University of Oklahoma President David Boren came to the state Capitol Friday (February 5) to summarize the “scandalous and shocking” lack of understanding about American history and government among the nation’s top college graduates. At the same time, he expressed hope because of a variety of efforts under way in Oklahoma to assure more and more students gain knowledge of the essentials of the American governing system.
 
At a press conference in the governor’s conference room, Boren pointed to a study from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). The group reported that 50% of students at the nation’s top colleges and universities – Boren said “these are the Ivy League schools and their equivalents” — believe that the U.S. president can suspend the Bill of Rights in time of war.
 

Boren, in response to a question from CapitolBeatOK, elaborated that ISI found that 78% “do not know that the Constitution requires Congress to declare war. They don’t know that the president cannot wage war on his own authority.” A survey reported in the San Diego Union found that half of students graduating from those top colleges and universities could not name which side our nation fought on in the Second World War. Boren’s voice expressed dismay as he said, “They did not know our brave soldiers fought to destroy Nazi tyranny.”
 
The educator — a former Oklahoma legislator, governor and U.S. Senator — described these findings in highly critical terms several times in his press conference. He commented, “It is scandalous and shocking to realize that so many of the nation’s brightest students have not learned that the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, paid for by the blood of patriots, protect our liberties. “
 
Boren said our country must honor the memory of those Framers “who risked everything” to assure our freedoms would be sustained.  To leaven the bad news, he pointed to several developments in Oklahoma that give him hope for the future. He specifically touted the new Institute on American Constitutional Heritage at the University of Oklahoma, directed by Dr. Kyle Harper.
 
Boren expressed pride in Oklahoma requirements to teach American history and government at universities and colleges. He also applauded the role of the state’s 219 private foundations providing additional resources to public schools. He encouraged those local foundations to concentrate new resources on supporting training for more Oklahoma teachers in programs offered by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Mount Vernon and other educational groups.
 
Boren spoke during a full day that brought hundreds of Oklahoma elementary students to the Capitol for activity centered on Colonial era history, civic education and other activities. The day’s program included a visit from a re-enactor portraying Martha Washington, wife of the nation’s first president, games played in the normally staid halls of the Capitol, a “legislative” session for the youngsters in the state House chambers, and many other activities.
 
Boren said programs developed in Oklahoma will provide “a model for all 50 states to promote more teaching of American history and government. It is past time for Americans to relearn what made us great.”
 
Bill White of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation joined Boren at the Capitol press conference, hailing the state’s “remarkable pubic-private partnership. Oklahoma has 700 graduates of the Teacher Institute at Williamsburg. These teachers are creating the next generation of American citizens. In many ways they have the most important job in our culture. Every generation recreates the Republic. The only roadmap we have to our future is our past, the history of our country, the stories that live and come to life in our history. “
 
Boren reported some 11,000 Oklahoma students have experienced “virtual tours” provided by the foundation White represents. He also reported some 19,000 have been exposed in creative ways to the example of the nation’s first president, George Washington.
 
Boren has taught American government for 31 straight semesters at OU. He reflected, “A great unifying example, George Washington held us together. His example, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights holds us together even now. They are our glue, our binding force.” 
 
Boren could scarcely have been more explicit about his concerns, and his reasoning: “We are in a political crisis. The political crisis is our leaders wasting time fighting one another when voters want them and need them to come together.”
 
The country also faces what Boren characterizes as a “citizenship crisis.” He summarized his view this way: “I am really concerned. Our people are not well-versed on the Constitution and history. And many of our leaders are also poorly informed. We have a stewardship responsibility to ourselves and to those who come after us. Citizens must understand who we are and where we’ve been, before they understand how to take us forward.” 

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About the author:
Our man in Oklahoma City, Pat McGuigan is editor of CapitolBeatOK.  From his office at the state Capitol he continues to provide incisive reporting for Tulsa Today.
 

In light of the long-overdue ruling by the Supreme Court to throw out the free-speech-killing and unconstitutional McCain-Feingold finance law (was there ever a more destructive, corrupting influence on elections ever?), it is a good time to revisit the active complaint to the Federal Elections Commission over Barack Obama’s campaign finances. 

Back when Obama was running for President, I broke a number of campaign donation stories that should have blown the race wide open. The Obama campaign committed the most egregious violations of election contribution laws, and they were dismissed with a wave of the hand. Millions came in from foreign countries — which is illegal: the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) “prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly.”

I broke the jaw-dropping story about how tens of thousands of dollars came in to the Obama campaign from a Hamas-controlled camp in Gaza. Al-Jazeera actually ran video of Obama phone banks in Gaza. One large contributor to the Obama campaign was Monir Edwan, who was listed on FEC documents as contributing to Obama from the city of Rafah in the state “GA.” If you were reading quickly, you might have thought it was just a contribution from Georgia. But there is no city of Rafah in the Peach State. Monir Edwan sent money to Obama from Rafah, Gaza.

Monir Edwan, one of Obama’s Gazan donors, said he sold Obama t-shirts that the campaign had sent him in Gaza for around $9, and that a profit was made. “Some young men,” Edwan explained, “even bought the T-shirts for 60 shekel ($17.29), which is a lot to spend in Gaza on a t-shirt, but that is how much Gazans like Obama.” I love it: jihadis in Obama Tees. How fitting.

On Watchdog.net [1], a site that monitors campaign contributions, Monir Edwan is listed as Barack Obama’s Top Contributor, giving $24,313 between October 27, 2007 and November 11, 2007. However, although it gives zip codes and other details for the other four of Obama’s top five individual contributors, it provides no additional information at all for Monir Edwan — and Edwan’s link is the only dead one on the Watchdog page.

Why did Palestinians in a Gaza refugee camp have such love for Obama in the summer of 2008? Did they know he was going to run a virulently anti-Israel, pro-jihad presidency?

Gaza was not alone. The contributions came from over 50 nations. And many seemed intent on skirting campaign finance laws: Obama’s foreign contributors were making multiple small donations, ostensibly in their own names, over a period of a few days, some under maximum donation allowances — but others were aggregating in excess of the maximums when their contributions were all added up. Other donations came in from donors with names such as “Hbkjb,” “jkbkj,” and “Doodad.” Also, thousands of Obama’s foreign donations ended in cents. This was evidence of foreign contributors sending in donations in foreign currencies that exchanged into odd amounts. Americans living overseas would almost uniformly be able to contribute dollars, in set amounts.

The Obama campaign received a substantial amount of money from countries that have an interest in seeing a weak American President: $366,708.22 from China; $25,259.00 from the United Arab Emirates; $7,062.60 from Russia; and $6,716.28 from Saudi Arabia. Obama also took in $6,350.00 from Indonesia; $5,000.00 from Kenya; and $1,750.00 from Egypt.

The FEC alleges that Obama also illegally took donations from Tamil Tiger leaders. The Tamil Tigers are, according to the FBI, the most successful terrorist group in the world. While the Hillary Clinton returned contributions from the Tamil Tigers, Obama kept them.

There are many other questions and mysteries regarding Obama’s campaign finances. The Puma P.A.C. blog notes: “Obama spent a record $744 million on his campaign but has disclosed donors for only $485 million of his windfall.”

It is important to point out that I had also reviewed John McCain’s donations — and they were so clean you could eat off ‘em.

And now the influence peddling has manifested itself in Obama’s catastrophic first year.

The FEC generally takes several years to process a complaint, and their statutory limit is five years. The commission still needs to vote on any action, but if they decline, the complainant can sue the FEC. So the complaint is ongoing.

If justice is to be done, Barack Obama will have to own up to his violations of campaign finance law, and pay the political price. An audit of Obama’s campaign finances is long overdue.

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About the author:
Pamela Geller is the editor and publisher of the Atlas Shrugs website and is former associate publisher of the New York Observer. She is a regular columnist at Newsmax and her Op-Eds appear in the Washington Times, Human Events, the American Thinker, Israel National News, and other publications. This article first appeared today on www.biggovernment.com.

As UK columnist and commentator Gerald Warner asks: “Why is it that the true view of Resident Barack Obama (you know, the illegal alien living over at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington) is openly expressed in the major media around the world, but nary a word of it is printed in any of the newspapers in the United States? Increasingly, the red god of Islamic communism in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, is becoming more immune from scrutiny from the media out of fear of the race word. Whenever he is criticized for his un-American actions, his communist actions, or the out-and-out theft of the wealth of the American people, those who criticize him are accused of being racist. That’s a First Amendment travesty.”

That travesty is because most in the American media are liberals, including a majority of writers and TV and radio people who are not well paid but still thrilled to be working in the field.  Overwhelmingly they take their marching orders from their bosses. Which leads to the obvious question: Why are so many media moguls liberals – you know, the people who flourish in this competitive world, thrive on free-market capitalism, and like their taxes low and their government non-intrusive.  Perhaps it’s the megalomania that often comes with being a head honcho. Call it the oligarch mentality, liking the notion of the few at the top calling the shots for the many beneath them.

Or maybe it’s the oh-too-cozy relationship between news and entertainment, the latter traditionally steeped in bleeding-heart causes and “feelings” and the former both eager and happy to be included in their lavish self-congratulatory affairs, the latest of which – the Screen Actors Guild Awards – led the “news” and featured Hollywood liberals dripping with bling while thousands of Haitians lay buried or dead beneath tons of rubble.

It is this same media that foisted Obama onto the national stage by failing to do their jobs professionally and with integrity. Like a collective of Dr. Frankensteins, they created their own monster. It is relevant to mention here that after nearly 3,000 innocent Americans were murdered by Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2001, one of Obama’s closest friends and colleagues, Rev. Jeremiah Wright – who the media significantly chose not to expose for his rank anti-American, anti-white, and anti-Semitic ravings – whipped his congregation into a joyful frenzy when he said that the chickens (of revenge) had come home to roost (on American imperialism). Translation: Big bad America got what she deserved!

WHOSE CHICKENS ARE ROOSTING NOW?

In a variation on that theme, on January 19 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the chickens of fear and loathing of Big Government came to roost on the abomination known as Obamacare. What MA voters said to Obama and his radical conspirators in Congress was essentially Don’t Tread on Me!
•   Don’t ram your socialized medicine scheme down our throats.
•   Don’t tax me to perdition.
•   Don’t slash Medicare funding by a half-trillion dollars and then deny the existence of death panels.
•   Don’t threaten and bribe your way to votes in backroom deals for this unconstitutional bill and think we won’t notice.
•   Don’t sneak in a provision forcing taxpayers to pay for the in utero murder of babies.
•   And don’t think you’re entitled to the seat Sen. Ted Kennedy worked tirelessly for over nearly half a century on the basis of an anemic campaign and a canned, teleprompter-assisted rah-rah speech.

Haiti
is in crisis.  One has to be totally
under a rock to not have heard and seen the devastation there this past
week.  I was in a personal crisis due to
my husband being in

Haiti
on business when the earthquake occurred. For 48 hours, I imagined my life would change forever.  And it did. Although my husband (thankfully)
returned home unharmed and safe late last week, I am changed forever.  The lessons learned from that harrowing
experience are profound, and need to be shared. While I hope that others will
learn from this, the most important learning is mine. The lessons from
experiences should not be wasted. So, although I can’t go to

Haiti
and help the earthquake survivors, I can, while the feelings from last week are
still fresh, share some thoughts about connecting during a crisis.

Do we really need to use technology to reach out to others
in times of a crisis?  Have we become too
busy to make a phone call?  Yes, of
course the telephone is technology, but surely the difference in a phone call
and an email is obvious. Granted, we are living in a technological age, and
technology was my friend during those 48 hours. I could read my husband’s emails (he was in an office building that had
a generator.)  That is, I could read them
until the technology disappeared, and I wondered anew if he really was alright
after all.  Although I could read them, I
could not feel them. 

 

The printed or written word never has the power of the
spoken word.  As a speaker, I am
confident of that.  As a deliver of words
to others, I have seen on audience faces the impact of my words. I also still
remember the faces of my children as a result of how some of my words must have
felt. 

 

As a receiver of the words of others, I have felt the impact
of the famous motivational speaker Zig Ziglar’s words, first on an audiotape,
then in a live presentation.  As powerful
as those were however, and preferable to email or Facebook, when Zig Ziglar
said hello to me on an escalator, and looked me in the eye, I felt a human
connection.  That human connection cannot
be felt to the same degree via technology. It is true that it is not always necessary to feel that type of human
connection. My husband sent a mass notice from

Haiti
to his Facebook “friends”, which included some family members. That notice was
for information, not connection. Hopefully, the difference in those two words is clearly understood.

 

I am still amazed at the many people who reached out not
just to my husband, but also to me during this crisis, by calls and emails,
visits, and other acts of caring.  And
yes, I am also amazed by those who didn’t. In both cases, I am surprised at how important those connections were to
me.  I am surprised at the warmth I felt
from a phone call from a coworker who I haven’t seen for almost twenty years,
especially given that there wasn’t much “warmth” when we worked together.  I am also surprised at how cold it still
feels this many days later that some who I would have thought would have
called, didn’t, and still haven’t.

 

Some people “sent” their thoughts and good wishes through
others, which was understandable.  It
wasn’t necessary for everyone in a family or group to call or email, for one
person could easily be the “messenger.”

 

Many who emailed were those more casual friends and acquaintances
or business contacts.  Most of those who
called are close friends and family. Some from each group who I thought would
reach out in some way did neither.

 

Facebook and related technology are here to stay.  This experience will not change that, nor is
it intended to.  What it is intended to
do is to help us determine the most appropriate medium to use when connecting
with others.

