Bank Closings

Regulators closed 7 banks on last Thursday, including 6 banks in Illinois controlled by one family and a small bank in Dallas, bringing the total number of U.S. bank failures to 52 so far this year (in 2008 there were 25 bank failures, and just 3 in 2007).

The mainstream media doesn’t report much of this type of information since they haven’t been told to.  I thought you might want to know

Who Voted For (and Against) Cap and Trade?

Everything below this paragraph was taken directly from the Glenn Beck website.  I chose to do this to give you the facts and this provided the best format in my opinion.

House Vote On Passage: H.R. 2454: American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (aka the single largest tax increase in American history)

 Those to campaign against…

Vote	District	Representative
Arizona
Aye	AZ-4	Pastor, Edward [D]
Aye	AZ-7	Grijalva, Raul [D]
Aye	AZ-8	Giffords, Gabrielle [D]
Arkansas
Aye	AR-2	Snyder, Victor [D]
California
Aye	CA-1	Thompson, C. [D]
Aye	CA-5	Matsui, Doris [D]
Aye	CA-6	Woolsey, Lynn [D]
Aye	CA-7	Miller, George [D]
Aye	CA-8	Pelosi, Nancy [D]
Aye	CA-9	Lee, Barbara [D]
Aye	CA-10	Tauscher, Ellen
Aye	CA-11	McNerney, Jerry [D]
Aye	CA-12	Speier, Jackie [D]
Aye	CA-14	Eshoo, Anna [D]
Aye	CA-15	Honda, Michael [D]
Aye	CA-16	Lofgren, Zoe [D]
Aye	CA-17	Farr, Sam [D]
Aye	CA-18	Cardoza, Dennis [D]
Aye	CA-23	Capps, Lois [D]
Aye	CA-27	Sherman, Brad [D]
Aye	CA-28	Berman, Howard [D]
Aye	CA-29	Schiff, Adam [D]
Aye	CA-30	Waxman, Henry [D]
Aye	CA-31	Becerra, Xavier [D]
Aye	CA-33	Watson, Diane [D]
Aye	CA-34	Roybal-Allard, Lucille [D]
Aye	CA-35	Waters, Maxine [D]
Aye	CA-36	Harman, Jane [D]
Aye	CA-37	Richardson, Laura [D]
Aye	CA-38	Napolitano, Grace [D]
Aye	CA-39	Sanchez, Linda [D]
Aye	CA-43	Baca, Joe [D]
Aye	CA-45	Bono Mack, Mary [R]
Aye	CA-47	Sanchez, Loretta [D]
Aye	CA-51	Filner, Bob [D]
Aye	CA-53	Davis, Susan [D]
Colorado
Aye	CO-1	DeGette, Diana [D]
Aye	CO-2	Polis, Jared [D]
Aye	CO-4	Markey, Betsy [D]
Aye	CO-7	Perlmutter, Ed [D]
Connecticut
Aye	CT-1	Larson, John [D]
Aye	CT-2	Courtney, Joe [D]
Aye	CT-3	DeLauro, Rosa [D]
Aye	CT-4	Himes, James [D]
Aye	CT-5	Murphy, Christopher [D]
Delaware
Aye	DE-0	Castle, Michael [R]
Florida
Aye	FL-2	Boyd, Allen [D]
Aye	FL-3	Brown, Corrine [D]
Aye	FL-8	Grayson, Alan [D]
Aye	FL-11	Castor, Kathy [D]
Aye	FL-17	Meek, Kendrick [D]
Aye	FL-19	Wexler, Robert [D]
Aye	FL-20	Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D]
Aye	FL-22	Klein, Ron [D]
Aye	FL-24	Kosmas, Suzanne [D]
Georgia
Aye	GA-2	Bishop, Sanford [D]
Aye	GA-4	Johnson, Henry [D]
Aye	GA-5	Lewis, John [D]
Aye	GA-13	Scott, David [D]
Hawaii
Aye	HI-1	Abercrombie, Neil [D]
Aye	HI-2	Hirono, Mazie [D]
Illinois
Aye	IL-1	Rush, Bobby [D]
Aye	IL-2	Jackson, Jesse [D]
Aye	IL-3	Lipinski, Daniel [D]
Aye	IL-4	Gutierrez, Luis [D]
Aye	IL-5	Quigley, Mike [D]
Aye	IL-7	Davis, Danny [D]
Aye	IL-8	Bean, Melissa [D]
Aye	IL-9	Schakowsky, Janice [D]
Aye	IL-10	Kirk, Mark [R]
Aye	IL-11	Halvorson, Deborah [D]
Aye	IL-17	Hare, Phil [D]
Indiana
Aye	IN-7	Carson, André [D]
Aye	IN-9	Hill, Baron [D]
Iowa
Aye	IA-1	Braley, Bruce [D]
Aye	IA-2	Loebsack, David [D]
Aye	IA-3	Boswell, Leonard [D]
Kansas
Aye	KS-3	Moore, Dennis [D]
Kentucky
Aye	KY-3	Yarmuth, John [D]
Aye	KY-6	Chandler, Ben [D]
Maine
Aye	ME-1	Pingree, Chellie [D]
Aye	ME-2	Michaud, Michael [D]
Maryland
Aye	MD-1	Kratovil, Frank [D]
Aye	MD-2	Ruppersberger, C.A. [D]
Aye	MD-3	Sarbanes, John [D]
Aye	MD-4	Edwards, Donna [D]
Aye	MD-5	Hoyer, Steny [D]
Aye	MD-7	Cummings, Elijah [D]
Aye	MD-8	Van Hollen, Christopher [D]
Massachusetts
Aye	MA-1	Olver, John [D]
Aye	MA-2	Neal, Richard [D]
Aye	MA-3	McGovern, James [D]
Aye	MA-4	Frank, Barney [D]
Aye	MA-5	Tsongas, Niki [D]
Aye	MA-6	Tierney, John [D]
Aye	MA-7	Markey, Edward [D]
Aye	MA-8	Capuano, Michael [D]
Aye	MA-9	Lynch, Stephen [D]
Aye	MA-10	Delahunt, William [D]
Michigan
Aye	MI-1	Stupak, Bart [D]
Aye	MI-5	Kildee, Dale [D]
Aye	MI-7	Schauer, Mark [D]
Aye	MI-9	Peters, Gary [D]
Aye	MI-12	Levin, Sander [D]
Aye	MI-13	Kilpatrick, Carolyn [D]
Aye	MI-14	Conyers, John [D]
Aye	MI-15	Dingell, John [D]
Minnesota
Aye	MN-1	Walz, Timothy [D]
Aye	MN-4	McCollum, Betty [D]
Aye	MN-5	Ellison, Keith [D]
Aye	MN-7	Peterson, Collin [D]
Aye	MN-8	Oberstar, James [D]
Mississippi
Aye	MS-2	Thompson, Bennie [D]
Missouri
Aye	MO-1	Clay, William [D]
Aye	MO-3	Carnahan, Russ [D]
Aye	MO-4	Skelton, Ike [D]
Aye	MO-5	Cleaver, Emanuel [D]
Nevada
Aye	NV-1	Berkley, Shelley [D]
Aye	NV-3	Titus, Dina [D]
New Hampshire
Aye	NH-1	Shea-Porter, Carol [D]
Aye	NH-2	Hodes, Paul [D]
New Jersey
Aye	NJ-1	Andrews, Robert [D]
Aye	NJ-2	LoBiondo, Frank [R]
Aye	NJ-3	Adler, John [D]
Aye	NJ-4	Smith, Christopher [R]
Aye	NJ-6	Pallone, Frank [D]
Aye	NJ-7	Lance, Leonard [R]
Aye	NJ-8	Pascrell, William [D]
Aye	NJ-9	Rothman, Steven [D]
Aye	NJ-10	Payne, Donald [D]
Aye	NJ-12	Holt, Rush [D]
Aye	NJ-13	Sires, Albio [D]
New Mexico
Aye	NM-1	Heinrich, Martin [D]
Aye	NM-2	Teague, Harry [D]
Aye	NM-3	Lujan, Ben [D]
New York
Aye	NY-1	Bishop, Timothy [D]
Aye	NY-2	Israel, Steve [D]
Aye	NY-4	McCarthy, Carolyn [D]
Aye	NY-5	Ackerman, Gary [D]
Aye	NY-6	Meeks, Gregory [D]
Aye	NY-7	Crowley, Joseph [D]
Aye	NY-8	Nadler, Jerrold [D]
Aye	NY-9	Weiner, Anthony [D]
Aye	NY-10	Towns, Edolphus [D]
Aye	NY-11	Clarke, Yvette [D]
Aye	NY-12	Velazquez, Nydia [D]
Aye	NY-13	McMahon, Michael [D]
Aye	NY-14	Maloney, Carolyn [D]
Aye	NY-15	Rangel, Charles [D]
Aye	NY-16	Serrano, José [D]
Aye	NY-17	Engel, Eliot [D]
Aye	NY-18	Lowey, Nita [D]
Aye	NY-19	Hall, John [D]
Aye	NY-20	Murphy, Scott [D]
Aye	NY-21	Tonko, Paul [D]
Aye	NY-22	Hinchey, Maurice [D]
Aye	NY-23	McHugh, John [R]
Aye	NY-25	Maffei, Daniel [D]
Aye	NY-27	Higgins, Brian [D]
Aye	NY-28	Slaughter, Louise [D]
North Carolina
Aye	NC-1	Butterfield, George [D]
Aye	NC-2	Etheridge, Bob [D]
Aye	NC-4	Price, David [D]
Aye	NC-11	Shuler, Heath [D]
Aye	NC-12	Watt, Melvin [D]
Aye	NC-13	Miller, R. [D]
Ohio
Aye	OH-1	Driehaus, Steve [D]
Aye	OH-9	Kaptur, Marcy [D]
Aye	OH-11	Fudge, Marcia [D]
Aye	OH-13	Sutton, Betty [D]
Aye	OH-15	Kilroy, Mary Jo [D]
Aye	OH-16	Boccieri, John [D]
Aye	OH-17	Ryan, Timothy [D]
Aye	OH-18	Space, Zachary [D]
Oregon
Aye	OR-1	Wu, David [D]
Aye	OR-3	Blumenauer, Earl [D]
Aye	OR-5	Schrader, Kurt [D]
Pennsylvania
Aye	PA-1	Brady, Robert [D]
Aye	PA-2	Fattah, Chaka [D]
Aye	PA-7	Sestak, Joe [D]
Aye	PA-8	Murphy, Patrick [D]
Aye	PA-11	Kanjorski, Paul [D]
Aye	PA-12	Murtha, John [D]
Aye	PA-13	Schwartz, Allyson [D]
Aye	PA-14	Doyle, Michael [D]
Rhode Island
Aye	RI-1	Kennedy, Patrick [D]
Aye	RI-2	Langevin, James [D]
South Carolina
Aye	SC-5	Spratt, John [D]
Aye	SC-6	Clyburn, James [D]
Tennessee
Aye	TN-5	Cooper, Jim [D]
Aye	TN-6	Gordon, Barton [D]
Aye	TN-9	Cohen, Steve [D]
Texas
Aye	TX-9	Green, Al [D]
Aye	TX-15	Hinojosa, Rubén [D]
Aye	TX-16	Reyes, Silvestre [D]
Aye	TX-18	Jackson-Lee, Sheila [D]
Aye	TX-20	Gonzalez, Charles [D]
Aye	TX-25	Doggett, Lloyd [D]
Aye	TX-28	Cuellar, Henry [D]
Aye	TX-29	Green, Raymond [D]
Aye	TX-30	Johnson, Eddie [D]
Vermont
Aye	VT-0	Welch, Peter [D]
Virginia
Aye	VA-3	Scott, Robert [D]
Aye	VA-5	Perriello, Thomas [D]
Aye	VA-8	Moran, James [D]
Aye	VA-9	Boucher, Frederick [D]
Aye	VA-11	Connolly, Gerald [D]
Washington
Aye	WA-1	Inslee, Jay [D]
Aye	WA-2	Larsen, Rick [D]
Aye	WA-3	Baird, Brian [D]
Aye	WA-6	Dicks, Norman [D]
Aye	WA-7	McDermott, James [D]
Aye	WA-8	Reichert, Dave [R]
Aye	WA-9	Smith, Adam [D]
Wisconsin
Aye	WI-2	Baldwin, Tammy [D]
Aye	WI-3	Kind, Ronald [D]
Aye	WI-4	Moore, Gwen [D]
Aye	WI-7	Obey, David [D]
Aye	WI-8	Kagen, Steve [D]

---

Those to thank…

Vote	District	Representative
Alabama
No	AL-1	Bonner, Jo [R]
No	AL-2	Bright, Bobby [D]
No	AL-3	Rogers, Michael [R]
No	AL-4	Aderholt, Robert [R]
No	AL-5	Griffith, Parker [D]
No	AL-6	Bachus, Spencer [R]
No	AL-7	Davis, Artur [D]
Alaska
No	AK-0	Young, Donald [R]
Arizona
No	AZ-1	Kirkpatrick, Ann [D]
No	AZ-2	Franks, Trent [R]
No	AZ-3	Shadegg, John [R]
No	AZ-5	Mitchell, Harry [D]
Arkansas
No	AR-1	Berry, Robert [D]
No	AR-3	Boozman, John [R]
No	AR-4	Ross, Mike [D]
California
No	CA-2	Herger, Walter [R]
No	CA-3	Lungren, Daniel [R]
No	CA-4	McClintock, Tom [R]
No	CA-13	Stark, Fortney [D]
No	CA-19	Radanovich, George [R]
No	CA-20	Costa, Jim [D]
No	CA-21	Nunes, Devin [R]
No	CA-22	McCarthy, Kevin [R]
No	CA-24	Gallegly, Elton [R]
No	CA-25	McKeon, Howard [R]
No	CA-26	Dreier, David [R]
No	CA-40	Royce, Edward [R]
No	CA-41	Lewis, Jerry [R]
No	CA-42	Miller, Gary [R]
No	CA-44	Calvert, Ken [R]
No	CA-46	Rohrabacher, Dana [R]
No	CA-48	Campbell, John [R]
No	CA-49	Issa, Darrell [R]
No	CA-50	Bilbray, Brian [R]
No	CA-52	Hunter, Duncan [R]
Colorado
No	CO-3	Salazar, John [D]
No	CO-5	Lamborn, Doug [R]
No	CO-6	Coffman, Mike [R]
Florida
No	FL-1	Miller, Jeff [R]
No	FL-4	Crenshaw, Ander [R]
No	FL-5	Brown-Waite, Virginia [R]
No	FL-6	Stearns, Clifford [R]
No	FL-7	Mica, John [R]
No	FL-9	Bilirakis, Gus [R]
No	FL-10	Young, C. W. [R]
No	FL-12	Putnam, Adam [R]
No	FL-13	Buchanan, Vern [R]
No	FL-14	Mack, Connie [R]
No	FL-15	Posey, Bill [R]
No	FL-16	Rooney, Thomas [R]
No	FL-18	Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana [R]
No	FL-21	Diaz-Balart, Lincoln [R]
No	FL-25	Diaz-Balart, Mario [R]
Georgia
No	GA-1	Kingston, Jack [R]
No	GA-3	Westmoreland, Lynn [R]
No	GA-6	Price, Tom [R]
No	GA-7	Linder, John [R]
No	GA-8	Marshall, James [D]
No	GA-9	Deal, Nathan [R]
No	GA-10	Broun, Paul [R]
No	GA-11	Gingrey, John [R]
No	GA-12	Barrow, John [D]
Idaho
No	ID-1	Minnick, Walter [D]
No	ID-2	Simpson, Michael [R]
Illinois
No	IL-6	Roskam, Peter [R]
No	IL-12	Costello, Jerry [D]
No	IL-13	Biggert, Judy [R]
No	IL-14	Foster, Bill [D]
No	IL-15	Johnson, Timothy [R]
No	IL-16	Manzullo, Donald [R]
No	IL-18	Schock, Aaron [R]
No	IL-19	Shimkus, John [R]
Indiana
No	IN-1	Visclosky, Peter [D]
No	IN-2	Donnelly, Joe [D]
No	IN-3	Souder, Mark [R]
No	IN-4	Buyer, Stephen [R]
No	IN-5	Burton, Dan [R]
No	IN-6	Pence, Mike [R]
No	IN-8	Ellsworth, Brad [D]
Iowa
No	IA-4	Latham, Thomas [R]
No	IA-5	King, Steve [R]
Kansas
No	KS-1	Moran, Jerry [R]
No	KS-2	Jenkins, Lynn [R]
No	KS-4	Tiahrt, Todd [R]
Kentucky
No	KY-1	Whitfield, Edward [R]
No	KY-2	Guthrie, Brett [R]
No	KY-4	Davis, Geoff [R]
No	KY-5	Rogers, Harold [R]
Louisiana
No	LA-1	Scalise, Steve [R]
No	LA-2	Cao, Anh [R]
No	LA-3	Melancon, Charles [D]
No	LA-4	Fleming, John [R]
No	LA-5	Alexander, Rodney [R]
No	LA-6	Cassidy, Bill [R]
No	LA-7	Boustany, Charles [R]
Maryland
No	MD-6	Bartlett, Roscoe [R]
Michigan
No	MI-2	Hoekstra, Peter [R]
No	MI-3	Ehlers, Vernon [R]
No	MI-4	Camp, David [R]
No	MI-6	Upton, Frederick [R]
No	MI-8	Rogers, Michael [R]
No	MI-10	Miller, Candice [R]
No	MI-11	McCotter, Thaddeus [R]
Minnesota
No	MN-2	Kline, John [R]
No	MN-3	Paulsen, Erik [R]
No	MN-6	Bachmann, Michele [R]
