The Citizen Newsletter

The Conservative Voice of Henry County

Issue # 366

September 14, 2012

Henry County Schools 2012 ACT Scores

For the HENRY COUNTY SCHOOLS Class of 2012, 1,537 seniors participated, an up 134 students from 2011, and an overall increase of 348 students from 2009.

In This Issue:
Page Feature 1 2 3 3 3 4 5 6 8 Henry County ACT Scores Cherokee TEA Party Henry County TEA Party Elect J. Chris Vaughn Obama: Quote of the Decade

Henry County Schools average composite of 20.1 lagged behind Georgia at 20.7 and national score of 21.1. The most recent graduating class fared better in Science at 20.3 for 2012, up from 19.9 in 2011. However, last years senior test scores decreased in:

Charter School Amendment Hillary Ignored Warnings

Consequences of Obamas Weakness Press Endangers Private Citizens

English; 19.4 down from a 19.5 in 2011, Reading; 20.3 down from a 20.4 in 2011. While Math scores remained at 19.7 for 2012 and 2011, they were down from a 20.1 in 2010. ~~~ Knowing the composite or domain test averages does not acknowledge the percentage or number of students who are College or Career Ready for any Graduating Class. For the 1,537 members of the Graduating Class of 2012 who took the ACT, only 17 percent demonstrated they were College or Career Ready by meeting all four of ACTs benchmark scores. 261 of 1,537 students, is a number I can understand. ~ Bruce Kendall

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AT THE CHEROKEE TEA PARTY PATRIOTS meeting Sep 9th it was good to see such a large number of elected leaders attend (pictured here). As one of our two speakers, Senator Chip Rogers explained the HOST (tax) then he and Commissioner Harry Johnston fielded questions from the audience. Our main speaker, Don Conkey, who writes for the Cherokee Tribune and is a Constitutional scholar, talked about the Constitution in honor of Constitution Day, Sep 17th and received a standing ovation. Don noted that while we begin our meetings with the pledge and end by singing God Bless America, no prayer was said at the beginning and challenged us to do so in the future. Did you know that there is a Federal law that states that any school accepting Federal money must celebrate the Constitution and teach about it on Constitution Day, Sep 17th? Question, is your local school following the law and teaching the Constitution on this dayyou might want to ask our superintendent, Dr. Petruzielo email: drp@cherokee.k12.ga.us The main reasons for the meeting was; (1) To learn about the Constitution 2. To learn about the HOST tax (3) To hear about our Picnic Aug 26 (4) To hear about our Sunday Nite at the Movies night, Sep 23 (5) To learn what the tea party patriots are doing in this election (6) To learn some facts that will convince your friends to vote Obama out. From now until the election we will have 2 meetings a month. The 2nd meeting will be a little different, in that we are calling it Sunday Nite at the Movies. But we will not be showing movies like Gone with the Wind We will be showing documentaries like Agenda, where I think Glenn Beck got a lot of his material. We have also bought the David Barton series on the founding fathers. These end of month meetings will have 5 minutes of updates, then the movie. Our next Movie night is Sep 23rd It is important to note that, it WILL NOT be at Latimer Hall, but at the Holly Springs Community Center which is the old train station. On Sunday, Sep 23rd, we will be showing the movie, Agenda, grinding America Down. All our movies will be FREE and will start at 7:00 PM. Both Americans For Prosperity and the Tea Party Patriots will send you to swing states. As of this writing, The Tea Party Patriots is planning an all expense paid trip to Florida to canvass neighborhoods, October 26-29th Americans for Prosperity is planning a trip to Florida to walk neighborhoods, October 5-7. So you have two opportunities to make a real difference in this election, one, the first part of October, and one the last part of October. Look for emails with details about both. Our Homework from this meeting is; (1) Go to Hannityforsanity.com and get your tea party patriots tool kit. (2) Sign up to either make phone calls or go to other states for Romney. (3) Organize house parties and show the tea party DVD. (4) Attend our FREE movie nite and see the documentary agenda Sep 23. (5) Send the list of targeted Democrats to your friends out of state. (6) Join teapartypatriots.org to get action alerts. (7) OUR LEADERS NEED TO BE LED- Be a Congressional Supervisor, call your representatives in Congress when you get an ACTION ALERT. God Bless America, He has to, Obama wants to fundamentally change it. Conrad Quagliaroli

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Henry County Tea Party will be meeting on Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 6:30 P.M. The meeting will be held in the Community Annex Room in the Public Safety Complex at 116 Zack Hinton Parkway, McDonough. For further information please contact Joyce Hinton at hctpp1776@gmail.com.

