Publisher's note:  After yet another administration slap in the face to our military and veterans, the veterans are coming out in force to slam President Obama and the administration's new VA Disability policies.  It is my hope that they will remember this and the many other insults to them on election day.

Fox News:  WASHINGTON –  For veterans seeking disability compensation, the application process is supposed to be so easy that a handwritten note on a napkin will initiate a claim or an appeal. A proposed rule from the Obama administration would change that, and veterans groups are sounding the alarm.

The Department of Veterans Affairs says the many ways that requests for disability compensation arrive actually hamper its ability to administer benefits, and they contribute to a claims backlog that has about 400,000 veterans waiting more than 125 days for a decision. At times, workers spend so much time trying to figuring out what's being claimed and trading letters with applicants that it's slowing down decisions for everyone.

The VA's solution: Require veterans to use a standard form when they file for disability compensation -- or appeal a decision, and throw in some incentives for those who use a computer.

The response to the proposed rule from the nation's major veterans groups?

"Draconian" and "heavy-handed," said the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "A seismic change" that will "poison" the disability claims process, said the American Legion. "The most serious, egregious attack on a veteran-friendly disability claim system in VA history," declared the law firm of Bergmann & Moore, which specializes in pursuing disability claims.

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Publisher's note:  I find it very interesting that the US Chamber would find itself at odds with the Tea Party; an organization that simply wants to realize the vision of our founders with less government, less spending, and less taxation.  I also find it very interesting that the signs being held in the photo are clearly from the camp of the administration, which is itself destroying our economy.

The Chambers need to realize this; We the People of America and the Tea Party are though having the failed economic and social policies of the left rammed down our throats.  Come election day, we will have won the day, or lost our nation.

Fox News:  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it will back “pro-business” candidates against Tea Party-styled opponents in this year’s election, largely in response to conservative lawmakers shutting down the federal government last year over fiscal issues.

“In 2014, the chamber will work to protect and expand a pro-business majority in the House and advance our position and our influence in the Senate,” Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue said Wednesday. “We will support candidates who want to work within the legislative process.”  

Donohue, in his annual State of American Business speech, didn’t single out the Tea Party specifically but said afterward the chamber’s frustrations are with the movement’s extreme faction and politicians who have linked themselves to the Tea Party.

“It’s people who don’t want to play,” Donohue told Fox Business, referring to last year’s budget stalemate that partially closed the federal government for 16 days and the ensuring debt-ceiling negotiations that almost resulted in the same outcome.

“The Tea Party has lots of good ideas,” Donohue said. “But those people are not helping us.” 

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Publisher's note:  While I'm glad to see a common sense bill being put forward by a legislative body, I am struck with dumb-founded awe that such a bill should have ever become necessary in the first place.  Essentially this deals with the all too frequent nonsense that ensues when so called 'zero tolerance' policies go far beyond their intended goals.  

Down in OK one legislator is doing something about it.  Rep. Sally Kern has put forth a common sense bill that prohibits children from being ostracized and/or in some cases arrested for such things as chewing a Pop Tart so that it takes the rough shape of a pistol.  

On the other side of that, Linda Hampton, President of the OK Education Association stated, "The proposed legislation removes local control from teachers, counselors, administrators and local school boards. Educators are degreed professionals, trained and experienced in dealing with children."  

From where I sit, they may have all sorts of degrees, but they don't possess an ounce of common sense if they feel threatened by a chewed up Pop Tart.

Fox News:  OKLAHOMA CITY –  Schoolchildren in Oklahoma could not be punished for chewing their breakfast pastries into the shape of a gun under a bill introduced this week by a Republican legislator.

Rep. Sally Kern said Wednesday her measure dubbed the Common Sense Zero Tolerance Act was in response to school districts having policies that are too strict or inflexible. 

Kern cited a recent Maryland case that gained national media attention where a boy was suspended after his teacher accused him of chewing his Pop Tart into the shape of a gun.

"Real intent, real threats and real weapons should always be dealt with immediately. We need to stop criminalizing children's imagination and childhood play," Kern, Republican from Oklahoma City told News9.com. 

"If there's no real intent, there's no real threat, no real weapon, no real harm is occurring or going to occur, why in the world are we in a sense abusing our children like this."

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Publisher's note:  So, once again We the People are off to the races.  The holiday parties are over and all of the DC crowd are starting to shuffle back to the lavish halls of power.  A promise here and a deal there, and the skids are being greased for each of them to make themselves look pretty.  Beware America, they are all very afraid of what We the People are gearing to do in November.  Wake up, get involved, and let's send the biggest message we've ever sent.  We MUST take back our country.

Fox News:  Congressional Democrats and Republicans sharpened their political knives Sunday as lawmakers return to Washington this week to begin executing legislative agendas designed to help their respective parties in the November elections.

The first major battle will likely be over restoring long-term unemployment benefits, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scheduled to hold a preliminary vote Monday on the issue.

“The first thing we want to get done is extend unemployment benefits,” he told Fox News on Sunday.

The benefits were not included in a two-year budget deal Congress reached before adjourning for winter break, but not before House Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, made clear the money will not be restored unless offset but other spending cuts.   

The White House is also applying pressure on congressional Republicans, issuing a statement on New Year’s Day that said President Obama supports the bipartisan Senate bill to reinstate benefits for the 1.3 million Americans who lost the insurance in the new budget deal.  

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