Should Shelby build a new elementary school and or remodel others; there were 3 options presented at a recent forum put on by the schools to get public input. The three options ranged in cost from 18 million to 22 ½ million dollars. Plus they were talking of adding another nearly 2 million to their plans for a couple of extra things.
The main reason given for the need to do this was overcrowding. Well a couple of our Oceana Tea Party members took that argument apart at the meeting.
Bill and Jeanette Marossey brought this issue to the attention of our Oceana Tea Party at our last meeting Nov. 2nd. They went to that forum along with Tom Allison our Co-Chair. The Oceana Herald Journal ran an article about the meeting. In which they quoted Bill as saying- “Every single person I talked to has the same belief that when you closed down Benona and Ferry elementary schools, you created an overcrowded situation, and now you say we need a massive expenditure to correct the problem you created in the first place,” This the article said that Bill read from a prepared statement Bill and Jeanette had with them.
There was a lot more to the “Prepared Statement” Bill read from. They sent it to me and I felt it worth copying for all to see with their permission.
-----Their Statement-----
I. The citizens that are contributing to the school system are paying
11 mills, 6 to the state and 5 mills locally; we still have 13 years
left on an outstanding loan and now you want to pile on a few
More mills and jack that back up to 20 years.
II. Did the thought ever cross your mind about paying the first loan off
Before starting a new one? Every person I talked to has the same
Belief that when you closed the Benona & Ferry Elementary Schools
You created an overcrowded condition and now you say we need
a massive expenditure to correct the problem you created in the
first place.
III. Oceana County has over 80 Bank Foreclosures this year alone & (the
Nation’s foreclosures up 7% in one month), and that’s not counting
land contracts & government loans…all up in smoke.
The U.S. is bankrupt
The State is shutting down (License Bureau’s Closing)
(Mich. Can’t match funds for
Unemployment Insurance)
Police posts are closing
The Road Commission has had financial problems for yrs
Food prices, hospitalization & everything else is going up
(pay more get less)
401 K’s plunged $4,000 overnight
Social Security & Medicare are in trouble
Post Offices are closing
Land values are down (86,000 Homeless in Michigan)
And even the Shelby Dollar Store went out of business!
The guy from Hart was on the news last night, he left
Michigan by wagon train for New Mexico.
NOW THAT’S BADOh, and did I mention the Whole World is in a financial crisis,
First Greece now Italy.
SO WHY ARE WE EVEN HAVING THIS DISCUSSION ? ?“Disconnected from Reality”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is citizen involvement at it best. My thanks goes to them for standing up for what they believe. Also kudos for the other members who helped research their information.
The Marossey’s did their share and are still following through on this issue. Will we get behind them? They will give us an update at our next Oceana Tea Party meeting Dec. 7th at 7pm at the Heritage Hall within the Hart Historic District on the corner of Lincoln and Union 3 blocks East of downtown Hart.
Jack Hoogendyk will be our guest speaker and will be talking about Freedom to Work in Michigan. We will also be talking about a concerted effort of Michigan Tea Parties to unite behind a Conservative Senate Candidate for the 2012 election. Bill and Jeanette will update us about this school issue.
Our policy is to help citizens get involved in government at all levels. Come to one of our meetings and see for yourself what they are all about. Check us out on
Facebook...Oceana Tea Party.
Way to go Bill and Jeanette and thanks to those who helped them to do this. This is not a done deal yet and if it gets to the ballot we can do plenty to stop this. Signs, lit and door to door, you know the drill.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Dumping Debbie
I received an email awhile ago asking if I as a leader of a Tea Party group could find another from our group to attend a state wide meeting of other Tea Party leaders. (2 from each group). I asked Tom our Co-Chair to come with me and he said he’d like to come. The meeting was yesterday in DeWitt near Lansing.
The purpose of the meeting was to see if there was enough interest within the Tea Parties in Mi. to unite for a specific purpose. That specific purpose was to defeat Debbie Stabenow. In my terms “Dump Debbie”.
You know I was Going to go.
This effort was to be patterned after what happened with the Tea Parties in Indiana which had banded together for one purpose and that was to de-throne Sen. Luger. It worked. The temporary group they formed was called “Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate”.
The email I mentioned earlier was from Cindy Gamrat who moved to Plainwell Mi. from Indiana where she was a part of that effort. Cindy organized a Tea Party in Plainwell and has set up a group called Michigan for a Conservative Senate. Her goal was to do what they did in Indiana here in Mi. She was bringing some of the leaders from Indiana to help and join with us.
I remember two of the greatest players in basketball; one from Indiana (Larry Bird) and the other from Michigan (Magic Johnson). ---- Can you imagine if they were on the same team ???
Tom and I went and were pleasantly surprised to see well over 100 people there 2 from each Tea Party Group from all over the state, from the East side, West side, South and North. One lady from the UP drove 9 hours to represent her Tea Party. The room was filled with a bunch of Alphas.
Cindy had risen to the occasion with a nice line up of speakers. After her brief outline she introduced two consecutive leaders of the Indiana effort who drove up here from Indiana to cheer us on. They did. It was really interesting/exciting to hear the inside scoop on how they battled the entrenched organization of a fixture in the Senate. They Won. We heard of a lot of little dirty tricks that were played on them and how they combatted them.
With that, the crowd was starting to warm up to the idea. Next a speaker from Freedom Works talked. It had been made clear by all the previous speakers that Freedom Works was there only to help, after we organized. They were not there to tell us what to do or how to do it, only that they were willing to help when it came to crunch time once we got going. They would/could be our allies, not our partners. The help they could provide would be financial and political as far as getting signs made, setting up the infrastructure for boots on the ground efforts (door knocking, lit drops etc), a phone bank system and later advertisements. He said what Freedom Works needed to see from us was unity behind a candidate that had a chance of winning.
The main thrust of the meeting was to see if we as individuals and individual Tea Party groups could unite under one candidate picked by us. We would do that by having our own State convention. This is already in the works and we are thinking of sometime in Jan. The problem of course is that there are 5 Republican candidates and some of us or most of us have already pretty much decided who we would like as a nominee to run against Stabenow and we are anything except united. As it now currently stands, come election we would split the Conservative vote, just as Indiana did previously before they united. We would lose and Debbie Stabenow would win.
The Speakers from Indiana told us they had the same situation in the election previous to the Luger election. There were 5 Republican Candidates and one of those was the Republican Party favorite and pretty middle of the road and the other 4 were Conservative. The result was the Conservatives split their vote and the Republican Party favorite won. The votes of the other Conservative Candidates together however would have easily beaten the Republican Party favorite. The Speakers from Indiana said they learned their lesson. They decided next time around they would, despite their personal preferences unite behind one Conservative Candidate. They did and they won. They were luckier the next time as they only had one candidate who was a Conservative and he was a great Candidate; so it was easier, but they were ready to swallow some pride if need be. They had already tasted a mouthful of humble pie from the last election and were ready to unite.
Our job was to decide if we could swallow our pride and do the same thing.
The meeting was of two parts, the first open to the press and the second a closed door working session. The security was tight. The first part was with all the speakers explaining what Michigan for a Conservative Senate (MI4CS) wanted to accomplish and the outline of how they did it in Indiana.
The second part was to figure out how to set the whole thing up in Michigan in a way that would work here and get it running. The Basic format was to split up according to the 14 Congressional Districts. Each district picked a liaison. Each district was to suggest a plan. The idea of having a Convention of those present in Jan seemed to be a done deal. The “leaders” of each Tea Party needed to go back to their groups and figure out which of the Senate candidates they were in favor of. Before that there was talk of setting up a debate with all the candidates to help us vet the candidates.
Remember it will be up to each Tea Party group to decide what candidate they want, then the 2 reps from each group will vote at the convention. I was told the vote will not be by district. Whoever wins at the convention will be the candidate behind which we will all then get behind. That will be the hard part. At the meeting Cindy asked whether we would be willing to do that even if it wasn’t our favorite candidate and I believe all 100+ raised their hands in support. I’m hopeful but it will probably be a struggle.
The problem will be in the time difference between our MI4Conservative Senate Convention in Jan. and the Republican Primary in Aug. I doubt many of the Senate candidates will drop out after our convention in Jan. and it will be hard for their backers to change allegiance. But at this meeting everyone there seemed to think they could.
They were united in their desire to “Dump Debbie”
Speaking of that, I brought a box of “Dump Debbie” buttons and probably gave away at least 500 of them. Tom and I made some friends there and I’m sure we will make use of those contacts in the future.
Our next Oceana Tea Party meeting is Dec. 7 same times same place. If you want to join us or want to get on our mailing list give me a call. 231-728-3455. Not only will we be talking all about this state wide Tea Party movement to Dump Debbie, but the second half will have former State Rep. and former US Senate Candidate Jack Hoogendyk telling us all about Michigan "Freedom to Work"!
Bring a Friend.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
The purpose of the meeting was to see if there was enough interest within the Tea Parties in Mi. to unite for a specific purpose. That specific purpose was to defeat Debbie Stabenow. In my terms “Dump Debbie”.
You know I was Going to go.
This effort was to be patterned after what happened with the Tea Parties in Indiana which had banded together for one purpose and that was to de-throne Sen. Luger. It worked. The temporary group they formed was called “Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate”.
The email I mentioned earlier was from Cindy Gamrat who moved to Plainwell Mi. from Indiana where she was a part of that effort. Cindy organized a Tea Party in Plainwell and has set up a group called Michigan for a Conservative Senate. Her goal was to do what they did in Indiana here in Mi. She was bringing some of the leaders from Indiana to help and join with us.
I remember two of the greatest players in basketball; one from Indiana (Larry Bird) and the other from Michigan (Magic Johnson). ---- Can you imagine if they were on the same team ???
Tom and I went and were pleasantly surprised to see well over 100 people there 2 from each Tea Party Group from all over the state, from the East side, West side, South and North. One lady from the UP drove 9 hours to represent her Tea Party. The room was filled with a bunch of Alphas.
Cindy had risen to the occasion with a nice line up of speakers. After her brief outline she introduced two consecutive leaders of the Indiana effort who drove up here from Indiana to cheer us on. They did. It was really interesting/exciting to hear the inside scoop on how they battled the entrenched organization of a fixture in the Senate. They Won. We heard of a lot of little dirty tricks that were played on them and how they combatted them.
With that, the crowd was starting to warm up to the idea. Next a speaker from Freedom Works talked. It had been made clear by all the previous speakers that Freedom Works was there only to help, after we organized. They were not there to tell us what to do or how to do it, only that they were willing to help when it came to crunch time once we got going. They would/could be our allies, not our partners. The help they could provide would be financial and political as far as getting signs made, setting up the infrastructure for boots on the ground efforts (door knocking, lit drops etc), a phone bank system and later advertisements. He said what Freedom Works needed to see from us was unity behind a candidate that had a chance of winning.
The main thrust of the meeting was to see if we as individuals and individual Tea Party groups could unite under one candidate picked by us. We would do that by having our own State convention. This is already in the works and we are thinking of sometime in Jan. The problem of course is that there are 5 Republican candidates and some of us or most of us have already pretty much decided who we would like as a nominee to run against Stabenow and we are anything except united. As it now currently stands, come election we would split the Conservative vote, just as Indiana did previously before they united. We would lose and Debbie Stabenow would win.
The Speakers from Indiana told us they had the same situation in the election previous to the Luger election. There were 5 Republican Candidates and one of those was the Republican Party favorite and pretty middle of the road and the other 4 were Conservative. The result was the Conservatives split their vote and the Republican Party favorite won. The votes of the other Conservative Candidates together however would have easily beaten the Republican Party favorite. The Speakers from Indiana said they learned their lesson. They decided next time around they would, despite their personal preferences unite behind one Conservative Candidate. They did and they won. They were luckier the next time as they only had one candidate who was a Conservative and he was a great Candidate; so it was easier, but they were ready to swallow some pride if need be. They had already tasted a mouthful of humble pie from the last election and were ready to unite.
Our job was to decide if we could swallow our pride and do the same thing.
The meeting was of two parts, the first open to the press and the second a closed door working session. The security was tight. The first part was with all the speakers explaining what Michigan for a Conservative Senate (MI4CS) wanted to accomplish and the outline of how they did it in Indiana.
The second part was to figure out how to set the whole thing up in Michigan in a way that would work here and get it running. The Basic format was to split up according to the 14 Congressional Districts. Each district picked a liaison. Each district was to suggest a plan. The idea of having a Convention of those present in Jan seemed to be a done deal. The “leaders” of each Tea Party needed to go back to their groups and figure out which of the Senate candidates they were in favor of. Before that there was talk of setting up a debate with all the candidates to help us vet the candidates.
Remember it will be up to each Tea Party group to decide what candidate they want, then the 2 reps from each group will vote at the convention. I was told the vote will not be by district. Whoever wins at the convention will be the candidate behind which we will all then get behind. That will be the hard part. At the meeting Cindy asked whether we would be willing to do that even if it wasn’t our favorite candidate and I believe all 100+ raised their hands in support. I’m hopeful but it will probably be a struggle.
The problem will be in the time difference between our MI4Conservative Senate Convention in Jan. and the Republican Primary in Aug. I doubt many of the Senate candidates will drop out after our convention in Jan. and it will be hard for their backers to change allegiance. But at this meeting everyone there seemed to think they could.
They were united in their desire to “Dump Debbie”
Speaking of that, I brought a box of “Dump Debbie” buttons and probably gave away at least 500 of them. Tom and I made some friends there and I’m sure we will make use of those contacts in the future.
Our next Oceana Tea Party meeting is Dec. 7 same times same place. If you want to join us or want to get on our mailing list give me a call. 231-728-3455. Not only will we be talking all about this state wide Tea Party movement to Dump Debbie, but the second half will have former State Rep. and former US Senate Candidate Jack Hoogendyk telling us all about Michigan "Freedom to Work"!
Bring a Friend.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Time to Get Busy
I voted in my new precinct (Newfield Township) Tues the Nov 8th. I later called the Newfield Clerk and he said I believe, there were 144 votes cast in that election. Wow 144 votes out of well over 2,000 voters. The only things on the ballot were two ballot issues. They were school millage issues and they both passed. I voted against them.
The next day I talked with our County Clerk Becky Griffin and she told me that the Newfield precinct was the only one that had an election in the whole county. That is because the school millage was for the Hesperia schools which are mainly in Newaygo County.
On a sadder note, Paul Scott, state Rep for the 51st from Grand Blanc in Genesee County lost a recall election the unions had put on. He lost by 322 votes which is a really small amount, but seemingly enough because he didn’t call for a recall. I felt bad as I had gone twice to his area to knock on doors for him along with State Rep. Jon Bumstead. Tom Allison from Mears came the second time. We all had skin in the game.
All however is not in vain perhaps. The Republicans seemed to have hardened their stance due to the loss and the idea of forcing a recall. The MEA alone spent $142,000.00 on the election. They were really well organized. The main reason the MEA recall happened was that Paul Scott was head of the election committee. He was the face of the union reform legislation. The unions targeted him for recall due to that. However as Mike Bishop former Majority Chair in the Senate tweeted, the election may have had the opposite effect upon the Education Committee. He tweeted the following.
-----tweet-----
"The MEA spent $150k dollars only to get their nemesis, Representative Tom McMillin, appointed as the chairman of the education committee."
---------------
Tom McMillin is rated the most conservative legislator in the state and supports the privatization of the public schools. So although the message was sent by the voters, it seems that the course for the MEA in the house and the education committee in particular may be rockier than it was before. The MEA’s narrow victory may have been tactical defeat.
In Ohio, Ohioans seemed to have rebuked Gov. Kasich’s efforts at public union reform by voting in favor of proposal two which upturned the legislation passed and signed into law. The good news was that proposition three also passed which was a rebuke against President Obama’s health care. The prop. said that no Ohioan could be forced to buy the Insurance. A friend of mine pointed out to me that Kasich made his mistake on the Union legislation by not doing what they did in Wisconsin which was to exempt Police, Fire and Emergency Providers in their reforms. By not exempt them Kasich gave the opposition too much ammunition to use against the legislation in a public vote.
No matter how I spin it however I didn’t want to see Prop 2 pass in Ohio and Paul Scott recalled. As a member of the Oceana Tea Party and a Tea Partier from the beginning I have seen a slowing down of the momentum of the Tea Party and had predicted a type of backlash. The media sure played it that way and it seems to have started. What this tells me is that I have to along with other conservatives and redouble our efforts. I wrote a longer piece on this in my Live Dangerously blog.
-----link-----
http://tinyurl.com/6q7dptm
---------------
Locally we held our Nov. Tea Party meeting. Our main event was showing the movie “Sick and Sicker” a documentary on ObamaCare and how it plays out in Canada, and we even served Popcorn. Before that however we conducted some business and I kept pushing the group to become Precinct Delegates. Also I told the members that our next Speaker for Dec. would be former State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk who would be telling us all about “Right to Work” in mi. This should be an interesting meeting. Jack ran last against US Senator Carl Levin. He is now based out of Lansing and has his finger on the pulse of what is going on.
Next, locally we celebrated Tues. morning the 52nd consecutive meeting of the Cozy Conservative Corner. It was our 1st year birthday. We had one of our best crowds, Tea Partiers, Republicans, independents. Conservatives all, you know those clingy flyover people with their bibles and guns. We had a snarky good time.
Later that day for lunch the Republicans of Oceana County had their meeting. I was happy to see the Wentzloffs attend as they are filing to run as Precinct Delegates next year. They are from the Tea Party.
All of my efforts have been to bring together various quote “divisions” within the Conservative movement and get more people out to vote in the next election to Dump Debbie and Obfuscate Obama and his agenda. Also at the meeting our Chair Juanita Pierman wasn’t there so John Hendrixon our co-chair was in charge. We talked a lot about the annual bus trip in which we fill a nice Charter bus with school kids to visit the state Capital and get a tour of the place with Sen. Goeff Hansen and probably our Rep. Jon Bumstead. We talked of getting Mason county involved and adding an extra bus so we could take over a hundred kids. Total cost will be over $2,000. Be prepared, the begging will soon start. LOL. Please think about donating something. Dig deep people as this is a good cause.
The next day Juanita and Tom Allison and I went to the Mason County Republican Party Meeting to promote that idea. Juanita made a nice presentation and answered all questions. They seemed more than willing. This is a great way to plant the seed of civic involvement and responsibility in our youth.
On a different note Juanita contacted the person running the Oceana County GOP website and he was supposed to call me but hasn’t yet. I will call him today. Our Oceana GOP site hasn’t been updated since the last election in 2010. I’m dying to get my hands on it and start filling it up with current stuff and all kinds of other things.
It will depend on the format as to what I can do and not to mention my abilities, but we have a big election coming in less than a year now and the need is huge. We all know the Presidential, Senatorial and Congressional races. But we also have our State Rep along with five Township officials from each of our 18(?) Townships -- that is a lot of candidates. I would like to list all of them and give links to anything they may want the public to know along with their pic etc. I would want this to be a one stop website for anyone to get the lowdown for issues and candidates running on the Republican ticket, no matter where in Oceana they live. I hope --- but we’ll see.
This could be another way to push Precinct Delegates which is a pet cause of mine. But mainly we need to get up current info about our Oceana Republican Party, when we meet and what we are doing. I want to get pictures up and make it as interesting as possible to all who view it. If we want to grow then this is a good platform to do it with.
Currently you can find the GOP and Tea Party on Face book under Oceana GOP and Oceana Tea Party.
So much for my schemes. LOL I’ve been working hard on my house outside and now I have a load of lumber to build a shed roof over my burn wood racks next to the house and large enough to cover my tractor and little utility vehicle.
Guess what. As I pulled up next to the pile of lumber with my bags of redi-mix, it started raining and today it is snowing.
It snowed this morning and is still coming down on and off as I’m writing this. It’s 3pm. Nothing is sticking thankfully. Hopefully there will still be a few clear enough days to cement in my posts and build my little tractor/wood port.
So long for now.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
The next day I talked with our County Clerk Becky Griffin and she told me that the Newfield precinct was the only one that had an election in the whole county. That is because the school millage was for the Hesperia schools which are mainly in Newaygo County.
On a sadder note, Paul Scott, state Rep for the 51st from Grand Blanc in Genesee County lost a recall election the unions had put on. He lost by 322 votes which is a really small amount, but seemingly enough because he didn’t call for a recall. I felt bad as I had gone twice to his area to knock on doors for him along with State Rep. Jon Bumstead. Tom Allison from Mears came the second time. We all had skin in the game.
All however is not in vain perhaps. The Republicans seemed to have hardened their stance due to the loss and the idea of forcing a recall. The MEA alone spent $142,000.00 on the election. They were really well organized. The main reason the MEA recall happened was that Paul Scott was head of the election committee. He was the face of the union reform legislation. The unions targeted him for recall due to that. However as Mike Bishop former Majority Chair in the Senate tweeted, the election may have had the opposite effect upon the Education Committee. He tweeted the following.
-----tweet-----
"The MEA spent $150k dollars only to get their nemesis, Representative Tom McMillin, appointed as the chairman of the education committee."
---------------
Tom McMillin is rated the most conservative legislator in the state and supports the privatization of the public schools. So although the message was sent by the voters, it seems that the course for the MEA in the house and the education committee in particular may be rockier than it was before. The MEA’s narrow victory may have been tactical defeat.
In Ohio, Ohioans seemed to have rebuked Gov. Kasich’s efforts at public union reform by voting in favor of proposal two which upturned the legislation passed and signed into law. The good news was that proposition three also passed which was a rebuke against President Obama’s health care. The prop. said that no Ohioan could be forced to buy the Insurance. A friend of mine pointed out to me that Kasich made his mistake on the Union legislation by not doing what they did in Wisconsin which was to exempt Police, Fire and Emergency Providers in their reforms. By not exempt them Kasich gave the opposition too much ammunition to use against the legislation in a public vote.
No matter how I spin it however I didn’t want to see Prop 2 pass in Ohio and Paul Scott recalled. As a member of the Oceana Tea Party and a Tea Partier from the beginning I have seen a slowing down of the momentum of the Tea Party and had predicted a type of backlash. The media sure played it that way and it seems to have started. What this tells me is that I have to along with other conservatives and redouble our efforts. I wrote a longer piece on this in my Live Dangerously blog.
-----link-----
http://tinyurl.com/6q7dptm
---------------
Locally we held our Nov. Tea Party meeting. Our main event was showing the movie “Sick and Sicker” a documentary on ObamaCare and how it plays out in Canada, and we even served Popcorn. Before that however we conducted some business and I kept pushing the group to become Precinct Delegates. Also I told the members that our next Speaker for Dec. would be former State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk who would be telling us all about “Right to Work” in mi. This should be an interesting meeting. Jack ran last against US Senator Carl Levin. He is now based out of Lansing and has his finger on the pulse of what is going on.
Next, locally we celebrated Tues. morning the 52nd consecutive meeting of the Cozy Conservative Corner. It was our 1st year birthday. We had one of our best crowds, Tea Partiers, Republicans, independents. Conservatives all, you know those clingy flyover people with their bibles and guns. We had a snarky good time.
Later that day for lunch the Republicans of Oceana County had their meeting. I was happy to see the Wentzloffs attend as they are filing to run as Precinct Delegates next year. They are from the Tea Party.
All of my efforts have been to bring together various quote “divisions” within the Conservative movement and get more people out to vote in the next election to Dump Debbie and Obfuscate Obama and his agenda. Also at the meeting our Chair Juanita Pierman wasn’t there so John Hendrixon our co-chair was in charge. We talked a lot about the annual bus trip in which we fill a nice Charter bus with school kids to visit the state Capital and get a tour of the place with Sen. Goeff Hansen and probably our Rep. Jon Bumstead. We talked of getting Mason county involved and adding an extra bus so we could take over a hundred kids. Total cost will be over $2,000. Be prepared, the begging will soon start. LOL. Please think about donating something. Dig deep people as this is a good cause.
The next day Juanita and Tom Allison and I went to the Mason County Republican Party Meeting to promote that idea. Juanita made a nice presentation and answered all questions. They seemed more than willing. This is a great way to plant the seed of civic involvement and responsibility in our youth.
On a different note Juanita contacted the person running the Oceana County GOP website and he was supposed to call me but hasn’t yet. I will call him today. Our Oceana GOP site hasn’t been updated since the last election in 2010. I’m dying to get my hands on it and start filling it up with current stuff and all kinds of other things.
It will depend on the format as to what I can do and not to mention my abilities, but we have a big election coming in less than a year now and the need is huge. We all know the Presidential, Senatorial and Congressional races. But we also have our State Rep along with five Township officials from each of our 18(?) Townships -- that is a lot of candidates. I would like to list all of them and give links to anything they may want the public to know along with their pic etc. I would want this to be a one stop website for anyone to get the lowdown for issues and candidates running on the Republican ticket, no matter where in Oceana they live. I hope --- but we’ll see.
This could be another way to push Precinct Delegates which is a pet cause of mine. But mainly we need to get up current info about our Oceana Republican Party, when we meet and what we are doing. I want to get pictures up and make it as interesting as possible to all who view it. If we want to grow then this is a good platform to do it with.
Currently you can find the GOP and Tea Party on Face book under Oceana GOP and Oceana Tea Party.
So much for my schemes. LOL I’ve been working hard on my house outside and now I have a load of lumber to build a shed roof over my burn wood racks next to the house and large enough to cover my tractor and little utility vehicle.
Guess what. As I pulled up next to the pile of lumber with my bags of redi-mix, it started raining and today it is snowing.
It snowed this morning and is still coming down on and off as I’m writing this. It’s 3pm. Nothing is sticking thankfully. Hopefully there will still be a few clear enough days to cement in my posts and build my little tractor/wood port.
So long for now.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Monday, October 3, 2011
Everybody Needs a Vehicle
Everyone Needs a Vehicle.
The area of expertise a person really knows about is the immediate area around him or her. All the rest is, as they say based on 2nd hand knowledge and hearsay. As I try to figure out people and things outside my sphere of influence I start to get bogged down. Simply stated I begin to look more at what is written than at the person.
Only when I am able to actually talk with or interact with people can I become better able to judge them.
That brings me to the importance of Bottom Up Politics. While I have opinions on the big moral issues of the time and the “big” people of the time, those opinions are based upon hearsay. Bottom Up Politics has been my vehicle that I needed to get out into my neighborhood and interact with real people. Get to know them. The concept of BUP (Bottom Up Politics) is that only by getting to know your local candidates and politicians and then electing those with which you have firsthand knowledge; will we be able to change the course of government. Politics after all is personal.
If you think that by getting to know your county commissioner or Township Clerk you will have no effect upon the “big” issues you are mistaken. I have been looking at local politics for only a few years now and already the effect has been visible to me. It is at this level that politicians are the most accessible and amenable to the people they represent.
It is at this level too that the seeds of freedom can be best planted and nurtured in our elected representatives by individuals like you and me. While we can lobby and try to change a politicians mind to do what we think best, it is hard and at best only fleeting.
It is at this level and through this winnowing process where future leaders work their way up the ranks to positions of ever increasing power. When we reach out to these future leaders at the lowest levels we will have the most impact.
Recently I went to a Candidate Forum in DeWitt Mi. where all the Republican Candidates for the US Senate seat for Mi. were assembled.
-----link to Senate Forum-----
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2456333089842.139245.1297542419&l=cca6b2f2aa&type=1
------------------------------
It was here that I heard Pete Hoekstra say that he liked Herman Cain's economic policy called 9-9-9 and that it was a good step towards a Fair Tax. As I watched and listened it dawned upon me however that all the candidates were Republican of course and that they all pretty much were saying the same thing. The only difference was that those new to politics were tearing apart those who were in politics. Those with experience in politics were saying that was a plus and those without experience they felt were not up to the task. The opposite was said by those without experience.
A case can be made for both sides of the experience issue. Is lack of experience a good thing? Look at President Obama and his lack of experience. Is it a necessity to have experience? Look at Debbie Stabenow. Again it comes down to the honesty and integrity of the person and to know that, we have to get to know the person.
For those running for high office it becomes hard if not impossible to do that. Getting to know the President or Governor is a lot harder than getting to know your County Commissioner or Township Treasurer. Therefore getting back to the BUP idea of seeding the “farm team” of local politicians with honest people as the only way we can hope to influence the future leaders as they make their way up the ladder.
This I realize is also making a case for the importance of experience. However that experience need not come only from the political field; it can come from the business community or anyplace else where the person is tested by “fire” and judged by their peers and the best rise from the bottom up.
I’ve recently moved to a new county and am trying to get to know the people that are my new neighbors. So far I mainly have been getting familiar with those local politicians that will talk with me. I’ve been going to township and county meetings and picking up on the issues and the people championing them that are important to my new area. Those big ideas like green energy and fiscal responsibility are found locally in issues like zoning regs. for wind turbines or the cost of building a new animal shelter vs. remodeling the current one. I can believe that a township official or county commissioner who backs strict zoning regs against Wind Turbines and votes to remodel the animal shelter is the person I would feel comfortable voting for as our next State Rep. Part of that comfortable feeling would also come from seeing that person in action first hand and hopefully talking with them.
In my search for vehicles to get about my new community, I have made contact with the County Party and have set up a County Tea Party. These efforts have made it easier to be in touch with the local leaders. I have found that these local politicians have a good pulse on the public they serve. They know a lot of people in general and the “movers and shakers” in the community.
Locally already I have seen State Reps move to State Senate, and State Reps fighting the good conservative fight. I saw that they had been always fighting that fight through previous government work or in the private sector. The two I’m thinking of each rose in different channels but came through by keeping fiscally conservative.
Their peers had put them where they are. It is up to you and me to keep letting them know that we support them and those efforts, and it is also up to us to help them in whatever way we can to “keep it personal”. The more interaction with them the better chance we will judge them fairly. Here I’m talking about not only financially but the everyday political stuff, the real hands on stuff of politics. Simply walking in a parade with a candidate, or helping one day with a literature drop before elections, or going to or better yet helping them put on one of their events or fundraisers.
Any of these things are important to the candidate and gives you the inside look at the person and how they work. This always helps me to decide whether they are honest and their actions match up with their words.
For example recently I and a few others helped out the County Republican Chair putting on the annual Bratt Fry.
-----link Bratt Fry-----
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2464880623525.139502.1297542419&l=939e2d143e&type=1
------------------------
PS the wood pile is mine, 2 cord done 3 to go and the trukeys are my constant visitors. Both have nothing to do with this post. LOL
It was mainly grunt stuff, putting up banners, and stuff like that. Simply though by volunteering this turned into a great vehicle through which to meet the leaders of the community. I was able to talk with a Circuit Judge, former long time Republican County Leader, plus State Senator and State Rep and our US Congressman, plus other friends from the Tea Party and Republican Party. It was here that I was able to ask Congressman Huizenga what he thought about Pete Hoekstra supporting Herman Caines 9-9-9 policy. As the Congressman said he liked the idea too, you could almost see the wheels turning about how that might sound. How Herman Cain might not be his cup of tea, or how that might fit in with supporting Mitt Romney. He then added that he personally liked the flat tax better. I give this one example to show how interconnected events get as you delve into politics and your community and important it can be to learn to better judge the issues and people around you.
These methods are all vehicles which I use to learn my community. The highest octane gas that fuels these vehicles I have found is to simply ask yourself, “What Can I Do Today” and then ask someone “How Can I Help”. Be sure to ask it humbly and simply as you’re capable, but be prepared for the change in direction within your life. That can become a life changer, a lifelong journey.
Money too is a vehicle. It is simple quick and easy. Everybody from Political Parties to Candidates to the individual Citizens use it. That’s why it’s easier for you to simply give money to someone or something and easier for the organization or candidate to ask for money. What with the digital age and credit cards/paypal etc nobody has to touch anyone or anything.
Which vehicle however do you think is better for our Country? Which vehicle would you rather have driving the economy, Citizen Involvement or Money? People or money?
It’s time to pick a vehicle now while we still have a free choice.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
The area of expertise a person really knows about is the immediate area around him or her. All the rest is, as they say based on 2nd hand knowledge and hearsay. As I try to figure out people and things outside my sphere of influence I start to get bogged down. Simply stated I begin to look more at what is written than at the person.
Only when I am able to actually talk with or interact with people can I become better able to judge them.
That brings me to the importance of Bottom Up Politics. While I have opinions on the big moral issues of the time and the “big” people of the time, those opinions are based upon hearsay. Bottom Up Politics has been my vehicle that I needed to get out into my neighborhood and interact with real people. Get to know them. The concept of BUP (Bottom Up Politics) is that only by getting to know your local candidates and politicians and then electing those with which you have firsthand knowledge; will we be able to change the course of government. Politics after all is personal.
If you think that by getting to know your county commissioner or Township Clerk you will have no effect upon the “big” issues you are mistaken. I have been looking at local politics for only a few years now and already the effect has been visible to me. It is at this level that politicians are the most accessible and amenable to the people they represent.
It is at this level too that the seeds of freedom can be best planted and nurtured in our elected representatives by individuals like you and me. While we can lobby and try to change a politicians mind to do what we think best, it is hard and at best only fleeting.
It is at this level and through this winnowing process where future leaders work their way up the ranks to positions of ever increasing power. When we reach out to these future leaders at the lowest levels we will have the most impact.
Recently I went to a Candidate Forum in DeWitt Mi. where all the Republican Candidates for the US Senate seat for Mi. were assembled.
-----link to Senate Forum-----
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2456333089842.139245.1297542419&l=cca6b2f2aa&type=1
------------------------------
It was here that I heard Pete Hoekstra say that he liked Herman Cain's economic policy called 9-9-9 and that it was a good step towards a Fair Tax. As I watched and listened it dawned upon me however that all the candidates were Republican of course and that they all pretty much were saying the same thing. The only difference was that those new to politics were tearing apart those who were in politics. Those with experience in politics were saying that was a plus and those without experience they felt were not up to the task. The opposite was said by those without experience.
A case can be made for both sides of the experience issue. Is lack of experience a good thing? Look at President Obama and his lack of experience. Is it a necessity to have experience? Look at Debbie Stabenow. Again it comes down to the honesty and integrity of the person and to know that, we have to get to know the person.
For those running for high office it becomes hard if not impossible to do that. Getting to know the President or Governor is a lot harder than getting to know your County Commissioner or Township Treasurer. Therefore getting back to the BUP idea of seeding the “farm team” of local politicians with honest people as the only way we can hope to influence the future leaders as they make their way up the ladder.
This I realize is also making a case for the importance of experience. However that experience need not come only from the political field; it can come from the business community or anyplace else where the person is tested by “fire” and judged by their peers and the best rise from the bottom up.
I’ve recently moved to a new county and am trying to get to know the people that are my new neighbors. So far I mainly have been getting familiar with those local politicians that will talk with me. I’ve been going to township and county meetings and picking up on the issues and the people championing them that are important to my new area. Those big ideas like green energy and fiscal responsibility are found locally in issues like zoning regs. for wind turbines or the cost of building a new animal shelter vs. remodeling the current one. I can believe that a township official or county commissioner who backs strict zoning regs against Wind Turbines and votes to remodel the animal shelter is the person I would feel comfortable voting for as our next State Rep. Part of that comfortable feeling would also come from seeing that person in action first hand and hopefully talking with them.
In my search for vehicles to get about my new community, I have made contact with the County Party and have set up a County Tea Party. These efforts have made it easier to be in touch with the local leaders. I have found that these local politicians have a good pulse on the public they serve. They know a lot of people in general and the “movers and shakers” in the community.
Locally already I have seen State Reps move to State Senate, and State Reps fighting the good conservative fight. I saw that they had been always fighting that fight through previous government work or in the private sector. The two I’m thinking of each rose in different channels but came through by keeping fiscally conservative.
Their peers had put them where they are. It is up to you and me to keep letting them know that we support them and those efforts, and it is also up to us to help them in whatever way we can to “keep it personal”. The more interaction with them the better chance we will judge them fairly. Here I’m talking about not only financially but the everyday political stuff, the real hands on stuff of politics. Simply walking in a parade with a candidate, or helping one day with a literature drop before elections, or going to or better yet helping them put on one of their events or fundraisers.
Any of these things are important to the candidate and gives you the inside look at the person and how they work. This always helps me to decide whether they are honest and their actions match up with their words.
For example recently I and a few others helped out the County Republican Chair putting on the annual Bratt Fry.
-----link Bratt Fry-----
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2464880623525.139502.1297542419&l=939e2d143e&type=1
------------------------
PS the wood pile is mine, 2 cord done 3 to go and the trukeys are my constant visitors. Both have nothing to do with this post. LOL
It was mainly grunt stuff, putting up banners, and stuff like that. Simply though by volunteering this turned into a great vehicle through which to meet the leaders of the community. I was able to talk with a Circuit Judge, former long time Republican County Leader, plus State Senator and State Rep and our US Congressman, plus other friends from the Tea Party and Republican Party. It was here that I was able to ask Congressman Huizenga what he thought about Pete Hoekstra supporting Herman Caines 9-9-9 policy. As the Congressman said he liked the idea too, you could almost see the wheels turning about how that might sound. How Herman Cain might not be his cup of tea, or how that might fit in with supporting Mitt Romney. He then added that he personally liked the flat tax better. I give this one example to show how interconnected events get as you delve into politics and your community and important it can be to learn to better judge the issues and people around you.
These methods are all vehicles which I use to learn my community. The highest octane gas that fuels these vehicles I have found is to simply ask yourself, “What Can I Do Today” and then ask someone “How Can I Help”. Be sure to ask it humbly and simply as you’re capable, but be prepared for the change in direction within your life. That can become a life changer, a lifelong journey.
Money too is a vehicle. It is simple quick and easy. Everybody from Political Parties to Candidates to the individual Citizens use it. That’s why it’s easier for you to simply give money to someone or something and easier for the organization or candidate to ask for money. What with the digital age and credit cards/paypal etc nobody has to touch anyone or anything.
Which vehicle however do you think is better for our Country? Which vehicle would you rather have driving the economy, Citizen Involvement or Money? People or money?
It’s time to pick a vehicle now while we still have a free choice.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Monday, September 26, 2011
How Does Bottom Up Politics Work ???
How does Bottom Up Politics work?
As I’ve preached over the years about Bottom Up Politics the one stumbling block in most people’s mind takes the form of a question. What can one person do to change the country? A corollary to that is what good will come from entering into local politics, what change can I make?
The cornerstone of Bottom Up Politics is that only change that comes from the bottom and works it’s way to the top is the only change that can last. The reason is that through the process of “filtering up” through the smaller branches, the change will have gone through a repeated process of refinement.
Here is a link to an article in Capital Confidential by Ken Braun.
-----Link-----
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/15768
---------------
This article shows how one Township has dealt with the overwhelming unfunded debt problem it had, namely with pensions. The Township did what it thought it had to do in order to try to start to get its financial house in order.
This type change at the smallest level of government in Mi. can have a profound change. That change however will be tweaked refined and studied as other Townships wrestle with the same problem. There are 1242 Townships in Mi. When all those Townships create their versions of the same thing, as they feed off the others and make changes as they see fit; an even better and stronger solution to the problem will emerge. From this experimentation the upper levels will draw their own conclusions. As the article above shows the State of Michigan has already taken some of those ideas and introduced legislation that reflects the changes made at a local level.
This is what I call the “Free Enterprise of Ideas” and just as in Free Enterprise, the more input from the Bottom Up, the better and stronger the product or idea will be.
So, next time people tell you not to bother to get involved at a local level because the problems are too big and complicated take the above example to heart. Take to heart also the idea that America is the one shining example in the world where the Federal Government was limited enough to allow for the flourishing of that same “Free Enterprise of Ideas”.
Remember that on Election Day. Remember, your vote matters.
Before Election Day remember too your ideas matter, talk to your friends, talk them and yourself into going to the polls on Election Day.
Get involved; remind the world and the bureaucrats in Washington that in America one person still matters. That Individual Freedom is the cornerstone of Political and Financial Freedom. It is what our country was founded upon.
To end, here is a quote from Barry Goldwater. “Never forget there was only one freedom on which this nation was founded; that was freedom from government.”
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
As I’ve preached over the years about Bottom Up Politics the one stumbling block in most people’s mind takes the form of a question. What can one person do to change the country? A corollary to that is what good will come from entering into local politics, what change can I make?
The cornerstone of Bottom Up Politics is that only change that comes from the bottom and works it’s way to the top is the only change that can last. The reason is that through the process of “filtering up” through the smaller branches, the change will have gone through a repeated process of refinement.
Here is a link to an article in Capital Confidential by Ken Braun.
-----Link-----
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/15768
---------------
This article shows how one Township has dealt with the overwhelming unfunded debt problem it had, namely with pensions. The Township did what it thought it had to do in order to try to start to get its financial house in order.
This type change at the smallest level of government in Mi. can have a profound change. That change however will be tweaked refined and studied as other Townships wrestle with the same problem. There are 1242 Townships in Mi. When all those Townships create their versions of the same thing, as they feed off the others and make changes as they see fit; an even better and stronger solution to the problem will emerge. From this experimentation the upper levels will draw their own conclusions. As the article above shows the State of Michigan has already taken some of those ideas and introduced legislation that reflects the changes made at a local level.
This is what I call the “Free Enterprise of Ideas” and just as in Free Enterprise, the more input from the Bottom Up, the better and stronger the product or idea will be.
So, next time people tell you not to bother to get involved at a local level because the problems are too big and complicated take the above example to heart. Take to heart also the idea that America is the one shining example in the world where the Federal Government was limited enough to allow for the flourishing of that same “Free Enterprise of Ideas”.
Remember that on Election Day. Remember, your vote matters.
Before Election Day remember too your ideas matter, talk to your friends, talk them and yourself into going to the polls on Election Day.
Get involved; remind the world and the bureaucrats in Washington that in America one person still matters. That Individual Freedom is the cornerstone of Political and Financial Freedom. It is what our country was founded upon.
To end, here is a quote from Barry Goldwater. “Never forget there was only one freedom on which this nation was founded; that was freedom from government.”
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Saturday, September 24, 2011
A Nation of Free People - or a Nation of Regulations?
Speaker Boehner and his friends have always been fighting against regulation as the #1 job and business killer, not to mention a good source of pork.
http://cfif.org/v/freedom_line_blog/11301/boehner-rides-the-reins/
This gives some background about a bill that may well become critical later this year.
Phil Kerpen of Americans for Prosperity wrote the article “Regulation Nation” in the Weekly Standard here is a link to it.
-----link-----
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/regulation-nation_593656.html?page=2
--------------
If you believe as I do that over regulation by the Federal Government is at the root of most of our problems in our economy and lately our personal life then you too will understand the importance of this article.
I think it appropriate here to note the back story of this bill now before Congress. Of special note the crucial role Speaker John Boehner and his fellow conservative House members played in getting this up and going in the House. Note also the role of Sen. Jim DeMint in being the tip of the spear in the Senate for this legislation. With the support of Rand Paul the Tea Party is well represented. This was and is a positive step in restoring accountability to those who make law.
The individual back story of Mr. Rogers working his anger into something positive is inspiring for would be activists like myself. I will be putting on my thinking cap on to try and figure out what to do to help pass this one. Already springing to mind is a rally featuring burning the 163,000 pages of new regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations. Maybe a bonfire with a pig roast thrown in. Talk about feasting on Cutting Pork in the Federal Government.
I believe this is a God send for the Tea Party to flex its muscle and unite behind and push it as far as we can. Now is the time before the election to help move this bill and draw a line in the sand over. This would solidify and help define our opposition to the Obama administration’s current policies. All the things Mr. Obama said he was for such as Transparency, Accountability, balancing the budget and especially creating jobs-these are all tied up in this bill.
Well the Pig roast might be a bit much, but a fire or a brush chipper would be great along with a press release about the legislation and Tea Party support. Along with getting signatures to send to Debbie Stabenow to do what’s right.
To argue otherwise would be to say that the voice of the people told through their elected officials is no longer in charge of the government and that bureaucracy is.
It’s downright Anti-Freedom, Anti-Constitutional and Anti-American.
How do you like Them apples?
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Why Bottom Up Politics is Hard
Doing things from the Bottom Up is hard.
Our country is like a mighty tree, it grows from the Bottom Up. Stop that flow and what made our country great stops flowing and the tree dies.
People accepting the responsibility of Individual Freedom are those juices. But it’s hard.
If you ever were in a spot and couldn't afford or justify buying something or paying somebody to fix something and decided to do it yourself then you know the meaning of the term; "Trading Time for Money".
Painting ones house comes to mind. Anytime we trade “time for money” we not only learn how hard it is, but we also learn a lot about the real world. In this example we have a new appreciation of painters. The shining truth in my book however is the knowledge we learn about ourselves. Granted we may learn that we don’t want to quit our day job to paint houses, but I find an inner joy in learning what I am capable of in a pinch to take care of myself.
In other words when I exercise my individual freedom, I feel more confident in myself.
Getting around to the point of this blog, I saw the link below about a $35,800 a plate fundraiser for Obama to be put on by Warren Buffett.
-----link-----
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-warrent-buffett-to-host-fundraiser-for-obama-in-chicago-20110921,0,2294.story
---------------
Then I tried to imagine what I’d do in the political arena from the “Bottom Up” with that kind of money. I started drooling about all the things I could do with that money. I thought of huge rallies with guest speakers and great music and food. I would put this on for free to the public.
But if you read what I just wrote count the number of I’s in that paragraph. It sounded like an Obama speech. It also goes against the basic concept of bottom up politics.
That concept is based on individual people doing what they decide is best, with what they have, according to what priority they place on it. The sad thing is that we now need to take back from an over bureaucratized government the freedoms we have lost: and force them to listen to us and as Grover Norquist’s book title says, “Leave Us Alone”.
The Buffett article above reminded me of the benefits of “Bottom Up Politics” and trading my time for money. People learn through the doing, and that gives them skin in the game. But be careful, it can be addicting – this doing things for yourself. You find yourself thinking for yourself more and having more control over what you do.
As you get more self individualized you find yourself more critical of slogans. Remember JFKs “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”. As a practicing “Free Individual” I now would amend that slogan to fit our country and the freedoms it was based upon, better. “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can and want to do for your own damned self.”
The whole point of Bottom Up Politics is asking each and every day,” What can I do today?”
This is not about money but rather about getting your hands dirty. This is about getting your heart, mind and body involved. This journey to freedom will give you motivation to take it to the next step. From our experiences we will learn what the next step is.
No one accepts a leader until they have fought for it. Until they have made the journey, we call it wisdom. I.e. until they have skin in the game, they have not earned it. Money is a surrogate for that but it is a cheap copy, lacking substance and real value.
When a volunteer from our Oceana Tea Party goes out door to door and hands out a cheaply done 1/3 page black and white flyer on regular paper from their home computer which someone else in our group made and cut themselves; they are getting skin in the game by using what they have and asking what can I do today. When I see this I feel better than when I receive a robo-call.
Bottom Up is people power; Buffett and Obama are about “money Power”, and in Obama’s case “Other People’s Money”.
So I’ll be happy with what I’m doing, if I get some extra money to spend I will keep doing what we are doing only maybe a little easier, or for the flyers we can use card stock and use a paper cutter instead of scissors, If I do otherwise I will become what I fear and I will stop learning.
I will have started abusing my freedom and holding it too cheaply.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Our country is like a mighty tree, it grows from the Bottom Up. Stop that flow and what made our country great stops flowing and the tree dies.
People accepting the responsibility of Individual Freedom are those juices. But it’s hard.
If you ever were in a spot and couldn't afford or justify buying something or paying somebody to fix something and decided to do it yourself then you know the meaning of the term; "Trading Time for Money".
Painting ones house comes to mind. Anytime we trade “time for money” we not only learn how hard it is, but we also learn a lot about the real world. In this example we have a new appreciation of painters. The shining truth in my book however is the knowledge we learn about ourselves. Granted we may learn that we don’t want to quit our day job to paint houses, but I find an inner joy in learning what I am capable of in a pinch to take care of myself.
In other words when I exercise my individual freedom, I feel more confident in myself.
Getting around to the point of this blog, I saw the link below about a $35,800 a plate fundraiser for Obama to be put on by Warren Buffett.
-----link-----
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-warrent-buffett-to-host-fundraiser-for-obama-in-chicago-20110921,0,2294.story
---------------
Then I tried to imagine what I’d do in the political arena from the “Bottom Up” with that kind of money. I started drooling about all the things I could do with that money. I thought of huge rallies with guest speakers and great music and food. I would put this on for free to the public.
But if you read what I just wrote count the number of I’s in that paragraph. It sounded like an Obama speech. It also goes against the basic concept of bottom up politics.
That concept is based on individual people doing what they decide is best, with what they have, according to what priority they place on it. The sad thing is that we now need to take back from an over bureaucratized government the freedoms we have lost: and force them to listen to us and as Grover Norquist’s book title says, “Leave Us Alone”.
The Buffett article above reminded me of the benefits of “Bottom Up Politics” and trading my time for money. People learn through the doing, and that gives them skin in the game. But be careful, it can be addicting – this doing things for yourself. You find yourself thinking for yourself more and having more control over what you do.
As you get more self individualized you find yourself more critical of slogans. Remember JFKs “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”. As a practicing “Free Individual” I now would amend that slogan to fit our country and the freedoms it was based upon, better. “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can and want to do for your own damned self.”
The whole point of Bottom Up Politics is asking each and every day,” What can I do today?”
This is not about money but rather about getting your hands dirty. This is about getting your heart, mind and body involved. This journey to freedom will give you motivation to take it to the next step. From our experiences we will learn what the next step is.
No one accepts a leader until they have fought for it. Until they have made the journey, we call it wisdom. I.e. until they have skin in the game, they have not earned it. Money is a surrogate for that but it is a cheap copy, lacking substance and real value.
When a volunteer from our Oceana Tea Party goes out door to door and hands out a cheaply done 1/3 page black and white flyer on regular paper from their home computer which someone else in our group made and cut themselves; they are getting skin in the game by using what they have and asking what can I do today. When I see this I feel better than when I receive a robo-call.
Bottom Up is people power; Buffett and Obama are about “money Power”, and in Obama’s case “Other People’s Money”.
So I’ll be happy with what I’m doing, if I get some extra money to spend I will keep doing what we are doing only maybe a little easier, or for the flyers we can use card stock and use a paper cutter instead of scissors, If I do otherwise I will become what I fear and I will stop learning.
I will have started abusing my freedom and holding it too cheaply.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Friday, September 16, 2011
Presidential Primary Date and Changes passed in Senate.
Presidential Primary Date and Changes passed in Senate/the Importance of getting our vote out.
SB 584 passed the State Senate. Below is a link to Michigan Votes
-----link-----
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=140727
--------------
Below is a link to the actual bill including amendments in the form as it passed the Senate. Note the Bold faced font indicates the actual changes made to the existing law.
I'm assuming this will pass the House in pretty much the same form.
Then again you know what they say about "assume". Assuming sometimes makes and ass out of u and me. LOL
Note also the date in the link is the 4th Tues of Feb., which would be the 28th.
-----link-----
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2011-2012/billengrossed/Senate/pdf/2011-SEBS-0584.pdf
---------------
I Just received this through email. Below is a link
-----link-----
http://www.ballot-access.org/2011/09/15/michigan-senate-passes-bill-converting-presidential-primary-from-a-secret-open-primary-to-a-public-choice-open-primary/
---------------
The main points clarified in this bill is the date of the primary which is the 28th of Feb. and that all who vote whether in person or by absentee ballot will have to sign a form indicating which major party ballot they want to be given to vote on, and that a record of that will be kept by the SOS for 22 months and will be made available to the public on line.
The new bill simply changes the existing bill to reflect the mechanics necessary to make the change from one multi party ballot to the choice of ballots in the Presidential Primary. This is the stuff that our SOS down through County Clerks through City, Village and Township Clerks will have to deal with to make happen.
As for this bill, any griping of whether we have a closed, open or caucus form of primary is simply sour grapes as the closed primary has already been decided. Again this is more of a mechanical bill correcting the existing bill.
This bill follows the wishes of the State Republican party for a closed primary. This bill defines how through the primary a voter list will be furnished to the public/The Party of those voting Republican in this primary. This list while desired by the Party should also prove a useful tool for anyone or group to use. This does not put up any major roadblock to the much hyped crossover vote. The reality and extent of which can’t be predicted. Personally I doubt that the crossover will be more than minimal.
The vaunted Democrat/Union voting machine seems to not be working well lately. Their ability to get out their vote for things that are truly important to them seems to have gotten rusty. Think Wisconsin and Nevada and the NY9th. I doubt they will put much money into a marginal effort such as crossing over to vote in the Republican primary.
The main point to me is that it still is up to the Party and Candidates to get out their vote and as the special election in NY 9th shows; the more a candidate works to get out the vote the larger the margin of victory and the smaller chance that voter fraud will affect the election.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
SB 584 passed the State Senate. Below is a link to Michigan Votes
-----link-----
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=140727
--------------
Below is a link to the actual bill including amendments in the form as it passed the Senate. Note the Bold faced font indicates the actual changes made to the existing law.
I'm assuming this will pass the House in pretty much the same form.
Then again you know what they say about "assume". Assuming sometimes makes and ass out of u and me. LOL
Note also the date in the link is the 4th Tues of Feb., which would be the 28th.
-----link-----
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2011-2012/billengrossed/Senate/pdf/2011-SEBS-0584.pdf
---------------
I Just received this through email. Below is a link
-----link-----
http://www.ballot-access.org/2011/09/15/michigan-senate-passes-bill-converting-presidential-primary-from-a-secret-open-primary-to-a-public-choice-open-primary/
---------------
The main points clarified in this bill is the date of the primary which is the 28th of Feb. and that all who vote whether in person or by absentee ballot will have to sign a form indicating which major party ballot they want to be given to vote on, and that a record of that will be kept by the SOS for 22 months and will be made available to the public on line.
The new bill simply changes the existing bill to reflect the mechanics necessary to make the change from one multi party ballot to the choice of ballots in the Presidential Primary. This is the stuff that our SOS down through County Clerks through City, Village and Township Clerks will have to deal with to make happen.
As for this bill, any griping of whether we have a closed, open or caucus form of primary is simply sour grapes as the closed primary has already been decided. Again this is more of a mechanical bill correcting the existing bill.
This bill follows the wishes of the State Republican party for a closed primary. This bill defines how through the primary a voter list will be furnished to the public/The Party of those voting Republican in this primary. This list while desired by the Party should also prove a useful tool for anyone or group to use. This does not put up any major roadblock to the much hyped crossover vote. The reality and extent of which can’t be predicted. Personally I doubt that the crossover will be more than minimal.
The vaunted Democrat/Union voting machine seems to not be working well lately. Their ability to get out their vote for things that are truly important to them seems to have gotten rusty. Think Wisconsin and Nevada and the NY9th. I doubt they will put much money into a marginal effort such as crossing over to vote in the Republican primary.
The main point to me is that it still is up to the Party and Candidates to get out their vote and as the special election in NY 9th shows; the more a candidate works to get out the vote the larger the margin of victory and the smaller chance that voter fraud will affect the election.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Sunday, September 11, 2011
My Pledge
My Pledge
I am willing to compromise on anything that moves us down the line towards more individual freedom through less government.
I will not wallow in my defeats, nor stay over long at the victory celebration.
I will look beyond hatred and see the “shining Hill” towards which I strive.
I will continue to keep on moving on.
I will remember the little engine that could.
In this crowed political issues environment we are sometimes overwhelmed by the sheer volume of “causes” for which people have become ideologues. As a person of either side of the political spectrum we are inundated by “urgent” messages and causes which need immediate attention.
We have become a nation of Chicken Littles.
I am a conservative so I’ll talk about conservative issues. Right to Life, Right to Work, Constitutional Gov., Right to Bear Arms and the list goes on and on. The same holds true I’m sure on the other side of the Left Right Teeter-Totter.
What the Left has come to grips with in the past at least is that compromising on everything except their core belief is OK as long as what they are compromising on takes them a little further down the yellow brick road toward Socialism. Over the course of the last half century their persistence has paid off for them.
Too bad it was and is the rest of us who have had to pay for their success.
Too bad we on the Right don’t start to learn from their successes and our failures.
It is enlightening to see however that the Left too has started to shun compromise. This is apparent with the ideologues on the Left who are calling out Obama as a compromiser in such areas as our wars, and economic problems. In other words for not taking their causes further down the road. Perhaps there is a chance for us on the Right to take up the slack and start our own march down our own Yellow Brick Road.
Here is a link to an article by Quin Hillyer in CFIF called “What the Non-Political World Understands”
-----link-----
http://cfif.org/v/index.php/commentary/54-state-of-affairs/1126-what-the-non-political-world-understands
---------------
When I look back for a time when the economy was booming (excluding war time) I see that divided government run by non-ideologues worked. I’m talking about the Clinton/Gingrich time. It was not only the Republican House that came up with the ideas but it was the Democrat President who worked with them to make it happen.
The difference between now and then lies in the Presidency. President Clinton while leaning pretty far to the Left was no ideologue; he was a governor and knew the art of compromise. Today we have as President Barak Obama whose previous job and claim to fame was as a community organizer. He organized the ideologues, he was the head ideologue.
President Obama is far less capable of compromise than Bill Clinton was.
Bringing it down to our State’s level in Mi. and from the other side of the political divide we have the perfect example of this “small step” method. I’m talking about Right to Work. Randy Richardville the Michigan Senate Majority Leader while not supporting “Right to Work” law across the board did say he is supporting Right to Work for Teachers. The article below explains the Senate leader’s desire for right to work for teachers and how it came about. The article is in Bloomberg Businessweek off the associated press; it is written by Kathy Barks Hoffman.
-----link-----
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9PLA7AG0.htm
--------------
Through this example we start to see the downside of ideologues with the general public. We see how ideologues on one side can create a backlash from those who are not ideologues.(the vast majority of Americans). The Senate Majority Leader I would say is acting out of anger and frustration towards the MEA which has up till now been unwilling to compromise and has “gone to war” with those who see the issues it likes differently. Whether this goes anywhere he has pushed a conservative issues on down the road. Dare I say “He Has Had Enough”?
I can understand the backlash against the bullying tactics of the MEA having seen them first hand in their protesting of my Rep. Jon Bumstead and the recall against Paul Scott on the other side of the state. The MEA and their methods are what got me off my butt and in a car driving across the state with two others to go door to door for Rep. Scott.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe strongly and am willing to do whatever it takes to make smaller government a reality. I just believe that if we get caught up in the ideological one mindedness we will become lost in the forest of our own making. If we take up the same tactics we will create the same type of backlash.
We must continue to hold firm to our core beliefs, yet willing to take progress for what it is. Simply progress. As conservatives we must be willing to let the people judge us by our actions not just by what we say. We must be willing to be persistent in our efforts and willing to always look ahead and not wallow in our defeats, but rather celebrate our victories. Above all we must always be willing to keep moving on.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
I am willing to compromise on anything that moves us down the line towards more individual freedom through less government.
I will not wallow in my defeats, nor stay over long at the victory celebration.
I will look beyond hatred and see the “shining Hill” towards which I strive.
I will continue to keep on moving on.
I will remember the little engine that could.
In this crowed political issues environment we are sometimes overwhelmed by the sheer volume of “causes” for which people have become ideologues. As a person of either side of the political spectrum we are inundated by “urgent” messages and causes which need immediate attention.
We have become a nation of Chicken Littles.
I am a conservative so I’ll talk about conservative issues. Right to Life, Right to Work, Constitutional Gov., Right to Bear Arms and the list goes on and on. The same holds true I’m sure on the other side of the Left Right Teeter-Totter.
What the Left has come to grips with in the past at least is that compromising on everything except their core belief is OK as long as what they are compromising on takes them a little further down the yellow brick road toward Socialism. Over the course of the last half century their persistence has paid off for them.
Too bad it was and is the rest of us who have had to pay for their success.
Too bad we on the Right don’t start to learn from their successes and our failures.
It is enlightening to see however that the Left too has started to shun compromise. This is apparent with the ideologues on the Left who are calling out Obama as a compromiser in such areas as our wars, and economic problems. In other words for not taking their causes further down the road. Perhaps there is a chance for us on the Right to take up the slack and start our own march down our own Yellow Brick Road.
Here is a link to an article by Quin Hillyer in CFIF called “What the Non-Political World Understands”
-----link-----
http://cfif.org/v/index.php/commentary/54-state-of-affairs/1126-what-the-non-political-world-understands
---------------
When I look back for a time when the economy was booming (excluding war time) I see that divided government run by non-ideologues worked. I’m talking about the Clinton/Gingrich time. It was not only the Republican House that came up with the ideas but it was the Democrat President who worked with them to make it happen.
The difference between now and then lies in the Presidency. President Clinton while leaning pretty far to the Left was no ideologue; he was a governor and knew the art of compromise. Today we have as President Barak Obama whose previous job and claim to fame was as a community organizer. He organized the ideologues, he was the head ideologue.
President Obama is far less capable of compromise than Bill Clinton was.
Bringing it down to our State’s level in Mi. and from the other side of the political divide we have the perfect example of this “small step” method. I’m talking about Right to Work. Randy Richardville the Michigan Senate Majority Leader while not supporting “Right to Work” law across the board did say he is supporting Right to Work for Teachers. The article below explains the Senate leader’s desire for right to work for teachers and how it came about. The article is in Bloomberg Businessweek off the associated press; it is written by Kathy Barks Hoffman.
-----link-----
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9PLA7AG0.htm
--------------
Through this example we start to see the downside of ideologues with the general public. We see how ideologues on one side can create a backlash from those who are not ideologues.(the vast majority of Americans). The Senate Majority Leader I would say is acting out of anger and frustration towards the MEA which has up till now been unwilling to compromise and has “gone to war” with those who see the issues it likes differently. Whether this goes anywhere he has pushed a conservative issues on down the road. Dare I say “He Has Had Enough”?
I can understand the backlash against the bullying tactics of the MEA having seen them first hand in their protesting of my Rep. Jon Bumstead and the recall against Paul Scott on the other side of the state. The MEA and their methods are what got me off my butt and in a car driving across the state with two others to go door to door for Rep. Scott.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe strongly and am willing to do whatever it takes to make smaller government a reality. I just believe that if we get caught up in the ideological one mindedness we will become lost in the forest of our own making. If we take up the same tactics we will create the same type of backlash.
We must continue to hold firm to our core beliefs, yet willing to take progress for what it is. Simply progress. As conservatives we must be willing to let the people judge us by our actions not just by what we say. We must be willing to be persistent in our efforts and willing to always look ahead and not wallow in our defeats, but rather celebrate our victories. Above all we must always be willing to keep moving on.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Politics, Food Fun and Getting Busy
Politics, Food Fun and Getting Busy
Tuesday as usual we had our weekly breakfast “Cozy Conservative Corner” at La Fiesta in downtown Hart at 8am. Peter Konetchy was a welcome guest. He is running in the Republican Primary to be the nominee for US Senate. This has been our 39th consecutive meeting.
The Oceana County Republican Party held it’s monthly meeting at Walker’s Restaurant in Hart Tues August 11 at noon.
With all the craziness and tension in the news the attendance was good. The Agenda was full along with elected officials and candidates.
US Senate Primary Candidate hoping to “Dump Debbie” Peter D. Konetchy was there also and gave a talk. He is a Constitutional Conservative and has been all across our area. He has been campaigning hard for quite awhile now.
Our State Senator Goeff Hansen and State Rep. Jon Bumstead were there giving us a short update on what they are doing and they also fielded questions. Also at our meeting was Becky Griffin our County Clerk and John Hendrixon our Road Commissioner.
Juanito Pierman our Chair moved things along in a timely manner. We also signed up some more volunteers for the Oceana County Republican Party booth at the County Fair. Juanita also got us thinking about the Annual Brat Fry.
We pretty evenly split as to whether to have Presidential Closed Primary vs a Presidential Caucus. This will be voted on at the state level this coming weekend.
This Thursday I am going to the original “Cozy Conservative Corner” in Muskegon. That group has had 164 consecutive meetings. Since I’ve moved to Oceana Co., I haven’t been going regularly to the one in Muskegon. It’ll be nice to see them again.
Later that day I’m marching with Senator Hansen in the North Muskegon Parade. He has another parade on Sat. in Pentwater which will be huge, the next week the parade is in Grant. Parades are fun and good exercise along with free candy. I find it nice to be able to get up close and personnel with the candidates and have a ring side seat to see all the entrants.
If you would like to join us give me a call; Bob Carr 231-728-3455 and I’ll give you details, or call Goeff at 231-342-3772. For that matter Jon Bumstead also needs people to volunteer for the parades and other openings he may have. He told me to have anyone interested call his cell 231-250-0654.
The State GOP is having a training session in Lansing for activists this Fri. and Tom Allison our Oceana Tea Party vice Chair and I are going. So it looks like a busy week.
PS. At the Oceana County Republican meeting I volunteered to take over the Oceana GOP website so I hope that process moves along and I can get the passwords and start putting up timely info. as the election season gears up.
LET’S GET BUSY
Regards, Live Dangerously Be a Conservative
Tuesday as usual we had our weekly breakfast “Cozy Conservative Corner” at La Fiesta in downtown Hart at 8am. Peter Konetchy was a welcome guest. He is running in the Republican Primary to be the nominee for US Senate. This has been our 39th consecutive meeting.
The Oceana County Republican Party held it’s monthly meeting at Walker’s Restaurant in Hart Tues August 11 at noon.
With all the craziness and tension in the news the attendance was good. The Agenda was full along with elected officials and candidates.
US Senate Primary Candidate hoping to “Dump Debbie” Peter D. Konetchy was there also and gave a talk. He is a Constitutional Conservative and has been all across our area. He has been campaigning hard for quite awhile now.
Our State Senator Goeff Hansen and State Rep. Jon Bumstead were there giving us a short update on what they are doing and they also fielded questions. Also at our meeting was Becky Griffin our County Clerk and John Hendrixon our Road Commissioner.
Juanito Pierman our Chair moved things along in a timely manner. We also signed up some more volunteers for the Oceana County Republican Party booth at the County Fair. Juanita also got us thinking about the Annual Brat Fry.
We pretty evenly split as to whether to have Presidential Closed Primary vs a Presidential Caucus. This will be voted on at the state level this coming weekend.
This Thursday I am going to the original “Cozy Conservative Corner” in Muskegon. That group has had 164 consecutive meetings. Since I’ve moved to Oceana Co., I haven’t been going regularly to the one in Muskegon. It’ll be nice to see them again.
Later that day I’m marching with Senator Hansen in the North Muskegon Parade. He has another parade on Sat. in Pentwater which will be huge, the next week the parade is in Grant. Parades are fun and good exercise along with free candy. I find it nice to be able to get up close and personnel with the candidates and have a ring side seat to see all the entrants.
If you would like to join us give me a call; Bob Carr 231-728-3455 and I’ll give you details, or call Goeff at 231-342-3772. For that matter Jon Bumstead also needs people to volunteer for the parades and other openings he may have. He told me to have anyone interested call his cell 231-250-0654.
The State GOP is having a training session in Lansing for activists this Fri. and Tom Allison our Oceana Tea Party vice Chair and I are going. So it looks like a busy week.
PS. At the Oceana County Republican meeting I volunteered to take over the Oceana GOP website so I hope that process moves along and I can get the passwords and start putting up timely info. as the election season gears up.
LET’S GET BUSY
Regards, Live Dangerously Be a Conservative
Sunday, August 7, 2011
I Like John Boehner - So Shoot Me
I like John Boehner-so shoot me.
I worked outside at my new house yesterday in the heat doing some landscaping and I cut down and cut up a tree. After a cool refreshing shower I decided to look and see what was available to watch that evening on TV.
I actually sat down and went through the menu and wrote down what shows I wanted to watch in the little time I had. First on the list was the Tigers Royals baseball game. I also found two others that I wanted to see and figured I could switch back and forth. You know the drill. There was one other however that I saw and thought I “should” see. That is the one of which this post is all about.
C Span was featuring 3 consecutive speeches made at an event hosted by The Young America’s Foundation. These three candidates I had voiced support for and had even helped one with a small donation, but I knew very little about them. So I clicked C Span. Once I started watching I was hooked. The Tigers would have to take care of themselves. Besides Justin Verlander was pitching, I felt safe.
Two of these 3 speakers were leading Conservative Senators. The third was a leading Young-Turk from the US House. All three were young. Two were freshmen and the other was on only his second term. These three are becoming the leaders of the Conservative movement in the Senate and House. One has been talked of as a Presidential Candidate in the near future. Another was elected as Chair of the Republican Study Committee; all three were backed by the Tea Party.
-----link Marco Rubio-----
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALHgCL9I8Dk
--------------------------
-----link Jim Jordan-------
http://www.c-span.org/Events/Rep-Jim-Jordan-R-OH-Remarks-on-the-Debt-Ceiling/10737423335-1/
---------------------------
-----link Mike Lee---------
http://c-spanarchives.org/program/LeeR
---------------------------
As many of you know, I respect and admire Speaker of the House John Boehner. One thing I noticed about the three Conservatives above was that they had little if anything bad to say about Boehner. While they all voted against the Debt Ceiling deal they better than most understood the constraints Mr. Boehner was under and respected the job he was doing so they didn’t have to do it. Even Tea Party favorite Mike Lee gave him respect.
Amongst my Conservative and Tea Party friends I am derided and made fun of on the occasions; when I try to share with them, as I have over the years what Congressman John Boehner has argued for. I am usually not taken seriously. The argument against him is centered around two ideas.
1. He is not conservative enough.
2. He has not accomplished anything.
As to not being conservative enough, let me say he has championed conservative bill after conservative bill since before the new crop of Conservatives was elected. He had been fighting in the trenches in the minority for a long time now. I remember when he threw the actual 2500 page Obama Health Care bill on the floor of the Senate in utter frustration of the unopen, untransparent and uninclusive Obama administration that had promised so much openness. When that hit the floor it made a great big bang.
I remember him also setting up alternative plans in the house. Under his direction a health care alternative was created, an energy plan denying the Cap and Trade Obama plan, and other alternatives including a budget. That was as minority leader as Speaker he has seen the passage of a Cut Cap and Balance as a bill.
A year ago August when he was House Minority Leader and the new batch of “Conservative” Freshmen weren’t elected yet, Congressman Boehner gave a talk to the City Club of Cleveland. You should listen to the speech linked below and see if you still think he is a RINO.
-----link-----
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNFNnl5eOA0
--------------
If you do still think he’s a RINO, I’ll put you in with the people that now think Chris Christie is one too because of his defense of his appointment to the bench of a person who is of the Islamic faith.
I’ll further put forth the case that you did not listen to either the Boehner or the Christie video.
-----link Christie Video-----
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y83z552NJaw
-----------------------------
Just to tweak your bigotry try hating Zuhdi Jasser of the AIFD (American Islamic for Democracy). I know you probably think he is lying and just looking for a sneaky way for Jihadists to sneak into America.
-----link to AIFD-----
http://www.aifdemocracy.org/about/members.php
----------------------
If you still believe that after reading the site, you either didn’t read it or you are one of the “Crazies” Christie talks about.
BTW you can throw Glenn Beck under the bus also because he likes Zuhdi Jasser.
Back to the Tea Party and John Boehner.
ICaucus a Tea Party Action group based upon selecting Conservative candidates to run for office believes as one of its main axioms that the US Congress derives its power by picking and choosing which pressure group gets a tax break. It is their further contention that this is where corruption of our government is let in the door and why we cannot stop the growth of government.
I extract from Boehners speech from one year ago this line when talking about President Obama and his desire to pick and choose tax breaks.
“Once again – putting government in the position of picking winners and losers and pitting tax payer against tax payer. The more the government takes the less you have to invest in yourself, your family, your community and your business.”
Does not this match up with ICaucus’s position???
It is my view that Conservatives need not attack our own and if we do for the most part it is for vanity reasons.
All of the Conservatives in government believe in the Constitution and therefore believe in government, they just believe in smaller government. They realize for the most part that to create real change in the system they need an overwhelming majority that will vote their way. All three of the above realize also that it is a waste of time cannibalizing their party just out of spite that they cannot get their way. They are working within the system to change it just as the Constitution says.
For them to succeed there needs to be a revolution in 2012 as we had in 2010. We Conservatives need to concentrate on the races that matter. We need to concentrate on getting rid of the candidates that are against us 80% of the time; and quit trying to throw under the bus those who agree with us 80% of the time.
We need to finish the job.
We need to increase our members in the House and most important win the Senate and the Presidency. For those out there who say we cannot do either because we lack a “Super” Presidential Candidate, whose coattails will help us win the Senate; I say read the following articles. Think Bottom Up Politics.
This Presidential and Senate race coming up is too important. According to the following article the Republicans and Democrats each have about 190 electoral votes. There are over 150 in toss up states.
-----lilk-----
http://civicforumpac.com/analysis-prediction/road-to-the-white-house-2012/
--------------
This next article makes a case close to my heart about how big a role Bottom Up Politics can play in the election and is indeed needed for a Republican Presidential Candidate to win.
-----link-----
http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/24/2012-u-s-senate-races-could-determine-the-presidency/
--------------
It basically says that to win the Presidential election the candidate needs to win the battleground states listed in the link before. If Republicans run good state candidates and they can win popular support that support will take a less than stellar Republican Presidential Candidate over the top in that particular tossup state.
In other words if the Tea Party gets its act together and stirs up positive support for Senate and House candidates and unleashes its fury at the current Liberal leadership or lack thereof and failed Democrat programs, the voting public will respond and those little coattails when put together will sweep the current President out of office.
We Conservatives need to concentrate on defeating incumbent Democrats. If Conservatives can keep pushing and this happens we will be able to take apart the Liberal legislation before it takes hold. The “Rinos” will then be easier to keep in line due to their smaller number. Then we can jump any conservative legislators who want to become more liberal.
Regards Live Dangerously Be a Conservative
Ps. And as we say in Mi. “Dump Debbie” Senator Debbie Stabenow that is.
PPs. The Tigers won the game and it was closer than expected. The Pennant race is heating up and looking good. Pappa Grande got his 32nd Save.
I worked outside at my new house yesterday in the heat doing some landscaping and I cut down and cut up a tree. After a cool refreshing shower I decided to look and see what was available to watch that evening on TV.
I actually sat down and went through the menu and wrote down what shows I wanted to watch in the little time I had. First on the list was the Tigers Royals baseball game. I also found two others that I wanted to see and figured I could switch back and forth. You know the drill. There was one other however that I saw and thought I “should” see. That is the one of which this post is all about.
C Span was featuring 3 consecutive speeches made at an event hosted by The Young America’s Foundation. These three candidates I had voiced support for and had even helped one with a small donation, but I knew very little about them. So I clicked C Span. Once I started watching I was hooked. The Tigers would have to take care of themselves. Besides Justin Verlander was pitching, I felt safe.
Two of these 3 speakers were leading Conservative Senators. The third was a leading Young-Turk from the US House. All three were young. Two were freshmen and the other was on only his second term. These three are becoming the leaders of the Conservative movement in the Senate and House. One has been talked of as a Presidential Candidate in the near future. Another was elected as Chair of the Republican Study Committee; all three were backed by the Tea Party.
-----link Marco Rubio-----
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALHgCL9I8Dk
--------------------------
-----link Jim Jordan-------
http://www.c-span.org/Events/Rep-Jim-Jordan-R-OH-Remarks-on-the-Debt-Ceiling/10737423335-1/
---------------------------
-----link Mike Lee---------
http://c-spanarchives.org/program/LeeR
---------------------------
As many of you know, I respect and admire Speaker of the House John Boehner. One thing I noticed about the three Conservatives above was that they had little if anything bad to say about Boehner. While they all voted against the Debt Ceiling deal they better than most understood the constraints Mr. Boehner was under and respected the job he was doing so they didn’t have to do it. Even Tea Party favorite Mike Lee gave him respect.
Amongst my Conservative and Tea Party friends I am derided and made fun of on the occasions; when I try to share with them, as I have over the years what Congressman John Boehner has argued for. I am usually not taken seriously. The argument against him is centered around two ideas.
1. He is not conservative enough.
2. He has not accomplished anything.
As to not being conservative enough, let me say he has championed conservative bill after conservative bill since before the new crop of Conservatives was elected. He had been fighting in the trenches in the minority for a long time now. I remember when he threw the actual 2500 page Obama Health Care bill on the floor of the Senate in utter frustration of the unopen, untransparent and uninclusive Obama administration that had promised so much openness. When that hit the floor it made a great big bang.
I remember him also setting up alternative plans in the house. Under his direction a health care alternative was created, an energy plan denying the Cap and Trade Obama plan, and other alternatives including a budget. That was as minority leader as Speaker he has seen the passage of a Cut Cap and Balance as a bill.
A year ago August when he was House Minority Leader and the new batch of “Conservative” Freshmen weren’t elected yet, Congressman Boehner gave a talk to the City Club of Cleveland. You should listen to the speech linked below and see if you still think he is a RINO.
-----link-----
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNFNnl5eOA0
--------------
If you do still think he’s a RINO, I’ll put you in with the people that now think Chris Christie is one too because of his defense of his appointment to the bench of a person who is of the Islamic faith.
I’ll further put forth the case that you did not listen to either the Boehner or the Christie video.
-----link Christie Video-----
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y83z552NJaw
-----------------------------
Just to tweak your bigotry try hating Zuhdi Jasser of the AIFD (American Islamic for Democracy). I know you probably think he is lying and just looking for a sneaky way for Jihadists to sneak into America.
-----link to AIFD-----
http://www.aifdemocracy.org/about/members.php
----------------------
If you still believe that after reading the site, you either didn’t read it or you are one of the “Crazies” Christie talks about.
BTW you can throw Glenn Beck under the bus also because he likes Zuhdi Jasser.
Back to the Tea Party and John Boehner.
ICaucus a Tea Party Action group based upon selecting Conservative candidates to run for office believes as one of its main axioms that the US Congress derives its power by picking and choosing which pressure group gets a tax break. It is their further contention that this is where corruption of our government is let in the door and why we cannot stop the growth of government.
I extract from Boehners speech from one year ago this line when talking about President Obama and his desire to pick and choose tax breaks.
“Once again – putting government in the position of picking winners and losers and pitting tax payer against tax payer. The more the government takes the less you have to invest in yourself, your family, your community and your business.”
Does not this match up with ICaucus’s position???
It is my view that Conservatives need not attack our own and if we do for the most part it is for vanity reasons.
All of the Conservatives in government believe in the Constitution and therefore believe in government, they just believe in smaller government. They realize for the most part that to create real change in the system they need an overwhelming majority that will vote their way. All three of the above realize also that it is a waste of time cannibalizing their party just out of spite that they cannot get their way. They are working within the system to change it just as the Constitution says.
For them to succeed there needs to be a revolution in 2012 as we had in 2010. We Conservatives need to concentrate on the races that matter. We need to concentrate on getting rid of the candidates that are against us 80% of the time; and quit trying to throw under the bus those who agree with us 80% of the time.
We need to finish the job.
We need to increase our members in the House and most important win the Senate and the Presidency. For those out there who say we cannot do either because we lack a “Super” Presidential Candidate, whose coattails will help us win the Senate; I say read the following articles. Think Bottom Up Politics.
This Presidential and Senate race coming up is too important. According to the following article the Republicans and Democrats each have about 190 electoral votes. There are over 150 in toss up states.
-----lilk-----
http://civicforumpac.com/analysis-prediction/road-to-the-white-house-2012/
--------------
This next article makes a case close to my heart about how big a role Bottom Up Politics can play in the election and is indeed needed for a Republican Presidential Candidate to win.
-----link-----
http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/24/2012-u-s-senate-races-could-determine-the-presidency/
--------------
It basically says that to win the Presidential election the candidate needs to win the battleground states listed in the link before. If Republicans run good state candidates and they can win popular support that support will take a less than stellar Republican Presidential Candidate over the top in that particular tossup state.
In other words if the Tea Party gets its act together and stirs up positive support for Senate and House candidates and unleashes its fury at the current Liberal leadership or lack thereof and failed Democrat programs, the voting public will respond and those little coattails when put together will sweep the current President out of office.
We Conservatives need to concentrate on defeating incumbent Democrats. If Conservatives can keep pushing and this happens we will be able to take apart the Liberal legislation before it takes hold. The “Rinos” will then be easier to keep in line due to their smaller number. Then we can jump any conservative legislators who want to become more liberal.
Regards Live Dangerously Be a Conservative
Ps. And as we say in Mi. “Dump Debbie” Senator Debbie Stabenow that is.
PPs. The Tigers won the game and it was closer than expected. The Pennant race is heating up and looking good. Pappa Grande got his 32nd Save.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Senate Race Tightening up.
US Senate race tightening up.
Heckman in, McCulloch out, Hoekstra in, Steele out, Glenn in and from day one Peter Konetchy has been in.
Click on pic to enlarge
The Ocean Tea Party had it’s monthly meeting last night. (8/3/11) A lot was discussed. Our group is coming together, more of our members are becoming involved in what we are doing; although our Vice Chair Tom Allison was out of town.
The previous Monday (two days before our meeting) Our Secretary Andrew Sebolt, and myself, with Kerry and Laura Krentz had our first “Guerilla Marketing” attempt. This was Andy’s Idea. He set it all up. The four of us in about an hour dropped 1/3rd sheet flyers covering 170 people. The flyers simply said we were having a Tea Party meeting with the when and where and who the guest speaker was. Just to help let people know about us. It was free and simple and took an hour. We did that in the Hart area and next time we’ll do it in another area.
We recently came up with some Oceana Tea Party Gear to sell. We now have 3x5’ flags, hats, T shirts, polo shirts and Buttons to go along with our Dump Debbie Buttons and Tea Party Tea. This meeting was the introduction of our gear.
Members Bill and Jeannette Marossey volunteered to be in charge of that. They did a great job and we took in some extra money. Many thanks to them. Pics below
Ted McKissack reported on his progress in regards to the Census Bureau’s Community Survey. Recommending An act of Civil Disobedience is where we are at so far. We hope to finalize a statement and pass it along to other Tea Parties in West Mi. Also I might suggest we pass it on to the Oceana Herald Journal.
I made up and passed out signup sheets to see if other members wanted to get involved. The suggestions were, “Guerilla Marketing”, "Facebook and Tea Party of West Mi. site Maintenance", "Becoming a Precinct Delegate", "Putting up Event Flyers", "Township/County Watchdog groups". Some people volunteered for some of those. I’ll call and get more before next meeting.
With all the news out there; I am feeling that the people are starting to get interested in politics again. However they are definitely not abiding in the politics as we’ve known it. They with the Tea Party’s help will be ready for the next elections.
Our guest speaker was Peter D. Konetchy who is running in the GOP Primary for US Senate. Mr. Konetchy gave a well thought out talk and proved to most of us that once elected he would be a strict Constitutional Congressman. We had over a half hour of Q+A after and he answered all questions. I think everyone came away knowing who Peter is and what he stands for.
Our State Rep. Jon Bumstead was there also and told us to keep our eyes open when the state legislature reconvenes. Now that they laid the groundwork in the previous session, they will get down to cutting regulations and getting rid of all they can which they feel hinders business from coming here and from the ones here from expanding. In other words opening the door for real private sector job creation. If this works and we can free capitalism in this state again I’ll be happy.
The weekly Cozy Conservative Corner which we Conservatives have every Tues morning at 8 am convened at La Fiesta in Downtown Hart. We had a different crowd with 3 of our regulars not there but Jon Bumstead with his aid came along with a township supervisor and a County Road Commissioner. Hey if you want to come, all are welcome. We are Conservatives, not necessarily Republican or Tea Party just conservative and we do like to eat a good breakfast and get snarky about Liberals. Every Tues 8am at La Fiesta. Reservations not needed lol.
The Oceana County Republicans will hold their monthly meeting this Tues 8/9/11 at Noon at Walker’s Restaurant in Hart; again all are welcome. Volunteers are needed there also to man the Oceana County Fair Booth.
Heckman in, McCulloch out, Hoekstra in, Steele out, Glenn in and from day one Peter Konetchy has been in.
Click on pic to enlarge
The Ocean Tea Party had it’s monthly meeting last night. (8/3/11) A lot was discussed. Our group is coming together, more of our members are becoming involved in what we are doing; although our Vice Chair Tom Allison was out of town.
The previous Monday (two days before our meeting) Our Secretary Andrew Sebolt, and myself, with Kerry and Laura Krentz had our first “Guerilla Marketing” attempt. This was Andy’s Idea. He set it all up. The four of us in about an hour dropped 1/3rd sheet flyers covering 170 people. The flyers simply said we were having a Tea Party meeting with the when and where and who the guest speaker was. Just to help let people know about us. It was free and simple and took an hour. We did that in the Hart area and next time we’ll do it in another area.
We recently came up with some Oceana Tea Party Gear to sell. We now have 3x5’ flags, hats, T shirts, polo shirts and Buttons to go along with our Dump Debbie Buttons and Tea Party Tea. This meeting was the introduction of our gear.
Members Bill and Jeannette Marossey volunteered to be in charge of that. They did a great job and we took in some extra money. Many thanks to them. Pics below
Ted McKissack reported on his progress in regards to the Census Bureau’s Community Survey. Recommending An act of Civil Disobedience is where we are at so far. We hope to finalize a statement and pass it along to other Tea Parties in West Mi. Also I might suggest we pass it on to the Oceana Herald Journal.
I made up and passed out signup sheets to see if other members wanted to get involved. The suggestions were, “Guerilla Marketing”, "Facebook and Tea Party of West Mi. site Maintenance", "Becoming a Precinct Delegate", "Putting up Event Flyers", "Township/County Watchdog groups". Some people volunteered for some of those. I’ll call and get more before next meeting.
With all the news out there; I am feeling that the people are starting to get interested in politics again. However they are definitely not abiding in the politics as we’ve known it. They with the Tea Party’s help will be ready for the next elections.
Our guest speaker was Peter D. Konetchy who is running in the GOP Primary for US Senate. Mr. Konetchy gave a well thought out talk and proved to most of us that once elected he would be a strict Constitutional Congressman. We had over a half hour of Q+A after and he answered all questions. I think everyone came away knowing who Peter is and what he stands for.
Our State Rep. Jon Bumstead was there also and told us to keep our eyes open when the state legislature reconvenes. Now that they laid the groundwork in the previous session, they will get down to cutting regulations and getting rid of all they can which they feel hinders business from coming here and from the ones here from expanding. In other words opening the door for real private sector job creation. If this works and we can free capitalism in this state again I’ll be happy.
The weekly Cozy Conservative Corner which we Conservatives have every Tues morning at 8 am convened at La Fiesta in Downtown Hart. We had a different crowd with 3 of our regulars not there but Jon Bumstead with his aid came along with a township supervisor and a County Road Commissioner. Hey if you want to come, all are welcome. We are Conservatives, not necessarily Republican or Tea Party just conservative and we do like to eat a good breakfast and get snarky about Liberals. Every Tues 8am at La Fiesta. Reservations not needed lol.
The Oceana County Republicans will hold their monthly meeting this Tues 8/9/11 at Noon at Walker’s Restaurant in Hart; again all are welcome. Volunteers are needed there also to man the Oceana County Fair Booth.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Tempest in a Teapot
Tempest in a Teapot
With all the 24/7 nonstop crisis like reporting leading up to the consummation of the “Budget Deal” you would have thought that something momentous had happened.
Well it didn’t at least from a Conservative point of view.
Did Speaker John Boehner stand firm and fight hard enough??? Yes he did, though you may argue that he did so reluctantly, remember these facts.
1. There wasn’t even a budget last year or the year before under the Democrat super majority. Just continuing resolutions.
2. Congress failed under Democratic Control to come up with a Budget. They however seemed to find it easier to over spend without one.
3. Now at least we have a Budget Deal.
4. Again perhaps reluctantly the Speaker listened to the “Tea Party” wing of his party and forced the issue and stood firm. Both he and Cantor took turns walking out on the President and his team which would not budge from their “necessity” of raising taxes.
5. Well taxes weren’t raised.
6. Another thing Boehner brought to the dialogue was the idea of actually balancing the Federal Budget. Perhaps again the Tea Party may have forced the issue. But without Boehner, the idea of a Balanced Budget Amendment would not have made it to the table – let alone make it into the bill.
A. All the States except Vermont have a state mandated Balanced Budget. A recent poll showed that 74% of the people in the country think the Federal Government should have a constitutionally mandated balanced budget. http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/07/21/rel11b.pdf B.
In a Mason Dixon poll May 23-24th even 45% vs 44% of Dems favor BB http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/balanced-budget-poll.pdfC. The politicians may not be nonpartisan but on this issue the people seem to be.
7. It is a shame that Boehner wasn’t leading the charge on that one, however he did listen and pick up the fight.
The reason this deal isn’t too exciting to Conservatives is that it really doesn’t cut spending not even the small amount it claims too because of the use of the accounting trick called baseline budgeting, which guarantees increases around 7% a year in the budget. As you and I figure our family budgets, this would amount to a need to cut the federal budget by 1 trillion just to break even.
Now the reason this is a good thing and I’m not picking Boehner’s work apart is that it is a step in the right direction. However small that step may be – it is twice as good as a small step in the wrong direction.
As to the title of my piece, “Tempest in a Teapot”; I chose it because the Tea Party ideology is the pot where all this Tempest was debated in. The parameters started out in the liberal court but were soon being led by conservative thoughts such as no new taxes, cutting spending and a balanced budget amendment. I give credit to the synergy that formed between the speaker and the Tea Party Freshmen along with McConnell and his Freshmen in the Senate.
As a true believer in the Tea Party principles, I am happy with that. The reason I'm happy with that is my belief in another core Tea Party belief that it is We the People that need to step forward and drive the debate not the government. The other reason is that I now have something more to get my hands on. I joined yesterday a new group that is fighting for a Balanced Budget Amendment. The President of it is in Texas and a doctor who is spending his own time and money in this effort to lobby for the passage of a balance budget amendment in Congress. He was not interested in politics before this. The name of the group is Americans for a Balanced Budget Amendment. (ABBA)
-----link-----
http://www.balanceourbudget.com/
--------------
I’ve joined, donated and asked to be the Michigan Director of the group I’m waiting to find out. After talking on the phone with this Doctor I found out that you can join for free, of course donations are welcome. He said that at this point they want people more than money. (My kind of guy)
Another reason for hope that the "Budget Deal" has started the ball rolling.
Here is a link to the House Joint Resolution that is up and running in the House.
----link-----
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=hj112-1
-------------
The bottom line is that it is, as it has always been up to us “We the People” to elect good representatives and hold their feet to the fire and force them to do what they told us they’d do.
For that there is only the blind balance of reality.
The Teapot has started to whistle. Whether we do anything or not is up to us (it is our right). But one thing is certain we will get what we deserve.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
With all the 24/7 nonstop crisis like reporting leading up to the consummation of the “Budget Deal” you would have thought that something momentous had happened.
Well it didn’t at least from a Conservative point of view.
Did Speaker John Boehner stand firm and fight hard enough??? Yes he did, though you may argue that he did so reluctantly, remember these facts.
1. There wasn’t even a budget last year or the year before under the Democrat super majority. Just continuing resolutions.
2. Congress failed under Democratic Control to come up with a Budget. They however seemed to find it easier to over spend without one.
3. Now at least we have a Budget Deal.
4. Again perhaps reluctantly the Speaker listened to the “Tea Party” wing of his party and forced the issue and stood firm. Both he and Cantor took turns walking out on the President and his team which would not budge from their “necessity” of raising taxes.
5. Well taxes weren’t raised.
6. Another thing Boehner brought to the dialogue was the idea of actually balancing the Federal Budget. Perhaps again the Tea Party may have forced the issue. But without Boehner, the idea of a Balanced Budget Amendment would not have made it to the table – let alone make it into the bill.
A. All the States except Vermont have a state mandated Balanced Budget. A recent poll showed that 74% of the people in the country think the Federal Government should have a constitutionally mandated balanced budget. http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/07/21/rel11b.pdf B.
In a Mason Dixon poll May 23-24th even 45% vs 44% of Dems favor BB http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/balanced-budget-poll.pdfC. The politicians may not be nonpartisan but on this issue the people seem to be.
7. It is a shame that Boehner wasn’t leading the charge on that one, however he did listen and pick up the fight.
The reason this deal isn’t too exciting to Conservatives is that it really doesn’t cut spending not even the small amount it claims too because of the use of the accounting trick called baseline budgeting, which guarantees increases around 7% a year in the budget. As you and I figure our family budgets, this would amount to a need to cut the federal budget by 1 trillion just to break even.
Now the reason this is a good thing and I’m not picking Boehner’s work apart is that it is a step in the right direction. However small that step may be – it is twice as good as a small step in the wrong direction.
As to the title of my piece, “Tempest in a Teapot”; I chose it because the Tea Party ideology is the pot where all this Tempest was debated in. The parameters started out in the liberal court but were soon being led by conservative thoughts such as no new taxes, cutting spending and a balanced budget amendment. I give credit to the synergy that formed between the speaker and the Tea Party Freshmen along with McConnell and his Freshmen in the Senate.
As a true believer in the Tea Party principles, I am happy with that. The reason I'm happy with that is my belief in another core Tea Party belief that it is We the People that need to step forward and drive the debate not the government. The other reason is that I now have something more to get my hands on. I joined yesterday a new group that is fighting for a Balanced Budget Amendment. The President of it is in Texas and a doctor who is spending his own time and money in this effort to lobby for the passage of a balance budget amendment in Congress. He was not interested in politics before this. The name of the group is Americans for a Balanced Budget Amendment. (ABBA)
-----link-----
http://www.balanceourbudget.com/
--------------
I’ve joined, donated and asked to be the Michigan Director of the group I’m waiting to find out. After talking on the phone with this Doctor I found out that you can join for free, of course donations are welcome. He said that at this point they want people more than money. (My kind of guy)
Another reason for hope that the "Budget Deal" has started the ball rolling.
Here is a link to the House Joint Resolution that is up and running in the House.
----link-----
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=hj112-1
-------------
The bottom line is that it is, as it has always been up to us “We the People” to elect good representatives and hold their feet to the fire and force them to do what they told us they’d do.
For that there is only the blind balance of reality.
The Teapot has started to whistle. Whether we do anything or not is up to us (it is our right). But one thing is certain we will get what we deserve.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Debbie's Doing's
Debbie’s at it again.
Hat tip to Susan for the photo shop
Karen Confer of the Flint Journal wrote the following piece titled, “Stabenow plans to introduce bill to aid production of batteries like in Chevy Volt”
-----link-----
http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2011/07/stabenow_plans_to_introduce_bi.html
--------------
What exactly is Debbie doing again???
Spending another 2 $billion of our money and giving it to companies she likes.
On top of that she is as usual promising that this will create jobs.
How has that worked for Mi. in the past??? I’ll tell you. Better yet read the snippet below from the article.
-----snippet------
Jahan Wilcox, a spokesman with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Stabenow had said the federal stimulus would create 100,000 jobs in Michigan. Since its passage two years ago, Wilcox said the state has lost 70,000 jobs.
-----------------
What Mr. Wilcox could have added was that in the Stimulus the jobs that were created cost $278,000 each.
-----link-----
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-s-economists-stimulus-has-cost-278000-job_576014.html
--------------
Then there is this from the National Senatorial Committee.
-----link-----
http://www.nrsc.org/2011/07/stabenow-silent-as-another-democrat-comes-out-against-her-tax-hikes/
---------------
Other Liberals have read the writing on the wall and out of fear of not getting re-elected have chosen to get on the side of cut spending movement. W. Virginia Sen. Democrat Joe Mancin had this quote. ” ‘I don’t believe in tax hikes,’ Manchin said. ‘We have to start living within our means in this country.’”
This was after the 111th Congress led by Pelosi Reed et al. Debbie and her buddies had during that Congress spent more than the first 100 Congresses combined. As a direct cause of that runaway spending the 111th “Historic” Congress received the lowest ever approval rating of 13%.
That dismal approval rating in turn is what caused the electoral drubbing the Democrats received in 2010. The population of the new Congress will not forget too soon I hope what got them there. That overwhelming victory for Republicans and 1st time politicians is what is causing people like Manchin and Nelson to rethink their positions.
The NTU (National Taxpayers Union) and CAGW (Citizens Against Government Waste) both list Sen. Stabenow at 7%. In other words she voted 93% against taxpayers and 93% for creating Government Waste. 7% out of 100% !!! That isn’t even close to a D- it is a flat out F.
I recently heard she is on a diet for her weight, if she did the same with her voting record, then she’d be on to something.
It is time to “Dump Debbie”
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
If you want a button let me know
glhotdogs513@gmail.com
If I have to ship it I'll ask for a donation.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
What a busy Time.
Our young Oceana Tea Party took a couple of steps on the road to adulthood this last week.
(click on any pics to enlarge)
First we had an Independence Day Picnic which was free to all. There were about 50 people attending at any given time and perhaps up to 100 total passing through. This was an important step for our Tea Party for two reasons.
The first was that we were out in the community spreading the word and the second was that the whole affair was put on by a volunteer and not by the leadership. This was a "We the People" type of thing. I even got my hand slapped for interfering. Oh well I deserved it. The bottom line is it came off without a hitch and the food and money was donated by local businesses and individuals.
The Chair of the Event Rebecca Wentzloff is pictured in the band below along with her daughter and her husband on base. The drummer was a volunteer also.
Peter J. Konetchy came to our event along with his wife drumming up support for his bid to "Dump Debbie" and take back a US Senate seat. Mr. Konetchy has proven to be a true conservative the few times that I had met him and that day he didn't disappoint.
At the event, we also had a speaker from a Florida Tea Party, and our State Senator Goeff Hansen along with State Rep. Jon Bumstead filled us in on the battles being fought in Lansing.
My battery on my camera died so I didn't take many pics.
That all happened on Saturday July 2nd.
July 4th was a day of parades; I carpooled with our vice Chair Tom Allison and a friend from Muskegon to save some gas as the parades were in Whitehall and then later in Ludington.
The Whitehall parade was nice as usual but when we got to the Ludington parade I was staggered. There must have been 10,000 people. The parade took at least a half hour just to pass by. The route was about a mile long with people constantly lining the sides 5-10 deep and more on the corners. We decided to march with Sen. Hansen and we had quite a nice group in Hansen T shirts as the pictures above show.
Congressman Bill Huizenga and his family and crew were there also. It was a huge parade.
Like I said it was a busy week.
Yesterday the 6th of July was our Oceana Tea Party regular monthly meeting; always on the 1st Wed of the Month at 7pm. This was the first time we held our meeting at our new digs. The Historic Districts "Heritage Hall" bldg. Our members all seemed to like the place due to its size and the tables and chairs. This is a bldg that we can grow into.
This was the second step I was talking about for the Tea Party. Our agenda for the meeting was full. Rebecca gave a quick rundown on her successful efforts for the picnic. Then Ted McKissack gave an update on the limited Census form that he has been tracking down. All thought that this was indeed an encroachment of the federal government into the private lives of its citizens. Going way past its duty as specified in the Constitution. We are forming a committee to look into what action we can take as a group or perhaps a coalition of groups to cut back on the Census.
Our next speaker was Senator Goeff Hansen who gave a run down on the budget battles that have been going on in Lansing and the progress they have been making. Next State Representative Jon Bumstead added to what Goeff Hansen had said and they both answered many questions from our group.
Our last guest speaker was Amy Hawkins, Executive Director of Citizens for Traditional Values out of Lansing. Amy with the energy of youth was able to fire up our group as only a young vital sincere person can. She talked of the importance of networking and of getting involved at the local level.
She talked also of getting the youth involved. She told of the importance of getting people on the school boards. Amy tied in the networking idea with Ted's Census issue and suggested trying to get other Tea Parties involved also. Both Goeff and Amy alluded to the idea the we the people are the ones that need to do the heavy lifting.
These were the themes the Tea Party has been pushing since we started and they all seemed to come together last night through our speakers, membership and our new Hall.
Today the 7th, I went to a fundraiser for Representative Jon Bumstead in Pentwater. There were as many MEA picketers outside as people inside. Actually it was a nice turnout for both sides. I went outside and talked with a couple of the union people. They were nice enough however they didn't like my "Dump Debbie" button. I asked them who printed their nice signs, they didn't answer. Oh well you can't make everyone happy and talking of that. Mary Valentine was there passing around a petition -- ??? Is she running for something? the 91st again? I went to ask her, but she turned around and quickly walked away.
Below are some pictures from inside of the Bumstead fundraiser. The guest speaker was the young Jase Bolger who is the Speaker of the Mi. House. I came away knowing better why he is the speaker at such a young age. The man is sharp and quick on his feet. An asset to be sure and we will see him in the future of the Republican Party.
Senate Candidate Peter Konetchy was there along with his wife also and I had a chance to talk with him some more. Rumor has it that Andy Sebolt our own secretary of the Tea Party has become Mr. Konetchy's interim campaign manager. Good job Andy.
As I say one thing leads to another and the next week will be filled also with a meeting to flesh out what the OTP can do with Ted's Census issue and tomorrow I'm going to a fundraiser for Ray Franz who will have a favorite of mine as a speaker, Lt. Governor Brian Calley.
Then also on the 11th is my Township Meeting (Newfield) . There will be fireworks there I can feel it.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
(click on any pics to enlarge)
First we had an Independence Day Picnic which was free to all. There were about 50 people attending at any given time and perhaps up to 100 total passing through. This was an important step for our Tea Party for two reasons.
The first was that we were out in the community spreading the word and the second was that the whole affair was put on by a volunteer and not by the leadership. This was a "We the People" type of thing. I even got my hand slapped for interfering. Oh well I deserved it. The bottom line is it came off without a hitch and the food and money was donated by local businesses and individuals.
The Chair of the Event Rebecca Wentzloff is pictured in the band below along with her daughter and her husband on base. The drummer was a volunteer also.
Peter J. Konetchy came to our event along with his wife drumming up support for his bid to "Dump Debbie" and take back a US Senate seat. Mr. Konetchy has proven to be a true conservative the few times that I had met him and that day he didn't disappoint.
At the event, we also had a speaker from a Florida Tea Party, and our State Senator Goeff Hansen along with State Rep. Jon Bumstead filled us in on the battles being fought in Lansing.
My battery on my camera died so I didn't take many pics.
That all happened on Saturday July 2nd.
July 4th was a day of parades; I carpooled with our vice Chair Tom Allison and a friend from Muskegon to save some gas as the parades were in Whitehall and then later in Ludington.
The Whitehall parade was nice as usual but when we got to the Ludington parade I was staggered. There must have been 10,000 people. The parade took at least a half hour just to pass by. The route was about a mile long with people constantly lining the sides 5-10 deep and more on the corners. We decided to march with Sen. Hansen and we had quite a nice group in Hansen T shirts as the pictures above show.
Congressman Bill Huizenga and his family and crew were there also. It was a huge parade.
Like I said it was a busy week.
Yesterday the 6th of July was our Oceana Tea Party regular monthly meeting; always on the 1st Wed of the Month at 7pm. This was the first time we held our meeting at our new digs. The Historic Districts "Heritage Hall" bldg. Our members all seemed to like the place due to its size and the tables and chairs. This is a bldg that we can grow into.
This was the second step I was talking about for the Tea Party. Our agenda for the meeting was full. Rebecca gave a quick rundown on her successful efforts for the picnic. Then Ted McKissack gave an update on the limited Census form that he has been tracking down. All thought that this was indeed an encroachment of the federal government into the private lives of its citizens. Going way past its duty as specified in the Constitution. We are forming a committee to look into what action we can take as a group or perhaps a coalition of groups to cut back on the Census.
Our next speaker was Senator Goeff Hansen who gave a run down on the budget battles that have been going on in Lansing and the progress they have been making. Next State Representative Jon Bumstead added to what Goeff Hansen had said and they both answered many questions from our group.
Our last guest speaker was Amy Hawkins, Executive Director of Citizens for Traditional Values out of Lansing. Amy with the energy of youth was able to fire up our group as only a young vital sincere person can. She talked of the importance of networking and of getting involved at the local level.
She talked also of getting the youth involved. She told of the importance of getting people on the school boards. Amy tied in the networking idea with Ted's Census issue and suggested trying to get other Tea Parties involved also. Both Goeff and Amy alluded to the idea the we the people are the ones that need to do the heavy lifting.
These were the themes the Tea Party has been pushing since we started and they all seemed to come together last night through our speakers, membership and our new Hall.
Today the 7th, I went to a fundraiser for Representative Jon Bumstead in Pentwater. There were as many MEA picketers outside as people inside. Actually it was a nice turnout for both sides. I went outside and talked with a couple of the union people. They were nice enough however they didn't like my "Dump Debbie" button. I asked them who printed their nice signs, they didn't answer. Oh well you can't make everyone happy and talking of that. Mary Valentine was there passing around a petition -- ??? Is she running for something? the 91st again? I went to ask her, but she turned around and quickly walked away.
Below are some pictures from inside of the Bumstead fundraiser. The guest speaker was the young Jase Bolger who is the Speaker of the Mi. House. I came away knowing better why he is the speaker at such a young age. The man is sharp and quick on his feet. An asset to be sure and we will see him in the future of the Republican Party.
Senate Candidate Peter Konetchy was there along with his wife also and I had a chance to talk with him some more. Rumor has it that Andy Sebolt our own secretary of the Tea Party has become Mr. Konetchy's interim campaign manager. Good job Andy.
As I say one thing leads to another and the next week will be filled also with a meeting to flesh out what the OTP can do with Ted's Census issue and tomorrow I'm going to a fundraiser for Ray Franz who will have a favorite of mine as a speaker, Lt. Governor Brian Calley.
Then also on the 11th is my Township Meeting (Newfield) . There will be fireworks there I can feel it.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
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