For Sheer Bureaucratic Stupidity, the Winner Is…
January 27, 2008
Hate is a pretty strong word. But not strong enough to express how I feel about the TSA - the Transportation Security Administration or Thousands Standing Around, depending on your point of view - which runs those security checkpoints at American airports. Read more
Government vs. Freedom
January 26, 2008
Government seems to be trampling citizen rights on all fronts these days. This has been going on for years, but our big government seems to be ramping their efforts up as of late.
Take the Oklahoma 3 travesty for example. This coming Monday, Paul Jacob, Susan Elizabeth Johnson and Richard Merrill Carpenter will be on Oklahoma City for arraignment. The charge? Defrauding the state. How? For actually having the balls to petition the government!
What initiative were they working on? A tax and spend control initiative, which of course, is the government’s worst nightmare. So in response, liberal Attorney General Drew Edmondson is using his office in an attempt to flex his legal muscles and scare citizens enough to keep them from petitioning the government.
Fortunately, Paul Jacob is a true American who is willing to take a stand.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Citizens-rights activist Paul Jacob says he plans to spend the next year highlighting legal threats to the citizens’ initiative movement around the country.
After that, he admits, he could wind up in jail for the next 10 years, courtesy of Attorney General Drew Edmondson, for participating in that same initiative process in Oklahoma two years ago.
Jacob was re-indicted last month, this time directly by AG Edmondson, on charges that he and others broke state residency laws by collecting signatures for a ballot initiative as out-of-staters, he told LNL today. He was originally indicted last November by a multi-county grand jury but that indictment was dismissed a few weeks later on a legal technicality.
Edmondson’s charges means that Jacob, also a top adviser at citizens-rights group the Sam Adams Alliance, now faces 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine if convicted. That Edmondson re-filed the indictment himself shows “this is being handled at the very top [of the AG’s office], Jacob said. “It seems to be very political and as well as personal.”
Quick disclaimer: Not only do I know Paul Jacob personally, I also work with him through the Sam Adams Alliance.
Moving along…
Did you hear about the government’s attack on free speech via Jim Roos?
ST. LOUIS—In a double blow to free speech and property rights, the city of St. Louis is not only threatening to take an entire neighborhood for private development—it wants to censor a powerful and highly visible mural protesting the city’s eminent domain abuse and building support for reform.
Fed up with seeing the affordable housing he owns and manages through Neighborhood Enterprises, Inc., and the non-profit Sanctuary in the Ordinary face condemnation for private development, Jim fought back. He helped found the Missouri Eminent Domain Abuse Coalition and has been an advocate for reform of Missouri’s eminent domain laws.
And he had a large mural painted on his building at 1806-08 S. 13th Street, in the Bohemian Hill neighborhood, target of a redevelopment ordinance authorizing eminent domain to make way for private development. Earlier this year, the city’s Land Clearing for Redevelopment Authority started the process of acquiring property in the neighborhood.
After the mural appeared in March, St. Louis bureaucrats told Jim he must apply for a permit. Then they denied his application. St. Louis insists the mural must be taken down as a violation of local “sign codes.”
Talk about abuse of power gone wild!!!
We really need to start paying more attention to these cases. Am I alone on this?
When Will the Republican Candidates Grow a Set?
January 26, 2008
You know what I’m looking for over at The Conservative Post? I’m looking for one of the candidates to stop playing kissy-face with these socialist reporters, and to start taking them on when they spew their liberal talking points. Read more
FisCon Identity Politics
January 26, 2008
Before taking a morning jog in Ft. Lauderdale, Mike Huckabee’s remarks regarding Mitt Romney’s business record drew a very sharp distinction between the vision of conservatism espoused by Wall Street Republicans and Main Street Republicans. Read more
Ronald Reagan
January 25, 2008
No matter who one supports in this election, one thing should be clear: Ronald Reagan is rolling over in his grave. Perhaps we should be thankful, for his sake, that Ecclesiastes states that “the dead know nothing”.
The current contenders for the Republican nomination exemplify what has happened to the coalition that Reagan worked so hard to build. You have a split among the National Security Conservatives, Social Conservatives, and Fiscal Conservatives. It is sad that questions abound about whether the Party, as a whole, will unite behind the nominee. It is sadder still, when the usual response is that Hillary Clinton will unite the Republican Party against her.
Each slice of the Conservative pie is pulling for its own interest, almost without regard for the other slices. Each candidate attracts a difference part of the Conservative pie in order to win the nomination.
Ronald Reagan stood for principles and so did the Republican Party under his leadership. Not only did he unite the party, he united the entire nation. In 1980 and 1984, he won in landslides. He won in landslides because it wasn’t about winning elections to him. He was foremost concerned with going about preserving the American way of life. One of the ways he went about doing that was to bind together the different wings of the Conservative movement.
Reagan is revered by Conservatives and respected by Liberals. This author considers him to be his hero. It is apparent that Reagan’s influence is still alive today. There isn’t a candidate in the GOP field that hasn’t attempted to compare himself to Reagan in some form or fashion. On the Left, even Barack Obama had praise for him.
Why is Reagan praised? He is praised by Conservatives because he united the country, defeated Communism, won in landslides, united the ranks of the Republican Party, was “The Great Communicator”, and was the ultimate standard bearer for this thing we call “Conservatism”. Liberals respect him because of his effectiveness at communicating his message and was a political force.
However, this is where Conservatives go astray. We praise Ronald Reagan for what he did, all the while forgetting that it was who he was that enabled him to do great things.
Who was Ronald Reagan? Ronald Reagan was a man of principle. He fought for what he believed in and stood by his principles, no matter what the situation. His policies did not come about as a result of trying to attain or hold on to elected office, but rather from his core beliefs of what was truly right. You see, Ronald Reagan knew something that was once known by nearly everyone in America. His writings, statements, and actions showed that he knew that he alone was responsible for his own actions and he had to answer to God for his actions one day.
His foremost desire as President was to achieve what was right for the nation. He also understood that he did not battle against people, but against policies and ideologies. Ronald Reagan could not bring himself to hate anyone, not even the man who tried to assassinate him. He never pursued an action for the sake of political expediency.
With Reagan, his true strength had nothing to do with his accomplishments. His true strength was his character. To borrow a phrase from Peggy Noonan, with Ronald Reagan, “character was king”. Today’s and tomorrow’s Conservatives would do well to remember that.
You Might get $600 of your OWN MONEY Back by May! (Pelosi Blames Bush)
January 25, 2008
Quote of the Day, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA):
“I have always said, uh, that what we needed to do is put money in the hands of people who will spend it right away….”
The A.P. is reporting: Read more
A taste of their own medicine
January 24, 2008
In February of 2007 it was reported that Arizona’s Legislators were “seeking more control over initiatives,” and that they gently suggested that after a five-year “cooling off period” that the Legislature be allowed to make changed to initiatives. Read more
Free patriotic Wordpress theme at ConservaBlogs.com
January 24, 2008
LOOKING FOR OUR NEW FREE POLITICAL WORDPRESS THEME? CLICK HERE.
While Wordpress themes are now in abundance, there doesn’t seem to be much available in the realm of patriotic, limited government based design schemes. Read more
Poll Numbers Horrid But Dems Stay the Course
January 24, 2008
With Poll numbers showing the Democrat led Congress is enjoying the worst approval numbers since I don’t know when, the Democrat’s strategy to combat this perception in the minds of voters would seem to be Read more
The Reluctant Candidate
January 24, 2008
Fred Thompson’s supporters are rightfully disappointed. Today was a tough one. Read more
