NeW Founder Awarded Young Conservative Leadership Award

Network of Enlightened Women (NeW) founder Karin Agness was presented the Young Conservative Leadership Buckley Award during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this past weekend.

The award is in memory of the late conservative leader, William F. Buckley, Jr, the founder of National Review and author of God & Man at Yale. Buckley accomplished both of these before the age of 30. In his memory, the Buckley Award is a way to recognize young, rising stars in the conservative movement between the ages of 20 and 40.

As an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, Karin launched the Network of enlightened Women as a campus book club. In only five years, NeW has grown to nationwide movement, and has expanded to over 20 campuses, launched a blog, hosted four national conferences, and given hundreds of college women the opportunity to learn and express conservative principles. So many women have gained a NeW education as a result of Karin’s efforts.

That is why NeW women across the country continue to celebrate her accomplishments.

Why Are City Officials Investing In Community Surveys and Public Relations Services Now?

On Thursday February 11, 2010, Gazette News-Current ran a story titled “Positive changes planned for Xenia in upcoming year.” The story is about city officials’ noble efforts to improve communications between themselves and residents. At the recommendation of city management, Council approved a one-year contract with Columbus-based Avakian Consulting to accomplish it. The idea is to “help residents understand what is going on and how it affects them,” and by doing so, “remove the barriers between residents and their city officials,” according to the Gazette.

Barriers! What barriers?

The answer to that question, at least in part, may be found in exploring the expertise of Avakian Consulting. Among Avakian’s areas of expertise, I found three worthy of consideration. They are in public policy. community research and engagement, as well as municipal funding campaigns. It was these three professional competencies that obviously provided city officials the justification to award Avakian a one year contract worth $25,000.

One logical conclusion that can be made based on the above is city officials are going to use Avakian to help residents see that Xenia really needs to pass the May income tax levy. I base this conclusion on the fact that passing the May levy is a matter of public policy (city officials passed a ballot issue to raise funds); it is also a fact that public policy includes selling the tax increase to Xenia voters (the reason employing Avakian expertise).

One can only hope that Avakian will only get paid if the income tax levy passes.

The above conclusion is further supported by references to the community survey conducted by WSU’s Urban and Public Affairs department at a cost of about $4,000. What the Gazette’s story didn’t mention was the reason for the survey. During a November City Council meeting, city manager Percival stated the purpose of the survey was to determine what taxpayer were willing to spend their money on and use that information to pass the May tax levy. The goal was not just to improve communication with residents, change the bad image of Xenia, or to boost retail downtown. The purpose is to increase taxes, rehire those who were laid off, pay for salaried management’s overtime–itself a form of double-dipping, possibly hire more police and fire fighters, maybe building them new buildings, and if residents are lucky, they might even pave the streets–but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

One can only hope Xenia residents will provide Avakian’s community engaging promos with a grain of healthy yet critical skepticism. It is only their tax dollars city officials are spending to convince them to give them more of their earnings.

I still think providing an annual report to all residents written so that all could understand is the best way to inform the community about what is going on. It would cost about the as the community survey too. Of course, doing so would give residents a true picture of the financial status of city operations. The problem with that is a $1 or 2 million does not seem so dire a need in light of revenue totaling around $30 million, a third of which is paid by water, sewer and sanitation fees and deposited in enterprise funds. Yet, this type of information would make residents as informed as any other stake-holder or investor in corporate finance. The City of Xenia is a municipal corporation.

Oh, did I forget to mention Buxton? XCJ will feature Buxton in a later post.

Model Arab League at Miami U February 26…Education or Proselytizing?

Like the mock session of the Supreme Court, Congress, United Nations in which high school and college participate and compete, Model Arab League (MAL) gives youth a way to develop greater understanding of Middle East cultural, political, social, economic, and religious issues and processes of governance.

Some criticize the program as being a Saudi Arabian tool used to indoctrinate Americans into a one-sided view of Middle East conflicts, especially the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One of those critics is the Campus Watch, which has reported anti-Semitism among promoters of MAL.

If this program were under some other rubric for in-depth learning about Middle East culture and politics, this blogger would have little reason for skepticism about its underlying purpose. Along with the reported anti-Semitic bias, Saudi Arabian and other Middle Eastern leaders have discredited the Arab League of Nations as an organization of little influence and importance to the Middle East problems. If that were true, why then are they funding MAL? Why are they funding Middle Eastern academics at American Universities? Why are they funds mosques, businesses, and parochial schools as well?

One of the goals of Islam is the religious conversion of the world. The Arab League was and has always been an Islamic mirror of the United Nations (originally, League of Nations). Whereas the U.N. is secular and humanistic, the Arab League is Islamic with regard to both its legal and its ideological views. Consequently, the MAL should be view as more than a merely a unique educational learning method. As with the Model UN programs, it is also a means of indoctrinating people into a peaceful acceptance of the views, policies, and practices of the actual MAL, which is acceptance of the views of Islam and Shari’a governance.

One of the underlying tenets of both Islam and the Arab League is the elimination of infidels in general and the one national entity that represents a division to a united Arab Middle East; that entity is called Zion or the Jewish nation of Israel.

The issue is not the hypocrisy of western powers because the UK and US have broken promises to both the Arabs and the Israelis. The Israeli-Palestinian issue is one of ultimate control of all territories of the Middle East. Arabs do not necessarily intend to annihilate the Jews in the Middle East; they do however intend to rule over them if only as a subordinate state of the Arab League.

As in many European states, Ohio is among those being prepared for the universal glory of Islam: making all peoples submissive to Islam. One must admit that MAL is an ingenious way of evangelizing and proselytizing.

Welcome to the intended new world order.

Obama’s Legal Right To The Presidential Office Still Being Questioned in Court

By Daniel Downs

United States Justice Foundation is pursuing a court hearing to force Obama to produce valid documents including his actual birth certificate in order to clarify his qualifications for president under Constitutional law, according to World Net Daily.

Having spent nearly $2 million dollars to prevent the courts and the general public from it, it is reasonable to assume that Obama either is not legally qualified or he hold great disdain to the general citizenry as well as great disregard for ideals of our nation’s republican form of federal democracy.

World Net Daily raised a very important point concerning the Constitutional right and necessity of proving a presidential candidates qualifications. As written,

“Did you know that John McCain had a lawsuit filed against him,
to force him to establish his citizenship (Hollander v. McCain)
during his campaign for President! After he produced evidence and
official documents, and after Congressional hearings, the U.
S., by Senate Resolution 511, John McCain was recognized as a
‘natural born citizen.’ If he had to go through these
“hoops”—why didn’t his presidential opponent have to do the
same?”

That is one of the recurring criticism of all criticism surrounding litigation to determine Obama’s citizenship and constitutional right to hold the office of president; no records of any such process of verification ever took place.

Both McCain and Obama held the office of U.S. Senator before the the election of presidency. The citizenship of both McCain and Obama were in question. Yet, as pointed out above, only McCain’s citizenship was clarified both by the federal court and the U.S. Congress.

It is still the obligation of the federal court and the U.S. Court to actually verify Obama’s citizenship.

If it is found that Obama is not qualified and therefore the Supreme Lawbreaker of the Land, what should be done about it? What punitive action should the federal court and/or Congress take toward Obama?

T-Day Coming Soon (that is tax return deadline)

The dreaded tax day soon approaches. Do you have your records in order? Have you received your W-2s, 1099s, and other related reports your smiling IRS agent will looking for when you are audited?

Have you received a 1040 booklet and forms or your 2009 tax preparation software? Of course, you may still be waiting on an appointment date from your accountant.

April 15th cometh soon. The day of gloom and IRS doom. For some it might even be a day portending a bright glimmer of anticipation for a large refund. Whatever the case, the taxman cometh soon.

America is particularly blesses to have a paternal sugar daddy on Capitol Hill who promises at least a small refund of our collective taxes that were forced from our paychecks at the point of the big guns of Congress’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Think of the IRS as comparable to the Secret Service i.e., CIA, FBI, etc.

There are some unfortunate saps who Mr. Sugar Daddy doesn’t like. They include those who earn more than $250,000. If you are among that group, Mr. Sugar Daddy intends to keep all of your taxes money that your lawyers and accountants can’t find loopholes in which to hide it. (Hint: His associates in the Big Parlor on the Hill included.)

That reminds me: How can Mr. Sugar Daddy and his officious associates pontificate from the very place where Thomas Jefferson attended service every week in honor of God, truth, morality, and justice while dishonoring our nation’s Provident God, deceiving the public with every other unread bill, legislating immorality, and robbing the poor and not-so-poor.

Anyway, you are fortunate if you live in Xenia. Even though 60+ percent of local taxes go to education (which some say is less than adequate), the tax rate is relatively lower than most neighboring communities. At least that is what some elected official say. After May, that status may change. Nevertheless, Xenia is still known as a community with a low tax rate and low housing costs. Those are among the reasons Xenia was known place to get a start in life.

You are also fortunate to live in Xenia because the city offers tax preparation and paying information and tools to assist citizens pay the right amount on time. I can assure you, the city is dedicated to helping you to contribute to the city tax funded services. If paying on time is not possible, the City offers an extension.

You can find the City’s helpful information and tools at City of Xenia Income Tax Division webpage.

I almost forgot. As the City’s webpage reminds us, your Xenia Community School income tax filings and payments are made directly to the State of Ohio, not locally. The reason behind it is two-fold: (1) In a semi-socialist state, dollars flow to the central government and is disbursed in accordance with state dictates, which sheds some light on what slice of the equality pie education serves the semi-socialist state. (2) Dollars flow to power, and public education serves to indoctrinate the people according to the dictates of the State; in this case egalitarian socialism or statism as some call it. That also is why separation of religion and state (or church and state as it is also called) is so important a dogma.

The Ohio School Income Tax webpage is http://tax.ohio.gov and the Federal income tax forms, instructions, and payment methods are at http://www.irs.gov.

Manufacturer Consumption Down in 2009

By Daniel Downs

It appears no one is being a good consumer nowadays. Not only are retail and service consumers holding on to their nickels and dimes, but so are industrial consumers.

The latest report by the American Association of Manufacturing Technology (AAMT) revealed consumption of industrial technology goodies was down 60 percent in 2009.

The shining bright in the midst of the black lagoon of recessionary consumption was the Midwest region–Ohio included. During the month of December, the Midwest was the only region posting real dollar increase in spending. Good ole’ consumption of metal cutting technologies was up 19.4 percent while consumption of metal fabricating technologies was down 4.8 percent. Total real dollar manufacturing technology consumption was 14.1 percent, according to the number crunchers at AAMT.

I can just smell the hot cutting oil burning. Ahhhhh!

Unfortunately, the rich aroma of oily production was only smoking up the Midwest during December. This fortuitous event may have been the combined result of both the automaker bailout by Congress and Obama’s stimulus, an effort to make his own light shine upon the hill. According to the AAMT, however, the total year-to-year consumption was down by 65.4 percent, which was more than any other region in the USA.

So where do place the blame for the depressing downturn of industrial consumption? Was it solely caused by bureaucrats on Capitol Hill? Greedy bankers? The lovers of money printing at the Federal Reserve? Or just a bad case of gas caused consuming to much manufacturing technology? Maybe it was a combination of the aforementioned causes?

House Speaker Budish Reverses Decision About Teen Recognition

Facing mounting criticism over his ill-considered decision to prohibit
pro-life Shelby County teen Elisabeth Trisler from receiving a routine legislative honor, House Speaker Armond Budish (D-Beechwood) today did an about face. Trisler was scheduled to receive a resolution from her state representative, John Adams (R-Sidney), honoring her accomplishment as the National Right to Life Oratory Contest winner. However, Budish blocked the award presentation. He argued that honoring the teen was too controversial. Budish supports abortion.

In a news release Monday, Ohio Right to Life first brought attention to the issue. Executive Director Mike Gonidakis asked Budish to reconsider his decision. He was joined by several pro-life members of the General Assembly led by Rep. Adams.

“Speaker Budish recently called me to convey his change of heart and I thanked him on behalf of the pro-life community,” said Gonidakis. “Blocking speech because you don’t like what someone is saying or what they stand for goes against the very fabric of who we are as Americans. And, while the speaker got there the hard way,
at least he got there.”

Source: Ohio Right To Life, February 10, 2010

Ohio House Speaker Dishonors Teen: Unending Leftist Bigotry

In an unprecedented act of partisanship, House Speaker Armond Budish (D-Beechwood) denied Shelby County teen Elisabeth Trisler a legislative honor routinely presented to others. Budish is refusing to allow Trisler on the House floor to accept a legislative resolution. The resolution, authored by Rep. John Adams (R-Sidney), honors her accomplishment as the National Right to Life Oratory Contest winner. Such honorary resolutions are routinely presented at the start of Ohio House legislative sessions to constituents, including those who win athletic championships or academic contests.

“Surely Speaker Budish can put aside his partisanship for 10 minutes to honor the accomplishments of talented and optimistic teenage girl,” said Ohio Right to Life Executive Director Mike Gonidakis. “Perhaps his real message to Ohio’s teens is that excelling in public speaking isn’t worth being honored if their views are different than his.”
Trisler won the National Right to Life Oratory Contest held at the NRLC Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina in June, 2009. During the second half of 2009, Rep. Adams’s office worked to schedule the presentation of Trisler’s proclamation on the House floor, as is typical of such awards. The presentation was scheduled for Wednesday, February 3, 2010.

However, on January 29th, the House Clerk informed Rep. Adams’s office the presentation was canceled because the Speaker “had a problem with the subject matter.” The Clerk advised the representative’s staff to take the matter up with the Speaker. Speaker Budish supports abortion.

“The Ohio House chamber is a monument to the importance of oratory and persuasion on the great issues facing our state,” added Gonidakis. “Silencing someone because you disagree is a terrible lesson to teach teens. The Speaker should reconsider his unfortunately petty decision.”

“The Ohio House of Representatives is known as the ‘people’s house’,” said State Representative John Adams. “It is an outrage that Speaker Budish has decided to politicize and deny the presentation of a proclamation honoring national pro-life award on the House floor that was previously approved by the Speaker,” Adams said.

Source: Ohio Right to Life, February 8, 2010

City of Xenia Financial Report : Commentary

City management are to be commended for achieving excellence in financial reporting. This honorable distinction was awarded both by Ohio’s State Auditor Mary Taylor and by the Government Finance Officers Association of America (GFOAAC). Taylor’s enlightening award was called “Making Your Tax Dollar Count,” which suggests city officials are good stewards of taxpayer money. Finance Director Mark Bazelak said his office received his association’s highest form of recognition: “The Certificate of Achievement.”

It should not be overlooked that the impressive professional kudos came from those to whom our public officials report. Unfortunately, a citizen or taxpayer award was not among the kudos for their financial reporting.

If you are citizen of Xenia reading this, you also may have read the latest financial report posted on the City’s website. If you are not versed in accounting or finance, you probably had difficulty making sense of the data. Nevertheless, the report is available to Internet public of Xenia.

My question is this: Does not Xenia taxpayers deserve better?

City of Xenia Recognized by Auditor of State for Excellent Financial Accountability

At the Xenia City Council meeting on January 28, 2010, Auditor of State Mary Taylor’s office presented City of Xenia officials with the “Making Your Tax Dollars Count” award for their fiscal year 2008 audit. Fewer than five percent of all Ohio government agencies are eligible for this award.

“I commend the City of Xenia for its commitment to fiscal accountability. Congratulations on your hard work and for being trustworthy stewards of taxpayer dollars,” said Taylor.

Certain criteria must be met to receive the “Making Your Tax Dollars Count” award. Standards include:

  • The entity must submit a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR);
  • There must be no findings or issues present in the audit report; and
  • There must be no other financial concerns involving the entity.

Finance Director Mark Bazelak also announced at the meeting that the City has received its 26th consecutive Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for its 2008 CAFR, which is awarded by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) of the United States and Canada. The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.

The Mayor and City Council praised the Finance Director for the achievement. Mr. Bazelak stated this is truly a Citywide effort. He acknowledged the other Appointed Officials, Division and Department heads and staff, and most especially, the Finance Department staff.

Finance Director Mark Bazelak said this morning, “This award demonstrates the City’s commitment to ensuring the safety of taxpayer dollars and implementing financial policies and procedures to operate the City more effectively and efficiently. This is especially important given the current economic outlook of the City and the need to ask the community for additional revenue.” City Council will vote on February 11, 2010, on whether to place a .5% income taxincrease on the ballot on May 4, 2010.

If you would like to review the 2008 CAFR, a copy is available on the City’s website at www.ci.xenia.oh.us. Go to the City Government tab and select City Administration / Finance Department.