Mississippi
No	MS-1	Childers, Travis [D]
No	MS-3	Harper, Gregg [R]
No	MS-4	Taylor, Gene [D]
Missouri
No	MO-2	Akin, W. [R]
No	MO-6	Graves, Samuel [R]
No	MO-7	Blunt, Roy [R]
No	MO-8	Emerson, Jo Ann [R]
No	MO-9	Luetkemeyer, Blaine [R]
Montana
No	MT-0	Rehberg, Dennis [R]
Nebraska
No	NE-1	Fortenberry, Jeffrey [R]
No	NE-2	Terry, Lee [R]
No	NE-3	Smith, Adrian [R]
Nevada
No	NV-2	Heller, Dean [R]
New Jersey
No	NJ-5	Garrett, Scott [R]
No	NJ-11	Frelinghuysen, Rodney [R]
New York
No	NY-3	King, Peter [R]
No	NY-24	Arcuri, Michael [D]
No	NY-26	Lee, Christopher [R]
No	NY-29	Massa, Eric [D]
North Carolina
No	NC-3	Jones, Walter [R]
No	NC-5	Foxx, Virginia [R]
No	NC-6	Coble, Howard [R]
No	NC-7	McIntyre, Mike [D]
No	NC-8	Kissell, Larry [D]
No	NC-9	Myrick, Sue [R]
No	NC-10	Mchenry, Patrick [R]
North Dakota
No	ND-0	Pomeroy, Earl [D]
Ohio
No	OH-2	Schmidt, Jean [R]
No	OH-3	Turner, Michael [R]
No	OH-4	Jordan, Jim [R]
No	OH-5	Latta, Robert [R]
No	OH-6	Wilson, Charles [D]
No	OH-7	Austria, Steve [R]
No	OH-8	Boehner, John [R]
No	OH-10	Kucinich, Dennis [D] (*Explained)
No	OH-12	Tiberi, Patrick [R]
No	OH-14	LaTourette, Steven [R]
Oklahoma
No	OK-2	Boren, Dan [D]
No	OK-3	Lucas, Frank [R]
No	OK-4	Cole, Tom [R]
No	OK-5	Fallin, Mary [R]
Oregon
No	OR-2	Walden, Greg [R]
No	OR-4	DeFazio, Peter [D]
Pennsylvania
No	PA-3	Dahlkemper, Kathleen [D]
No	PA-4	Altmire, Jason [D]
No	PA-5	Thompson, Glenn [R]
No	PA-6	Gerlach, Jim [R]
No	PA-9	Shuster, William [R]
No	PA-10	Carney, Christopher [D]
No	PA-15	Dent, Charles [R]
No	PA-16	Pitts, Joseph [R]
No	PA-17	Holden, Tim [D]
No	PA-18	Murphy, Tim [R]
No	PA-19	Platts, Todd [R]
South Carolina
No	SC-1	Brown, Henry [R]
No	SC-2	Wilson, Addison [R]
No	SC-3	Barrett, James [R]
No	SC-4	Inglis, Bob [R]
South Dakota
No	SD-0	Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie [D]
Tennessee
No	TN-1	Roe, Phil [R]
No	TN-2	Duncan, John [R]
No	TN-3	Wamp, Zach [R]
No	TN-4	Davis, Lincoln [D]
No	TN-7	Blackburn, Marsha [R]
No	TN-8	Tanner, John [D]
Texas
No	TX-1	Gohmert, Louis [R]
No	TX-2	Poe, Ted [R]
No	TX-3	Johnson, Samuel [R]
No	TX-4	Hall, Ralph [R]
No	TX-5	Hensarling, Jeb [R]
No	TX-6	Barton, Joe [R]
No	TX-7	Culberson, John [R]
No	TX-8	Brady, Kevin [R]
No	TX-10	McCaul, Michael [R]
No	TX-11	Conaway, K. [R]
No	TX-12	Granger, Kay [R]
No	TX-13	Thornberry, William [R]
No	TX-14	Paul, Ronald [R]
No	TX-17	Edwards, Thomas [D]
No	TX-19	Neugebauer, Randy [R]
No	TX-21	Smith, Lamar [R]
No	TX-22	Olson, Pete [R]
No	TX-23	Rodriguez, Ciro [D]
No	TX-24	Marchant, Kenny [R]
No	TX-26	Burgess, Michael [R]
No	TX-27	Ortiz, Solomon [D]
No	TX-31	Carter, John [R]
No	TX-32	Sessions, Peter [R]
Utah
No	UT-1	Bishop, Rob [R]
No	UT-2	Matheson, Jim [D]
No	UT-3	Chaffetz, Jason [R]
Virginia
No	VA-1	Wittman, Rob [R]
No	VA-2	Nye, Glenn [D]
No	VA-4	Forbes, James [R]
No	VA-6	Goodlatte, Robert [R]
No	VA-7	Cantor, Eric [R]
No	VA-10	Wolf, Frank [R]
Washington
No	WA-4	Hastings, Doc [R]
No	WA-5	McMorris Rodgers, Cathy [R]
West Virginia
No	WV-1	Mollohan, Alan [D]
No	WV-2	Capito, Shelley [R]
No	WV-3	Rahall, Nick [D]
Wisconsin
No	WI-1	Ryan, Paul [R]
No	WI-5	Sensenbrenner, F. [R]
No	WI-6	Petri, Thomas [R]
Wyoming
No	WY-0	Lummis, Cynthia [R]

A Different Kind of Third Party

The time has come to consider the formation of a third political party in our country.  Both of the major political parties appear to be run by people who have their own agendas that do not represent the majority of the members of their own party.  Both parties have become instruments of special interests and lobbyists.  Both parties now believe that the way to get elected and stay in power is to buy it.  While both parties have good, honest people who currently hold elected office, they both have an even larger number of elected officials who believe that the best government is big government and the best way to solve a problem is to spend more money and both are run by people who are more concerned with their own power rather than what is good for the country. 

There are many who warn that a third party cannot be successful because a third party candidate cannot win the presidency.  They claim that a third party candidacy would only help elect the candidate of the exact opposite positions. 

At this point in time, they are correct.  Prime examples would be John Anderson, Ross Perot, George Wallace and to a lesser degree, Ralph Nader.  There have been others who have run for President of the United States as a third party candidate, but these are the ones in recent memory who have had enough success to have affected the election outcome.  None of these candidates won the election.  In fact, the last time a third party was successful in the United States was the modern day Republican Party.  That party was formed not long before the election of Abraham Lincoln. 

If history is the model, a third party cannot be successful in this country today.  That is, of course, unless the third party is not designed to field a candidate for the White House at this point!  What is needed is a different kind of third party.  What is needed is what has been started by those patriots who supported and attended the tea parties on tax day. What is needed is a movement!

I have given the notion of this third party idea a great deal of thought over the past several years and have come to think of it as the Patriot Party.  My thoughts were to create a party that would realize its own limitations.  This party would be all about bringing our nation back to a country that is of small government and low taxes; a government that recognizes and seeks to protect personal liberties and national sovereignty; a nation with a strong defense and based on the ideas and words of our founding fathers.  This party would seek to express pride in our history, our traditions and our heritage as a melting pot.

I believe that members of the Progressive movement has been at work to establish themselves for over a century, so I don’t believe that one or two elections cycles will win back all of the freedoms that have been lost do date.  I believe that they need to be fought at every level.  Many local elective offices do not require party affiliation and I would suggest Patriots run for these early on while the party is being organized.  Until such time as the Patriot Party is established legally in each state, I would suggest running as a member of a major party or as an independent if a party affiliation is required. 

It is of as great importance to get local and state level offices out of Progressive control as it is the offices in Washington.  The decisions being made at the local level are, in some cases, the key to winning the country back.  For instance, the local school board makes decisions that directly effect how and what is being done and taught in our schools.  They also have influence over decisions made concerning education at the state level.  This is an example of “a different kind of third party.”  Most of the time, third parties only concern themselves with federal offices, but we recognize that winning at the local level effects how future generations will view our nation and our history.  The Progressives are well aware of this and have made every effort to control the education system for decades.

While getting Patriots elected to local and state level positions, it is my belief that we should organize an effort on a national level to identify and support candidates who, while not running as a member of our party, have a record of supporting the same basic ideals as ours, and this could be done at all levels!  We could encourage people to donate money directly to those campaigns rather than giving money to one major party or the other and then losing control over whom they choose to give it.  By choosing this method instead of trying to field candidates for those offices, we will hopefully help elect people who have the same core beliefs as ours.  At the same time, we should call attention those incumbents who would be considered opposed to our basic views on issues and help expose their positions and records.

Meanwhile, if a Patriot is running for an office and is real need for something that could help keep a Progressive from being elected (or re-elected), the Patriot Party would be in a position to ask fellow Patriots to help out on a nation-wide basis.  At the local level it could help make the difference in an election! 

This might help, for instance, people in places like Massachusetts, where Senators Kerry and Kennedy will continue to be re-elected until they choose not to run again, who currently believe somewhat disenfranchised, feel that they have a voice, by adopting candidates from other areas who would have exactly the same number of votes on the floor of the Senate as Senator Kerry and Senator Kennedy.

As time goes on and the movement gains strength, the Patriot Party could begin fielding slates of candidates for various offices throughout the nation, but remaining local initially is key to creating the foundation the party will build on and grow.  These are the levels where we would like to see grow as power is taken from the federal government as prescribed by the Constitution.

Patriots are being called to action today.  The time to begin this “different kind of third party” is now, while the Tea Parties are still going strong and the interest and energy level is high.  Let this be a party of patriots.  Our Constitution is at stake!  Our country is at stake!  Indeed, our way of life is as stake!

I, for one, stand ready to serve my country again.

Elections Have Consequences

Barack Obama could have been beaten in the election last year. While he is a dynamic speaker and ran an inspirational political campaign, while he had the press in his pocket and enough money to buy Europe, while America was ready for a change from the status quo, while the Republican Party was splintered into groups wanting to take the party in opposite directions and ran the worst presidential campaign in memory. It still was an election that was within reach. President Obama did not win a landslide victory…shoot, he wasn’t even elected with what could be legitimately called a mandate!

Now America is faced with the prospect of having a President who has a socialist agenda for the country and a Congress which has an even more radical socialist agenda of its own in store for us. They will struggle with each other over how fast to get things done and how much to spend, but the goals are similar enough to push through an agenda of turning the United States into a big government, socialist state. This is the chance every socialist, liberal Democrat has been waiting for and they don’t plan to let it slip through their fingers.

President Obama will actually turn out to be the moderate of the Progressive-Socialist-Democrats. He will be the one who has a legacy to protect and will not want to be blamed if, or should I say when things begin to go wrong. He is a shrewd politician for being so young and inexperienced. He, indeed, wanted to begin his first term with at least partial Republican support in Congress to allow him to claim the mantle of bi-partisanship. Unfortunately for him, once the election was over, whoever was the Captain of his ship during the campaign has apparently been shoved aside by the big boys and girls in Washington. Now, Nancy Pelosi can, and already has, begun telling him how things will get done. Harry Reid will wield whatever power he can from the Senate to push the agenda as he sees it. Obama’s Vice President and Chief of Staff will both be flexing their own muscles as time goes by.

Those of us who believe in a more conservative approach to governing our nation, who believe in the Constitution as it was written and who believe in the greatness of America have only ourselves to blame. We’ve become tied, to a large degree, with the Republican Party and have let that party splinter into differing factions. The groups that are conservative because of religious, possibly even evangelical, beliefs pull the party in one direction. The groups who are conservative for fiscal and small government beliefs pull it in a different direction. The groups who are more libertarian in their beliefs, pulled in their own direction. The groups, and they are there, that claim to be conservative but feel that the movement would be better off if it were more moderate or if it embraced the idea of “reaching across the aisle in a show of bi-partisanship or if it weren’t opposed to immigration reform pull in their own direction. When each of these groups backs specific candidates to the extent that if their candidate does not get a nomination, they will refuse to support the person who does get it, what happens? When one or more of these groups ban together to defeat the champion of another of those groups, what happens? What happens is that the party ends up with a weaker candidate and risk losing the fall campaign. What happens is, Barack Obama gets elected.

With all of that having been said, it is time to stop looking in the past. The last election is over and we cannot change its outcome. What we can do is begin working to take back control of Congress and the White House. However, if we continue to bicker amongst ourselves, if one group persists in trying to oust other groups, if we continue to think that the best way to get control back is to reach across the aisle, we are destined to spend a very long time in exile.

