Nebraska Tax Status: Is It a Rich or Poor State?

Our friends at the Platte Institute provided us with an analysis of a recent tax study by the American Legislative Exchange Council which should give some fodder to the governor and the 14 member committee charged with reviewing and making recommendations on future tax changes.   Check it out below:

Is Nebraska a Rich State or a Poor State?

The American Legislative Exchange Council recently released its annual economic competitiveness index of the fifty states called Rich States, Poor States; and unfortunately, Nebraska appears to be trending "Poor," mostly due to our tax structure.

 

The study examines each state based upon 15 policy variables affected directly by state legislators, including the burden and progressivity of various taxes, number of public employees, right to work, and the minimum wage, among other factors.[1] In addition to ranking states according to these variables, the index looks at each state's performance in gross domestic product, absolute domestic migration, and non-farm payroll employment, in order to rank economic performance over time. Similarly, the index considers each state's rankings in the 15 policy areas to construct an economic outlook rank.[2]

 

For the 2013 index-which uses a scale of 1-50, 50 being the worst-Nebraska dropped both in economic performance and economic outlook. On economic performance, the Cornhusker State went from 20^th to 21^st. Between 2001 and 2011 Nebraska's gross domestic product showed a cumulative growth of 57.8 percent, but only a 3.5 percent cumulative growth in non-farm employment over the same period, and actually had negative domestic migration from 2002 to 2011, losing appro ximately 32,456 people.[3]

 

While the economic performance rank only dropped slightly, the economic outlook rank took more of a nosedive, dropping from 31 to 37, the lowest ranking Nebraska has ever had. Previously, Nebraska's lowest ranking was 34, reached in 2008 and 2010; 2009 saw the state's highest ranking at 29^th. This fall is likely due to Nebraska dropping at least one rank in nearly all 15 policy categories.[4] Of particular interest are the ranks of Nebraska's various taxes:

• Nebraska's income taxes, personal and corporate, were ranked at 30^th and 29^th, respectively.
• Personal income tax's progressivity ranking as the 44^th worst in the nation.
• Sales tax burden was ranked 23^rd.
• Property tax burden was ranked 34^th.

The largest rank drop was in the remaining tax burden. In 2012, Nebraska's other taxes aside from income, property, and sales were ranked 16^th in the nation; in 2013, this rank dropped to 29^th. Other measurements that brought down Nebraska's rank were the continued levying of an inheritance tax-which only six other states still have[5]-and the fact that Nebraska has 656.2 public employees for every 10,000 residents, 46^th in the country.[6] However, it should be noted that the public employee count is at least partially due to Nebraska having public utilities.

 

The study provides some regional evidence that, when compared with neighboring states, Nebraska's economic outlook is less than competitive. Of all the states, Utah was first with North Dakota in second, and rounding out the top four were two of Nebraska's neighbors: South Dakota and Wyoming. Our other neighbors also outranked us; Kansas came in at 11, Colorado at 16, Missouri at 23, and Iowa at 25.[7] It is worth noting that all of these states-with the exception of Iowa-have lower income taxes than Nebraska (South Dakota and Wyoming have no income taxes); and except for Iowa and Kansas, these states have lower sales taxes as well.[8]

 

The study also provided insight on the 11 states that adopted an income tax in the past 60 years, including Nebraska, and how the introduction of the income tax impacted economic performance. While the study did not provide Nebraska-specific numbers, it indicated that for the 5 years before the introduction of the income tax, the 11 states produced 33 percent of the nation's total GDP, contained 31 percent of the total U.S. population, and generated 27.8 percent of the total U.S. state tax revenue. When those same 11 states were evaluated on these measurements in 2011, their share of the national GDP had decreased by 10.5 percent to 22.5 percent, total share of the population had decreased by 7.9 percent to 23.1 percent, and their share of the total state tax revenue decreased 3.2 percent to be only 24.6 percent. In essence, these 11 states were better off economically without an income tax.[9]

 

While Nebraska is not quite a "poor state," it cannot be called a "rich state" either. If Nebraska wishes to reverse these negative trends of lower economic and population growth, it must begin implementing competitive tax policies to attract businesses and individuals, and lowering high taxes would be a good place to start.

-------------------------------------------------------

 

[1] Arthur Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Jonathan Williams, Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index, 6^th ed. American Legislative Exchange Council (Arlington, Virginia, 2013), Nebraska. Accessed June 5, 2013, http://www.alec.org/wp-content/uploads/Nebraska.pdf.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid; Arthur Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Jonathan Williams, Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index, 5^th ed. American Legislative Exchange Council (Arlington, Virginia, 2012), Nebraska. Accessed June 5, 2013, http://www.alec.org/docs/RSPS_5th_Edition.pdf.

[5] Julie Garber, "States With an Estate or Inheritance Tax in 2013." Accessed June 5, 2013, http://wills.about.com/od/stateestatetaxes/qt/2013-state-estate-tax-inheritance-tax.htm.

[6] Arthur Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Jonathan Williams, Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index, 6^th ed. American Legislative Exchange Council (Arlington, Virginia, 2013), Nebraska. Accessed June 5, 2013, http://www.alec.org/wp-content/uploads/Nebraska.pdf.

[7] Arthur Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Jonathan Williams, Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index, 6^th ed. American Legislative Exchange Council (Arlington, Virginia, 2013). Accessed June 5, 2013, http://alec.org/docs/RSPS-6th-Edition.

[8] Tax rates for these states comes from the Tax Foundation:
Wyoming-- http://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-climate/wyoming

South Dakota-- http://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-climate/south-dakota

Missouri-- http://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-climate/missouri

Kansas-- http://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-climate/kansas

Colorado-- http://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-climate/colorado

Iowa-- http://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-climate/iowa

Nebraska-- http://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-climate/nebraska

[9] Arthur Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Jonathan Williams, Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index, 6^th ed. American Legislative Exchange Council (Arlington, Virginia, 2013). Accessed June 5, 2013, http://alec.org/docs/RSPS-6th-Edition.

Cartoon of the Day Extra

Democrat Dream Team for 2016

Cartoon of the Day Extra

Thought for the Day

What Bathroom Do I Use? The Only One, The Transgender One

Yesterday we shared with you the story of a poor transgender who was being abused by society for not being able to use ITS desired bathroom and suggested it won't be lone before we see this happening in Omaha schools and businesses.  It won't.   Well, not if Dirty Harry Reid has his chance.   No, Dirty Harry just wants genderless bathrooms.   How nice for your little girl or boy to be in one of these with some pervert......

From Tony Perkins' Washington Update:

Reid Keeps up His ENDA the Bargain

"In the midst of so many crises, it's comforting to know that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is focused on what matters: genderless bathrooms. Unfortunately, that's just one effect of a sweeping proposal that could destroy personal freedom in the American workplace. On Flag Day, Reid saluted the rainbow flag instead of Old Glory, becoming the 50^th cosponsor of the Senate's latest Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), one of the most anti-business policies this Congress will consider.

After two decades of debate, the legislation has new legs under President Obama, who said earlier in the month that the Senate needs to get the measure "done now." Like most liberals, Harry Reid disguises the bill as an anti-discrimination policy when in fact, the bill itself discriminates against men and women who oppose cross-dressing or blatant homosexuality on the job. Although some people defend it as an innocent piece of anti-prejudice legislation, ENDA creates special employment protections solely on the basis of a person's sexual preferences. Businesses would be forced to comply (or face penalties), regardless of the impact on their organization.

"The gender identity provisions," FRC's Peter Sprigg warns in an op-ed for CNN, "undermine the right of employers to impose reasonable dress and grooming standards, by forbidding employers to use the most fundamental standard of all -- that people be dressed in a way [that's] appropriate for their biological sex!" Not too long ago, Sen. Reid's position -- which orders employers (like preschools) to hire transvestites, transsexuals, drag queens, and drag kings -- was considered "too radical" even for homosexual congressman Barney Frank!

And unlike past bills, Sen. Jeff Merkley's (D-Ore.) version doesn't include an exemption for bathrooms, which means that employers at daycares, public schools, and Christian businesses would all have to change their restroom and shower policies to accommodate men who dress like women and vice-versa. Can you imagine walking into your daughter's classroom and seeing her teacher dressed in drag -- or that same man using the ladies restroom with female students? Apparently Senate liberals can.

Apart from the bill's obvious problems, this legislation would be a magnet for lawsuits. "[W]ith the law in place, everyone who doesn't get hired or is removed for cause of any sort finds themselves with the opportunity to sue the employer under the new rules." HotAir goes on to talk about the financial drain this litigation would be on an already struggling and overregulated economy. "Dollars spent in such lawsuits and settlements are dollars not available to expand the payroll and get more workers off the unemployment lines."

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) challenged the wisdom of such a policy in a statement last week. "By and large, I think all Americans should be protected," he said, "but I'm not for any special protections based on sexual orientation." Kudos to Senator Rubio for recognizing that this bill would be just another government club to beat businesses with. It wasn't too long ago that homosexual activists said they just wanted "to get the government out of their bedroom." Now we know why: they want to put their bedroom in the workplace!

To help people understand exactly what's at stake, FRC produced an important documentary that your church, family, and friends need to see. It takes you behind the scenes of communities where laws like ENDA already exist and exposes how destructive the legislation will be, particularly to the faith community."

The Great Pretender

Thought for the Day

Gun Terrorist Children Deserve a Pardon

If you've read the earlier posts of the day it's clear that our education system is plagued by terroristic children and their guns and that any punishment, including capitol punishment, should be considered to bring these school tragedies to an end. 

Yet, in his Father's Day tweet, the President of the United States is shown in a water gun fight with his daughter.   Now how can this be?   How can the leader of the free world continence, no encourage, potential terrorists by this callous disregard of those fighting the battle in our schools to eliminate these threats?   How can this leader of the free world set such a poor example?  

Thank God for him and his daughter that they don't attend public schools (let's hope none of these dangerous weapons end up at Sidwell Friends). 

This from our friends at Cowboybyte.com.

President Obama and his daughter play with toy guns

"Wishing Americans a happy Father’s Day, the White House tweeted a picture of President Obama and one of his daughters playing with toy water pistols.

The Tweet comes at a time when several schools around the country—fearful that such toys make kids more prone to violent behavior—have launched trade-in programs that encourage children to exchange their harmless toy guns for chances to win prizes, like books and bicycles.

 

One such trade-in took place last weekend at Strobridge Elementary in California. Principal Chris Hill, who organized the event, explained that toy guns desensitize kids toward gun violence."

The Non Compos Mentis Education System Sending Your Kid to Jail for Wearing an N.R.A. T-shirt

Here is yet another gun crime against the educational establishment that will probably be under-penalized since it obviously involves yet another terrorist threat against humanity.  Again, why not capitol punishment?

We've shared this courtesy of Breitbart in the past and here is an update on that 8th grader who faces fines and jail time for wearing that dangerous N.R.A. shirt to school.  And, the worst part of the crime is that the poor kid wouldn't quit talking, thus obstructing law officers.......

There's nothing more that intelligent persons can opine.....

"In April Breitbart News reported that West Virginia 8th grader Jared Marcum was suspended for refusing to take off an NRA t-shirt he wore to school. And details now indicate the 8th grader could face a $500 fine and up to a year in jail for obstruction charges.

Fox News reports that on June 13 Marcum appeared before a judge "and was officially charged with obstructing an officer." Moreover, the judge has allowed "the prosecution to move forward" with its case against Marcum. 

Logan City Police officer James Adkins says that Marcum refused to quit talking when asked to remove the shirt. The officer said this hindered his ability to do his job. 

Marcum's father remains confident and stands by his son: "Me, I'm more of a fighter and so is Jared and eventually we're going to get through this. I don't think it should have ever gone this far."

Marcum has to appear in court again on July 11 if his attorney can't get the charges dismissed before then."

Another Bright Example Of American Education

Talking about our education system, if this is an example of the intelligence of those we are educating, at least those aspiring Miss USA's, we're really in trouble.

This, again, from our friends at the Daily Caller:

"Each year during the Miss USA pageant, 50 toned, tanned and hairsprayed beauty queen contestants are given questions about global crises, and America is made dumber by having heard their answers.
One contestant usually screws up her interview so badly that it it deserves to be watched several times.

This year, it was Miss Utah  who could not answer a question posed to her by “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star NeNe Leakes, who is somehow qualified to judge the answers about society’s biggest problems.

Leakes asked Marissa Powell what it means for society that 40 percent of women are now primary breadwinners, but earn less than men. “World peace” would have made better sense than “we need to try to figure out how to make education better.”

Although Powell’s answer was hilariously nonsensical, she still landed in the top five."

Your Non Compos Mentis Education System

We've written about it recently, but here is an update on the criminal five year old terrorist who brought a cap gun to school.   Apparently, the school won't expunge this criminal deed from this five year old's record.   Frankly, we are surprised that given the mentality of this nonsense that the kid hasn't been charged with a capitol crime and facing the death penalty.   Thank God he didn't have it loaded with caps (see the article below from The Daily Caller).

Suspension won’t be removed for five-year-old grilled over cap gun who then peed his pants By Eric Owens

"School officials in Calvert County, Maryland have denied a request to expunge the suspension of the kindergartener who brought a plastic cap gun on a school bus last month and then wet his pants during a subsequent interrogation.

The refusal came in the form of a letter dated Friday, reports The Washington Post. The letter stated that the five-year-old “did bring a cap gun in his book bag.” It also charged that some other children were frightened and told school officials that they couldn’t discern if the orange-tipped cowboy-style gun was real or fake.

The unidentified kindergartener had brought the toy gun in his backpack because his friend had brought a water gun the previous day. He later told his mother that he “really, really” wanted his friend to see it. (RELATED: Kindergartener interrogated over cap gun until he pees his pants)
School officials at Dowell Elementary School in the town of Lusby proceeded to question the five-year-old for over two hours before finally calling his mother at 10:50 a.m. By that time, he had wet his pants (which the mother called highly unusual).

The Post notes that the principal — Jennifer L. Young, according to Dowell Elementary’s website — told the boy’s mother that things would have been even worse had the toy gun been loaded with caps. In that case, the school would have regarded the plaything as an explosive and called the police.

The original suspension handed down May 29 was for 10 days. After a disciplinary conference and the intervention of local attorney Robin Ficker, the suspension was reduced to three days.

School officials considered — and denied — the request to eradicate the punishment separately.
The boy’s mother (an otherwise unidentified teacher in Calvert County) expressed frustration that a seemingly serious offense for a look-alike gun will now be part of her son’s permanent record.
“I’m disappointed that we can’t bring an end to this,” she told The Post.

“Why would you do that to a five-year-old who brought an obvious toy?” the teacher added
It’s not clear how long the punishment will now remain a part of the five-year-old boy’s permanent record.

Ficker said the family will now appeal the request to expunge the suspension to the Board of Education of Calvert County.

School district officials had no comment about the decision.

The entire country has seen an epidemic of anti-gun hysteria in school settings involving things that somehow resemble guns but aren’t actually real guns. However, the state of Maryland seems to be some sort of epicenter for the phenomenon.

Last week, Anne Arundel County school district officials denied an eerily similar appeal to have Baltimore-area second-grader Joshua Welch’s suspension expunged. Welch is the eight-year-old kid who was suspended for two days in March because his teacher thought he shaped a breakfast pastry into something resembling a gun. (RELATED: Suspension over gun-shaped toaster pastry is now permanent mark on kid’s record)

Earlier this year, a six-year-old boy at Roscoe R. Nix Elementary School in Silver Spring, Maryland was suspended for making the universal kid sign for a gun, pointing at another student and saying “pow.” That boy’s suspension was later lifted and his name cleared. (RELATED: Pow! You’re suspended, kid)

A Maryland state senator introduced a bill designed to curb the zeal of public school officials who are tempted to suspend students in these cases. ”The Reasonable School Discipline Act of 2013,” which was authored by Republican Sen. J. B. Jennings, apparently went nowhere in the legislature. (RELATED: ‘Toaster Pastry Gun Freedom Act” proposed in Maryland)"

Coming Soon To Omaha Schools And Nebraska Courts: What Bathroom Should I Use?

With Omaha's LGBT ordinance it's only a short time before someone will sue a school district or business with this insane stuff.   It will cost you the taxpayers millions.
This from our friends at the Daily Caller

Which bathroom should transgendered students use?

Posted By Robby Soave

"Maine’s highest court will soon decide which restroom Nicole Maines, a 15-year-old transgendered student, should use.

Last week the state supreme court heard oral arguments about whether a school district violated her civil rights when it forbid her from using the girl’s restroom. She was in fifth grade at the time.

Maines is biologically male but has identified as female since she was very young. As such, she wished to use the girl’s restroom. State law, however, mandates that boys and girls use separate facilities. Her school told her to use the staff restroom instead.
These requirements violate the Maine Human Rights Act, which bars gender discrimination in schools, claim the Maines family and their supporters, including the Maine Human Rights Commission and various LGBT groups.

“At the core of this case is whether the promise of equal educational opportunities for transgender students is realized,” said Jennifer Levi, director of the Transgender Rights Project for the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, in a statement.

Maines said that she felt singled out and embarrassed because of the restroom policy.
“I hope they understood how important it is for students to be able to go to school and get an education and have fun and make friends, and not have to worry about being bullied by students or administration, and be accepted for who they are,” she said in a statement.

Maines enjoys the full support of her family, including her twin brother, who is not transgendered.

Her father was hopeful that the court would side with them.

“It has been extremely difficult, but I’m pleased to be here and to have our case heard, and I’m very hopeful for a good outcome,” said Wayne Maines in a statement.

The state supreme court is the next step for the Maines family, who lost in superior court earlier this year. The court sided with district administrators, who maintain that they are only upholding state law. To properly resolve the restroom issue for trangendered students, legislative action is required, they argued.

Reconciling transgendered students with school policies has become a thorny issue as of late. The family of a transgendered first-grader in Colorado is also suing the school district over restroom usage."

Guess who is Behind ‘Conservative’ Radio and TV Ads? -- Doug Patton

You’ve seen them on television and heard them on the radio, those commercials boasting that “conservatives” like Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan are working to make sure we have a tough, enforceable immigration system that closes our borders and makes all those illegals go to the back of the line to await possible future citizenship. Well, here is my solemn pledge to you: if you believe that, then I want to sell you an iconic old bridge in New York City that connects Brooklyn to Manhattan. If you’re interested, I can make you a really good deal on it.

 

Rubio, by far the most disappointing member of the so-called Gang of Eight, is also either the most naïve man in the United States Senate or the most duplicitous. Recently, on the Spanish-language Univision TV network he bragged about his obvious sell-out to the illegal immigration lobby. Perhaps the senator thought that because the interview was in Spanish, it somehow wouldn’t make its way into the hands of a translator who actually cares about an issue as important as the invasion of our country by tens of millions of lawbreakers. In any case, Rubio brazenly admitted to an illegal alien-friendly audience that border security will, in fact, take a back seat to legalization and, ultimately, citizenship.

 

“Let’s be clear,” the senator stated. “Nobody is talking about preventing legalization. The legalization is going to happen. That means the following will happen: First comes legalization. Then come the measures to secure the border. And then comes the process of permanent residence.”

 

So who is feeding us these lies using Rubio and Ryan to scam conservatives? They are paid for by a group known as Americans for a Conservative Direction. Sounds good, right? Sounds like the kind of organization we should want to support. Don’t bet the farm on it.

 

It turns out that this group is being financed by none other than billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg a conservative? David Horowitz — an ardent communist turned conservative and a man who knows one when he sees one — has called Zuckerberg an “uber-leftist” and Americans for a Conservative Direction an “Orwellian front group” filled with “Arlen Specter Republicans.”

 

A series of opinion pieces published on left-wing websites have criticized Zuckerberg for supporting such stalwart “conservative Republicans” as Lindsay Graham and Chris Christie. I guess this qualifies Zuckerberg for a lifetime membership in the Heritage Foundation.

 

In a recent column, Horowitz described how Zuckerberg’s group published the results of a push-poll showing 71 percent of voters — and 74 percent of conservative Republicans! — support the senate bill. Here is how the poll question is worded:

 

“As you may have heard, there is a proposal facing Congress to reform the nation’s immigration laws. This proposal would establish a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants presently in the country, as long as they pass a criminal background check, pay a fine and back taxes, learn English, and wait at least 13 years. The plan would also allow more high-skilled immigrants into the country in technology, science and engineering fields and create a guest worker program to address labor shortages in industries like agriculture and construction. Finally, the plan would require a series of increased border security measures before anyone here illegally can apply for citizenship — including greater enforcement, extended fencing along the border, and a requirement that all employers verify the legal status of individuals before hiring them. Do you support or oppose this proposal?”

 

I’m still taking bids on that bridge.

______________________________________________________________________________

 

© 2013 by Doug Patton

______________________________________________________________________________

 

Doug Patton describes himself as a recovering political speechwriter who agrees with himself more often than not. His weekly columns are syndicated by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Readers are encouraged to email him at dpatton@cagle.com and/or to follow him on Twitter at @Doug_Patton.

Cartoon of the Day

Thought for the Day

Fighting for the First Amendment

We simply don't hear enough from the religious community about what is happening to its and our First Amendment protection under today's government.   Accordingly, it's refreshing to hear any member of the clergy have the intestinal fortitude to take on this administration's efforts to further diminish that freedom while it promotes its own modern day view of morality, a morality that is simply humanism, a philosophy that says virtually everything you want to do is okay.   It's particularly refreshing to see a Catholic bishop speak up so we were happy to read that Philadelphia Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput is speaking out on where President Obama and his administration is taking us while casting aside the tenets of his and most religions:

This from our friends at Cowboybyte.com:

Catholic Archbishop: Wake Up! Religious Liberty at Risk in USA

"Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is calling on Americans to wake up and recognize that the Founding Fathers’ vision of religious freedom is now threatened by the federal government.

“The day when Americans could take the Founders’ understanding of religious freedom as a given is over,” said the archbishop. “We need to wake up.”

Chaput, who leads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, pointed to Obamacare’s sterilization-contraception-abortifacient regulation as one example. The regulation, issued by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, requires almost all health-care plans in the United States to provide coverage for sterilizations, artificial contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs to all women of reproductive age–even if the person or employer providing the insurance coverage and even if the female beneficiaries themselves do not want the coverage and believe it is morally wrong and violates their religious beliefs."

Thought of the Day

Problem Solved

CWS Strikes Out!!

As our team of contributors contemplated the upcoming days of the College World Series (CWS) and looking down on the field and the plebes from our luxury skybox where we could imbibe alcoholic beverages denied those lesser humans in the lower deck, we were about to write some commentary about how the CWS had made real improvements regarding weather safety for those fans, particularly those lesser souls exposed to the elements below. 

 We were aware of a meeting that took place on Wednesday between the CWS and ESPN officials to iron out the protocol on dealing with bad weather and saw that as a real positive.   In fact, the cancelling of the 2012 opening night festivities because of the likelihood of server weather had given us hope that things had changed since 2011 when the callous disregard of CWS and ESPN put players and fans at potential risk of life because of their failure to warn of incoming severe weather.   In fact, that disregard had players going up to bat while tornado sirens blared and lightening flashed!  While no one was injured, Omaha must certainly have looked like a bunch of incautious ignorant fools to a national television audience.

But back to 2013, we were, as we inferred above, about to at least acknowledge improvements in the way the CWS and ESPN handled weather issues.  They even announced earlier in the evening that they had plans to appropriately advise fans of potential weather conditions with needed actions.  Perhaps, given the devastating events in Missouri and Oklahoma over the last few years they had learned.  Not so.

Last night’s CWS introductions of teams and festivities were to begin at 8:30.   We knew something was amiss when they started at about 8:10 without any explanation.    And it was shortly after that that one of our team members received a call that 70 mile per hour winds were approaching the city, a severe thunderstorm.   That personal warning came about 30 minutes before the storm with strong winds and a rain deluge struck, but no warning came from the stadium announcer until about 8:25 when fans and players were told a severe thunderstorm warning had been issued and that that was the reason for the ‘stepped up’ pace of the program.   The announcer indicated that if the storm approached closer folks would be asked to move from their seats to the covered concourse of the stadium.

Approximately 15 minutes after that first announcement fans were advised to move to the concourse level and all of a sudden there were radar images on the scoreboard.  Lots of fans with cars and hotels close did get to safety before the storm with its wind, lightening and downpour began.   Some ended up in the building waiting for the storm to reside or perhaps for the fireworks show which finally took place at 10:15.

While CWS (ESPN wouldn’t be involved given there was no game) will probably claim how well they handled this weather event and even some media the fact remains that the total failure of disclosure until the last few minutes imperiled the lives of thousands of fans and players.   As with prior weather events, warnings had been issued and never conveyed to fans until much too late to guarantee their ability to make sound personal decisions for themselves.   Folks at home watching television or those listening to the radio had considerable more notice just as should those at the ballpark but CWS once again chose to ignore doing the right thing which would have been to acknowledge the impending weather conditions publicly.   Instead, without explanation, the CWS chose to go on with the show, starting early and accelerating the pace while providing no explanation. 

Fans should be made aware of any weather warnings issued during CWS or any major event.  They should be allowed to make rational decisions for themselves as whether to stay or leave for presumed safer environments.   A proper notification would cause no less panic than one that comes with the virtual onslaught which seems to remain the only modus operandi of the CWS. 

The CWS failed its fans, its players, its citizens and its image last night.   It once again chose to go on with the show without adequate notification.   This arrogant, self-serving attitude will someday result in death and injury.  

Given the inability of the CWS to respond we once again call on Nebraska’s legislature to require proper storm notification for any large outdoor events.  Sadly, when those responsible for the lives of so many fail to do their job it’s time for the state to intervene.

President Obama Wants You to Trust Big Government: Schlafly Says "No"

We thought we'd share Phyliss Schlafly's take on the president's 'transformation' of our government.   As usual, she is right on:

Big Brother Obama Is Watching

6/11/2013 11:24:00 AM - Phyllis Schlafly

 

"It has become evident that Barack Obama's definition of "fundamentally transforming the United States" includes Big Brother harassing selected conservatives while monitoring everybody's email and telephone traffic. These seem to be among the surprising duties of the Internal Revenue Service and the National Security Agency (NSA), respectively.

It's clear that the IRS has been unfairly targeting and mistreating more than 500 conservative organizations, especially if they use such words as "tea party," "liberty" or "patriotic" on their tax returns or tax-exempt applications. IRS then bogs them down with years of delays and demands for nosy and unnecessary information.

A House Ways and Means Committee hearing on June 4 exposed some of the IRS's obnoxious behavior. The representative of an Iowa anti-abortion organization applying for tax-exempt status said the IRS asked her about the content of her organization's prayers.

Sue Martinek of Coalition for Life of Iowa testified that the IRS asked every board member to sign a letter pledging in writing that they would not picket Planned Parenthood.

John Eastman, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage, said that the IRS leaked the organization's list of its best donors (a page in the tax return titled "not for public inspection"). The list was then published on the website of the Human Rights Campaign, a pro-gay organization which is the victim organization's "principal political opponent" on the marriage issue.

It's clear that the leak came directly from the IRS because the leaked page showed "internal IRS stamps," which exist only within the IRS. In another example, Karen Kinney, representing the San Fernando Valley Patriots, said the IRS gave her only 20 days to answer 35 items divided into 80 "sub-points of inquiry."

Lois Lerner, head of the IRS unit on tax-exempt organizations, took the Fifth Amendment when the House Committee tried to interrogate her.

Cleta Mitchell, a preeminent expert on political tax law, is representing nine conservative organizations that have been subjected to unusual delays and unlawful demands for confidential information. One of her clients has been waiting for approval of its nonprofit status since 2009.

Another serious problem is the wholesale stealing of U.S. military and industrial secrets and intellectual property by organized cyber hackers operating from China, Russia and India. But Obama was too scared to challenge China's president at their meeting last week.

Obama ended his recent meeting with China's President Xi Jinping with a secret session (no notetakers present). That's dangerous! How do we know Obama didn't promise future concessions like he did to the Russians (when he didn't realize the mic was live) during his last meeting with Putin's representative?

As to the snooping by the Obama administration of Americans' Internet usage and calling patterns, at least NSA employees have taken an oath of loyalty to the United States of America, but we do not have that assurance about the employees of the giant computer companies that are playing ball with the NSA to gather this nosy information about Americans. The big companies have hired thousands of foreigners to do their computer work and successfully pressured the Gang of Eight to include in their amnesty legislation provisions to greatly increase the number of college-educated foreigners they can import.

Obama says that judges on the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (known as the FISA Court) approved the current NSA surveillance activities. In 2012, out of 1,856 applications for warrants, this court rejected zero, which sounds like FISA just rubber-stamps what the administration wants.

Obama said, "If people can't trust" the government officials responsible for the NSA snooping, "we're going to have some problems." At least the president got that right; we do have problems, both about the personal information our security agencies are collecting and about information not discovered about real terrorists.

The Obama sycophants are trying to spin the narrative that this Big Brotherism is for the purpose of locating potential terrorists (even though Obama already proclaimed the "end" of the war on terrorism). But with all this massive effort, why wasn't the Obama network able to screen out the family of the Boston Marathon bombers despite many obvious clues?

It tells us a lot about the Obama administration when we compare the administration's gathering of Internet and phone records of hundreds of millions of Americans with the fact that it was incapable of doing a competent background check on Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev either before or after his trip to Russia, even after being alerted by the Russians that he was dangerous.

Nor could the Obama administration figure out the mortal danger from the killer Major Nidal Hasan even after he put "Soldier of Allah" on his business card and gave a PowerPoint presentation to his military friends on what he wanted to do to infidels."

Photo of the Day

Photo of the Day

Beware of Whom and Where You Give Your Money

There are plenty of reasons to be suspicious of PACs (Political action committees) that ask for money.   There is also reason to be a little suspect of lots of things that Newt Gingrich is involved with.   When you put those two thoughts together you apparently come up with The American Legacy PAC which as reported below by Roll Call's Money Line you get a PAC that has raised $1.2 million and spent only $10,000 on real candidates....

PAC Raises and Spends $1.2 Million, Gives $10,000 to Candidates

by Kent Cooper

 

"There isn’t much of a legacy nor political action after telemarketers spend a million dollars to raise a million dollars — but that has never before stopped Newt Gingrich.

And it hasn’t stopped the vendors who collect their fees and all the fundraising intelligence and donor data they can.

The American Legacy PAC reported today it raised $1,215,875 and spent $1,201,980 from Jan. 1 to June 5, leaving $74,125 cash on hand. The PAC is run by Mike Murray, and its co-founders and co-chairs are Newt and Callista Gingrich.

The PAC paid $1,130,165 to Infocision of Akron, Ohio, for telemarketing; $20,517 to Bank of America for merchant fees; $14,579 to TMA Direct for rent/admin support/phone; among others. Mike Murray is president and CEO of TMA Direct, a company that provides list brokerage, list management, digital marketing, and data services.

The PAC gave $5,000 on May 28 to Gabriel Gomez for Senate and $5,000 on May 28 to Cuccinelli for Governor."

Who Is Ben Sasse (Part 2)

It appears that Ben Sasse is a lock to run for the U.S. Senate.   Very few people seem to have the slightest idea who he is and he will have a difficult time competing against relatively well-known folks like G.O.P. former state treasurer Shane Osborn and Pete Ricketts if he gets into the U.S. Senate race as we expect he well later in the summer (you heard it here first!).   In the interim Sasse is taking his 'listening tour' of the state to bide his time as he completes some of his obligations for his position at Midland College.

The following was published in The Weekly Standard June 17th edition and authored by Mark Hemingway.

A Virtuoso Pol from Nebraska?

Ben Sasse eyes the open Senate seat.  Fremont, Nebr. Ask Midland University’s Ben Sasse if he’s going to run for Nebraska’s open Senate seat next year, and he’s quick to insist that he hasn’t committed to anything. But within hours of Representative Jeff Fortenberry’s May 29 announcement that he would not be pursuing the seat, Sasse had a video up on Facebook announcing he was going to embark on a 45-day listening tour across the state—"from Benkelman to Beatrice"—with his wife and three young children in tow before making a decision. That kind of timing suggests a level of planning and preparation that belies Sasse’s feints at ambivalence.

He may be playing coy about the future, but when asked about his experience during the last three years as president of a small Midwestern liberal arts college 35 miles northwest of Omaha, Sasse says "I love my day job" with convincing enthusiasm. He grew up just a few miles from Midland. His grandfather was the CFO of Midland and worked there for 33 years, and his parents met at the college. He owns cemetery plots in a nearby hilltop graveyard, adjacent to the Lutheran church where his grandfather carved the altarpiece and he and his family attend every Sunday. "We’ve wanted to be in Nebraska and raise our kids in Nebraska," he says.

Being president of the college in his hometown agrees with Sasse, but his résumé suggests no shortage of ambition. He studied at Harvard, Oxford, and St. John’s, then earned a Ph.D. from Yale. His dissertation won the Theron Rockwell Field and the George Washington Egleston Prizes. The dissertation is a treasure trove of forgotten history relating to the populist backlash surrounding the Supreme Court’s school prayer decisions in the 1960s. More broadly, it’s a sophisticated and brilliant dissection of how a lot of the standard liberal narratives about American political realignment in the last 50 years are woefully incomplete at best and self-serving fictions to attack religious conservatives at worst. Given his academic background, it’s not surprising that Sasse has taught history and politics at Yale and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.

But somehow Sasse segued from a strictly academic focus to work in business consulting, at the Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey and Company. Sasse soon discovered he had a knack for crisis management and turnaround projects. That, in turn, led him into government. Shortly after 9/11 Sasse ended up as chief of staff for the Office of Legal Policy, a sort of internal think tank at the Department of Justice, where he worked on improving coordination between intelligence agencies. From there, he did a stint as chief of staff for his congressman, the aforementioned Fortenberry. In 2007, he was appointed by President Bush and confirmed by a Democratic Senate as assistant secretary of health and human services, where he worked on strategic initiatives to rein in entitlement spending and modernize health care. Sasse’s health care expertise is considerable, and he has written a number of high profile op-eds criticizing Obamacare.

Looked at in the context of Sasse’s broader résumé, the return home to small-town Nebraska to become president of a college that most people have never heard of may seem like a letdown. In actuality, it might be Sasse’s crowning achievement. When Sasse was appointed president of Midland three years ago, he was just 37 years old—making him one of the youngest college presidents in the country. At the time, Midland was in dire straits and contemplating bankruptcy. Sasse turned out to be a prodigious crisis manager. In the last three years, Midland’s enrollment has gone from 590 students to 1,100. It’s not much of an overstatement to say that in the process of turning Midland around, Sasse reinvented the higher education wheel. Oddly enough, his vision for reforming higher ed grew out of his experience trying to fix America’s dysfunctional health care system.

"The only sector that even compares with higher ed for being broken is health care. Think about how similar they are. They’re both dominated by third-party payment, and that third party is mostly public funders that don’t know how to hold anybody accountable for outcomes. The institutions exist primarily for the good of their own workers, not their own customers—students or patients. Quality is hard to measure, but to the degree you can measure, you have to measure things that are team outcomes, not solo, virtuoso outcomes," he says.

"We pretend in health care that there’s one rock star doctor who’s changing a patient’s life, when the vast majority of what’s wrong with most patients is that there’s nobody available to coordinate their care across dozens of medical professionals engaged in their life," he goes on. "The exact same thing is involved in a college enterprise with trying to educate a kid. The rock star, solo, virtuoso lecturer? I love ’em. But the vast majority of what changes a kid’s life is accountability across all of his or her classes, across all four years, where they start to do their own reading, writing, and learn to make an oral presentation, and where there’s more rigor and accountability demanded of them."

And Sasse is serious about accountability measures. After some careful maneuvering, he’s almost completely eliminated tenure at the school in favor of "term tenure," which ensures regular and meaningful evaluations of instructors. As for students, he’s imposed a "three strikes" rule involving "high frequency, low-stakes" quizzes used to measure whether or not students are doing the work in each class. "One strike is between you and the professor, two strikes you have to meet with the vice-president for academic affairs, and three strikes you get kicked out of the class," Sasse says. "It’s harder to graduate on time, costs you money, and it embarrasses you. Our kids are engaging in classes so much more than they did two years ago."

He also took an unusual but effective approach to creating a culture that encourages students to pursue excellence in the classroom—encouraging them to pursue excellence outside of the classroom.

"Most schools when they get in [financial trouble] cut all their extracurricular budget. We’ve doubled down on it," Sasse says. He sees high levels of student participation in sports and extracurriculars as a way to avoid cultivating more liberal academic attitudes that would devalue achievement. There was a 20-person choir when Sasse arrived at Midland. Now 250 students are involved in a wide-ranging performing arts program.

"We’re going from 18 to 27 sports," Sasse continues, "and have added 13 levels of JV competition, because these are the places where lives are changed. You see real success and real failure. It’s not just social promotion and therapy. The average kid who’s playing second-string linebacker on Midland’s football team, you think he’s contributing in the class the same way he is if we didn’t have football? No way. The football coach is the accountability in his life. His teammates and not letting them down are the accountability in his life. If he wasn’t taking remedial math seriously on his own, he’s likely to take it seriously now."

The school just added a shooting team—Midland’s new coach is Bret Erickson, six-time national trap shooting champion and the 2012 Olympic team coach—and Sasse has announced the formation of men’s and women’s hockey teams in the fall of 2014. The school’s athletic director is Dave Gillespie, a former University of Nebraska running back who spent many years with Nebraska’s hallowed football program.

The end result is that Midland has the best of all worlds. The school has adopted efficiency and accountability measures from business and has something approaching the variety of extracurricular options you would find at Big State U. Yet it retains the kind of close-knit community you would expect at a small liberal arts college. The sticker price on a year of education at Midland is $33,000 including room and board (Midland is expanding its on-campus living requirement from two to three years). That’s positively thrifty by private college standards, but the average Midland student pays only about half of it out of pocket, largely thanks to the school’s generous scholarship program. To support it, Sasse spends much of his time fundraising around the state—experience that, not coincidentally, has positioned him well to raise money for a Senate run.

Asked why he wants to run for the Senate, Sasse has an answer at the ready that makes him sound almost like a politician. "[We need] to tell the truth about entitlements and figure out how you create an opportunity society that has citizens, neighbors, communities, businesses building the future . . . as opposed to the dependency-expansion culture we’re living through in Washington right now," he says.

"The greatness of America is the greatness of the American people," he continues, "not the greatness of centralized bureaucracies in Washington, D.C. Why is Washington, D.C., a boomtown when the rest of the country has economic despair? Why are housing prices going up in D.C. when everywhere else in the world they’ve had a horrible five years? The federal government ain’t feeling the pain. They just keep on growing."

If Sasse’s nonexistent-bordering-on-nascent campaign has a theme, it’s protecting "Nebraska values" from Washington. When it comes to touting his educational accomplishments, Sasse realizes his own criticism of "rock-star virtuosos" might be made of him. To the extent he’s been able to carry out his vision, he insists it’s because the community surrounding Midland dug deep financially and otherwise to support the school.

Considering Sasse’s reputation as a hyperachiever, some might dismiss this as faux humility. But it’s also true that Fremont, Nebraska, feels at times like the backdrop in a Frank Capra movie. The town has roughly five times the number of churches as coffee shops. Students at Midland attend the football game on weekends, and after the game they walk across the street to sit in vinyl booths at the Nifty Fifties diner and order slices of pie out of a rotating display case.

In the meantime, Sasse isn’t just preparing for his "listening tour." He’s keeping his options open, as demonstrated by the fact he’s attempting to rescue yet another college. Just down the road in Blair, Nebraska, is Dana College, another small Lutheran liberal arts college that shut its doors three years ago, leaving $80 million worth of buildings empty. Sasse led a group of investors that bought it out of bankruptcy for a song. He likes to drive visitors up to the 150 acres overlooking the Missouri River valley in his pickup truck and lay out his plans for the place. If all goes well, Dana College will share the same administrative infrastructure as Midland and reopen its doors in the next few years.

Sasse may also have to contend with a competitive GOP primary: Former Nebraska state treasurer Shane Osborn has already announced he’s running for the Senate, and there’s talk of other candidates emerging. Still, Sasse remains undaunted. He’s only 41, and he’s already been successful at high levels of business, government, and academia. If Sasse does decide to run for the Senate, at this point in his life he’s got a lot to offer and not much to lose.  Mark Hemingway is a senior writer at The Weekly Standard.

Flag Day

We thought we'd share with you a little information about Flag Day--even if it comes from Wikipedia:

In the United States, Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.^[1] The United States Army also celebrates the Army Birthday on this date; Congress adopted "the American continental army" after reaching a consensus position in the Committee of the Whole on June 14, 1775.^[2][3]
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

Flag Day is not an official federal holiday. Title 36 of the United States Code, Subtitle I, Part A, CHAPTER 1, § 110^[4] is the official statute on Flag Day; however, it is at the President's discretion to officially proclaim the observance. On June 14, 1937, Pennsylvania became the first (and only) U.S. state to celebrate Flag Day as a state holiday, beginning in the town of Rennerdale.^[1] New York Statutes designate the second Sunday in June as Flag Day. ^[5]

Perhaps the oldest continuing Flag Day parade is at Fairfield, Washington.^[6] Beginning in 1909 or 1910, Fairfield has held a parade every year since, with the possible exception of 1918, and celebrated the "Centennial" parade in 2010, along with some other commemorative events.

One of the longest-running Flag Day parades is held annually in Quincy, Massachusetts, which began in 1952, celebrating its 59th year in 2010.^[7] The 59th Annual Appleton Wisconsin 2009 Flag Day Parade featured the U.S. Navy. The largest Flag Day parade is held annually in Troy, New York, which bases its parade on the Quincy parade and typically draws 50,000 spectators.<sup>[1][8]

HISTORY</sup>

Several people and/or organizations played instrumental roles in the establishment of a national Flag Day celebration. They are identified here in chronological order.

1861, George Morris[edit]

The earliest reference to the suggestion of a "Flag Day" is cited in Kansas: a Cyclopedia of State History, published by Standard Publishing Company of Chicago in 1912. It credits George Morris of Hartford, Connecticut:

To George Morris of Hartford, Conn., is popularly given the credit of suggesting "Flag Day," the occasion being in honor of the adoption of the American flag on June 14, 1777. The city of Hartford observed the day in 1861, carrying out a program of a patriotic order, praying for the success of the Federal arms and the preservation of the Union.

The observance apparently did not become a tradition.^[1]

1885, Bernard J. Cigrand

Working as a grade school teacher in Waubeka, Wisconsin, in 1885, Bernard J. Cigrand held the first recognized formal observance of Flag Day at the Stony Hill School. The school has been restored, and a bust of Cigrand also honors him at the National Flag Day Americanism Center in Waubeka.^[9]
From the late 1880s on, Cigrand spoke around the country promoting patriotism, respect for the flag, and the need for the annual observance of a flag day on June 14, the day in 1777 that the Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes.^[1][10]

He moved to Chicago to attend dental school and, in June 1886, first publicly proposed an annual observance of the birth of the United States flag in an article titled "The Fourteenth of June," published in the Chicago Argus newspaper. In June 1888, Cigrand advocated establishing the holiday in a speech before the "Sons of America," a Chicago group. The organization founded a magazine, American Standard, in order to promote reverence for American emblems. Cigrand was appointed editor-in-chief and wrote articles in the magazine as well as in other magazines and newspapers to promote the holiday.

On the third Saturday in June 1894, a public school children’s celebration of Flag Day took place in Chicago at Douglas, Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks. More than 300,000 children participated, and the celebration was repeated the next year.^[10]

Cigrand became president of the American Flag Day Association and later of the National Flag Day Society, which allowed him to promote his cause with organizational backing. Cigrand once noted he had given 2,188 speeches on patriotism and the flag.

Cigrand lived in Batavia, Illinois, from 1913–1932.^[11]

Cigrand generally is credited with being the "Father of Flag Day," with the Chicago Tribune noting that he "almost singlehandedly" established the holiday.

1888, William T. Kerr[edit]

William T. Kerr, a resident of Collier Township, Pennsylvania, for a number of years, founded the American Flag Day Association of Western Pennsylvania in 1888, and became that organization's national chairman one year later, serving as such for fifty years. He attended President Harry S. Truman's 1949 signing of the Act of Congress that formally established the observance.

1889, George Bolch[edit]

In 1889, the principal of a free kindergarten, George Bolch, celebrated the Revolution and celebrated Flag Day, as well.^[1][12]

1893, Elizabeth Duane Gillespie[edit]

In 1893, Elizabeth Duane Gillespie, a descendant of Benjamin Franklin and the president of the Colonial Dames of Pennsylvania, attempted to have a resolution passed requiring the American flag to be displayed on all Philadelphia's public buildings. This is why some credit Philadelphia as Flag Day's original home.^[1] In 1937, Pennsylvania became the first state to make Flag Day a legal holiday.^[12]

The Elizabeth Duane Gillespie Junior High School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.^[13]

1907, BPOE[edit]

American fraternal order and social club the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks has celebrated the holiday since the early days of the organization and allegiance to the flag is a requirement of every member.^[14] In 1907, the BPOE Grand Lodge designated by resolution June 14 as Flag Day. The Grand Lodge of the Order adopted mandatory observance of the occasion by every Lodge in 1911, and that requirement continues.^[14]

The Elks prompted President Woodrow Wilson to recognize the Order's observance of Flag Day for its patriotic expression.^[14]

1908, Theodore Roosevelt[edit]

Oral tradition passed on through multiple generations holds that on June 14, Theodore Roosevelt was dining outside Philadelphia, when he noticed a man wiping his nose with what he thought was the American Flag. In outrage, Roosevelt picked up a small wooden rod and began to whip the man for "defacing the symbol of America." After about five or six strong whacks, he noticed that the man was not wiping his nose with a flag, but with a blue handkerchief with white stars. Upon realization of this, he apologized to the man, but hit him once more for making him "riled up with national pride."^[15]

1913, City of Paterson, New Jersey[edit]

During the 1913 Paterson silk strike, IWW leader “Big” Bill Haywood asserted that someday all of the world's flags would be red, “the color of the working man's blood.” In response, the city's leaders (who opposed the strike) declared March 17 to be “Flag Day,” and saw to it that each of the city's textile mills flew an American flag. This attempt by Paterson's leaders to portray the strikers as un-American backfired when the strikers marched through the city with American flags of their own, along with a banner that stated:^[16]

“

WE WEAVE THE FLAG WE LIVE UNDER THE FLAG WE DIE UNDER THE FLAG BUT DAM'D IF WE'LL STARVE UNDER THE FLAG.

”

OBSERVANCE OF FLAG DAY

The week of June 14 is designated as "National Flag Week." During National Flag Week, the president will issue a proclamation urging U.S. citizens to fly the American flag for the duration of that week. The flag should also be displayed on all government buildings. Some organizations hold parades and events in celebration of America's national flag and everything it represents. Other organizations and tribal groups hold counter-celebrations and protests.^{[citation needed]}
The National Flag Day Foundation holds an annual observance for Flag Day on the second Sunday in June. The program includes a ceremonial raising of the flag, recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, singing of the national anthem, a parade and more. ^[1]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Gammage, Jeff (2008-06-14). "Flag Day loses importance but lives on in Phila". Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2008-06-20. Retrieved 2008-06-14. 
2. ^ Wright, Jr., Robert K. (1983). THE CONTINENTAL ARMY. WASHINGTON, D. C.: CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, UNITED STATES ARMY. ISBN UA25.W84 1983 355.3'0973 82-16472 Check |isbn= value (help). 
3. ^ "June 14th: The Birthday of the U.S. Army". US Army History. U.S. ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY. Retrieved 14 June 2011. 
4. ^ 36 U.S.C. § 110
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ Fairfield Flag Day
7. ^ http://www.quincyma.gov/
8. ^ troyny.org
9. ^ Brown, James. The Real Bernard J. Cigrand: The Father of Flag Day. Fredonia, Wisconsin.
10. ^ ^{a b} Web page titled "Bernard J. CiGrand" at the National Flag Day Foundation website, retrieved May 8, 2008
11. ^ Robinson, Marilyn, and Jeffery D. Schielke. John Gustafson's Historic Batavia. Batavia, Ill.: Batavia Historical Society, 1998, pp. 378–379.
12. ^ ^{a b} History of Flag Day. http://www.united-states-flag.com/flag-day-history.html
13. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2010-07-09. 
14. ^ ^{a b c} http://www.elks.org/about/flagday.htm
15. ^ americanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/usa_flag_day_june_14
16. ^ Dray, Philip. There Is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America. New York: Doubleday, 2010, pp. 328–329.