Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.
And after this year we can remember it as the Day that ACORN like a Resurrected Zombie, re qualified for Federal Funding.
Did you like me, cheer when you heard that BOTH Republicans AND Democrats in Congress voted to suspend Federal Funding of ACORN?
Well TRICK'OR'TREAT!
The suspension was only good up to October 31st.
Yes on El Dia de los Muertos ACORN will be once again eligible for Federal Funding
.
I suspect some members of Congress did not have the courage to vote their true convictions and so created this stop gap measure in the hopes that after a whole month the Public would not notice it when they reinstated business as usual.
If you substitute the word ACORN for ACLU in this video you will have a fairly accurate of our present dilemma.
This whole Fox versus the White house has brought to my mind the story given by Billy Joel on the origin of "Only the Good Die Young."
There appears to me to be some parallels and I find the dichotomy hilarious.
First listen to Billy Joel.
I have this mental picture of average American's sitting in their family rooms and as Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod and Anita Dunn spouted off about Fox News,
Reacting with
What?
What Can't We Hear?
What Is It They Don't Want Us To Hear???
While at the same time a cackle of fiendish glee arose from the dark dank Dominions of Fox News
Coupled with the plaintive tones of
Puh-LEASE B'rer White House DON'T throw us in the B'riar Patch!
But the principles of a Bedrock Foundationn for Grassroots Political Activity can be applied I think in a healthy manner to any location or Party for that matter.
There has been some talk about a Precinct Initiative.
An enterprise I full heartedly endorse. There will be many plans and information forthcoming,'
Here are some of my ideas and what I hope will be useful tools.
Those who have been following my posts, may recall sometime back I posted a table with links to maps of the County Precincts.
Later I used the same format to post the Form As for all the Precinct Caucuses from last year.
Here I present that same format to be built into a table of Facebook Groups where residents of Precincts may communicate and inform each other.
We keep hoping they will change, but sometimes things seems hauntingly familiar.
In June's Linn County GOP Central Committee Meeting, a Precinct Initiative was discussed.
I STRONGLY support Precincts being organized. But one phrase kept popping up.
To Elect Republicans.
Now of course I ALSO want to help Elect Republicans,
But my interest in Precinct development has a different primary focus.
This system of political organization that has served Iowa so well for generations, has broken down.
IT needs no change but WE certainly need to change.
In the Past the Precinct Caucus was your neighbors, you KNEW your neighbors, Your families knew each other, possibly for generations.
When the Caucus met, it was an assembly of citizens who knew each other and chose from their numbers people they respected to represent them on the next level of political organization.
Today when we go to a Caucus few know anyone else in the room, They have no basis with which to gage anyone who wants a political position,'
So how to we fix this gapping wound in the Body Electorate?
We arrange for Republicans in a Precinct to meet and become acquainted.
Backyard cookouts.
Picnics in the Park
Neighborhood coffee meetings
Using the new Social Networking systems such as Face book.
Creating a PRESENCE in our neighborhoods.
Form a sense of Community and Connection.
THOSE are the reasons I find the topic of a Precinct Initiative energizing.
Not simply to Elect Republicans in the next Election cycle and then let them go to sleep until awakened for the following cycle
But to BUILD a PARTY.
Give Power to the People on the basic levels of Politics.
Because they are in fact the Foundation of Democracy.
The Party is not the officers at the County, State and National Levels.
Not our Elected Officials.
It is WE who are the Party.
They exist to serve and fulfill OUR wishes.
It is said
If He Knows and Knows that He Knows
He is Wise Follow Him
If He Knows Not and Knows Not that He Knows Not
He is a Fool Shun Him
If He Knows Not and Knows that He Knows Not
He is a Child Teach Him
But if He Knows and Knows Not the He Knows?
He is Asleep Waken Him.
Friends.
We have been asleep.
And In our Slumber?
Things have not gone well.
It is time in the words of Yamamoto Isoroku
For the Sleeping Giant to Awaken
and perhaps be filled with a Terrible Resolve.>
We must take back our Government.
The Battle lines are drawn and the War is not to be fought or won
in distant Capitals but on the sidewalks of our Blocks and Streets.
Gather together, Talk to your Neighbors,
All the other desires, Election Republicans, Gathering Volunteers
Collecting Donations?
They will FOLLOW as Healthy byproducts of a Political Base that rests on a Sound Foundation rather than the Shifting Sands of we must do anything, we must ignore violations of our basic Core Beliefs just to amass numbers.
For if we continue to follow those sorts of Paths?
Instead of Elected Officials to whom we can look with Pride?
We may get, and deserve rather than healthy sound leaders the
ghostly image of a
Specter
Click here to play Senator Specter's welcome message
So I say to you
Aux Barricades mes Amis
To the Barricades my Friends
For your Homes
For your Families
For the Souls of Your Party and Nation
Fiat justitia, ruat coelum
Let Justice Be Done,
Though The Heavens May Fall
My Friends this struggle is not for the faint of heart,
There are always those who value, Tranquility over Disruption, even if the disruption leads to a better, Freer Life
They are with us now, as they were at the Birth of this Republic.
Those who do not wish to enter into a Stuggle for Democracy
To Them one of Our Founding Fathers said.
Samuel Adams
American Patriot & Politician
1722 - 1803
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
There are few things that can send a chill down the back of a man,
A man who is a father and husband, that is,
As the sight of this dreaded phrase.
Some Assembly Required
In the Cartography of the Family Landscape
It is the indication of Tera Incognito
Quite similar to the areas on Ancient Maps inscribed with
"Here be Monsters"
It is the signal that you face a gauntlet, which if not traversed successfully will result in the wrathful glares of wives and mothers, the teary eyes of toddlers and
The knowledge that Daddy has RUINED Christmas or a Birthday, whichever the case may be.
But be of Good Cheer Fathers and Husbands, for there IS Hope.
There is a simple Binary, Two Step Program of Recovery, which will enable you to sail through those troubled waters and emerge on the other side victorious and the Family Hero, instead of the Family Villain
They are
1) READ the Directions!
and what is more Important
2) FOLLOW the Directions!
These two Rules will carry you in good stead all the Days of your Life and in any Trials you may encounter.
The correct assembly of a County Central Committee has some characteristics in common with the ordeal of putting together the annual Christmas or Birthday gifts.
We started off with Central Committee 2007 it was to some extent complex, but not unduly.
It had a 4 part Executive Board much like the current model and a Central Committee Body composed of various and sundry Sub-Committees, a single Meeting Location and County Party Office.
Now Central Committee 209 Build A was much streamlined,
It had the same 4 part Executive Board, but an attempt was made to run that as a Stand Alone system. The single Meeting Location was replaced by a menu of options and the County Party Office was eliminated for the sake of steam lining.
There were some problem that arose. The isolated Central Committee Body and the Standalone Executive Board developed a VERY severe feedback problem resembling the situation that arises when a microphone is placed too close to a speaker.
A very high pitched angry sounding squeal arose and the functionality seemed to be lacking.
That to do?
I suggest the same thing the Wise Husband and Father decides when he realizes that Tab A will NOT fit into Slot A because Tab B seems to be already inserted.
That is take the device apart spread out the constituents and READ the Directions!
In the case of assembling County Central Committees, the directions we need to concern ourselves with are :
Sending a message to the government that they need to stop spending our money on wasteful crap. People are meeting up under the aluminum tree in downtown between 1st ave and I380.
Date and Time to bel announced.
Please visit crteaparty.org for information, updates, or details.
This is a not partisan group or and anti Democrat or Obama group, both Republicans and Democrats are responsible for waste. We are not against any party or person but against out of control government spending and waste.
It would appear to be about an attempt to quietly raise some more of our Taxes.
I have a friend of mine on the CR Public Library Board of Trustees and he was the one lone “no” vote on the budget for 2010 that included a property tax levy increase figured into it. Now comes the actual vote to go on record for a recommendation to pursue a property tax increase – it will take place this Thursday at 4:00 PM while the rest of civilization is actually working.
The agenda action item is for an intent to pursue a 27 cent library levy increase up from the current 8 cent special library levy – an increase of 19 cents (you raise about one million dollars in revenue for every 16 cents on the levy) so this will be an increase in excess of $ 1 million dollars in additional property taxes. This recommendation goes forward from the Library Board of Trustees to the City Council that also has to vote on this – but a recommendation from an independent commission, like the Library board of trustees, gives them the cover to “do the will of the people”.
What my friend is looking for is a little support and a little attention to be drawn to this matter; the quicker you can get out in front of an issue like this, the more attention that can be brought to it and the better the chance the Council may pare it back – or with enough heat, reject the increase in total. Otherwise this could slide thru from the Library Board on a Thursday afternoon without even being covered and slipped onto next week’s “consent” agenda at the Council meeting for a voice vote – in other words, a done deal.
I am advising him to use the term “Culture of Delay” in his remarks in urging the rest of the Library Board to vote against this tax increase recommendation; Brian Fagan is the Council liaison to the Library Board and has been counseling them on how to pursue this course of action. For instance
we know that the damage done to the existing main library is in excess of 50% of pre flood value so FEMA pays for an entire new one.
However there are only two options, either raze the existing structure and build on the same site with protections against the 100 year flood event. Or second, build on a new site outside of the flood plain (like Westdale for example).
Instead of making a decision and settling with FEMA which would allow for a release of funds from them for not just a building, but also for contents – this property tax increase is being proposed to largely pay for new materials to replace, in the interim, what was lost in the flood.
Call me cynical and suspicious, but to these jaundiced eyes it looks like an attempt to raise taxes and if one opposes the raise then one is mean spirited and does not care about the damage done to the Community by the flood
AND
Get the FEMA money as well, later, Then keep the tax hike because during the shuffle no one will notice?
Remember I made the title of this
Having YOUR Cake and Eating it Too
Not
Having THEIR Cake and Eating it Too.
They are not going to be paying the higher property Tax, YOU will.
Keep a weather eye out for the July 4th Taxed Enough Already Rally
and spread the word about this Property Tax Hike
UPDATE: Tim Pugh forwarded the Library's Responce to me.
I'd be happy to respond to this. FEMA covers our lost materials but the proposed levy increase would be for money to run our facility not for items lost in the flood. As you may remember even preflood, the library was incredibly challenged from an operating funding perspective. While FEMA/State/IJOBS will pay for a substantial portion of the capital cost of building a new building, the library levy is important because we need the operating funds to run the facility. It is absolutely critical that we have this support from the community. I can really bottom line this library levy. It really boils down to the square footage that we can support from an operational funding perspective.
We’d like to come back better than before
– with the passage of the levy, we can do that and build a beautiful new facility that will meet the needs today and of future generations. If we can’t pass a library levy, it calls into question whether we can even afford to operate a building the size that we had preflood. That’s how serious this is.
His reaction was much the same as what passed through my mind
However this building is not built, so what operating cost?
Investigators with the Library's Office of the Inspector General have raised a string of objections after Congress stripped them of their ability to buy and carry firearms in the fiscal 2009 omnibus spending bill. They could get their wish
Don't try to swipe a book from the Library of Congress -- library investigators might soon be getting their guns back.
Investigators with the Library's Office of the Inspector General have raised a string of objections after Congress stripped them of their ability to buy and carry firearms.
Though the office has carried firearms in the course of its duties for the past 15 years, and inspector general agents at other federal agencies do the same, lawmakers inserted language into the fiscal year 2009 omnibus spending bill, which was signed into law in March, that prohibited the library's officers from using federal funds to "purchase, maintain or carry" firearms.
They cited an apparent "separation of powers" concern -- the library's investigators are deputized by the U.S. Marshals, which falls under the executive branch, but they investigate abuses in the Library of Congress, which falls under the legislative branch.
Inspector General Karl Schornagel cried foul.
"It's never been questioned until just recently," he told FOXNews.com. "Consider that we've been doing this for 15 years, we're very successful."
The office wrote in its semiannual report to Congress in March that the decision would "impede" investigations. It also received an opinion in April from the Government Accountability Office that there is no legitimate "separation of powers" concern.
Schornagel said the IG's agents just want to be "made whole again."
Crimes against the Library of Congress take many forms. The IG's office investigated child pornography, embezzlement, identity theft and credit card fraud in the last fiscal year, according to its own accounting. It executed 13 search warrants and served 19 subpoenas, while winning one guilty plea and conviction.
While investigating crimes in and against the Library of Congress might not sound like the most dangerous job, another official in the inspector general's office said most of their investigations take them off site, into some dangerous neighborhoods in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and other states.
Though no agent with the Library's IG office has ever fired a gun in the course of duty, Schornagel said much of his agents' work "requires a firearm." He said there's always the chance a suspect could get violent -- plus the guns can be a deterrent to violence during searches and arrests
They can blow that Separation of Powers Blue Smoke all they wish, WE know the reason that they want to take Guns away from anyone, anywhere that they can is because they think'
Guns are ICKY
The Real Scary part is that these are the same people who are in charge of the SECURITY and Defence of this Nation?
Well I know one thing for sure
I didn't vote for Cretins like that? They do NOT belong to MY Party!
Healing the Heartland Festival Topic: Out of Flyover Land
I received this email from THE Parade Firetruck man himself, Steve West.
"dan i need your help iin sending out an invite to the free bbq friday nite at 10 locations around cr check the web site for details = http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.HealingCr.com"
What a worthy cause go hither and read on it'
Healing the Heartland Festival is a Three Day Event Marking the Anniversary of the Great Flood of 2008
- A message of faith and hope for the heartland -
The Holy Land Foundation funneled millions of dollars to Hamas, but so what? What could go wrong?
"President Obama to American Muslims: I will ease the impact of post-9/11 scrutiny of charities," by Michael Saul for the New York Daily News, June 5 (thanks to Charles Jacobs):
Tucked away in President Obama's historic speech in Cairo Thursday was a promise to American Muslims to ease the impact of post-9/11 scrutiny of their charities.
Justice Department political appointees overruled career lawyers and ended a civil complaint accusing three members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense of wielding a nightstick and intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place last Election Day, according to documents and interviews.
The incident - which gained national attention when it was captured on videotape and distributed on YouTube - had prompted the government to sue the men, saying they violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by scaring would-be voters with the weapon, racial slurs and military-style uniforms.
Career lawyers pursued the case for months, including obtaining an affidavit from a prominent 1960s civil rights activist who witnessed the confrontation and described it as "the most blatant form of voter intimidation" that he had seen, even during the voting rights crisis in Mississippi a half-century ago.
Some time back I heard a radio personality from Cincinnati, Mike McConnell say something I thought very profound.
He said that when we use terms like Reverse Discrimination, it is wrong, because we are accepting something that is not true.
That there is a third state in addition to Discrimination and Not Discrimination.
That is one of the Big Lies that some think can become truth if it is repeated loud enough and often enough.
THIS Man believed differently,
On 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
Dr Martin Luther King said, I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
He did not say, "I have a dream that one day it will be OUR turn to intimidate Voters."
It would seem that some Political Appointees in our Government don't know that,
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude
