State of Conservatism – Page 137

In print no. 9

Been awhile since I did one of these, the last was in November of 2007. I’ve been in print since but I didn’t feel the need to reprise a letter to the Daily Times. Maybe I should have, but anyway…

Yesterday I was quoted in a front-page New York Times story about Bill Wilson, head of Americans for Limited Government. My comment was in reference to ALG’s outreach to the blogosphere, which includes the Daily Grind and NetRightNation e-mail updates. It was the 23rd paragraph of the 28-paragraph story.

“They’ve done quite a bit to reach out to the blogger community,” said Michael Swartz, a writer and out-of-work architect in Salisbury, Md., who runs the conservative Monoblogue.us site. “Sometimes I use their stuff straight up. Sometimes I use it for my own writing.”

After reading the quote I decided to do a little bit of research into my site and found that I had used an ALG press release as a basis for about 20 posts and something from NetRightNation in a dozen more (although some overlap.) So I wouldn’t say I was a frequent user of their stuff but I am regularly inspired by their items as I am by many other sources for commentary.

In general what I do with their stuff (and other similar sources) is take their press release, reprint it, and then add my commentary on the intentions. That way the organization gets its message out but I reserve the right to put my own imprint on it – obviously I’m either in agreement or disagreement with their item and since they’re getting the plug on MY website I’m going to have my say.

But it was interesting that I spoke to Scott Shane, the reporter who wrote the story, on the phone for about 12 minutes last Thursday and he distilled the conversation into that short paragraph. I was told by sources at ALG that the Times may be contacting me regarding the story but was frankly surprised to be the only blogger quoted. (Given the left-leaning readership of the NYT it’s not all that surprising my numbers over the weekend didn’t jump a whole lot over a normal weekend.)

It was nice of them to think of me, though, and it’s not every day an average citizen makes the front page of the “newspaper of record.” Just thought I’d share, so check it out!

Friday night videos episode 7

There’s plenty out there to make this edition interesting, so let’s get cracking shall we?

If you’re not familiar with the name Lee Doren, that’s not unusual. But what Lee does is take those videos which are chock full of liberal lies and mistruths and debunks them. It’s the “How The World Works” channel on YouTube. Here he’s interviewed by Glenn Beck of Fox News.

I will hand it to Beck: he is deferential to his guests, almost to a fault.

Needless to say, we’re still talking about health care. But rather than Washington politicians, I wanted to get some other voices in here. This next video features Jim Martin, the president of the 60 Plus Association.

I liked the part about AARP being so heavily invested in the insurance industry, and it’s a true statement. Essentially the AARP has become a giant marketing organization as opposed to a group interested in benefitting seasoned citizens, as was its original intent. In five years I can tell them to drop dead.

Speaking of marketing organizations, this video comes from a recent health care rally. Whose job is on the line again?

The weakness in the video was that no one asked the woman who was paying for her to be there. Actually, the petition wasn’t that bad as a way of getting a mailing list – I get mail from Organizing for America because I like to know what the opposition is up to.

And there’s so much more going on…it’s not that we’ve completely moved beyond health care but other things demand our attention. Take the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh – Rep. Ron Paul did (yeah, he’s still a Congressman).

It was over a century ago that Presidential campaigns were won and lost debating the gold standard, so history continues its cyclical run.

His House cohort Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana is one of my favorite Congressmen so I’m reviewing his remarks at the 9-12 TEA Party in Washington, D.C.

It was an honor to be in my nation’s capital…we ARE the cavalry! And note the irony of plugging a book called “The Death of Conservatism” during his speech. Looks pretty alive to me.

Local filmmaker Tom Taylor also contributed a short film about the 9-12 experience.

It’s for the historical record, and let me tell you the day was historic to say the least. The fact that he posted a video to tell his tale provides a bridge to my final video of the evening.

I can’t really tell whether this is to shill for a book or some sort of marketing tool, but those numbers on social media make sense. It’s parallel to the telephone going from the old-fashioned wired land line of my youth (our rural home we built when I was a youth had a party line* for about a year before the phone company gave our area private lines) to the ease and convenience of cellular phones – the same goes from the bulky PC of my twenties to the hand-held units of today.

Ten years ago I’d have never dreamed of doing what I do, and it’s amazing how the world evolves – yet it still needs some basic ideas like liberty and freedom.

* A party line, for those of you under 30, is where you shared one phone line with several neighbors. We had to make sure none of them were on the phone before we placed a call.

Ten questions for – Deborah Johns

It was one year ago Tuesday that I ran my first Ten Questions with today’s subject, and the reason I caught up with her again was to get her reflections on the TEA Party Express tour she participated in which crossed the country leading up to the 9-12 TEA Party rally, along with speaking at the Washington, D.C. rally itself.

Deborah is an ordinary citizen who became extraordinary through the intersection of hard work, devotion to country, and love of freedom, so I’m proud to once again bring you Ten Questions for her.

**********

monoblogue: Having interviewed you last year on the eve of the “Stop Obama” bus tour and now that you’ve completed the TEA Party Express, I’m talking to a seven-time bus tour veteran. Obviously each tour is different but what sticks out to you most about this particular go-round?

Johns: What sticks out in my mind is how many people who have come out to a political event for the first time in their life ever, whether they identify themselves as a democrat or a republican. We asked at each of our rallies for a show of hands as to how many people has been to an event of this nature for the first time in their lives, and there were so many who raised their hands. Also how many people brought their children to be part of a history making event, because getting out and “protesting,” is something that most conservatives just have not done. Like Ronald Reagan said “Most conservatives are meat eaters and retreaters, who would rather go home at the end of the day and be frustrated at the news on television, than get out and do something about it.” Well these meat eating retreaters are now getting out and doing something about the direction of their country.

monoblogue: Since many of the stops were the same as last year’s tour, could you sense a different mindset among the crowds at those locations? And how did looking out over the vast multitudes in Washington D.C. affect your perception of the tour’s success?

Johns: I did sense a different mind set with the crowds. Last year everyone was galvanized by “hope and change.” The American people really believed that electing Barack Obama was going to bring change they hoped for. I think for liberals that meant one thing and for conservatives it meant another and in the end neither side is ultimately getting the change they hoped for and pretty much the feeling of the American people is one of disbelief and the feeling that they were sold a bill of goods.

The crowd of 1.5 million people who came by buses, car pool, train and air, was so amazing. People really for the first time felt like their voice was making a difference, and they were there in DC to make sure the clunkers in the Capitol knew they were hearing them. The chants of the people were awesome, “We own the Dome,” the Constitution begins with “We the People,” and so many more. It truly gave me a greater sense of pride and admiration for the great country we live in, to see all these people be inspired in the cities we went to, and even the ones we could not get to, feel a sense of urgency to do whatever it took for them to get to DC to be heard and be part of a history making event. The sleeping giant has awoken. People standing shoulder to shoulder to fight for the freedoms and independence our men and women in uniform have given us, and now they are being responsible for these freedoms on the home turf.

monoblogue: Taking into consideration the mood of the country regarding politicians, it’s noteworthy to me that your tour (and the 9-12 rally itself) did not feature any true “name” political figures. Just from your perspective as somewhat of a political outsider, would you say that the TEA Party Express benefited from being somewhat apolitical and more issue-based?

Johns: Our focus was on the issues and that is the important agenda right now. People are focused on the issues, and which politicians are either in line with what they want and those politicians who are not in line with the issues they are passionate about. You first have to be able to articulate the issues and the problems, and then identify what candidates match up with your philosophy. We feel that a leader will emerge from all of these efforts, and then that will yet again cement all of the people together. There is plenty of time to identify the proper leader for the movement.

monoblogue: I ran across a video (and put it up as part of this post) done by the Fox affiliate in Detroit regarding your stop there, and it seemed to focus more on the people who attended the rally rather than your message. Did you find the media coverage of your tour overall satisfactory or do you feel a need to set the record straight?

Johns: I feel the cable channels and local media did a great job in providing coverage. However, the national media of ABC, NBC and CBS did not cover any of the events on a national level. Our events were covered by the local affiliates, but not the evening or morning shows on any of the networks.

monoblogue: I don’t want to forget the root cause of your involvement. Being a Blue Star Mom obviously the military is never far from your mind, and your primary objection to President Obama was based on how you imagined he would be as Commander-in-Chief. Is there any way he’s performed above your low expectations or is it even worse than you dreaded? And do you ever get that “I told you so” thought when Obama carries on policies on the War on Terror (oops, “Overseas Contingency Operation”) put in place by former President Bush?

Johns: Let me put it this way, his foreign policies are a total failure. I do not want a President who goes around the world and apologizes for anything in the past of the actions of this country or our military. We have nothing to apologize for. I am also offended when he has hugged Hugo Chavez, agrees to meet with the President of Iran without conditions, bows to the King of Saudia Arabia, and allows his Attorney General to investigate our CIA members for their past actions, putting them in essence in jeopardy for career decisions they made that were approved by the Bush administration, and now they are being investigated, and having this doubt cast over their good actions to keep this country safe is disgraceful on the part of the President. He also does not want pre-emptive air strikes in Afghanistan because of the fear of either death or injury to civilians in the area, and would prefer to risk the lives of American ground troops first. Anyone knows you always send in the air support first as a means of clearing an area, and then you send in the ground troops. Remember the shock and awe effect when the Iraq war started? No one wants innocent civilians to be killed, but unfortunately war is not a tea party, and unfortunately innocent civilians do get killed, but it is the best thing, as evidenced by our generals, air support should come first before the ground troops.

monoblogue: In that same vein, given the focus on domestic and economic issues, do you think the our foreign policy and our effort against terrorism is being hurt by this shift in focus from years past?

Johns: I feel that if our CIA members are going to continue to be investigated by the Attorney General, that will most definitely hinder continued investigations by our CIA and military personnel who act in the proper manner to keep this country free from attack again like what happened on 9/11/01.

monoblogue: Last year I asked you about future political plans and you responded that if you were to go that route it would be a few years down the road, at least until your youngest child graduated high school. Is that timetable still intact or has the spirit shown on the TEA Party Express moved you to reconsider?

Johns: It is all possible.

monoblogue: The area where I live is definitely in play next year as a swing district because we have a “Blue Dog” Democrat freshman representing our area. Naturally that prompts me to ask: will you be doing yet another Our Country Deserves Better tour for the Congressional elections in 2010?

Johns: Yes. (In fact, just after I did my e-mail exchange with Deborah it was announced that a second TEA Party Express will launch October 25– of course, she will embark on bus tour number 8.)

As the Our Country Deserves Better tour announcement notes:

“We’re going to send a message to the politicians in Washington that if they are supporting bailouts, out-of-control deficit spending, higher taxes, increases in the size and instrusiveness of government, then they should probably be looking for a new line of work, because we’re going to be sure they are out of job come next November,” said Joe Wierzbicki, coordinator of the Tea Party Express.

The “Tea Party Express: Countdown to Judgment Day” will depart San Diego, California on Sunday, October 25th, and traverse the nation from coast-to-coast, border-to-border, before ending up in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday, November 11th (Veterans Day).

This tour will take in portions of the country omitted on the original TEA Party Express, focusing on stops in the Pacific Northwest and southern states – alas, it comes no closer to here than South Carolina.

But I also want to thank Deborah for taking the time to answer my questions and hope that she finds the next tour as exciting and fulfilling as this one!

Wargotz takes the pledge

The subject today is a recent announcement from U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Eric Wargotz that he’s signing the Americans for Tax Reform pledge, vowing not to raise taxes. That part is good, but if you read through you’ll see where the announcement raises more questions for me than it answers.

Dr. Eric S. Wargotz, a candidate for the GOP nomination in Maryland’s 2010 U. S. Senate contest, has signed a pledge not to raise income taxes on citizens.

The pledge, a project of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), extracts a written promise from legislators and candidate for office committing them to oppose any effort to increase marginal income tax rates on individuals and businesses. ATR was founded in 1985 by Grover Norquist at the request of President Reagan.

“I first ran for office because I believed fiscal responsibility was not a priority of Maryland’s Democratic establishment,” stated Dr. Wargotz. “As president of the Queen Anne’s County Board of Commissioners, my colleagues and I succeeded in lowering the property tax rate on citizens, reducing the size of government, and implementing reforms intended to enhance efficiencies and transparencies in government.

“Now, with multiple federal bailout plans having been enacted and a costly federal healthcare scheme on the table, I believe it is time to stand up for Maryland’s taxpayers again. I hope other senatorial candidates will sign the same promise I did.”

Additionally, Dr. Wargotz also addressed a meeting of Americans for Tax Reform in Washington, where he discussed his candidacy.

Dr. Wargotz is an experienced leader and activist, a physician-businessman, fiscal conservative, and environmentalist. He understands what it takes to work as a team and to build consensus on difficult matters.

Eric is certainly correct that fiscal responsibility isn’t exactly Job One among Maryland Democrats (I’m thinking it’s about Job 63, if it rates that high) but I’m also a little troubled about another item I found in my research.

First of all, though, I checked and Wargotz was correct in stating that tax rates were reduced from a 2006 rate of 0.80 per $100 of valuation to 0.77 in 2007, where it remains. Yet the county misses an opportunity to reduce taxes further because the “constant yield” tax rate has dropped to 0.724 per $100 of valuation (look on Page 5 here.)

More troubling in the fiscal regard was Dr. Wargotz’s support of a living wage for employees of Queen Anne’s County. Granted, this only affects a small number of employees but it’s the camel’s nose under the tent. Would he support such a measure for the thousands of federal employees or, worse, place a mandate on the states to do so? Doing so would just shift the dirty work of increasing taxes from him to local and state legislators – I’m sure he’s grumbled many a time about state and federal mandates affecting how Queen Anne’s County operates, and my idea of a good Senator would be having one who reduces or eliminates as many mandates from on high as possible.

(Needless to say, I’d also love more clarification on “environmentalist” because one of their favorite tactics for conformity is a mandate from the federal or state government. They don’t even give the restrictions in place a chance to work before demanding more.)

On the whole I’m glad Eric is vowing not to raise taxes – and he’s certainly promising to be an improvement over the Senator we now have – but I want the same effort placed in reducing the size of government too.

Friday night videos episode 6

I needed to skip a week to have a good selection of stuff, plus last week was 9-11 plus 8. So here’s episode number 6 in this ongoing series.

I don’t pledge allegiance to the debt, but this spot from a group called Defeat the Debt makes a point about those who seem to.

Another look at the size of government courtesy of the Center for Individual Freedom:

I’d love to know how you get 1/3 of a child, let alone the .15 of a kid. Still, it’s a humorous way to make a sobering point.

Before the 9-12 protests, do you think Democrats were happy to return back to Washington? The National Republican Congressional Committee thought so. It’s sort of a town hall greatest hits.

It’s too bad they didn’t add the fun Frank Kratovil had to the mix, but I guess 4 minutes was plenty. Certainly it was for the song.

The same rules apply on this NRCC effort. It must be hard work trying to figure out how to shaft taxpayers so I guess these Congressional Democrats are just a little testy!

On the other side, the TEA Party Express was moving during the last two weeks, inexorably heading across the company to meet up with the 9-12 rally. The video is a report from WJBK-TV, the Fox affiliate in Detroit.

True to Fox, they covered both the protest and counter-protest. The next video may be one of the best short videos for getting the flavor of the 9-12 protest in Washington, D.C.

Two of the speakers at the 9-12 protest were Congressmen Mike Pence of Indiana and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. The Washington News Observer caught up to both and spoke to them regarding the health care fight.

While I really like and respect Mike Pence, having heard Marsha Blackburn – for her my jury is still out. I get fed up with a call for “bipartisanship” because a bad idea is a bad idea. That sort of “new tone” got us No Child Left Behind and Medicare Part D.

One more fun one. A few weeks ago I put up a video called “Health Rations and You” from the mythical (or is it really?) Health Administration Bureau, so I just had to put up the sequel from the Sam Adams Alliance.

And so another episode of Friday Night Videos comes to a close. It’s good for you, you know.

Patients First rally in OC

This bus certainly grabs attention driving down the road. It's actually one of two buses that Americans for Prosperity runs throughout the country.

The Patients First bus tour finally made a stop on the Eastern Shore in Ocean City. While the Daily Times had a good writeup, there’s more to the story then they could cover in a few hundred words and a picture.

While the bus itself was a nice “hook” (as AFP head Tim Phillips put it), another aspect was the location. The T-Shirt Factory turned out to be a nice location with good visibility, obviously with a supportive owner who’s active in our local AFP chapter.

The T-Shirt Factory on Coastal Highway played host - certainly a high-visibility location.

Naturally with the large crowd the business attempted to sell a little for itself.

One goal of the tour was to fire up opposition to Obamacare and demonstrate to individual Congressmen in swing districts that a vote for Obamacare would be detrimental to their electoral health.

This was a copy of the petition that Patients First is encouraging respondents to send to their Congressman.

These petitions were among many informational items placed on the tables AFP had set up for those interested.

Nick Loffer of Americans for Prosperity looks over a table full of items encouraging support for true health care reform.

A few of the protesters even took to the street. Fortunately for me in taking the picture, the bus lane stayed clear most of the time.

Dave Schwartz of Americans for Prosperity was quoted in the Daily Times as saying this was the first time he'd seen streetside protesters at a Patients First rally. But our local AFP group is known for that.

First to speak was Maryland AFP head Dave Schwartz. He had an attentive audience.

I took this picture while Dave Schwartz was speaking, showing a gathering of about 75 people there.

Dave Schwartz, the head of AFP Maryland, makes a point during the Ocean City rally.

Schwartz noted that the two AFP buses had traveled over 12,000 miles in 6 weeks and covered 30 states in their journey so far. (This bus was going on to Florida while the other was traveling through Pennsylvania.) In speaking about the health care debate it was apparent that the grassroots were talking and not the insurance companies. Dave also mentioned the 9-12 rally (which most of Monday’s attendees had also attended) as a “Woodstock for conservatives” but cautioned it “has to be the beginning” in this fight.

Another fact he alluded to was how poorly government estimates the costs of new programs – for example, the Medicare program which was estimated at its beginnings in 1966 to cost $9 billion by 1990 instead ended up costing over seven times that amount.

National AFP President Tim Phillips did most of the talking. A veteran of several bus tour stops, he hammered home three simple points.

Dave then turned the microphone over to AFP President Tim Phillips, who also commented that 9-12 was “something I wanted to see my whole life” and that in this debate “we are flat out winning…we won July and August and we’re winning September too.” He pointed out that while we were taking the fight to Washington D.C. President Obama was running to his base in Minnesota.

But the challenge went beyond health care, instead it was to “take Washington over for a generation.”

At the moment, though, the debate is over health care. Phillips broke down the Patients First argument into three points.

One is the cost of what they are trying to do. Despite the claim by Obamacare advocates that their message isn’t getting through, there is no communication problem. The vast amount of tax revenue needed to fund Obamacare and the poor track record of government estimating simply scares people away from their solution.

Second was the aspect of rationing. “Let them bring Nancy Pelosi out,” said Phillips, “we know the truth.” As an example of rationing’s effect, AFP recently did a video featuring a Canadian resident who took a second mortgage out on her home to get treatment here in America for her brain tumor. And Tim added that, “I don’t need the government making quality of life decisions for us.”

Finally, while the rest of us have to endure long lines and rationing, President Obama and Congress will be exempt. Tim revealed that in the 3 years he worked on Capitol Hill for a Senator, he had the best health insurance package he’d ever had because of the plethora of choices he was allowed – an “unlimited buffet” of options. And Congress won’t give theirs up, despite attempts to make them do so.

Phillips concluded, “The other side is counting on us to lose interest (and) grow weary” – it was a slow-down approach. But if our goal was to be left alone by government, we had to be counterintuitive and get involved instead.

Standing with local AFP co-chair Julie Brewington (right), Tim Phillips holds 1,100 petitions collected through the First Congressional District - out of 220,000 nationwide.

One extra package for Phillips to take to his next stop was the box of petitions collected in the First Congressional District. Since each petition could have multiple signers, those 1,100 sheets of paper represented many thousands of residents who urged Congress to scrap Obamacare and concentrate on less radical but necessary reforms.

At the end those gathered did a group photo in front of the bus as a souvenir for Patients First.

Before we all left, there was this request for a group photo, minus about 5 of us who were taking pictures for various reasons.

Speaking of pictures, I have a leftover from the 9-12 rally I forgot to include yesterday – the souvenir sign I referred to.

This was my little souvenir from the 9-12 TEA Party in Washington, D.C. - little being a relative term.

I’ll hang on to it for future rallies, shoeprints and all. It seemed a shame that the lady (my guess) who put the time into making this didn’t take it back to wherever she came from. Rest assured I can put this orphaned sign to good use.

D.C. 9-12 rally in pictures and text (part 2: the players)

Last night I did the crowd shots for the disbelievers. Today I’ll get to the more meaty parts of the rally.

But it may not be a bad idea for me to do this part chronologically as well. There were a lot of moments which cry out for comment and today is a good time to sit back and reflect on what the day meant to me and a million others like me – not to mention the thousands who participated in smaller rallies across the country and/or met the TEA Party Express tour bus in various parts of the country.

Since we walked from Union Station, where the bus dropped us off, directly to the Capitol (we were late enough that the march had already began) we walked by the Teamsters national headquarters. (Don’t forget I embed captions too.)

No it's not. Keep the secret ballot secret and don't allow Big Labor intimidation. — No it’s not. Keep the secret ballot secret and don’t allow Big Labor intimidation.

I know this isn’t SEIU headquarters, but card check performed by the same type of people who think nothing of beating up health care protesters doesn’t fly – keep the secret ballot as it is. So what if unions only win about 2/3 of the time.

The first attention-grabber I ran across at the rally had his own message.

The only thing missing from this guy's getup was money hanging out of his pockets. But he certainly looked the part - just hope he never actually runs for office with this picture all over the internet. — The only thing missing from this guy’s getup was money hanging out of his pockets. But he certainly looked the part – just hope he never actually runs for office with this picture all over the internet.

While this woman wasn’t dressed to the nines, the sign she held up intrigued me so she’ll be a featured player.

Unfortunately we can't hit the rewind button until November of 2012. Hopefully the damage won't be too severe. — Unfortunately we can’t hit the rewind button until November of 2012. Hopefully the damage won’t be too severe.

Also, she had on two great buttons: “I’d rather be waterboarding” and “America: Not arrogant, just awesome”. Winners in my book.

This lady was sitting back deeper in the crowd, so she couldn’t see the stage but she could be seen.

Yep, typical right-wing extremist, spouting off those limited government principles. Perhaps this picture is appropriate since most of these values were kicked to the curb by Congress and our President.

One complaint I have about the setup was there were way too few facilities. I counted 60 portapotties for a million or so people. Disregarding potty parity, there should have been hundreds if I recall building code correctly – then again, even the organizers only predicted 75,000 to show up. This was stuck on a portapotty door and was worth a chuckle and a picture.

Look on the bright side - at least ACORN can't be punk'd there. — Look on the bright side – at least ACORN can’t be punk’d there.

Once I finally got through the line, I wandered some more. This was when the main event got started so I listened to a couple speakers. I didn’t get the name of the guy who said this but he said, “Three days ago the President called us out…three days later, here we are!”

Obviously that got a big roar from the crowd, as did Andrew Moylan of the National Taxpayers Union noting, “Hell hath no fury like a taxpayer ignored.” The crowd noise could be quite loud at times but since we were scattered about in a large area (as opposed to a stadium) it wasn’t deafening. Certainly it was great to hear as we walked up.

Crowd noise didn’t deter this woman from doing her job.

This woman was interviewing people for a later video and her company was called 'Hi There Productions'. — This woman was interviewing people for a later video and her company was called ‘Hi There Productions’.

Since I have the web address I’ll have to see if the interview I did made the cut. If so I’ll put it up for Friday Night Videos. (Nice tease, huh?)

This may be my favorite picture from the event in an artistic sense.

I have no idea how he got up there but he was there for quite awhile and drew a lot of cheers. I know I wouldn't do that since I hate being on ladders let alone 20 feet up. — I have no idea how he got up there but he was there for quite awhile and drew a lot of cheers. I know I wouldn’t do that since I hate being on ladders let alone 20 feet up.

In a certain way it’s very symbolic of our cause, sort of reminiscent of Paul Revere’s ride. Speaking of riding, there were others who arrived in the same manner we did.

American Energy did a nice product placement with this attractive moving billboard.

I presume they had their people moving through the crowd exhorting support of a pro-energy position. But another bus was met with much more derision.

These protestors kept yelling at those on the CNN bus 'Tell the truth!' Maybe they need to start since their ratings are in the toilet. Notice the lady slapping up the 'Fox News' sign. — These protestors kept yelling at those on the CNN bus ‘Tell the truth!’ Maybe they need to start since their ratings are in the toilet. Notice the lady slapping up the ‘Fox News’ sign.

Returning to a space in view of the stage, I took a long-range shot of the TEA Party Express group, represented by a previous monoblogue interviewee, Deborah Johns.

Blue Star Mom and TEA Party Express participant Deborah Johns (center, at podium and on big screens) remarks on the 7,000 mile journey her bus tour took to end up in Washington.

I’m working on securing another interview with Deborah this week. They also brought the event organizers on stage to close the show.

The people who put together the 9-12 TEA Party put in hundreds of hours to get this together and on the whole did an excellent job!

But the pictures aren’t done. I have more fun stuff to discuss from the return to Union Station, like this guy.

Yep, he's looking for attention, but this guy gets his due for making a spectacle of himself. — Yep, he’s looking for attention, but this guy gets his due for making a spectacle of himself.

The same goes for this truck. I did not Google “Mark the Patriot” but maybe sometime I will.

Here's someone who doesn't mind making his truck unique for a cause. — Here’s someone who doesn’t mind making his truck unique for a cause.

Arriving at Union Station, there were still protestors worth checking out. I suspect a lot of Congressmen may get a pink slip next year.

I can tell you that you'll see a sign like this again. We were all waiting for our respective buses at Union Station. — I can tell you that you’ll see a sign like this again. We were all waiting for our respective buses at Union Station.

I saw buses there from points up and down the mid-Atlantic: Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina were represented. I even was in proximity with a minor celebrity: Rev. James David Manning, the Louisiana preacher best known for calling President Obama a “long-legged mack daddy.”

The Rev. James David Manning (left) found a lot of supporters at the protest for his point of view. I wouldn't quite go so far as he does but certainly the frustration with President Obama is real. — The Rev. James David Manning (left) found a lot of supporters at the protest for his point of view. I wouldn’t quite go so far as he does but certainly the frustration with President Obama is real.

Between two posts I have 24 pictures, plus another 14 on my Facebook page. But there’s no way I can create the full flavor of the event – I guess you just had to be there.

Hopefully this won’t be the last event the 9-12 Coalition conducts, but most of us know that this isn’t a climax, just a beginning. The change we seek isn’t one that occurs overnight and doesn’t stop even if we throw out Congress and Obama next time around. Vigilance is forever, and that’s the first lesson we all need to learn.

D.C. 9-12 rally in pictures and text (part 1: the crowd)

I have so much stuff that it would be a tremendously long post to put it all in, so I split this into two posts. Also, to save some bandwidth and make sure you don’t need an sundial to determine page load time, I placed most of the signage photos here as part of my Facebook page.

This part will mainly be crowd shots (just for disbelievers like a certain left-leaning local blogger – he knows who he is because he just LOVES to refer to our group as “teabaggers”) and the second part, probably tomorrow, will be other shots I enjoyed. It’s 9 photos tonight and 15 tomorrow if my count is correct.

I’m going to do this in chronological order and don’t forget to hold your mouse over the photo for additional captions if you run IE8. (Firefox has a way of doing it but not everyone takes advantage.) By the way, you may use these photos IF you give credit to me and my website. Not much to ask is it?

The first picture of our busload was taken about 9:20 on the road between Easton and Queenstown.

As you can tell by this shot I took on the way, the bus was pretty full of people. We had one empty seat on my bus so AFP's effort was certainly a success. — As you can tell by this shot I took on the way, the bus was pretty full of people. We had one empty seat on my bus so AFP’s effort was certainly a success.

We were told the march had started about 9:30 – 2 hours before schedule – because Freedom Plaza couldn’t hold the people who were massing there. So our group went to the Capitol.

About 11:30 we arrived at the Capitol for the main protest. I thought this was a pretty shot with the flowers and the Capitol dome in the background.

I walked around for the better part of the early afternoon. This shot is taken from the west end of the reflecting pool looking toward the Capitol, about 12:20.

I was surprised how well you could hear the speakers way back here. No one could actually see the stage yet thousands congregated this far back because it was as close as they could get.

Eventually I settled on that platform you see in the last picture, atop the steps. I had an old friend from Ohio who supposedly was there but by the time I got back there from the bathroom lines I found out he and his wife were themselves waiting in them. Alas, we never did get together because they left a little early. Anyhow, the next two pictures were taken between 1:30 and 1:45.

The 'silent no more' sign was brought by one of our group, but this is the view I had from much of the first half of the rally. — The ‘silent no more’ sign was brought by one of our group, but this is the view I had from much of the first half of the rally.

Looking back across the reflecting pool to where I'd stood earlier taking pictures. — Looking back across the reflecting pool to where I’d stood earlier taking pictures.

I was curious to see what was going on around the Mall so I walked that way after a little while. I ended up at this spot at its northern end where the contingent from my native state had staked a claim. It was about 2:30 by this time.

The Ohio group had placed this easy-to-see landmark for convenient meeting. I think besides the adjacent states they may have had the largest participation.

Returning to my spot, I watched from there awhile then decided to get closer as the event was wrapping up. The next two shots were taken after 3:30, with the gathering slated to end at 4:00 – so the crowd was a little thinner.

Looking toward the stage toward the end. I believe this speaker was Mario Lopez of the Hispanic Leadership Fund.

You can see the crowd wasn't quite as deep as before but many thousands stuck around until the end. — You can see the crowd wasn’t quite as deep as before but many thousands stuck around until the end.

If you wonder about where all those signs went after this ended, here’s a clue. I don’t know if small fenced-in areas were provided specifically for this purpose, but they proved quite useful in gathering large-sized trash.

I wonder whether these signs will be recycled for future use at next year's 9-12 event or some other TEA Party. — I wonder whether these signs will be recycled for future use at next year’s 9-12 event or some other TEA Party.

I actually picked up one I found quite humorous for future use. I’ll have to add it to my post tomorrow because of all the pictures I took I didn’t take one of that sign! Tomorrow’s post will focus on some of the speakers and protestors.

So the recession is over? Hey, we can get that stimulus money back now!

Thousands of people who lost their jobs this week may beg to differ, but today the Federal Reserve released a survey which suggested the recession may be over. According to this AP story by Jeannine Aversa, 11 of the 12 Federal Reserve regions returned the opinion that economic conditions in their area were “stable” or becoming that way.

This despite the fact that all but a small fraction of the “stimulus” money has not been spent yet, as much of the spending was slated for 2010 – naturally, an election year.

Thus, the questions I have are as follows:

Given the rapid recovery, was the stimulus even necessary – or did we bankrupt coming generations simply to grease the wheels on a lot of pork projects?
Can that spending be deleted from the FY2010 budget since it’s not underway yet? The next fiscal year begins at the end of this month.
Does the prospect of nationalized health care and the increased taxes needed to pay for it return us to a “double dip” recession, with perhaps one or two quarters of modest growth followed by another plunge from continuing stubborn unemployment combined with rising inflation brought about by a falling dollar (thanks in part to that very same Federal Reserve) and spiking energy costs?

As one who subscribes to the economic theory that money is best managed by the private sector, it seems to me that if the government stimulus was truly about jumpstarting the economy they would now quickly get out of the way and give the remainder of the promised stimulus money back to the taxpayers. Instead, Congress may simply shift money around to something they consider “good for us” like nationalizing health care or “investing” in favored technology like renewable energy rather than allowing the market to determine the best uses for the money. It’s their usual modus operandi.

Alas, the prospects of OUR tax dollars being returned to us because – as the Fed says – the recession is over are probably in line with the odds of the Detroit Lions winning this year’s Super Bowl. (It pains me to say that because I happen to be a Lions fan, but one sure can’t accuse me of being a fair-weather fan in this case. Just a realist.)

While recessions are temporary things, it’s certainly worth paraphrasing Ronald Reagan and reminding readers that government programs like the stimulus are forever. That is unless we have the courage to stand up, take a little bit of sacrifice, and make sure that Congress reflects a more Constitutional view of its duties when we select them the next time.

Are we at it AGAIN?

Slowly percolating over this summer “silly season” of politics is yet another bid to damage the leadership of Maryland GOP Chair Jim Pelura.

The latest installment of the saga concerns Pelura’s idea to come up with a “Contract With Maryland” for the 2010 elections. Based on the 1994 “Contract With America”, the idea was to develop a list of principles Republicans in the General Assembly could push in the next session and beyond. Obviously they would need a majority to enact whatever legislation the Contract entails, but the idea is to compare and contrast the proposed and probably conservative agenda of Maryland Republicans with the tax-and-spend, business-unfriendly miserable economic and job-creation record General Assembly Democrats have compiled over the last several years.

Yet General Assembly Republicans have put up a less than robust welcome to Pelura’s plan. Perhaps they’re taking a page out of the Bob Michel playbook.

I imagine it’s not really fun to be a Republican in the Maryland General Assembly. There’s not much to do but listen to your conservative constituents complain about the state of affairs, introduce bills and amendments which are routinely slaughtered in voting, and watch the other side gleefully pass legislation to benefit their special-interest buddies.

Then again, you could be the head of the party who is routinely savaged for practically any move he makes. Have you ever noticed that no one worries about who the leader of the Maryland Democratic Party is? (For the record, their party chair is Susan Turnbull.) Of course, she is simply a titular head because the party belongs to Governor O’Malley.

Therein lies one of the problems Maryland Republicans have, and it’s reflective of the party on a national scale. With no political leader, non-political figures like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are trashed as leaders as is Sarah Palin now since she left the governorship of Alaska behind. They certainly get the slings and arrows from the Left and the media (but I repeat myself.)

However, the Maryland Republicans have a titular leader who’s thus far sitting on the sidelines for 2010, biding his time. It seems to me part of the frustration with Maryland Republicans comes from not knowing what Bob Ehrlich will do. Obviously the party thrived with him as Governor and many in the GOP hierarchy seem to long for the days when he controlled the party.

Perhaps the Pelura saga comes to an end once Ehrlich decides what he’ll do. In the meantime it occurs to me that the energy spent figuring out ways to snipe and undermine Pelura could better be spent going after the REAL enemy. At a time when there’s a whole host of motivated voters and volunteers receptive to the GOP message we need to focus our resources on harnessing that energy which has become available to us over the last 4 1/2 months.

In 2010 we’ll have the chance to oust a number of Democrats who talk a conservative game yet run to Annapolis and vote with the Beltway liberals. After that, the GOP can select a new Chairman because Lord knows that after the abuse he’s taken for stepping up Jim Pelura would be crazy to run again.

It’s time to worry about the enemy without rather than create the enemy within.

The deep roots of Astroturf

I really got a kick out of this posting by photojournalist “El Marco” detailing the healthcare show Obama allies put on in Denver. It looks like they’ve taken a few pointers from the “real” grassroots but mixed in a heaping helping of muscle and deceit to accomplish their goal of slick marketing and packaging.

Obviously the stakes are pretty high – hey it’s only 1/6th of our economy we’re talking about here. And the magnitude of change could be staggering by the time Obamacare (at least the H.R. 3200 version – maybe we should really call it Pelosicare?) finally kicks in starting in 2013. Interesting how that timing works because if Obama is re-elected he would be able to make things even more onerous but if a Republican is elected they would have that crushing burden to weigh down on their Presidency, especially the cost.

Essentially the health care debate has been framed in terms of who would be helped and hurt. Those on the Left don’t think anyone would be hurt but fail to realize that taking the profit motive out of anything tends to limit the willingness of non-public entities to jump into a market and eventually saps the innovation out as well. My favorite example of this is the Trabant.

But the status quo isn’t exactly perfect, particularly in the high dependence on having the cost of every procedure from a minor checkup to a heart transplant picked up by an insurance company. Obviously many are frustrated with their dealings with the insurance company and thus grudgingly become Obamacare supporters because they feel nothing but loathing for the system as it is. What they don’t understand or can’t see is that changing the health industry simply becomes a swapping of masters – unfortunately it’s a lot more difficult to escape the yoke of government than ask your employer to switch insurance companies (or eschew the plan they offer to purchase your own.)

Intuitively people seem to understand this, which is why Obamacare (as Hillarycare before) is having a difficult time gaining traction among the American public. Say what you will about the insurance companies backing the anti-Obamacare effort, but the fact that drug companies and unions are throwing millions behind socialized health care makes their efforts seem just as artificial.

All along I’ve had a problem with entities lobbying to secure a slice of a larger government because I don’t feel government should become bigger and exert more power over the public. Imagine the fighting that could occur once trillions are spent for nationalized health care and the millions some special interests will place into place to increase their piece of the action. It will make the deficit (not to mention the budget for vital national functions like, say, defense) seem pale by comparison.

Start the bus!

The Lower Shore isn’t being excluded from 9/12 mania. It’s going to blow my formatting but here’s the .jpg file in all its glory:

Americans for Prosperity is sponsoring this as yet another way for pro-liberty citizens to express their disgust with overbearing government.

I’m planning to be on the bus and hopefully will have a full report of the proceedings later that week. With this list of speakers I could spend two weeks on posts, that’s for sure!

And notice the dearth of politicians on the list? Doesn’t look like Astroturf to me!

Seats are going fast. It’ll be a bit tough to get up so early after my opening night of bowling season but we’ll have the alarms set and loud so as not to miss the bus. Be there or be square.