Politics and bed sheets

Couple of interesting stories, all revolving around Senator Robert Brown, (D - Macon), Senate Minority Leader. First there were the inflammatory remarks he made about state Rep. Allen Peake, (R - Macon).

Brown, during the taping of an interview with Peake, said that a legislator who recently switched to the Republican Party might need to keep his white sheets "for the midnight meeting." Peake recently made the switch from Democrat to Republican. Brown has since said he was not referring to the KKK, but to sex.

On the 31st while leaving a press conference one of Brown's associates attacked a photographer. Rather than try to recap stories when I wasn't present, I'll link to two that do a good job of outlining the whole fiasco. The photographer has filed charges.

Here's a video of the attack. It kind of hangs at the beginning so hang in there when it goes blank. Here's a link if the video doesn't play for you: http://videos.macon.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=46449141&item_index=1&all=1&sort=NULL



Peake Offended by Brown's 'White Sheet' Comment
State Rep. Allen Peake says he's offended by Sen. Robert Brown's comments that seemed to compare Georgia Republicans to the Ku Klux Klan.
It happened Tuesday morning as the pair went toe-to-toe on several issues during a taping of 13WMAZ's Close-Up program.
http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=106782&catid=7

Telegraph photographer attacked after news conference
By JIM GAINES and SHELBY SPIRES - Telegraph writers
A man apparently accompanying state Sen. Robert Brown to a hurriedly called Thursday news conference attacked and injured Telegraph photographer Woody Marshall at Macon City Hall, prompting conflicting stories from those involved.Read more: http://www.macon.com/2010/12/31/1393922/telegraph-photographer-attacked.html#ixzz19yWSsQkt

Dirty (Illegal?) Dealings in Ohio Governor's Race

Have you been watching the race for Governor in Ohio? John Kasich (R) is up at least ten points over Ted Strickland (D).

Large Democratic leaning counties have mailed ballots to all eligible voters and they're paying for return postage. Many counties aren't sending them out and / or aren't paying return postage.

Lawsuits are in motion.

It could be a tough case if counties in Ohio usually do their own thing when it comes to elections. Some counties won't be able to afford to pick up the tab for two-way mailing.

Four people have filed suit saying its unfair, pretty much "why should I have to pay or request a ballot when my neighbor across the street doesn't because he's in another county". I think one of the people filing is disabled and unable to get out to vote.

I'm just skimming articles, sharing the gist of what I'm reading urge you to do some more reading to get the details.

It seems sneaky, underhanded and to my way of thinking it should be illegal. No problems with disabled or those who are going out of town or whatever, getting an absentee ballot. However, I think if someone doesn't care enough to get an absentee ballot, they shouldn't vote, have that right handed to them on a silver platter.

Here are a few article links if you'd like to get more details and follow the issue:

http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/09/05/copy/gop-resurgent.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/ohio-news/lawsuit-challenges-ohio-absentee-ballot-methods-896406.html?cxtype=rss_ohio-news

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20100904/NEWS01/9040310/1002/Lawsuit-decries-Ohio-absentee-ballot-process

Looks like all the rest of the stories I'm finding are (AP) repeats...

Byron York - When Bush spoke to students, Democrats investigated, held hearings

Unlike the Obama speech, in 1991 most of the controversy came after, not before, the president's school appearance. The day after Bush spoke, the Washington Post published a front-page story suggesting the speech was carefully staged for the president's political benefit. "The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props," the Post reported.

With the Post article in hand, Democrats pounced. "The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students," said Richard Gephardt, then the House Majority Leader. "And the president should be doing more about education than saying, 'Lights, camera, action.'"

Continue reading: Byron York - When Bush spoke to students, Democrats investigated, held hearings

Me: Just thought it was interesting reading...

Mayo Clinic calls House plan bad medicine

Obama loses support on reform

A world-renowned clinic that President Obama held up as an example of good medicine said Monday that the American people would be "losers" under the House's health care proposal, joining the growing chorus of critics the Obama administration is trying to fend off as the debate intensifies from Capitol Hill to Main Street.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/21/mayo-clinic-calls-house-plan-bad-medicine/?feat=home_cube_position1

Specter, the Poster Child for Term Limits

Yesterday I wrote a quick bit about Arlen Specter's defection after hearing a short bit on the radio stating he'd switched. I hadn't heard his words regarding the move when I wrote it.

Guess he answered all my questions: it's nothing but political survival.

After a lifetime as claiming to be a Republican he's willing to say to heck with principles, I want to stay in power so I'm turning my back on whatever I told you I believed in? He says flat out that he's switching parties simply because he couldn't win as a Republican.

He is the poster child for term limits. The egos get so darned big, they get so entrenched in power and games, that they forget why they're there. They forget about principles.

Someone pointed out to me yesterday that Lieberman switched when the going got tough. Yep, he did. But he moved to a tougher position as an Independent. Being an Independent gives you the flexibility of voting left or right. He made the switch for the same reasons basically that Specter did, but he didn't trash his party, he continued to claim it. He just picked a neutral ticket and openly said he was still a Democrat.

Specter left for the left. He made a deal with his political devil, sold his soul, just to stay in office. Why? Because he thinks he is that important?

Years back when I first went into management, one of my bosses told me something that has stuck with me through the years. He said that at the point someone thought they were indispensable, they WERE indispensable.

Specter made a choice that shows he thinks he's indispensable.

He's not and I hope he learns that lesson the hard way, by losing.

Finally Specter Gets Honest... Maybe.

Arlen Specter is finally on the side of the aisle many of us figured he really should have been on all along. Unfortunately, taking on the technical title of Democrat isn't going to help the Republican cause any as now we won't be able to count on him to even try to act like a conservative.

My biggest concern at the moment is card-check. He was for it, then said he'd vote against it... but now that he's a certified (certifiable?) Democrat will he switch again and give them the vote that puts another nail in the coffin Barack Obama and friends are building for America?

Lots of questions.

You have to wonder what's going on in Specter's mind. He's had all the health problems which could result in someone either getting real honest with themselves or have them wigging out completely. I've had friends go both ways under similar circumstances.

Is Specter just getting back at all the Republicans who've been trashing him since he gave Obama the ability to mire our kids and future grandkids in debt they'll never rise above? Is he just being pragmatic, realizing he has zero chance of winning as a Republican so he's making himself the darling of the Democrats so he can hang in there another election cycle?

Lots of questions.

Only Specter knows the answer.

No matter what the reason, he's now hurting Republicans even worse than he was when he was a liberal Republican.
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Great Thoughts on Tea Parties

I hope just about everyone receiving this has gone or will go to a Tea Party this week. (Some tea parties were held on Saturday, including very successful ones in Studio City, CA and Pittsburgh, PA)

The big issue, of course, is this: Will the Tea Parties be just a "one-and-done" event, or will they become the beginning of a mass movement that eventually will sweep people like Obama and Reid out of office? On TeamSarah.org, which I hope you'll join if you haven't already, Puma4Palin wrote an excellent blog piece on what the Tea Parties can mean. We need to use them as opportunities to meet like-minded people and to organize for future victories. Let's make sure the Tea Parties are a beginning -- and not an end.

http://www.teamsarah.org/profiles/blogs/tea-parties-a-fad-thats-a?xgs=1

Over at Fox News they’re running a blog by a guy named John Tantillo who says he is a marketing expert and the founder and president of Marketing Department of America. Hey, the guy is very good at marketing his business because he got my attention with his disparaging article about the upcoming tea parties.

According to Tantillo, the April 15 Tea Parties are nothing more than a fad and, not just any kind of fad, but a fad that flops. Actually, the more I think about it, how can a fad flop? Fads come and go, but if something gets enough attention to be called a fad, then normally that’s called a success. Right?

He offers several criticisms of the parties, but what is striking to me is that he is labeling it “Republican” and “Conservative.” Personally, I think this is a tactic that the left is using to attempt to belittle the tea parties as “just a bunch of Republican losers” and to portray the Republicans as angry outsiders. The truth of the matter is that I know many people supporting the tea parties who are Democrats and Independents and who consider themselves moderates.

Further, if it’s just a bunch of Republicans why is the Huffington Post asking for citizen reporters to go to the tea parties and, well, do what? Write a slanted article? Disrupt? Bring a pro-Obama sign? I mean, why would the left care if it was just a “fad” and a Republican one at that? (Although anything that is not pro-Obama appears to be a threat to the insecure obats).

Actually, the other point Tantillo makes that has me laughing is that his take on the reports that tea party merchandise is flying off the shelves is bad news and a sure sign that this is all fad.

For example, he takes this quote from Jason King, VP of marketing for Zazzle, an online retailer selling tea party items: “This is probably one of the bigger things –- not counting the election– that we’ve seen since the Client 9 sex scandal broke in 2008.” And interprets it thus: “Hey, if a marketer’s comparing your “serious” political movement with “Client 9 sex scandal” sales you know you’re in trouble…”

Well, excuse me, but if the election was a big merchandising success, doesn’t that make it a fad, too? And didn’t the Client 9 sex scandal end a governor’s career? Pretty powerful fad!

I do think there are legitimate concerns about what next? Just getting together in a local park with a permit is not really going to accomplish anything. Most media will not cover it. And the location of the tea party in my town is low visibility; there is no drive-by traffic so no one will even notice it is happening unless they make a point to stop by.

Frankly, I think the tea party organizers should take some tips from Moveon.org. When they held their anti-war rallies here they lined a very busy street in front of our Congressman’s local office with not just signs, but drums, and they did it during rush hour. They also took a petition into the Congressman’s office where it was officially received.

It remains to be seen if the tea parties bring about change, but in the meantime it is encouraging to see average Americans getting heated up enough about something to make a sign and stand on a street corner. Maybe this is just practice but I don’t think I would classify it as a fad. In fact, I think that’s a challenge and I’m always up for one of those.

Steve Maloney
Ambridge, PA
DraftPalin2012
SteveMaloneyGOP

Note: Steve Maloney has become a good friend of mine through the Read My Lipstick Network, Team Sarah, and other conservative cross-over efforts. He is a great guy and a dynamic thinker and doer. I hope you'll read his blogs and maybe if you're lucky you'll get to know him as a friend. - Janet

Obama told us what he was going to do

Since January 20th we've been bombarded with change. It seems that Obama is determined to toss everything we as Americans have believed in and practiced into the air. He's swatting some away into the nether regions, some he's letting splat onto the ground, ruined, and the rest he's catching, turning up-side-down, shredding, changing or handing over to the world for their playing pleasure.

I don't see how anyone who voted for him can complain. He told us all exactly what he intended to do when he ran for office. Unfortunately, most who voted for him either didn't pay attention, taking style over substance, or they didn't think he'd be able to do what he said. After all, most politicians don't do a fraction of what they promise.

This time it's different. He has a Democratic Congress that is giving him exactly what he wants, if not more.

[I started to write "the latest issue" but realized by the time I finished typing there would probably be another one or ten or fifty issues coming at us... So...] Yesterday we got word that our military was going to be even further undermined than suggested during Obama's first few months in office. Our government, who 'loves our military', is going to decimate their ability to fight.

Obama and his policies are weakening us in the eyes of the world and more importantly, in the eyes of terrorists. What is it with Democrats and military budgets? Every time we get a Dem in office they slash military spending. Then something comes up that stretches the military to the nth degree, a Republican comes in, shores up their resources... and the cycle continues.

In these days, as terrorists work across the world to kill and maim, it's ridiculous to undermine our capacity to respond quickly and appropriately.

Obama's statements in Europe suggesting and stating in various ways that we are weak certainly doesn't make me feel warm and secure.

It is so frustrating to sit here in my office reading and hearing the constant barrage of change that is ultimately going to destroy our culture. I plan to join the Tea Party, which may help me feel like I'm doing something. If we elect a sufficient number of Republicans in the 2010 elections that may help curb some of the changes, and even give us the means to reverse some of the changes Obama is enacting.

I have concerns about the honesty of future elections given other changes being made in D.C., but I'll save that for another rant.

Morning Bell: Ensuring America’s Decline
Posted April 7th, 2009 at 7.49am in Ongoing Priorities, Protect America.
Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates gave one of the most radical speeches of the Post-Cold War era on American national security. Building off themes established in the 2008 National Defense Strategy written under President Bush, Secretary Gates presented what he described as “a budget crafted to reshape the priorities of America’s defense establishment. … a holistic assessment of capabilities, requirements, risks, and needs for the purpose of shifting this department in a different strategic direction.” Continue reading…

Nuclear-Free Hopes vs. Reality
Posted April 7th, 2009 at 8.44am in American Leadership, Protect America.
We weren’t the only ones that found President Barack Obama’s “nuclear free” Prague speech a bit too heavy on hope and a little light on reality. The Washington Post’s Anne Applebaum writes today:
Clearly, the “no nukes” policy is one close to the president’s heart. The Prague speech even carried echoes of that most famous of all Obama speeches, the one he made after losing the New Hampshire primary. “There are those who hear talk of a world without nuclear weapons and doubt whether it is worth setting a goal that seems impossible,” Continue reading…

Gates Seeks Sharp Turn In Spending: Defense Budget Focuses On Lower-Tech Weapons (By Greg Jaffe and Shailagh Murray)

Gates Proposal Reveals His Alienation From Procurement System (By R. Jeffrey Smith)

Sketch: Pentagon Chief Calls for Cuts; Congress Opens Fire (By Dana Milbank)

The Nuclear Illusionist
Obama's 'moral authority' won't deter Tehran or Pyongyang

Stephens: Obama's Unreality Tour
Barack Obama vowed to turn to the U.N. Security Council for strong action following North Korea's weekend missile launch. He would have done better by turning to Dr. Phil.

Lieberman-Obama honeymoon stops at missile defense - By Alexander Bolton
Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) has tried to mend his relationship with President Obama in recent months but their reconciliation hit a snag Monday over ballistic missile defense. > Read More

A $50 lesson

Rec'd via email:

I recently asked my friend's little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, 'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?' She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.'

Her parents beamed and were so proud.

'Wow...what a worthy goal.' I told her, 'But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.'

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?'

I said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party.'

Her parents still aren't speaking to me.

(Thought you might enjoy a bit of levity encased truth this Monday morning... yowzer, watching the stocks tumbling again!)

Who's up for election, Senate, 2010

Shawn McElhinney provided this list today on Facebook (thanks):

Maine senators are not among the Republican senators up for re-election but Snarlin Arlen is. In fact, here are the senators from both parties whose terms expire on 1/3/11 meaning they are up for re-election in 2010:

Democrats

Bayh, Evan (D-IN)
Boxer, Barbara (D-CA)
Burris, Roland (D-IL)
Dodd, Christopher J. (D-CT)
Dorgan, Byron L. (D-ND)
Feingold, Russell D. (D-WI)
Inouye, Daniel K. (D-HI)
Leahy, Patrick J. (D-VT)
Lincoln, Blanche L. (D-AR)
Mikulski, Barbara A. (D-MD)
Murray, Patty (D-WA)
Reid, Harry (D-NV)
Salazar, Ken (D-CO)
Schumer, Charles E. (D-NY)
Wyden, Ron (D-OR)

Republicans

Bennett, Robert F. (R-UT)
Bond, Christopher S. (R-MO)
Brownback, Sam (R-KS)
Bunning, Jim (R-KY)
Burr, Richard (R-NC)
Coburn, Tom (R-OK)
Crapo, Mike (R-ID)
DeMint, Jim (R-SC)
Grassley, Chuck (R-IA)
Isakson, Johnny (R-GA)
Martinez, Mel (R-FL)
McCain, John (R-AZ)
Murkowski, Lisa (R-AK)
Newman, Bonnie (R-NH) (replaced Gregg, will not run for re-election)
Shelby, Richard C. (R-AL)
Specter, Arlen (R-PA)
Thune, John (R-SD)
Vitter, David (R-LA)
Voinovich, George V. (R-OH)

Toomey isn't going to take on Arlen Specter

Yesterday at the Fayette County (GA) Republican Convention a friend and I were discussing Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter's defection from the Republican Party and conservative values. It seems he's going to have a tough election next year and he'll be depending on true conservative Republican's to come out and support him. Well, if he votes for the stimulus, I think he can kiss what's left of that support goodbye.

If a good solid conservative Republican runs against him, I'm going to send a donation and do whatever I can to help him or her unseat Specter.

My friend, Jane, mentioned that Pat Toomey had run against Specter in the last election and probably would have won if not for the Party's support of their friend.

I think with Michael Steele at the helm of the RNC we'll see less "good old boy's club" politics and more support for those who walk the walk.

I took a look this morning to see if Toomey might be willing to try again. Seems he's going to run for Governor and won't be trying to unseat Specter. I'm going to keep my eye on Specter's race.

The Republican Party is making strides to get back on track. I think it took this recent election to really shake things up and make some realize they'd strayed from the principles that the Party is built upon. I also think that the grassroots needs to be more involved in all critical elections, not just those in our neck of the woods.

Toomey not taking on Specter

Allentown Morning Call's Josh Drobnyk has the scoop that Club for Growth president Pat Toomey is exploring a run for governor of Pennsylvania, and has decided against taking on Sen. Arlen Specter in a GOP primary:

Former Lehigh Valley Congressman Pat Toomey has begun formally exploring a run for governor, setting up a meeting with area GOP donors as he assesses his potential candidacy in 2010.

Toomey, president of the anti-tax group The Club for Growth, is scheduled to sit down with several influential and deep-pocketed Lehigh Valley Republicans in early February to “discuss his thinking of a possible gubernatorial run,” according to an e-mail invitation sent out Friday on behalf of Arcadia Properties founder Richard Thulin.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0109/Toomey_not_taking_on_Specter.html

A few Sunday morning "stimulus" headlines

The Stimulus Tragedy
Obama bets that we can spend our way to prosperity.

Peggy Noonan: Bracing Ourselves
America prepares for the worst, and Republicans suddenly seem serious.

WSJ: Obama, GOP Trade Jabs on Stimulus

AP: Senators debate stimulus in rare Saturday session

Politico: Senate GOP says they were left out

The Hill: Senators exert leverage over Pelosi on stimulus

Senators Hash Out Stimulus Details With Another Nudge From Obama
ABC News - USAThough a few moderate Republicans likely will vote for the stimulus plan -- which President Barack Obama today said is necessary to avoid a "national ...

AP: Competing stimulus bills divide Congress

Roll Call: Drafters Meet Stimulus Amendment Deadline

WaPo: Economists Agree Time Is of the Essence for Stimulus

Battle over stimulus plan tests Obama's mettle
San Francisco Chronicle - CA, USABarack Obama will have to grind it out." "The moral of the story is that it's a lot more fun to campaign than it is to govern," says Jack Citrin, ...

#TCOT to Republican Senators: NO to Porkulus, NO to Compromise, No to Turncoats

Michael Patrick Leahy, co-founder of Top Conservatives on Twitter, the conservative grassroots organization that dominates the conversation on Twitter, today announced that the organization is focusing it's OPERATION MOVE OVER MoveON.org on all Republicans in the Senate.

"Led by #TCOT Project Servant-Leader Wendy Hermann, a work-at-home mom from Corpus Christi, Texas, #TCOT's MOVE OVER MoveOn.org project is focused on defeating the "Porkulus" Bill in the Senate (S.1), in any form." Leahy said today.

"We intend to communicate that message to all 41 Republican Senators in the most direct way today and through the rest of the week. We know that Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid is trying to ram this bad bill through the Senate without a sufficient discussion of all the truly wasteful mini bail-outs to the Democrat Party's political allies it contains."

"Our message to every Republican Senator is clear and simple: Stand firm, and don't fall for false promises of 'bi-partisanship' that are being used to merely provide political cover to the Democrats. This is a clear example of the Democrats' wasteful economic policies, and we need to let the Democrats own their foolhardiness."

"The history of compromise in the US Congress is easy to understand. When Democrats coerce Republicans to abandon their principles, they call it 'bi-partisan' compromise. We conservatives call that fundamentally wrong."

"Anyone who wants to help us in this higher calling in the defense of American free markets can take an advantage of an innovative interactive tool that allows the average person to view the most recent spending elements of the "Porkulus" Bill, and register your approval or disapproval of each item. We will be periodically be sending out press releases highlighting your opinion of the most wasteful and extravagant elements of the bill."

"This great tool has been developed by Aaron Day, of Daylight Networks. To use the tool right now, simply go to: www.daylightnetwork.com/senate-stimulus.

"Once there, you can register and vote on whether or not a specific line item included in the bill will help improve the economy or will hurt it.”

MoveOn.org, the liberal activist group funded by George Soros, is focusing an ad campaign to turn around 5 Republican Senators. They are using radio and television ads to encourage people to contact these Senators and tell them to vote for S.1. The targeted Senators are:

(1) Collins - Maine
(2) Snow - Maine
(3) Newmann (yesterday appointed to replace Judd Gregg) - NH *
(4) Murkowski - ALASKA
(5) Grassley - Iowa

Leahy continued by adding that now all Republican Senators will be contacted.

"We've seen reports that various Republican Senators are offering a few ideas to make the bill seem more palatable. This simply won't work. Adding a few elements to placate moderate Republicans while keeping 90% of the $825 billion of pork included in the House version of the bill does nothing to help the economy. If Republican legislators want a historical model to guide them, they need look back only a few months to the disastrous vote in the fall in which many of them supported the ill advised and ineffective $700 billion Wall Street Bailout."

Top Conservatives on Twitter was started on November 29, 2008. It consists of a list of over 2,400 conservatives who use Twitter. The list can be found at http://www.topconservativesontwitter.org. The list serves as a rallying point for conservatives on the Internet, and has led to the formation of many action projects, of which Operation MOVE OVER MoveOn.org is one.

The organization is referred to as #TCOT because those five characters are used so that anyone on Twitter can follow the “tweet stream” of conversation on Twitter that is aimed at the #TCOT community. To follow this “tweet stream”, go to http://search.twitter.com and enter #TCOT.

In January, www.hashtags.org data showed that #TCOT dominated the Twitter conversation. #TCOT was the number one most used hashtag, with over 18,000 tweets. The second most used hashtag had less than 6,000 tweets.

#TCOT dominated the conversation on Twitter so dramatically that it had more than three times the conversation tweets as the number two hashtag.

#TCOT has released the following details of their plan of attack:

1. Phones. As we did in Operation Melt the Phones in DC, we are going to keep up a steady stream of phone calls to these Senators offices and report back on the TCOT Action Project site what the senators are saying. This time, however, we want to also call their local state offices. Each Senator has several in their state and they should be pressured as well. The numbers are listed by state at the bottom of the page as well as a sample script. We recommend calling each of the Senators offices every day. We will be issuing daily talking points for you to question the senate aid about. Be polite, but assertive.

2. Faxes. This time we will add faxes to our blitz. Many out of state people wishing to send a letter to a senator were stymied by the Senate e-mail system not allowing them. We have posted fax numbers next to phone numbers for those wishing to use that method. A sample text is listed at the bottom of the page for use in drafting e-mails and faxes. Again, we would like each person to fax each office daily emphasizing that days talking points.

3. E-mail. If you live in the senators state, we encourage you to send daily e-mails to the senators giving them reasons to vote against this piece of legislation. Links to each Senator’s webpage are on the Phone/Fax list at the bottom of the page. Use the Fax/E-mail text suggestions to know what to say.

4. Blogging and local media. We do not have George Soros’ money. We will have to be more grassroots than that. We are wanting all conservative bloggers to post this Action Project on your blog and give your opinion or perspective on the talking point of the day.

5. We are also asking "TCOT members to call their local talk radio programs, send letters to the editor and notify local media of what you are doing. Our hope is that some will be picked up as human interest stories and we can rebroadcast them over the Internet. We have made an outline/talking points list available to you for your reference. Please use that list as a starting point. We are working to build this media list, so please report back whomever you talk to and how they reacted.

6. We are looking for people with video experience that will write and produce short videos that can be posted on youtube that counter the ads being run by MoveON.org. Please contact us if you are interested in this project.

7. We are looking to target moderate or blue dog Democrats in the Senate that could be swayed to our side. Please let us know if you find any Democrats on the fence about S. 1.

Above all else, be polite. Passion is encouraged, foul language is not. Be aggressive, but not abusive.

Resources:
Senate Phone/Fax numbers (with links to e-mail) can be found at: http://moveovermoveon.posterous.com
To volunteer directly, and receive more detailed instructions, go to http://tcotprojects.ning.com

House Schedule for Tuesday

Now that I'm getting daily updates on the House schedule, I can't help but wonder what happens after they enact some of this stuff. I can't imagine that once some of these bills are passed and become law that many, if any, who voted on them ever know what happens afterward.

The volume of stuff going through is amazing. Can you imagine what would happen if all of a sudden everyone from the top down started doing half the things that are enacted way up on the lofty D.C. grounds? We hear it all the time in regards to things like illegal immigrants --- if we followed the letter of the law we wouldn't need new laws or bills or acts. It seems to me that a lot of the bills aren't worth the paper they're printed on (assuming anything is printed these days ;-).

There are a couple on this list I'm going to look up - Reducing Over-Classification Act? Fair, Accurate, Secure, and Timely Redress Act? Not sure what the National Bombing Prevention Act is either...

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2009:
On Tuesday, the House will meet at 12:30 p.m. for Morning Hour and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. Unlimited One Minutes per side. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m.

Suspensions (7 Bills)
1) H.R. 748 - Campus Safety Act of 2009 (Rep. Scott (VA) – Judiciary)
2) H.R. 738 - Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2009 (Rep. Scott (VA) – Judiciary)
3) H.Res. 82 - Raising Awareness and Encouraging Prevention of Stalking by Establishing January 2009 as National Stalking Awareness Month (Rep. Poe – Judiciary)
4) H.Res. __ - Supporting the goals and ideals of National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week’ (Rep. Lewis (GA) – Judiciary)
5) H.R. 553 - Reducing Over-Classification Act (Rep. Harman – Homeland Security)
6) H.R. 559 - Fair, Accurate, Secure, and Timely Redress Act (Rep. Clarke – Homeland Security)
7) H.R. 549 - National Bombing Prevention Act (Rep. King (NY) – Homeland Security)

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4; THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5; FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2009:
On Wednesday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business.
On Thursday, no votes are expected in the House.
On Friday, no votes are expected in the House.

S. 352 – The DTV Delay Act (Sen. Rockefeller – Energy and Commerce) (Subject to a Rule)

Senate Amendment to H.R. 2 – The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (Rep. Pallone – Energy and Commerce) (Subject to a Rule)

* Conference Reports may be brought up at any time.
* Motions to go to Conference should they become available.
* Possible Motions to Instruct Conferees.

Kudlow on the stimulus

This video lays out the problem with the "stimulus" succinctly. I encourage you to listen and then go to www.nostimulus.com and sign the petition. Then pop over to www.topconservativesontwitter.com and look at their action list. Look for Move Over MoveOn --- get involved. Don't just call your senator, call, email or fax those in every state, Democrat, Independent and Republican. Another group that is fighting the stimulus is www.wam08.org. I could list more, but those should keep you busy!

Congress doesn't need to enact this entire package all at once. Tell them to cut all the handouts, the wish lists and the things that have nothing to do with creating jobs or stopping the drain.

They are rushing this through hoping you won't catch on until it's too late.

Like to see where they're going to spend your future dollars? Visit www.readthestimulus.org.

"Stimulus" Stats...

Contact every Senator, the Governor (stories are out saying Republican Governors are pressuring Congress to vote yes so they'll get their share of the money). If you think the so-called "stimulus package" is good for America, read the following excerpts from an article in the Canadian Free Press (http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/8006):

Alan Reynolds at the Wall Street Journal also tells us the stimulus package doesn’t even target the groups hardest hit by unemployment.

The December unemployment rate was only 2.3% for government workers and 3.8% in education and health. Unemployment rates in manufacturing and construction, by contrast, were 8.3% and 15.2% respectively. Yet 39% of the $550 billion in the bill would go to state and local governments. Another 17.3% would go to health and education—sectors where relatively secure government jobs are also prevalent. If the intent of the plan is to alleviate unemployment, why spend over half of the money on sectors where unemployment is lowest?

Here's a list of some of the things included in the "stimulus" package:

Global Warming

$2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects Link
$400 million for global-warming research Link

Government Upgrades

$2.5 billion for the National Science Foundation Link
$2.0 billion for the National Park Service Link
$800 million for AMTRAK Link
$650 million for the U.S. Forest Service Link
$600 million for NASA Link
$276 million to the State Department to upgrade and modernize its information technology Link
$150 million for maintenance work at the Smithsonian Institution Link
$209 million for maintenance work for the Federal Agricultural Research Service Link
$44 million for repairs and improvements at the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Department of Agriculture Link
$245 million to upgrade the information technology of the Farm Service Agency Link
The Coast Guard wants more than $572 million for “Acquisition, Construction, & Improvements” They claim these funds will create 1,235 new jobs. Crunch the numbers and this brings the cost of “creating” each job to a staggering $460,000+ Link
$200 million for Dep. of Defense to acquire alternative energy vehicles. Link
$600 million for new cars for the federal government Link
$200 million to re-sod the National Mall Link
$400 million for a new Social Security Administration computer system Link
$1.9 billion for the Energy Department for “basic research into the physical sciences Link

Schools

$66B on education, but they specifically exclude private K-12 schools from getting one dime of it. Link
$17 billion for Pell Grants Link
$13 billion in IDEA, Part B State grants to help pay for “the excess costs of providing special education and related services to children with disabilities. Link
$13 billion in Title I grants “to provide extra academic support to help raise the achievement of students at risk of educational failure or to help all students in high-poverty schools meet challenging State academic standards Link
$6 billion goes to college and universities Link
$3.5 billion for higher education facilities. Link
$2.1 billion is for Head Start Link
$1 billion for Technology Education Link
$250-million for an after-school snack program. Link

Social Programs

$87 billion is to be spent on Medicaid, a welfare program already costing roughly $400 billion per year Link
$83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don’t pay income tax Link
$36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits Link
$20 billion for increased food stamps, including lifting restrictions on how long welfare dependents can receive food stamp benefits. Link
$6 billion program to “weatherize modest-income homes Link
$5 billion is devoted to public housing Link
$3 billion for health care prevention and wellness programs, such as childhood immunizations and other state and local public health programs Link
$2 billion is to be spent on Child Care Development Block Grants, which provide day care. Link
$1.7 billion is to be spent to help the homeless Link
$1.1 billion for so-called federal comparative effectiveness research in regard to health-care services Link
$1 billion goes for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program, to help low income families pay their heating bills Link
$500 million to speed the processing of applications for Social Security disability claims. Link
$200 million goes for senior nutrition programs, such as Meals on Wheels Link
$200 million for AmeriCorps, to help satisfy “increased demand for services for vulnerable populations to meet critical needs in communities across the U.S. Link
$120 million to finance part-time work for seniors in community service agencies. Link
$100 million to reduce lead-based paint hazards for children in low income housing Link

MISC

New Programs $136 billion of the bill is for unproven ideas—to start 32 new federal programs. Link
$79 billion is to go the states to maintain their runaway government spending, particularly for such spendthrift jurisdictions as California, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts Link
$5.2 billion for ACORN, the left-leaning nonprofit group under federal investigation for massive voter fraud. Link “Community organizers,” such as the left-wing lobbying group ACORN, would get their own new slush fund of up to $750-million. Link
$4.2 billion provided to the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund, which provides the funds to local governments to purchase and rehab vacant housing due to foreclosure Link
$2 billion for Superfund cleanup Link
$1.2 billion for summer jobs for youth Link
$650 million for digital TV coupons to help Americans upgrade to digital cable television Link
$335 million for sexually transmitted disease education and prevention programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Link
$50 million for the National Endowment of the Arts to help “the arts community throughout the United States.
$400 million for “habitat restoration projects” of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Link
$75 million for smoking cessation Link

Few articles on the porkulus package

We HAVE to do everything we can to stop this thing. I'm sending messages saying fight with everything you have in your power to cut as much pork from the bill, then when it's pared down as much as possible, vote against it anyway.

Here are a few article links to give you an overview of the variety of views on this thing. On the last story re: Democrat poll finds voters like the stimulus... that flies in the face of every poll I've seen or heard about. I haven't read the article, but I have a feeling they asked a question that led to the answer they wanted.

Wash. Times: Obama: Nation can't afford bickering over stimulus

NYT: Stimulus Plan Encounters Stiff Resistance in Senate

Politico: Schumer: We'll get to 60

LAT: Obama turns to e-mail network to push stimulus plan

The Hill: Democratic poll finds voters like stimulus

A glimmer of hope on the "stimulus" horizon?

Democrat Paul Kanjorski is saying that Congress needs to slow down on the so-called stimulus bill. In fact, he struck out hard against it. I hope he's just one of many Democrats having second thoughts after reading all that is included in the bill.

I had set today aside to catch up on the Fayette Front Page. Trying to do whatever I can to stop the stimulus has taken up the majority of my day thus far. I feel so strongly that this is the absolute worst thing that could happen to our country that I can't help but try to stop it. Even if that means sitting up half the night to update the Fayette Front Page and the Georgia Front Page.

If we can't stop the stupid thing, at least let us slow down the process long enough to understand the ramifications off our actions. Have you seen what's included? Go to www.readthestimulus.org or check out the links at the end of this blog.

The initial bailout was acted upon in panic mode and look where that got us! The current bill is every liberal dream wrapped in money that doesn't exist until we take it out of our wallets or it's printed. They want to rush it through before we can see what's being voted on and become alarmed.

Already our actions are having some effect. Minimal, but we're getting there.

Contraceptive funding thrown under Obama’s bus
By Michelle Malkin • January 26, 2009 11:27 PMGoody. Panicky President Obama wants the Dems to eliminate Pelosi’s pet contraceptive funding from the Generational Theft Act of 2009. Only $800 billion more in needless, unstimulating stimulus spending to kill.
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/01/26/contraceptive-funding-thrown-under-obamas-bus/

I just received a House floor update that said they'll be debating the bill sometime around 3:30 this afternoon. I'm hoping Cspan picks it up so we can watch.

Here are a few of the comments Kanjorski made regarding the bill:

"I think we've lost our way in a way ... We shouldn't be pressed by these silly deadlines like, you know, what makes [the] Presidents Day holiday so important for us to get out of town?"

"In order to get it right, we have to spend time and analyze how much is going to hit the street as fast as it can hit the street and I don't think we've done that. I think, to a large extent, many of the parts of the stimulus are programs that are going to take years and years and years to accomplish ..."

"Quite frankly, we're doing this in small stages and small bites. We need to take our time. I guarantee we're going to come back and we are going to have another stimulus, we're going to have another bailout for Wall Street because we are not doing these things properly."

Key Democrat rips stimulus, predicts more bailouts
By Bob Cusack
Posted: 01/27/09 01:22 PM [ET]
A key Democrat on Tuesday lambasted the economic stimulus bill that is headed to the House floor, claiming it was put together too quickly and won’t help the economy in the short term. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), who chairs the Financial Services subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, said on C-SPAN that Democrats have "lost our way" and "shouldn't be pressed by silly deadlines" of getting the bill into law by the Presidents Day recess...
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/key-democrat-rips-stimulus-predicts-more-bailouts-2009-01-27.html

Uncovered: Democrats Seek to Use Stimulus to Kick Start Government-Run Health Care
Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) issued the following statement regarding the inclusion of $1.1 billion for Comparative Effectiveness Research in the Democrats’ misnamed “stimulus” package. The provision provides the cornerstone for a national government-run health care system.
http://tom.house.gov/html/release.cfm?id=446

Top 20 Fast Facts About the House Democrats' Trillion Dollar Spending Plan
http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=109402
Washington, Jan 26 - Earlier this month, when then-President-elect Obama met with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, he laid out a vision of crafting a bipartisan economic recovery package focused on creating jobs and fast-acting tax relief. However, in the weeks since that meeting, Democratic leaders in Congress have taken that vision and turned it upside down, crafting a plan loaded with hundreds of billions in spending on programs and projects – most of which will not impact our ailing economy for many years, if ever, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Stimulus Round Up

If you think your voice doesn't count think again. If enough of us call, write, fax, email it's possible we might, just might be able to impact this so-called stimulus package. Go to www.readthestimulus.org and click on the spread sheet they've provided and / or read the text of the actual bill if you can handle government double-speak in print!

Here are some interesting articles and commentary re: stimulus package.

States to win big in stimulus sweepstakes
The House bill allots almost one-quarter of the $825 billion recovery package to states and localities.
http://www.elabs5.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=o1l,44m9,er,a7nj,g6m3,mbr4,k497

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Fed May Gain More Financial Oversight
(By Neil Irwin and Binyamin Appelbaum)

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Republican Leaders Don’t Like Stimulus Plan, but No Filibuster Expected
(CNSNews.com) – Three top Republicans agree that they cannot support the Democrats’ economic stimulus package as written. But aside from expressing the hope that Republicans’ suggestions will be incorporated, none of them said they would work to block the plan beyond voting “no.”

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Nationalization of banks around the corner?
Yesterday Nancy Pelosi publicly indicated nationalization was on the table (Nancy Pelosi - Nationalization of Banks a Good Idea? Yep.).

Nancy Pelosi - Nationalization of Banks a Good Idea? Yep.
Nancy Pelosi was on ABC this morning with George Stephanopoulos. The entire interview was a dance and dodge performance, but even with all the flowery non-answers there were some whoppers that should have fiscally conservative, anti-socialistic, freedom loving Americans up in arms.

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Nationalization Gets a New, Serious Look
Only five days into the Obama presidency, members of the new administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are already dancing around one of the most politically delicate questions about the financial bailout: Is the president prepared to nationalize a huge swath of the nation’s banking system? Privately, most members of the Obama economic team concede that the rapid deterioration of the country’s biggest banks, notably Bank of America and Citigroup, is bound to require far larger investments of taxpayer money, atop the more than $300 billion of taxpayer money already poured into those two financial institutions and hundreds of others, The New York Times’s David E. Sanger reports.
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/nationalization-gets-a-new-serious-look/

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Treasury's demands on banks seen as nationalization
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government's decision to pledge billions of additional dollars with strings attached to Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. may be nationalization by another name, according to former bankers and regulators. Faced with pressure from lawmakers, banks have shaken up management, eliminated executive bonuses and staff and canceled conventions. They'll be forced to do monthly reports on how they've boosted lending while slashing quarterly dividends to 1 cent a share for three years.

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Pelosi Advocates Greater Government Investment in Banks: ‘Some People Call That Nationalization’
(CNSNews.com) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, describing the U.S. economy as “dark, darker, darkest,” indicated that further nationalization of American banks may be necessary, although she shied away from using the word “nationalization.” Pelosi also told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that investing in food stamps and unemployment insurance would be more effective in stimulating the economy than any tax cut would be.

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Editorial: Congress Must Stop the Stimulus
The $825 billion economic “stimulus” plan now being proposed by President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats could well result in a federal deficit in excess of $2 trillion for 2009. Which means that it is now up to Senate and House Republicans to make certain that the American people are not consigned to a future of permanent serfdom to foreign creditors.
That is, if those creditors will continue to even service the national debt, now totaling nearly $10.7 trillion. http://alg31blog.timberlakepublishing.com/default.asp?Display=905

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The Heritage Foundation's Morning Bell:
A Conservative Alternative to Obama's Permanent Spending Plan

Last Friday we told you that even by the left's own ideological criteria, President Barack Obama's trillion dollar spending plan would fail to stimulate the economy because nothing about the massive spending increases in the bill was temporary. This Sunday, the Washington Post wrote an editorial essentially agreeing with us:

[S]ome in Congress and the new administration apparently see the country's
present recession as an opportunity to change the federal government's spending
priorities more generally or simply to reward loyal political constituencies.
... [I]t's risky to make new, multiyear commitments in the middle of a crisis
without debate over competing priorities -- and without paying for them through
some means other than borrowing.

Helping hire, equip and pay police, a $4 billion item under the bill, might
be a good idea, but writing checks to individual households for the same amount
would do more to stimulate the economy. Ditto for $16 billion in Pell Grants for
college students, $2.1 billion for Head Start and $50 million for the National
Endowment for the Arts. All of those ideas may have merit, but why do they
belong in an emergency measure aimed to kick-start the economy?...Fiscal
stimulus can be a part of the solution, but only if it is "targeted, timely and
temporary." The efforts so far don't quite match that description.

Our only quibble with the Post's assessment of Obama's trillion dollar spending plan is that it is not quite stern enough. There is nothing "targeted, timely and temporary" about the massive and permanent spending increases in this bill. And the Post left out some of the most flagrant examples. Among the hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending is hundreds of millions of dollars for contraceptives. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) unrepentantly defended this money as stimulus on ABC's This Week:

Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. ... One of
those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce
costs to the states and to the federal government.

Got that? If you want to help stimulate the economy, then Nancy Pelosi believes you should not have any more children. Apparently having less children "will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."

National Economic Council director Lawrence Summers turned in a similar performance on Meet the Press, defending the above mentioned Pell Grants and police hiring as "good investments."

Neither of these stimulus defenders even bothered to claim that these spending increases would be temporary in any way. The deficit for 2009 is already projected to exceed $1 trillion. If deficit-fueled government spending was effective, then our economy ought to be in recovery already. Obviously that is not the case. An alternative is needed.

The American economy does not rise and fall with the level of aggregate demand or deficit spending. There are normal processes that launch a recovery and drive an economy. These processes involve individuals and businesses responding to opportunities and incentives. Lower marginal tax rates stimulate the economy because they improve the incentives facing individuals and businesses to work, invest, take risks, and seize opportunities. The centerpiece of an effective stimulus policy should involve two elements

- Make the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts Permanent: The American public faces a massive tax hike in 2011 when all of the tax relief enacted in 2001 and 2003 expires. It is difficult for the economy to gain its footing when facing the threat of a punitive tax hike.

- Reduce Marginal Tax Rates for Individuals and Businesses: Cutting tax rates by 10% for individuals, small businesses and corporations will reduce the cost of doing business in America and make it easier for Americans to create new private sector jobs.

According to an analysis performed at the Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foundation, using the widely respected Global Insight U.S. Macroeconomic Model, these policy changes would strengthen the economy significantly this year. Adopting the Heritage tax proposal would mean that 500,000 more Americans have jobs by the end of 2009, and, by the end of 2010, employment would increase by a million jobs. This two-step tax policy would reduce tax receipts relative to current policy by about $670 billion over five years, a number significantly smaller than Obama's $850 billion and growing spending plan.

The New Republicans

Ning sites seem to be the latest Internet wave... We have one set up for the Fayette Front Page (http://fayettefrontpage.ning.com/), there's one for the Read My Lipstick Network which I run (http://readmylipstick.ning.com/ - unfortunately I'm not doing much to promote it so it's slow going), and then there's the one that is catching tons of media attention, Team Sarah (www.teamsarah.org). I'm a member of a number of other conservative ning sites, I won't bore you with a list!

Joining the growing ning movement is another great group I wanted to let you know about, The New Republicans (http://thenewrepublicans.ning.com/). I posted a letter to the editor on here a month or two ago from its founder, Steven, a college student here in Georgia. He is now everywhere. He's chatting on Facebook, Twittering and probably has a MySpace page. He's pumped and he's starting a movement!

I'm really excited about the wave of conservative enthusiasm that is erupting across the country. I'm even more excited about the ages of those catching the conservative bug. The faces we typically see on the talk shows and news are considerably older, wearing suits and looking, well, like the stereotypical image of a Republican.

The New Republicans is geared toward young Republicans. All of the sites I'm involved with or run are made up of all ages. I couldn't begin to pinpoint the ages of the majority with any certainty, but there are a lot of young parents, college students, 20-somethings, and a smattering of older conservatives. Maybe the relative youth of the various participants has to to with the medium we're using, the Internet.

I will have to say that a few of my new friends are older, too. Some are going on-line for the first time.

I hope you'll go out wandering on the Internet and get involved in some of the groups that are sprouting. If you're looking for a good starting place I'd suggest going to www.readmylipsticknetwork.com. Visit the link page and start wandering.

Also, check out Twitter. It looks intimidating when you first set up your account, but it's really a breeze. Once you sign up, go visit www.topconservativesontwitter.com and start "following" some of the Twitter accounts listed on there. Pretty soon you'll be a-twittering with the best of 'em.

Here's a link to Steven's page on the site: http://thenewrepublicans.ning.com/profile/Steven

http://thenewrepublicans.ning.com/