From: Human Events
The Romeike family fled their German homeland in 2008 seeking political asylum in the United States – where they hoped to home school their children. Instead, the Obama administration wants the evangelical Christian family deported.
The fate of Uwe and Hannelore Romeikie – along with their six children – now rests with the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals – after the Dept. of Homeland Security said they don’t deserve asylum.
Neither the Justice Dept. nor the Dept. of Homeland Security returned calls seeking comment.
“The Obama administration is basically saying there is no right to home school anywhere,” said Michael Farris, founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association. “It’s an utter repudiation of parental liberty and religious liberty.”
The Justice Dept. is arguing that German law banning home schooling does not violate the family’s human rights.
“They are trying to send a family back to Germany where they would certainly lose custody of their children,” Farris told Fox News. “Our government is siding with Germany.”
Farris said the Germans ban home schools because “they don’t want to have religious and philosophical minorities in their country.”
“That means they don’t want to have significant numbers of people who think differently than what the government thinks,” he said. “It’s an incredibly dangerous assertion that people can’t think in a way that the government doesn’t approve of.”
He said the Justice Dept. is backing that kind of thinking and arguing ‘it is not a human rights violation.”
Farris said he finds great irony that the Obama administration is releasing thousands of illegal aliens – yet wants to send a family seeking political asylum back to Germany.
“Eleven million people are going to be allowed to stay freely – but this one family is going to be shipped back to Germany to be persecuted,” he said. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”
The fear of persecution is why an immigration judge granted the family political asylum in 2010.
German authorities demanded the family stop home schooling. They faced thousands of dollars in fines and they initially took away their children in a police van.
German state constitutions require children attend public schools. Parents who don’t comply face punishment ranging from fines to prison time. The nation’s highest appellate court ruled in 2007 that in some cases children could be removed from their parents’ care.
“Families that want to have an alternative education can’t get it in Germany,” Farris said. “Even the private schools have to teach public school curriculum.”
After authorities threatened to remove permanent custody from the Christian couple – they decided to move to the United States.
Uwe, a classically-trained pianist, relocated their brood to a small farm in the shadow of the Smokey Mountains in eastern Tennessee.
“We are very happy here to be able to freely follow our conscience and to home school our children,” he told Fox News. “Where we live in Tennessee is very much like where we lived in Germany.”
Uwe said he was extremely disappointed that their petition to seek asylum was appealed by the Obama administration.
“If we go back to Germany we know that we would be prosecuted and it is very likely the Social Services authorities would take our children from us,” he said.
Uwe said German schools were teaching children to disrespect authority figures and used graphic words to describe sexual relations. He said the state believed children must be “socialized.”
“The German schools teach against our Christian values,” he said. “Our children know that we home school following our convictions and that we are in God’s hands. They understand that we are doing this for their best – and they love the life we are living in America on our small farm.”
Farris said Americans should be outraged over the way the Obama administration has treated the Romeike family – and warned it could have repercussions for families that home school in this nation.
“The right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children has been at the pinnacle of human rights,” he said. “But not in this country.”
Showing posts with label Human Events. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Human Events. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Senate kills effort to block EPA regulations on coal-powered plants
From: Human Events
Legislation to defeat an EPA emissions rule that critics say would kill thousands of jobs and raise electricity rates for consumers was killed in the Senate Wednesday.
A handful of Republicans sided with Democrats to block the measure on a procedural vote of 46 yeas to 53 nays, including Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, and Susan Collins and Olympia Snow of Maine.
Democrats who crossed over to vote with Republicans included Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mark Warner and Jim Webb of Virginia.
Republicans say the mercury emission rules for coal-fired plants are the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s war on coal.
“This effectively kills coal in America,” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), author of the measure.
Republicans said the regulations are the most expensive rules ever created by the EPA, and will cost consumers $10 billion a year in addition to killing 50,000 jobs.
“This is just one battle in the administration’s war on jobs, but it has devastating consequences for real people and real families in my state and in many others,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“The administration’s nonchalant attitude about these people is appalling, but this is precisely the danger of having unelected bureaucrats in Washington playing with the livelihoods of Americans as if they’re nothing more than pieces on a chessboard,” McConnell said.
Democrats say job creation doesn’t have to come at the expense of clean air and higher environmental standards.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) criticized the coal industry for fighting the new regulations and said the business needs to face the real threats of aging plants, finite reserves, and the rise of natural gas as an alternative.
“The EPA alone is not going to make or break coal. There are many forces exerting pressure and that agency is just one of them,” Rockefeller said.
Republicans said regulations are an economic disaster shrouded in false claims about public health, but Rockefeller said the health benefits are “enormous.”
“I oppose this resolution because I care so much about West Virginians,” said Rockefeller, whose coal rich state will be affected by the EPA regulations. “Without good health it’s difficult to hold down a job or live the American dream. Chronic illness is debilitating and impacts a family’s income, prosperity and ultimately its happiness. EPA has relied on thousands of studies that established the serious and long term impact of these pollutants on premature deaths, heart attacks, hospitalizations, pregnant women, babies and children.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said critics of the coal industry have “cast it in apocalyptic terms that have no bearing on reality.”
“It is a job killing, ideologically driven attempt to cripple the coal industry in the U.S. -- an industry that employees a lot of people and feeds a lot of families, and this administration is unfortunately using the EPA to destroy a reliable … source of electricity,” Cornyn said.
“This is another example of executive overreach. So stringent that no new coal-fired plant will be built in the U.S. no matter how modern or how clean the technology will allow it to operate,” Cornyn said. “This is the cheapest and most abundant source of energy in this country and we are simply killing it.”
Added Sen. Jim Risch (R-Wyo.): “Why would anyone vote for this? This is absolute foolishness.
Legislation to defeat an EPA emissions rule that critics say would kill thousands of jobs and raise electricity rates for consumers was killed in the Senate Wednesday.
A handful of Republicans sided with Democrats to block the measure on a procedural vote of 46 yeas to 53 nays, including Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, and Susan Collins and Olympia Snow of Maine.
Democrats who crossed over to vote with Republicans included Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mark Warner and Jim Webb of Virginia.
Republicans say the mercury emission rules for coal-fired plants are the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s war on coal.
“This effectively kills coal in America,” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), author of the measure.
Republicans said the regulations are the most expensive rules ever created by the EPA, and will cost consumers $10 billion a year in addition to killing 50,000 jobs.
“This is just one battle in the administration’s war on jobs, but it has devastating consequences for real people and real families in my state and in many others,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“The administration’s nonchalant attitude about these people is appalling, but this is precisely the danger of having unelected bureaucrats in Washington playing with the livelihoods of Americans as if they’re nothing more than pieces on a chessboard,” McConnell said.
Democrats say job creation doesn’t have to come at the expense of clean air and higher environmental standards.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) criticized the coal industry for fighting the new regulations and said the business needs to face the real threats of aging plants, finite reserves, and the rise of natural gas as an alternative.
“The EPA alone is not going to make or break coal. There are many forces exerting pressure and that agency is just one of them,” Rockefeller said.
Republicans said regulations are an economic disaster shrouded in false claims about public health, but Rockefeller said the health benefits are “enormous.”
“I oppose this resolution because I care so much about West Virginians,” said Rockefeller, whose coal rich state will be affected by the EPA regulations. “Without good health it’s difficult to hold down a job or live the American dream. Chronic illness is debilitating and impacts a family’s income, prosperity and ultimately its happiness. EPA has relied on thousands of studies that established the serious and long term impact of these pollutants on premature deaths, heart attacks, hospitalizations, pregnant women, babies and children.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said critics of the coal industry have “cast it in apocalyptic terms that have no bearing on reality.”
“It is a job killing, ideologically driven attempt to cripple the coal industry in the U.S. -- an industry that employees a lot of people and feeds a lot of families, and this administration is unfortunately using the EPA to destroy a reliable … source of electricity,” Cornyn said.
“This is another example of executive overreach. So stringent that no new coal-fired plant will be built in the U.S. no matter how modern or how clean the technology will allow it to operate,” Cornyn said. “This is the cheapest and most abundant source of energy in this country and we are simply killing it.”
Added Sen. Jim Risch (R-Wyo.): “Why would anyone vote for this? This is absolute foolishness.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
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