"A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government." (Thomas Jefferson)
Yesterday I finally decided that I would answer the phone from the 202 area code knowing it was probably the RNC dialing for dollars. Wanted to get my two cents in so I answered the phone. Started off with their normal speech and then I had a chance to talk so I covered a few of my concerns. As I was finishing up my comments, the person said you are not the only one saying that same thing. Because I said I would consider donating January 1st, I was given over to a supervisor and went through my whole spiel again. Received the same reaction that I wasn't the only one except this time he wanted me to guarantee I was going to give and started off on reasons why I should. Stopped him with I know you are the only organization that can fund some of the Presidential activities but I am not donating to any political cause until after the 1st of January. My money for donations will go to charities that help kids have a better Christmas.
They don't get it -- this is the time to donate to charities if you are going to donate not some political PAC.
Yesterday I had seven requests in my inbox and five more today asking for PAC donations. It is mind boggling that at this time of year they are asking for political donations when we just finished up the mid-term election. As for donating to Joe through the DeMint PAC, they are wasting their breath -- Joe Miller was a bad candidate and is looking more like a Democrat sore loser with filing lawsuits and the whine. The Anchorage Daily blogs are filled with comments from alll sides telling Jim DeMint and the Tea Party Express to stay out of Alaska politics. My reply yesterday to every PAC asking for a donation was to remove me from their list.
There are so many people whose children are not going to have a very good Christmas this year due to their parents not being able to find good jobs and are working jobs to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Food Banks need donations along with Toys for Tots for the Marine Corps and The Salvation Army for starters. There are many organizations that are there to help provide some Christmas for children in need. Walk in any Walmart and see the tags on the Christmas tree -- doesn't take a lot to go buy a gift listed on the tag and make some one's Christmas a lot happier.
We had experience with Toys for Tots in my county when I was Vice Chair of the County GOP. Our float in the Christmas parade was about Toys for Tots and all the toys on the float were taken up to the Marine Corps reserves after the parade. Our County gave over $1500 worth of Toys. That's when I learned that toys that are given for Toys for Tots stay in your own area and are given to children to make their Christmas brighter. Had a ball shopping for toys from donations I was given. We even ended up on the broadcast news for our project as the local channel filmed me coming out of Toys R Us. Felt so good to deliver all those Toys to the Marine Corps Reserve outside of Tinker AFB.
Several years ago when my youngest daughter was at OU, her sorority hosted children who were not going to get anything for Christmas. The girls bought the toys from the list the children had provided. Our Parent Club with the girls decorated the house for Christmas and the Christmas Party for these children. It was a great teaching moment for the girls when they got to see how happy these children were along with their parents. Some people make fun of sororities but they are second to none on campus for philanthropy projects throughout the year. Every sorority at OU has a charity they raise funds for at different fundraisers during the year.
Everyone can do their part. Drop $1 in the bucket of The Salvation Army every time you go in Walmart. Remember growing up and my Dad giving me a quarter to drop in the bucket every time we passed one -- thought it was great.
Drop off cans of food at your local food bank. Our Governor-Elect Mary Fallin, as part of her Inauguration, is kicking off a food drive for the OK food banks around the State of Oklahoma for the month of December. What a great Inaugural event to give back to those less fortunate.
There are many charities that need money right now -- just participated in one for Coats for Kids that provides new coats for children in our area who cannot afford them that is sponsored by a local TV station.
We know money is tight for a lot of people right now, but if you can donate a $1 to any charity it will be appreciated. The Spirit of Christmas is giving of yourself or donations to help others.
It is about time that Mark Kirk was seated in the Senate late yesterday. If he had been a Democrat Harry Reid would have seated him right away. Kept hearing there was a problem with paperwork -- always is when a Republican takes a Democrat seat. We learned that from Scott Brown in MA when his paperwork was also delayed.
This seat is sweet as it is the seat that Obama held and now will be held by a Republican for the next six years. Kirk was seated early because the election was to fill out the term of Obama and also for the new term that starts on January 3, 2011!
Congratulations to Mark Kirk, our newest Republican Senator!
Kirk Quits House, Joins Senate
By Jessica Brady
Roll Call Staff
Nov. 29, 2010, 6:12 p.m.
Sen. Mark Kirk was officially sworn in Monday, handing Republicans another vote in time for the crucial days of the lame-duck session.
Kirk won the Senate seat previously held by President Barack Obama in Illinois and is the third of three new Senators to join the chamber during the lame-duck session. The former House Member won both his own six-year Senate term and a special election to replace appointed Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) for the remainder of this year. He resigned his House seat Monday to move across the Capitol.
A fiscal hawk, Kirk takes his seat just as Members prepare to debate how to extend expiring tax cuts enacted President George W. Bush and a continuing resolution or omnibus spending bill to keep the government funded next year. An appropriator in the House, Kirk is an opponent of earmarks and has said he will oppose any Senate omnibus measure laced with funding for special projects. Kirk also penned an editorial Monday in the Chicago Tribune in which he called on the Senate to adopt a moratorium on earmarks. The newly minted Member will get his chance to push that cause later Monday evening when the Senate considers an amendment sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to adopt such a moratorium.
WikiLeaks on Twitter said they released the documents to El Pais, Le Monde, Speigel, Guardian & NYT. Some websites are going after the NY Times but in this instance if they didn't release the information, foreign papers would have gone ahead without them. Looks like they worked together to release the information at the same time. We believe the NY Times made a smart move to get the information out here in the States and not be filtered through foreign newspapers. Most of the documents released cover the last three years although a few are said to go back much earlier.
What a coincidence in that forty years ago Daniel Ellsberg who was a military analyst released the "Pentagon Papers" which sent shock waves through the military community and the White House. We didn't believe those should have been released as he took an oath to never divulge security. He broke that oath because he was part of the anti-war crowd who would do anything possible to embarrass the Government including breaking the law.
In late 1969 - with the assistance of his former RAND Corporation colleague, Anthony Russo — Ellsberg secretly made several sets of photocopies of the classified documents to which he had access; these later became known as the Pentagon Papers. As an editor of the New York Times was to write much later, these documents "demonstrated, among other things, that the Johnson Administration had systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress, about a subject of transcendent national interest and significance". They revealed that the government had knowledge, early on, that the war would not likely be won, and that continuing the war would lead to many times more casualties than was ever admitted publicly. Further, the papers showed the government had lied to Congress and the public. (Wikipedia)
There is no excuse for someone getting these State Department documents and releasing them or the earlier documents on Afghanistan this summer or the "Pentagon Papers" all of which were released for some one's agenda with no thought to the harm it might cause. It is troubling that security can be broken that easily at the State Department to allow access to documents that were classified for a reason. If this group, Wiki Leaks, founded by Julian Assange who is also their spokesman, didn't have someone on the inside at the State Department, would be shocked. We find it hard to believe that the person arrested for the original leak of documents from Afghanistan, Bradley Manning, US Army intelligence analyst who is being court martialed, would have access to the State Department documents.
The fact that this correspondence has been leaked doesn't speak well of the Department of State. Cannot believe over the years what people have put in correspondence, but then most figured the documents were classified and would not be released. We agree with Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) that the greatest harm is the loss of trust by governments dealing with the United States. How many countries trust us anyway after the last few years with the Obama Administration? One thing the documents do show is that Obama was not interesting in furthering relationships with Europe but preferred to work with the Far East which should send chills up your spine.
"I think the greatest harm ... is the loss of trust that other governments will have in dealing with the United States of America," Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told "Good Morning America" today. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange "is putting into danger our foreign policy and perhaps the lives of certain Americans around the world." (ABC News
Agree 100% with Senators Lyndsey Graham (R-SC) and Clare McKaskill (D-MO) that the leakers of these documents should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Releasing classified documents is against the law, but will the Holder Department of Justice step in to help. Frankly the DOJ couldn't even win a case in civilian court against a terrorist so we have little faith they will do anything now.
Having worked around classified, find it so hard to believe that any organization would be so careless about their security. Think it is time to clean out the State Department and start over. For years leaks have been happening from the State Department against our own Department of Defense (DoD) as they did their power plays when they sensed that the DoD and National Security Advisor were getting more power.
The arrogance shown by many of our Secretaries of State has been mind boggling over the years. The people get that appointment and it goes to their head in most instances. Maybe if the Secretary of State would stay home more and concentrate on making the State Department a functional organization, we would be better off. The current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has logged countless miles on AF planes traveling around the world and what is there to show for all the travel? She doesn't even travel with the President on his foreign trips which is strange. Career diplomats who are firmly entrenched in the State Department hierarchy since the Carter years have not helped the perception of arrogance and power plays out of this group.
Leaking the material is deplorable," Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, a Republican, told Fox News. "The people at WikiLeaks could have blood on their hands ... People who do this are low on the food chain as far as I'm concerned. If you can prosecute them, let's try."
His Democratic colleague Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri agreed with him and said she hoped "we can find out where this is coming from and go after them with the force of law". She added that "the people who do these document leaks need to do a gut check about their patriotism".
Representative Peter King of New York, a life-long supporter of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA, called on Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, to designate WikiLeaks a "Foreign Terrorist Organisation" outlawed in the US.
"WikiLeaks presents a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States. I strongly urge you to work within the Administration to use every offensive capability of the U.S. government to prevent further damaging releases by WikiLeaks," he said in a statement.
The Pentagon blasted WikiLeaks for its "reckless" dump of classified documents and said it was taking steps to bolster security of classified U.S. military networks. (London Telegraph
When reading the article from the NY Times, we are aghast at some of what was written. Anyone with an ounce of brains should know not to put some of these comments down on paper. These cables/messages speak poorly of the leadership at the State Department and in the Administration. Would fire Hillary Clinton in a heartbeat after this release of documents. Always thought she was over her head at the State Department and this proves that fact. We don't believe that Obama has the nerve to fire her over these leaks because he is afraid she will run against him for President.
Wonder who is going to be asked to fall on their sword for this failure of security?
Cables Obtained by WikiLeaks Shine Light Into Secret Diplomatic Channels
By SCOTT SHANE and ANDREW W. LEHREN
Published: November 28, 2010
WASHINGTON — A cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the past three years, provides an unprecedented look at back-room bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views of foreign leaders and frank assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats.
Some of the cables, made available to The New York Times and several other news organizations, were written as recently as late February, revealing the Obama administration’s exchanges over crises and conflicts. The material was originally obtained by WikiLeaks, an organization devoted to revealing secret documents. WikiLeaks posted 220 cables, some redacted to protect diplomatic sources, in the first installment of the archive on its Web site on Sunday.
The disclosure of the cables is sending shudders through the diplomatic establishment, and could strain relations with some countries, influencing international affairs in ways that are impossible to predict.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and American ambassadors around the world have been contacting foreign officials in recent days to alert them to the expected disclosures. A statement from the White House on Sunday said: “We condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorized disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information.”
The White House said the release of what it called “stolen cables” to several publications was a “reckless and dangerous action” and warned that some cables, if released in full, could disrupt American operations abroad and put the work and even lives of confidential sources of American diplomats at risk. The statement noted that reports often include “candid and often incomplete information” whose disclosure could “deeply impact not only U.S. foreign policy interests, but those of our allies and friends around the world.”
The cables, a huge sampling of the daily traffic between the State Department and some 270 embassies and consulates, amount to a secret chronicle of the United States’ relations with the world in an age of war and terrorism. Among their revelations, to be detailed in The Times in coming days:
¶ A dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel: Since 2007, the United States has mounted a highly secret effort, so far unsuccessful, to remove from a Pakistani research reactor highly enriched uranium that American officials fear could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device. In May 2009, Ambassador Anne W. Patterson reported that Pakistan was refusing to schedule a visit by American technical experts because, as a Pakistani official said, “if the local media got word of the fuel removal, ‘they certainly would portray it as the United States taking Pakistan’s nuclear weapons,’ he argued.”
¶ Thinking about an eventual collapse of North Korea: American and South Korean officials have discussed the prospects for a unified Korea, should the North’s economic troubles and political transition lead the state to implode. The South Koreans even considered commercial inducements to China, according to the American ambassador to Seoul. She told Washington in February that South Korean officials believe that the right business deals would “help salve” China’s “concerns about living with a reunified Korea” that is in a “benign alliance” with the United States.
¶ Bargaining to empty the Guantánamo Bay prison: When American diplomats pressed other countries to resettle detainees, they became reluctant players in a State Department version of “Let’s Make a Deal.” Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if it wanted to meet with President Obama, while the island nation of Kiribati was offered incentives worth millions of dollars to take in Chinese Muslim detainees, cables from diplomats recounted. The Americans, meanwhile, suggested that accepting more prisoners would be “a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence in Europe.”
¶ Suspicions of corruption in the Afghan government: When Afghanistan’s vice president visited the United Arab Emirates last year, local authorities working with the Drug Enforcement Administration discovered that he was carrying $52 million in cash. With wry understatement, a cable from the American Embassy in Kabul called the money “a significant amount” that the official, Ahmed Zia Massoud, “was ultimately allowed to keep without revealing the money’s origin or destination.” (Mr. Massoud denies taking any money out of Afghanistan.)
¶ A global computer hacking effort: China’s Politburo directed the intrusion into Google’s computer systems in that country, a Chinese contact told the American Embassy in Beijing in January, one cable reported. The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government. They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said.
¶ Mixed records against terrorism: Saudi donors remain the chief financiers of Sunni militant groups like Al Qaeda, and the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar, a generous host to the American military for years, was the “worst in the region” in counterterrorism efforts, according to a State Department cable last December. Qatar’s security service was “hesitant to act against known terrorists out of concern for appearing to be aligned with the U.S. and provoking reprisals,” the cable said.
After watching a touching video concerning the life and death of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver, Chris Henry, that was shown yesterday before the Bengals game, I was in no mood to see an article that had Sarah Palin attacking the President's gaffe's and the media as part of her Thanksgiving Message.
First the video that touched so many people yesterday and left James Brown on CBS Sports in tears along with a host of people who watched the video live or have seen the replay. Chris Brown lost his daughter who was in college in a traffic accident so this really hit home to him.
Yesterday did not see this video but after hearing about it this morning, decided to view the video from Chris Henry's Mom, Carolyn Henry Glasby, on the organ donation decision she made following her son's death from a pick-up accident on December 16th, 2009. For those of you who don't know, Chris Henry was a professional football player who was a wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals who was killed in an accident after he fell off the back of a pick-up truck. There are two lessons to be learned:
1. NEVER ride or jump in the back of a moving pick-up truck. My youngest daughter in college had a sorority sister killed after she was thrown from the back of a pick-up truck. In one split second, everything can change.
2. SIGN UP to be an organ donor. It is the greatest gift everyone can give. When you see the lives this young man touched through organ donations, you realize how important it is when you get your driver's license to check organ donor.
This is one of the most touching videos I have seen and brings tears to your eyes. Chris Henry's mother made a tough decision, but it was the right decision and one that has touched the lives of four people, their families and friends. We hope her message will touch potential donors everywhere who will decide to become an organ donor.
After viewing the video, decided to take a look at websites to see if anything had happened that was worthy of note. Imagine the shock to see this headline:
For the last several days have been receiving emails from candidates we supported in the general election. There was a common theme running through all the emails and that was to thank God for their many blessings and to asked that God Bless all of us, the men and women in our military, and our Nation. They all left a good feeling that these were the right people to lead our Nation in Congress and in our States. It was also a message of this is One Nation, Under God, and we have to work together to bring our Nation back to its heritage of Freedoms for every American.
On Thanksgiving for part of Sarah Palin's message she chooses to attack the President on his gaffes and the media for not reporting them enough which leaves us cold. We believe that is a total lack of class for a day that is set aside every year for our Nation to give Thanks.
Makes us wonder about the people who are touting her as Presidential material and even praise her for her attacks in her Thanksgiving message. As we posted on a website, we must be from a different planet because we view Thanksgiving as a time to give Thanks to God for our many blessings not a time for a political attack.
We do not believe she has the experience or the toughness to guide our Country -- continual twitter and facebook attacks against Obama and the media are not going to work. She has her own gaffe's in interviews going back to her nomination to be Vice President. Her interviews this week contains one of those gaffe's.
We will have more to say in the days ahead but you can mark us down in the column of Karl Rove and Barbara Bush. After seeing the video, the comments of Palin were just too much to ignore for today.
We leave you with one message and that is to sign up to be an organ donor -- greatest gift a person can ever give! Four families were blessed and had so much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving as detailed in this video as well as countless others who have received organ donations. Thanks to Carolyn Henry Glasby from a town outside New Orleans for sharing her story.
This picture of President George W. Bush was from his trip to Iraq for Thanksgiving in 2003. Despite the media spin, the picture of him carrying the turkey was the real deal not plastic as even the NY Times admitted in 2004. This is what we have been missing in the last two years. President Bush has always put the military first. We are so thankful he was our President when 9/11 happened less than eight months into his administration. President Bush and his wife Laura brought class to the White House during their eight years in residence. No one could ever doubt his his love for America. Thank you President Bush for giving America eight years of your life during some of the most trying times. We will never forget what you and Laura did for the Country following 9/11.
One item of good news from South Texas. The unthinkable happened yesterday with Solomon Ortiz finally conceding his Congressional race in South Texas to newcomer Blake Farenthold. If someone bet on that race, they won a bundle of money if they bet against Ortiz because frankly we thought he was unbeatable and are still in shock he lost. He lost by around 800 votes on election day and lost by the same number on a hand recount. Congratulations to Blake Farenthold the newest Congressman from South Texas.
We want to wish all you a very Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends. If you are traveling, have a safe trip -- hope you are not flying because it most likely will leave you in a not so good mood after clearing security.
This is our last post for the Thanksgiving holidays and we leave you with this beautiful video with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir providing the music for 'America the Beautiful!'
This is such a great idea out of Governor-Elect Rick Scott. Looking forward to seeing him as the next Florida Governor. If you want to feel good about a candidate, read this article and look at the pictures.
Governor-Elect, 2011 Inaugural Committee Partner with Wounded Warrior Project
November 22, 2010
FT LAUDERDALE — Governor-Elect Rick Scott and Executive Director Steve Nardizzi, Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) today announced a partnership between the 2011 Florida Inaugural Committee and Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that provides programs and services for injured service members and their families.
“The heroes protecting and defending our nation at home and around the world are the heart of Florida and a shining example for us all. I am honored to highlight their tremendous sacrifices and continued contributions to our state through this partnership with Wounded Warrior Project,” said Governor-Elect Rick Scott.
The 2011 Florida Inaugural Committee is organizing more than a dozen events across the state, many of them free and open to the public, and is funded through the generosity of private donations. Proceeds from these contributions to the Inaugural Committee will be distributed to Wounded Warrior Project.
“Wounded Warrior Project harnesses the strength and determination of the young men and women who serve our nation and I am proud to announce the Inaugural Committee’s commitment to contributing to their valuable work through this unconditional gift,” said Ambassador Francis Rooney, Co-Chair of the 2011 Florida Inaugural Committee.
Last week, Governor–Elect Rick Scott visited the headquarters of the Wounded Warrior Project in Jacksonville, Florida where he ate lunch and visited with several wounded warriors transitioning into civilian life after their military service in Afghanistan and Iraq. (Photos courtesy of Debra Cox, Florida National Guard)
“Wounded Warrior Project was born out of, and continues to be sustained by, the spirit of compassion—one wounded warrior helping another. We are thankful for that same compassionate spirit shared by Governor-Elect Scott, the 2011 Florida Inaugural Committee, and the people of Florida for their generosity in making this gift possible,” said Steve Nardizzi, executive director of Wounded Warrior Project.
Over 40,000 of our nation’s armed forces have been physically wounded during the current military conflicts. Hundreds of thousands more are estimated to be recovering from invisible wounds of war, including post traumatic stress disorder, major depression, and traumatic brain injury. WWP assists wounded warriors and their families through a holistic approach to their recovery, providing programs and services to aid their physical rehabilitation and improve their mental health and well-being.
About Wounded Warrior Project
The mission of the Wounded Warrior Project is to honor and empower wounded warriors. Its purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured men and women aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, FL. To get involved and learn more, visit www.woundedwarriorproject.org.
Some people might ask why anyone would cover a campaign that is over and the candidate lost but this is one of those Lessons Learned moments that everyone running for office needs to read.
You don't hire friends to be Campaign Managers. You hire experienced people when you are running for a Senate seat especially against someone like Harry Reid. Tea Party people may be well intentioned but most don't have a clue about how to run campaigns unless they have been working in campaigns for some time. Most are neophytes to campaigns that someone like her Campaign Manager took full advantage of to get his way which cost her the seat. Not sure she would have won anyway with her stance on some issues but she would have had a better chance.
This is another case where the Tea Party Express and Sen DeMint went in full force for Sharron Angle which was a mistake. Don't think much vetting was done on some candidates as they looked for the most conservative to win the primary but in a lot of instances that person was not a good candidate for the general election. This 'purity' crap has to stop if we ever want to take the Senate. William F. Buckley was right when he said "The wisest choice would be the one who would win. No sense running Mona Lisa in a beauty contest. I’d be for the most right, viable candidate who could win.” It was true when he said it in 1967 and is true today.
Takes a lot to win a statewide election and from what was coming out of the campaign all along, there was no ground game by the Angle campaign. Her campaign manager is one of the more inept around although Christine O'Donnell and her campaign manager may be worse if that is possible. Then you can throw in Joe Miller and his campaign in Alaska. These candidates were not vetted properly before the primary when DeMint, Palin, and the Tea Party went all in.
Lessons learned from the Angle campaign is very simple -- wrong candidate was elected in the primary thanks to some people spreading false information about better candidates in order to get her the win. One thing I have learned in recent years is that sometimes the far right and the far left have some things in common like doing anything they can to get their candidate elected including lying if they need to or cheating to win.
We are seeing that in Alaska right now with Joe Miller who refuses to admit that he lost to Lisa Murkowski, the write-in candidate, and according to Anchorage Daily Senator Demint is still funding Miller who has lost except for the final certification which is being held up because of his lawsuit(s). Miller has been on Fox News lying several times and doesn't get called on it which is strange because anyone who has followed the race knows he is lying. Alaska GOP has told him to concede but Miller who was a bad candidate is still looking for more dollars and unfortunately, if the media is right Sen DeMint is sending him more.
Hope some people are realizing because someone was in the military does not make them the best candidate to run. Having been around the Air Force for most of my adult life, there are some really fine people I would vote for in a minute, and there are some I wouldn't vote for if they ran for dog catcher. It is like that in all walks of life and the military is no different.
This is one of the best critiques we have seen about the Nevada Senate race. For someone who supposedly got $14M in donations would like to know how the money was spent by the Angle campaign because most of the ads that went statewide were paid for by the NRSC. What a waste for the NRSC to spend $750,000 on this incompetent campaign. Will give than an "A" for effort as they were working with a candidate campaign that wouldn't listen and had a campaign manager who spent more time in his Missouri home than in Nevada. That was a seat that was winnable, but you don't win with bad candidates and their campaign staff. A good candidate would have taken advice they were being given by NRSC and others to heart instead of relying on friends.
Angle's campaign sank candidate
By SHIRA TOEPLITZ | 11/21/10 5:18 PM EST Updated: 11/21/10 6:13 PM EST
It’s widely recognized that in the marquee 2010 Senate race, Majority Leader Harry Reid ran a nearly flawless, textbook campaign, an operation so extraordinary that it enabled him to defy an almost certain political death.
It turns out he got some inadvertent inside help. Interviews with Nevada and Washington Republicans familiar with the campaign of Reid’s GOP opponent, Sharron Angle, describe a not-ready-for-prime-time effort that was equally astonishing — a model of dysfunction that was as bad as Reid’s campaign was good.
At the center of it was Terry Campbell, Angle’s closest adviser, who held the title of campaign manager.
A longtime political ally to Angle, Campbell ran her campaigns for the state Legislature almost a decade ago before taking the reins of her long-shot Senate primary bid along with another veteran supporter, Jerry Stacy, and several tea party volunteers.
Running a primary campaign out of the candidate’s living room, Stacy and Campbell were the only two staffers on Angle’s payroll — and the only two aides she thanked publicly in her June victory speech.
That proved to be the high point of the campaign.
In one occasion that was emblematic of the chaos that marked the fall effort, Campbell nearly scuttled an appearance by Sen. John McCain while the 2008 GOP presidential nominee was midair on the way to an Angle rally at The Orleans Hotel and Casino.
While McCain was en route to the event, held five days before Election Day, Angle was bombarded with calls from teary tea party activists who begged her not to campaign with the Arizona senator because they contended he was not conservative enough to appear on the same stage with her.
The source of the emotional appeals from some of Angle’s most loyal followers? Campbell himself did the urging, according to multiple sources with first-hand knowledge of the incident. Much to the relief of national Republicans, Angle ignored their pleas, and the McCain event went on without a hitch.
“In the 20 years that I’ve been involved politically, I’ve never had the misfortune of working with such sheer, utter incompetence. Too much is at stake in these political campaigns — people like Campbell don’t need to be anywhere near them,” said Chris LaCivita, who served as political director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee this fall and worked directly with the Angle campaign. “If they were filming a sequel to the movie 'Dumb and Dumber,' Terry Campbell would have a feature role.”
After capturing the nomination, Campbell was consistently unaware of the daily metrics in the campaign, including the cash-on-hand situation and which advertisements were on the air, according to several Republican operatives who were frequently on conference calls with him.
The first part of the The Journal Editorial Review with Paul Gigot video from The Wall Street Journal, November 20, 2010, covers the Deficit Commission where Paul Ryan sits as a member. Cong Paul Ryan (R-WI) gives the real facts on Tax Reform by the Deficit Commission. It turns out it is not about raising taxes that we are hearing from some conservative sites and pundits unless you are talking about no mortgage deduction on a 2nd home or a mortgage over $500,000 for starters. Seems they completely missed the recommendation to lower tax rates on business and individuals with the top rate of individuals going to 28%.
Ryan as a member of the Commission and doesn't like everything and doesn't expect lower tax rates to get approval from Obama because he is a class warfare person who believes in redistributing the wealth of Americans. Ryan said Republicans need to be a pro-growth, low tax party and what the Republicans plans are for the 112th Congress beginning on January 3, 2011. Obama didn't want Medicare or Medicaid looked at by this Commission so they ignored these programs. IMO best guess is because he didn't want Obamacare looked at with a fine toothed comb especially with Paul Ryan sitting on the Commission.
Congressman Paul Ryan takes over the Chairman of the Budget Committee in January and gives his plans on the second part of this video. Gigot reveals that Dave Camp (R-MI) will be taking over as Chairman of Ways and Means which writes the Tax Laws and is made of the same cloth as Paul Ryan. Things should get very interesting House starting on January 3rd.
The video also gives an update on TSA Reviews. Long but well worth watching. Paul Gigot does a very good job of interviewing.
It is time that we start questioning some of the Conservative websites along with the liberal ones and ask what is in it for them when they come out with less than truthful information. One thing is to get contributions to continue their fight from both sides. Be very wary of any site charging to send a fax as this is a great way to raise money for the people who run the site. It pains me to see the same tactics being used by some members of the right that the left has used.
Anyone can log onto the sites of the Houseor Senate to find the websites of their member of Congress or Senators, click on their link, and leave their comment or call their office if you don't like something. Personal contact with the member from their constituent is much better than a petition signed by many people not in their district or state. Don't forget if you are going to criticize a member be prepared to thank them when they do the right thing. Even if you don't like something they have done, being rude is not going to get you very far. Be reasoned with your complaint because the person answering the phone is not the Member of Congress.
Don't know about anyone else but this 'sky is falling' mentality from some conservative websites is getting really annoying. So many emails I am getting have no basis in fact. On Friday received numerous emails saying a bill was about to be passed in the Senate and send faxes at their website, but the bill has never left Committee.
Then we have the threats now from National Tea Party people along with some Conservatives to do as they say or else. That's beyond annoying and starting a blow back from a lot of individual Tea Party people along with Republican grassroots. What we saw out of the Tea Party Patriots sending out private cell phone numbers and email accounts of incoming Freshman was so wrong and so arrogant. These people talk about elitist, then they should look in the mirror.
The holidays are coming up and time for some people to chill out and not expect to see the bogeyman around every corner. Enjoy the holidays, spend time with your family, and remember on January 3rd, 2011, a new day dawns as the 112th Congress is sworn into office.
To recap the last week after Congress returned, Nancy Pelosi was elected as Minority Leader of the House Democrats even though the more moderates went after her. She won by a large margin because Progressives think they lost so many seats because they didn't go far enough. That is an idea that they need to keep pushing into the 2012 elections.
Cong Charles Rangel (D-NY) will be censured by the House but frankly after being found guilty on 10 counts he should have been ousted from his seat. If he had any ethics, he would resign but those words 'ethics' and 'Rangel' are like oil and water.
Now to the Good News of the week!
Republicans look to be picking up another seat as Ann Marie Buerkle in NY-25 has cleared the hurdle of Onondoga County in NY and only votes left to count are absentee in a county where she has her most strength so you can safely chalk up 241 seats for the Republicans. Most of us in our wildest dreams didn't think we would be at 241 and the Democrats at 194 after the election.
On Wednesday, Nov 17, Republicans elected their new Leadership Team:
Speaker of the House: Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)
Majority Leader: Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Majority Whip: Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
Conference Chairman: Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
NRCC Chairman: Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)
Policy Committee Chairman: Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)
Conference Vice-Chair: Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
Conference Secretary: Rep. John Carter (R-TX)
Freshman Representative: Rep.-elect Kristi Noem (R-SD)
Freshman Representative: Rep.-elect Tim Scott (R-SC)
Rules Committee Representative: Rep. David Dreier (R-CA)
Chairman of the Leadership: Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR)
Congratulations to all the new members of leadership and especially to Speaker-Elect Boehner. We are so happy to see Eric Cantor as Majority Leader and Kevin McCarthy as Majority Whip because along with Paul Ryan, the budget guru, the three of them ran the Young Guns program under the leadership of the NRCC Chair Pete Sessions (R-TX) which helped bring the Republicans all the new faces for the 112th Congress. With the reelection of the NRCC Chair Pete Sessions for another term the Republicans are in the fight for more seats in 2012 with the Young Guns ready to ramp up again. These newly elected Young Guns were prolific fundraisers for their races. It is an exciting time to realize on January 3, 2011, we will have 241 seats in the House versus 194 (tentative) seats for the Democrats.
We hated to see Mike Pence resign as the Conference Chair as he did such an excellent job but he is weighing his options for running for a different office in 2012. We wish him Good Luck in what ever position he chooses to run. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), the new Conference Chair, will do an excellent job as he moves to Conference Chair from Chair of Policy Committee. With two new Freshman, Kristi Noem (R-SD) and Tim Scott (R-SC) on the new Leadership, we expect a lot of new and fresh ideas coming out of this whole group.
Senator John Boehner answers questions about the plane that Pelosi has been using and the direction of the 112th Congress in the latest of his mail bag YouTube videos where he replies to people from his district who have submitted suggestions:
Enjoy your weekend with football or being outdoors in areas where the weather is still fairly warm before the colder temperatures take over.
For those traveling this weekend for the Thanksgiving Holidays next week, have a safe trip!
There is a disturbing trend happening on the Internet now from the far right non-Republicans who some are sounding more like the far left by the day. My email this morning is filled with emails from websites attacking stores and wanting me to boycott because some store is not going to decorate for Christmas to using XMas for Christmas. The emails are trying to tell me what to think, what to say, and what to do. As a side note this mentality is nothing new. Was at a Republican Women's Meeting several years ago where one of the leaders said "If you don't go to church twice a week, you are not a Christian." Never been back to that group.
This boycott trend is getting annoying. When it first started out it meant something because boycotts would start over major items like some programming on television that was way out of mainstream. Some cable news outlets sponsors were targeted because of information the the cable networks were putting out was false. Took part in many of the efforts trying to get the cable networks to report facts not spin by joining in those boycotts but now the boycotts are happening routinely and have lost any clout they had.
A lot of it seems to be someone who perceives something is against their religion not to mention trolling for dollars to help the fight. Just maybe a company that is on the edge doesn't have money to decorate or decided not to do it this year. It is their choice as a business owner to observe or not observe a holiday. As long as they don't observe any, I don't have a problem. If they decide to observe a holiday other than Christmas, then I have a problem.
There are a lot of thin skinned people right now in the 'my way or no way' crowds from both parties. To those I would say step away from computer and interact with family and friends and get a perspective on life and what is important. Telling the rest of us what to do, what to think, and what to say is not going to work. Calling people names has to end.
Thanksgiving is coming up next week, and we have a lot to be thankful including the fact that this past election showed America truly is a center right country and that is how it should be governed -- not from the far left or the far right.
Economic issues are at the forefront of most people's concerns. Many don't know if they are going to be laid off during the holidays or not as companies continue to scale back partially because of Obamacare and what is around the corner in costs. Another is the Bush Tax Cuts that need to be approved -- we would like them to be permanent but we don't expect this President to go along and we consider it a win if they stay in place for three more years.
Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks for the many blessings we have received living in America. Many of us feel so fortunate to have been born in America and give thanks every day that we live here. We are Americans by birth while many are Americans by choice. What other Country in the world do people strive so hard to come here to live and have a better life for their family?
Each of us has a right to worship in our own way -- some in churches, some in their homes, and some not at all but that's their right. The Freedom of Religion we have been granted keeps America from having a state religion. All our freedoms as so eloquently stated are 'endowed by our creator.' No one group is going to take our freedoms away without a fight. This idea that you can be told what to write or what to say or be called names has to stop. Who gave either side the position of judge and jury over anyone.
There is one thing I always admired about President George W. Bush and that is when he recognized on abortion "you can't change the law, you have to change the hearts and minds of the country." You don't change hearts and minds on any issue by getting in someone's face and giving threats if they don't follow what you say. That's not the way it is done.
As Republicans, we should be thankful the American people woke up and gave us another chance to lead on the economy and healthcare -- two issues which were high on people's minds when they went to vote. I have complete faith in the leadership of the new Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and others of the Republican leadership team and Conference that they will do everything possible to stop the march toward socialism of Obama and Pelosi. It is not a time of celebration in the House, but a time to roll up the sleeves with ideas on how to get this economy moving forward and putting America back on her feet.
With the Senate uniting I have the same hope. What people need to realize that Senators support what their states want or should in a perfect world. Sometimes they might vote for something the rest of our states wouldn't like, but they have to answer to their state not to me or others who don't live in their state.
We are faced with a lot of problems in America right now that have gotten worse the last two years, but Americans have always had a 'can do' attitude and this is no different. The men and women we have elected to the People's House are our voices in Washington. They don't need threats if they don't do something that some group wants, that they are going to be challenged in the next election when they haven't even been sworn in for the 112th Congress yet. What they need is full support unless they prove they don't deserve that support.
You can take it to the bank that these House Republicans from leadership on down are going to govern on our behalf. They did an amazing job in the 111th Congress to slow down the progress of the leftists in their march toward socialism by using every tactic they could find. We expect to see many good things come out of the 112th House starting on January 3, 2011, when Republicans led by the new Speaker John Boehner, who was unanimously elected by the Republican Conference, assumes the Speaker's Chair. We predict that John Boehner and Eric Cantor, new Majority Leader, along with their Leadership team will be the hardest working group we have ever seen the House. We have elected some Republicans with some great ideas that will be coming out in the days ahead.
As Governor-Elect Rick Scott said in Florida along with many other Governors, on January 3rd, the new Speaker John Boehner can join the chorus and declare "America Open for Business!"
God Bless our elected representatives and God Bless America!
We couldn't agree more that it is past time for Holder to go not only on this but many other items. The fact that he tried this terrorist who murdered innocent people in civilian court should be all we need to know about Eric Holder. This person was acquitted of murdering 224 innocents by a civilian jury. Looks like one person held out for acquittal and the rest came around so not to have a hung jury according to the experts. If there ever was a miscarriage of justice this is it and why terrorists need to be tried in military tribunals not civilian courts where some bleeding heart liberal can mess it up.
We also need to keep the terrorist in GITMO and not bring them to the prisons in this country. If the far left doesn't like it, tough. These terrorist want to kill us. Also time to quit releasing the detainees at GITMO who flock back to the terrorists organizations. Will someone in this Administration get it through their heads that Islamic Jihadists want to kill us and take over America?
Hugh Hewitt Holder Should Resign Or Be Fired, and Obama Should Apologize
November 17, 2010
Outrage is growing at the intersection of ideology and incompetence that is the jury's collapse in the trial of Ahmed Ghailani, declared acquitted in the murders of 224 innocents, including a dozen Americans.
The outrage is growing as Americans learn more and more about how utterly avoidable this outrageous miscarriage of justice was. John Podhoretz's and Jennifer Rubin's criticisms are among the most pointed and both employ the damning word "debacle" in the title, and Powerline's Scott Johnson and John Hinderaker weigh in with "The Failure Option." Eric Holder who repeatedly declared his confidence in this process should resign and the president should apologize to the nation and especially to the families of the victims whose killed now has been declared not guilty
An email from an individual very experienced in federal criminal proceedings comments:
An email from an individual very experienced in federal criminal proceedings comments:
This smells like a compromise verdict to me. On Monday you had the report that a juror asked to be excused, claiming she was the lone holdout and she feared continuing verbal assaults on her by the other jurors for refusing to agree with them.
I suspect the 11 jurors wanted to convict on all counts, and this one juror refused.
In order to reach a verdict, the 11 jurors agreed to join her in acquitting him on all counts but one, in exchange for her agreeing to convict him on the one count -- which sounds the least serious based on its description in the indictment.
But, the potential sentence for that count is a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life. Its up to the district judge to determine how much time he will give him, and the judge can consider all the evidence at trial, including the evidence on the acquitted counts.
To take those counts into consideration in determining what sentence to impose, the judge is only required to find by a preponderance of evidence that the defendant was involved in the criminal conduct for which he was acquitted. He's not being punished for the acquitted conduct, rather, that conduct is to inform the judge about the nature of the defendant's character.
I expect the judge will give him life when all is said and done.
I would like to say "of course the judge will give him life," but who knows? The terrorist should be executed --should have been executed long ago. He murdered hundreds, including a dozen Americans, and his compatriots are cheering this carnival of the incompetent.
Since this blog experienced what happens if you go after Senator DeMint with criticism, we take the stand that these people are sounding more like the left by the day with their threats. The ringleader where this pablam is published isn't even a Republican, Richard Viguerie, but is the same person who wanted Reagan not to seek a second term. He has been causing problems ever since and took over the Libertarian Party which is why we got some of the Libertarians back in the Republican Party. Wondered why all of a sudden they had a social agenda when they never did before. The answer is Richard Viguerie. Anyone who has followed him knows he is a grand stander whose ideas are far outside the mainstream of America. Most of these people we don't recognize their names as well. The few I do, they don't speak for me even a little.
Common Sense tells you that you support candidates from your ideology whether right or left who can win in the general. To choose the most conservative who cannot win is throwing in the towel on your agenda. William F. Buckley was right then and his words still ring true today.
This group of malcontents will never understand that they are criticizing all of us but we are not to criticize their 'leader' is not going over well among those of us conservatives who have common sense and believe you get in politics to win and advance your agenda. Losing is not an option to most of us, and we take it hard when our candidates lose. It makes it worse when your realize this group of malcontents will stay home or trash our candidates for their self-serving benefit, it makes it worse. Who died and made them king of all conservatives?
We have no idea if Senator DeMint supports this but it is causing a rift in not only in the Senate, but among consultants and Republican Conservatives who believe in the Republican Party and are being attacked by these people. Is that these small amount of people want? Threats will never get people to fall in line and in fact, are more likely to backfire.
The backfire has started as Common Sense Republican Conservatives have had it with the far right and the continual threats of the 'my way or no way' crowd. What is the difference between what some of the leftists Democrats did for Obama calling every criticism racist and this? Shutting up people's right to criticize because you don't like what they say is taking away my freedom and that of others.
Anyone with an ounce of brain knows we had some bad candidates that didn't get vetted who DeMint poured money into the races. We also didn't agree with some of the NRSC funding but in the end we won back six seats and should be grateful for that. Not sure some of the seats we lost that money would have made a difference.
With this fight breaking out maybe it is time for Common Sense Conservatives to step forward and tell the people that keep threatening to carry through. The threats and intimidation are using leftist tactics whether they want to admit it or not. Personally know a lot of people that became Independents because of the malcontents on the far right. Can understand why with this example before us, but them and the people who support them are not going to drive us out of the party. They can take that to the bank!
Yeah, like I could let this go without comment. Several social conservatives (I'm assuming; I only recognize a handful of names on the list) are peeved at what they think is unfair criticism of Senator DeMint in the wake of the election.
To be honest with you, I think they're trying to seize a bit of victimhood away from Sarah Palin on behalf of DeMint. There was coverage in the papers and the cable news networks about the possibility that Palin cost the GOP some pick-ups in the House and Senate. Oh, and here at the HQ too, I guess. You know what I didn't see? People saying that it was Jim DeMint's fault. [Update: Commenters point me to this Politico piece wherein Lila Munkovski criticizes DeMint. Compared to the wall-to-wall "analysis" on TV, blogs, and newspapers that Palin was subjected to, this is weak sauce.]
Nevertheless, several social conservatives, eager to seize credit...or, um, blame on behalf of DeMint have issued the following fatwa pronouncement:
[1]We do not expect or advocate for ideological purity in the Republican Party, but we do expect the Party’s leadership to rein in those who unfairly attack Senator DeMint, who instead should be given credit for what he has done, and done with such class, honor, humility, dignity and patriotism.
[2]Since Republicans in and affiliated with the Senate who have attacked Senator Jim DeMint have an agenda, and may not heed calls to reason from the Republican leadership, let it be known that continued attacks, whether indirectly or anonymously, will result in conservatives’ responding in word and deed.
[3]Conservatives will not only challenge and beat more Republican senators in Republican primaries, but conservatives will stop funding and volunteering for the NRSC and the RNC. Instead, conservatives will send their money to, and volunteer for, Senator DeMint’s Senate Conservative Fund and the candidates Senator DeMint supports. In fact, it would be our goal for the Senate Conservatives Fund to raise more money than the NRSC.
[4]Conservatives will also work to defeat in Republican primaries those Republicans who retain consultants who criticize or try to undermine Senator DeMint.
There's a bit of preamble, but it contains such awkward (and in a few cases just plain wrong) English, that I won't inflict it on you. (Seriously, to whoever wrote this, go look up the word "unilateral" in a dictionary. It doesn't mean what you think it does.) Definitely click over to see who signed on, though. You'll recognize a few names.
But I want to give a bit of advice to these would-be defenders of Senator Dear Leader (not to be confused with President Dear Leader, the other fellow with an apparent cult following these days).
First, and most importantly, it does no good to threaten the "Party leadership" that they better shape up or else (statement [1]) while simultaneously vowing that no matter what they do (statement [2]) you still plan to defund their organizations and vote them out of office (statements [3] and [4]). Y'see, since you've already declared war, your apparent enemies (?) have little reason to give in to your demands. You showed your cards. Since you obviously have no intention of doing anything other than flipping out on the GOP, there's no point in adopting a policy of appeasement.
Second, I will be astonished if you guys manage to respond "in word and deed" to "indirect and anonymous" attacks on Senator Dear Leader. Right off the bat I'm wondering: how does one meaningfully respond in word and deed to an attack made anonymously? How would you even know at whom to make a response? Or are you saying that anonymous attacks will be met with, err...defunding the NRC and the NRSC and voting against GOP senators in primaries? Because we get that part. Frankly, I just don't think you'll be all that good at it.
Third, a whole bunch of conservatives are now pissed at you for childishly seizing the name "conservative" and purporting to speak for all of them. It's a tone thing. Don't be that guy. It provokes an indignant response: just who the hell are you? Oh, I see you're those people who signed your names to the bottom. I get that. But, again, I don't know most of you folks from Adam. And several of the organizations that appear associated with this pronouncement haven't been all that noteworthy in conservative circles for a few years. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have you on board. But don't you dare try and throw our folks overboard. They're in this too, thank you very much.
In short, grow up. The GOP just made massive gains in the House and Senate. Instead of pulling together to kick the shit out of Obama and the Democrats during the lame duck, you want to beat up your fellow conservatives and Republicans for imaginary slights to your Senator Dear Leader. Trust me when I say that Jim DeMint and his putative place within the "movement that is the successor to Ronald Reagan, William F. Buckley, Jr., and other great progenitors of the conservative movement" is less on the minds of the average GOP voter than you think.
This is getting annoying that candidates are coming out of the woodwork saying they might run. Our new 112th Congress doesn't take office until January 3rd, 2011, and no talk of who is going to run for President should even be discussed before that. We have just come off a long election season and a lot of people who were involved in races would like some time to decompress from a campaign and enjoy the holidays without being bombarded.
The spotlight right now should be on the House and Senate where there is a lame duck session in progress, and plans are being made for the 112th Congress. That should be it until 2011 but now Republicans have some grand standers that cannot wait to get the word out they are considering running. Trust us doing this right now with the lame duck in session is not winning any support. We are tired of campaigns and candidates right now when we still have candidates whose races are in recount or contested.
On that note, Lisa Murkowski has been declared the winner by the AP and LA Times in Alaska. If all the disputed write-ins were tossed (they won't be), Miller doesn't have enough votes to win or even qualify for a state paid recount. Now he wants the State to pay for all votes to be counted by hand not machine even though he doesn't qualify. Since many states use the fill in the dots and those votes are pretty accurate tallies, no way he makes up the votes but it keeps him in the spotlight so more people will send money. With the lawyers he hired, he is turning into an Al Gore lite.
Miller is one candidate that vetting didn't catch because he had his records sealed and used the Obama defense from them being unsealed but it didn't work as the courts finally unsealed them. Once they were unsealed and people found out what a horrible candidate he was, the write-in for Murkowski took off.
Telling Alaskans they were basically too dumb to write in Murkowski was a dumb move on Miller's part or telling Alaskan tribes they should speak English or not vote was another dumb move. Having the Tea Party Express camp out in AK for weeks was another dumb move. After Palin pushing him against Murkowski, he refused to say if he thought she was qualified to be President. Anyone who sent money to his campaign should ask for a refund. If Miller's records had come out before the primary, he never would have won.
This is a perfect example of why all the records of a candidate for national office should be an open book. This idea that someone wants our vote but won't release details of their background has to end.
Like or dislike Murkowski, she ran only the second write-in campaign for Senator in the history of the Senate. The lies told about Murkowski by Miller supporters were mind boggling, and we are not a Murkowski fan. Frankly never paid that much attention to her but if we were in Alaska, we would have been writing in Lisa Murkowski.
About some of those challenged ballots by the Miller supporters:
Murkowski, Lisa
Lisa Murkowski Republican (they said that one meant they wanted Miller)
M in cursive rest printed perfectly
r that someone said looks like a v
You get the picture of why the election board supervisor didn't toss some of those write-ins when it was obvious who they voted for -- caused Miller to be the laughingstock with some of the ballots that they wanted tossed. They were set aside and even then with set aside ballots Miller still does not have the votes. Not to mention a lot of Miller supporters are now backing Murkowski in Alaska because of Miller's actions in the recount and all the truth coming out on his background.
This has been an interesting race to watch and shame on Fox News for giving Miller so much air time to spread his half truths and a few lies. Most of the fraud he said happened was for consumption of the lower 48 to send him money as it was never reported to the election board by the poll watchers but it was after he hired one of the sleeziest election lawyers, Floyd Brown, of Willie Horton fame. All of a sudden fraud appeared out of nowhere when he talked to the media but no complaints filed.
Murkowski hired Ben Gingsberg of Bush 2000 fame who is an expert on election law and spent little in Alaska when he discovered the voting was proceeding in an honest manner.
We are happy to see that the unethical Joe Miller is not going to be the Senator from Alaska. Last thing the Senate needed was another unethical person -- they have enough. Anyone who scams the system like Miller has is not someone you want in the Senate.
-- Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, was unanimously selected as the Republican House leader for the incoming Congress.
*****
Rep Boehner will now be the Republican nominee for Speaker of the House on January 3rd after all the members are sworn in for the 112th Congress. Obvious Boehner will be the next Speaker of the House. This is great news that it was unanimous. He will be joined by Majority Leader Eric Cantor who has done a great job as the Minority Whip. The two of them have been hard at work on getting ready for the 112th Congress and the start of stopping the Obama agenda and starting the repeal process of Obamacare. Even Obama says he is shocked at the cost. Guess that happens when you don't have a clue what is in the bill.
Nancy Pelosi elected House minority leader by Democrats in a 150 to 43 vote.
******
That means out of 193 Democrats only 43 had the nerve to vote against her, and you can take it to the bank that Rep Dan Boren (D-OK) was one of those. Progressives still don't get it and probably never will!
Wonder if as Minority Leader (love that name for Pelosi), Pelosi is going to request her own personal airplane even though the Speaker-Elect John Boehner has requested and received permission to fly commercial when he returns home to Cincinnati. How much did Pelosi's use of her own personal Air Force plane cost the taxpayers? She only served the finest wines and food as she wined and diner donors on her plane along with family. Boehner is already saving the Government money by taking commercial. Pelosi will be stuck flying commercial come January 3rd as she is grounded for domestic flying and use of her own personal plane!
There is a saying 'elections have consequences' and this time we are thoroughly enjoying the consequences!
We agree that the full-body scanners violate our Constitutional rights. Coming from someone who doesn't like to fly on a good day, you can be assured that with this, will continue to drive and leave the flying to others. Hard enough to get through security sometimes but now this added full-body scan that Obama said was okay has complicated and made the wait longer. Recently they patted down a 3-year old going through security. This video comes from CNN:
This video is part of the CNN program "I Report" which maybe some more of us should be looking to send things like this to CNN which airs them on their website. If that was my child, I would have lost my cool.
In November of 2001, my youngest daughter and I had driven my oldest daughter to North Island NAS for her first duty assignment with the car and were flying back with a one-way ticket. Even with a Government ID, we were pulled aside along with the luggage to be searched. Man that was doing the search at the San Diego International Airport didn't speak English and kept gesturing with his hands what to do . Included in the search was my daughter and me, two women returning from overseas who had just cleared customs, three Marines, and a couple who would guess were in their late 70's with one of them in a wheel chair. They even searched the wheel chair that belonged to the airport taking it apart as her husband kept saying it says "property of SDI," but since the man doing the searching and his partner didn't speak English they didn't listen.
He made us lift our luggage on the table, open the luggage, and then he rummaged threw everything making the luggage hard to close. Absolutely no thought to anything in the luggage. Our luggage was finally cleared to proceed to be loaded on the plane. Then we we had to go through Security again and were pulled aside
again. Mind you we had already had this done and walked maybe 100 yards. When we finally got through that and got back to the plane, we were all pulled aside one more time and searched again with the carry-on that had just been searched a second time. We had gone from the normal security back to the plane all inside the secure area.
Next to us in the next gate were three Arabs who had breezed through security with no checks because they had a round trip ticket. I can still remember the Southwest person at the gate saying the security program was all messed up back then because not one of us fit the profile but the people who did got a pass right through security at the next gate with no problems. It has not improved from limited time flying since then.
We landed in Phoenix and were told that they wouldn't be checking any of us any further as we had been through enough. When four of us boarded the flight to Oklahoma City right across from us was sitting a sky marshall who kept nodding his head in agreement when we were complaining that three Arabs were not even searched.
Southwest Airlines filed a complaint about what had happened in San Diego for all of us and why today if I have to fly, Southwest is my airline of choice.
With that background and knowing how they don't pick out people who should be profiled, I would have gone ballistic on the TSA screeners if it was my 3-year old. This idea that you don't profile people is ludicrous to be kind. Why not? Afraid to hurt some terrorists feelings and would rather almost make an American Mom with her daughter almost miss their plane when the Mom had a Government ID or three Marines, or two women who had cleared customs, or an elderly couple?
We thought that Michael Chertoff was a bad choice for Homeland Security Chief and did not have the right credentials when President Bush chose him for the position. Looks like we were not the only ones with reservations and now it is even worse. His company making money off of the full body search equipment makes your blood boil. We don't see where combining all the agencies has helped one bit to catch someone before they board a plane that wants to blow up the plane.
During a one-minute speech on the House floor, Rep. Ted Poe (Texas) also blasted former Bush Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff as a "political hack" and accused him of profiting from the proliferation of the devices.
"There is no evidence these new body scanners make us more secure. But there is evidence that former Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff made money hawking these full body scanners," Poe said.
We think the combining so many agencies under one Homeland Security Secretary may not have been the wise thing to do. Thought Ridge did a good job but never liked Chertoff from day one. Something about him bothered a lot of us. Time to take another long, hard look at the Department of Homeland Security because it obviously isn't working starting with our borders.
Rep Poe is doing all of us a service by making this information in public. We thank him for paying attention to what is happening with the full-body scanners. We have said all along that we will continue to go after both parties on this site -- today Michael Chertoff who was appointed by President Bush is in that bullseye! As for the current Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano she is so bad when it comes to immigration and terrorism, you can just say that she makes a horrible Homeland Security Secretary and has no business being in the job. Her comments are really dumb sometimes, and she is way too quick to rule out terrorism.
More than ready to see the Department of Homeland Security go under the microscope!
GOP lawmaker: Full-body scanners violate Fourth AmendmentBy Elise Viebeck - 11/17/10 10:29 AM ET
A GOP lawmaker said Tuesday the full-body scanners now employed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) violate the Fourth Amendment to the constitution, which protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures."
....
He went on to explain that Chertoff, who served under President George W. Bush, had given interviews promoting the scanners while he was "getting paid" to sell them.
"[T]he populace is giving up more rights in the name of alleged security. These body scanners are a violation of the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures ... There must be a better way to have security at airports than taking pornographic photographs of our citizens, including children, and then giving apparent kickbacks to political hacks."
Chertoff has advocated for the use of full-body scanners since he took his post at DHS in 2005.
His consulting agency, the Chertoff Group, counts among its clients one of the two companies that manufacture the machines according to federal specifications.
Common Sense Legislation once again from the Congressman from Indiana, Mike Pence. Why are we not surprised this dual mandate goes back to 1977 when Jimmy Carter was President? Two really bad President's in my lifetime -- Carter and Obama. Hope this is the last of the President's who don't seem to have a clue.
Word to the wise -- Republicans need to nominate a candidate who is intelligent, has experience in Government, can interview and speak very well without a teleprompter, know the subjects they are talking about including geography, and can appeal to independents as well as Republicans because without the independents we don't win in the general election. Most independents are center right so that should be no problem for a good conservative candidate with Common Sense!
November 16, 2010
Pence Introduces Bill to End the Federal Reserve's Dual Mandate
“It’s time to return the Federal Reserve to the singular mission of protecting the fundamental strength and integrity of the dollar.”
Washington, DC - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, released the following statement today as he introduced legislation to scale back the mandate of the Federal Reserve:
“Since 1977 the Fed has been forced to develop monetary policy that balances concerns for employment and inflation. The bill I’m introducing today will end that dual mandate and put the Fed back in the business of solely focusing on price stability and preventing inflation.
“The Fed’s QE2 decision earlier this month to print $600 billion, as an attempt to reduce unemployment, is another example of the failure of its dual mandate. By using monetary stimulus in this way, the central bank has actually taken steps that will prove inflationary in the long run. Printing money is no substitute for sound fiscal policy.
“The Federal Reserve should focus solely on controlling inflation. Unemployment is a matter of great seriousness to the American people, but it is the job of the Congress and the President to put forth pro-growth policies on taxes, to rein in government spending, and to reduce the regulatory burden in order to create an environment that is friendly to our nation’s job creators and that sustains long-term employment. The Fed’s full employment mandate has, too often, led to short-term fixes with long-term inflationary consequences that will not lead to job creation. It’s time to return the Federal Reserve to the singular mission of protecting the fundamental strength and integrity of the dollar.”
Some people might ask why this article from Politico is posted because conservatives have a tendency to not believe Politico, but in the time I have been reading their site, have never been steered wrong by Jonathan Martin whose articles are clear, concise, and rely on facts.
There is more that can be added to this article about RNC. It has had problems for years with hiring sons and daughters of big donors to work elections who most don't have a clue which you find out when they come in your state for a special election. They are not bashful about saying how things need to be run either. That has been a problem for years that is annoying but you can work around.
Michael Steele is another whole deal starting with a lot of his gaffes at the beginning. Then we had the problem with some of his young aides charging the RNC for a strip club and it has been downhill for months. Steele spends a lot of money on his travel. How about holding the RNC Winter Meetings in Hawaii. State Parties needed the money for their campaigns not spent on that type of travel. He travels first class, stays in the best hotel suites, and uses limos to get around when visiting.
They spent way too much on special elections for Congress and had a poor track record. Rules need to be put in place how much a Chairman can spend on a special election without Committee approval.
Then he spent over $250,000 for Sarah Palin's legal expenses so she would do some fundraising for the RNC and be with him on some of the stops on his Stop Pelosi Bus Tour which wasted major bucks when the State Parties needed help for GOTV. Why did he spend that money on Palin's lawyers?
When they held the Orlando rally, people turned out to see Marco Rubio but he only got to speak for six minutes while Palin spoke for 30 minutes. Palin's Sarah PAC just came in raising over $4M with over $1M on hand but only gave a little over 5% to candidates and 68% to expenses. A lot of that was for her family like $250 for food at a Yankee game. Food is expensive at games but $250? Not likely on normal food for baseball games.
Why did Steele insist on having Palin and in exchange paid $250,000 of legal bills which were her responsibility -- she is now a millionaire.
Vowed the day I heard that to never donate another penny to RNC until it was cleaned up and Steele no longer Chair. My not donating didn't stop all the snail mail fundraising. Maddest I got was the notice to go pick up an Express Mail package. After going to the post office, discovered it was a fundraising letter from the RNC with an Express Mail envelop to send back my contribution. What a waste of money. Coming in second is the $1 they sent donors to send back a donation -- kept the dollar like millions of others.
Was notified by RNC that a donation made during the Scott Brown campaign in early January showed the credit card being stolen. This was in April when they tried to run it through the system, but the card was stolen and replaced in late January. The small donation made to RNC was made the first part of January and had cleared the next day. Once a month I would get an email and a letter that I needed to contact them. Sent back the transaction number from the checking account but no one ever replied. In August I finally talked to a 'real' person not an answering machine who said there was no problem as the first one went through and she didn't know why they tried to send it through again.
Went from being a monthly donor to now won't donate one penny until they clean out the place starting with the Chair. Don't contribute to have the Chair running around the Countryside in a bus when the states needed the money. Fortunately Oklahoma was one of the states where we had a Governor's race so we had money.
Very mismanaged organization starting at the top and extremely happy to see Collins tell it like it is. For those of you that don't want Republican dirty laundry aired, you have come to the wrong place. We may even go after Republicans harder because we expect more out of them. We don't like grand standers or people that spin on either side.
It is time to clean up the RNC once and for all and then you will see donations start back up. Until then, forget it!
Top RNC aide quits, blasts Michael Steele
By JONATHAN MARTIN | 11/16/10 1:06 PM EST
Republican National Committee political director Gentry Collins resigned from his post Tuesday morning with a stinging indictment of Chairman Michael Steele’s two-year tenure at the committee.
In a four-page letter to Steele and the RNC’s executive committee obtained by POLITICO, Collins lays out inside details, previously only whispered, about the disorganization that plagues the party. He asserts that the RNC’s financial shortcomings limited GOP gains this year and reveals that the committee is deeply in debt entering the 2012 presidential election cycle.
“In the previous two non-presidential cycles, the RNC carried over $4.8 million and $3.1 million respectively in cash reserve balances into the presidential cycles,” Collins writes, underlining his words for emphasis. “In stark contrast, we enter the 2012 presidential cycle with 100% of the RNC’s $15 million in lines of credit tapped out, and unpaid bills likely to add millions to that debt.”
The short version of the RNC's 2010 troubles as described by Collins: The committee couldn’t afford to run an independent expenditure ad campaign on behalf of their candidates, didn’t fund a paid voter turnout operation for Senate and gubernatorial races, left its vaunted 72-Hour turnout program effectively unfunded, offered only a fraction of the direct-to-candidate financial contributions they made four years ago and dramatically scaled back its support of state parties.
Steele has not indicated whether he will seek another term at the helm of the committee and an array of Republicans are already maneuvering to ensure that he does not win re-election in the event he runs. The depth of the party’s problems his political director reveals is likely to make it considerably more difficult for the embattled chairman if he does pursue a second term.
That’s in part because Collins is not one of the committee’s persistent Steele critics but a respected operative and senior staffer inside the RNC building who was given authority over the $15 million line of credit the party took out this fall. In addition to the normal duties of his job, Collins spent much of the summer and fall quietly travelling the country and meeting with major donors in an effort to boost the party’s lackluster fundraising. It was a highly unusual task for a political director and, coupled with his primary job responsibilities, effectively made the Iowa native the operational head of the party.
The letter is even more damaging because the aide doesn’t just lay out a bill of particulars about the troubled committee but specifically rebuts the pushback deployed by Steele to defend his tenure.
Alluding to the chairman’s oft-cited explanation about the RNC’s financial difficulties this year, for example, Collins writes that the party’s “low cash-on-hand figures are not simply the result of early spending or transfers to state parties.”
Obama is just now realizing that governing is a lot harder?
“Campaigning is different than governing,” President Obama told reporters during his return flight from Asia this weekend. When asked about his meeting with GOP leaders later this week, Obama said: “They are flush with victory after a campaign of just saying ‘No.’ But I’m sure the American people did not vote for more gridlock.”
Looks like Obama still doesn't get it. Republicans were rewarded with a lot of victories and control of the House because they did say "NO" to the Obama/Pelosi/Reid far left, socialist agenda. Obamacare was the final nail in the coffin of many Obama Democrats and why so many Democrats tried to run away from Obama.
Take Gene Taylor (D-MS) who had always has conservative lifetime voting record of 65.63%, but in 2008 when Pelosi cracked her whip it went to a 24 and last years in 2009 only rose to a 56. After 21 years with over a 65%, Gene Taylor must have had some pretty conservative years. Because of his voting for Obama/Pelosi agenda (voted against Obamacare) and for Pelosi as Speaker, he was defeated.
If you look at several of the long time Democrats who were defeated like Chet Edwards in TX and Ike Skelton in MO along with Taylor you know Obama was wrong in his analysis of the Republican victory -- voters agreed with the Party of NO who were against the Obama trek toward socialism. Actually when has he been right since taking office? It has been one massive screw up -- economy is in the tank, unemployment is high, and inflation is about to rise. Obama's Hope and Change seem to have disappeared off the radar as his Hope and Change sent this Country into a tailspin with Pelosi pushing through his agenda and lapdog Reid going along.
Whether Obama wants to admit it or not, the American voters gave him and his Agenda a big resounding NO! Personally thought being a member of the Party of NO was a good thing as it meant stopping the Obama socialist agenda. Never been prouder of a group of elected officials than I have the Republican members of the House who even though vastly outnumbered and couldn't stop a bill, never quit fighting. They fought every day for all of us and were truly our voices in the House.
Look forward to hearing Mike Pence, the Republican Conference Chair, give his one-minute speeches on the floor. Pence can say more in one minute than most can say in five minutes. You are never left asking yourself what did he say like you are the Democrats.
At the Healthcare Summit hosted by Obama, Americans got to see which side understood the issue of Healthcare as Republicans went to the Summit with facts while all the Democrats had were the same old tired rhetoric. So what did the Democrats do, ignore the facts and push the bill through with Pelosi making her famous remarks:
That remark made her Congressional District voters no difference as they returned her to the House in huge numbers which doesn't say a lot for much Common Sense in that area of the Country. It sure made a huge difference with the rest of us as it was an indictment on how Pelosi governed and how far she would go for Obama and the socialist agenda.
I am one of those voters who support gridlock when you have someone as President whose agenda is socialist and could care less about the American way of life as he trashes us around the World. If he doesn't want gridlock, then he needs to start listening to the ideas on the economy and healthcare that Republicans have been touting since he took office. Obama has refused to date to even listen to Republicans as he went full speed ahead toward a socialist govenment with his lapdogs Pelosi and Reid right beside him.
Maybe the Democrats should have paid more attention to the Pledge the Republican Members of the House made to the American people:
Obama still doesn't understand if there is going to be gridlock, it is going to be because he is too stubborn to admit his policies and ideas are failures. He has little respect for anyone who doesn't share his liberal beliefs and it showed after he was elected in 2008 and refused to even listen to Republicans coming back with "I Won" as his answer after becoming President.
It is obvious that Obama doesn't have a clue about how to govern to get the economy moving forward -- more bailouts and handouts along with more burdensome regulations are not going to get the economy moving but that is the liberal Democrat way of Obama -- throw more money at something and it expect it to work like Democrats have been doing on education for generations and in many places it is still a failure.
Obama loves to campaign but in this campaign after the media took their blinders off, his true nature came to the forefront. Much smaller crowds greeted him every where compared to 2008. His nasty nature showed through as he told Hispanics on the campaign trail:
"If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're gonna punish our enemies, and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us' -- if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election -- then I think it's going to be harder. And that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2nd." (CBS News
A President calling the opposition in America the "enemies?" Republican House Leader John Boehner quickly responded for all of us:
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a president in the White House who referred to Americans who disagree with him as 'our enemies.' Think about that. He actually used that word. When Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush used the word 'enemy,' they reserved it for global terrorists and foreign dictators -- enemies of the United States. Enemies of freedom. Enemies of our country. Today, sadly, we have president who uses the word 'enemy' for fellow Americans -- fellow citizens. He uses it for people who disagree with his agenda of bigger government -- people speaking out for a smaller, more accountable government that respects freedom and allows small businesses to create jobs. Mr. President, there's a word for people who have the audacity to speak up in defense of freedom, the Constitution, and the values of limited government that made our country great. We don't call them 'enemies.' We call them 'patriots.'"(CBS News)
Then in the last week of the election he had this to say which sound pretty racist to us out of this President who loves to call all of us racists for not supporting him or his agenda:
He said Republicans had driven the economy into a ditch and then stood by and criticized while Democrats pulled it out. Now that progress has been made, he said, "we can't have special interests sitting shotgun. We gotta have middle class families up in front. We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back." (Fox News)
Seems he doesn't do a much better job of campaigning with these remarks then he does governing. His 10-day visit to the Far East shows his total lack of comprehension about the economic troubles in many countries starting right here in the United States. Why should the rest of the World adopt his policies that failed in the United States? He took credit for a contract signed in India that was started under President Bush.
We have noticed he loves to take credit for things other people have done and then turns around and blames them if something doesn't go right. Obama is never responsible for anything he does according to Obama. Acts like a spoiled brat when he doesn't get his way which is why we don't see him working with Republicans but will use every opportunity he can find to trash them because they are not following his agenda.
The World is finally waking up to the fact that this naive man has a lot of rhetoric but little experience to pull from plus he is extremely lazy by all accounts. His Hope and Change is a thing of the past because it has become a dismal failure for most Americans.
Gridlock versus the Obama Agenda -- we will take gridlock any day!
Arrogance of NRA is simply stunning - for an organization who used to be about gun safety now the bottom line for gun/ammo manufacturers trumps all as the NRA lobbies for them.
According to Think Progress, “NRA: Practice Range” is billed as a “network of news, laws, facts, knowledge, safety tips, educational materials and online resource” for the organization.The National Rifle Association released a new app on Sunday that includes a gun range equipped with coffin-shaped targets, and the option for players to simulate using a military-grade sniper rifle.
The app includes what it calls “9 true to life firearms,” and allows players to download an MK-11 sniper rifle setting for 99 cents. The rifle can shoot 750 rounds per minute.
Dems/GOP Fighting -- Will they Finally Work Together for the Country? Will replace this image when they do. (11/07/2012)
Quotes
"We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society, but that can’t be an excuse for inaction. Surely we can do better than this." President Barack Obama, Newtown, CT, 12/16/2012
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"I don't think that the way to correct a spin from the left is to try to impart a spin from the right.... [A]n information flow distorted from the right would be just as much a disservice as distortion from the left. What we really should be after... is accurate information. And I don't see what any conservative or anybody else for that matter has to fear from accurate information." M. Stanton Evans
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Former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY)
“For heaven’s sake, you have Grover Norquist wandering the earth in his white robes saying that if you raise taxes one penny, he’ll defeat you,” he told CNN back in May. “He can’t murder you. He can’t burn your house. The only thing he can do to you, as an elected official, is defeat you for reelection. And if that means more to you than your country when we need patriots to come out in a situation when we’re in extremity, you shouldn’t even be in Congress.”
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"We are are an American family and we rise or fall together as one nation.
John Stuart Mill was a 19th century political philosopher:
"I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it." John Stuart Mill.
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