If we pull out the microscope of reality and aim it at the classrooms of America, we will see that teachers and school staff are now modeling and teaching ethical and moral values to our children as well. Teachers model ethical values they support and then hold them up as important, as well as the social issues they talk about and those they withhold from classroom discussion. So while parents should hold the dominant role and have the right and responsibility for their children’s upbringing, when students are in school, they are greatly influenced by what happens in the classroom and all other aspects of daily school life.

With the amount of influence that teachers and school staff have on today’s children, is the school setting the proper place for exposing kids to the modern liberal’s pro-homosexual agenda? Should sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and all their expressions be placed front and center and included within the learning scheme of anti-discrimination discussions?

Well, liberals within the Topeka, Kansas Unified School District 501 have decided that sexual practices, including those considered deviant by the overwhelming majority of Americans should be part of each Kansas student’s educational experience. The Topeka School Board’s 6-1 vote to add sexual orientation, gender identity and its expression to its anti-discrimination policy does much more than simply make an attempt to dissuade bullying. It validates the activities. Their policy change makes a public statement that homosexuality and transgender activity is part of the same immutable qualities as those that define a person as being short or having black skin. I, for one, believe homosexuality and gender identity are life choices. The Judeo-Christian foundational belief system was for much of America’s history a common standard within academia.

From the lips of these Topeka School Board members, it is clear that they actually believe that introducing deviant sexual behavior to their list of actions protected by school policy is an act of compassion instead an act of academic debauchery. In the Topeka-Capital Journal District Attorney Cindy Kelly says recommendations for this policy change came from information obtained from the Board of Education that stated that bullying due to sexual orientation and gender identity are on the rise. Kelly supplies no statistics or percentages to quantify her statements of this specific “rise” in bullying. If the claims of bullying in Kansas schools based on sexual orientation and gender identity have the same credibility as the assertions already submitted in attempts to garner support for radical alterations in the anti-discrimination ordinances in Manhattan and Lawrence, Kansas, then it is likely that actual documented cases of discrimination based on the criteria are almost non-existent.

I would challenge Cindy Kelly to statically show an epidemic of homosexual and gender identity bullying that is taking place in Kansas schools. As reported in the Topeka-Capital Journal, School Board member, Peg McCarthy said, “ The bottom line is that it (the new policy) sends a message that we won’t tolerate bullying or harassment of any kind.” Her statement demonstrates a rather naïve view of reality. Bullying is wrong for any reason, and there is no possible way to list every situation that might spark a bully into action. For the School Board to select deviant sexual behavior and lift it up above the endless list of possible bully triggers makes it special and unique and part of the educational curriculum. Moreover, that choice implies that deviant sexual behavior is okay and indeed socially acceptable within this particular Kansas school district.

Chairwoman Stephanie Mott, formerly Steve Mott, of the Topeka chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition told the Topeka-Capital Journal that, “Your lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender students are counting on you,” and “You’re telling students that they have a safe place to go to school.” I believe that the Topeka School District is instead creating an environment of moral confusion where more and more students will find themselves falling prey to deviant lifestyles Apparently, the Topeka School Board wishes to make their school district a God-free zone and a morally relativistic environment where sexually deviant behavior is promoted under the guise of protective compassion and made part of the educational process for today’s youth. Parents must now decide if this “lesson” should be taught to their children and if they are willing to accept the long-term consequences of it.

Rambunctious and ready conservatives, like me, who are anxious to see this President become a one-termer, need to swallow hard and taste the bitter pill of reality. The voting numbers needed to do this task are not yet attained, so we cannot be sure yet that Obama will absolutely positively be defeated in 2012.

Realistically, what assets are in the President’s corner? There are several that are important, despite his being the worst President in modern times. The Obama campaign coffers will likely fill to the tune of $1billon. The liberal media will continue to support Obama to the point of senseless overt water carrying of his destructive programs. The President also has the bully pulpit of the White House, which he has used with reckless abandon with little likelihood there will be any decrease in his pronouncements as election time nears. Hollywood will continue to be Hollywood, and too many actors will continue to kneel at the ideological feet of the progressive liberalism Obama espouses. When we get right down to it, the only unflinching factor that will derail another four years of destructive liberalism being implemented across this country is the power of the conservative majority in America. Enter the Tea Party.

Despite being demonized by the Democrat Party and minimized by liberal media, the Tea Party movement has not declined since its inception. It has instead increased in numbers. Over the last year, I have visited more than 50 cities in the state of Kansas. As unemployment numbers have increased, so has interest in the Tea Party. With each edict issued from Obama’s White House perch, a new group of Tea Partiers has formed in heartland communities. The recent liberal Occupy groups of course tried to emulate the grass roots appearance and focus of the Tea Party with a contrasting anti-American, anti-capitalistic flare, but this group has done nothing but make Tea Partiers even more appealing to mainstream America. Despite being framed as radical events run by angry racists, the Tea Party’s orderly patriotic weekend gatherings are now seen as benign in comparison to the rapes and thefts happening within the stench-filled tent cities of the Occupy movement. The line between conservatives and liberals is becoming clearer and clearer to more and more people.

What is also becoming clearer is that the once feared Tea Party is now seen by the voting public for who they truly are — the American middle class. In visiting a large part of the state of Kansas one town at a time, I’ve seen that the Tea Party numbers are growing for two important reasons. The first is that once a person attends a Tea Party rally, that person is hooked. People understand their conservative values of adhering to the Constitution, controlling spending and having a working, but limited, government. All these relate to love of country and values that are easy to support. Second, the majority of voters now see that the nation is in a true fix, and they are looking for a positive, non-violent alternative to Obama’s goal of a fundamental transformation of America. Once people move past the lies of the liberal media, more and more citizens are finding that their local Tea Party is a very nice fit with what they believe.

So, for all the rambunctious and ready conservatives, those who are anxious to see this President be a one termer, the blueprint to victory in 2012 lies in coordinating the ever expanding Tea Party numbers and maximize the number of voters who do go to the polls and vote next November. Doing that will make Obama’s defeat and removal from office a certainty.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and his Ph.D. in Sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of several books including the 2011 release “The Good Fight: Why Conservatives Must Take Back America.” Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 award-winning radio program, Conscience of Kansas airing on KRMR The Patriot 105.7 FM, www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact him at ibbetson105.7@gmail.com

That was when I first learned about Ray Stevens, and years would follow in which I enjoyed his humorous and obviously creative songs. Whether Stevens was lamenting about adventures with out-of-control Shriners or deep breathing phone stalkers, his language was always clean, his content funny, and one never had to worry if grandmother was listening too. That would be enough for most people to buy Ray Stevens’ albums. This singer-songwriter-comedian has stayed successful with his unique product for decades. However, Stevens has one more quality that has been made public in recent years. He is without a doubt an American Patriot.

In October 2011, I had the opportunity to interview Ray Stevens on my radio show, Conscience of Kansas. Stevens was gracious and funny, but also very candid about his concern for the future of America. He told me that as he has got older, he pays more attention to what is taking place in America. The comedian is unhappy about the current direction the country is heading. Stevens said a certain amount of blame should be shared by the liberal media who, he believes, lies repeatedly to the American people about the news. He also places blame on many teachers who, Stevens feels, are not teaching children accurate history of our country. This comedian was very serious when he spoke about his rude awakening to the problems this country is facing. He contributes much of his current knowledge to listening to Fox News and conservative talk show hosts, such as Rush Limbaugh.

Ray Stevens is not a Barack Obama supporter, and his highly successful 2010 album, “We The People,” as well as his new release “Spirit of 76,” both reflect his concerns over issues such as out-of-control government spending, border security, national security, and in many ways, the arrogance and incompetence of the current President in the White House. During our interview, Stevens was gracious, humble, funny, and very honest about who he is and who he is not. This song writer made it plain that he is not a politician and made no assertions about being a specialist or an expert in the world of politics. What he did make clear was that as an American he needed to do something, and so he decided to take his song writing and singing skills and take his stand. I think he is accomplishing more than even he knows.

The truth is that taking back this country will be a long, frustrating, and protracted battle. To win in the end, conservatives must keep their morale up as well as have a strong spine. Humor has always been the conservatives’ ally but sometimes it’s in short supply. That is where conservatives with a true funny bone like Ray Stevens come in and re-energize the Americans who continue the struggle to keep conservative values. Indeed it is something worthy of a Nobel Peace prize though that award is now reserved for those who have not yet accomplished anything. That’s not to worry, however because in the greater scheme of things, Stevens will leave a much more beloved legacy to more Americans than will Obama. For me, the interview with Ray Stevens was a pleasant journey over the years, beginning with hot pizza and a naked runner and ending with an insightful, indeed delightful exchange with a comedic, patriotic icon.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and his Ph.D. in Sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of several books including the 2011 release “The Good Fight: Why Conservatives Must Take Back America.” Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 award-winning radio program, Conscience of Kansas airing on KRMR The Patriot 105.7 FM, www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact him at ibbetson105.7@gmail.com

At a cursory first glance, many of the Occupy groups present nominal Tea Party-like characteristics, such as having members who reject the Federal Reserve, speak about the value of the Constitution, and present a general citizen’s concern for the future of the country. However, that is about the extent of any observable similarities. The differences are many. While a majority of the Tea Party organization tends to come from the working class, and seniors, the Occupy groups are mostly comprised of younger, often college age individuals.

Even more drastic differences between these two groups can be seen in the ideological viewpoints that motivate their activism and the physical ways in which they voice their concerns. The Tea Party groups in America meet in private or public areas and strictly follow the ordinances of city and state. The Occupy groups as defined by their very title of “Occupy” invade “spaces” whether those spaces are city parks or other locales and hold these spaces “hostage” for extended periods of time until their differing demands are met. What demands do these “Occupiers” have? They differ from Occupy invasion point to invasion point but, commonly their demands reflect a disdain for corporate America and the free market, environmental concerns, and a general desire for more of their version of tolerance and compassion on the planet.

The Tea Party events are void of such a hostage standoff element; however, Tea Party attendees of course have their demands as well. They wish for limited government, personal freedom, controlled spending, and an adherence to the Constitution. The Occupy groups are getting noticed as much for their bodily stink as their demands. They refuse to stop occupying public areas of towns across the country until their need for revenge against rich Americans can be satiated. Tea Party events, on the other hand, end within a few hours, and the attendees then try to make their changes at the ballot box. Theirs is a much more peaceful and certainly a less stinky approach to protest and activism.

Tea Party events are ideologically conservative, and their attendees place an emphasis on American patriotism and the individual’s right to freedom. These citizens place strong emphasis on personal responsibility to make government accountable. The Occupy groups want government to increase entitlements and of course curb greedy corporate Americans to give them what they want. President Barack Obama’s campaign to make rich Americans “pay their fair share” in taxes is ideologically very much in step with the Occupy groups. Indeed, many would say, a little too closely in step.

There is little doubt that if the Occupy groups can build momentum, their mantra about the dangers of free market greed is one that will eventually divert the country’s attention away from its economic woes being considered a product of government intervention. In other words, the Occupy groups with their quasi-violent- space-seizing-no-shower-necessary protest activities are potentially a big help to Obama. The President needs public scrutiny of his economic policies to be diverted elsewhere, indeed anywhere but at him. Will the Occupy groups accomplish their goal? Time will tell. One thing is for sure; however, there is little similarity between the Tea Party and the Occupy groups and their end goals behind protesting are very different and very distinct. The Tea Party protests highlight the actions of the Obama administration while the Occupy groups’ intent is to shield the President from any and all accountability for his policies.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his Ph.D. in Sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of several books including the 2011 release “The Good Fight: Why Conservatives Must Take Back America.” Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 award-winning radio program, Conscience of Kansas airing on KRMR The Patriot 105.7 FM, www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact him at ibbetson105.7@gmail.com

Looking at this ordinance change in Lawrence from a legal standpoint, the city has unwittingly opened the door for massive legal battles that they are poorly equipped to handle. There are two fundamental reasons why the Lawrence City Government made such a terrible decision and passed this ordinance change. First, after being lobbied by pro-homosexual advocacy groups in Kansas, liberal council members in Lawrence were duped into thinking they would be helping the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) community by creating an ordinance that will in fact only bring civil discord, public distrust, and lay a legal mind field for the City’s court system to deal with for years to come. Why? The answer is found in debunking the common red herring argument offered by the homosexual advocacy groups, namely that the transgender community suffers the same discrimination as African Americans did in the 1960s.

Anti-discrimination laws were written and enacted in part to prevent discrimination against individuals with certain “immutable” or unchangeable qualities, such as skin color. The skin color of a minority citizen, however, remains the same from day to day, while those individuals with gender identity disorder are often in a constant state of flux on how they perceive their own gender identity within each situation in life they have to address. When will a person with this disorder agree they are being treated fairly by members of the community on issues of housing and accommodation, and when will they decide they need to start a court proceeding for discrimination? That decision now is based on the interpretation of the new ordinance created in Lawrence. The truth is that no one can answer this question; not city officials, not business owners or mainstream citizens of the community. Thanks to the new alteration in the ordinance, Lawrence, Kansas, now will be playing a city-wide game of Russian roulette, and thanks to City officials, most of the chambers are full.

The American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders lists gender disorder as an Axis 1 mental disorder alongside schizophrenia and bipolarism with a recommendation of therapy. Lawrence officials have now placed these individuals in charge of their city. Problems like these are why the City’s Human Relations Committee twice voted not to adopt such an ordinance. If the legal ramifications of this ill thought-out municipal decision have not as yet hit home, the homosexual pressure groups will soon make it crystal clear. The court docket will need to become full for any continuation of the argument that any more cities in Kansas need to make radical alterations to their anti-discrimination ordinances.

The second reason Lawrence officials have made a terrible decision in this case is that they have declared in unequivocal terms to the Christian majority of the community that the Biblical values by which Kansas proudly operates under have no meaning within the Lawrence city limits. City officials have done far worse than just turning their backs on traditional values; they are serving up the Christian majority of their community to the lions of the court system.

Think about it. Which citizens or business owners in the community will be most likely to oppose a 250lb man in a wig and sundress wishing to follow a 5 year old girl into a restaurant bathroom? Since both Lawrence and Manhattan had no history of complaints or abuses against members of this special interest group, the purpose of making such radical changes to the existing law has nothing to do with decreasing discrimination. It will just increase the homosexual agenda.

Indeed, the decision by Lawrence city officials to make individuals with gender identity disorder a protected class was nothing short of sinful and an act that the people of Lawrence will soon come to regret.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his Ph.D. in Sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of several books including the 2011 release “The Good Fight: Why Conservatives Must Take Back America.” Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 award-winning radio program, Conscience of Kansas airing on KRMR The Patriot 105.7 FM, www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact him at ibbetson105.7@gmail.com

Framed around the need to fulfill job growth in conjunction with cleaning up America’s portion of the planet, Jackson disseminated $ 6.2 million for Brownfield clean up jobs in July this year. This benign sounding program was advertised as an environmentally “friendly” job plan that would clean up old gas stations, smelter plants, and industrial properties. Of course what is not mentioned during the high-blown rhetoric about saving Mother Earth by uniting government and environmentalism is that businesses that find themselves in ideological conflict with the ever growing list of “Green initiatives” will face a monstrous State apparatus that is all too eager to unleash “green justice” on all violators. Herein lies the economic quandary for Kansas.

Unfortunately for Kansas, its cattle industry, oil and gas development, and even the growing of crops are directly in the stomping path of the EPA. Through increased regulations and government manipulation, oil drillers are finding it harder to drill oil in Kansas, and even drill for natural gas, a highly abundant energy opportunity in the state. Building coal burning power plants that have the potential to create hundreds if not thousands of new Kansas jobs is like pulling teeth. The environmental regulations and the misguided Green mentality that the current Obama administration embraces and allows to flourish has become an EPA monster with Lisa Jackson in full charge going full throttle.

The EPA monster was recently spotted in Western Kansas where is was battling the rural cooperative, Sunflower Electric, now at risk of having to charge higher rates to customers or not supply services at all to rural areas of the state due to a new thrashing “sea of regulations.” I had a chance to interview on my radio program, Conscience of Kansas, Congressman Tim Huelskamp, a native to the First District of Kansas. He is attempting to combat EPA aggression against free market initiatives within the state. Huelskamp is the co-sponsor of the TRAIN-Act, Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation. The Act would require an impact analysis to determine the cumulative effect that EPA regulations are having on the economy.

In my interview, Huelskamp made clear his concern. It is a concern that is on the minds of many Americans, namely, that the EPA is overregulating business and industry in the country. In Kansas alone, Huelskamp said that the EPA treats farm “spilt milk as if it is an oil spill.” The Congressman is also aware of new EPA regulations that make the common practice of transporting fuel, over 119 gallons, a violation of Federal law without a hazardous materials permit. Obviously the bureaucrats that are crafting EPA regulations have never worked on a farm. But, is it simply ignorance that brings about such terrible regulations or is there another agenda still?

In reality, the EPA monster is motivated by a mentality that opposes the capitalistic free market foundations of traditional America. On the subject of the chasm that exists between big Green governmental ideology and the free market Kansas mentality, Huelskamp commented that a business owner in Kansas told him that liberals in Washington see all business as nothing more than a “bunch of crooks.” They are bad guys that need to be taken down a notch. I feel that the current administration’s hostility toward free market initiatives in places like Kansas goes far deeper. There appears to be anger in Washington toward the American spirit that fights for individualism and against becoming part of the collective, even when that collective is touted as being beautifully “green.” It has become all too apparent when we watch the EPA monster grow larger each day and the idea of the individual becomes ever more endangered that without the American people adjusting the leadership of this country, the American economy remains at great risk. What is the EPA’s goal? The monster wishes to gorge on both the innovators and free marketers in Kansas and elsewhere.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his Ph.D. in Sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of several books including the 2011 release “The Good Fight: Why Conservatives Must Take Back America.” Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 award-winning radio program, Conscience of Kansas airing on KRMR The Patriot 105.7 FM, www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact him at ibbetson105.7@gmail.com

Similar to the psyche of the America people, football is a game where the winners and losers are decided on the field of play and not by politicians making midnight deals behind closed doors. If teams have an equal score at game’s end, the National Football League authorizes the deliciously ruthless, but very definite rule of “sudden death.” Yup, NFL football fans will go home either happy or mad from their game but never with a politically correct score sticker that says, “Everyone’s a winner just for coming out and trying. It was a well-played tie.”

Football embodies the traditional American economic standard of the famous bottom line, the finality of outcomes that are the result of the tenacious competitiveness of the free market. NFL teams spend as much time jockeying for American talent in the draft as they do molding that talent in practice and making their players perform in game competition. This wondrously unique ballet of acquisition, training, strategy, and implementation unfolds week after week before fans who sit entranced on metal seats in crisp airy stadiums, as well as others who spill popcorn on their living rooms floors while perched on the edges of their couches, rooting their favorite teams to victory. NFL football reinforces with blitzing clarity and precision the words of George C. Scott in his Patton persona when he said, “Americans love a winner, and will not tolerate a loser.”
It is certainly not “off-sides” here to mention that the start of the NFL season will employ thousands of people, ranging from those hired by large manufacturers to private vendors who sell individual wares. In truth, the economy will get more positive yardage from this year’s NFL season than from Obama’s offered stimulus programs. As important as jobs are, football also brings forth that pulse quickening air of competition that combine with a sense of the unknown, as we watch the potential of our favorite players and teams try to rise to greatness through victory. President Barack Obama would be wise to avoid attempting to schedule his future “addresses to the Nation” during NFL games and again for two reasons. The first being that Obama’s mantra for the country runs counter to the NFL’s as a nation of winners who will always fight the notion that they should strive no higher than to be merely average. Secondly no one likes a coach who calls the same play (socialism) on every down. Barack Obama’s answers to the economic problems of America are painfully repetitious and as self-destructive as choosing to run the ball on fourth down with fifty yards still to go.

I hope that as fans across the country begin to invest themselves once again into their own teams and the statistical world of truth and fantasy that NFL football produces that they will take another moment to realize the uniqueness of what this sport does bring to the country. NFL football is the embodiment of the ruckus and flamboyant nature of the American cowboy, combined with the mass marketing skills as embodied by Henry Ford and the automotive explosion. I, for one, am very happy to take a moment to watch running backs hit the high gears in the open lane while linebackers steamroll unsuspecting quarterbacks, or watch quarterbacks “go deep” with the entire game on the line. There is little political correctness in this sport after the snap of the ball, and I doubt any member of the United Nations could make it through four quarters. Throw a flag if you will, but I say that this truth is just another reason why we love this game so much. NFL football is a truly unique American sport, and as this country sits mentally and economically at its own low point in current history, the beginning of the NFL’s season has come this year just in time.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his Ph.D. in Sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of several books including the 2011 release “The Good Fight: Why Conservatives Must Take Back America.” Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 award-winning radio program, Conscience of Kansas airing on KRMR The Patriot 105.7 FM, www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact him at ibbetson105.7@gmail.com

As reported by Chris Stirewalt on Fox News, the argument for saying America is not in a recession because we have stopped having three sequential quarters of negative growth becomes moot when every quarter’s growth is so small that it cannot improve the economy. The truth is that America’s economy, and its subsequent lack of job growth, is like a heavy anchor dragging the bottom of the deepest ocean. Now imagine the American worker strapped to that anchor, and the mental image is complete.

As Shaila Dewan writes in The New York Times, we see that the most recent reports show the unemployment rate at 9.1 percent. These numbers are scary enough, but they fail to show just how bad unemployment really is. Given America’s current economic dilemma, the percentages of the unemployed whom people read about in newspapers and hear discussed on the television should be more accurately described as “nice scenario” numbers, because “true unemployment” numbers are much, much higher. In reality, unemployment figures for Americans are at least double of those reported: more and more people continue to run out of Obama’s extended unemployment benefits and no longer qualify to stay on the rolls; others are tired of looking for jobs that don’t exist and simply abandon the job hunt and go home to stare at their sofa cushions. People who have fallen off the official count of the unemployed are not the only means by which the current employment numbers in America are being obscured; there are also the Obama “fantasy employment numbers.”

The Obama “fantasy employment numbers” are undoubtedly a fiction originally created to combat the administration’s inability to make good on the president’s pledge to the American people to stop unemployment numbers from reaching 8 percent if given a historic “good faith” loan of $787 billion. After the president’s social programing and “shovel ready” New Deal approach failed, the administration started counting unemployment from a new perspective; that is, new jobs would be counted from people who still had jobs. If this sounds a little weird, that’s because it is.

As if pulling a clip from an episode of the Twilight Zone, the Obama administration said America’s new reality on unemployment would now be evaluated from the perspective of people who didn’t lose their jobs due to the president’s actions. As reported by William McGurn in The Wall Street Journal as early as 2009, this method of gauging how Obama’s economic stimulus plan is affecting American jobs was full of phony bologna number crunching. There is no way to quantify jobs saved by the stimulus package; this is a projection of pure fantasy born of desperation. At least in a real Twilight Zone episode, Rod Serling would have taken viewers to the side and told them they were now leaving the real world. Barack Obama needs to be dragged back to our reality, because Americans are just too broke to be able to play along anymore.

The truth is that Obama’s philosophy and the capitalistic/free market system, the system upon which America was founded, cannot co-exist without American workers suffering. Employers of businesses that are still economically viable in today’s economy will not expand their companies nor, hire new employees, so long as the Federal government impinges on the free market and creates future economic uncertainty. The administration’s failed economic policies have protracted an employment downturn beyond what political spin and fantasy statistics can legitimize. Our country’s painful reality is that the more common job status question for the average America is not, “What do you do for living?”, but “Do you do anything at all?”

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his Ph.D. in Sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of several books including the 2011 release “The Good Fight: Why Conservatives Must Take Back America.” Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 award-winning radio program, Conscience of Kansas airing on KRMR The Patriot 105.7 FM, www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact him at ibbetson105.7@gmail.com

First, the King monument is placed in the National Mall, a location specifically designated for U.S. Presidents and fallen soldiers. There is a strong argument to be made that the sculpture of the civil rights icon would be better placed in a different location. However, this argument pales in comparison to the residual implications derived from who actually created the monument and how King is portrayed in stone.

As reported by John Hayward in Human Events, in oddly bizarre fashion, the King monument was not commissioned for creation by Americans, but was rather given to the fifty-seven year old Chinese Communist, Lei Yixin. Yixin is known among other things for his stone depictions of the Communist Chairman Mao Tse-tung. He thus created a depiction of King that some would say runs counter to a true reflection of the man and what he stood for. Martin Luther King Jr. looks decidedly Asian. The civil rights leader, who was known for both kindness and compassion, is reflected in stone by Yixin having a stern look on his face and with arms folded as if he is in opposition to those who view him. In the stone statue King also grips an unknown document with force, and one can only guess if the artist meant the document to be one with biblical scripture, the constitution, or one of Mao’s many versions of the “Little Red Book.”

Some have asserted that the carving of this statue should have been commissioned to a black artisan; however, I think that King would have preferred to look at quality of character, and artistic ability, over color of skin. With that observation in mind, it is still hard to fathom that King would have wished that his memorial depiction to be created to exhibit a Communist mentality, certainly void of the Christian values he championed. The “angry Asian, the Communist Martin Luther King, Jr.” monument also includes inscriptions of many of King’s famous quotes, but minus his famous “I have a dream,” apparently, purposely omitted. This lack is almost fitting as little of King’s true Christian nature is on display.

The final note, in what has become a sad story, is that it appears that the King monument was never intended to be designed for posterity, but rather for family profit. As reported in the New York Post, the Martin Luther King, Jr., family charged to the foundation that built the monument $800,000 to use King’s words and image. This King family money scheme further removes the appropriateness of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial being placed alongside distinguished U.S. Presidents and fallen soldiers whose families never asked, nor received any residuals for the honor of being memorialized. Sadly, there are now no redeemable qualities to retrieve from exhibiting a King memorial in Washington, as both Communism and family greed have instead simply created an anathema of a monument now placed in the National Mall.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life deserves a more honorable and precise legacy than what is depicted in the new Washington memorial. It is said that the reported inspiration for the piece came from King’s “I have a dream” speech in which the civil rights leader stated, “Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” Instead of a noble transformation, people in the National Mall will now view a Marxian mountain that is too arrogant and more fitting to a Communist bloc than to the powerful role Martin Luther King Jr. played in a movement for equality gained through passive resistance and the power of prayer. Opportunities to do good are lost every day, but some are more painful to watch than others.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his Ph.D. in Sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of several books including the 2011 release “The Good Fight: Why Conservatives Must Take Back America.” Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 award-winning radio program, Conscience of Kansas airing on KRMR The Patriot 105.7 FM, www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact him at ibbetson105.7@gmail.com