Committee to Elect J. Chris Vaughn

We are excited to be able to announce a special night Tuesday, September 25th! Congressman Paul Broun, the strongest Constitutional member of the House, will be our Special Guest at a Reception and Dinner. We are so thankful for Congressman Broun coming and speaking at this fundraiser, dinner, and reception to help us win the 4th District! Please consider this your invitation to join us: 6:00 PM Private Reception 7:00 PM Fundraising Dinner Glenns BBQ 1377 Old McDonnough Highway Conyers, GA 30094 $100 per person minimum contribution for private reception; $50 per person for Dinner RSVP to Molly Vaughn: molly.vaughn@chrisvaughnforcongress.com The link to register via Facebook is https://www.facebook.com/events/373322929403825/ If you aren't able to come please take time right now to give online. Your contribution right now will help us make the difference! https://www.fundraisingbynet.net/contribute/10369

THE QUOTE OF THE DECADE:

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."
~ SENATOR BARACK H. OBAMA, March 2006

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The Charter School Constitutional Amendment

Response to Letter from Herb Garrett of Georgia Superintendents Association

To: All Charter School Leaders and Board Members From: Tony Roberts, President of Georgia Charter Schools Association Date: August 7, 2012 Re: Response to Letter from Herb Garrett of Georgia Superintendents Association Dear School Leaders and Board Members: A letter to school superintendents from Herb Garrett was posted on Friday in Maureen Downeys blog on the Atlanta Journal Constitutions website. You may hear from parents, community leaders, and other stakeholders in your area, so I am writing our response to the inaccuracies and selective exclusion of relevant facts in the letter. First, Garrett insists that state special charter schools have not received their share of austerity reductions, which you all know is absolutely false. Tight budgets have caused stress and strain across the state, and public charter schools have felt the pinch even worse because of their already reduced funding. Second, Garrett uses DOE funding numbers to insinuate that charter schools receive more funding than traditional schools. Of course, the key figure he conveniently omits is the local funding share received by traditional schools. As you all know, no local tax money flows to state special charter schools. The additional dollars in the HB 797 funding formula is intended to partially offset the loss of local dollars when a charter application is denied by a school board. To put this into context, the funding formula results in an average $6,900 per student amount for state special charters, while the state-local average for traditional schools is $9,700. Because these charter schools operate only on state funding, they will receive about 70 percent of the total amount that local school systems spend. To use an extreme example, a state charter school would receive about $6,400 for a regular education high school student. At Atlanta Public Schools, the system would spend $15,000 on that same exact student. As they say on infomercials; but wait, theres more!

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Remember that while capital expenses must come out of that limited state funding for state special schools, local school systems have entirely separate funding mechanisms for capital expenditures. Virtually every county in Georgia has an education sales tax for capital expenditures. One penny of sales tax equals about $1.8 billion statewide. In addition, the state funds hundreds of millions of dollars in capital outlay each year for systems to use to supplement their penny sales taxes. Of course, you will not see any of this in Garretts letter. Additionally, he mentions a recent AJC article that reports the state is still in budget cutting mode. While that is certainly true, he failed to mention that the same AJC article he referenced makes it clear that none of the proposed cuts would come in education. I guess he just missed that part of the story. One final, but important point, local school superintendents and board members were adamantly against any local dollars going to charter schools that were denied by a local school board. The final version of HB 797 was negotiated to ensure that was the case the language is written right there into the law. So, to recap, they insist on no local money going to state-approved charters, and then get upset about the state money going to charters. I think it is interesting to note that the only time Garrett mentions students in his letter is when he is talking about per student funding. The charter community knows better. We dont see students as faceless dollar signs with some assigned value concocted in a formula. Every day we see students thrive that at one time were frustrated in a traditional school. Shame on us if we let this November vote be all about money. It is about children, and giving them the opportunity to succeed. Tony Roberts, President and CEO
Charter schools put local control where it counts the most with parents who want something better for their children! Our strongest public charter schools have been launched by local groups, parents, and teachers who expand public school options one community at a time. One size does not fit all in public education, and that is proven by the waiting lists and lotteries that have to be held because the demand is so high for limited spots at public charter schools. This gives families the opportunity to select a public school that fits their childs educational needs. Please share this insight with others and vote "Yes" in November for more Public School Options in Georgia!!

Protesters destroy an American flag pulled down from the U.S. EMBASSY in Cairo on Sept. 11, 2012. (Associated Press)

Consequences of Obama weakness

Evil advances when America isnt feared or respected
By BRETT M. DECKER - The Washington Times

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The murder of U.S. Ambassador J. CHRISTOPHER STEVENS in LIBYA on Wednesday is the direct consequence of President Obamas weakness as a leader. His administrations support of Islamist uprisings across the Middle East has led to a destabilized region where radical anti-Americanism is running rampant. The images being transmitted across the planet today give a glimpse of what the world looks like absent strong U.S. leadership in international affairs: Rioting mobs ripping down the American flag from our embassy in Cairo and a diplomats brutalized body being dragged through the streets of Benghazi. These are not isolated incidents but the predictable result of four years of Mr. Obama meekly trying to lead from behind. Machiavelli famously wrote that it is much safer to be feared than loved. For most of the past century, the United States has pursued consistent policies so Washington didnt have to choose between the two and simultaneously generated feelings of love for the freedom we espoused and fear for the consequences of raising our ire. The loyalty shown to Americans by nations freed from communist oppression behind the Iron Curtain is an example of the respect our country gained by consistently standing against tyranny anywhere in the world. LIBYA in the 1980s is a perfect example of the respect gained by making evildoers pay the price for provoking the most powerful nation on Earth. After Americans were killed in terrorist attacks in Europe, more than 30 U.S. warplanes were launched to hammer targets in Tripoli and Benghazi. Hellfire poured down on military targets and command centers holding those responsible for backing the terrorists who caused the American deaths. In the reprisal, which was conducted in April 1986, MOAMMAR GADHAFIs daughter was killed, his sons were wounded and the Libyan dictator himself was reportedly injured. President REAGAN went on national television after the raid and announced unapologetically, When our citizens are abused or attacked anywhere in the world, we will respond in self-defense. Today we have done what we had to do. If necessary, we shall do it again. Message delivered. When he was running for president four years ago, then-Sen. Obama was photographed conspicuously carrying a copy of The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria, the now-disgraced plagiarist who enthusiastically posited that, The distribution of power is shifting, moving away from American dominance. Such a shift is not inevitable but rather is the result of bad political decisions. Like Mr. Obama, President Jimmy Carter was embarrassed by U.S. power and retreated from our pre-eminent position as the bold, muscular leader of the free world. The result was national humiliation: In 1979, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Adolph Dubs was killed by radicals in Kabul and the U.S. embassy was overrun in Tehran. If this weeks tragic murder of Ambassador STEVENS and the attacks on our embassy in Cairo spark flashbacks of the disastrous Carter presidency, its no accident. America is a target when weak presidents occupy the White House.
Read more: DECKER: CONSEQUENCES OF OBAMA WEAKNESS - WASHINGTON TIMES HTTP://WWW.WASHINGTONTIMES.COM /NEWS/2012/SEP/12/CONSEQUENCES-OF-OBAMA-WEAKNESS/#IXZZ26RE22KA4

