Dawn Kamin said she would expect opposition to the flying of an American flag in more liberal parts of the country – but not the suburbs of Memphis, Tenn.

Kamin said she was ordered to remove an American flag she had posted outside her optometry office.

“I was just appalled,” said Kamin, who runs Affordable Eye Care in Germantown, Tenn. “It’s the American flag. Really?”

Really.

According to a letter sent to Dr. Kamin, the flag pole and the flag violated the bylaws of the business condominium group. She was told to take down the flag or face the consequences.

Officials with Tesco Properties told Fox News Radio they would not comment on specific issues related to the flag controversy “as they should be dealt with in the appropriate manner between the parties and not through the media.”

However, a spokesman did release an email to Fox News Radio noting that the Corporate Center Condominiums, run by Tesco Properties, prominently flies two American flags.
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This could quite possibly put over 4,000 cab drivers out of work, as the city guesses an estimation of 6,500 to 10,000 licensed cab drivers. However, the City does not know for sure. Read More >>

A few weeks ago, we talked about various cities’ attempts to address revenue problems by selling private companies the right to operate and enforce parking meters. Around the same time, a St. Louis circuit judge ruled against American Traffic Solutions in a class-action suit, finding that the city had overstepped its administrative boundaries by selling ATS the authority to issue over $30 million in traffic tickets. Since 2007, ATS has operated red-light and speeding cameras throughout St. Louis, photographing license plates and sending the tickets to car owners using an automated system. Plaintiffs argued that this system violated due process, a claim that the judge largely rejected, although he acknowledged the possibility that ATS failed to notify ticketed drivers of their right to hearings. Ultimately, his problem with ATS lay with the state of Missouri’s complex and inordinately boring license points system—the ATS computers were not accurately reporting violations to the state Department of Revenue—but I’m going to take a flyer here and say that the Combat! blog audience is more likely to get charged with a crime than to administer the city of St. Louis. So we’re going to talk about that due process thing.

Here’s how the ATS system works: in a psychosexual expression of their desire to be governed by robots, your city council votes 6-1 to install red-light cameras at local intersections.

American Traffic Solutions operates these cameras and administers the system that serves drivers with citations, in exchange for which they get the ticket revenue. The city gets/saves a bunch of money by selling the job of traffic enforcement, which functions exactly the same except it’s run for a profit.

Did you get a twinge at that last part? It is possibly a bad idea for the criminal justice system to work on commission, for the same reason it’s unpleasant to step onto a used car lot. You do not want the authority in charge of determining whether you violated the law to get paid every time you violate the law. That’s why in personal injury lawsuits, for example, the judge is not typically given a cut of the settlement.

American Traffic Solutions has solved this problem by eliminating the judge entirely. Many of the myriad lawsuits against ATS center on their automated take-your-picture/mail-you-a-ticket system, which skips the part where you get to argue. In the same way that the automated checkout at the grocery store will periodically charge you $399.99 for a box of Triscuits, automated traffic systems sometimes send out a bunch of obviously inaccurate tickets.

The tone of this article leads me to question its objectivity, but in Sioux City, ATS competitor Redflex ticketed approximately 500 drivers for running red lights on the interstate. After enough people complained, Redflex mailed each driver an apology, along with a ticket for speeding. Sioux City Police Chief Melvin William defended the legality of this move, noting, “Because in one spot we didn’t change the wording…the whole thing should be thrown out?” Before anybody could pull up the Constitution on the internet, it was revealed that he was asking rhetorically.

This sort of argument—that drivers should just shut up and pay the fine, because they’re guilty of something—works much better when people don’t realize that they’ve been ticketed. Several of the country’s largest car rental chains have agreed to furnish renters’ credit card information directly to ATS, so that the company can charge red light violators’ cards automatically. Provided the driver is sufficiently careless about opening his mail and reading his credit card statement, it is therefore possible for ATS to issue citations and collect fines without any human awareness whatsoever.

Perhaps I am only being sentimental, but there is something about an automated, for-profit justice system that would make Thomas Jefferson crap his breeches. In the scheme of a functioning society, traffic law is probably not that big a deal. Yet this situation is made particularly egregious by the same qualities that make traffic violations fairly minor. Given the sheer number of cars that pass through a city intersection each day, the frequency with which people roll red lights, and the near-universal habit of driving, selling companies like ATS the right to enforce traffic law via mass ticketing systems is suspiciously like selling them the right to collect a tax.

It’s a great system for ATS, whose quarterly revenue growth broke 80% in 2008. It’s also good for cities, which get a quick cash infusion and are relieved of the hassle of enforcing their own traffic laws. The only people it’s bad for are, um, people. They get to pay money into a system that doesn’t convert their speeding tickets to schools and cops, and they get to be the revenue base for a business partnership between their government and a national corporation. But we’re definitely not talking about close cooperation between government and industry, because that would be a hallmark of fascism.

As the Charles Koch Foundation demonstrates in this simple yet effective video, it’s pretty straightforward: a nation‘s economic freedom correlates directly with its people’s quality of life. 

Take income for example — the more freedom you have, the more you’re likely to make:

Dear College Democrats: that‘s why I’m a conservative — none of that “hope is bigger than dreams” and wealth is created by fairy dust nonsense.

Freedom = happiness.  The more freedom you have, the happier you are.  End of story.

Photo by Mayra Beltran Chronicle – American Legion member Willie Beck discusses the federal lawsuit against the Houston National Cemetery and the VA after a hearing on Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes.

Local veterans and volunteer groups accuse Department of Veterans Affairs officials of censoring religious speech — including the word “God” – at Houston National Cemetery.

In one example cited in documents filed this week in federal court, cemetery director Arleen Ocasio reportedly told volunteers with the National Memorial Ladies that they had to stop telling families “God bless you” at funerals and that they had to remove the words “God bless” from condolence cards.

“It’s just unfair that somebody would ask us to take God out of our vocabulary,” said Cheryl Whitfield, founder of Houston National Memorial Ladies.

“I could’ve kept my mouth shut and let things happen, but when it comes to standing up for your belief in God and giving comfort to the families, I don’t want to regret not saying anything,” Whitfield said. “We all had to stand up for what we believe in.”

The new allegations of “religious hostility” by VA and cemetery officials follow on the heels of a controversy over Pastor Scott Rainey’s prayer in Jesus’ name at a Memorial Day service in the cemetery.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes ruled May 26 that the government couldn’t stop Rainey from using the words “Jesus Christ” in his invocation. Hughes issued a temporary restraining order to prevent VA from censoring Rainey’s prayer.

Discrimination alleged

Attorneys with the nonprofit Liberty Institute, which represented Rainey, filed an amended complaint this week after allegedly finding other instances of religious discrimination by cemetery officials against members of The American Legion Post 586, Veterans of Foreign Wars District 4 and the National Memorial Ladies, a volunteer group that attends funerals of fallen service members.

The complaint accuses VA of “a widespread and consistent practice of discriminating against private religious speech” at the cemetery.

Ocasio is on vacation and could not be reached for comment. Her assistant, Amanda Rhodes-Wharton, said she could not discuss the matter due to ongoing litigation.

According to court documents, Ocasio banned veterans organizations and volunteer groups from using certain religious words such as “God” or “Jesus,” censored the content of prayer and forbade the use of religious messages in burial rituals unless the deceased’s family submitted the text for prior approval.

The documents allege that VA prohibited volunteer honor guards from providing optional recitations to families for consideration, and that when burial teams conduct military honors for a veteran’s funeral, a government official monitors what is said.

Chapel a ‘meeting facility’

Court documents also describe the closure of the cemetery’s chapel after Ocasio’s appointment as director two years ago.

“The doors remain locked during Houston National Cemetery operating hours, the cross and the Bible have been removed, and the Chapel bells, which tolled at least twice a day, are now inoperative,” the complaint reads. “Director Ocasio only unlocks the chapel doors when meetings or training sessions are held at the building. Furthermore, it is no longer called a ‘chapel’ but a ‘meeting facility.’?”

VA spokeswoman Jessica Jacobsen confirmed the chapel is closed but she said it has nothing to do with the litigation. “It was closed prior to Memorial Day, and it was closed because of construction,” she said.

The chapel is scheduled to reopen in September when construction is complete, she said.

Jeff Mateer, general counsel for Liberty Institute, doesn’t buy that explanation. The chapel’s closure predates any construction, he said.

Judge grills VA’s attorney

A standing-room only crowd jammed a federal courtroom in downtown Houston on Tuesday afternoon for a status conference on the case. White-haired vets lined the pews, decked out in honor guard uniforms or blue blazers decorated with American flag lapel pins. Crammed next to them were people wearing T-shirts emblazoned with eagles and Old Glory, and women costumed in the trademark black vests and white blouses of the Memorial Ladies.

Judge Hughes denied the government’s motion to dismiss the case, but not before upbraiding VA’s attorney, Fred Hinrichs, for being unable to answer his questions.

When Hughes asked whether the chapel was open, Hinrichs said he didn’t know.

“Why not?” the judge shot back. “A phone call to the cemetery could ascertain if that is true or not.”

“Yes, your honor,” the attorney said.

“So the VA has been investigating for a month and hasn’t come to any conclusions?” the judge pressed.

Hinrichs said some of the claims in the complaint aren’t factually correct, but he wasn’t prepared to give specifics.

“I don’t know that they’re true,” the judge said, “but an afternoon on Veterans Memorial Drive and you should be able to document most of this stuff.”

He gave the government until July 21 to investigate and respond to the claims in the complaint.

Veteran feels belittled

After the hearing, Vietnam veteran Nobleton Jones spoke up at a Liberty Institute press conference.

Jones said he has presented shell casings from the gun salute to veterans’ grieving family members at funerals in Houston National Cemetery for the past three years.

But after a burial ceremony May 16, Jones said a government official told him he could no longer recite the words he always says when he hands over the shells: “We ask that God grant you and your family grace, mercy and peace.”

The 66-year-old Houstonian said he felt belittled.

“That makes me feel smaller, even after I spent my time in the military, fighting so that people should be able to say that,” he said.

“I did all this for my country and you are going to tell me what I can and can’t say?”

Eyebrow threading is a natural and safe method of hair removal that uses a single strand of cotton thread to remove unwanted hair, most commonly from the eyebrows, with no chemicals, dyes, hot wax or sharp objects. But state bureaucrats have decided that threaders cannot practice their trade without first obtaining an unnecessary and expensive government license. The Arizona Board of Cosmetology is now requiring skilled threaders to obtain an aesthetician license, which requires at least 600 hours of classroom instruction—not one hour of which teaches or tests threading—and that can cost over $10,000. But threaders do not need full-blown cosmetology training.

Benton Harbor is one of approximately 100 towns in Michigan on the verge of fiscal collapse. Now economic desperation is bringing with it a sort of financial martial law. In light of Benton Harbor’s predicament Michigan lawmakers have opted for an extreme measure which gives unilateral authority to “emergency financial managers”. EMFs have complete authority to fire elected officials, close schools, void union contracts and even sell public property.

RT Published: 28 June, 2011

An American state known for its great lakes has seen its middle class fade and automotive industry crumble. In Michigan’s poorest city, elected officials have lost all authority to govern as an unprecedented democratic collapse plays out.

In the face of massive public opposition, Michigan lawmakers recently reshaped democracy by giving unilateral authority to officials known as “emergency financial managers”. EMFs have independent authority to fire elected officials, close schools, void union contracts, sell public property and privatize assets.

Residents and authorities of the small Michigan town of Benton Harbor say that the changes that have come to their town recently are alarming.

“We believe it is illegal, immoral and unconstitutional,” said Benton Harbor Mayor Wilce Cooke. “No one person in this country has all that authority. The president of the United States did not have that authority.”

Benton Harbor residents like Scott Elliot say his city could be the start of a changing landscape in American politics.

“People throw around words like oligarchy and that sort of thing, but that is what it already is,” he said. “I think that the average citizen is going to have less and less to say about what is done with public assets.”

The new decision-makers are appointed by the governor to oversee school districts and cities like Benton Harbor facing financial distress. In April, Benton Harbor’s EMF stripped the elected City Council of its democratic power, leaving a city of 11,000 struggling Americans under the rule of a man they did not elect.

At least four other cities including Detroit have an emergency manager. In the “Motor City”, the EMF laid off some 6,000 teachers and is pioneering plans for corporations to privately run schools funded by public tax dollars

“They are hypocritical,” Wilce Cooke says. “They are trying to export democracy around the world, but at home, they are trying to suppress the citizens of this country.”

Benton Harbor Commissioner Marcus Muhammad believes that what is happening in his city might soon be repeated elsewhere.

“Doctor Martin Luther King said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” the commissioner said. “So it is Benton Harbor today, but it could be New York tomorrow or it could be Chicago next week.”

SAN FRANCISCO The first vision was simple and straightforward: To curtail puppy mills and kitten factories, the sale of cats and dogs should be banned in San Francisco, where the loving guardians of animal companions come to regular blows – politically – with the loving parents of children.

The ban was put on hold last year after animal advocates broadened it to include anything with fur or feathers. Now it’s back, with a new name and a new strategy: More is more. The Humane Pet Acquisition Proposal is on its way to the Board of Supervisors, and it hopes to protect everything from Great Danes to goldfish.

Yes, goldfish. And guppies, gobies, gouramies, glowlight tetras, German blue rams. No fish, no fowl, no reptiles, no amphibians, no cats, no dogs, no gerbils, no rats. If it flies, crawls, runs, swims or slithers, you would not be able to buy it in the city named for the patron saint of animals.

Representatives of the $45 billion to $50 billion-a-year pet industry call the San Francisco proposal “by far the most radical ban we’ve seen” nationwide and argue that it would force small operators to close. Animal activists say it will save small but important lives, along with taxpayer money, and end needless suffering.

“Why fish? Why not fish?” said Philip Gerrie, a member of the city’s Commission of Animal Control and Welfare and a co-author of the proposal. “From Descartes on up, in the Western mindset, fish and other nonhuman animals don’t have feelings, they don’t have emotions, we can do whatever we want to them. If we considered them living beings, we would deal with them differently. … Our culture sanctions this, treating them as commodities and expendable.”

The commission voted earlier this month to send a proposal to the Board of Supervisors recommending a ban on the sale of all pets in the city to shore up the adoption of unwanted creatures from shelters and rescue organizations. Commissioners are now looking for a supervisor or two to sponsor such an ordinance.
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Like the militia at Lexington and Concord, it is now the responsibility of ordinary Americans to restore the Constitution and save the republic.

In a February 13, 1818 letter to H. Niles, John Adams wrote:

“But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was affected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations…This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.“

The first “shots” of the Second American Revolution have not been fired, but the battle lines have been drawn.

There is now a radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the American people.

Petitioning the current Congress for the redress of grievances is futile. Members of Congress have turned a deaf ear to the voices of their constituents.

The present occupiers of the US Government openly violate the Constitution, are hopelessly corrupt and politically correct, have brought us to the brink of bankruptcy, have opened our borders to illegal immigration and have permitted a fifth column promoting Sharia law to infiltrate our society.

They can no longer be trusted as guardians of our posterity.

Not a week goes by without yet another document analyst claiming that his Certificate of Live Birth presented by Obama at his press conference on April 27, 2011, is a forgery.

Clear evidence has been presented that Obama has a stolen Social Security Number and that his Selective Service registration is also a forgery.

As John Adams also said:

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

There indeed are evil people in America, who passionately want to destroy our republic.

There are deluded and partisan liberals, who confirm in their own minds that they are noble and righteous by blindly supporting Obama.

The Democrats are tethered to Obama’s disastrous, radical agenda.

The Republican “opposition”, which has succumbed to Obama’s psychological warfare, is paralyzed by the fear of being branded a “racist” if they challenge him in any way.

Both the Democrats and Republicans in Congress are consumed by self interest and have forgotten their duty to their constituents and country.

Has our government degenerated to such an extent that Obama can stand before the country, boldly lie, present an obviously forged document as proof that he is eligible to be President and nothing is done?

In my opinion, the answer is “yes”. We now have a rogue government, which knowingly violates the Constitution and refuses to enforce the law when it affects their own personal interests.

It no longer matters to me why they are doing it, but that they are clearly ignoring their oaths of office.

To me, those who are perpetrating this “Misprision of felony” are traitors and must be removed from their positions of authority. They no longer have either credibility or the trust of the people.

Obama is laughing in our faces, knowing that he has cowered his opposition simply by name-calling. If it was not so pathetic, that, too, would be laughable.

Like the militia at Lexington and Concord, it is now the responsibility of ordinary Americans to restore the Constitution and save the republic.

To our cowardly politicians and government officials, I can only offer the words spoken by Samuel Adams in 1776:

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!”

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Josh Sutinen isn‘t old enough to vote and only got his driver’s license last month, but he’s already among the leaders in a growing national backlash against cameras that issue traffic tickets.

The 17-year-old has worked for most of this year – frequently on school nights – pushing an initiative to ban Longview’s new red-light and speed cameras. He’s now in the final stages of a signature-collection effort that has him fighting city council and asking fellow citizens to join his crusade.

“These cameras are really just another big government attack on our rights,” Sutinen said in an interview. “It’s just taxation through citation.”

Sutinen’s plan is one of four similar ballot proposals around Washington this year. Voters in more than a dozen cities nationwide have passed referendums banning the cameras while nine states now prohibit them.

Officials in Los Angeles, where a single ticket can cost hundreds of dollars, moved this week to end a camera program there. Opponents question whether the cameras actually improve safety, noting that many citations are issued to drivers who simply don’t fully stop as they take free right turns at red lights. They also believe governments are largely using the cameras as a revenue source.

Washington’s activists hope to repeat the local success that state initiative guru Tim Eyman had in his hometown of Mukilteo last year. A group in Bellingham turned in nearly 7,000 signatures this week, and a movement in Redmond is still collecting.

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A 77-year-old Army veteran is being threatened with legal action for flying the American flag in his front yard.

Fred Quigley, of Macedonia, Ohio, a retired Army chaplain and minister who served active duty during the Vietnam War, has been told his flag violates his homeowners association’s rules on flagpoles.

As an alternative, the association offered to place the flag at the entrance of the development, but Mr Quigley refused.

Scroll down for video

‘Principle and patriotism’: Fred Quigley with the flagpole outside his home which the homeowners association says violates its rules

Mr Quigley said: ‘It’s the principle. It’s about patriotism, and the soldiers I’ve had to hold as they were dying.

‘It’s just important to me to be bold with the flag.

‘If they can dictate to me that I cannot fly an American flag in America, then, to me, the country is lost.’

Mr Quigley’s lawyer Gerald Patronite said the association has no right to stop his client.

It’s got to go: Joseph Migliorini, representing the association, says free-standing flagpoles are not allowed

He cites a 2003 state statute that addresses the homeowner’s rights in such a dispute.

‘Essentially, no deed restriction or association can abridge this right to display the flag,’ he told AOL Real Estate.

Mr Patronite said that the HOA’s rules state that a flag can only be displayed if affixed to the home.

But doing so would mean Mr Quigley would have to put up a much smaller flag.

Defiant: If he can’t fly the flag then the country ‘is lost,’ says Fred Quigley

Mr Quigley’s daughter, Karen Wilson, said that she doesn’t understand how anyone could deny her father the right to raise the flag.

She said: ‘It’s a standard 15ft pole, with 3ft by 5ft flag.

‘It’s not outlandish, it’s not over-the-top, and it fits in with the house.’

Joseph Migliorini, the representative for the homeowner’s association and former mayor of Macedonia, which is between Cleveland and Akron, said he plans to take Quigley to court if the flagpole is not removed.

Mr Migliorini said: ‘We just want the rules and regulations followed.

‘We’re not gonna have rogue homeowners that are going to just do what they want to do and not get approval.’

Acceptable: Flags that are affixed to the property are allowed under the homeowners association rules

This is not the first time that homeowners have clashed with a homeowners association over the right to display the flag.

In Idaho, the dispute ended in a public apology from an association that prohibited flags in ‘common areas.’

In that case, the ‘Freedom to Display the American Flag Act’ of 2005 was cited to uphold the homeowner’s right.

On Wednesday, members of the local American Legion post joined Mr Quigley in a flag-raising ceremony in protest at the association’s policy.

Mr Quigley said that he’s been given until Monday to remove the flag, or legal action will be taken by the association.

‘As a minister and a chaplain, I have fought for people,’ Quigley said. ‘Now I fight for myself.’

Are you ready for a world dominated by Islamic law? On July 9, the international political group Hizb ut-Tahrir will meet for the “UK Khilafah Conference” in London. During the gathering, meetings will focus upon ways in which a caliphate can be instituted. As The Blaze explained back in February, a caliphate is an Islamic state that draws its authority from, and is based upon, Sharia law.

Hizb ut-Tahrir, which stands for the “Party of Liberation” in English, is an international political organization that seeks one, unified Muslim state that is dominated by Muslim law. This particular group stands firmly planted against the United States, accusing the Super Power of colonization, among other offenses.

Additionally, the group would like to see Israel, which it deems “illegal,” be dismantled. Below, you can see a graphic that the group is using to promote the conference:

(h/t CreepingSharia)

Below, you can watch the conference’s “trailer” for more. In it, you’ll notice the that the group targets Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, among others, for assisting in “colonialism” and “oppression.” Also, look out for the words, “An Islamic call spanning the globe.” Watch below: