Wednesday, November 17, 2010

OOPS

I must admit this proposed Earmark moratorium in the Senate Republican Conference (SRC) has me in a bind.

When I wrote the article before I should have seen the writing on the wall. Once Sen. DeMint put out the proposition against earmarks, there was no stopping it. In this political environment even those opposed understood that to not vote for it would be way more harmful to them and the party. What I didn’t like was the way I was being treated.

People were acting towards me like I was in favor of earmarks; I’m learning what the baby feels like when it’s thrown out with the bath water. Or more fittingly I’m feeling like the messenger getting shot for carrying the wrong message.

Either way I don’t like it. But then again in a free country I don’t have to.

One more time, I HATE EARMARKS. I applaud the house under Boehner’s efforts to cut out earmarks. I will fight in the trenches alone if need be to ban earmarks. I will back any effort to have separate votes on each and every spending bill – alone and by themselves – without adding all the extra spending to it.

One more time, I LOVE JIM DEMINT. I contributed to his Senate fund wholeheartedly and rejoiced when most of his candidates won.

For the first time, I’LL KEEP MY RESEARCH TO MYSELF.
Let me give you an example to illustrate what I mean.
In the run-up to the 2008 Presidential Election I was working the County GOP HQ handing out signs for the candidates etc. when in walked a pissed off UAW union member. He said he was a lifelong Democrat but wanted all the Republican signs we had to put in his yard.

I was curious so I asked him why and he said that at a union meeting he had asked a simple question about something Candidate Obama had said. This guy told me he was just asking a question but everyone got angry with him. So he shut up and went home to bed to forget about it. When he and his wife woke up the next day his yard was covered in Obama/Biden signs. That he didn’t forget.

I felt like that guy when I asked fellow Tea Partiers about the arguments Inhofe and McConnell were using in favor of earmarks. I was asking for reasoned responses based on facts and I got the same kind of “How Dare You” response my new Union friend received.

In my previous article I did make a bad judgment call in that the “moratorium” was approved by the Republican Senate Conference. McConnell changed his mind.
Sen. DeMint has been proven right again. I applaud that and I applaud the outcome. My fear had been that McConnell would carry the day and the Republicans would be seen to be in favor of earmarks. This was a nonbinding vote of only the Republicans and only in the Senate. I did not think it was the right way to go about it. I wanted to see it come up on the floor of the Senate and voted on there.

This time the power and rhetoric forced a good conclusion that however, is not why I’ve been fighting for grassroots government. If I had wanted to follow thuggish ideology blindly I would have voted liberal. Like my UAW friend however I’m always willing to travel the road less traveled to try to get the facts under the rhetoric. For that right I will keep fighting. I hope the Tea Parties will continue to be my ally in this.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative


RSC Chairman Lamar Alexander put out this release last Wed about what he is also proposing at the upcoming RSC meeting.

-----release------
http://alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=056defea-23f0-417b-b153-49db66833738&ContentType_id=778be7e0-0d5a-42b2-9352-09ed63cc4d66&Group_id=80d87631-7c25-4340-a97a-72cccdd8a658
---------------------

This resolution goes directly to the cause of overspending. This too will cut government spending and intrusion into our life.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Earmarks.

The Republican Earmark Moratorium

Why it will fail; and Where DeMint went wrong.




During the last Senate session a ban on earmarks was voted on by the entire Senate and was defeated. Everyone knew it would lose even if all the Republicans voted for it so they did.

They looked good then and can say today that they were part of the Conservative Revolution that swept the last election.

Now there is another vote by some Senators coming up on Earmarks. This is quite a different vote however.

At first blush, I said great, we have to start cutting spending and stopping corruption through lobbyists etc. that banning earmarks seem to facilitate. I also am a fan of Sen. Jim DeMint who put forth this measure because of the tireless effort he made during the last election backing Conservative candidates early on when no one else gave them a chance; his proposal in the RSC seemed like a “slam dunk”.

That is the courageous leadership I was looking for.

Then another Senator whom I greatly admire for his courage came out against DeMint’s “earmark moratorium” that is in front of the Senate Republican Caucus (RSC). That Senator is Jim Inofe from Oklahoma. I admire him because he is one of the most conservative Senators and he was the lone, loud and unafraid voice against the whole “Global Warming” hysteria – Way before it was cool.

That also is the courageous leadership I was looking for.

The link below from Politico sums up the obvious.
-----link-----
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44975.html
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Now I’ll sum up the obvious.
1. This is only a vote within the Republican Caucus or Conference as they call it.
A. The Dems will still be free to earmark to our pocketbooks disdain.
2. It will be a secret vote so the public will not know who voted for or against the measure only the outcome will be known.
A. Individuals will not be held accountable, but the Party will be next time they try to raise this issue.
3. The outcome will be non binding on the members.
A. This will lead directly charges of Republican hypocrisy by the left and they will be right.

Obviously I’m conflicted. I assume some of the RSC are also wondering what to do. Initially it was Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell who came out against the DeMint moratorium. That was the first voice of dissent I heard and I immediately chalked it up to the power struggle going on within the Republican Party between the insurgent “Tea Party”/conservative wing led by Sen. DeMint and the established Republican leadership aka Sen. McConnell. I obviously sided with DeMint.

But when I saw Sen. Inofe coming out against it and on the side of McConnell I knew it was more than just a political power squabble.

According to Politico, Sen. Inofe is passing around to the members of the RSC a 20 page essay on the reasons not to vote for the moratorium. I would love to read it, but it hasn’t been made public yet.

-----link-----
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45017.html
-------------

I still am conflicted, but I understand the issues better now after some research.
I don’t know the workings of the SRC but I hope they have a way that DeMint and Inofe/McConnell can compromise and change the measure to one that would force a vote in the entire Senate on Earmarks that will be open and binding on all members.

A statement needs to be made against earmarks, but this proposal as written seems as if it could actually be unproductive in the fight against earmarks and a distraction in the main fight - to cut spending.

The first Politico article I linked seemed confident that the DeMint measure would pass. Since Senator Jim Inofe joined the fray I’m sure the measure will go down to defeat. The reason I believe this is that now Sen. Inofe has provided the political and more importantly the ideological cover to those who needed it to vote against it.

The second Politico article I linked talked of Sen. Inofe promising very specific spending cuts in a bill he was going to introduce Monday. This tells me that he thinks the whole earmark thing is detracting from some very “specific” spending cuts the Senate should be taking up. On this I agree too.

We should keep our eyes on the target which is to shrink the size of government in our lives. Until we have the Senate and the Presidency behind us we must not get distracted with the likes of this. Yes Earmarks increase spending but cutting only Republican earmarks seems counterproductive. We would be better served to cut all earmarks including the executive earmarks in the likes of those found in the Stimulus Bill.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Charge



I would like to echo what George F Will talked about in his article for the Washington Post Nov. 7th, entitled “Democrats in Denial”. I would however take his assumption and expand the scope of the people in denial to include the Republican apparatus in general. Below is the link to Mr. Will’s article

-----Link-----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/05/AR2010110507653.html
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From his vantage point overlooking the national scene I agree with his assumption. From my vantage point at the local County level, I see however more than Democrats are in denial as to the just ended election.

There seems to be an undercurrent about the role the Tea Party played in this election throughout the Republican Party. Both the self congratulatory literature put out by the State Party and the narrative of their representatives at the County level do not mention the Tea Party, either pro or con as to its role in the past election. I might add here to buttress my credibility that at the county level in my neck of the woods, the Tea Party was responsible for half of the precinct delegates at our Republican County Convention, and I would add 3/4ths of the excitement about this election and 4/5 of the new faces at the County meetings came directly from the Tea Party or were motivated by what the Tea Party was saying. I was there and know full well how late the State and County Party came to the Tea Party table.

Most of the education of the electorate was spread or disseminated not by the GOP but through the hundreds of individual Tea Parties throughout the country. The anger and frustration of the electorate was focused upon and brought to the fore not by the Republicans but by the Tea Party. This was done almost exclusively through the “Alternate Media” in a remarkable grass roots effort. This buzz was created and fanned by the Tea Party through what the Republican Party dared not do in its blinkered effort to “go along to get along” with the Liberals; namely protest rallies and an in your face to anyone from whatever party who told lies.

I remember when the American Dream was more than two cars in every garage. I remember when the freedom of the average citizen to say what was on their mind to their representative was an integral part of the American Dream. Before the Tea Party brought that to the fore at the rallies and Town Halls, we had forgotten that. Not only forgotten but let it be suborned for “the common good”.

Individual rights and individual freedom is what this election was all about. That is what the Tea Party is all about. That is why people got excited about a talk Alan West gave in October 2009. This talk crystallized the emotions freedom loving Americans had about the “over reaching federal government”.



Here was someone not saying why we as a nation can’t do something, why it is too complicated to undertake, why we must “go along to get along”. Lt. Colonel West was reminding us of the American Dream before McDonalds; reminding us of the power each and every one of us has if we choose to use it.

Well a lot of citizens did flex that Freedom muscle once and then over and over - through repetition that muscle grew. We also had a perfect tool, the alternate media and we exercised that too till we refined our initial attempts into something beautiful.

I think Allen West would agree that now is not the time for newly elected Representatives of the people to “go along to get along” but rather to fix bayonets and charge.

After the charge we will have the perfect opportunity to pick up the pieces and with a clear conscience – with resolve – Finish Taking America back in 2012

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Friday, November 5, 2010

Party of No We Don't Want To Do Nothing.


We think therefore we are, to paraphrase Rene Descartes.

To that I would add,

We act then only do we become.

Both are scary to politicians when they think of voters doing either, let alone both.

Both presume an individual freedom to think and do as one wishes, in the context of this blog – simply people can change only through thought AND action.

Voters this time round said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what we can do for our own damn selves".

Both thinking and doing are necessary for real change to occur.

So far both Obama and Boehner have thought and spoken of Change but it will only be through action that we will tell if they are serious; or whether we need to take action again against one or the other or both.

What was new this election was that the citizens not only thought but by an increased number were willing to actually do the work to affect change.

Since the election I’ve heard a lot about how the new majority in the US House should consolidate their new found power so they basically can do the same to the Liberals as has been done to them.

We saw this in ‘94’ and we saw what happened.

This is nothing new in the history of man. When given power people and parties abuse it – Gleefully. Revenge is sweet I must confess. Now I must learn to say Enough is Enough for the Revenge. Time to get to work.

What was new under the sun was the American Constitution which came to grips with that reality and tried to set up a framework that would work against itself enough to keep the power base split.

Their magic ingredient, the glue that was to hold that government together was the citizenry – the people. You remember that quaint phrase “We the People”? From citizen militias to citizen office holders, to citizens leading our schools, business leaders and just plain everyday people.

It was the founders dream that all citizens would take part in the governance of our Republic, to keep themselves part of the system. We need to keep things simple, not because citizens are simple but because complexity exists to hide hidden agendas. Elites are formed through the use of the idea that the problems we face are so complicated, only they have the wisdom and skill to steer a proper course. I think the election showed us one thing above all else, we the people know we are not on the proper course.

While this complexity may be true in laser surgery, it is not in regard to political decisions such as earmarks. In this example the “complexity” excuse is merely a subterfuge to keep doing the same ole same ole.

Does anyone still think that the 2500 pages of ObamaCare couldn’t have been a bit shorter? Does anyone still think the complexity of this bill is not hiding a hidden agenda along with enough extra unrelated pork to sink a battleship?

Talking or “speech making” is another good analogy where simplicity denotes truth and complexity usually means someone is hiding something.

Listen for example to a Reagan or Churchill or a Lincoln speech then compare them to an Obama, Neville Chamberlain or a Douglas speech and see which man you believe – which man leaves you with a feeling that this can be done – whatever it is.

This new majority in the House needs to lay the groundwork to get things done by reforming the rules for example; then learn how to get things done by actually doing them.

I voted for these public servants because I want them as well as myself to be able to read and understand the bills that become law.

The Speaker to be, John Boehner caught some flak for stating how difficult it will be to change how congress works. He is right and that truth seems simple enough.

Simple is not always easy. The power brokers hate simplicity.

I like it – so what?

I voted, that’s what. It was simple enough, I would ask no more of whom I voted for.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

No I don't want to do nothing.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Thinking



I just finished listening to Thomas Sowell being interviewed. The program was long and I’ve embedded it below but the very last sentence by Dr. Sowell was “It doesn’t matter how smart you are, unless you stop and think.”

The entire interview was well worth watching; but that last sentence seemed to epitomize the difference between what has made America great and what is breaking it down.

I/We have all seen some really smart people who seem “dumb as a board” and also if you think back you will remember a person you considered dumb come who came up with something pretty smart. Invariably that which accomplished either end result was thinking or the lack thereof.

Thinking by my definition is what one does when he/she steps back from the reality of the moment and decides which path to continue upon. That ability to step back and think is a key in therapies from AA to post traumatic stress disorder. Thinking is the one ability we have that allows us to control our environment instead of being controlled by it.

Thinking is the one thing that is ours alone, it is what defines us as an individual.
Thinking is the key to the concept of individual freedom and responsibility.
Without using our ability to think, we as a people of a self governing nation turn into a herd of sheep being herded by whatever name you give the leader as Thomas Sowell pointed out.

In sympathy with Dr. Sowell, all around me I see examples of us falling into the trap of not thinking. When we or people in power put off fixing things that are wrong because we/they say the problem is too complicated; I see someone who is not willing to do the work within our brain of thinking, then following through with the work of our bodies.

We are all busy with life and have little time to play with politics. That is the trap. Someone offers to do that thinking for us and we say great, go for it.

People are waking up. It is time for us to start thinking again to start working again to start again demanding those we put in charge do what we want.

Problems have solutions. Perhaps those solutions are not perfect but neither are we. In real life we get nowhere striving for perfection, but we can come a long way if we continue to make progress in all we do.

I possit that perfection should be found in the why of what we do.

A corollary to “I think therefore I am” could be “I think therefore I can control myself” or perhaps “I think therefore I can be free”. Thinking goes to the crux of why we claim to have inalienable rights. We have been given the ability to think for ourselves; upon the shoulders of that ability/right stand the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Whether we take advantage of those rights depends upon our ability and willingness to think.

The work of the brain is thinking, after that the body has to do the work to make the thinking into reality. My favorite Drucker quote comes into play here.

“Unless a decision has “degenerated into work” it is not a decision; it is at best a good intention.” Peter F Drucker, “The Effective Executive” pp114 Harper Collins paper back edition, 2006.

Sounds like a lot of work, but such is life.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Last Throes

I was saddened last night reading about the First Lady stooping to race baiting.

Across the board the left is losing the argument about who should control the country - the government or “We the People”. Even some of it’s old allies are turning against them.

The fear is mounting. So is the name calling.

I was also embarrassed for those still blaming the ills of the country along racially based lines. They could do better, on numbers alone they should at least fall back to the “class warfare” model. In this economy they would pick up more members.

The preposterousness of the First Black First Lady of the United States still trying to make the case that people who oppose her and her husband need to be fought along racial lines was glaring. An unspoken trust violated.

As the Barack Obama said about transparency while running to become President; the light of day is the best disinfectant. The First Lady’s recent remarks to the NAACP and that organizations stance about the people in Tea Parties indeed let in the light of day as to the motivation for her to call on black people to “increase intensity”.

That motivation seems to be blatantly political.

The desperation of the Left as it sees its support among the public disintegrate in the "light of day" coming from the alternative media and the growing Tea Party movement is becoming palpable.

The racism charge, always a ploy of last resort is being taken up by all the different groups of the left, in a desperate effort to revitalize their old coalition. This link tells not only of the NAACP’s effort to paint the Tea Partiers as racist but also their plan to gather 170 other groups. From the above link, “The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in coordination with 170 other groups, including labor unions, is planning a protest march in Washington, D.C., Oct. 10 as the next step in building momentum against the Tea Party”.

The Tea Parties simply need to do what they have done so far and that is not to overreact but simply and truthfully debunk the charges with the "Light of Day"

The left's coalition should have taken the vaunted slogan of “Change” to heart and changed with the mood of the people and lived up to the campaign promises. Instead they seem determined to fight the People on every issue from immigration to transparency to free markets.

They also seem determined to prove the basic truth that “power corrupts” and its corollary “absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

Come November we will see if the people can get rid of the “absolute” part – restore some balance in government.

Again the fear the left has of the Tea Party is palpable, the desperation intense and turning to name calling.

The Tea Party is used to it as the personal insults of Sarah Palin and her children and family attest to. But more to the point the fear the left is of losing the high ground on their agenda of “Big Government control over all aspects of our lives”. Make no mistake they are losing that due to that agenda which is thoroughly getting disinfected and debunked by the “light of day” brought by the Tea Parties, the alternative media and more recently by the MSM and some less than radical Democrats especially those wishing to be elected.

As Mr. Zuckerman noted in US News and World Report last week; “A year and a half ago Obama was walking on water. Today he is barely treading water. Then, his soaring rhetoric enraptured the nation. Today, his speeches cannot lift him past a 45 percent approval rating.”

-----link-----
http://politics.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2010/07/02/mort-zuckerman-obama-is-barely-treading-water.html
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The left is doing what it does so well and that is trying to turn the issues of its opponents against them and claiming those issues for themselves.

The recent uproar over the dropping of the open and shut case against the New Black Panthers being a case in point. The Tea Party and majority of Americans are making an obvious case of racism and or voter fraud against the Panthers. Some are thinking the NAACP should be passing a resolution calling for the outing of racist members of its own membership; has instead called for the Tea Parties to oust their racists.

How’s that working for the Left???

Gary Langer of ABC polling in a study of racism in the Tea Party finds that the polling does not support the idea.

-----link-----
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/2010/07/the-naacp-the-tea-party-and-the-question-of-racism.html
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Even the Main Stream Media is seeing “the light of day” and starting to not be so biased in order to survive. (Free Markets will out. LOL)

As President Obama is bemoaning, “The light of day” is indeed a powerful disinfectant.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

A BIG PS Notice the next day questioner talking about a stake in who wins the House, or more aptly saying "Say it ain't so Joe" (LOL) Another new meaning to unbiased reporting.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Right to Survive

What can be done through diplomacy?
How can diplomacy be effective?



Israel has proven itself time and again to be an effective negotiator, an effective user of diplomacy.

They (Israel) may soon accomplish behind the scenes what most other major powers have failed to do. Simply stated they are working through diplomatic channels behind the scenes to put a leash on Iran’s nuclear threat.

Israel has used the nuclear threat as leverage to put Iran on another leash as far as their stated public desire to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

Throughout their short history Israel has had to use force or the threat of its use to protect itself. Israel was founded in an area surrounded by countries that would rather have Israel not exist. Tiny Israel has from the start accepted the concept that they needed to be in a state of constant readiness for war. Their citizenry (men and women) are in the military and are armed.

The double edged sword of the threat of violence on one hand keeps Israel doing all it can to prevent confrontation. The other side of the sword is that for the threat of force to keep the enemy at bay, it must be a potent force that Israel is willing to use if facing an imminent attack as well as an actual one.

To survive Israel has been forced to use their perceived weakness (their smallness) as a strength. Due to their geographic and numerical “smallness” their lines of communication with its militia are short and efficient as the last Israeli/Arab war has shown. Their ability to adapt quickly is legendary. Israel has also used its underdog (David and Goliath) status to unify its people quickly in time of crisis.

The recent forced boarding of an Iranian sent ship to Gaza was a test of the Israeli resolve to determine their own destiny. In the face of worldwide condemnation they did what they thought best for their own defense and as the article below states; the end result was to stave off future attempts.

Below is a list of some sources, scroll down to see the chronology of how the Iranians threat to send another “Aid Ship” played out and was thwarted.

-----link-----
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2541341/posts
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The World and particularly the US has been trying through diplomacy for quite awhile now to get Iran to quit and dismantle their nuclear weapon capabilities. The Arab states around Iran have been as always (Remember the Iran Iraq war) cautious of Iran and their threatened hegemony over the region.

Our President who campaigned upon his ability to sit down and talk turkey with the Iranians has failed to make any headway and is increasingly being seen as not only ineffective in his efforts but amateurish on the world stage.

Yet while so much bungling has been going on, Israel the small focused and beleaguered country has seemingly been making some pretty large behind the scenes inroads.

As the link below attests, Saudi Arabia is building on Saudi soil a military base for the Israelis for no other logical reason than to give Israel an easier platform to attack Iran.

-----link-----
http://www.conservativeoutpost.com/israel_brink_reported_secret_base_near_tabuk_saudi_arabia?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ConservativeOutpost+%28Conservative+Outpost%29
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Below is a map of Saudi-Arabia and if you look up in the upper left corner of Saudi you’ll see Tabuk which is where the base is being built. While it is not on the Iran/Saudi border, as the article says it puts Israeli helicopters within easier reach of Iran.

-----Map-----
http://www.maplandia.com/saudi-arabia/
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In the defense of the US we have recently beefed up our presence in the Persian Gulf. As to what role the threat of an Israeli attack played in that decision I’ll leave to the reader. It seems clear to me that without Israel and their threatening posture regarding their defense, the US would not have had the ability to get into this position to protect our interests in the region. If our President claims diplomatic success; I’ll leave the reader free again to decides who get the credit. I’ll tell you Israel could care less, they are doing what they need to do to survive not reading poll numbers.

In the video below, once you get past the Iranian talking points; you will notice near the end of the interview that the speaker is seemingly unaware that Saudi-Arabia is helping Israel build a military base. It would seem that not only are Israel and the US the only would be the aggressors but other Middle East states may help or at least not get in the way of a pre-emptive attack on Iran.



While I care how America is viewed in the world. The two really important things that matter are these.

1. Israel has the right to protect itself
2. Iran’s nuclear threat needs to be contained
For all the blustering this administration has done about diplomacy, it is small outnumbered Israel that has forced the issue through what Reagan said during the Goldwater run about “peace through strength”. President Reagan took that philosophy and with that idea broke the USSR winning the cold war.

-----Reagan-----
http://www.entertonement.com/clips/htlyncqdcn--Peace-through-strengthRonald-Reagan-A-Time-for-Choosing-The-Speech-
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The USSR had thousands of nuclear missiles aimed, fueled and targeted at us just a button push away.

Perhaps we need to remember how that felt and what we did about it before we disparage small Israel further.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Ugly Tasting Tea

Oh What a Load of DO DO.

I usually refrain from going off on a writer; so forgive this outburst.

I saw this article and read it thinking that some Blue Dog Democrats were joining the Tea Party Movement as a type of place to fit in without losing their Democrat status

-----link-----
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/17/1584333/small-number-of-dem-candidates.html
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What I write about today is how cramming too many people into the Tea Party movement tends to spill the tea. Tends to dilute what’s left to the point of being tastless.

Kinda like the infamous “Big Tent” of the Republicans which by the way is now the size of a pup tent.

I was astounded by what I read. The article was written by Susan Haugh an AP Political Writer. That on the face of it tended to set off a tinkle or two of the warning bell system in my head.

I didn’t completely decide the article was a load of crap written by someone well versed in the lingo and customs of the political class and seemingly unaware of what a conservative is and or what the Tea Party stands for, let alone what the Tea Partiers in the majority are against ------ until I read the following. (bold emphasis mine)

-----quote from article—--
{How can the federal government afford all of that?
Mosler espouses a concept often referred to as "Modern Monetary Theory," whereby the federal government really has no intrinsic financial constraints. Every penny of federal spending, he said, involves simply changing numbers in a bank account at the Federal Reserve, the country's central bank.
"There is no such thing as the federal government running out of money, and Social Security and Medicare cannot go bankrupt because the federal government always makes any payment when it's due by simply marking up numbers in our bank accounts," he said.}

Go ahead Susan, actually go to a Tea Party event sometime and ask everybody whether the federal government can run out of money. Ask them if they agree that SS and Medicare cannot go bankrupt.

Amazing insight into the Tea Party movement Susan. You would help the country more by trying to sell that twaddle to the Chinese so they will stop dumping our bonds. Tell them all about the “Modern Monetary Theory”!

After that I expected to see scathing rebukes from conservatives but you quote only that which calls Mosler an “appealing alternative” and a “Pioneer”!!!!!!

An appealing alternative to whom? Ponzi perhaps or maybe Pelosi; and a pioneer of what??? Treading in the realm of whatever the word is that comes after Trillion???
This whole piece is beautifully filled with such well defined clarity that I’m left speechless as to what it means. Like the gem below.

"traditional Democratic ideal" that the economy works best when everyday people take home enough pay to buy the goods and services they produce”

Wow that ranks right up there with “Save the Whale”

Another marker telling me that Susan may not be so well versed in Tea Party Lingo is that she referred to the seat this Mosler might run for she called Dodd’s seat. Sound familiar? Even without knowing much about the Tea Parties if she had paid the least attention to the Scott Brown thing --- she would have not said Dodd’s seat but the Peoples Seat.

What can I say? Well I’ll say that even Republicans know enough to not call themselves Tea Party Republicans, although I do know of one that did. He’s still paying the price. I guess the reason for the quote- “Tea Party leaders” she quoted for saying nice things about the Tea Party Democrats is that they are such a novelty we overlook their obvious flaws, where we take apart a Republican even showing signs of such crudity and otherwise obnoxious behavior.

What can I say? I’m telling you the truth. As a friend of mine alluded to; when your child gets 3 As and 1 B on their report card, we concentrate on the 1 B. When the neighbor kid comes over with 3 Bs and 1 A we congratulate him on the one A. We do that not so much to be nice but because we don’t much care and want him to go away.

Well I guess that sums up my opinion of Tea Party Democrats – just go away. I’m pissed though at the Tea Party Republicans. They should know better.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Symetry and True Heart

True Conservatives are just that, you know what you're getting. They don't get all fadded up LOL. They were here before the Tea Party and I listen. They are

I blogged a long while ago about seeing Dan Burton, Tom Price and William Westmoreland after hours in the House pushing the Drill Hear Drill Now concept. They were alone and seemingly talking to no one but themselves till I realized I was watching them from over 1,000 miles away – so I blogged about it If I heard about it in Muskegon Mi. then so did others.

Back then I was happy that at least someone in Congress gets it.

-----link-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/06/us-house-guerilla-war-petition.html
--------------

Dan Burton and Dr. Tom Price have been in the news lately.

Rep. Price was recently on PJTV talking about what the American people need to do to keep affecting change. “Angry enraged and engaged” said House member Tom Price of what he hopes the Tea Party members and the citizenry in general need to do to push back the encroachment of a corrupt overreaching government.

-----link-----
http://www.pjtv.com/v/3401
--------------

Dan Burton has also been active. He was one of the eight Republicans signing a letter “demanding” the SEC turn over documents which would show whether Goldman Sachs was in collusion with the Administration.

-----link-----
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/36097.html
--------------

Nice to note that some young blood has joined the veteran Conservatives in Congress that have been fighting Earmarks and true fiscal responsibility. I’m talking here about Aaron Schock of Illinois, Anh “Joseph” Cao of Louisiana and Jason Chaffetz of Utah. These guys are fighters. The Republican Study Committee should really be making noise and getting things done if they can enlist the fire of these guys.
AGAIN

-----RSC-----
http://rsc.tomprice.house.gov/
-------------

Then again talking of Chaffetz of Utah there is this out today from Newsmax written by David A. Patten.

-----link-----
http://newsmax.com/InsideCover/utah-tea-party-state/2010/04/20/id/356333
--------------

It is nice to see politicians and grass roots conservative on the same page. The conservatives must feel good about the Republican Party watching their back for a change. In Michigan as probably the rest of the country a hardnosed conservative candidate not only has to keep his eye on the Democrat Party but the Republicans too.

But it sure is nice to watch the goings on in Utah and it inspires me in this Midwestern state. Reading the article, the caucus system is way different than the primary system we have in Michigan. But kudos to them anyway. We’ll just come up with a different in Michigan.

Then again some deserve the Flying Fickle award. (to be nice)

Just remember what the Tea Party did in Mass. It sure would be nice if Scott Brown would. Well if he keeps it up, his future will be written in Tea Party leaves.

-----link-----
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2010/04/13/boston_tea_rally_has_glaring_absence_scott_brown/
--------------

The main thing Tea Party people should learn, and I know I did; pick a GOOD candidate, do the research. Being Angry led us to being Enraged and now that we are Engaging we are learning. This freedom stuff is hard work.

But like the song says, “We won’t be fooled again”, at least not as easily and we are learning that what we do can be undone; and as with Health Care whatever is done can be undone.

Let the sleeping bear roar.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

A Mountain out of a Mole Hill

Making a Mountain out of a Mole Hill



Well I guess that is the definition of what volcanoes do. (LOL)

Well we had a doosey and on the ground the scientific experts are doing their best at making a mountain of trouble and fear out of a mole hill.

Trusting Our Experts ????

As we all know there was a huge volcanic eruption in Iceland and the Euro scientific experts came together and banned the airways to flight.

With experts, common sense never prevails.

The whole computer modeling method is as flawed as the human computers (the human brain) that enter the data. Take any idea or theory you want and with the right human computer imputing the right data into the brain that is sitting on his lap and you can prove or disprove anything.

The article below from the Financial Times – Brussels talks of the fear mongering made possible with the right data entry or enterer.

---email------
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0821cc00-4bb5-11df-9db6-00144feab49a.html
--------------

Talking of how these mistakes get made the article talks of how…..” many of the assumptions in the computer models were not backed by scientific evidence.”

This sounds all too familiar. The whole email thing about global warming and shoddy data entry. Seems a lot of computer models have been imputed with assumptions based on Political Correctness instead of straight fact.

If I entered into a computer model the main assumption that jet engines do not run well when submerged in water, it would be easy to allow the parameters to be loose enough to ban all flights in rainy weather if there was a driving PC mentality against rain or wet planes.

Bad analogy but all of us have seen these flawed predictions over the years. Aspirin is good for you – oops now it is bad.

Now I must add another thing highly paid bureaucratic experts are good at and that is feathering their own nests.

-----email-----
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/20/uns-massive-haiti-budget-goes-staff/
---------------

Not to mention the monies the likes of Al Gore have raked in with flawed computer model. Hockey anyone.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Saturday, April 17, 2010

"We'll fix the car our Damned selves"

Well known political conservative activist Richard Viguerie said the following at a Tea Party in Culpepper Va.
-----link-----
http://www2.starexponent.com/cse/news/local/article/tea_party_rally_a_tsunami_wave_is_coming/55901/
---------------


“A tsunami wave is coming,” he said. “When that wave comes in and sweeps the Democrats out in November and all we have are big-government Republicans who’ve been nominated, we have wasted the opportunity of a lifetime.”

…………We need everybody to stay involved.”

He was saying that if we don’t pay attention to the primaries and elect conservative candidates we will lose the opportunity of a lifetime. He is stressing the primaries as the surest way to start to change the power structure in Washington. He is absolutely right.

I would add to that when he says “We need everybody to stay involved;” I would add that even after the primary and the general election we need to keep the elected official's feet to the fire. We need to keep our voices loud -- keep the pressure up.

One of the unifying efforts on a national scale for us will be the idea of “Repeal the Bill” as Linda Bachman recently said at a Rally, ("in 2013 we will “Repeal the Bill”."

That is the big picture we need to unite us. There will be plenty of current things to help motivate us and give us smaller battles to fight like cap n trade, or card check etc, but we should keep focused on one thing around which all else is ancillary. “Repeal the Bill” and all it entails.

Let me sketch out the timeline and what needs to happen for that to actually take place.

Looking down the road for the end result of all this Tea Party energy, Bachman knew what needed to happen to “Repeal the Bill”. She was referring to the idea that we need to keep the pressure up in order to get our candidates onto the ballot through the primaries, then more pressure to get them into office taking back the US House in the general election of 2010, then increasing the pressure to secure the Senate and the Presidency in 2012.

Then exerting all the continual pressure we can manage to keep the new leadership from going the way it went after the last time Republicans claiming to be Conservatives took control. Keep pushing them to actually start repealing not only this Health Care Bill but the framework that holds up this perverted insatiable monstrosity we call Government.



Using my favorite analogy. When our car was broke we took it to a garage. When they gave it back in worse shape like the Republicans did after we trusted them in 1994, we then shopped around and as a country took it to another garage and this one was owned by the Democrats and they have already started stripping it, taking the tires and radio etc.

As we wonder what we are to do now; the really sad thing a lot of us have been finding out about the two garages is that they are owned by the same company (GM) and the government now owns them.


Our choices along with our freedoms are disappearing faster than we can keep track of. Late at night on the weekends and behind closed doors.

So when leaders of either party hear the cry “Throw all the bums out” they would do well to get to work on doing what we are paying them to do and fix our damn car.
So like John Lennon said “So ya say ya want a revolution , well ya know , we all want to change your head”. Bottom line difference between then and now is that we need to change our own heads and understand it is up to us to do the “ever vigilant thing” and demand our elected officials do what we and not special interests tell them.

Maxine Waters in justifying real violence as in the LA riots where 57 people died said that;

“Riots are the voice of the unheard” and again,

"I'm not asking people not to be angry. . . . I have a right to be angry."

Now with the shoe on the other foot she should heed her own words when criticizing Tea Party protesters sitting in lawn chairs holding signs and not say the following.
"The Tea Party emerges as not only outrageous, but they have turned up the volume in ways that even Code Pink have not been able to do”

All I can say to that is “Hey Maxine give us our car back – we’ll fix it our damn selves”

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

That’s What I’m Talking About or Last Man Standing

That’s What I’m Talking About or Last Man Standing

ALG, Americans For Limited Government, at GetLiberty.org came out with the following article

-----link-----
http://getliberty.org/content.asp?pl=10&sl=5&contentid=388
---------------

Mr. Bunning is a Senator and a Republican and is taking a principled stand on bill extending unemployment benefits. His stand is a simple fiscally responsible stand. He is asking his colleagues in the Senate to fund the 10 Billion dollar bill; instead of adding that $10 billion to the deficit.

For this he is being dragged over the political coals and being accused of the same old things; such as having to furlough 2000 workers. Hogwash. He is simply asking where is the money coming to pay this $10 billion.

To make the point more clear he said the following. ““There are going to be other bills brought to this floor that are not going to be paid for, and I'm going to object every time they do it.”

What do you think of them apples? Well all the Democrats and most of the MSR (Main Stream Republicans) think those apples are sour. They, for all their preaching of a Republican Revolution are beginning (before it happens) to remind me of how they lost their way in the last Republican Revolution.

As the Republicans look to the Tea Party movement for support they should realize that in order to get some credibility they would do well to back a fiscally responsible adult. If they can’t watch the back of a fellow Republican when he takes a principled stand, what good are their words – what credibility do they think their spineless actions inspire?

They should pay attention to this or be lumped under the moniker of Bums as in “Throw the Bums out”.

At times of national stress as is now the case, some people pay less attention to the cliché “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” and more attention to the cliché “you have to break some eggs to make an Omelet”

Or along the cliche line, I'm doing all I can to see Senator Jim Bunning be "the last man standing"

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

No Payne, No Gain



I wrote yesterday in my Bottom Up Politics blog that the government was broke.

-----link-----
http://tinyurl.com/yklbe37
---------------

I believe that, but as so often the case and due to the knowledge found in and the speed of the internet I came across the following piece in Rasmussen Reports, written by Tony Blankly. He shared some perspective on the issue.

-----link-----
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_tony_blankley/is_our_government_really_broken
---------------

Mr. Blankly was entirely right; the government is not broken. It is however being pushed to the breaking point by the overreaching of the Executive Branch. I also agree that if the people put in power a Party in the Congress with a clear mandate and they fail to act then a crisis is at hand.

I might add that if they do act by passing legislation and the bill cannot get carried out by the bureaucracy which I feel more likely, then a crisis is at hand.

Hopefully neither of those will happen. The voice of an active majority is still important to elected officials. The question will be how we cut back enough to really stop the problem. Programs will be bleeding arterially, bureaucrats from the Townships on up to the Fed will be screaming in pain.

At all levels are politicians who are running things used to basically letting the bureaucracy get its way. At the county level, for example they are not used to saying no to the unions, the planning boards and the various departments providing services. If we demand of them that they do, we have to stand ready at their back to give them the political cover they need.

To prevent the type of remedy Mr. Blankly tells us has happened in the past. (Civil War) there will have to be a huge common will and the people behind it who are willing to sacrifice and the politicians with the sac, brains and desire to put a real plan together. There will have to be alternatives for the programs that will be cut. The people of this country as before will have to step up and in, to fill the void.

We live in interesting times as someone in our past who had the sac, brains and desire once said and I paraphrase, we may be entering the “Times that try men’s souls”.

Thomas Payne the “blogger extraordinaire” of the 1700s hopefully would have felt at home here today and in the 2010s.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
……………………………..

Sunday, February 21, 2010

2+2=4


2+2=4

Newt Gingrich explains his new slogan 2+2=4 at the recent CPAC. The slogan was used by the Polish dissidents of Soviet rule in their country. By putting this slogan on paper and up in stores restaurants and on signs, the Polish people were stating what was so obviously true that the authorities couldn’t do anything about it. It became a symbol of all the other obvious truths that if put to paper would be called treason by the Polish Government.

But 2+2 does equal 4 and people will not argue about that.

Below is a link to Newt’s CPAC speech, it is long and may take some time to load depending on you internet connection.

-----link-----
http://newt.org/MediaCenter/FeaturedVideo/tabid/258/Default.aspx
--------------

Newt explains the stategy for the upcoming elections. His ideas on a balanced budget amendment was well received; but his talk of saying the obvious boldly, clearly and unequivicably (2+2=4) was excellent. Corruption in bureaucracies and big unions is pandemic and we should demand its end.

The former Speaker translated this slogan into not afraid of being bold and fighting for one’s ideas in a principled responsible bipartisan way. By standing up and claiming our principles are as good as theirs.

I would add we will meet you in the middle on common ground or at the barricades.
Principled leadership as Newt suggests need to come from all levels of government from the city and county as well as the state and federal governments. All levels are permeated with corruption. Just look at the Muskegon County Treasurer’s office and the alleged fraud coming to light; how about drunk driving + felony false police report by the Drain Commissioners office from the Commissioner. Oh yeah the previous holder of that office had to deal with sexual harrasment charges.

My idea that the Tea Party is the broom that is demanding everyone be swept out who is even remotely responsible for this systemic corruption that Newt talks about unless they stand up and reaffirm that 2+2=4; and start doing something about it regardless of consequences right now.

In other words they've Had Enough The 10,000 at CPAC obviously did. The Millions around the country brewing tea have definitely had enough and don’t care much anymore if some eggs are broken making the Omelets.

Candidates beware, August is looming.

As always Newt got me fired up – because he was taking the words out of my mouth, and with them lighting a fire in my belly.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

PS. I’ve been reading F.A. Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom” and I really connected when Newt said of the corruption that it is the logical extension of centralized planning in the government of Great Britain, which was proof of Hayek’s principle that Central Planning inherently leads to dictatorship.

As I’ve previously blogged, this book is helping me in the constant confusion of the words socialism, conservatism and liberalism. The roots for the confusion are deep and I’m amazed finding myself a liberal in the classic sense, not the distorted socialist sense. Individual freedom being the key determinator.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Personal Hi-Tech


Ronald Kessler writing in Newmax 2/16 wrote a great article about how Scott Brown pulled off the upset of the year in Mass.

-----link-----
http://newsmax.com/RonaldKessler/RonKessler-ScottBrown-Massachusetts-Senate/2010/02/16/id/349962
--------------

The article was written to elaborate how the use of the internet helped win Scott Brown “The Peoples Senate Seat”. As I read through it and tried to picture how it all actually worked, I was reminded of the miracles waiting within my own personal computer for me. ----- If only I knew how to open them up. lol

With the advent of smart phones and twitter, facebook, and texting etc. the possibilities are endless and to me and most; impossible to completely fathom. When Mr. Kessler was explaining the working of the Brown phone banking vs the old Democrat phone banking, I was frankly lost as to how and what was needed to make it all work.

Work it did, there seems no question as to that. The other thing that stuck out was that there were people waiting in line to volunteer at the phone banks!!!!! Amazing

The real essence of the article was that Kessler caught the excitement of the campaign and how it could take advantage rapidly of events on the ground. I was geeked just reading the article.

I’m in front of a computer 5-7 hours a day just blogging, emailing, networking and the like. It is surprising to me that I know so very little about the latest advancements.

But I’m learning the speed of networking made possible through the electronic media.

Still with all the tech stuff aside, it was the personal that started the wave and sustained it and pushed it crashing down obliterating Coakly. Politics remains personal, just the methods of saying hi have gone digital.

Ron Kessler astutely points out the clearest of any pundit what was involved in the Brown upset.

-----quote-----
A number of forces came together to propel Scott Brown into the U.S. Senate: Brown was an appealing, tireless campaigner with a clear message. His opponent was weak. And Massachusetts voters, like so many across the country, are rejecting the left-wing agenda of President Obama and congressional Democrats.
--------------

All the rest was how the campaign got the message out better, clearer and above all faster than their opponent.

The lesson I took from the article was that the Republicans need more candidates like Brown with a clear message and then apply all the bestest technology to get volunteers to get the message out. I mean really, in 2008 I couldn’t get more than 5 volunteers to phone bank. Brown had them waiting in line for an hour to get the privilege. What got them there was Brown, his message and high tech messaging of the man and message.

The high tech stuff coupled with a good candidate with a good message spread to a pissed off electorate turned what two years ago would have been a ripple into a tsunami.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Ps. I’ll have to check into that IT guy Robert Willington, hope he’s written a book.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Cat's Out Of the Bag



Below is a link to the Speech Chris Christie gave to the State Legislature of NJ.

-----link-----
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/nj_gov_christie_announces_stat_1.html
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This speech by the newly elected Conservative Republican Governor of New Jersey is a lodestone of what a real conservative can do as a leader and Governor. His legislature is Liberal, his cuts are deep, and politicos from both sides are probably running for cover.

Yet

And yet this conservative was elected in NJ to the head spot and is starting out exactly as he promised. He is going to balance the budget without raising taxes or cutting services. Yes he is going after the Unions especially in Education. I wish I could of seen the looks on the Democrat audience.

My state Michigan is in almost the same boat and we have to wait a year to elect a new Governor, I pray our new Governor will have the backbone of Christie especially in regards to the unions.

Transcript of Christie’s speech to NJ legislature.

-----link------
http://www.redstate.com/mark_i/2010/02/15/that-christie-speech/
---------------

This is the breath of fresh common sense scented air that like after a lightning storm has the scent of Conservatism in the air.

Man that guy is in for some heavy lifting. I hope the citizens who elected him will watch his back.

I wish him luck.



Yup the cat's out of the bag

You Can Cut Spending

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Friday, February 12, 2010

The Same

The Old





The New




The Message Remains the Same

Freedom

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Sloth

It Ain’t a One Stop Shopping Place.



As I listened to the video of O’Reily blasting Politico co-founder on the scandalously biased if not incompetent coverage of the Tea Party movement it dawned on me that what Politico didn’t like is/was the same thing Big media and Big Parties don’t like. The Tea Party Movement isn’t Top Down, it isn’t “Big led”. It isn’t as reality isn't a one stop shopping place with easy answers and proffered news bites. Big People (read bureaucratic types) don’t like it that they have to work for the story so they ridicule and try to marginalize it.

-----link-----
http://www.breitbart.tv/oreilly-defends-fox-news-vp-who-slammed-msm-reporting-on-tea-party-movment/
--------------

When Jim Vandehei co founder of Politico finally spluttered out in defense of the MSM that they sent a lot of reporters to the Nashville Tea Party convention; I realized that big media finally had a "Big" event with a "Big" star where they all could meet and easily do their thing. Big parties are the same and like to deal with their own kind --- namely “BIG” One Stop Shopping Places. Call it what you will, I’ll call it sloth. Others get out there and get the stories.

The experiment of little over big in politics was started in 1776 in America. Compared to now that must have been easy. They had only a whisper as to how big and corrupt a bureaucracy could become compared to what we have today. I admit to not having the facts, but I bet the number of people working for Health and Human Services is larger than the entire population of the US back then. That is just one of today’s bureaucracies.

On top of that the King was in another country across the ocean and there were no planes or Internet. Now the king is in our country in our capital and he has all the tools of tyranny at his disposal.

That the Tea Party has gotten this far is amazing. If it overcomes the Big Three (Big Media, Big Business and Big Government) it will be the second American Miracle. This could be the beginning of a new paradigm the world will watch in awe develop. Perhaps, but it will be a lot of hands on in your face work.

Even on the sympathetic coverage of the Tea Party by PJTV’s Glen Reynolds and Dr. Helen in an interview of Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft, the same kind of disconnect occurred.

-----link-----
http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=video&video-id=3073
--------------

The disconnect I picked up on could be called a disconnect between doing something vs just writing or talking about it. Big Media journalists seem to be so insulated from real people and real stories and end up getting the “low down” of grass roots over latte at a sushi club. If they can’t go to one source for the story they don’t waste their time.

Dr. Helen seemed genuinely interested in how Jim Hoft went from a blogger to an activist actually getting out in the political action by doing the hard work. I get that same feeling when I’m talking with most party members. The higher up one goes the less interest you can find in getting things done at a local level.

Once at the machine level it becomes all about the machine.

The old adage “If you want something done you have to do it yourself” holds true and is if you think about it the perfect conservative saying. The corollary would be “Don’t hold your breath waiting for the government to do it.” That is what the Tea Party is; a whole lot of people doing what they can about it. No leader just themselves without government grants, without government regulations and they are reveling in this new/old freedom.

As with all history, the old paradigm is the new paradigm.

Individual Freedom isn't for the slothful.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Friday, February 5, 2010

Because of - Not In Spite of

What the Republican Party needs now is not that smarmy load of condescending crap being dished out by the Beltway political elites and spreadsheet gurus as evidenced by a recent article in Politico by Jonathan Martin.

-----link-----
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32502.html
--------------

The last paragraph on the last page sums up the thoughts of the author.

-----quote-----
It’s still early, and Specter may lose his own primary, but Toomey is enjoying a 14-point lead, according to a new poll — seeming to prove that if they run disciplined campaigns that home in on issues that voters are concerned with, the conditions could be such that even candidates to the right of their state’s mainstream have a chance to win.
------------------

Anybody else see the condescension? What does “right of their mainstream” mean exactly? Does this mean that if I run a campaign to the right of the majority I have a chance to win? How does that work in a democracy anyway?

Maybe Mr. Martin should get out of his office at 1100 Wilson Blvd Arlington, (the beltway) VA to see where exactly the “Mainstream” is politically in the state of Pennsylvania. I think he will find they along with the rest of the country are right of center.

Does it also mean that Toomey with a 14% lead in the polls has a chance to win. I smell a “slant meister” at work here. Usually a factual account of the events would of said Toomey had a “chance” to win when he was 14% behind. Put it this way; if Toomey with a 14% lead has a chance to win what chance does Spector have?

The Senate race headline should read “Toomey 14% ahead of Spector” subtitled. “Spector has 3 times as much money, still has an outside chance”.

The rest of the article smacks of conclusions drawn based on tainted facts. The idea that those Republican’s meeting in Hawaii represents the “mainstream” is so ridiculous as to be laughable. They instead represent what people are so upset about. The same kind of exclusionary politics that they claim Pelosi, Reid and Obama are practicing.

I’ll finish this diatribe by saying to those professional politicos who try to marginalize and or manipulate that anger out there. Where would the Republican Party be without a Sarah Palin helping McCain get close in the last election? Where would they be now without the whole Tea Party thing?

For those of you still clinging to your Democrat lite thinking, where would your left of center Scott Brown be without his money bombs? That bomb would of been a dud without real grassroots help nationwide. Why do you think Rubio out raised Spector in the last quarter? Let me give you a clue - It wasn't the RNC.

If Republicans win big in 2010 it will be because the Tea Party has tapped into the mood of the people and decided to help the Republicans in spite of the Republican professionals trying to marginalize them. They are the ones who still have hope for the Republican party and the beliefs it stands for.

The article should of said Republicans will win in spite of the majority voting for them.

You figure it out.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

She Is Paying Close Attention


This is the Sarah Palin I and millions of others fell in love with ---- gained respect for.

-----link------
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2010/02/column-why-im-speaking-at-tea-party-convention-.html
---------------

My paranoid fears of Sarah turning into another Beltway corrupted Olympia Snowe White were hopefully just that – paranoid. Sarah does throw a curve now and then as when she resigned the governorship and said she’d campaign for McCain. I had hoped these acts were motivated by the reasons she stated.

With the article above she helped bring me back. I want to believe the governorship thing was simple self preservation (she couldn’t do the job she was hired to do with all the media and legal harassment) and the McCain thing seems what it was on the face of it. She owed him.

With this hopefully she can start back on the track that she followed to get to where she was - being a voice of everyday Americans just wanting to live their lives free from Government intervention.

In my recent post I asked Sarah to pay close attention, looks like she has.

Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Monday, February 1, 2010

The Deepest Cut of All



Bill Whittle on PJTV did a piece about iconology. The piece was about the brilliant use Obama's campaign made of the use of icons. The all too familiar O with the stuff inside. Whittle went on to show how he has carried this on into his presidency. {For the video of that see my side bar to the right and go five segments down to a box titled "O-What a Joke he Is".}

Mr. Whittle then made the case that Republicans need to rebut that with the same, and that is where he came up with the slogan below, derived from the LOL used on comnputers as shorthand for lots of laughs.


His point was that satire and humor are the best ways to take down an opponent without having to worrry about the issues. Ridicule in other words trumps debate.

After Sarah Palin was ridiculed on Saturday Night Live along with the MSM in general, further proof of the above was not needed.

The video above is a recent skit from SNL about Scott Brown's victory. Can you imagine if FOX did a skit like this? The Liberal Left would be screaming bloody murder.

This satire from the Left's MSM has to be the Deepest Cut of All.

This is a hoot.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Pay Close Attention Sarah



Conservative Digest highlighted this blog linked below.

-----link-----
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/dunkin/100122
--------------

Renew American blogger/columnist; Tim Duncan was making the point that the Republican Party needed the Tea Party. Also that the Tea Party needed the Republican Party apparatus to help get Conservative candidates elected.

In the blog Mr. Duncan said the following about the Tea Party

-----quote-----
(it) is a re-energized mass movement of conservatives who are getting active again after having gone dormant for a while. The Tea Party movement is, in essence, the rebuilding of the Reagan coalition of conservatives — Republicans, Independents, "Reagan" Democrats, libertarians — people who want fiscal discipline from their government and less intrusion into their own lives. -------------------

Tim Duncan went on further to say this about John McCain.

-----quote-----
If the Republican Party follows the John McCain route — trying to pawn off more big-government establishment insiders onto us — then it deserves to lose, and lose big.
-----------------

All of this rumbling lately, from John McCain acting as if he is the leader of the Republicans makes me cringe. Well I guess I have company in my cringing that probably goes on with the other side when Kerry jumps up and puts in his two cents. Recently to compound the misery, at least on the face of it; Sarah Palin announced she will campaign for Senator McCain.

I hope she is doing it out of a sense of common sense duty to a man who took her out of obscurity and put her on the National Stage. I hope she does not however campaign in ideological lockstep with him.

From all I’ve read, it is still baffling to me that Sarah Palin made that move. She could be the face of, if not a leader in the Tea Party movement. She already without trying is a leader to many of that group.

Steve Flesher in the American Thinker has written as good a piece as I’ve read about the illogic of her decision in the following link.

-----link-----
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/01/john_mccain_palins_political_b.html
--------------

I truly hope Sarah will show us by her actions what she really thinks. I still have hopes for that lady.

As for McCain he is the poster child for the progressive Republicans and Democrats; they love to call him a maverick etc. Kind of reminds me of the movie “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner”. In the movie Sydney Poitier seems more like the parents than their daughter. He is now the epitome of “Token-ness”. Well McCain is the Liberal’s Token Republican; not because he is so different but because he is so much the same.

I still hope that a good conservative candidate comes out to challenge him in the Az primary. In my opinion, Hayworth is not a real conservative. His 6 years in the state house don’t spell conservative to me, or leadership for that matter. Maybe Sarah Palin sees this, I have no clue. She is on her own and I will let her actions speak for themselves, now and in the future.

When she quit the Governorship, MSM and a lot of progressive Republicans were calling her career over. She seems now to have made the right decision and for the right reasons. I’m biased and that is why I’m hoping that her campaigning for McCain will prove to be right also. We'll see who gets the last laugh.



To put Tim Duncan and Steve Fisher together, I think it is the Tea Party’s game to win or lose. Their credibility will be determined by the choices they make about the candidates in the 2010 elections. Those decisions will be many and have to be made fast, by many groups up and down the line. If they are made well the “shot heard around the world” in Boston really could be the revolution it is hyped to be.

I’ve gone to the meetings and rallies. The Tea Party-ers are serious down to earth everyday folk. How a national movement can be molded from a, by definition “grass roots” movement without losing the grass root excitement and vitality will be the challenge. In their defense, we did it in 1776 and it lasted awhile perhaps we can do it again.

The encouraging thing is that the Tea Party Movement is still growing and on the ascendency, and that the enthusiasm is still there. I hope Sarah is paying close attention.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Sunday, January 24, 2010

What Do I Want ???

Not this.

"Do I want voters to think that Republicans do nothing but go to beach resorts in January?

Hey, I didn’t say it, but I sure agree with Eric Cantor who did say it about Michael Steele’s decision to hold an RNC strategy confab in Hawaii.

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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31834.html
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Wow.

Remember the pic of President Obama body surfing in the Hawaiian surf while a plane was almost blown up by a terrorist on its approach to Detroit? He looked pretty silly although he got a pass from the MSM. Just when the Republicans were making some hay, up steps Michael with a match.



Mr. Steele would do well to keep his shoes on at least.

Wonder how many extra photographers will be sent there, and you can guess why. Wonder how many would be sent to Allentown or Philly for example. After all not just spoiled pampered out of touch politicos like Hawaii, so do journalists. That’s appealing to the grass roots for ya.

I remember talking with a Republican National Committee Woman who was all excited about Mr. Steele’s ability to attract grass roots. She was working hard to get Steele elected head of the NRC. She was positively gushing. She had me pretty much convinced. OOOPS. One of me is born every minute.

Well I guess there are grass roots in Hawaii; maybe he found that one stealth Tea Party group that remains so well hidden in Hawaii. I wonder too if this will help or hurt the Governor there. She definitely knows her people to get elected as a Republican there, so maybe I’m just blowing smoke. In my defense, all the smoke Mr. Steele is blowing defending his decisions, makes it hard for me to tell.

I’m starting to get tired of hearing his reasons for doing stupid stuff; because then I get mad and have to waste time writing a blog like this. I mean his equivalent in the other party is pretty stupid too, but you don’t hear him constantly having to explain why he does what he does. Well outside of that little “Scream Tantrum” thing.

Wonder what I’ll hear him explain about which was really a smart thing he did next week. Like that sentence, he seems to make things convoluted and full of drama.

I’m still trying to figure out what office he’s running for; because he sure looks like a candidate instead of the head of the RNC. Well at least he’s backing some great candidates like Scozzafava or Crist, well I give up. My money is staying in local or state politics or directly to the candidate.

There is always next week to look forward to, if you like delayed pain.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Leave Us Alone

According to Jim Meyers and an article he wrote for Newsmax. After it was decided by the inner circle of the Obama administration to go to war with Fox News and talk radio conservative icons; even some of the Democrats thought Obama had gone too far. These Dems in the media were saying that Obama had started acting “Nixonian”. Wow that ranks right up there on the liberal hate scale with being Bush like. Below is the quote from Meyer’s Newsmax article.

“That argument won out and ultimately what they did, they went after Fox, they went after some others in the press, and then they found out the press kind of joined in and said, 'Hey stop this. This is outrageous.' This is Nixonian actually was the argument that was made. And the White House has sort of backed off.”

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http://newsmax.com/InsideCover/kenauletta-obama-media-honeymoon/2010/01/19/id/346810?s=al&promo_code=95B1-1
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That was telling me of a Bunker mentality, a disconnect; not only with the American People but with their base as well. The next thing I saw was an email from Washington News Alerts which seemed to back that up and show that there are indeed consequences for one’s actions, and that not even the President is above that law in a Democracy.

-----link-----
http://washingtonalert.org/?p=995
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This alert backed up the conclusion I had reached around noon on election day.
From the New Jersey and Virginia larger than expected turnouts which resulted in Republican victories by larger than expected margins; I called Brown to win by 6 points. The other deciding factor was that Mass had an extremely high independent voter registration. 50% of the voters in fact were registered as Independents. I figured that a large turnout would be a turnout for change, and Brown was the candidate of change.

The point of writing this was to try to point out that I feel the voters were voting values, conservative values such as the values held by the new/old coalition from Citizens for Traditional Values and Americans for Prosperity, thru Right To Life, and the NRA and the Fair Tax people in short the Reagan coalition. That value is one of pride in the fact that individuals can govern their own life and in fact in our great American Experiment have the right to do just that. People crossed ideological lines to join in a group with different parameters. Those parameters were defined by values of Individual Responsibility and propelled through the idea of “We Have Had Enough, Leave Us Alone”.

The quote below from the link above gives a clue of that realignment.

“Meanwhile, in Ward 1, five registered Democrats stand on a street corner, two with Coakley signs, and three waving Brown signs. The men are catching up and sharing stories of past campaigns, when they all worked for the same candidates”

This was not “Nixonian” but rather refreshingly “Reaganesque”

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

PS Old song lyric mangled by me. Good buddies enjoying Freedom.
"You say you want a coalition. Well ell you know. we all want to change your head."

Friday, January 15, 2010

The Heart of a Conservative

The Heart of a Conservative

What do Victor Frankl and Newt Gingrich have in common? Seemingly not much but if you study their works you will find they do share a basic belief in the individual vs. the collective.

Frankl who was a survivor of a concentration camp in WWII started up a new school of psychology (Logotherapy) founded on what he learned from the camp experiences. It is based upon “Man’s Search for Meaning”; which is the title of his book. Here is a quote from that book.

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“I consider it a dangerous misconception of mental hygiene to assume that what man needs in the first place is equilibrium, or as it is called in biology, homeostasis. What man actually needs in not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.”

In an article in Reason Grover Norquist quotes Newt Gingrich.

-----quote-----
There will be conflicts, and this is where Gingrich's observation is so critical. The majority governing party does not eliminate conflict, doesn’t resolve conflict. We agree to manage conflict.
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Victor Frankl would agree with Grover and Newt that managing conflict is the job of all.


Frankl’s logotherapy’s school is based on the notion that each individual has a meaning and the best a psychologist can do is to manage the individual’s path in finding that meaning and fulfilling it to the best of their ability. Further the struggle itself is the therapy in which an individual becomes whole.

Frankl, Grover and Newt again I think will agree on Frankl’s next quote.

-----quote-----
“Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible. Thus, logotherapy sees in responsibleness the very essence of human existence.”
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I highly recommend Frankl’s book “Man’s Search for Meaning” as it is a double edged sword. First it is a firsthand account of the concentration camp experience. Second it flushes out a very conservative message. That message is that man has a meaning to his life. Life is talking to him and it is the individual’s responsibility to listen and act upon what he hears. Individual man’s happiness is rooted in how well he handles his problems not the number of problems.

Thomas Sowell’s classic work, “Conflict of Visions” goes also to the heart of a conservative as it explains the two basic visions of man. One Vision (Conservative) is that man is not perfect and conflict and inequalities are and always will be with us; therefore it is up to the individual to decide which way they will go in life according to their own lights. The other Vision (Liberal) is that man was born perfect and only corrupted by their society or circumstances and that if we change society and make it perfect, man will again become perfect and happy.

Frankl seems to say along with Newt that the first Vision is the correct one. Namely that we get our meaning in life by how we manage our tensions or conflicts which determines our state of happiness.

We have had plenty of efforts at making a perfect society that tries to create a tensionless homeostatic individual throughout history. None has worked. Our unique American Experiment in putting a premium on Individual freedom has worked for a few hundred years. Combined with the complimentary tool of “Free Markets” Individual exceptionalism has been rewarded and all the people in the American ship have floated higher and sailed more secure upon the troubled waters than the rest of the world.

This ideal of individual freedom is being challenged at its core by the socialistic manifestations of the liberal administration. The attack on the Free Market system is an attack on the one way individuals have of making themselves and their families better.

Will we as individuals get further ahead by going on welfare and letting the government take care of our problems for us; or will we be further ahead by seeking our life’s meaning by defining our own problems and how we will react to the tensions and conflict that arise?

The heart of a conservative is warmed through the use of their freedoms. There is a certain sense of fulfillment in actually using freedom, a sense of well being. The real control over one’s own life is what that often quoted phrase “The Pursuit of Happiness” is all about.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative