Friday, April 24, 2009

Fayette Base Year Assessment Constitutional Per Allegheny Ruling?

Hopefully, some citizen-minded Pennsylvania property tax assessment expert will come Fayette's way before the reassessment planned to be implemented June 1, 2009, is implemented.

Where oh where are the Pennsylvania state legislators who promised their first, or second, top priority (pre-election) would be to "eliminate property taxes" even if they revised their pre-election statements to the more narrow "eliminate school property taxes?"

Where are these elected public servants now they are getting hefty state taxpayer-funded salaries, pensions, perks, free cars, daily stipends, travel subsidization, etc. including staffs to rival that of U.S. Congress-critters?

Nowhere to be heard on the promised "eliminate school property taxes" issue. Now the tone has changed to we're trying to do something positive to cut costs of property taxation for school-funding at the local level. Yes we are, we're really trying our best.

their best is to keep in place this obscene system of unfair property taxation.

On the one hand, state legislators pass such gimmicks as years-long tax-forgiveness for some, Keystone Opportunity Zones, and its offshoots and extensions and expansions, while on the other hand name-call the unfortunate who may have to use a payment plan to pay any back taxes owed. At worst, the same state legislators tout the tax-forgiveness for some as economic development while in their own districts some unfortunate may lose home or business property to a tax sale for inability to pay the bill!

why there isn't an uprising in Fayette has been frustrating for the past 10 years since the first round of Keystone Opportunity Zones were approved for certain sections of the county.

Now a reassessment will be conducted, and in this distressed area it's more likely more existing houses will have lost market value in the nationwide financial and housing crisis climate.

Meanwhile any costs associated with building a new place have risen out of all proportion. Only the very wealthy will be able to build or update if the crisis climate continues unabated.

Even 84 Lumber Company has sought state help from the federal government stimulus money if one can believe that because of a decline in that industry!

The little home-owner or business-owner who just wants to get by faces a neighbor or neighboring business that doesn't have to pay its fair share or any share of taxes for 10 or for 7 years with knowledge everything can come tumbling down just around the corner.

this situation has even been acknowledged as unfair, not uniform according to the state Constitution, and unconstitutional by state Representative Tim Mahoney nearly 2 years back come August, yet the legislator turns around and says OK to a new round of tax-forgiveness for those accepted into the program locally.

Maybe the board of Fayette Commissioners hasn't formalized the KOZ expansion/extension as requested by its promoters, yet, but who knows, as things have been going in this county maybe all a majority has to do is sign a form.

Along comes the reassessment and some homeowners will possibily have to pay not only more because of new building or upkeep while some located in KOZs won't have to pay a dime.

In addition, there's a year-2000 county bond-issue that's being used for the reassessment costs, dubbed a bargain at nearly 3 quarters of a million dollars, and local property tax-payers will foot the bill for that bond while KOZers won't be tapped for who knows how long with the extensions and expansions.

Maybe the expert on tax assessment Supreme Court rulings will come into Fayette and stop the insanity, on more than one front, but we're not holding our breath.

Net the Truth Online

Fayette commissioners take steps toward reassessment
By Amy Revak, Herald-Standard
04/24/2009
Updated 04/24/2009 12:15:43 AM EDT
...Hercik said the county assessment office plans to mail new notices on June 1 with the new values scheduled to go into effect for the 2010 tax year. Once notices are mailed, property owners will have 30 days to file an appeal if they disagree with their new assessed value.

The appeals will be handled at the satellite office and an independent appeals board will hear all appeals.

Hercik said when the first countywide reassessment in more than 45 years was undertaken in 2003, there were 10,000 appeals. He said his office doesn't "really have a clue" how many will be appealed this time around, but the assessment office is preparing for the appeal process.

When the first reassessment was held, county officials vowed not to allow time and inequities to creep into the system by doing regular updates.

The assessment office staff has undertaken the proactive step of updating the property valuations for all 85,000 tax records in the county for the 2010 tax year.

"In 2001, when the comprehensive revaluation program was announced, the county took the position that it would not allow the assessment system to fall victim to time as had occurred previously," Hercik said. "The county determined it would update the program every five or six years to stay current with market trends and values."

County assessment office staff has revisited every property in the county over the past few years and updated information for the county database. Hercik said some new photographs were taken, but not in cases where the physical condition of the property stayed the same.

"This time around out, county assessors performed the review functions," Hercik said. "We feel this greatly benefits the project as my staff knows their municipalities better then anyone. This update is being done 'in house' with minimal outside contracts and at a fraction of the original 2003 cost."

Hercik previously said the 2003 reassessment cost $3.3 million and was done by an outside firm. The current reassessment, being done in-house over three years, will cost "under $750,000."

Cole Layer Trumble of Ohio did the previous reassessment.

Hercik said he and his staff has revisited the neighborhood delineations previously set by CLT, and made adjustments in land values as well as locations of comparable sales to more accurately reflect the conditions of different areas of the county. Also, new building cost and depreciation tables have been established.

The previous assessments were based on a 2001 base year, but 2008 will be the new base year.

"There had been a steady increase in market values from 2001 to 2007, however, 2008 and now 2009, may show a decline," Hercik said. "We plan to take all of this into consideration as we set new values across the county."

Hercik said an appraisal traditionally looks at sales that have occurred. In the update process, assessors are utilizing sales from 2006 through 2008.

"The assessment office can't forecast what the economy will do in 2009, but future updates will take current and future real estate markets into consideration. A revaluation is not a tool to simply increase taxes for the local taxing bodies, but it is a means to equalize the tax base," Hercik said. "In a revaluation year, local taxing bodies are required by law to adjust their millage rates so that they don't collect anymore in tax dollar after the revaluation than they did before the revaluation."

Hercik said individual tax shares may increase or decrease as a result of the reassessment, but the total amount collected by the various taxing bodies cannot change. In 2003, taxpayers saw the school millage rates drop from the 50- or 60-mill levels to the current 10- to 13-mill levels, and the same process will occur when new values are set this time.

Once the new notices are mailed, they will include a telephone number for taxpayers with questions to call...

http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20303770&BRD=2280&PAG=461&dept_id=468520&rfi=6


Base year vs market sale price May 7, 2008 Testimony copy Daniel A. Miscaviage

http://www.senatorbrowne.com/finance/2008/050708/Miscavage.pdf


Judge rules Allegheny's base-year system unconstitutional
Buzz up!By Mike Wereschagin, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, June 7, 2007

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_511304.html


June 9, 2007
Judge Holds Unconstitutional Pennsylvania's Property Tax Assessment System

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2007/06/judge_holds_unc.html


Westmoreland anxiously awaits assessment ruling
Buzz up!By Rich Cholodofsky, TRIBUNE-REVIEW NEWS SERVICE
Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Westmoreland County officials readily concede the property assessment system is out of whack.

County commissioners have long acknowledged that adjustments need to be made in a system that overtaxes some property owners, while undertaxing others.

But the cost of a countywide reassessment starts around $10 million.

And the likely political fallout from such a move has led to Westmoreland officials making no decision to improve its system.

That could change this year, depending on what happens in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which is considering a case that could end with every county in the state finding that its property assessment system defies the constitution.

It's a scenario that would cost taxpayers in each county millions of dollars to revamp the property tax system.

The base-year system allows for counties to assign properties a value that reflects construction costs in one particular year. In Westmoreland County that year is 1972.

"We understand the tremendous cost and upheaval a reassessment can be," said Westmoreland Commission Chairman Tom Balya. "We hope the Supreme Court issues something that gives counties some relief."

"There's never a great time to do it. It's a very challenging thing to accomplish, because I don't believe the public is aware that we're not in it trying to raise taxes," Balya said.

The appellate court is being asked to review a decision by Allegheny County Judge R. Stanton Wettick, who ruled that county's system of using a base year to determine property assessments -- and subsequent taxes -- is unconstitutional.

That system, which is used in the state's 67 counties, allows properties to be assessed using values from the last year of a reassessment.

Westmoreland County uses 1972 as its base year. According to the State Tax Equalization Board, Westmoreland has the fifth-oldest base year for assessments in Pennsylvania.

The base-year system means that in 1972, the property assessments reflected 100 percent of a parcel's value. By 1982, the state calculated that Westmoreland County's assessments represented just 47 percent of market value.

This year, a property's assessed value will equal just 20.4 percent of it market value, meaning a home worth about $100,000 will have a property assessment of $20,000.

Those percentages are calculated by a state agency and are unique to each county.

John Wilt, a member of the county's Board of Tax Assessments and Appeals, concedes that the system is skewed.

"As time went on, market values tend to change. I cannot say the assessments are current today," Wilt said.

That's the problem.

One solution would be a countywide reassessment of its 193,000 parcels. But county leaders have opposed that effort as too costly. It is estimated that a reassessment could cost at least $10 million.

A reassessment would result in about one-third of the county's properties decreasing in value, while one-third would increase, Wilt said. The remaining third would not change substantially.

"Older communities will have older values. A reassessment will find that their (values) will go down," Wilt said. Homes with current market values of more than $250,000 would get higher assessed values, he said.

The Supreme Court decision could force the hands of commissioners throughout Pennsylvania.

Westmoreland County officials have a $35 million budget surplus that could be used to pay for a reassessment. But they would prefer not to do so.

"In a perfect world, we'd like to see the Supreme Court rule that it's OK to have a base year but update how we get there. The last thing I want to see is a legislative fix that has a lot of holes in it. Hopefully, the courts will allow enough time to transition into something else," Commissioner Tom Ceraso said.

A reassessment is overdue for Westmoreland. But in counties that already went through the turmoil of reassessing, it likely would have to be redone to comply with any ruling that holds the base-year system as unconstitutional.

Fayette County reassessed its 83,000 parcels in 2003. That project, which was phased in over a number of years, is expected to be completed this year, costing taxpayers $474,000 next year.

Vince Zapatosky, chairman of Fayette County board of commissioners, said lawyers for the county already are preparing a response should the Supreme Court throw out the current assessment system.

"It's more than a kick in the teeth. It's a loss of teeth," Zapatosky said of the pending ruling.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/blairsvilledispatch/obituaries/s_606900.html



After an exhaustive review of statistical evidence, the court held that a base year real estate tax system was unconstitutional because it violated the requirement of the Uniformity Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution that

"[a]ll taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of subjects." The court reached this conclusion for two reasons, one theoretical and one practical. First, it reasoned that a base year system was invalid on its face because it failed to account for differential rates of change that occur after the base year in the value of real estate in different areas of a county. Second, the empirical evidence confirmed that the anticipated disparities had in fact occurred.

The court ordered Allegheny County to perform a computer-assisted countywide reassessment by March 31, 2008, for use in 2009, and a second computer-assisted countywide reassessment by March 31, 2009, for use in 2010.

Recognizing the virtual certainty that Allegheny County would file a direct appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the court permitted Allegheny County to continue using its 2002 base year system until the 2009 tax year (though it provided a delay mechanism if the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had not entered a final order in this case by October 31, 2008).

http://www.buchananingersoll.com/media/pnc/5/media.1795.pdf


Pennsylvania Supreme Court weighing property tax assessments
by The Associated Press Thursday September 11, 2008, 7:14 AM

PITTSBURGH -- The property tax assessment system used by every county in the state might not be perfect, but it complies with a constitutional requirement that taxes be fair and equal, a government lawyer told the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday. Attorneys challenging the so-called "base-year" system on behalf of several property owners argued that it leads to unfair real estate valuations and, thus, unfair tax bills.
The base-year system pegs the tax to a property's value in a given past year, rather than on its current value. The longer a county goes without reassessment, the greater the tax disparity can be, they argued. "It would be like taxing somebody at their 2002 income when they're making less in 2008," attorney Ira Weiss said. "No one would put up with that, and no one should want to put up with paying taxes on property with 2002 values in 2008." The case before the Supreme Court comes from Allegheny County, but the base-year system is used by all of Pennsylvania's 67 counties to determine how valuable a property is. School districts and municipalities use the assessment values to calculate landowners' tax bills. In October 2005, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and county council decided to set 2002 as the base year for assessments, because they said using 2006 property values could mean large tax increases for thousands of people who bought property since the last reassessment in 2002.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2008/09/pennsylvania_supreme_court_wei.html


County property tax case goes to top court
Onorato appeals Judge Wettick's assessment decision
Saturday, September 06, 2008
By Karamagi Rujumba, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Sitting in its Pittsburgh session, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next week in a case that is at the core of how Allegheny County -- and many others -- determines real estate property values.

In 2005, county Chief Executive Dan Onorato implemented a base-year property assessment plan, which sets assessments based on the value of property in 2002, including new construction. Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. threw out that system last year, declaring the state law that allows a base-year system is unconstitutional.

At a news conference yesterday, Mr. Onorato said the county will argue that Judge Wettick not only was wrong in his interpretation of Allegheny County's base-year plan but also overstepped his authority in finding unconstitutional a state law that is the basis for similar plans in counties across the state. The court will hear arguments on the case on Wednesday.

"We think [Judge Wettick] is wrong," Mr. Onorato said, adding that he will keep fighting for his base-year plan because he made a campaign promise to deal with "the reassessment problem" when he sought the chief executive's office in 2003.

The long-awaited assessment case -- Clifton et al, and Pierce et al v. Allegheny County -- hinges on a law that was created by the state Legislature and approved by then Gov. Dick Thornburgh in 1982, giving counties the authority to use a base year when setting property values.

In Allegheny County, the issue of assessments has been a lightning rod for many years, with property owners complaining of constant and excessive reassessments of their properties. Mr. Onorato said he sought to stabilize what amounted to a continuous "back-door property tax increase on homeowners" every time the county did a reassessment because values increase but school districts and municipalities never rolled back tax rates.

Furthermore, he argued, about 20 counties in Pennsylvania use a base-year market value system to establish property tax rates, causing chaos if Judge Wettick's ruling is upheld.

"The first thing I will do [if the Supreme Court upholds Judge Wettick's decision] is go to Harrisburg and ask them for a new law," he said. "Allegheny County is not going to do a reassessment any time soon."...

...A group of homeowners challenged Mr. Onorato's base-year plan in Common Pleas Court, arguing that he had essentially implemented an assessment freeze, unfairly penalizing property owners with decreasing or stagnant assessment values while giving tax breaks to property owners with rising values.

More than a year after their initial challenge, Judge Wettick agreed with the homeowners and threw out Mr. Onorato's plan, ordering the county to complete a computer-assisted reassessment by March of this year and another reassessment by March of 2009.

So far, the county has done neither assessment because the case is still under appeal. And because Judge Wettick found a state law unconstitutional, the case went straight to the state Supreme Court, where it has been since last year, pending oral arguments.

At its core, the homeowners' case is based on the premise that the base-year plan violates the uniformity clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

"It's a question of uniformity," said Ira Weiss, an attorney representing a group of homeowners in Franklin Park, Mt. Lebanon and Squirrel Hill. Another group of homeowners is represented by attorney Don Driscoll. Judge Wettick combined both cases, and both legal teams will essentially operate as one.

"The Pennsylvania Constitution requires that all taxes in the state should be structured uniformly. That is why we don't have a graduated tax," said Mr. Weiss. "What Allegheny County did [in implementing the base year] is so far from acceptable, let alone uniform. It is unconstitutional."

The inequities in property valuations that were created by the base-year plan, Mr. Weiss said, are far-reaching enough that "I'm very confident the court will affirm Judge Wettick."

And that could set the precedent for challenges of the other base-year plans across the state, said Mr. Weiss. "I think ours is a bellwether case. If [the challenge] stands, there is a chance all those other similar systems out there will fall."

But in his brief before the court, Allegheny County Solicitor Mike Wojcik argued that the state statutes that created the base-year plan "do not clearly, palpably, and plainly violate the Constitution."

"We have a strong argument to make because I think Judge Wettick exceeded his bounds. He wants the [base-year plan] to be a lot closer to perfection in uniformity [regarding how taxes are collected,] but I don't think the Pennsylvania Constitution requires that," Mr. Wojcik said...


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08250/909908-85.stm


Pennsylvania’s ‘Base Year’ Assessment System Challenged
The base year assessment system that all 67
counties in PA use to tie a property’s tax to its value
in a given past year is being challenged in the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The attorney’s
representing several property owners contend that
this system leads to unfair real estate valuations
and therefore unfair tax bills.
Attorneys for the government say the system may
not be perfect but it complies with a constitutional
requirement that taxes be fair and equitable.
In October 2005 Allegheny County officials decided
to set 2002 as the base year for assessments
because they felt using 2006 property values would
result in tax increases for thousand who had
purchased property since the last reassessment in
2002.
But people’s attorney Ira Weiss contends, “It would
be like taxing somebody at their 2002 income when
they’re making less in 2008.”
If the Supreme Court rules in the people’s favor
counties would have to do annual reassessments
unless the state legislature were to set another
standard.

http://www.ennestax.com/admin/doc/WEBTaxFaxs_regular_Sept_08.pdf



Downingtown decision

http://kassablaw.com.p2.hostingprod.com/files/Interim_Real_Estate_Tax_Assessment.pdf


Related

The Burden of Property Tax Exemptions
By Donald A. Krueckeberg
December 2004

http://www.njpp.org/rpt_freenj.html

Thursday, April 23, 2009

7-year-old boy prescribed powerful drug before suicide

Troubled boy was being treated by a Broward psychiatrist who is on a list of Florida doctors red-flagged as having ''problematic'' prescribing practices
Carol Marbin Miller | The Miami Herald
6:31 AM EDT, April 22, 2009
MARGATE - Weeks before his death, Gabriel Myers, the 7-year-old Broward boy who hanged himself in the shower of his foster home, had been prescribed a powerful mind-altering drug linked by federal regulators to an increased risk of suicide in children.

In all, Gabriel had been prescribed four psychiatric drugs, two or three of which he was taking at the time of his death, said Jack Moss, Broward chief of the state Department of Children & Families.

Moss said he is not sure which medications the boy was taking because Margate police took the foster home's medication log as part of an investigation into Gabriel's death last week.

Three of the psychotropic drugs carry U.S. Food and Drug Administration ''black box'' label warnings for children's safety, the strongest advisory the federal agency issues.

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=28542476

Fayette Not Among Counties Purged Ineligibles To Wait Years

Highlighting the Tribune-Review article More than 200,000 state voters purged
brings up the status of Fayette County authorized review and purge of ineligible names on the county voter registration rolls.

A purge of ineligible voters from Pennsylvania's voter registration rolls must follow stringent election requirements. Obviously, Allegheny County's voter rolls needed a review as of 200,000 names removed in some counties in PA, some 53,000 of them hailed from Allegheny County, alone.

Remember, too, if unfortunate and unavoidable errors occur, a name is removed from the listing by mistake, notice of removal is sent to the person long in advance of deadlines to register to vote. In the case of an error in removal of a name, the individual notified of the removal would have an adequate amount of time to re-register, and/or decline the opportunity.

A purge must be completed within 90 days of an election.

So there would be ample time for individuals whose names have been scheduled to be removed erroneously to re-register. It may be a hassle to do so, but in the interest of as accurate a voter database as possible, the paper-work hassle is a small price to pay.

We have pressed for years for the County of Fayette to complete a full review of the county's voter rolls.

Fayette County commissioners unanimously passed a measure last May 8 to have the county Election Bureau develop a plan to conduct a purge, with some specified directions this be completed within the 90-day window before a federal election.

Fayette County Board of Commissioners Thursday, May 8, 2008

Election Bureau
Moved by Commissioner Vicites and seconded by Commissioner Zimmerlink to develop a plan to purge voter records

Commissioner Zapotosky Aye
Commissioner Vicites Aye
Commissioner Zimmerlink Aye

Motion passed unanimously

Laurie Lint Director of Election Bureau states she will try to have the records ready for the next Commissioners meeting. Commissioner Zapotosky informed Mrs. Lint that we have 90 days. The Federal Law requires us to have the records done 90 days prior to the next Election. Commissioner Zimmerlink questioned the Director if she will have a plan ready in June. She replied she had to check on that. Commissioner Vicites informed Mrs. Lint she needs to get started on records as soon as
possible. He added that we have many people that will never vote again for different reasons for example some may be deceased. He said we need to clean those up to make sure they are as accurate as possible.

Commissioner Zimmerlink stated that prior to 2004, a voter purge was done on a smaller scale and in 2006, and another purge was done in conjunction with mailing 21,000 new voter machine information affecting 30,000 voters. The Director confirmed this and Commissioner Zimmerlink said the County has since discussed another purge

http://www.co.fayette.pa.us/fayette/lib/fayette/commminutes2008/may_8_2008.pdf


See budget copy 2006 Voter Registration Purge amount dedicated

http://dirtline.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/fayette_county_budget_2006.pdf


Just a couple of weeks later, to citizen inquiry, Chairman Vincent Zapotosky assured the purge was in progress.

However, due to public revealation the Election Bureau director had a conflict in advance vacation scheduling at the time, such a plan was forestalled past last year's 90-day requirement, and was actually put off until this year. At that, even though official notices reportedly have been sent to some thousands of potential ineligible voters, names will not be able to be removed until two more federal elections pass!

We've pressed long ago for the board of commissioners sitting in the capacity of the county Registration Commission to begin its own review of the county voter registration rolls.

To date, no commissioner has opted to undertake a duty they could perform - act as a registrar of elections - cause a thorough review of the county voter rolls to be done and utilizing any necessary personnel including hiring and appointing an "inspector" or inspectors of voter registration.

We think letting the voter registration rolls in Fayette County continue as-is for another potential 4 to 5 years - admitted to be inaccurate by the elected officials (members of the board of commissioners who also comprise the county Registration Commission)- is simply unconscionable.

We've provided information over the years citing election law as well that shows the capacity for a review any member of the Fayette County Registration Commission possesses (as do all other such county Registration Commission members in PA).

In fact, years ago, 1999-2000, a review of the county voter rolls was started, with the aid of a state-wide advocate for clean elections, the Voter Integrity Project, but it never was completed.

The VIP group researched the status of the county's voter rolls and generated a preliminary report that all subsequent Registration Commission members have had available to them.

So for some 9-years this report has been available as a starting point for subsequent re-elected incumbents and newly elected board members since then.

Further, since the late '90s, when an investigation into voter and election fraud ensued to the point a Fayette Grand Jury convened and initiated indictments, one involving former Congressman Austin Murphy, the Grand Jury's report which proclaimed the inaccuracy of the voter rolls at that time, all commissioners either re-elected or newly elected, have had if nothing else that motivation to to initiate a review of the county voter rolls.

Is this not as egregious an affront as anything to knowingly maintain an inaccurate voter registration list for even one year (with knowledge of its inaccuracy) let alone close to if not more than a dozen?

The amount of years current commissioners have surely had this VIP status-report and Fayette Grand Jury report available, and noting the incomplete 2000 purge wherein more information had to have been supplied to subsequent Registration Commissions:

Commissioner Vincent Vicites = 10 years (sworn into office since Jan. 1994 and in office during 1999 Fayette Voter Fraud Grand Jury)

Commissioner Angela Zimmerlink = 6 years (sworn into office since Jan. 2004)

Chairman and Commissioner Vincent Zapotosky = 1 year and 5 months (oath of office Jan. 08 but was informed of particulars prior)

the Registration Commission members must follow the same procedure - stringent procedure - to actually remove a name from the voter rolls should there be a finding of potential ineligibility of a name. It's the same procedure that is followed when they delegate the nitty-gritty process to the county Election Bureau.

The current board of commissioners has heard our plea for a thorough and an adequate review of the county voter rolls in time for the 2008 Presidential Primary Election and General Election. They've heard from us since.

Our effort stands as one insisting one or more of the members of the Registration Commission determine the legalities of causing a review of the county voter registry, (by members of the Registration Commission), and act on any warranted removals, before November's 2009 Municipal General Election.

For more information and details visit our companion site Vote Fix, started back in 2000-2001. We provide links to county records such as the VIP Report and Fayette Grand Jury official report of its findings.

http://dirtline.tripod.com/votefix/id72.html

Also see the Guest Column in the Daily Courier for April 11, 2009 wherein writer Brian K. Lutes lays out exactly what could, and should, be done.

Net the Truth Online

Commissioners' Meeting May 22, 2008

Delinda Young commented that she feels there is an emergency in this County which is the need to do a purge of voter records & to use a portion of the surplus & that the Capital Projects should not be for Court House repairs.

Commissioner Zapotosky assured Delinda Young that the purge was in progress.

Commissioners Zimmerlink informed Mrs. Young that Capital projects are not just Courthouse repairs and that the funds may be available in the Hava Grant for the purge.

http://www.co.fayette.pa.us/fayette/lib/fayette/commminutes2008/may_22_2008.pdf


Net the Truth Online

Brennan Center takes credit for purge delay

In detail – Reports emerged in June that the Elections Bureau of Fayette County was moving forward with a purge of inactive voters that did not appear compliant with NVRA standards. According to news sources, the plan would have removed from the rolls any inactive voter who failed to respond to a confirmation-of-address mailing and who subsequently did not vote in November's election. The NVRA, by contrast, is explicit in prohibiting the purge of voters for their mere failure to vote. It does, however, specify measures by which a state can remove from the rolls voters suspected of having changed address: voters can be removed from the rolls only after they've failed both to respond to the appropriate notice (regarding change of address) and to vote in two or more consecutive federal elections thereafter.

http://www.brennancenter.org/content/pages/vre_state_based_pennsylvania

Fayette postpones purging
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/fayette/s_581779.html

More than 200,000 state voters purged
Buzz up!By Mike Wereschagin, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, April 21, 2009

More than 200,000 people have been removed from Pennsylvania's voter rolls since the presidential election in November — 53,000 of them in Allegheny County.

The reduction is part of a regular purge of registrations for people who haven't voted in at least five years, or the last two presidential elections. The purge helped registered Republicans narrow Democrats' 1.2-million voter registration advantage by 30,000 voters.

In all, about 8.6 million people remained registered to vote in Pennsylvania as of Thursday, the last day for which statewide statistics are available. Large registration declines are common in years after major elections, said Pennsylvania Department of State spokesman Charlie Young. From November 2006 to the following May, officials purged 75,000 voters from the rolls, and 300,000 during the same period in 2004.

Monday was the deadline to register for the May 19 primary. With few races drawing much interest, however, the number of registrations slowed to a trickle of about 50 per day, said Mark Wolosik, manager of the Allegheny County Elections Division.

"There isn't the level of interest in this primary as there was last year," when Pennsylvania became the focal point in the marathon Democratic presidential primary race between then-senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Wolosik said.

The only statewide offices on the ballot this year are judicial races, making the Pittsburgh mayor's contest the highest-profile contest on the May ballot.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/s_621514.html



Fayette lacks funds to cull registration roll
Buzz up!By Chris Foreman, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, May 13, 2007

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/fayette/s_507440.html


Related

The Herald Standard - July 22, 2008, By Amy Zalar

...The commissioners also will act today on proposals to enact a voter purge as well as initiate a pay study for all non-union county employees.

Last month, all three commissioners voted to support a voter purge. Zimmerlink said in May 2006 the county mailed out 21,142 letters to registered voters, informing them of the new voting system, which led to removing more than 1,000 names.

Zimmerlink said the open issue is how to fund the purge.

Vicites said the purge should be completed before the November election, adding that he initially pushed to have it placed on the agenda.

"We need to move forward. We have identified funding," Vicites said. "The voter purge is the top priority in the election bureau in my opinion."

Zapotosky said money from the sale of some of the county's electronic voting machines could be used to pay for the purge. He said the only outstanding issue is to ensure the county follows federal requirements regarding when the purge can be done...

http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19863949&BRD=2280&PAG=461&dep t_id=480247&rfi=6

http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/07/22/commissioners-may-change-ordinance-to-comply-with-turbine-industry-standards/


Purge of inactive Fayette voters delayed
By Jennifer Harr, Herald-Standard
08/09/2008

August 09, 2008

A purge of about 25,000 Fayette County voters who have failed to show up at the polls in five years has been delayed until after the November election...

...But as [Laurie Lint, director of the Fayette County Election Bureau] began to evaluate the process - which included the need for additional supplies, printing letters, folding them and stuffing them - Lint said she realized she would need additional time to make sure everything was done correctly.

"We were afraid it wasn't going to get done right, and I didn't want to push it through fast. We wanted to do it 100 percent right," Lint said.

Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites said he also was disappointed that the purge was put off. At a May commissioners' meeting, Vicites said he pushed for, and the three agreed, to direct Lint to bring a plan for purging the rolls to the June 26 meeting.

Lint did not do that, he said, noting that she waited until the July 24 meeting to address the purge. Had Lint brought the plan forward in June, Vicites said she would have weeks instead of days to complete the task.

"I specifically put this on the agenda right after the April 22 election to make sure it got done," Vicites said. "It didn't, and I'm not happy about it."

http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19901537&BRD=2280&PAG=461&dept_id=480247&rfi=6


County begins purging voter rolls
Posted: 02/27/2009
Back
By Liz Zemba, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, February 27, 2009

Fayette County on Thursday initiated a long-awaited purge of its voter-registration rolls.

Laurie Lint, election bureau director, said her department began mailing out notices to some 9,000 inactive voters yesterday. The figure represents nearly 10 percent of the county's 91,382 registered voters.

County commissioners last summer discussed conducting the purge, but it was delayed until after the November election because of time constraints. Vince Zapotosky, chairman of the board of commissioners, attributed more recent delays to technical problems with the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors, or SURE.

Operated by the state, SURE notifies the state's 67 election bureaus when voters die, move or register in another county. Zapotosky said the county worked with the State Department to resolve problems with the system, allowing Fayette to move forward with purging its voter-registration rolls.

Lint said the 9,000 voters who will receive letters have had no election-related activity in five years. Such activity includes voting or making changes to addresses or party registration.

Individuals who receive the letters will be asked to contact the election bureau. If they do not, and then fail to vote in the next two federal elections, their registrations will be purged.

That means affected voters who fail to respond to the notices in time for this year's spring primary will still be permitted to vote, Lint said.

In the past, Fayette purged its voter rolls every two years. Lint said that stopped in 1995, when new rules were introduced with the passage of the Motor Voter Law.

Zapotosky said purging the voter rolls will give voters and candidates an accurate understanding of issues such as party dominance.

Of the county's current 91,382 registered voters, Lint said 62,880 are Democrats and 21,929 are Republicans. The balance, or 6,573, are independents.

http://m.triblive.com/triblive/db_7241/contentdetail.htm;jsessionid=E25A191343C39C3633E26CE82CC61743?contentguid=c4vVaaEV&storycount=409&detailindex=5&full=true


Related opinion published in Daily Courier (we disagree with the headline as the writer obviously states a need for a purge of ineligibles, but not utilizing strictly the postal methodology)

The problem with purging voters
By Brian K. Lutes Saturday, April 11, 2009

I am writing to address the voter-registration purge that apparently will be conducted via the U.S. Postal Service by the Fayette County commissioners.

The only effective way to purge the voter rolls is to conduct a door-to-door canvass of all registered voters in the county. This would consist of sending inspectors of registration out across the county and actually knocking on doors to verify that a registered voter actually lives at a given address and that the address given in the registration information is actually a residence.

Any registered voter found to not live at the address listed in the registration information on file would be challenged and given a chance at a hearing to prove that he is entitled to be registered to vote.

There has also been discussion, in news articles about the purge, of the voter rolls containing the names of dead people. This should not be, and if it is, someone is deliberately breaking the law.

Every month the state Department of Health sends out a list of citizens who have died to all county election offices. The election offices are required to cross-reference the list of deceased people with the voter registration rolls and remove any registered voters who have died.

This is how the voter registration process is supposed to work: A person who wishes to vote must fill out a voter registration card and deliver it to the Election Bureau. The registration card must contain the person's address and signature indicating the person is legally qualified to be registered to vote. At this point the person is not registered to vote; he has only applied to be registered to vote.

Once the Election Bureau receives the application, it is supposed to be given to an inspector of registration, who is then supposed to verify the information that has been provided. The inspector has 10 days to verify the applicant's address, that the applicant is not listed as deceased, that the applicant has been a resident of the election district in which the address listed is located for the requisite amount of time, that the applicant is a legal citizen, etc.

If the inspector determines that the applicant meets the legal requirements to be a registered voter, the election bureau registers the applicant. But if the Inspector determines the applicant does not meet any of the legal requirements, he is to file a "challenge" to the registration of the applicant with the registration commission (county commissioners) and the applicant is notified that his application to be registered is being challenged. He has a right to appear at a hearing before the commission to answer the challenge.

Despite language that dictates that the registration commission shall employ inspectors of registration, the Fayette County commissioners do not employ them. This means that when a person applies to be registered to vote in Fayette, no one is checking the information presented in the application; they are simply registering the applicants based on the information given to them in the application and sending out the registration cards.

We must have inspectors of registration as required by law.

I'm sure there are many retired police officers who would he willing to give their time to act as inspectors of registration. Or, perhaps, the political science departments at the California University of Pennsylvania and Penn State Fayette could provide students to carry out the work of inspectors of registration for extra credit.

Without inspectors verifying the information on the registration applications, any "voter purge" conducted by mail is totally worthless.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailycourier/s_619739.html



VOTER INTEGRITY PROJECT MENTIONED in (biased) report at salon.com

VIP gave an award to ChoicePoint for its Florida work, praising its "innovative excellence [in] cleansing" the state's voter rolls. VIP is promoting the firm's proprietary methods to purge voter rolls nationwide, and has partnered with Database Technologies, a subsidiary of ChoicePoint, to identify small communities that need pro-bono voter roll "scrubbing."

This year, VIP launched a pilot voter registration clean-up program, focused on Fayette County, Pa., and Atlantic Beach, N.C. In Fayette County, Democrats outnumber registered Republicans better than 3-1, according to data from the Pennsylvania department of state. In Atlantic, Democrats hold a 58-42 percent registration advantage over Republicans, according to the state department of elections.

VIP says Fayette was chosen because it was home to an absentee ballot fraud scheme that resulted in three election fraud convictions earlier this year, according to its Web site.

http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/12/08/integrity/index.html

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Gullible Public Care Less About Equality in Vote Counting

Following the Minnesota Senate contest, we find the public of Minnesota and the rest of the nation simply could care less whether there has been equality, or inequality, in vote-county methods applied when paper ballots are utilized. The hand-counts of some ballots which were initially rejected as an 'invalid' ballot, rejected by the machine, should of course be done to confirm the reliability of the 'machine' count.

But when different methods are then used to accept the rejected paper ballots, differing only due to who is doing the 'counting' of the paper ballot, the public should be outraged, no matter who is doing the counting.

They don't seem to be. Maybe indeed, they deserve what they get.

But on the other hand, if injustice reigns in the improper counting of paper ballots, then an injustice reigns during the term of whomever is placed in office.

No matter who it is, every effort should be made to have the same regs in place for rejecting or accepting of what were machine-rejected, thus voided and uncounted, paper ballots.

Without that process in place in a state, the state is guilty of an infringement on the rights of all voters of the states.

The right to have their ballot equal to that of every other ballot, no more and no less.

Hopefully, somebody will see the light, and if possible, have a do-over. That would be fair. In fact, a special election might attract mover voters of all persuasians, and since a third-contender, maybe even more would be permitted, the people would be the winners no matter the new outcome.

Fairness and justice. Soon we won't recognize what they once were.

Net the Truth Online

Minnesota's Missing Votes
Some Senate absentee ballots are more equal than others
Meanwhile, back in the Minnesota Senate recount, the three-judge panel reviewing the race has declared Democrat Al Franken the winner. Republican Norm Coleman intends to appeal to the state's Supreme Court, while Democrats and the press corps pressure him to surrender. We hope Mr. Coleman keeps fighting, because the outcome so far hangs on the fact that some votes have been counted differently from others.

Even after the recount and panel-findings, the 312-vote margin separating the two men equals about .01% of the 2.9 million votes cast. Even without any irregularities, this is as close to a "tie" as it gets. And there have been plenty of irregularities. By the end of the recount, the state was awash with evidence of duplicate ballot counting, newly discovered ballots, missing ballots, illegal voting, and wildly diverse standards as to which votes were counted. Any one of these issues was enough to throw the outcome into doubt. Combined, they created a taint more worthy of New Jersey than Minnesota.

The Coleman camp pushed for resolution of these problems during the recount, but it was stymied by a state canvassing board that cared more about preserving its "Minnesota nice" reputation than about making tough calls. The state Supreme Court also punted difficult questions. The mess then landed with the three-judge panel overseeing Mr. Coleman's contest trial, a panel that seemed out of its depth.

Case in point: the panel's dismal handling of absentee ballots. Early in the recount, the Franken team howled that some absentee votes had been erroneously rejected by local officials. We warned at the time that this was dangerous territory, designed to pressure election officials into accepting rejected ballots after the fact.

Yet instead of shutting this Franken request down, or early on issuing a clear set of rules as to which absentees were valid, the state Supreme Court and the canvassing board oversaw a haphazard process by which some counties submitted new batches to be included in the tally, while other counties did not. The resulting additional 933 ballots were largely responsible for Mr. Franken's narrow lead.

During the contest trial, the Coleman team presented evidence of a further 6,500 absentees that it felt deserved to be included under the process that had produced the prior 933. The three judges then finally defined what constituted a "legal" absentee ballot. Countable ballots, for instance, had to contain the signature of the voter, complete registration information, and proper witness credentials.

But the panel only applied these standards going forward, severely reducing the universe of additional absentees that the Coleman team could hope to have included. In the end, the three judges allowed only about 350 additional absentees to be counted. The panel also did nothing about the hundreds, possibly thousands, of absentees that have already been legally included, yet are now "illegal" according to the panel's own ex-post definition.

If all this sounds familiar, think Florida 2000. In that Presidential recount, officials couldn't decide what counted as a legal vote, and so different counties used different standards. The Florida Supreme Court made things worse by changing the rules after the fact. In Bush v. Gore, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that this violated Constitutional principles of equal protection and due process, which require that every vote be accorded equal weight.

This will be a basis for Mr. Coleman's appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Should that body be reluctant to publicly rebuke their judicial colleagues who sat on the contest panel, Mr. Coleman could also take his appeal to federal court. This could take months.

Another solution is to hold a special Senate election. Minnesota law does not specifically provide for such a runoff. However, the U.S. Constitution's 17th amendment does provide states with a roadmap for filling "vacancies," which might be a legal starting point for a do-over. Even before the shifting standards of the contest trial, the St. Paul Pioneer Press looked at the ballot-counting evidence and called for a revote. It could be that this is where the court case is leading in any event.

Democrats want to portray Mr. Coleman as a sore loser and make the Republican worry that he will ruin his chances for other political office. But Mr. Coleman has a legitimate grievance that not all votes have been treated equally. If the Franken standard of disparate absentee-voter treatment is allowed to stand, every close election will be settled by a legal scramble to change the vote-counting rules after Election Day. Minnesota should take the time to get this one right.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124000875842430603.html

Friday, April 17, 2009

PA: KOZ still unfair amid broken promises job creation

What do proponents of tax-forgiveness for some fail every time to reveal?

While a select few don't have to pay up on annual local property tax-bills for some amount of years (in the name of economic development) don't face:

foreclosure on property because monies are freed up to pay mortgages on other property

property tax-sale for inability to pay the assessed taxes

And the worst drawback to this scheme of tax-forgiveness for some on real-estate property?

those not located in a KOZ must pay for everybody who is in a KOZ because the costs of government at any level continuously go what? UP.

The Herald Standard article quotes some $81,000 that will come due from the KOZ properties within the Laurel Highlands School District jurisdiction.

Get real. Does that sound like a lot to anybody with half-a-brain? On all of the properties located in a KOZ now or for the next 7 years, after the expiration of KOZ in one of the most upscale area of the entire county, only an $81,000 return in the future?

Maybe it was a misprint?

The idea of the KOZ status was initially proposed to draw big business to Fayette County and the municipalities within the county. New employers were supposed to create hundreds upon hundreds of well-paying new jobs.

Those jobs were supposed to attract outside the area new residents. Residents who would want either existing housing or to build new.

Those residents in turn would stimulate the local economy and move families into the area during the time the big business was receiving the tax-freedom for creating jobs.

That hasn't exactly worked out as intended.

Local businesses already established have in most cases simply moved operations to a KOZ. A few came from another part of the country like Duke Energy in another area of Fayette but employs less than a dozen persons.

Not exactly the hundreds upon hundreds promised.

And when the program was pitched around the country, the proponents offered 10-years should be enough time to get things going.

That soon changed a mere couple years later and extensions seem to have been the wave of the future.

When will KOZ end?

Not in our lifetimes. Unless people go to the other boards the municipal government and county commissioners, this won't end for another 7 years.

At the same time, if even one homeowner or business goes bust or has to relinquish property for failure to pay local property taxes while another doesn't have to pay because of location in a tax-free KOZ, what does that say about the idea of equality and tax fairness?

Reject the KOZs. Missing from any report is how much the state government has forked over to Fay-Penn to provide aid to these same companies in the form of grants and low interest loans.

While the national economy and local economies are burning out, at some point necessitating even larger increase in taxation, some don't have to pay.

They don't have to fear losing home or business while others may.

Not only is that unfair, it's unconscionable.

Net the Truth Online




Laurel Highlands board OKs KOZ program
By Christine Haines, Herald-Standard
04/17/2009
Updated 04/17/2009 02:15:36 AM EDT
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly
The Laurel Highlands School Board Thursday approved a Keystone Opportunity Zone that includes the University Technology Park, the Fayette Business Park and another 100 acres in North Union Township.


"New businesses that come in are given a tax break for up to seven years," said Dr. Gary Brain, the district superintendent.

Brain said the policy is paying off for the district, with businesses previously given the tax break expected to contribute $81,000 in taxes to the district in 2013 when their tax break ends. Brain said that the district benefits from the KOZ program through the creation of jobs even before the district begins to realize additional property taxes.

Brain noted that North Union Township and the Fayette County Commissioners must approve the new KOZ before it goes into effect.

The board also voted to put $500,000 into the capital reserve fund, bringing that fund to $1 million. Brain said that between the capital reserve fund and stimulus money from the government, the district should be in good shape for upcoming building renovation projects.

School director Tom Vernon reported that the finance committee will meet at 8 a.m. on April 24 to start putting together the 2009-10 budget...

http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20299932&BRD=2280&PAG=461&dept_id=468520&rfi=6

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Susan Boyle: unique 47-year old talent humor "that's one side of me"

Who's calling the woman frumpy didn't see beyond the outer woman. So her hair is nest-curly. So her arms aren't First Lady Michele Obama fit. Susan Boyle has class and humor. Imagine, asked how old she is, Boyle responds:

47 years old, and that's just one side of me!

Really now, who spontaneously at that age comes out with not only her real age, but pokes fun at her age and competing nonetheless in front of thousands of audience members primed to reject the spinster!

Erma Bombeck made a career of it, why not Boyle!

What was stunning after the comedy, she went right into the opposite. Serious.

A song from Les Miserables, no less. Not that we're judges of talent, but the heart was heard loud and clear.

She's making the covers of many newspapers around the world, too. Maybe the Obama's will invite her to the White House after her next stunning performance.

Love the outfit first time. she actually has what's called an hour-glass shape.

Can't wait to see what she's wearing for her next round.

And read more views that generate this kind of issue-discussion about capitalism vs government collectivism...

The Why is no one Suspicious writer doesn't believe. While Simon may play to the camera he's not adverse to slamming the talent-less. Makes some of 'em cry, in fact, with his barbs. Had Boyle not had any 'budding' or 'actual' talent on display, Simon would not have said, 'you can return home to your little hamlet, village with your head held high, you've got 3 yeses.'

Instead he've had said in his way, you can return to your little hamlet, village, with your head hung as low as most of your 47-year old parts.

Simon isn't cowering in the shadows in the U.S., and it's got to be the same over there, or else he'd lose face, whatever his 'youthful' age.

Net the Truth Online


clip

Our dreams Boyle over

...A Facebook Fan Page dedicated to Boyle has over 22,000 fans, and, as of this writing, has been increasing at a rate of 1,000 fans per hour. You can expect to hear about a Boyle record sometime soon, because this kind of support proves she already has a fan base, even after only singing one song.

In any other year, at any other time, it’s possible that Susan Boyle’s story would just be a nice Cinderella type of tale that reminds us you can’t judge a book by its cover. However, this year, in the midst of a global recession, with so many hard-working people unemployed and out of luck, Susan’s story transcends the cynically colored glasses by which we now view humanity’s successes.

Yes, she has an incredible talent most of us do not have, but if someone with a story like Susan’s can overcome what she’s lived through to become an instant star, then perhaps each of us can persevere and make good on our dreams.

Even the way in which Boyle has come into our lives, via a reality TV show fueled by capitalistic aspirations, is a reminder that, in spite of its travails, capitalism is a system that provides each of us an opportunity at success.

If ever we needed Susan Boyle, we needed her now...

comments

Michael Metrick:April 16, 2009 at 6:56 am

Kudos for calling it like it is! All you folks expressing disdain for the “capitalist” comment should remember this: when the State runs the economy and industry, eventually it will begin to try to run your personal life as well. The collectivists will try to impose their decisions as to who becomes a doctor, who becomes a steelworker, etc. Want to open your own business? Sorry, Big Brother says there’s too many dry cleaners, bad for the state run economy, bad for our collective good. In such a society, there would never be an opportunity for a Susan Boyle to shine. God bless her! And God bless the free market for providing her a stage!


http://digg.com/d1opbc


Net the Truth Online

Susan Boyle Stuns 'Britain's Got Talent' Audience and Even Simon Cowell
...As she was interviewed by Simon Cowell on "Britain's Got Talent," everything about her stage presence--from her dress to her hairstyle to her choice to avoid make-up to her age--seemed to say this was going to be one of those Gong moments for the show.

This CNN clip of her performance shows some wonderful before and after pictures of the audience members. Before the song, it was obvious they didn't expect much. Nor did Simon. Miss Boyle said her goal was to become a professional singer. "Why hasn't it worked out so far," he asked. Her confident, poised and cheerful response should have given us an idea of what was next.

I've never been given the chance before, here's hoping it'll change," she beamed.

And then...wow!

An audience ready to laugh and ridicule became synchronized in their amazement, applause, cheers, and instant respect for the gifted woman singing before them.

Piers Morgan gave her "the biggest 'yes' of his career!" It's possible she'll go a long way in the competition. And I hope she does, because she is a living example of one of things I absolutely despise about our media-driven culture. The idea that women need to be young, thin, tabloid-friendly, and discovered by the time they're 25 is an unhealthy as it is foundationless. There are so many gifted people who hold no hope of ever being discovered for their talents. They go undiscovered except for their close friends and perhaps some church attendees. And it shouldn't be that way. And we know it.

That is why I was inspired not only by her song, but by the crowd's reaction. Everyone loved it! They loved her! They were touched by her raw talent, her beautiful voice, and became instant fans. The part about each of us that is quick to judge is also quick to respond to excellence and beauty. We should be quicker to look for the beauty in people, and I'm not sure our media-driven culture trains us to do that.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/idolchatter/2009/04/47-year-old-scot-stuns-idol-au.html


Scotland lines up behind Susan Boyle, unlikely star of Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent standout Susan Boyle has already found backing from an army of Scottish fans.

Britain's Got Talent standout Susan Boyle has already found backing from an army of Scottish fans.

The unlikely singing star of Saturday’s first show dazzled with a stunning version of I Dreamed A Dream from Les Misérables, which you can find on our catchup site, with many viewers already tipping her to win the show....

http://entertainment.stv.tv/home/88331-scotland-lines-up-behind-susan-boyle-unlikely-star-of-britains-got-talent/

Mom Blogs: To be Regulated?

Coming soon... veering away to listen to Susan Boyle... I Dreamed the Dream. Youngest of 9 children. Lives with her cats.

World sensation. Asked how old she was she responded, 47. And that's just one side of me!

She sings in church. Being interviewed by Fox News from Scotland. The show found her, she said!

Horowitz: PSU English Classes Consumer Fraud

Horowitz may be on to the kind of material that keeps him in the "invitation" pool of "right-wing authors" by whatever conservative organizations, but when the title of his book indicates the United States foundation is a "democracy" we have to question whether he really ditched his liberal past for true "independent" thinking.

The United States was founded as a "republic"... if you can keep it...

Class over.

He does present food for thought highlighting PSU English classes are committing "consumer fraud" by presenting themes he says "like racism and the environment, including global warming theories.

We see nothing wrong with themes in English classes, of course, based on the contingency that students are enabled to express themselves even to the contrary of the "concensus" on global warming, and whatever other issues can be challenged with resources and experts cited.

We have provided just such on Net the Truth Online on a host of issues... Check out our sidebar info.

Net the Truth Online

Horowitz takes on ‘radical’ professors
Wednesday, Apr. 15, 2009
Horowitz takes on ‘radical’ professors
Lauren Boyer For the CDT
UNIVERSITY PARK — Armed with a bodyguard, right-wing author and thinker David Horowitz said he considers himself a “cockeyed optimist” for returning to Penn State to once again spread his message of getting educated, not indoctrinated.

“The teacher’s function is to teach students how to think,

not what to think, ” Horowitz told an audience of 50 students and community members in Forum Building on Tuesday night.

The last time Horowitz visited Penn State was in 2006.

Sponsored by Young Americans for Freedom, Horowitz’s talk focused on his new book,
“One Party Classroom: How Radical Professors at America’s Top Colleges Indoctrinate Students and Undermine Our Democracy.”
The book includes an in-depth analysis of 150 course offerings at 12 major universities, including Penn State.

On Tuesday, Horowitz discussed Penn State’s women’s studies department’s role as “a political party dedicated to several propositions that gender and race are socially constructed.”

This “intellectual garbage,” he added, is actually political indoctrination posing as classes and teaching people that social hierarchies prevent women and minorities from advancing in society.

“A hierarchy is when there’s an actual ceiling to what you can achieve,” Horowitz said. “How can there be a race or gender hierarchy if the most powerful man in America is black?”

Horowitz continued to describe an incident at Penn State where a student giving a speech in class showed Danish satirical cartoons portraying a perversion of Islam. The student was threatened with a lower grade after a Muslim student complained about the cartoon, Horowitz added.

“Though some people think its offensive, that’s the price you pay to live in a free society,” Horowitz said. “The First Amendment gives everyone the right to embarrass themselves in public and also offend people. How many people think Martin Luther King’s speeches might have offended racists?”

In this hostile, left-wing environment, Horowitz said, it’s liberal students who actually suffer the most.

“Liberal students never have their views challenged,” he said. “It softens their brains around issues. You’re paying tuition, but you’re not really being educated.”

Horowitz also criticized freshman English classes at Penn State as being “consumer fraud,” because they take on “themes” like racism and the environment, including global warming theories...

http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/story/1229000.html

Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/story/1229000.html#ixzz0CqMy3276&B


Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/story/1229000.html#ixzz0CqMjqzpf&B


Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/story/1229000.html#ixzz0CqMXJ1SK&B

1000 TEA Party Rallies Across USA Ignored by MSM

We're as puzzled as Fox News Network and the trio at Fox 'n Friends. Hundreds of thousands of individuals, no matter how they are organized, with some help from already established organizations, or not, completely independently, are sleighted by the so-called Main Stream Media. The trio had just interviewed Janet Napolitano before covering the rallies and having Michele Malkin report and comment on the rally she according to them helped 'organize.'

They highlighted a clip from a CNN report which made You Tube. (We posted y'day)

Sad a CNN reporter inserted her own opinion into her coverage, saying without even a "quote" from another person, these TEA parties were promoted by the Fox News network...

Her implication was so why trust anything these individuals carrying signs and babies are saying.

Why trust? Reporters aren't supposed to make such judgements, but are supposed to cover the news and the people out there making the statements.

Then, after the report which should stick to the basics WWWWW, editorialists across the country or bloggers can choose to portray the "news" however they want.

They can be biased and leave out the facts that not a single TEA Party rally for instance was funded by Richard Mellon Scaife...

But reporters are supposed to present the facts as clearly and accurately as possible.

That doesn't appear to have happened with the one CNN reporter noted.

In an effort to find out the answers to Who What When Why Where we've added material gathered and submitted to us by RF for your information.

We're asking was the Tea Party co-organized and co-created by the Grassroots and Establishment Insiders?

It's fascinating to watch whether the Tea Party movement will impact elections in the coming months and years.

Here's some info to determine the roots of the Tea Party phenomenon.

Four big organizations of interes:
Freedomworks (Armey and Steve Forbes)
Americans For Prosperity
Liberty First PAC
Our Country Deserves Better

Freedomworks:

http://www.freedomworks.org/

http://www.freedomworks.org/about/board-of-directors

Liberty First PAC:

http://taxdayteaparty.com/

http://libertyfirstpac.com/main/

http://libertyfirstpac.com/main/team/

http://libertyfirstpac.com/main/2010/01/three-big-wins-for-the-movement/

Contributor disagrees more with the analysis in the following link

http://libertyfirstpac.com/main/2010/01/three-big-wins-for-the-movement/

Americans For Prosperity:

http://www.americansforprosperity.org/national-site

http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about/directors

http://www.ourcountrydeservesbetter.com/about-us/board-and-staff/


Our Country Deserves Better:

http://www.ourcountrydeservesbetter.com/

http://www.ourcountrydeservesbetter.com/about-us/board-and-staff/



Net the Truth Online

'Tea party' protests taxes, government spending at Westmoreland courthouse
Buzz up!By Jennifer Reeger, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, April 16, 2009

About 500 people braved a cold rain Wednesday afternoon in front of the Westmoreland County Courthouse and partied like it was 1773.

The protesters turned out in the spirit of that year's iconic Boston Tea Party, rallying against taxes and government spending in one of about 500 similar demonstrations nationwide.

Yesterday's deadline for filing federal taxes gave a backdrop to people who said they are angry about the bailouts of banks and car companies that started under the Bush administration and opposed to President Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan.

"No more spending. No more bailouts. We don't need that," said Darin Donnelly of Harrison City, one of the speakers. "We will work with our own hands to build this nation."

The nonpartisan Tea Party was organized by volunteers and coordinated with the other protests, including one in Pittsburgh's Market Square. A similar rally Saturday on Pittsburgh's North Shore drew an estimated 4,500 people and ended with participants dumping tea and fish food into the Allegheny River.

At the Pittsburgh rally yesterday, about 1,000 people gathered to hear speeches by radio talk show host Jim Quinn and businessman Glen Meakem, as well as leaders of several grassroots organizations. People in the crowd held up homemade signs with slogans such as "Give me liberty, not debt" and "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_620867.html
Here it is. An excuse for withholding what should be public information.

Net the Truth Online

Whispers
1-800-WHATTHE?
Buzz up!Sunday, April 5, 2009
SWAT TEAM SUMMONED IN SECRECY. The call went out Tuesday afternoon for Pittsburgh SWAT officers to report to Cordell Place in Arlington Heights.

The only problem is that some SWAT officers did not receive the message.

An hour after the initial call, a SWAT officer radioed the city 911 supervisor to ask why he and at least two other officers had not been paged and to say that the message wasn't broadcast citywide.

The supervisor replied that they were trying to keep the news media in the dark. He explained that when the media hear such a call, they swamp the 911 center with phone calls and swarm to the scene.

The officer replied dryly that such procedures are great -- but they don't do much good when the officers who need to respond as quickly as possible don't get the message.

Hard to argue his point.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_619188.html

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Glenn Beck: Time to Drop the Party Is it Time for 3rd Party

Beck is broadcasting from the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas. Can't wait to see what the grassroots signs say!

Why can't some people get out of the two-party thinking, more independent thinking... for the person and principles... It's time to drop the Party.

Beck asks is there a chance for a Third Party? It's not just about being anti-tax.

It's about get government out of our lives...

Atlas Shrugged... (Ayn Rand's work) people are noticing the glory and power of capitalism has to be thought of again, says Penn Tiller...

OK it was interesting, but not enough not nearly enough to get the message across.

Net the Truth Online

CNN Reporter at Chicago Tea Party: It's "Anti-CNN Since This is Highly Promoted By the Right-Wing, Conservative Network Fox"

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn/cnn_reporter_at_chicago_tea_party_its_anticnn_since_this_is_highly_promoted_by_the_rightwing_conservative_network_fox_114141.asp

TEA Party Protest Result Third Party Potential Asks Cavuto

Broadcasting Live from Sacramento, California, Neil Cavuto put the question to Michele Malkin. Malkin unfortunately didn't quite answer clearly. She noted this was a grassroots group across the country upset with the financial bailouts during Bush's Administration and the current Obama Administration.

She mumbled they were aware who had voted against principles of limited government and high deficit spending, and those who hadn't would be rewarded.

Cavuto then turned his attention to a group he said took a bus in and consisted of the Hollywood elite, conservatives? Libertarians? John Ratzenberger introduced.

No idea who he is, other than a reference to Pixar films... Cavuto interviews for several minutes. Thinks the rally is more than Obama... before Obama... Freddie Mac and Fannie May... that's where it started, he said...

Interesting, but not much to go on as far as Cavuto's theme question he posed to Malkin. will the TEA Party Protests, disgruntled fed-up with both political parties, lead to a push for support of a Third Party candidacy if the message is the one TEA Party protestors want to hear and respond to?

Cavuto catches a man willing to pitch the final words of the broadcast. We need a voice, the man said, somebody to listen to us. They're not listening in the state or Congress...

Net the Truth Online

Why We're Covering Tea Party Protest
Thursday, April 09, 2009

You might have heard we're going to be out in Sacramento a week from today to cover this tea party protest. You might also have heard a lot of other news organizations are not.

I know why we're there. I'm not quite sure why they're not. Apparently these populist protests don't count much for them.

Millions concerned they're being taxed and fee'ed to death counts even less for them.

But a Million Man March that turns out to be well shy of a million men, even a half-million men, does count for them.

We covered the follow-up marches to that Million Man March. Because no matter the number, it was a big deal. And its message about personal responsibility was an even bigger deal.

You see, we didn't pick and choose our protests. We covered those against the Iraq war. Just as we did the far less publicized rallies for the Iraq war.

Some of us had serious questions about global warming, but that didn't get in the way of our covering protests railing against global warming. That's just being fair and balanced.

Here's what's not: Deciding what protests fit a politically correct litmus test. Apparently, protests against big government do not. Protests demanding more government do...

http://origin2.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,513880,00.html

Sample Everything Wrong Minnesota Senatorial Election

Fighting Frankenstein
By Matthew Vadum on 4.14.09 @ 6:08AM


...As Johnson shares his otherwise cogent analysis and rattles off a litany of Coleman's missed opportunities, his reasoning seems to suffer from a kind of lawyerly tunnel-vision. There is an undue focus on the niceties of legal process and not enough said about the appalling irregularities that characterized both the initial and subsequent vote-counting in the allegedly clean-elections state.

To list every single known irregularity might require a book at this point, but suffice it to say, there were plenty of them. To provide an overview, let's recount what went on early in the counting process, while a national audience was still paying somewhat close attention to the election. Ballots were discovered in an election judge's car and other votes appeared as if by magic across the state. One county discovered 100 new votes for Franken and blamed a clerical error. Another had vote tallies 177 higher than the total recorded on Election Day. Another county reported 133 fewer votes than its voting machines recorded. Almost every time new ballots materialized, or tallies were updated or corrected, Franken benefited.

The excellent research performed by John Lott, senior research scientist at the University of Maryland, who exhaustively documented the countless logic-defying decisions used by officials during the original count and the recount process, threw light on many of the irregularities.

As Lott wrote, the morning after the election, Coleman led Franken by 725 votes. As ACORN-aligned Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a former community organizer, presided over the process, over the next five days, Coleman's lead had dwindled to just 221. Election officials claimed they had to correct typos on vote tally sheets and that these corrections gave Franken 435 votes and took 69 away from Coleman.

Poof.

As Lott noted at the time, this massive vote-switch was if not statistically impossible, highly improbable. He wrote that in Minnesota, "corrections were posted in other races, but they were only a fraction of those for the Senate." Franken's Senate vote gains were "2.5 times the gain for Obama in the presidential race count, 2.9 times the total gain that Democrats got across all Minnesota congressional races, and 5 times the net loss that Democrats suffered for all state House races."

As Lott noted Nov. 10, almost all of Franken's new votes came from three out of the state's 4,130 precincts, and nearly half the new 246 Franken votes came from one heavily Democratic precinct in Two Harbors. Barack Obama won the precinct with 64% of the vote but "[n]one of the other races had any changes in their vote totals in that precinct."

None of this has ever been adequately explained. It probably never will be, but it's just a small sample of everything that went wrong in this closely contested Senate battle....

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/04/14/fighting-frankenstein/1
Never too late for opportunity to ring...

Shock and awe: This church lady can sing
Frumpy 47-year-old stuns 'Idol' judge, catapults to sudden global celebrity

Simon Cowell, the British-accented and sometimes condescending talent judge of television's mega-hit program "American Idol," was stunned by the singing of a 47-year-old church volunteer who claims she's never been kissed but whose amazing performance has catapulted her to sudden celebrity.

Cowell also serves as a talent judge across the Atlantic on "Britain's Got Talent," a singing competition similar to "American Idol."

When contestant Susan Boyle, who lives alone with her cat and claims she's never even been on a date, walked onto the "Britain's Got Talent" stage Saturday night, her double chin, frumpy appearance and gray hair elicited snickers and rolled eyes from the crowd, accustomed to the show's producers parading less-than-glamorous singers – like Boyle – as comic relief.

But when Boyle opened her mouth to sing, Cowell, the mocking audience and the nation's television viewers were shocked...

..."I've always wanted to perform before a large audience," said Boyle before she had her opportunity on stage. "I'm going to make that audience rock."

Boyle got her wish and delivered on her promise.

And her "large audience" is expanding. Her performance, uploaded to the video site YouTube, has logged over 3 million hits over the last three days, and the London Telegraph reports Boyle is now the favorite to win the competition.

Before Boyle sang, Cowell asked her – likely in parallel to her planned song, "I Dreamed a Dream" – what her dream was.

She answered, "I'm trying to be a professional singer."

"And why hasn't it worked out so far?" Cowell asked.

"I've never been given the chance before," she said. "But here's hoping it'll change."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=94936

Youth on Spring Break TEA Protest: Don't Tax Me Bro

Next generation protests. Neil Cavuto stands before a crowd in front of California state Capitol. He interviews a few people dressed up as founders, and maybe Betsy Ross was there. He then turns to a couple of boys who are obviously minors. Asks if they missed school to be here? Nope, they're on spring break, Neil. It's all ok. their signs are voices hopefully heard into the future...

My piggy bank is not your piggy bank.

DON'T TAX ME - BRO!

Homeland Security Release Report Warning Claims Done All the Time

Fox News reporting on the 9-page Homeland Security document sent to the nation's police departments warning of right-wing extremists potential radical activities...

while the focus of the recent report is right-wing extremists... an agency spokeswoman noted these reports are done "all the time..."

Isn't that nice? While they're doing these domestic reports on "political" ideology, have they missed doing any thorough research about our borders currently in need of protection?

U.S. border with Canada vulnerable to terrorists
Posted on Thursday, September 27, 2007
By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Terrorists carrying radioactive materials could easily enter the United States from Canada undetected, government investigators said Thursday after they were able to cross the 5,000-mile border four times carrying a large, red duffel bag without being intercepted.

The crossings took place at unguarded and unmonitored sites in four northern-border states. The Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, did not disclose the sites.

"Our work shows that a determined cross-border violator would likely be able to bring radioactive materials or other contraband undetected into the United States by crossing the U.S.-Canada border at any of the locations we investigated," the report said.

Even though the northern border is more than twice as long as the U.S.-Mexico border, it has less than one-tenth as many agents patrolling it.

Lawmakers from northern states blamed the White House and the Department of Homeland Security for the lax security on the U.S.-Canada border.

"This report is just as unacceptable as it is shocking," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who along with others have sought to secure more Border Patrol agents and high-tech surveillance and communications equipment for the northern border. "We simply cannot accept this level of vulnerability."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/20046.html


Iraqi terrorists caught along Mexico border
American intelligence chief confirms 'people are alive' as a result of capture
Posted: August 23, 2007

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57289


Fox News reports Homeland Security has produced two such reports, and the network has hold of both. One concerns right-wing extremists while the other concerns left-wing extremists. According to the Fox report, the studies were authorized during President George W. Bush's presidency.

Isn't that nice. the same question applies. How many studies have been completed about the insecure borders of the United States?

What is being done?

Factsheet: U.S. Customs and Border Protection Actions Taken Since 9/11

http://www.itintl.com/factsheet-us-customs-and-border-protection-actions-taken-since-911.html

August 15, 2006
Review of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Anti-Terrorist Actions
Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General, "Review of CBP Actions Taken to Intercept Suspected Terrorists at U.S. Ports of Entry," OIG-06-43, June 2006.

Results in Brief:


http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/08/review_of_us_cu.html


Net the Truth Online

Recession fueling right-wing extremism, U.S. says Tue Apr 14, 2009

...The April 7 report, which Reuters and other news media obtained on Tuesday, said such fears were driving a resurgence in "recruitment and radicalization activity" by white supremacist groups, antigovernment extremists and militia movements. It did not identify any by name.

DHS had no specific information about pending violence and said threats had so far been "largely rhetorical."

But it warned that home foreclosures, unemployment and other consequences of the economic recession "could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists."

"To the extent that these factors persist, right-wing extremism is likely to grow in strength," DHS said.

The report warned that military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat skills could be recruitment targets, especially those having trouble finding jobs or fitting back into civilian society.

The department "is concerned that right-wing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their violent capabilities," the report said.

DHS spokeswoman Sara Kuban said on Tuesday the report was one of an ongoing series of threat assessments aimed at "a greater understanding of violent radicalization in the U.S."

A similar assessment of left-wing radicals completed in January was distributed to federal, state and local police agencies at that time.

"These assessments are done all the time, this is nothing unusual," Kuban said.

The Department of Homeland Security was formed in response to the September 11 attacks of 2001 and has focused largely on threats from Islamist extremists.

The report said domestic right-wing terrorist groups grew during the economic recession of the early 1990s but subsided as the economy improved.

Government scrutiny disrupted violent plots following the April 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City by Army veteran Timothy McVeigh which killed 168 people.


http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE53D5SH20090414?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true


Federal agency warns of radicals on right
9-page report sent to police
By Audrey Hudson (Contact) and Eli Lake (Contact) | Tuesday, April 14, 2009

...The report, which was first disclosed to the public by nationally syndicated radio host Roger Hedgecock, makes clear that the Homeland Security Department does not have "specific information that domestic rightwing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence."It warns that fringe organizations are gaining recruits, but it provides no numbers.

The report says extremist groups have used President Obama as a recruiting tool.

"Most statements by rightwing extremists have been rhetorical, expressing concerns about the election of the first African American president, but stopping short of calls for violent action," the report says. "In two instances in the run-up to the election, extremists appeared to be in the early planning stages of some threatening activity targeting the Democratic nominee, but law enforcement interceded."

When asked about this passage, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said, "We are concerned about anybody who will try to harm or plan to harm any one of our protectees. We don't have the luxury to focus on one particular group at the exclusion of others."

Congressional debates about immigration and gun control also make extremist groups suspicious and give them a rallying cry, the report says.

"It is unclear if either bill will be passed into law; nonetheless, a correlation may exist between the potential passage of gun control legislation and increased hoarding of ammunition, weapons stockpiling, and paramilitary training activities among rightwing extremists," the report said.

The FBI was quoted Monday as saying that, since November, more than 7 million people have applied for criminal background checks in order to buy weapons.

The Homeland Security report added: "Over the past five years, various rightwing extremists, including militias and white supremacists, have adopted the immigration issue as a call to action, rallying point, and recruiting tool."

The report could signify a change in emphasis for Homeland Security under former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. A German magazine quoted Ms. Napolitano as rebranding "terrorism" as "man-made disasters." Since its inception in 2003, the department has focused primarily on radicalization of Muslims and the prospect of homegrown Islamist terrorism.

In January, the same DHS office released a report titled "Leftwing extremists likely to increase use of cyber attacks over the coming decade."

These types of reports are published all the time. There have actually been some done on the other end of the spectrum, left-wing," Ms. Kuban said.

A similar headline was used in a report issued in January, Ms. Kuban said, although she could not provide the content of the headline.

Ms. Kuban said she did not know how long the new report had been in the making.


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/14/federal-agency-warns-of-radicals-on-right/?page=3



Homeland Security on guard for 'right-wing extremists'
Returning U.S. military veterans singled out as particular threats
Posted: April 12, 2009 9:40 pm Eastern © 2009 WorldNetDaily

WASHINGTON – A newly unclassified Department of Homeland Security report warns against the possibility of violence by unnamed "right-wing extremists" concerned about illegal immigration, increasing federal power, restrictions on firearms, abortion and the loss of U.S. sovereignty and singles out returning war veterans as particular threats.

The report, titled "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," dated April 7, states that "threats from white supremacist and violent anti-government groups during 2009 have been largely rhetorical and have not indicated plans to carry out violent acts."

However, the document, first reported by talk-radio host and WND columnist Roger Hedgecock, goes on to suggest worsening economic woes, potential new legislative restrictions on firearms and "the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks."

Are you ready for a second Declaration of Independence? Sign the petition promoting true freedom once again!

The report from DHS' Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines right-wing extremism in the U.S. as "divided into those groups, movements and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups) and those that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."

"[T]he consequences of a prolonged economic downturn – including real estate foreclosures, unemployment and an inability to obtain credit – could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past," the report says...

...Most notable is the report's focus on the impact of returning war veterans.

"Returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to right-wing extremists," it says. "DHS/I&A is concerned that right-wing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize veterans in order to boost their violent capacities."

The report cites the April 4 shooting deaths of three police officers in Pittsburgh as an example of what may be coming, claiming the alleged gunman holds a racist ideology and believes in anti-government conspiracy theories about gun confiscations, citizen detention camps and "a Jewish-controlled 'one-world government.'"

It also suggests the election of an African-American president and the prospect of his policy changes "are proving to be a driving force for right-wing extremist recruitment and radicalization."

The report also mentions "'end times' prophecies could motivate extremist individuals and groups to stockpile food, ammunition and weapons. These teachings also have been linked with the radicalization of domestic extremist individuals and groups in the past, such as the violent Christian Identity organizations and extremist members of the militia movement."

"DHS/I&A assesses that right-wing extremist groups' frustration over a perceived lack of government action on illegal immigration has the potential to incite individuals or small groups toward violence," the report continues.

The report states the DHS will be working with state and local partners over the next several months to determine the levels of right-wing extremist activity in the U.S...

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=94803