 

Some generations are more comfortable with and use
technology more than others.  This is
often fine, sometimes not.  It is
important to teach these lessons of human connection to the generations which
may not have had enough of it taught (or even more importantly, lived) at
home.  

 

In times of crisis, when possible, use human connection to
reach out to others, for it is usually much more powerful and meaningful than
the use of technology. Most likely you have experienced a handwritten note
being opened first, even when opening routine mail, before a mailing with a
mailing label is opened.  A related
experience is the universal dislike for a recorded voice mail message from a
vendor or solicitor, for such is abusing the privilege of a phone call. When
one answers the telephone, it is with the expectation of having a two way
conversation.

 

Personality differences account for some of the reasons some
people are more comfortable connecting by technology than by phone, or not at
all. Even so, the need for human connection in times of crisis should encourage
us to get out of our own comfort zone and focus on the needs of others.

 

It bears repeating. Facebook is not a human connection in times of crisis. When people are
going through a crisis, or even a hard time, reach out.  Reach out by phone, email, or even snail
mail, before Facebook.  If it is possible
and appropriate, go in person. 

 

This is about “me too.” I must go and reach out to a neighbor who is going through a hard
time.  And write that note to a friend
who just lost her husband.  And send that
overdue thank you note. And…….

 

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About the author:

Patti
Fralix inspires positive change in work, life, and family through speaking,
consulting, and coaching. She is founder and president of The Fralix Group,
Inc., a leadership excellence firm based in

Raleigh. She can be reached at
pfralix@fralixgroup.com.

 

The campaigns of Martha Coakley (D) and Scott Brown (R) to fill the US Senate seat long held by the late Ted Kennedy will be decided today by Bay State voters.  Tea Party participants and Republican Party activists have networked nationwide to support Brown.  Presidents Obama and Clinton with other notable Democrats in the last days of a lackluster candidate performance have rushed to help Coakley in what was thought to be a “locked” Democrat seat.  Apparently, Massachusetts voters take independent decisions on the future of America seriously.
 
As Americans await the vote, all we can do now is pray and we should – regardless of our faith.

We can pray that Massachusetts voters listened closely to both candidates, studied the issues, and analyzed the public history, recorded votes and character of each candidate.  We can pray that the true history of America has been taught and remembered with a working level of basic economics.
 
We can pray that voters see the difference beyond President Barack Hussein Obama’s warm and glowing glittering generalities of transparency and bi-partisanship to the throat-slitting bloody-back-room Chicago styled corruption that history is recording. 

Oklahoma could tell them about one-party rule by Democrats we suffered for 100 years.  We can testify how truly evil overwhelming political force can become and how specific media can enable evil.
 
We can pray voters note that if they write personal checks without value – it is a crime.  Nationally Democrats are doing the same.  Accountability may arrive at any moment the world financial markets decide the US Federal Reserve has not maintained the value of the US Currency.  (The Fed bailed out banks by adding zeros to balance sheets thus every dollar is now worth less.)  If worldwide markets decide the US Currency is not “good as gold” – it’s a confidence issue – our dollar bills will then be good for firewood, but likely insufficient to buy food.
 
We can pray that enough information has escaped the Democrat closed-door conferences on healthcare to cause the same questions in Massachusetts that bedevil the nation with sleepless nights.  Will this plan really improve care or just pad pockets?  Is it Constitutional to force young people to buy healthcare who choose for many “party-on” reasons not to?  Is it Constitutional to fine and subsequently imprison Americans for not purchasing a private product?  Is it Constitutional to exempt some states from the cost of healthcare as proposed by the “Cornhusker Kickback?”  We can pray for less expensive healthcare, but will the highest quality health system in the world be destroyed in the process? 
 
We can pray that even the most ardent environmentalists in Massachusetts took note of the climategate fraud on which “Cap and Trade” or the “Limit and Tax” energy bill has been proposed.  Candidate Obama said energy costs would “necessarily skyrocket” which he asserted was the way to reduce (thus green-up) energy usage.  We can pray President Obama will now shift his concern more to working families’ pocketbook energy perspectives – at least until the economy improves.
 
We can pray for open, responsive, accountable government that has never been found in any nation with only one political party in total control.  We can pray patriots of both parties are closely watching election activities not for party interests, but to protect honorable honest election results on which confidence in government resides.
 
We can pray citizens will take cameras and voice recorders to the polls which are public events open to  independent observation and reporting by anyone.  We can pray citizens note and record clandestine activity by any party activist for posting on the Internet, honest local media and law enforcement.
 
If Massachusetts was not in your morning prayers – take just a moment.  Outside of the Bay State, it is the most powerful thing we can do today for our country.