
• Any facility used by the public may be forced to host events that promote homosexual behavior. For example, a church could be forced to permit its facility to be used by a same-sex couple who obtained a civil union in Illinois or were “married” in another state and seek to have a local reception. 
• Any business that offers a “family” discount or membership may be forced to extend that same benefit to same-sex couples. 
• Homeless shelters, missions, housing facilities and even college dormitories may be prohibited from being segregated by sex and could be forced to permit same-sex couples to share a room or bed.

The fact is this “politically correct” ordinance actually discriminates against people of faith or anyone who has concerns about the risky nature of homosexual behaviors or simply does not want to see marriage between a man and a woman undermined by city and county government.

TAKE ACTION

Send the Vanderburgh County Commissioners an email urging them to reconsider passage of this extreme and unnecessary ordinance.

Attend and voice your objection to this ordinance at the Commissioner’s meeting next Tueday evening, December 20, at 5:00p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center.

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December 13, 2011
Indiana House of Representatives
Indiana Senate

Dear Legislator,

I write to express concern over pending mass transit legislation in Indiana. Reports indicate that some are considering a sizable income tax increase to pay for an expansion of public transportation in Central Indiana. Whether or not mass transit is sustainable on the $1.3 billion scale envisioned by the Central Indiana Transit Task Force, you certainly should not be levying harmful tax increases on families and job creators during these tenuous economic times.

Public transit can be of dubious value, especially in areas of the country that do not generate enough demand for a free market alternative. And $1.3 billion in buses and trains is a massive undertaking with costs that will almost certainly exceed projections. But even if it is determined that Central Indiana is ripe for an expansion of mass transit, it should also be determined that that $1.3 billion in spending is a higher priority than an existing $1.3 billion. Cut the lowest priority and use the savings to pay for the new project. Don’t raise taxes.

For those of you who have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a tax increase to pay for transit expansion is a violation of that Pledge. I urge you to oppose and vote against this tax increase, which voters simply can’t afford. If you have any questions, please contact ATR state affairs manager Joshua Culling at

jculling@atr.org
Onward,
Grover Norquist

CC: The Honorable Mitch Daniels
The Honorable Greg Ballard

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Tim Zank

I find this positively hilarious and oh so typical. Attorney General Holder, The Obama Administration and Democrats nationwide are fighting, suing, and generally throwing an absolute fit that states are requiring a picture I.D. to vote. They claim it’s voter suppression, racist and un-american. If that’s the case, why do labor unions that vote in lock step with Democrats require a picture I.D. to vote in union elections?

I thought I would expand on it.

You need a picture ID to do the following:

• Buy alcohol
• Drive a car
• Use your credit card if you forgot to sign it
• Open a bank account
• Rent an apartment (most places)
• Get a bank loan
• Open an account with city utilities
• Open a cell phone account with Verizon or any other major carrier
• Get a teacher’s license
• Board a commercial airplane
• Obtain a passport
• Get a library card (most libraries)
• Rent a canoe at Chain-o-Lakes State Park
• Obtain free food at many food pantries
• Return a purchase at a Nike Retail Store
• Visit someone in jail
• Sign up for Medicare
• Obtain a fishing license
• Check-in to a major hotel chain
• Rent a boat or a waverunner from a marina
• Obtain your college transcripts
• Rent a truck from U-Haul
• Bid at an auction

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Either way, with temperatures tonight going down to 14°, it would be fun to go downtown to see just how many didn’t evacuate to Mommy’s basement.

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