U.S. Elected Govt. Officials Fail Constitution Quiz

For five years now, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute has been conducting a national survey to gauge the quality of civic education in the country. We've surveyed more than 30,000 Americans, most of them college students, but also a random sample of adults from all educational and demographic backgrounds.

Included in the adult sample was a small subset of Americans (165 in all) who, when asked, identified themselves as having been "successfully elected to government office at least once in their life" -- which can include federal, state or local offices.

The survey asks 33 basic civics questions, many taken from other nationally recognized instruments like the U.S. Citizenship Exam. It also asks 10 questions related to the U.S. Constitution.

So what did we find? Well, to put it simply, the results are not pretty.

Elected officials at many levels of government, not just the federal government, swear an oath to "uphold and protect" the U.S. Constitution.

But those elected officials who took the test scored an average 5 percentage points lower than the national average (49 percent vs. 54 percent), with ordinary citizens outscoring these elected officials on each constitutional question. Examples:

• Only 49 percent of elected officials could name all three branches of government, compared with 50 percent of the general public.
• Only 46 percent knew that Congress, not the president, has the power to declare war -- 54 percent of the general public knows that.
• Just 15 percent answered correctly that the phrase "wall of separation" appears in Thomas Jefferson's letters -- not in the U.S. Constitution -- compared with 19 percent of the general public.
• And only 57 percent of those who've held elective office know what the Electoral College does, while 66 percent of the public got that answer right. (Of elected officials, 20 percent thought the Electoral College was a school for "training those aspiring for higher political office.")

You can take the quiz yourself -- click here.

Overall, our sample of elected officials averaged a failing 44 percent on the entire 33-question test, 5 percentage points lower than the national average of 49 percent.

When elected officials take an oath "to protect and defend the Constitution," shouldn't they know what they are swearing to?

Richard Brake is co-chairman of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's National Civic Literacy Board. For more details regarding the ISI's past and current civic literacy studies and to take the test online, go to www.americancivicliteracy.org.


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Are you smarter than an elected official?
If you can correctly answer five or more of these basic Constitution-related questions, congratulations! You're smarter than the average elected official! (Answers are below -- but no peeking!)

1) What are the three branches of government?
A. executive, legislative, judicial
B. executive, legislative, military
C. bureaucratic, military, industry
D. federal, state, local

2) What part of the government has the power to declare war?
A. Congress
B. the president
C. the Supreme Court
D. the Joint Chiefs of Staff

3) In the area of United States foreign policy, Congress shares power with the:
A. president
B. Supreme Court
C. state governments
D. United Nations

4) The United States Electoral College:
A. trains those aspiring for higher political office
B. was established to supervise the first televised presidential debates
C. is otherwise known as the U.S. Congress
D. is a constitutionally mandated assembly that elects the president
E. was ruled undemocratic by the Supreme Court

5) What impact did the Anti-Federalists have on the United States Constitution?
A. their arguments helped lead to the adoption of the Bill of Rights
B. their arguments helped lead to the abolition of the slave trade
C. their influence ensured that the federal government would maintain a standing army
D. their influence ensured that the federal government would have the power to tax

6) The phrase that in America there should be a "wall of separation" between church and state appears in:
A. George Washington's Farewell Address
B. the Mayflower Compact
C. the Constitution
D. the Declaration of Independence
E. Thomas Jefferson's letters

7) The Bill of Rights explicitly prohibits:
A. prayer in public school
B. discrimination based on race, sex, or religion
C. the ownership of guns by private individuals
D. establishing an official religion for the United States
E. the president from vetoing a line item in a spending bill

8) Identify one right or freedom below guaranteed by the first amendment.
A. Right to bear arms
B. Due process
C. Religion
D. Right to counsel

9) Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government listed below?
A. Make treaties
B. Make zoning laws
C. Maintain prisons
D. Establish standards for doctors and lawyers

10) Who is the commander in chief of the U.S. military?
A. Secretary of the army
B. Secretary of state
C. President
D. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs

Answer key:
1) A; 2) A; 3) A; 4) D; 5) A; 6) E; 7) D; 8) C; 9) A; 10) C

HOUSTON Food Permit Stops Homeless Org Outreach In It's Tracks

Bobby Herring has a heart for Houston’s (TX) homeless population. He and his wife, Amanda, have provided meals to the city’s downtown downtrodden almost every night for the last year. On any given night, they can see 60-120 people in need of a meal. But two weeks ago, that ended. Not for lack of funds, lack of food, or lack of dedication, but because the government says they don’t have the proper permit.

“We don’t really know what they want, we just think that they don’t want us down there feeding people,” Bobby told the Houston Chronicle.

Kathy Barton, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Department, told the Chronicle exactly what “they” are looking for: food that’s prepared in a “certified” kitchen under the watch of a “certified” food manager. Those are the requirements for the Herring’s charity, “Feed a Friend,” to get the proper permit. But the Herrings are skeptical they will ever receive it because they don’t have the means to meet the stipulations.

The controversy started when Houston police asked them to move from their initial location downtown to a different location. Because the new location is technically on park land, the couple was shut down for not having the permits from the city health and parks departments.

The regulations and permit are essential when it comes to the homeless, Barton told the Chronicle, because “poor people are the most vulnerable to foodborne illness and also are the least likely to have access to health care.”

But the Herrings said this is something they‘ve been doing for a year and it’s never been a problem before.

“I’m just really sad,” Amanda said to the Chronicle. “I can’t believe for a year we were right out in the open and never had anybody tell us to leave, to stop, to tell us it was wrong. I’m blindsided with it.”

The homeless outreach isn’t the only ministry the Herrings are involved in. They also run an organization called Eyes on Me that reaches out to the city’s youth. Bobby, who also goes by his Christian rap name Tre9, tries to reach out through hip hop. A video on YouTube reportedly shows Tre9 hosting an outing called “Hip Hop Hope Tuesdays”:

Read the entire Houston Chronicle article.

90 Girls Pregnant at Memphis Middle/High School

Earth's magnetic pole shift-Could it be why the Birds are Dying?

(NaturalNews) Following the unexplained deaths of several thousand birds over the last two weeks, events are now emerging that may offer a physics-based explanation for the mysterious deaths. It all begins on a runway in Tampa, where airport officials recently closed that runway in order to change the numeric designators painted there. Why are those numeric designators being changed? Because the Earth's magnetic poles are shifting and the numbers previously painted on the runway no longer match up with the magnetic measurements of sensitive airplane instruments (http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01...).

As Physorg.com explains:

The primary runway at the airport is designated 18R/36L, which means the runway is aligned along 180 degrees from north (that is, due south) when approached from the north and 360 degrees from north when approached from the south. Now the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has requested the designation be changed to 19R/1L to account for the movement of the magnetic north pole.

This brings us to our first physics fact of this article:

Physics Fact #1: The Earth's magnetic poles are shifting. (And not just a little bit, but enough to affect airport runways on the scale of human observation.)

The role of Earth's magnetic field

The Earth's magnetic field is extremely important for protecting the planet from so-called "solar wind" and other electromagnetic influences from space. The magnetosphere, which is driven by the Earth's magnetic field, serves as a kind of electromagnetic barrier to prevent dangerous rays from reaching the surface of the planet.

You can see a picture of that here: http://www.theozonehole.com/magneti...

Physics Fact #2: The Earth's magnetic field has flipped hundreds of times in the past.

The Earth's magnetic field "flips" (or reverses polarity) every few thousand years. This is called a geomagnetic reversal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomag...). In between these flips, the magnetic field can become quite weak and chaotic, causing "turbulence" in the field, which can effectively cause weaker gaps in the magnetosphere.

These magnetic gaps or weaknesses can allow outside influences that normally would not penetrate the magnetosphere to reach deep into that magnetosphere, theoretically all the way down to where birds fly at very low altitude.

Last week, a report from the Russia's Ministry for Extraordinary Situations (MCHS) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minist...) warned that the weakening Earth magnetosphere was allowing "poisonous space clouds" to enter deep into Earth's atmosphere where it is coming into contact with birds.

These "space clouds" are called Noctilucent clouds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctil...), which exist at very high altitudes (roughly 50 miles) and accumulate space dust from micrometeors and other sources.

What's really interesting here is that these noctilucent clouds exhibit very high radar reflectivity (http://media.caltech.edu/press_rele...). This means these clouds create a very large radar signature on weather tracking systems.

Physics fact #3: Noctilucent clouds have very high radar reflectivity.

Weather radar tracks phenomenon during bird kill

Now here's where this story gets really interesting: On New Year's Even when birds began falling out of the sky in Arkansas, the National Weather Service in North Little Rock documented an unusual phenomenon on their radar monitors.

"There are some indications that we're picking up a non-precipitation target," said Science and Operations Officer Chris Buonanno at the NWS (http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local...). He went on to explain that the radar signature definitely was not indicative of a cloud or rainstorm. It was something altogether different.

At or around the same time this radar image appeared, birds began falling out of the sky.

Over the last several weeks, hundreds of thousands of birds and fish have been found dead across the globe. Here's a compilation of the deaths so far: http://www.naturalnews.com/030985_m...

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/030996_bird_deaths_pole_shift.html#ixzz1AxA75yZW

Retrospect on Obama's Speech

Question: In the spirit of unity and thriving, will all the prog cities and counties that declared economic war on Arizona over SB1070 repeal their boycotts now?

Reminder of the local governments that declared boycotts against Arizona:

• Amherst (Mass.)

• Austin City Council • Berkeley, Calif. • Bloomington, Ind.

• Boston. • Burlington, Vt.

• Columbus, Ohio.

• Cook County, Ill.

• El Paso (city and county).

• Gallup, N.M.

• Hartford, Conn.

• Los Angeles (city and county).

• Oakland.

• Richmond, Calif.

• Sacramento

• San Pablo, Calif.

• St. Paul, Minn.

• Santa Monica, Calif.

• San Francisco (non-binding resolution).

• Seattle.

• West Hollywood, Calif. • The Oxnard City (Calif.) City Council on July 20 decided not to take a stand against Arizona’s new immigration law, despite pleas from dozens of residents urging council members to at least condemn the law. The mayor and two council members said they will instead consider a symbolic resolution.

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Jeremy Caverley's Personal Response:

Today we live in a world that is full of opinions and hate. A world that is compelled to let it's voice be heard. Those who are for us and those against us.

It is these that war with factions taking sides seem to just continue their own personal assault on American values. What has happened in Arizona and across the world in the form of an extreme left-wing "COMMUNIST" friendly man known to us as Jared Loghner, who liked to read as found on his YouTube page, " The Communist Manifesto, Mein Kampf, and who knows what else.

Clearly this isn't about Republicans nor Democrats because this man was with an intent to kill and even had a letter in his safe explaining his plans. People like this are in need of rehabilitation from whatever harm has been done to them to think America would stand for such activities.

This is a land of law, that is written down from the Constitution to the local law enforcement in each and every town across this great country. Yes, we the American people can rise above this event and even link arms with those we don't agree with on political issues.

But enough is enough! It is time to let our voices be heard. That communism and violence is not welcome here in America to get your point across. You see terrorists and communists love to take advantage of such events to make there way known.

That focal point will not stand in America. Neither here or in the future this great Republic will be always known as the United States of America.

Now now a turn to those who lost their lives in Arizona. Not only a moment of silence, but a debt of gratitude for who they are and how they will be remembered. Such a time is this we can look back and see those who lost their lives for our freedom.

I would dare say these Americans never knew what was coming either. But in a glance you can tell from the countless messages sent and blogs and journalists that have written stories about the Judge or child and the others involved. America is waking up.

It is time to say a prayer for those families who are affected. May God bless them in their time of grief and know they will never be forgotten. Vengeance is mine says the Lord. And those if there are more than one will pay the cost for taking another one's life.

I believe people think that America isn't awake yet and they we would just stand by and allow this to just pass by. I say it will not and when justice is served the families can have a little peace of mind.

University Is Forcing Nursing Students to Participate in Abortions

Christian legal group filed a civil rights complaint Tuesday against a Tennessee, alleging that the school’s nursing program violates federal law by requiring applicants to participate in abortion procedures.

Vanderbilt University has denied the claim, but the Alliance Defense Fund claims that the school’s nursing-residency application materials violate national laws that prohibit schools receiving federal funds from requiring someone to perform or assist in abortions.

According to ADF, the school requires applicants to sign an acknowledgment, stating: “I am aware that I may be providing nursing care for women who are having” procedures, including terminations of pregnancy.

“It is important that you are aware of this aspect of care and give careful consideration to your ability to provide compassionate care to women in these situations,” the documents state. “If you feel you cannot provide care to women during this type of event, we encourage you to apply to a different track of the Nurse Residency Program to explore opportunities that may best fit your skills and career goals.”

The ADF complaint, filed on behalf of an unnamed Mississippi woman, was submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. According to HHS, Vanderbilt received $313.6 million in federal funding during fiscal year 2008.

“Christians and other pro-life members of the medical community shouldn’t be forced to participate in abortions to pursue their profession,” Matt Bowman, legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said in a news release.

Read more at the Alliance Defense Fund

Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Today is national Human Trafficking Awareness Day, the annual calendar date meant to bring attention to the fact that human trafficking remains a serious problem both in the United States and abroad.

According to Change.org, "Slavery is more affordable, more widespread and more entrenched in 2011 than it was in ancient Rome or the antebellum South of America. Modern-day slaves, also called human trafficking victims, can be male or female, from any country or representing any ethnicity."

In the United States, human trafficking victims are forced to work in the sex trade, as domestic servants, on farms and in factories.

It's difficult to say how many people are victims of human trafficking, and estimates vary widely. What's known for sure is that human trafficking is a multibillion-dollar industry worldwide.

The U.N. Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking puts the number of victims at a shocking 2.5 million. According to U.N. GIFT, human trafficking affects "every continent and every type of economy."

The U.S. State Department estimates an even higher number -- about 12.3 million adults and children "in forced labor, bonded labor and forced prostitution around the world."

The worst rates of the problem are in Asia, where the U.N. Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking estimates that more than 50 percent of slavery victims are found. The State Department says that in Asia, there are three human trafficking victims for every 1,000 people -- three times the rates elsewhere.

A petition, organized by a coalition of anti-human-trafficking organizations, has called on President Barack Obama and Congress to make fighting modern-day slavery a priority. And here's a video from Not for Sale describing the horrifying statistics of modern-day slavery.

Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is 'holding her own'

Tucson, Arizona (CNN) -- U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords remained in critical condition Tuesday after she was shot in the head on Saturday at the rampage at her meet-and-greet event, but she is breathing on her own and doctors have backed off on some sedation.

"I'm happy to say she's holding her own," said Dr. Michael Lemole Jr., chief of neurosurgery at University Medical Center. "Her status is the same as it was yesterday. She's still following simple commands."

Lemole said she's generating her own breaths.

"The only reason we keep that breathing tube in is to protect her airway so that she doesn't have complications like pneumonia," he told reporters.

Lemole said he's encouraged by the fact that she's "done so well" with an injury where survival and recovery are "abysmal."

"This is where we constantly say it's week to week, month to month. I know everyone wants new results every day but as long as we don't backslide and as long as she holds her own, that's good. That keeps us hopeful."

"We have to play this according to her timeline, not ours," he said.

Lemole said "she has no right to look this good and she does."

"We're hopeful, but I do want to underscore the seriousness of this injury and the fact that we all have to be extremely patient."

Six of the victims in the Saturday shooting remain at University Medical Center, Chief of Emergency Medicine Peter Rhee said. Along with Giffords, three people are in serious condition and two are in fair condition.

Jared Lee Loughner, 22, who authorities say shot up a gathering held by Giffords outside a supermarket, has been anecdotally regarded as very troubled and perhaps mentally unbalanced because of his ramblings spotted on the internet and the way he has been described by acquaintances.

The shooting has sparked horror across the United States and generated much partisan talk about vitriolic political discourse in American life and what Loughner's motivations are.

U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins has ruled that all magistrate and district judges in the District of Arizona's Tucson Division must recuse themselves.

The ruling, dated Monday, cited the need to "avoid the appearance of impropriety, and because a judge has a duty to disqualify him or herself if his or her impartiality could be reasonably questioned, whethLoughner parener or not such impartiality exists."

WATCH-Australian Flood Video

'Instant Tsunami' Batters Aussie Town

10 Dead, 78 Missing in Australian Flash Floods

BRISBANE, Australia -- Greg Kowald was driving through the center of Toowoomba when a terrifying, tsunami-like wall of water roared through the streets of the northeast Australian city.

Office windows exploded, cars careened into trees and bobbed in the churning brown water like corks. The deluge washed away bridges and sidewalks; people desperately clung to power poles to survive. Before it was over, the flash flood left at least 10 dead and 78 missing.

"The water was literally leaping, six or 10 feet into the air, through creeks and over bridges and into parks," Kowald, a 53-year-old musician, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "There was nowhere to escape, even if there had been warnings. There was just a sea of water about a kilometer (half a mile) wide."

The violent surge in Toowoomba brought the overall death toll from weeks of flooding in Queensland state to 20, a sudden acceleration in a crisis that had been unfolding gradually with swollen rivers overflowing their banks and inundating towns while moving toward the ocean. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said there were "grave fears" for at least 18 of those missing.

The high waters headed next to Australia's third-largest city, Brisbane, where up to 9,000 homes were expected to be swamped. The Brisbane River overflowed its banks Tuesday and officials warned that dozens of low-lying neighborhoods and parts of downtown could be inundated in coming days.

Drenching rain in Australia that started before Christmas has flooded an area the size of France and Germany combined.

But nothing downstream was expected to be as fierce as the flash flood that struck Toowoomba on Monday. It was sparked by a freak storm -- up to 6 inches fell in half an hour.

"There was water coming down everywhere in biblical proportions," Toowoomba council member Joe Ramia told the AP.

Ramia, 63, was driving downtown when the flash flood struck. He parked his car and dashed on foot for higher ground, keeping an eye on the carnage unfolding below: Cars transformed into scrap metal as they were flung into an elevated railway line, giant metal industrial bins tossed about as if made of paper, a man clinging desperately to a power pole as the relentless tide surged around him.

Ramia watched as a rescue official pushed through the churning water and yanked the man to safety. Others, including five children, were not as lucky, and were swept to their deaths.

"You were powerless to do a thing," said Ramia, a lifelong resident of Toowoomba. "While we can rebuild, you can't replace people. ... I've never seen anything like this."

The raging water was strong enough to rip houses off their foundations. Leroy Shephard, who lives in the town of Grantham, east of Toowoomba, was inside his home when the flood struck.

"You could feel the whole house just pop up off its stumps, turn around, and go -- for a 100 meters (330 feet) or something down my backyard," Shephard told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

He and his family spent five hours on the house's roof waiting for the waters to drop.

"It's not a good feeling having the floorboards under your feet just ripple, the whole house just ripple and crack, and watching rooms just disappear," he said.

Emergency services officers plucked more than 40 people from houses isolated overnight by the torrent that hit the Lockyer Valley, and thousands were being evacuated. In one small community in the path of the floodwaters, Forest Hill, the entire population of about 300 was being airlifted to safety in military helicopters, Bligh said.

Search and rescue efforts were hampered by more driving rain, though the bad weather was easing and Bligh said the search would get easier Wednesday.

Brisbane Mayor Campbell Newman said authorities were preparing for flooding affecting about 15,000 people in 80 suburbs.

The city is protected by a large dam built upstream after floods devastated downtown in 1974. But the reservoir was full, and officials had no choice but to release water that would cause low-level flooding in the city, Newman said. The alternative was a much worse torrent.

Steph Stewardson, a Brisbane graphic designer, said there was an exodus in a downtown area around lunchtime Tuesday when the river that goes through the city broke its banks. Stewardson, 40, hopped in her car and crossed the swollen river to collect her dog Boo from daycare while waters started covering the boardwalk stretching along its banks.

Stewardson took shelter in her house, and plans to stay there -- for now.

"I'm about 800 meters (half a mile) from the river on a hill, so I think it's going to be OK," she told the AP.

Queensland has been in the grip of its worst flooding for more than two weeks, after tropical downpours covered an area the size of France and Germany combined. Entire towns have been swamped, more than 200,000 people affected, and the coal industry and farming have virtually shut down.

"The power of nature can still be a truly frightening power and we've seen that on display in this country," Prime Minister Julia Gillard said.

Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson described the events Monday as "an inland instant tsunami."

Forecasters said more flash floods could occur through the week.

Deputy Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said rescue efforts were concentrated on towns between Toowoomba and Brisbane, including hardest-hit Murphy's Creek and Grantham, where about 30 people sought shelter in a school isolated by the floodwaters.

The floods reached a second state Tuesday, with about 4,500 people stranded by high waters in bordering New South Wales, officials said, though the situation was not yet as dire as in Queensland.

Bligh said last week the cost of the floods could be as high as $5 billion, the latest figure available.