Yes, elections have consequences. There are two things that we should take from that statement. The first is that we need a new birth of conservatism in this country because as long as the Socialist Democrats are in total control, there will be continued growing of the government and the debt and continued shredding of Constitutional rights. The second is a warning to those Socialist Democrats. Conservatives will be back and we will not be bi-partisan. What they do and how they act will not be forgotten. Our plan will not be to win elections. Our plan will be to take our country back to what was the inspiration of our Founding Fathers. Our goal will not be to defeat the Progressive, Socialist movement, but to crush it out.

The time for patriots to begin the fight for the soul of our country is now.

Urge Your Senator to Support American Workers with E-Verify in Stimulus Bill

The House Appropriations Committee recently added two amendments to the economic stimulus bill (the American Recovery and Reinvestment bill).  These amendments would reauthorize E-Verify for a period of 5 years and require all recipients of stimulus money to use the E-Verify employment verification system.  If we must have one at all, IT IS VITAL THAT THESE AMENDMENTS ARE PRESENT IN THE FINAL BILL!

The bill is currently in the Senate Finance Committee where Sen. Grassley has offered an amendment which would mandate the use of E-Verify by businesses who accept stimulus money.  This would ensure that only American workers and legal immigrants can take advantage of any jobs created by the stimulus package.

Please call your Senator on the Finance Committee and urge him/her to support Sen. Grassley’s amendment to the economic stimulus package.

Caroline Kennedy Seeks Senate Seat

Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg has told Governor David Patterson she is interested in taking Hillary Clinton’s place once Clinton is confirmed as secretary of state.  This has caused a debate, chiefly among Democrats, as to her qualifications for the job.  I find that to be humorous, coming from a political party who are one and all behind putting Al Franken in the Senate!

 

Asked why she was trading decades of carefully cultivated privacy for the sharp scrutiny of a Senate bid, she pointed to her work as a lawyer, an education advocate and an author of books on topics including constitutional law.

 

“These are issues that I care so much about, and I understand that, really, I have been trying to work on them as a private citizen,” she said in a two-minute news conference. “But really, to solve our problems, I think government is the place where people need to come together.”

 

“I feel this commitment, and this is a time when nobody can afford to sit out. And I hope that I have something to offer,” Kennedy said.

 

Widely described as extraordinarily shy, self-deprecating and down-to-earth, Kennedy has tended to limit her forays into the public sphere to nonpartisan activity.  Then, after the New York Times had endorsed Hillary Clinton for President as expected, Caroline showed keen political instinct, timing and leadership in her op-ed letter to the Times endorsing Barack Obama.  As it turns out, this may have been an event that turned the corner on the Obama campaign.  The following day, her Uncle Ted followed suit and the Democratic Party was headed in a new direction.

 

The entire presidential race exposed a weakness in leadership and a decline of substance in the Democratic Party.  The presidency is a management position, and the Democratic rank and file has shown little interest in its competent managers.  The trend seems to be the more devisive the better.

 

There will be none of this with Caroline Kennedy. In fact, her presence in the Senate and as a political representative of New York will have a restorative effect. It will help to reverse this trend by raising the standard of leadership back to the highest standard.

 

 

There are a number of high-profile candidates for Clinton’s Senate seat — including Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, whose last name carries some star power of its own in the Empire State — but their odds grew just a bit steeper when stacked against the wattage of a storied Democratic dynasty.

 

Robert Kennedy was elected to the Senate with few ties to his adopted home state, but his niece’s New York roots run deep.

 

Jacqueline Kennedy relocated to New York City after her husband’s assassination in 1963, with children Caroline and John F. Kennedy Jr.

Caroline Kennedy has spent most of her life in the city, working there after graduating from Harvard, meeting her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, on the job at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and attending Columbia Law School there.

 

Her most prominent public roles to date involved overseeing her father’s presidential library and presenting the annual Profiles in Courage Award.

 

She’s also edited several books, from a volume of children’s poetry and an updated edition of her father’s book “Profiles in Courage” to a collection of patriotic verse (”A Patriot’s Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories, and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love.”)

 

Most of her leadership positions have been based in the arts: hosting the annual nationally televised Kennedy Center Honors in Washington and serving as the honorary chairwoman of the American Ballet Theatre, as her mother had.

 

In a 2002 Time magazine interview promoting the updated “Profiles in Courage,” Kennedy would not rule out the possibility of a run for public office.

 

“I don’t have any plans to do that right now,” she said. “I don’t plan ahead. My kids are young, and I’m really happy to be able to be around. But I do care about issues, and I’m interested in them. So I don’t see that now, but you know, I have a long life ahead of me.”

 

As for her experience and qualifications, what about RFK?  His only public service was a non-elected position as Attorney General, yet he served the state of New York well and may have been a fine President had he not taken the route through a kitchen at the Ambassador Hotel.  And Ted Kennedy had not been elected to a lower office before he became the Senator from Massachusetts and he now “the Lion of the Senate” and revered by most if not all of his colleagues.  

 

No, the argument about not having previously been elected to anything is not what the complaining is really about.  It is more about envy that she could be considered for that position in the first place.   

 

Caroline Kennedy has a chance to do something that isn’t done much in Democratic politics lately.  She has the name and clout to get things done and she has the ability to bring some class back into the party.  Though out her life, she has carried herself with grace and strength through tragedies that would be more than most of us could handle. 

 

While I doubt that I will agree with her on most issues, I would welcome anyone bringing those qualities to that side of the aisle in the Senate.

 

 

Did You Hear? Gov Sarah Palin’s Church Was Burned by Arson

Gov. Sarah Palin’s home church was badly damaged by arson last Friday evening.  Damage to the Wasilla Bible Church was estimated at $1 million, authorities said Saturday.  No one was injured in the fire, which was set while a handful of people, including two children, were inside, according to Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele. 

The fire was set at the entrance of the church and moved inward as a small group of women were working on crafts, Steele said.  The group was alerted to the blaze by a fire alarm.

An accelerant was poured around the exterior of the church before fire heavily damaged the building, federal investigators said Monday. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the accelerant was poured at several locations around the church, including entrances.

Fire authorities were called to the scene at 9:40 p.m., unusually early for many arson fires, Agent Nick Starcevic  said.

“It’s kind of odd to do in the evening hours,” he said. “I can tell you that most of the arson fires I’ve worked on are late nighttime, usually when no one is there.”

Gov. Palin, who was not at the church at the time of the fire, stopped by Saturday. Her spokesman, Bill McAllister, said in a statement that Palin told an assistant pastor she was sorry if the fire was connected to the “undeserved negative attention” the church has received since she became the vice presidential candidate Aug. 29.  Church members say they thought it was just likely local punks or someone who had a beef with God.

“Whatever the motives of the arsonist, the governor has faith in the scriptural passage that what was intended for evil will in some way be used for good,” McAllister said.

You may have missed this story since it wasn’t covered heavily in the mainstream media.  It wasn’t as exciting as shoe tossing reporters in Baghdad or the follow ups to the Governor of Illinois being arrested before he sold Barack Obama’s old Senate seat on eBay.  Still, it probably would have been covered more if it had been a black church with women and children inside in the south.  Once again, the press has managed to under-impress me.

The damage to the building totals around $1 million.   That was damage to the building and not the church because despite the fire, the church went on to have services anyway in a nearby middle school.  Church is more than just a building, but the building burned down.  The congregation, by the way, are not freaking out.  One member, Patsy Inks, says she was initially shocked and frustrated by the news but by Sunday, two days later, she was feeling blessed.  “The tragedy has brought us together,” she said.

Authorities don’t know who did this and maybe it is just local punks and I hope it is just local punks, but I can tell you that regardless of the cause, the people of the church and the way they are reacting is inspiring.

As far as I know, the members of this church are not asking for donations to help.  They probably won’t.   They are not that kind of people.  If you want to help this small town recover from the $1million in damages anyway—contact them and ask what you can do to help.

Wasilla Bible Church
Email: church@wasillabible.org
1651 West Nicola Avenue
Wasilla, Alaska 99654
907-376-2176

President Bush Says He Has “Sacrificed” Free-Market System

 

President George W Bush said in an interview Tuesday he was forced to sacrifice free market principles tosave the economy from “collapse.”

“I’ve abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system,” Bush told CNN television, saying he had made the decision “to make sure the economy doesn’t collapse.”

Bush’s comments reflect an extraordinary departure from his longtime advocacy for an unfettered free market, as his administration has orchestrated unprecedented government intervention in the face of a dire financial crisis.

“I am sorry we’re having to do it,” Bush said.

But Bush said government action was necessary to ease the effects of the crisis, offering perhaps his most dire assessment yet of the country’s economy.

“I feel a sense of obligation to my successor to make sure there is not a, you know, a huge economic crisis. Look, we’re in a crisis now. I mean, this is — we’re in a huge recession, but I don’t want to make it even worse.”

Mr President, you don’t have an obligation to your successor!  You have an obligation to the American people…to the next generation…to the Constitution!  We didn’t elect you to do away with the free market system!  It is not the problem!  It is the answer!

 

P.B.S. Pinchback: America’s First Black Governor

It was this past week in 1872 when Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback became Governor of Louisiana and in doing so became the first black Governor of any American state.  It took over a hundred years for another African-American to become a governor when Douglas Wilder was elected Governor of Virginia in 1990.  With Barack Obama having just been elected as the first black President of the United States, it seemed appropriate to take a moment and remember another black politician who made history in this country.

 

Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback was born on May 10, 1837 to William Pinchback, a successful Virginia planter and Eliza Stewart, his former slave.  The younger Pinchback was born in Macon, Georgia during the family’s move from Virginia to their new, much larger plantation in Holmes County, Mississippi.  In Mississippi, young Pinchback grew up in relatively affluent surroundings on a large plantation.  At the age of nine, he and his older brother, Napoleon, were sent by his parents to Ohio to receive a formal education at Cincinnati’s Gilmore School.  Pinchback’s education was cut short, however, when he returned to Mississippi in 1848 because his father had become seriously ill.  Following the death of his father, shortly after his return, the paternal relatives were vengeful and disinherited Pinchback’s mother and her children.  To evade the possibility that the northern Pinchbacks would legally appropriate the children as slave property, Pinchback’s mother fled with all five to Cincinnati.  Shortly, thereafter, Napoleon became mentally ill, leaving 12 year old Pinckney as sole-provider for his mother and four siblings.

 

Pinchback found work as a cabin boy on a canal boat and worked his way up to become a steward on the riverboats which ran the Ohio, Mississippi and Red Rivers.  During these years, he sent as much money as possible to Cincinnati to help support his mother and his siblings.

 

In 1860, when Pinchback was 23, he married Nina Hawthorne, a 16 year old from Memphis.  When the Civil War broke out the following year, Pinchback hoped to fight on the side of the Union troops against the South.  To Pinchback, the main issue in the conflict between North and South was slavery and his heritage gave him an insight into the status of both blacks and whites in the country.  In 1862, he made his way into New Orleans, which was then under occupation by Northern troops.  There, he raised several companies of the Corps d’Afrique, part of the Louisiana National Guard, and was the only officer of African American descent to serve in that organization.

 

In 1863, he had been passed over twice for promotion and growing tired of the prejudice he encountered at every turn, resigned from the Guard.  When the war ended and the slaves were emancipated, he and his wife moved to Alabama, eager to test out their new freedom as full citizens.  However, racial tensions in their new surroundings were shockingly vicious.  Occupying Union forces shared equally prejudiced views as those of their former Confederate enemies and would sometimes put on Confederate uniforms at night and terrorize the newly freed blacks.  The movements of blacks were also restricted by the so-called “black codes” across the South and it became obvious that white Southern politicians were going to do everything possible to prevent them from gaining any political power.  Pinchback’s political career was born out of this hostile climate.  He began speaking out at public meetings and soon became a well-known orator who urged former slaves to organize politically.

 

Pinchback eventually returned to New Orleans with his family and upon settling there, organized the Fourth Ward Republican Club.  Now a confirmed Republican, he was elected a delegate to the Republican State Convention and even spoke before the assembly.  His orations helped win him election to the party’s Central Executive Committee.

 

During the State Constitutional Convention of 1867-68, Pinchback accepted the candidacy for State Senator on the Republican ticket.  He campaigned vigorously for both himself as well as for his close political ally, Henry Clay Warmoth, another radical Republican and Pinchback’s mentor.  When Pinchback narrowly lost his bid for the state senate seat, he charged voting fraud.  The newly convened legislature agreed and allowed him to take office.

 

Pinchback joined a Louisiana State Senate that held 42 Representatives of African descent—half of the chamber—and 7 of 36 seats in the Senate, and his battles against the state’s racist Democrats brought him enemies.

 

In 1871, Warmoth’s Lieutenant Governor, a black physician named Oscar Dunn, died suddenly of pneumonia.  In a bid to thwart Democratic control of the state, Pinchback’s name was put forth by the Warmoth faction as Dunn’s replacement and the Senate elected him by a narrow margin in December of that year.  The Lieutenant Governorship also brought with it the post of President Pro Tempore of the state Senate.  At the time of Pinchback’s taking Louisiana’s second highest political office, the political climate in the state was fractious and violent.

 

 Pinchback continued in his role as Lieutenant Governor for the rest of 1872, but by the fall of that year, many Republicans in the state had turned on Warmoth and wished to unseat him.  Election results once again came into dispute and Warmoth enacted a special extended legislative session to settle the problem.  Through complicated political maneuverings a House majority ejected Warmoth from his Governor’s post on November 21^st.  When Pinchback took the oath of office the following month, the Democrats were naturally enraged to have a man of African descent in the Governor’s chair, but the State Supreme Court upheld the legality of Pinchback’s ascension.

 

While Pinchback went about fulfilling his duties of acting Governor, formal impeachment proceedings against Warmoth were under way.  Pinchback became the recipient of vicious hate mail from across the country as well as local threats on his life.

 

When the returns from the November 1872 election came in and were accepted, Republican William Kellogg was declared Governor and was sworn in on January 13, 1873, ending Pinchback’s brief but historical executive stint.  He had held office for only 35 days, but 10 acts of legislation became law during that time.

In that same election, Pinchback had run for a U.S. Congressional seat and in January of 1873 he became a Congressman.  It was a public office he had long coveted and with it he achieved another pioneering accomplishment as the state’s first black Representative to Washington.  His victory was short-lived, however, as opposing factions in the state unseated him by charging election fraud and naming a white candidate instead.  It was the beginning of a reversal of the political gains blacks had achieve since the war’s end.

 

In 1887, nearing 50 years of age, Pinchback took up the study of law at Straight University and was a member of its first graduating class.  In the 1890’s, he moved with his family to New York City, where he served as a U.S. Marshal from 1892 to 1895.  They later settled in Washington, DC.

 

Unfortunately, the achievements he had worked toward—mainly the political enfranchisement of blacks—had been reversed by both legal and illegal means.  With the southern Democrats asserting power in the state legislatures, white power was again firmly entrenched in the south.  The number of registered black voters in Louisiana was one indication:  it fell from 130,000 in 1896 to 1300 in just eight years.

 

Pinchback died in December of 1921 and was buried in the Metairie Ridge Cemetery of New Orleans.  For much of his life, he found himself in unique circumstances because he was of mixed heritage.  On one hand, he was able to achieve some of the education, business opportunities and material comforts normally available only to whites of the day.  However, he was also the victim of discrimination as well.  When asked once of which heritage he drew upon as a source of pride, Pinchback replied, “I don’t think the question is a legitimate one, as I have no control over the matter.  A man’s pride I regard as born of his associations, and mine is, perhaps, no exception to the rule.”

Charlie Rangel Should Step Down

Rep. Charles Rangel said Tuesday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised him he will keep his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee as long as he wants – even though investigators haven’t completed their report on ethical allegations facing the Harlem Democrat.

 

“She told me I am her chairman of the Ways and Means Committee as long as I want to be,” Rangel boasted to reporters at a ribbon-cutting for a new East Harlem School.

 

The Democratic chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee has been at the center of a seemingly endless swirl of questions about his activities.

 

He came under fire recently after The New York Times reported that Rangel worked  to protect a tax shelter for Nabors Industries, an oil company whose chief executive was pledging $1 million to a school bearing the congressman’s name.

 

The executive, Eugene M. Isenberg, also personally pledged $200,000 to the City College of New York, where the public policy school is named for Rangel.  Last year, the company won congressional approval to preserve its tax shelter in the Caribbean, saving Nabors tens of millions of dollars annually and depriving the federal treasury of $1.1 billion in revenues over a decade, according to a Congressional analysis by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.

 

Various other aspects of Rangel’s questionable ethical activities — which have also featured maintenance of multiple rent-controlled apartments, including one (illegally) as a workspace, enjoyment of tax benefits by claiming two difference cities as primary residences, and using his Congressional letterhead to raise money for a private foundation — is theoretically being investigated by the House Ethics Committee.

 

One activity that I find troubling is Charlie Rangel claiming that he did not know that a Caribbean resort villa he purchased 20 years ago was financed with a no-interest mortgage from the developer and has generated $75,000 in income that he should have reported on tax and financial disclosure forms.   Is one supposed to believe that the leader of the tax-writing committee had not paid the U.S. taxes on income from his own luxury vacation home because he was ignorant of the tax laws…the New York Democrat writes the damned tax laws!

 

Charlie Rangel shows contempt for the country, the American people, the House of Representatives as exhibited by both his unethical activities and his cavalier attitude about it.  He is most certainly not a patriot.  One would hope that he would be challenged and defeated for his seat in Congress in 2010, but it is clear that the drones that have elected him since 1970 will overlook his shortcomings.  At the very least, he should step down as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee or be forced to step down.  

 

That is not likely to happen.  One shouldn’t be surprised, in spite of Socialist Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s promise to clean up Washington’s “culture of corruption,” that she will smile and look the other way when it is a liberal Democrat involved in the investigation.