Monthly Archives: July 2013

51st Annual Amish Acres Arts & Crafts Festival

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Amish Acres Arts and Craft, Community, Elkhart County, Events, Family Event, Festival, Hoosier, Indiana, Nappanee

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amish AcresNappanee, IN – Amish Acres Historic Farm & Heritage Resort will host the 51st annual Arts & Crafts Festival August 1 through August 4, 2013. For the fifth time, Amish Acres has been selected by the American Bus Association (ABA)as a TOP 100 event in North America solidifying the festival’s standing in the top echelon of America’s festivals dedicated to the creative arts. In addition, the Arts and Crafts Festival was recognized for the first time as a top ten event in the state of Indiana by AmericaTheBeautiful.com and Top Events USA.

The event’s 2014 “Proud as a Peacock’s Plumage: The Colorful World of Art” theme is derived from the new “It’s A-Peeling” apple art, an Interactive outdoor art exhibit placing four foot high fiberglass apples designed and painted by local artists around Nappanee and funded through individual and corporate sponsorships. Amish Acres apple features a peacock in full plumage promoting Amish Acres historic Kuhn’s Apple Cider Mill, ranked one of the Top 10 Cider Mills in America.

Over 300 artists and crafter’s from 35 States, surround Amish Acres pond to ply their trade and sell their wares. The event brings to this northern Indiana historic farm a marketplace filled with the creations of artists and artisans from every corner of the country. Nearly 60,000 visitors, many representing third generations, descend on the farm annually for the celebration that includes live strolling musicians and entertainment on four stages throughout the day, festive food from apple pie to zucchini bread, and $5,000 in cash prizes awarded by professional judges from 900 entries in the competition tent.

The fourth generation of the founding family is now involved in the festival’s

The cider mill stood in two locations before being moved to the Amish Acre location in the early 1900s. It was used each fall to press cider from the orchands of neighboring Amish farmers. The press has a listed capacity of 3,000 gallons per day. It was powered by a steam engine. The stone grist mill was added by Amish Acres.

The cider mill stood in two locations before being moved to the Amish Acre location in the early 1900s. It was used each fall to press cider from the orchands of neighboring Amish farmers. The press has a listed capacity of 3,000 gallons per day. It was powered by a steam engine. The stone grist mill was added by Amish Acres.

planning and production. Richard Pletcher, founder of the festival and Amish Acres, remains CEO and Jennifer Pletcher Wysong is the festival director. The event started as a clothes line show in downtown Nappanee during sidewalk days in 1962. Amish Acres was created and grew out of the demand from the early festival’s visitors for Amish related experiences and products.

Over $250,000 in cash prizes have been awarded over the last five decades. The Best of Show collection is on permanent display in the new Arts & Crafts Best of Show Museum located in the Barn Loft Wine Room of Amish Acres Restaurant.

Festival hours & Admission Prices are:

  • Thursday-Saturday (August 1-3) 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Sunday (August 4) from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
  • Admission price is $7.00 for adults, $6.00 for seniors (60 & older), active military, and students 12 – 17 and free for children under age 12.
  • Round Barn Theater Curtain Times 7:30pm
  • Parking is free with several parking areas and six entrances for visitors’ convenience.

Amish Acres is located on U.S. Highway 6, one mile west of downtown Nappanee.  Pre-event tickets and four-day passes can be purchased online. More information on Amish Acres, the Arts and Crafts Festival, and The Round Barn Theatre can be obtained online at AmishAcres.com

Local Elkhart Businesses Support Pack-A-Backpack

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by in Children, Education, Elkhart County, Elkhart Indiana, Emergency Measures, Indiana, School Supplies, Schools, Volunteer

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WNDU-TV is collaborating with McDonald’s, U93, Meijer, Notre Dame Credit Union, Saint Vincent De Paul Society and local agencies to gather donations to help provide local children with needed back-to-school supplies.

WNDU-TV is collaborating with McDonald’s, U93, Meijer, Notre Dame Credit Union, Saint Vincent De Paul Society and local agencies to gather donations to help provide local children with needed back-to-school supplies. (Photograph by Carmen Heredia Rodriquez, Student Journalist)

WNDU-TV, NewsCenter 16 has teamed up with McDonald’s, Meijer, Notre Dame Credit Union, Saint Vincet De Paul Society, The United Way of Saint Joseph County, and area agencies for the 16 Pack-A-Backpack school supply drive. Over the past eight years, NewsCenter 16 and local volunteer organizations have distributed more than 28 thousand packages of back to school supplies to deserving children in grades K through 6 throughout the community.

The program concludes August 3. If your children are in need of school supplies please contact the United Way helpline at 211.

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Why Obama’s happy talk won’t be ENOUGH to save the United States’ economy…

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by in Bureau of Labor Statistics, Depression, economy, Employment, Federal Reserve, Food Stamps, Income Taxes

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Even as the President tells the American public they are so much better off...it appears that the trajectory on the chart above is going down.

Even as President Barack Obama tells the American public they are so much better off…it appears that the trajectory on the chart above is going down.

THE FACTS:

Imagine how much better this chart could be if ObamaCare weren't encouraging employers to hire so many part-time workers.

Imagine how much better this chart could be if ObamaCare wasn’t encouraging employers to hire so many part-time workers.

Since 2007 real GDP has gone up $500 billion while total credit market debt has gone up by $6 trillion.

DEBT versus GDP. Since 2007 real GDP has gone up $500 billion while total credit market debt has gone up by $6 trillion.

Ben Swann: “We aleady ARE involved in Syria”

28 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by in Indiana

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What the United States isn’t telling you about the Syrian War…

The U.S. government continues to say that it is not willing to arm the so called rebels in Syria despite calls by high profile Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

If that is the case, why are 300 marines now stationed along the Syrian border with Jordan?

The U.S. has located 300 Marines in northern Jordan near the border with Syria along with a Patriot anti-aircraft missile system. The U.S. military says those marines are only there as part of a military training exercise. Other than that, we know very little about the role of those marines other than the fact that they will remain there for at least several months.

So the big question, how long before the United States is involved in Syria?

The answer, we already are.

Last year when I talked one on one with President Obama, he told me that the United States was careful not to provide arms to these rebel groups. The President said that in response to a question I asked him about how the United States could support the Syrian rebels when so many of those so called rebels aren’t Syrian and many are al Qaeda fighters from Iraq.

In reality the United States has already provided millions in financial help to the FSA or the Free Syrian Army. We have also provided non lethal assistance to the FSA, satellite radios, as well as body armor.

But according to some like Republican Senator John McCain, that is not enough. On Memorial Day McCain made a secret trip to Syria to meet with the leader of the supreme military council of the Free Syrian Army, General Salem Idris. Senator McCain was asked for the U.S. to take the lead in a quote “ more serious manner”. More specifically, to provide heavy weapons directly to the FSA. He was asked for the U.S. to create a no fly zone for syrian war planes and for strategic bombings by the U.S. on the Syrian government.

So what is the problem here?

By the United States supporting the overthrow of Assad, without question, we will hand Syria over to al Qaeda and the slaughter of millions of Syrians including Syrian Christians, Jews, Alawites and Muslims will be on our hands.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

RELATED INFORMATION:

Syrian Rebels used poison gas:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middl…

But that’s o.k., the United States will send them more weapons: http://www.salon.com/2013/03/25/cia_h…
New York Times: U.S. helps Al-Qaeda foreign fighters support the lethal side of Syrian war

How did your Representative vote? Issue: YOUR Constitutional Rights

25 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by in Bill of Rights, Bills, Congress, Constitution, House of Representatives, Indiana, Jackie Walorski, Justin Amash, NSA, U.S. House, U.S. House Vote

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The House of Representatives' Dome at night.

The House of Representatives’ Dome at night.

Amash Amendment #100: Stop NSA’s Blanket Surveillance of Americans

H R 2397, Stop Dragnet Surveillance of U.S. citizens. Justin Amash: “We came close (205-217). If just seven Representatives had switched their votes, we would have succeeded. Thank YOU for making a difference. We fight on to defend liberty.” CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW YOUR REPRESENTATIVE VOTED

2014 NDAA

H R 1960, National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2014. The bill authorizes $55 billion *more* in military spending than the amount authorized by law under sequestration and provides $5 billion *more* than the President’s request for Overseas Contingency Operations (i.e., war funding). It also contains a misguided and dangerous policy statement on Syria that encourages greater military intervention and implies congressional support for arming the Syrian rebels. And yet again, the House rejected an amendment (Smith-Amash-Gibson) that would have repealed unconstitutional sec. 1021 of the 2012 NDAA, which gives the President sweeping new power to indefinitely detain anyone, including American citizens inside the United States, without charge or trial. Eighteen Republicans opposed their own party’s NDAA, which is the high mark for opposition in modern history. It passed 315-108.
CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW YOUR REPRESENTATIVE VOTED

The Smith-Gibson Amendment to the NDAA Amendment to protect American citizen’s rights to Due Process.
CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW YOUR REPRESENTATIVE VOTED

Amash Responds to White House Concerns

24 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by in 4th Amendment, Amash Amendment H.R. 2387, Bill of Rights, Freedom, Indiana, Jackie Walorski, Justin Amash, Liberty, Patriot, Wiretapping

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Myth v. Fact: Amash-Conyers Amendment

and NSA Surveillance

  • MYTH 1: The Amash-Conyers amendment is a “blunt approach [and] is not the product of an informed, open, or deliberative process.”—Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary
  • Fact: The Amash-Conyers amendment is a modest proposal to rein in among the most troubling NSA surveillance that has been disclosed so far.

The Amash-Conyers amendment ends NSA’s blanket collection of Americans’ telephone records. It does this by requiring the FISA court under Sec. 215 to order the production of records that pertain only to a person under investigation.

The amendment does not defund NSA. It does not defund all NSA surveillance under the Patriot Act’s Sec. 215. It does not require a warrant for NSA to get Americans’ car reservations, hotel receipts, or telephone records. NSA does not even have to suspect that a crime has occurred. The amendment simply requires that there be a reasonable connection between the documents sought and the person under investigation. Far from blunt, the Amash-Conyers amendment is narrow and modest and is only a first step towards protecting Americans’ records from NSA surveillance.

There’s some irony in being criticized for not having an “informed, open, or deliberative” debate by the very people and groups who have obscured how NSA’s surveillance programs work. Over the last two months, the public and especially Congress have been given significant information about the activity at issue here: the suspicionless, blanket surveillance of ordinary Americans’ telephone records. NSA and the intelligence committees have hosted numerous classified and unclassified hearings, including an extraordinary four-hour seminar with NSA director Keith Alexander yesterday. Congress has been given ample opportunity to consider the question: Does Congress oppose the suspicionless collection of every American’s phone records?

  • MYTH 2: The Amash-Conyers amendment prevents the bulk collection of data on foreigners.
  • Fact: The Amash-Conyers amendment does not restrict the surveillance of foreign-to-foreign communications in any way.

FISA simply does not apply to the surveillance of purely foreign communications. See 50 U.S.C. § 1802. FISA court orders under Sec. 215 cover local telephone calls (wholly within the U.S.) and calls between the U.S. and abroad. In other words, NSA’s Sec. 215 phone surveillance program covers only calls in which at least one side of the conversation is in the U.S. Because foreign-to-foreign communications are beyond the scope of the Sec. 215 surveillance program, those communications are not addressed by the Amash-Conyers amendment.

  • MYTH 3: The Amash-Conyers amendment raises constitutional concerns.
  • Fact: The Amash-Conyers amendment is entirely constitutional, and despite allegations of “concerns,” no one really believes the amendment is unconstitutional. In fact, the Amash-Conyers amendment helps restore Fourth Amendment protections of Americans’ phone records.

The Amash-Conyers amendment allows NSA to execute FISA court orders only if the orders limit the collection of documents to those documents that pertain to a person under a Patriot Act investigation. The amendment does not place a mandate on the FISA court; the amendment couldn’t even if that was Mr. Amash’s intention because the FISA court is not funded through the Department of Defense appropriations bill.

Although the Amash-Conyers amendment does not require the FISA court to include specific language in its order, it is important to note that Sec. 215 already requires the FISA court to include at least five sets of specific limitations in its court orders. See 50 U.S.C. § 1861(c). Reading the current language in Sec. 215 reveals that this “constitutional concern” is wholly without merit.

  • MYTH 4: Americans don’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their telephone records.
  • Fact: Americans do have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their telephone records, and the Supreme Court appears poised to rule definitively on that issue.

Proponents of NSA’s suspicionless surveillance like to say that Americans have no reasonable expectation of privacy in their telephone records. The Fourth Amendment reads, in part: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated . . . .” The collection of every American’s telephone records certainly is a “seizure” of those records. And ordinary Americans believe the intimate details of their phone calls are private.

Smith v. Maryland, a case the Supreme Court decided more than three decades ago, is not clearly applicable to NSA’s suspicionless surveillance. The person whose data was collected in that case was suspected of wrongdoing before the data collection, and the technology of that era did not allow for the type of mass record surveillance and retention that we have today. In United States v. Jones, a case from last year that held certain government GPS tracking unconstitutional, Supreme Court justices began to rethink privacy in the age of digital technology.
If proponents of NSA blanket surveillance are right, if Americans lose constitutional protections when they make a call or send an e-mail, then any data stored in “the cloud” is fair game for the government without a warrant. Do we think it’s good policy to have every iPhone picture stored in iCloud subject to warrantless government confiscation? Is that reasonable?

  • MYTH 5: The Amash-Conyers amendment would take away a tool that has proved effective in fighting terrorism.
  • Fact: Proponents of NSA’s blanket collection of Americans’ telephone records have not put forward publicly a single, solid example of a “success” under the program.

The amendment does not take away a tool that has proved effective in the fight against terrorism. The administration claims that surveillance conducted under FISA Sec. 702, including the PRISM program, has disrupted terrorist plots, including the New York subway plot. The Amash-Conyers amendment does not address FISA Sec. 702 in any way. The amendment concerns Patriot Act Sec. 215 alone, not Sec. 702. The administration’s one and only public example of a Sec. 215 “success” is the conviction of a taxi driver for sending money to a Somali group. Reports suggest that the Somali group posed no direct threat to the U.S., the investigation did not uncover an imminent threat, and the data could have been obtained without Sec. 215. For that “success,” the government has collected billions of Americans’ records.

TO SUPPORT AMASH-CONYERS AMENDMENT CLICK HERE FOR YOUR HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE’S PHONE NUMBER.