Press Endangers Private Citizen to Hide Obama's Middle East Failures

Instead of questioning President Barack Obama about the intelligence and security failures that led to the deaths of four diplomatic personnel in Libya Tuesday, the media has focused its ire on a California private citizen. The filmmaker allegedly behind the YouTube clip known as "Innocence of Muslims," known as "Sam Bacile," has had his real identity outed by the press. Reporters hounded those involved with the video's
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production and matched up the man's cell phone number with a previous interview subject who denied directing the movie. Reuters photographer Lucy Nicholson took photographs of the man's home and his car, including his license plate number and closeups of possessions in the front seat, and they have been published by Yahoo News as of this writing. News agencies have further exposed the man's criminal history and past financial issues. Sound familiar? Sam "Joe" Wurzelbacher became a household name for asking a question of presidential candidate Obama that yielded an embarrassing answer. Immediately, the press began digging for dirt on the man, who came to be known as "Joe the Plumber" -- and received it, thanks to an IMPROPER DATABASE SEARCH from an Ohio state official. The template is predictable: private citizen hurts Obama's election chances, media destroys private citizen. So far this election season, journalistic ire has focused on Republican donors such as Sheldon Adelson and David Koch. In the case of Mr. "Bacile," though, it's much worse. This man, unlike Joe the Plumber, did not even confront or intend to harm Barack Obama. He merely had the misfortune of being the one YouTube user whose content mocking the prophet Mohammed was picked up by Arabic media and exploited to whip up anti-American mobs. Yet, like Joe the Plumber, the situation created by those circumstances has embarrassed Obama, now the Commander-in-Chief. The Middle Eastern riots for which this film was scapegoated have shown President Obama to be weakwilled, slow to act, and derelict in his duty during a foreign policy crisis. And this makes the press furious. He's their guy; their drool over his foreign policy genius at the Democratic National Convention has barely dried up off the floor, and now some random guy eligible for a McDonald's senior discount just obliterated that entire narrative. Therefore, he must pay. The irony of this debacle is that the press has outed Mr. "Bacile" to hold him accountable for being careless about others' safety. The very crowd who caution artists that the only natural conclusion to hurting Muslims' "religious feelings" is widespread violence and killing are now providing the same Muslim world with all the information needed to track this man down. This private individual and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney have been the outlet for the mainstream media's rage -- not at the loss of American lives but at the loss of Barack Obama's credibility. Is that an unfair evaluation of their mindset? Absolutely not; just take a look at their actions. Obama's press corps has yet to ask the president one question about the week's continuing violence. Not one question asking whether the State Department considered posting extra security at Mideast embassies for the anniversary of 9/11. Not one question about his regular absence from daily intelligence briefings. Not one question about taking 16 hours to disavow a tone-deaf apology from the U.S.'s Cairo embassy.

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Hillary Ignored Warnings

by BEN SHAPIRO, BREITBART.COM

Today, the INDEPENDENT is reporting shocking details about the attack on the Libyan consulate that resulted in the death of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. The details are so explosive that they will result in a Congressional investigation. In fact, theyre so explosive that they should result in the resignation of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The only question now: What did Hillary Clinton know, and when did she know it? Yesterday, we REPORTED that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was responsible under the law for the security policies and programs that provide for the protection of all US government personnel on official duty abroad. Clinton herself seemed bewildered by the attacks on the Libyan consulate, asking, How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction? But according to the Independent, she had no reason to be puzzled. Quoting senior diplomatic sources, the paper reports, the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted. Nonetheless, no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and lockdown, under which movement is severely restricted. It gets worse. According to security sources, the State Department had greenlit a health check at the consulate I preparation for 9/11. Nonetheless, the attackers broke the perimeter within 15 minutes of the Libyan mob forming. Local guards did nothing. One witness reported, The security people just all ran away and the people in charge were the young men with guns and bombs. According to sources, the Ambassador died from smoke inhalation after he was trapped in a building set on fire and besieged by rioters. The Libyan government, for all its supposed regret, seems less than troubled by the whole incident. Wissam Buhmeid, who commands the Tripoli government-sanctioned Shield Brigade, which operates as police in Benghazi, stated, There were definitely people from the security forces who let the attack happen because they were themselves offended by the film; they would absolutely put their loyalty to the Prophet over the consulate. The deaths are all nothing compared to insulting the Prophet. Why wasnt there better protection at the consulate? Because thats the way Secretary of State Clinton wanted it; the State Department posted no Marines to the consulate. It was staffed instead by those Libyan security forces. The consulate also had no bulletproof glass, reinforced doors or other features common to embassies. Clinton statements on the day's events, published on the website of the State Department and Twitter, condemning "in the strongest possible terms" an attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya in Benghazi, leaving a dead U.S. ambassador, but offered no condemnation on the attack of the U.S. embassy in Cairo.
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Instead, Clinton reiterated an apology issued today by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, which is now deleted, that said: "We condemn the continuing efforts by the wrong people to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims." "The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others," Clinton said. "Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the origins of our nation," she added. ~~ YOURJEWISHNEWS.COM/SHIFRA UNGER The story isnt over in Libya. Violence continues. And classified documents have been stolen from the consulate, reportedly including the names of Libyans working with the Americans. Safe houses across Libya are now unsafe. Secretary of State Clinton is responsible for the security of our staff, consulates, and embassies abroad. If the Independents report is correct, she has violated the most basic standard of duty. Both she and her boss, President Obama, must be held responsible.

There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves. Will Rogers

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