tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65196983226718684692024-03-13T03:41:26.110-05:00Something FishieJust my 2¢ for freeFishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-89138087251903820452013-05-11T01:11:00.002-05:002013-05-11T01:13:06.313-05:00"I Am Compelled to Fight"<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB8hZdry2VWXONGN23bV0TTFgRJCTsZmiUlYZ_gM0JHQGsSB-U4F4Xz4aGQ_L3uRrRV-oteelXM49_L8lVekFb3BBD64fny4zi87M-VCEOQwqyGni7qucJ3np9OPkuauPOW2u_XSUwfM4/s1600/fishie+freedom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB8hZdry2VWXONGN23bV0TTFgRJCTsZmiUlYZ_gM0JHQGsSB-U4F4Xz4aGQ_L3uRrRV-oteelXM49_L8lVekFb3BBD64fny4zi87M-VCEOQwqyGni7qucJ3np9OPkuauPOW2u_XSUwfM4/s320/fishie+freedom.jpg" width="275" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>“I volunteered to fight in this war. I have risen through the ranks and now find
myself on the front lines with an army of New Media warriors following me into
the fray. It is no longer a choice to
fight; I am compelled to fight.” -Andrew
Breitbart</b></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did volunteer to fight in this war, fifteen years ago when
I began my involvement in politics. It
happened this way: there was a meeting at my church talking about how to attend
political conventions and learn the political process to promote prolife views. I definitely wanted in on that. So I did more than vote in the general
election for the first time that year. I
voted in my first Republican primary, and attended my first Republican convention. And it was like crack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the years since, I’ve had opportunities to work on
campaigns, attend candidate forums, walk blocks and make phone calls, and meet
a ton of dedicated people who love this country and want to see it governed
well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then the financial crisis threatened us. Then the bailouts happened. Then THIS happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So then I had an opportunity to start a tea party, organize
protests and rallies, become a media spokesperson, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoWiaav4IZg&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">give speeches</a> and
presentations. Oh, and meet, educate,
and train a ton MORE people who love this country and want to see it governed
well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My philosophy has always been, since I started in politics,
that I had a responsibility to share my knowledge. If I knew how to do something, I wanted to
teach others how to do it too. If I
learned about an issue on the ballot, I wanted others to have the same
information. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes that has made me a challenge to people who just
don’t eat and breathe and sleep politics.
I get that. In fact, my own
family blocks me on social media because they know what my feed looks like. But by the same token, I get phone calls
asking for information about candidates.
I have people who drive by my house before each election to check the
signs in my yard. Being a political
junkie has that upside: the ability to influence others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People have urged me to run for office for years. My stock answer: “No. Never.”
I’ve seen how difficult elections are.
I’ve seen some great people chewed up and spit out by the stress and the
strain of running. Campaigns are often
brutal, nasty, frustrating, and draining.
I’ve never felt called to run for any office; I much prefer being in the
campaign, working behind the scenes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a tea party leader, I’ve wanted to be independent of the
Republican Party for many reasons. I
wanted to be free to hold Republicans accountable. I wanted to avoid the charge of being a
Republican auxiliary. I wanted to focus
on the core beliefs of tea party: fiscal responsibility, free markets, following
the Constitution. I handed the precinct
over to another passionate volunteer so as not to shortchange either the tea
party or the Republican Party. But I’ve
stayed involved in Republican politics, even serving on the Rules Committee at
the Republican Party of Texas’s State Convention last summer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But my county is in trouble.
The largest county in the largest Red State has been turning blue before
my eyes. I’ve seen what progressive
policies are doing in other states, in other counties in my own state. I’ve seen what they’re doing to us as a
nation. And I can’t watch from the
sidelines anymore. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don’t have the confidence required to believe the current
leadership in the Harris County Republican Party is able to handle the
Battleground Texas assault, the technology gap, the lack of strategic
partnerships or the messaging shortcomings we face. And I refuse to sit through another election
cycle wishing I could do more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is no longer a choice to fight. I am compelled to fight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m announcing that I am going to run for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FeliciaCravensForHcrpChair" target="_blank">Harris CountyRepublican Party Chair in 2014.</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There will be a more formal launch coming soon, but I wanted
to let all of you know my intentions and ask for your support with tackling the
issues we face. As I put together the
campaign organization, I’ll be asking for your help, whether you live in Harris
County or across the country. This
county is rapidly becoming Ground Zero in the political struggle against
progressive policies, and it is going to take a massive effort to fight them
back. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s going to take an army.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#WAR</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-39721148168178555592013-04-20T21:32:00.000-05:002013-04-20T21:33:37.234-05:00Weary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3PobJ-qN-5xqJNeDIWxv8IegVGcQC0IrroUKfReAe3alja3pVC4ePr5J3lWutMP191hoHrBUojXtY7EaMZEZn35lKlI9t6SVWCNqX_Mq6ZlGuHop0PIYY_dqWuuOwEZwbbDflFBWDcXU/s1600/suspect+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3PobJ-qN-5xqJNeDIWxv8IegVGcQC0IrroUKfReAe3alja3pVC4ePr5J3lWutMP191hoHrBUojXtY7EaMZEZn35lKlI9t6SVWCNqX_Mq6ZlGuHop0PIYY_dqWuuOwEZwbbDflFBWDcXU/s1600/suspect+2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week was a kick in the gut. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boston. West, TX. Boston again. Other events that didn't get so much publicity. I lost sleep and had my heart repeatedly broken all week long. It's hard being a news junkie. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I didn't have anyplace to put my frustration, my ache, my anger. Then I remembered this old place, and so here I am. I know I'm a fail for letting it go five months without posting, but <a href="http://freeradicalnetwork.com/" target="_blank">I've been kind of busy</a> writing elsewhere.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, speculation ran wild on the type of perpetrators who may have done this evil. <a href="http://www.ijreview.com/2013/04/47827-13-ridiculous-cases-of-media-bias-after-boston-bombing/" target="_blank">Various media asshats</a> showed their true colors this week. <a href="http://minx.cc/?post=339292" target="_blank">This is the one</a> that finally sent my rage nuclear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Andrew Breitbart's book isn't titled "Righteous Indignation" for nothing. He was livid that the good, decent, hard-working Americans who embraced tea party values were maligned time and again. It infuriated him that people like us were blamed, vilified, lied about, and marginalized in the mainstream media, all with the aim to defeat our efforts to make this country better. His mission was to take on the mainstream media, call them out, expose them, and rob them of their power to define us. He encouraged us to become citizen journalists, citizen ombudsmen, citizen activists. And people are answering the call.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just wish it were more. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every day I fear that there aren't enough of us doing enough to fight back at everything they're throwing at us. I already know there's never going to be a day when this fight is over, not in my lifetime. I'll never retire from this, not really. And I am not saddled with a full-time job around which I have to work my activism, so I'm able to absorb more than a lot of people. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My heart is broken for all those people lost this week, and their families and friends. But at the same time (and I don't think it diminishes anything the victims are going through) my heart is also battered and weary over the uphill battle the rest of us face. We shouldn't have to fight so hard just to keep a good name, but we do, and there's no amount of wishing that will change it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saul Alinsky was a pretty awful bastard, but I do find this quote helpful:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As an organizer I start where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be. That we accept the world as it is does not in any sense weaken our desire to change it into what we believe it should be — it is necessary to begin where the world is if we are going to change it to what we think it should be.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that's where I think my head is going to be for the next few weeks. I need to think about the stark reality we face. I need to come to terms with exactly what the situation is on the ground in America. And then, God willing, I'll be able to start thinking of ways to change it.</span><br />
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Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-44418064123598831372012-11-10T10:07:00.000-06:002012-11-10T10:39:08.654-06:00Spit-balling Post-Election<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKYO3HsP7_7cZZH5vcxYrCjbtnbJMPP6FHPvzLiEGeikTW-xLOLsMyMaBmLqspVODI6vQMnGReZtnrZhpmqx3ZrD2Jw4tWmN8ANBAseh7te4zfBIfdomypN-HdeRz3-de1_AW9z0lmJ90/s1600/einstein+spitball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKYO3HsP7_7cZZH5vcxYrCjbtnbJMPP6FHPvzLiEGeikTW-xLOLsMyMaBmLqspVODI6vQMnGReZtnrZhpmqx3ZrD2Jw4tWmN8ANBAseh7te4zfBIfdomypN-HdeRz3-de1_AW9z0lmJ90/s320/einstein+spitball.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm just scribbling notes here on the loss of the election. It sucks because I'm finding it very difficult to concentrate through the fog. So I've collected a lot of other people's opinions <a href="http://ownthenarrative.com/post/the-morning-after-" target="_blank">HERE</a>, and posted my initial thoughts <a href="http://fullfrontalnerdery.com/day-three-post-election/#" target="_blank">HERE</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But just to highlight the magnitude of the problem ahead of conservatives, I wanted to throw some things I've been thinking about on the blog here and see where things went. I don't know about you, but until I've tried to list the factors, I can't think effectively about the problem. And from the lists below, it's clear we have a lot of thinking to do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remind me of anything I've overlooked in comments, and I'll add it in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><b>WHERE BLAME IS FALLING</b></u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GOP Establishment</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Mainstream Media</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Voter Fraud</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mitt Romney</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Demographics</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GOP Branding</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Libertarians</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hurricane Sandy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Social Conservatives</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Donation Fraud</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Messaging</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GOTV Efforts</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mitt Romney's Consultants</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><b>THEORIES ON WHAT TO DO</b></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go hard right</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perfect microtargeting</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go libertarian</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Improve social media</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fracture the Democrat coalition</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go local</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Infiltrate the Mainstream Media</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go after Minorities </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Build alternate institutions - Bill Whittle plan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go after Youth</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go Galt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Opt Out/ Walk Away </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take over the GOP</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Try to pass stricter Voter ID bills</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Infiltrate Hollywood</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><b>ANSWERS TO MY NON-SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE THE COUNTRY FACES RIGHT NOW</b></u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Economy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lack of Values</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tyranny</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Debt/Deficits</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">National Security</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Attack on Founding Principles</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jobs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lame-Duck Session Legislation</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Family Values</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Military Disenfranchisement</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Losing Freedoms</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Animosity towards Christians</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Educational Indoctrination</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ignorance of the Electorate</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Entitlement Mentality in the Culture</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Coming Fiscal Cliff</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lack of Wisdom</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Immigration</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Border Security</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">EPA Regulations</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Loss of Religious Liberty</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Mainstream Media</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lack of Morality</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Abortion</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Credit Rating Downgrade</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Supreme Court Justices</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Entitlement Programs</span><br />
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Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-36410392594543659392012-09-11T01:43:00.000-05:002012-09-11T01:49:25.708-05:00Remember<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Everyone who was alive and old enough to be aware remembers what they were doing on September 11th, 2001. Everyone has a story, and though it breaks my heart to read them, I do it anyway. Especially <a href="http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2009/09/11/quotes-of-the-day-remembering-91101/">Allahpundit's account</a>. <br />
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I still have issues of Time, Newsweek and other magazines from those days right after the attacks. I don't know why I kept them; I'm rather famous in my house for purging the closets, tossing things that once meant something to me. Still, I can not bear to throw them out. <br />
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Nothing remarkable happened early that morning. We lived in a duplex near IAH. The Bigun was twelve, the Little Critter, just three. The morning routine consisted of waking both girls and hustling them to the car to get the Bigun to her private school on time. We were almost late that morning, due to a bus on fire in the HOV lane. We laughed at being able to predict the next day's headline in the paper, the lead stories on the evening news.<br />
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A kiss and a wave, and then the Little Critter and I drove home, a little less hurried this time. Nothing pressing awaited us but a date with some children's television so I could get some housework done.<br />
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Now we lived on the edges of the 'hood on the north side. It wasn't the worst place, but the nickname for the area across the freeway was "Gunspoint" if that tells you anything. So when there was a furious pounding on my door that didn't cease, I was startled and a little paranoid. One hears home invasion stories that begin like that, and I was armed with nothing more lethal than a plastic broom. I'm also too short to see out of any peephole created for any door, so I dragged the footstool over to see who was breaking my door down.<br />
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It was the neighbor who shared the duplex, Robert. A huge, friendly, burly black guy, he often sat outside with me telling stories and watching kids play. I couldn't imagine what had worked him up, and I'd only seen him really agitated once before, when he'd been drinking quite a bit more than was good for him. I didn't think he looked drunk, so I opened the door.<br />
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He yelled at me "Turn on the TV - they flew a plane into the World Trade Center!"<br />
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The Little Critter was quickly displaced to her sister's room to watch her shows, and Robert sat beside me on the couch for over an hour, our faces mirror images of horror and shock as we watched the second plane hit, then the towers fall - one, then the other. Then news of the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania where so many others perished.<br />
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The morning held so much horror. It was all I could do to keep it together in front of the LC, and it was all I could do to keep her otherwise entertained. In what I am sure was a boon to her three-year-old thought process, she got anything she asked for - eating in her sister's room, playing with her sister's things, watching Blue's Clues and Veggie Tales videos without end. Anything to keep her out of the den and away from those images.<br />
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Somewhere before noon, I remembered that Houston has a vast array of petrochemical facilities, ones that would likely make enticing and explosive targets. I urgently needed to get to the Bigun, just to see her face and hold her close and bring her home. Into the car again we went, racing to the school, arriving to chaos as other parents rushed in compelled by the same urgency. I hadn't cried at all until I saw her, hugged her to me.<br />
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One friend had parents coming, but unable to get there right away. I remember we stayed with her. They didn't ask much, they were told a little bit of the story in class. I wanted to get away, but I knew the Bigun had to stay with her friend. Once the parents arrived, we drove home at a more reasonable speed; the panic was beginning to wear off. But I spent the rest of the day letting the kids take care of themselves as I watched the horrible images on the television.<br />
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And though I was struck mute often by the images and stories and suppositions, I think the thing that finally drove it all home for me was the silence the next day. Living so close to the airport we were accustomed to planes flying over several times an hour. But for days, as I'd sit on the front porch and watch the skies, nothing flew over at all. Every plane grounded, the sky left empty. <br />
<br />
When they started flying again, I wanted nothing more than to go to New York to do something. Anything. I felt helpless to help. I had nothing to give.<br />
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I wondered if anything would ever be the same again.<br />
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Things aren't. They never are after events of this magnitude. There's Before, then there's After. Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-5554078249315284102012-07-23T01:03:00.002-05:002012-07-24T02:21:27.676-05:00This Guy is Teaching Children. Sigh.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chadwick Harvey is lazy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In his recent piece <a href="http://www.policymic.com/articles/10722/tea-party-uses-religion-to-manipulate-working-class-americans-into-buying-their-dogma">“Tea Party Uses Religion to ManipulateWorking Class Americans Into Buying Their Dogma”</a> Harvey makes a number of unsupported
assertions, attempting to cast the tea party phenomenon as an elitist con-job perpetrated
on ordinary religious Americans. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Harvey begins with his interpretation of what seems to be Marx’s
quote regarding religion being “the opiate of the masses.” He claims that Marx believed religion was used
as a tool of oppression by the wealthy classes.
Harvey states: “…society seemed to be defined by a class struggle in
which the wealthy brainwashed the working class with religion to influence them
to work hard and produce more goods so that the rich could continue to get
richer.” But a quick search of Marx’s
ENTIRE quote provides a different view:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Religious suffering
is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest
against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the
heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the
opium of the people.<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The abolition of
religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real
happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is
to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions.</b><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, I’m no fan of Marx, but even I can see that Marx said
nothing like the words Harvey is putting into his mouth. Mischaracterizing a quotation in order to balance
an entire argument upon it is no way to begin a serious conversation about the
role of religion in tea party politics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In his full quote, Marx is referring to religion as (in his
view) a coping mechanism for the suffering that the lower classes undergo at
the hands of the wealthy class, not a tool of those elites; a balm, not a yoke. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Harvey goes on, building from his error, to cast the tea
party as a vehicle for elites to manipulate middle-class religious
conservatives: “In America today, one need not look any
further than the Tea Party and its influence on middle class evangelicals to
find Marx's theory proven correct.” So
Harvey sets up his thesis: The Elitists cooked up Tea Party to mollify those
losing economic ground every day by distracting them from the serious economic
issues of the day and diverting them to social issues with far more light, but
less heat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, Harvey immediately begins to “prove” his assertions
with unsupported statements:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>When the movement
burst onto the scenes of American politics in 2009, it was a group of
unpatriotic typical elite Americans complaining that they had been taxed enough
already. As the movement grew, a large number of middle class evangelicals
joined. In addition to the fiscal issues and national debt concerns that led to
the formation of the Tea Party, the movement has adopted a strong focus on
social issues that is more typical of religious right-wing evangelicals.</b><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">“unpatriotic” offered with neither definition
nor explanation</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">“typical elite” also offered with neither of the
above</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">“a large number of middle class evangelicals
joined” as opposed to evangelicals being intimately involved in the origins of
the movement</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As one of the original organizers of the February 27</span><sup style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
2009 tea parties, I was a participant on the organizing conference calls
moderated by Michael Patrick Leahy. Those
recorded calls constitute a historical record that documents the type of people
responsible for launching this movement.
They weren’t rich people. They
weren’t elitists. They had no connection
to agenda-funding billionaires or vast troves of financing (such as exists on
the Astroturfed Left). The organizers
were instead stay-at-home-moms, small businessmen, professionals – the middle
class, in short.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the proof Harvey attempts to cite concerning elitists is the establishment
of the Tea Party Caucus in the U.S. Congress by Rep. Michelle Bachmann in July
of 2010, an event that took place a full SEVENTEEN MONTHS after the beginning
of the nationwide tea party movement. He
compounds his error with citing the names of wealthy congressmen with religious
ties. He names:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1) Trent Franks,
wealthy oil businessman from Arizona who is a faithful member of a Baptist
Church.<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2) Joe Wilson, a
wealthy Real Estate attorney from South Carolina who is a faithful attender of
First Presbyterian Church in Columbia.<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>3) John Fleming, a
wealthy businessman and long time Sunday school teacher who last year on MSNBC
infamously complained that he has only $400,000 left over at the end of each
year.</b><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hate to remind Mr. Harvey, but <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/50richest/the-50-richest-members-of-congress-112th.html">a good number ofRepresentatives and Senators are very wealthy</a> including: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. John Kerry</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. Dianne Feinstein</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Rep. Nancy Pelosi</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. Claire McCaskill</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of these are, by the way, higher on the list in terms of
wealth than Franks, Wilson or Fleming.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it isn’t merely wealth that’s disturbing Harvey;
apparently all of these are (gasp) religious people. And what’s worse, OPENLY religious
people. THAT’S the issue he seems to
have. However, he doesn’t take this objection
anywhere: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>While the overwelming (sic)
majority of congressmen and congresswomen are affiliated with some religion,
not all choose to share their religious dogma openly. Not surprisingly, the
percentage of those in the Tea Party caucus who share their religion openly is
more than double that of the rest of Congress.</b><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They SHARE THEIR RELIGION OPENLY. MORESO than the REST of Congress. Scary religious people, talking about their
religion. That’s all he has. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or is it? He continues:
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The motive is not hard
to figure out. Members of the Typical Elite Americans Party have little else to
offer the middle class, so they use religion as a toy to create a culture war.
This leads to working class evangelicals voting against their personal best
interests due to their reliance on a religious dogma that gives them hope that
although they are the losers in the class struggle, they can be winners in the
next life. </b><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Harvey renames tea party with “Typical Elite Americans” in
an attempt to be cute, and then claims the tea party has little else to offer
the middle class except religion, the means of perpetuating a culture war. He doesn’t explain how this works at all, how
a movement devoted to lower taxes and spending, following the Constitution, and
personal responsibility is cleverly being used by elites to manipulate
working-class evangelicals into “voting against their personal best interests
due to their reliance on a religious dogma that gives them hope that although
they are the losers in the class struggle, they can be winners in the next life.”
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Harvey essentially charges that religious tea party members
are being spoon-fed a social issue narrative designed to distract them from the
real economic issues facing the nation.
Or something. He really never
even gets around to addressing the economic situation at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ironically, at the same time, Harvey takes the
mainstream-media-driven narrative about the tea party straight, no chaser; he
swallows the spoon-feeding that the MSM have been doling out for years, and attempts
to regurgitate it. And he doesn’t even
do that skillfully or originally. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His piece ignores the tea party involvement in the Health
Care Town Hall meetings where average citizens quoted the Constitution at their
representatives; the massive tax-protest rallies around the country and in
Washington D.C.; the nationwide effort to support Scott Brown’s election in
Massachusetts; and innumerable other issues unrelated to social issues and religion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Essentially the only thing that Harvey does seem to be offering,
when you wade through all the nonsense, is this single huge revelation:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Harvey thinks religion is for stupid people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That’s his entire complaint – that the tea party has
religious people in it. I could have
slept in; I can get that anywhere, from much smarter and more articulate
people.</span><o:p></o:p></div>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-71704331649150851042012-06-19T02:24:00.001-05:002012-06-19T19:39:19.514-05:00Learn More About SWATing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDxnsEscLOKnQb89YcaSuYgtcZhWZaZql6z8TTuHNu2-3YTQieKeaNg0PI20TJwaqV9_KY_oq8hrzBhdIrP2LVK8kLrQYMWOvjNiH92Rx5OuDYr1AQmyJC64KSgXqTHp3lSvnFZrm_KpE/s1600/SWAT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDxnsEscLOKnQb89YcaSuYgtcZhWZaZql6z8TTuHNu2-3YTQieKeaNg0PI20TJwaqV9_KY_oq8hrzBhdIrP2LVK8kLrQYMWOvjNiH92Rx5OuDYr1AQmyJC64KSgXqTHp3lSvnFZrm_KpE/s1600/SWAT.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those who got to my blog through the KTRH interview on SWATing and other tactics, here are a list of links that may help you learn more:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ktrh.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=426116&article=10210758">KTRH Interview</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2012/06/12/7_ways_conservative_activists_are_being_harassed_by_the_left">Seven Ways Conservative Activists are being Harassed by the Left</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2010/10/11/Progressives-Embrace-Convicted-Terrorist">Original Brett Kimberlin Write-up by Liberty Chick</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://patterico.com/2012/05/25/convicted-bomber-brett-kimberlin-neal-rauhauser-ron-brynaert-and-their-campaign-of-political-terrorism/">Patterico (Patrick Frey) story of his SWATing - WITH AUDIO</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/06/08/Erickson-CNN-SWATting">Red State's Erick Erickson's SWATing</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/06/08/House-Expected-to-Call-on-DOJ-to-Investigate-SWATting">House to call on Department of Justice to investigate SWATing</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.popehat.com/2012/06/05/forgetting-brandenburg-and-the-rule-of-law-brett-kimberlin-censorship-through-lawfare-update/">"LAWFARE" and the Aaron Walker case</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-f </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P. S. This article is also worth reading about Google rankings and the importance of fighting for dominance in the search engine world in order to get out a story:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://originalvelvetrevolution.com/2012/06/14/brett-kimberlin-and-the-justice-of-google/">Brett Kimberlin and the Justice of Google</a></span><br />
<br />Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-34418998270488149462012-06-14T00:50:00.001-05:002012-06-14T00:57:52.541-05:00Operation Original Velvet Revolution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi91OVAay36MKKEfLzEi4uSkbsmqddCD_3u_4RU5A1PqMMGr33S7nvGnuJz9b07ECvlhTTkhHSCmmPPftVamj-BWpZTOw3pEuzOuONx1cwNLInx3UTre0FKW5vTyOCKOj8kFerVPTW_T0k/s1600/Brett-Kimberlin-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi91OVAay36MKKEfLzEi4uSkbsmqddCD_3u_4RU5A1PqMMGr33S7nvGnuJz9b07ECvlhTTkhHSCmmPPftVamj-BWpZTOw3pEuzOuONx1cwNLInx3UTre0FKW5vTyOCKOj8kFerVPTW_T0k/s320/Brett-Kimberlin-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Taking back the name "Velvet Revolution" from the jackwagons using it for their own jerkwad purposes...<br />
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From <a href="http://originalvelvetrevolution.com/2012/06/14/brett-kimberlin-and-the-justice-of-google/">OriginalVelvetRevolution.com: </a><br />
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<div style="border: 0px; color: #3c3d47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.5714285714em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
If one searches for the Velvet Revolution on Google, the first result is a rather uninformative Wikipedia article. We have no quarrel with Wikipedia, or <a href="http://patterico.com/2012/05/27/brett-kimberlin-gets-his-wikipedia-entry-removed/" style="border: 0px; color: #2c807f; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">not much of one anyway</a>.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #3c3d47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.5714285714em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The second result and most of its successors lead to Brett Kimberlin’s Velvet Revolution, a badly designed, garish website where Kimberlin seeks to separate you from your hard-earned money through sale of a bad dvd about <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">peace love, and hippies</em>, and to peddle his <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/06/11/Velvet-Revolution-Offers-Reward" style="border: 0px; color: #2c807f; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">half-baked conspiracy theories.</a></div>
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This is unacceptable. </blockquote>
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AND...<br />
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If you link to this post, this site rises to the top of a search for Velvet Revolution. If you add this site to your blogroll, this site rises even further. And Brett Kimberlin’s site falls.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #3c3d47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.5714285714em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
And when the time comes for George Soros to write the annual check to Kimberlin’s Velvet Revolution, maybe the due diligence lackey will enter the Great Man’s office, saying, “Mr. Soros, I think you ought to read this…”</div>
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<span style="color: #3c3d47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Because we’re going to</span><span style="color: #3c3d47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> </span><em style="border: 0px; color: #3c3d47; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">talk about Brett Kimberlin</em><span style="color: #3c3d47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">, as long as he keeps filing his frivolous lawsuits. Which by the look of things isn’t going to stop, until Kimberlin slips up and goes back to prison.</span><span style="color: #3c3d47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> </span><a href="http://www.popehat.com/2012/05/25/blog-about-brett-kimberlin-day/" style="border: 0px; color: #2c807f; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Even then he won’t stop.</a></blockquote>
</blockquote>
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Just doing my part in my little corner of the blogosphere. This isn't over, not by a long shot.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
</blockquote>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-33984151454573217082012-06-01T01:27:00.000-05:002012-06-01T01:27:22.492-05:00<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw4VkGqczx6Nm4x0ZAfUXad0vhk1RoazkAsahNg5pUgML4ntLAR_MhAPYMvJtDVOiuhTt_XH1bwXo9vZ14AwCAE9K1iA-qltDQqwHbA75Ft97wMivVZ0rq5kL48ZC-eZuMHUHQ__LPVqU/s1600/broads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw4VkGqczx6Nm4x0ZAfUXad0vhk1RoazkAsahNg5pUgML4ntLAR_MhAPYMvJtDVOiuhTt_XH1bwXo9vZ14AwCAE9K1iA-qltDQqwHbA75Ft97wMivVZ0rq5kL48ZC-eZuMHUHQ__LPVqU/s1600/broads.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So there's a new thing around the <a href="http://ownthenarrative.com/live">OTN neighborhood</a>...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm partnering with RGR_ART, Prue and tksjewelry to bring you BROADSIDE - a new OTNN show debuting on Saturday June 2nd at 9 pm Eastern. We'll pre-record the show, but we'll host a live chat as it airs, right here on Own The Narrative.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Broadside will focus on news, music, and culture, and whatever else interests us; we'll be talking about anything and everything. It isn't going to be "The Conservative View" or anything like that. Rather, it's going to be "Four Women, Big Voices." Our goal is to utilize the megaphone <a href="http://ownthenarrative.com/">OTNN</a> has given us and add to the conversation in a way we hope is engaging, thought-provoking and fun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We'll have news, special features, guests, and all the opinion you can possibly stand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to NJlibertarian and Justin giving over their show to us, we had a preview of Broadside during the OTNN Test Tube show Sunday, and you can hear the results <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22910689">HERE</a> and <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22911085">HERE</a>. And when those links fall off, you can get the sample on iTunes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take a listen and let us know what you think!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And follow us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/broadsidebroads">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/broadsidebroads">Twitter</a>! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-71863906687464539452012-05-25T01:31:00.000-05:002012-05-25T18:37:09.698-05:00BlogBurst Friday - Spy Novels and Bad Guys<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9GrqOuwgV2oU5D64Il5hTbreTQS4SITId1N7Yred2QbhamTJgw3ayMyYQoGUzfwBfY7v4B4sn85E4WqzqWmt15CGBnhTkonsyesrVJz8OQ1DIl_CEmtDlhTYFor_35MTww3c1NIYuvvE/s1600/keyhole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9GrqOuwgV2oU5D64Il5hTbreTQS4SITId1N7Yred2QbhamTJgw3ayMyYQoGUzfwBfY7v4B4sn85E4WqzqWmt15CGBnhTkonsyesrVJz8OQ1DIl_CEmtDlhTYFor_35MTww3c1NIYuvvE/s1600/keyhole.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guilty pleasure confession time: I’m a fan of Tom Clancy’s
Jack Ryan novels. For at least fifteen
years, I’ve read and reread the exploits of Jack Ryan as he squared off with
Soviet agents; I’ve thrilled as agents and spies around the globe dodged danger
and threats from other spies and tyrannical regimes. There are always heart-in-the-throat moments
where characters to whom I’ve grown attached are in great peril, and I hang on
every word until the danger has passed.
I’ve enjoyed those parts of the stories more than anything else in the
books, flipping pages as fast as I can read the words. There’s a romance to a good spy story; the
stakes are the highest you can imagine, and the hero is plunged into ever-more
dangerous situations, until he ultimately prevails and saves the day, the girl,
the nation, the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’ve had it so easy in a country where we’re free to express
ourselves; in spite of Political Correctness and Campaign Finance Reform and
other restrictions, we’re still extremely free.
Witness the blogger explosion in the past few years. Hundreds and thousands of political blogs
have emerged, tackling everything from local to national issues. Twitter has helped publicize even the
smallest of blogs, and conservative bloggers build networks at events such as
Right Online and Blog Con. And there’s
no tyrannical force oppressing them, censoring them, threatening them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or is there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During a recent extended <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22662366">chat with Liberty Chick on Own theNarrative</a>, I heard about bloggers being targeted for harassment by progressive
mischief-makers. Some attempts sounded
like mere nuisances, others more serious.
It seemed like small news at first; so a few bloggers get
inconvenienced, that’s not unusual. But
as the story unfolded on the show, and then the following week in blogs, it occurred
to me that this was every bit as dangerous as landing in a spy novel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lefty political activist suing and harassing bloggers would
have every bit the same effect in the long run as living under the harshest of
despotic regimes. When someone steals a
blogger’s reputation, they steal his voice.
They marginalize and silence him.
But it doesn’t stop there. It
also silences others who write, others who speak, others who conduct in-depth
research and provide information not available from traditional media, as they
shy away from taking risks. Then follow
that to its natural conclusion; a state-directed narrative delivered by a
lapdog media with no voices left to challenge it. The only steps skipped in the mad dash to tyranny
are a few state-sanctioned pogroms against the Blogging Class and a conspicuous
disappearance of a high-profile blogger or two.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fantasy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not really. It’s
happening now. <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22789466">Robert Stacy McCain (TheOther McCain)</a> is dealing with this right now.
Several other bloggers have found themselves targeted as well,<a href="http://patterico.com/2012/05/25/convicted-bomber-brett-kimberlin-neal-rauhauser-ron-brynaert-and-their-campaign-of-political-terrorism/"> in gut-punch, sick and horrifying ways</a>. And in spite of wide dissemination in the
blogger community, few people outside the blogosphere are aware of this
happening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So today is BlogBurst Friday, where bloggers all over the
internet are drawing attention to the story of Brett Kimberlin, and I wanted to
join in and do my part. I hope you’ll
help by sharing these links on your social media. Post and hit the “share” button on Facebook. Use the hashtag #BrettKimberlin on Twitter
and get it trending. Pin articles on Pinterest and create pinboards devoted to
Kimberlin. Get creative and use every
social media platform you can think of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I find more posts about Kimberlin throughout the day, I
will add them to the linkroll in this post.
Please check back throughout the day and pick up the new ones and spread
them around. It’s a small investment of
your time to help make this terrorist and bully a household name, and a
pariah. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only way to defeat bullies is to stand up to them. He can’t take on all of us. Overwhelm him. Overwhelm the attempt to squelch free speech,
from any blogger – right, left, center - with MORE speech.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can do this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><u>START READING HERE</u></b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://theothermccain.com/2012/05/19/domestic-terrorist-now-using-lawfare-convicted-felon-kimberlins-501c3-raised-1-8-million-in-six-years/">Domestic Terrorist Now Using "Lawfare" </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://theothermccain.com/2012/05/24/lying-felon-cant-stop-lying/">Lying Felon Can't Stop Lying</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.damndirtyrino.com/2012/05/24/the-lack-of-interest-in-brett-kimberlin/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+damndirtyrino%2FQLjW+%28The+Damn+Dirty+RINO%29">The Lack of Interest in Brett Kimberlin</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.therightplanet.com/2012/05/blogburst-friday-blog-about-brettkimberlin-day/">BlogBurst Friday</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://noisyroom.net/blog/2012/05/23/stalking-the-blogosphere-blogburst-friday-for-free-speech/">Stalking the Blogosphere</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.gaypatriot.net/2012/05/23/standing-with-stacy-mccain/">Standing With Stacy McCain</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://allergic2bull.blogspot.com/2012/05/brett-kimberlin-news-roundup.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brett Kimberlin News Roundup</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.capitalresearch.org/2012/05/nonprofit-of-terrorist-bomber-received-tides-foundation-funding/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nonprofit of Terrorist Bomber Received Tides Foundation Funding</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<a href="http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2012/05/how-kill-first-amendment/650436#.T772XC_MDKc.twitter" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How To Kill The First Amendment</a></div>
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<a href="http://marezilla.com/2012/05/violent-convicted-terrorist-bomber-given-million-by-progressives-now-terrorizes-bloggers/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Violent Convicted Terrorist Bomber Given Millions by Progressives</a></div>
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<a href="http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2012/05/23/standing-in-support-conservative-writers/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Standing in Support of Conservative Bloggers</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<a href="http://allpatriotsmedia.com/2012/05/the-tony-katz-show-how-bloggers-are-being-threatened-by-brett-kimberlin/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How Bloggers Are Being Threatened by Brett Kimberlin </a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://rally.org/bloggers/donate">SUPPORT BLOGGERS FINANCIALLY THAT HAVE BEEN TARGETED</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MORE </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.therightscoop.com/exposing-brettkimberlin-glenn-beck-interviews-pattericos-patrick-frey-and-blogger-aaron-walker/">Glenn Beck Interviews Patterico and Aaron Worthing</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ace.mu.nu/archives/329575.php">What Can You DO?</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<a href="http://patterico.com/2012/05/25/convicted-bomber-brett-kimberlin-neal-rauhauser-ron-brynaert-and-their-campaign-of-political-terrorism/#" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Scariest Audio Ever - Patterico </a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://michellemalkin.com/2012/05/23/free-speech-show-solidarity-for-targeted-conservative-bloggers/">Michelle Malkin's Call to Arms</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://perpetuallyaggrieved.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/who-is-brett-kimberlin/">Who is Brett Kimberlin?</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.sundriesshack.com/2012/05/25/why-this-brettkimberlin-thing-matters/">Why This #BrettKimberlin Thing Matters</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.indystar.com/article/99999999/NEWS06/100919013">The Speedway Bombings, Part 2</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/readymeet-soros-funded-domestic-terrorist-brett-kimberlin-whose-job-is-terrorizing-bloggers-into-silence/">Meet Soros-Funded Domestic Terrorist Brett Kimberlin</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.popehat.com/2012/05/25/blog-about-brett-kimberlin-day/">Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://filmladd.com/?TopSignsYouAreBeingHarassedByTheSpeedWayBomber">Top Signs You're Being Harrassed by Brett Kimberlin</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.catwyp.com/2012/05/25/brett-kimberlin-from-speedway-bomber-to-litigious-jihadist/">From Speedway Bomber to Litigious Jihadist</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2012/05/brett-kimberlin.html">Brett Kimberlin</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2010/10/11/Progressives-Embrace-Convicted-Terrorist">Progressives Embrace Convicted Terrorist</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1574161,00.html?xid=tweetbut">The Wizard of Odd</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://teapartisan.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/brett-kimberlins-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day/">Brett Kimberlin’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://justgrits.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/who-is-brett-kimberlin-and-why-you-should-care/">Who is Brett Kimberlin and Why Should You Care</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thatmrgguy.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/brettkimberlin-linkapalooza/">#BrettKimberlin Linkapalooza</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dariadigiovanni.com/brett-kimberlin-dangerous-leftist-menace/">Brett Kimberlin, Dangerous Leftist Menace</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://leestranahan.com/friday-may-25th-is-everybody-blog-about-brett-kimberlin-day">Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.spartanburgteaparty.org/2012/05/24/everybody-blog-about-brett-kimberlin-day/">Spartanburg Tea Party</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://mentalrecession.blogspot.com/2012/05/today-i-stand-up-against-serial.html?spref=tw">Today We Stand Up Against Serial Domestic Terrorists</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/05/25/brett-kimberlin-and-the-hall-of-fame-of-leftist-terrorists/">Brett Kimberlin and the Hall of Fame of Leftist Terrorists</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://theothermccain.com/2012/05/17/convicted-terrorist-brett-kimberlin-received-70000-from-tides-foundation-10000-from-streisand-20000-from-kerrys-wife/">Convicted Terrorist Brett Kimberlin Received $70,000 From Tides Foundation, $10,000 From Streisand, $20,000 from John Kerry’s Wife</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.punditandpundette.com/2012/05/pattericos-chilling-account-of.html">Patterico's Chilling Account of Harassment</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/05/23/brett-kimberlin-may-not-have-a-soul-but-he-has-a-lengthy-internet-trail/">Brett Kimberlin May Not Have a Soul, But He Has a Lengthy Internet Trail</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ladyliberty1885.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/today-is-everybody-blog-about-brettkimberlin-day/">Dear Babs Streisand</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://fullfrontalnerdery.com/2012/05/united-we-blog-shining-a-light-on-brett-kimberlins-silencing-tactics/">United We Blog - Shining a Light on Brett Kimberlin's Silencing Tactics</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://datechguyblog.com/2012/05/25/today-everybody-blog-brett-kimberlin-day/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter">DaTechGuy's Blog</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/19/leftist-bloggers-sordid-past-raises-questions-real-intent/">Fox News Story on Kimberlin in 2010</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ace.mu.nu/archives/329494.php">Did Congress Pass a Law Stripping Citizens of the Right To Mention Brett Kimberlin's Felonious Past?</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://allergic2bull.blogspot.com/2012/05/summarypreview-of-my-post-how-brett.html">How Brett Kimberlin Tried to Frame Me for a Crime (And How You Can Help!)</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.allamericanblogger.com/21551/who-is-brett-kimberlin-why-you-need-to-know-and-the-biggest-linkaround-evah/">Who is Brett Kimberlin, Why You Should Know</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://lonelyconservative.com/2012/05/speedway-bomber-brett-kimberlin-poked-a-bees-nest/">Speedway Bomber Brett Kimberlin Poked a Bees Nest</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.gaypatriot.net/2012/05/25/i-stand-with-stacy-and-aaron-and-patterico/">I Stand With Stacy. And Aaron. And Patterico.</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/329559.php">Brett Kimberlin - Terrorist</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.thepiratescove.us/2012/05/25/stand-against-abusive-felon-brett-kimberlin-sticky-for-the-day/">Stand Against Abusive Felon Brett Kimberlin</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=51743">John Hayward at Human Events</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://perlstalker.blogspot.com/2012/05/what-do-mexican-drug-cartels-and-brett.html">What do Mexican Drug Cartels and Brett Kimberlin Have in Common?</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2012/05/brett-kimberlin-narcissistic-terrorist.html">Brett Kimberlin - The Narcissistic Terrorist</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://rightwingnews.com/interviews/interviewing-robert-stacy-mccain-about-brett-kimberlin/">John Hawkins Interviews Stacy McCain</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://pg-matuszak.blogspot.com/2012/05/convicted-speedway-bomber-now-attacking.html">Convicted Speedway Bomber Now Attacking Conservatives</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.imao.us/index.php/2012/05/10-fun-facts-about-brett-kimberlin/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+imao%2FjNDB+%28IMAO%29">Ten Fun Facts About Brett Kimberlin</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.franklincenterhq.org/5546/holding-political-terrorist-brett-kimberlin-accountable/">Holding Political Terrorist Brett Kimberlin Accountable</a> </span></div>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-45867622044681073812012-05-22T17:36:00.001-05:002012-05-23T13:18:51.304-05:00Bill Kneer Thinks You're Stupid<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I could do this all day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So an Alert Reader linked me to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/bill.kneer/posts/428951590461786">Bill Kneer's Facebook Page</a>. Bill seems a little put out at having one of his Woodfill Cheerleader posts eviscerated. So he responded. Not here, mind you. Not on my blog. Not on my Facebook Page. He didn't even tag me on it, nor did he use my name. He DID manage to tag Richard Dillon on the post, which is interesting. He also tagged himself. No comment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because the Patriot Statesmen bunch have a habit of not allowing comments, and of <a href="http://attackfish.blogspot.com/2012/04/oops.html">revising posts thinking they will not be caught at it</a>, I reproduce the Facebook Post from Kneer in its entirety:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsR7p1y2oiyPs2UxUbtNQ2rwmp7Ai4NQWF7kCUZqMAORN0uQpM157v5fd7jD-JLP88v6EW9QskWEUwZLPYAXw1WTTvjc0LIiSCJJ3XdfpvElpkaYb1PwY0xOtLdX9jwRn_Vp4yD5UVsMA/s1600/kneer+shut+up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsR7p1y2oiyPs2UxUbtNQ2rwmp7Ai4NQWF7kCUZqMAORN0uQpM157v5fd7jD-JLP88v6EW9QskWEUwZLPYAXw1WTTvjc0LIiSCJJ3XdfpvElpkaYb1PwY0xOtLdX9jwRn_Vp4yD5UVsMA/s320/kneer+shut+up.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">And the text, because the picture is difficult to read without clicking on it:</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">it seems that there are a few in Harris County Texas that are afraid of conservatives. One blogger even wrote a piece recently stating that this article that I wrote shows that I want some people to just shut up.</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">The truth is those who disagree with me should never shut up they should continue to show the world what they stand for or should I say what they will not stand for.</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">The truth is the Harris County Republican Party is extremely conservative on social and fiscal issues with the tremendous track record of success. And there are a few that because of the success are working to destroy us from within. That's the truth, that is in no way telling people to shut up that is just me stating my opinion which happens to be correct.</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">There seems to be something fishy about somebody when they refuse to stand up for and push for truth and honesty.</span></b>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">So, since the word for today is <b>eviscerate</b>, let's get out the <strike>scalpel</strike> fillet knife.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><b><u>Paragraph One: </u></b></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it seems that there are a few in Harris County Texas that are afraid of conservatives. One blogger even wrote a piece recently stating that this article that I wrote shows that I want some people to just shut up.</span></b></span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So first, Bill tosses out a weasel word like "seems." It "seems" a few in Harris County are afraid of conservatives. No proof offered, no names, just "Oooooh, someone is scared of conservatives." One assumes Kneer is talking about himself as the scary conservative, because he says an unnamed blogger said he wants people to shut up.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interesting thing is,<a href="http://attackfish.blogspot.com/2012/05/bill-kneer-wants-you-to-shut-up.html"> I remember a blogger doing that</a>. And I also remember that <a href="http://texas.patriotstatesman.com/2012/05/the-hcrp-is-too-conservative-and-fiscally-responsible-moderate-push-for-change/">at the bottom of the LAST post of Bill Kneer's that was exposed</a>, these words appear:</span></span></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 19px;">I call on all those who continually find fault and complain to man up, shut up, and help us defeat Democrats in November!</span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">I see the words "shut up" in there. Don't you? And lest Kneer and/or Dillon try their editing magic again, I've got all of that post screen-captured and saved. Don't even bother hiding it, Bill:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQRJDQK68woK8ga9BQiGe757F4_Th3xwHFpfuQ2-chIWoxrjmcMzZB2EMHVwCkjfcgMWi6nr9xFYdya6WcZmCpETSpfQuQeS7v0qbJlJlA-drYRmdo8W_uMlg63UgC_3ID5Y-3rKyu4a0/s1600/kneer+shut+up+2+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQRJDQK68woK8ga9BQiGe757F4_Th3xwHFpfuQ2-chIWoxrjmcMzZB2EMHVwCkjfcgMWi6nr9xFYdya6WcZmCpETSpfQuQeS7v0qbJlJlA-drYRmdo8W_uMlg63UgC_3ID5Y-3rKyu4a0/s320/kneer+shut+up+2+1.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>Paragraph Two: </u></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">The truth is those who disagree with me should never shut up they should continue to show the world what they stand for or should I say what they will not stand for.</span></b></i>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></b></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Punctuation is important, but I give Kneer a pass on that. Here Kneer says people who disagree should show everyone what they stand for. OK, no argument from me. But that's not what he said before. And check out the artful wording. As Kneer is bald-faced lying about telling people to shut up, he's using the phrase "The truth is..." Irony, thy name is Bill Kneer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><u>Paragraph Three: </u></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">The truth is the Harris County Republican Party is extremely conservative on social and fiscal issues with the tremendous track record of success. And there are a few that because of the success are working to destroy us from within. That's the truth, that is in no way telling people to shut up that is just me stating my opinion which happens to be correct.</span></b></i>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The truth is..." again. Bill Kneer has "truth" rather than facts. Yes, Harris County is extremely socially conservative, and somewhat fiscally conservative. Houston also has a fiscally irresponsible mayor who lets Occupy camp out for free in the city parks, and who wants to regulate organizations that want to feed the homeless, like churches for instance. Bill White WON Harris County in 2010, the year Woodfill claims is his greatest victory. That's important because now the Democrats control the early vote and the ballot board. This means when provisional ballots are cast, the Democrats will have the deciding vote whether to admit a ballot or not. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me repeat that:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u><a href="http://law.onecle.com/texas/election/87.002.00.html">DEMOCRATS ARE IN CONTROL OF HARRIS COUNTY ELECTIONS ON JARED WOODFILL'S WATCH.</a></u></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.harrisvotes.com/HISTORY/101102/cumulative/cumulative.pdf">2010 Election Results Here</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To continue, Kneer claims the successes (which he DOESN'T enumerate) make people want to destroy the party from within. No evidence, just a heated accusation. Because Kneer doesn't bother with FACTS. He's after the TRUTH. He goes on to remind you that it's the truth, and that it doesn't mean "shut up." Then here, here's the gem: "that is just me stating my opinion which happens to be correct." Oh, the arrogance! Kneer not only tells you to shut up if you disagree with him, but he's established a Ministry of Truth, right here in Harris County! </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>Paragraph Four:</u></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">There seems to be something fishy about somebody when they refuse to stand up for and push for truth and honesty.</span></b></i>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></b></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">This. Is. Priceless. Anyone who reads this blog knows I call it Something Fishie. Kneer thinks he's backhanding me. He won't SAY who out there is "refusing to stand up for and push for" truth and honesty. But he can IMPLY that it's me, and that I'm out there somehow blocking all his truth from coming out. I must be a very powerful Fish. If I'm so powerful, how is Jared Woodfill even still chair?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">So there you have it. Kneer is all about the "Truth" and yet he won't name names, he won't make clear accusations, he won't offer real proof of any single thing he says. And he attacks people who dare to criticize his "Truth," but in a way that he can weasel out of should he be challenged. Go back through his blogs, his Facebook. Take a look for yourself. you don't need me to show you - look up Bill Kneer and see, IN HIS OWN WORDS, how this pattern emerges time and again.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Folks, this, THIS is the Third String team that Jared Woodfill entrusts so much of the party duties to. THIS is the level of competence we're dealing with. THIS is the team Jared allows so much power and access to. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: red; line-height: 18px;"><b>THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE RUNNING THE HARRIS COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><b>Make a change. Remove the incompetence. <a href="http://simpsonforgopchair.com/">Vote Paul Simpson</a>.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: red; line-height: 18px;"><b>UPDATE: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/bill.kneer/posts/428951590461786?notif_t=share_reply"> Bill is very sad. </a> And is obviously more Jesus than me.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-44717447990007907392012-05-18T14:25:00.000-05:002012-05-19T20:50:40.766-05:00Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I realize that it looks like I'm a slacker. If this blog is your only interaction with me, then it does look pretty pathetic. But the good news (possibly) is that I write some other places as well. When something fits better somewhere else, I put it there first. But I realized I hardly ever link my pieces here, and I decided to rectify that. Here's some things I put out elsewhere that I hope you enjoy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Own The Narrative (with monoblogs - audio files of the blogs):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ownthenarrative.com/post/32">Dirty Sexy (Local) Politics</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ownthenarrative.com/post/51">Home from the War on Moms</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ownthenarrative.com/post/55">Orrin Hatch Can Kiss My...</a></span><br />
<a href="http://ownthenarrative.com/post/64"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One Nation Under Mob Rule</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ownthenarrative.com/post/82">Test Drive the Health Care Plan</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ownthenarrative.com/post/105">Top Ten Reasons I Couldn't Join OWS</a></span><br />
<a href="http://ownthenarrative.com/post/135"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Government Regulation</span></a><br />
<a href="http://ownthenarrative.com/post/170"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boobs on the Brain</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ownthenarrative.com/post/188">The Seduction of "Julia" </a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On U. S. Daily Review:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/before-you-start-using-social-media">Before you Start Using Social Media</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/still-wary-of-social-networking">Still Wary of Social Media?</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/facebook-not-just-fun-and-games">Facebook - Not Just Fun and Games</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/googleplus-new-kid-on-the-block">Google Plus - New Kid on the Block </a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/linkedin-social-media-for-the-businessperson">Linked In - Social Media for the Businessperson</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/one-hundred-years">One Hundred Years</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/whats-the-hurry">What's The Hurry?</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/discussing-occupy-wall-street">Discussing Occupy Wall Street</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/team-obama-loses-edge-on-social-media">Team Obama Loses Edge on Social Media</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/occupy-the-new-tea-party">Occupy - The New Tea Party?</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/the-story-of-the-little-red-hen">The Story of the Little Red Hen</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/a-very-political-christmas">A Very Political Christmas</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/ditch-the-cape-save-the-country">Ditch the Cape, Save the Country</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/is-the-party-over">Is the Party Over?</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/occupy-cpac">Occupy CPAC</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/who-runs-like-reagan">Who Runs Like Reagan?</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/michelle-malkin-launches-twitchy">Michelle Malkin Launches TWITCHY</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://usdailyreview.com/the-seduction-of-julia">The Seduction of Julia</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On The Texas Conservative:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=234">The Little Town that Could</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=213">Holding the Line for Smaller Government</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=189">Texas and Tax Competition</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=165">Houston Rain Tax Morphs into Bike Trails</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=147">Occupy Houston - Day One</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=119">Immigration and the Texas DREAM Act</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=88">The Ads of Texas</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=77">Lies, Damned Lies...</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=49">Building Bridges</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=409">Get your Resolutions Passed at Convention</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=376">Houston's "Feeding Ordinance" Under Fire</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=350">RPT Struggles to Plan Primary, Convention</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=310">Redistricting Holds Up Convention Process</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Liberty Juice: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.libertyjuice.com/2010/05/12/tea-party-idol/">Tea Party Idol</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.libertyjuice.com/2010/07/09/what-i-learned-at-the-revolution/"> What I Learned at the Revolution </a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.libertyjuice.com/2010/08/26/eating-the-elephant/">Eating the Elephant</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.libertyjuice.com/2010/11/17/dont-touch-my-junk/">Don't Touch My Junk!</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.libertyjuice.com/2011/03/17/texas-teachers-and-ticked-off-parents/">Texas, Teachers, and Ticked-off Parents </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-71673096063305600152012-05-16T14:14:00.000-05:002012-05-16T23:56:02.977-05:00Public Property, Private Use<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVQPS3QNw8fmMODT8bNfQ-399ifeldbIWA5nmR-17Vxu9BCkXhu0uUufUsVlZF1S6fL9nALG8LtRmA-ZARjZS39XhMAGbxFXx9w1Mr9pWDcz8VqUI8Hdv-MZs318HsFMCTl8QKXFBRzWQ/s1600/Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVQPS3QNw8fmMODT8bNfQ-399ifeldbIWA5nmR-17Vxu9BCkXhu0uUufUsVlZF1S6fL9nALG8LtRmA-ZARjZS39XhMAGbxFXx9w1Mr9pWDcz8VqUI8Hdv-MZs318HsFMCTl8QKXFBRzWQ/s320/Untitled.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMwncHnX5q7wFLzcehXLxecR3aj1-MJWkmazClK0Lw6mBeQXeiCF1DEGH0e7WU-Lq_9OZjQ8S-QYVqg5WvXsM4cMc95_wxmbSsOfJIQJFrT3ma7gWMP-G40tgJ93hP28wC-9gg04x3zm0/s1600/anderson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMwncHnX5q7wFLzcehXLxecR3aj1-MJWkmazClK0Lw6mBeQXeiCF1DEGH0e7WU-Lq_9OZjQ8S-QYVqg5WvXsM4cMc95_wxmbSsOfJIQJFrT3ma7gWMP-G40tgJ93hP28wC-9gg04x3zm0/s320/anderson.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a tea party leader, I've organized several rallies and protests around the Houston area. When we held our first rally on the grounds of <a href="http://www.discoverygreen.com/">Discovery Green</a>, we paid hundreds of dollars to secure the venue and insurance and the proper permits.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we held our huge Tax Day Tea Party April 15, 2009 that brought over 11,000 people to <a href="http://www.houstontx.gov/events/jonesplaza.html">Jones Plaza in downtown Houston</a>, we spent thousands of dollars to secure the venue and insurance, as well as pay for off-duty officers to provide security and crowd control. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Occupy decided to start a Houston chapter, however, we never heard of permits, or insurance, or security. Tents sprung up around the park, people camped out, and the group even made use of city power without paying. That always struck me as wrong and inequitable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We in the tea party have always been willing, and usually been able, to pay for the use of public property such as parks and public buildings. We believe in following the rules, and in doing what's right while we call attention to the miserable state of the finances at all levels of government.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So when I saw that the ads from supposed "tea party" District Attorney candidate Mike Anderson were shot in an actual courtroom and NOT on a set, I got a little miffed. Did Anderson, who retired as a judge but who occasionally serves in that court, PAY for the privilege to use county resources to film an ad for his campaign? Was that even legal?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It may or may not be, but the principle is what gets me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know much about county politics, but I know any D.A. race is contentious; especially so here, after Harris County went through the Rosenthal scandal. I'm not working on D.A. Lykos' campaign, and there are a few cases where I want to ask some serious questions about her office's policies. But after paying our way so dilligently for so long, and seeing the Occupy crowd get special treatment from the city, I decided to see if an ordinary citizen can get a hearing on this type of complaint. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So today I'm <a href="http://houstontps.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/anderson-complaint-1.jpg">filing</a> a <a href="http://houstontps.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/anderson-complaint-2.jpg">complaint</a> with the <a href="http://www.scjc.state.tx.us/">State Commission on Judicial Conduct</a> over this ad. We'll see what happens. It may amount to nothing. But I'm tired of seeing ethical lapses brushed aside with an "Oh, well. Nothing you can do about it." Let's see whether Anderson filmed the ad properly by paying for the use of public facilities. If so, fine. If not, then I want an explanation. And possibly a refund.</span>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-48292118221897081772012-05-15T12:53:00.001-05:002012-05-15T22:17:47.628-05:00Bill Kneer Wants You to Shut Up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2lm2EzcEFoDwg6mUoFgF4fmn9iXtopgoYd5o8wd7OU_hszYxBzpA-etrqfYHhIAXuA8DTmCGipDIg-L05az_9uZsMVFyN1_802hqqeit8hRS5UjZvAcC_BFilO_qYr15LjGJp-4OpMA/s1600/jared.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2lm2EzcEFoDwg6mUoFgF4fmn9iXtopgoYd5o8wd7OU_hszYxBzpA-etrqfYHhIAXuA8DTmCGipDIg-L05az_9uZsMVFyN1_802hqqeit8hRS5UjZvAcC_BFilO_qYr15LjGJp-4OpMA/s320/jared.jpg" width="291" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Patriot Statesman posted <a href="http://texas.patriotstatesman.com/2012/05/the-hcrp-is-too-conservative-and-fiscally-responsible-moderate-push-for-change/">a piece</a> this week in response to <a href="http://www.bigjollypolitics.com/wp/2012/04/26/dale-huls-a-call-for-reform-of-the-harris-county-republican-party-leadership/">this article</a> from precinct chair Dale Huls, where Dale made the case for reform of the leadership of the HCRP. Bill Kneer penned the piece to take up the defense of Chairman Woodfill, which we'll take a closer look at below. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The article begins by quoting Huls, then offers this: </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><i>While the accusations of the well-intended yet misguided seem to fire up a few against our current leadership the accusations made are just flat wrong. </i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The accusations are "just flat wrong" Kneer says. One expects a point-by-point refutation to follow. Instead Kneer continues:</span></span><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">So let’s take some time to highlight the positive things that have happened within Harris County over the last decade under the leadership of </span><a href="http://jaredwoodfill.org/" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #004276; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Chairman Jared Woodfill</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">.</span></i><br />
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 30px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<li style="list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i>4 out of 5 Republican sweeps within Harris County</i></li>
<li style="list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i>Well over $10 million raised to support the local party</i></li>
<li style="list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i>The Harris County Republican Party has remained debt-free</i></li>
<li style="list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i>In 2010 presided over the biggest victory in the 62 year history of the Harris County Republican Party</i></li>
<li style="list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i>Under the leadership of Jared Woodfill the local party has stood strong for our conservative values and has never caved in to pressure from the left</i></li>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ever the cheerleader, Kneer defaults to the party talking points. Four sweeps in five terms looks impressive, certainly. But claiming to have raised over $10 million becomes problematic. A look at the Texas Ethics Commission reports reveals <a href="http://houstontps.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/2010-Q4-hcrp1.jpg">80% of contributions in that quarter came from campaigns</a>. The debt-free claim is silliness, because an entity that would lend to the HCRP would require at minimum some kind of accounting or audit, something the leadership runs from. Moving on to the 2010 election, it would be instructive to see what the HCRP did in order to achieve this. (There <i><b>might</b></i> have been something else going on during 2010 to boost conservative voter turnout, but I can't think what it might have been. Maybe some original grassroots political movement or something.) </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now the last item: "stood strong for conservative values" and "has never caved in to pressure from the left." Kneer can't resist picking up the pom poms again, and attempting to recite platitudes as proof. Which conservative values? Fiscal responsibility? And WHAT pressure from the left? Pressure to do what? Kneer, again, never says. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kneer tackles one of Huls' points this way: </span></span><br />
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<i>These misguided critics would take the great conservative record and spin a different story, “<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The HCRP leadership has laid bare a record of incompetence and mismanagement with respect to raising funds in the largest voting county in Texas (3<sup style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">rd</sup> largest in the nation) to adequately fund HCRP facilities and operations.”</strong></i></div>
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<i>This statement is not only wrong but it is a downright lie. The truth is, that while no one is perfect Chairman Jared Woodfill has done an incredible job at growing our party within Harris County. Under the leadership of Jared Woodfill the County’s political map has become so red that the only chance a Democrat has is being appointed through the courts.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again with the platitudes, Kneer is short on details. "Incredible job at growing" the party. The "political map has become so red" that no Democrats stand a chance. Perhaps Kneer and company think repeating a lie makes it true. A quick look at <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/porf68asjfthsl3/HC%20GOP%20PCT%20Chair%20filings.jpg">this map</a> and <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/n05ayz9kxzn13sb/HC%20PCT%20Chairs-Dem%20and%20No%20Rep.jpg">this map</a> show how much in denial they are at Richmond Avenue. The fact that Democrat Bill White won Harris County in the 2010 election for governor will have long-reaching implications - Democrats are in control of the ballot board and serve as the election judges for early voting. Ask True The Vote whether they think that's "so red" in this county.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kneer then jumps back onto the financial picture, repeating "ten million dollars" as if it were a mantra to ward away vampires:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><i>Chairman Woodfill does not ask for money, just to save it in the bank account and collect dust. Chairman Woodfill does the responsible thing. He plans a project, documents the plan, counts the cost, then and only then he goes out and gets the money to complete the task at hand. This is the responsible thing to do and he is done well for the last10 years. Under Jared Woodfill’s leadership our Party has grown and remained debt-free in the process.</i></span>
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<span style="color: #252324; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Interesting. I would wager there are members of county party leadership who would beg to differ. But this also looks like an invocation of Luke 14:28 - "</span></span><span style="background-color: #f9fdff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?" Problem is, without budgets or audits no one can know whether this is true. You can't COUNT THE COST that you can't see; without audits and budgets there is no way to evaluate this claim. Kneer claims Woodfill does all these things, then offers no proof but his say-so. Isn't that remniscent of what Nancy Pelosi wanted Congress to do - approve things and THEN evaluate them?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f9fdff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kneer next tackles a charge that has not been made. He sets up his straw man by saying he always hears complaints of Republicans turning into RINOs or weak defenders of conservatism. But not Jared!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><i>Throughout his lifetime, Jared Woodfill has stood strong for the social and fiscal conservative values embodied in the Texas Republican Party platform. There’s not been one time where Jared Woodfill has caved in and betrayed our commonly held beliefs. He has stood strong in the battle against those on the Left as well as those on the Right who would have us leave the time-tested principles and convictions that have brought us victory.</i></span>
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<span style="color: #252324; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Again, Kneer has no examples here, merely his word. But that doesn't matter, because the charge has not been made. Nothing to see here.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><i>The job of the Harris County Republican Party chairman is not to do all the work by himself. It is to lead our local Party and be the spokesperson of “we the people” that make up the base of our County Party. To spread the vision of the Republican Party to all those who do not know who and what we are and stand for. There’s no one here locally that articulates our conservative message is consistently, and precisely, as Chairman Jared Woodfill.</i></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would argue that the chairman of the party is supposed to manage, grow, and maintain the party as well. But going with Kneer's definition of spreading the vision, is this why the <a href="http://www.bigjollypolitics.com/wp/2012/04/12/harris-county-republican-party-im-part-of-the-solution-and-heres-the-problem/">Outreach Committee hasn't met</a> in ages? </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now the pitch: </span></span><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Let’s not change generals the night before the battle, and take a chance on losing our nation. Jared Woodfill has been a great leader, a man of honor, integrity, and consistency.</span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, great leaders never changed generals. <a href="http://ashley-waggoner.suite101.com/president-lincolns-generals-a114063">Not Lincoln</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_Truman's_relief_of_General_Douglas_MacArthur">Not Truman</a>. And this same argument was used in 2010 against the current Republican Party of Texas chair Steve Munisteri; he'd never be able to be ready for the fall election, he'd take too long to learn what he needed to know. In mere months, however, Munisteri had pulled RPT out of huge six-figure debts, and back into the black in time for the 2010 election. And notice how Kneer equates a Woodfill loss to a chance at "losing our nation." What kind of awkward hyperbole is that? </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kneer closes with this:</span></span><br />
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<i>Since 2008 I have stood by Jared Woodfill and fought as hard as I could to help grow our local Party and save our nation. And since 2008 I have had the same people consistently nipping at my heels complaining about everything we do while they do nothing. It is easy to criticize, especially when you do nothing to assist in growing the Party. Every two years we hear from the same malcontent faction. After the Primary, we don’t hear from or see these critics offering to lift a finger to help the Party, but come Primary time, they are there prevaricating and criticizing without having served the Party in the interim.</i></div>
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<i>I call on all those who continually find fault and complain to man up, shut up, and help us defeat Democrats in November!</i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the best part of the whole piece. Kneer charges unnamed critics with being biennial malcontents, only criticizing the party when primary elections roll around. Who are these non-working malcontents, Bill? </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Would it be <a href="http://www.bigjollypolitics.com/wp/2012/04/26/dale-huls-a-call-for-reform-of-the-harris-county-republican-party-leadership/">Dale Huls</a>, who joined the party as a precinct chair in 2010 and, in addition to working with the Clear Lake Tea Party on their board, has worked on his wife's campaigns for state house, served on the board of Saddle Up Texas, attended Clear Lake Area Republican meetings and has attended Republican conventions as well as conservative rallies in Washington D.C.?</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Would it be <a href="http://www.bigjollypolitics.com/wp/?s=hcrp">David Jennings</a>, who has researched and then posted more information about the party than the party itself? </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Would it be <a href="http://www.bigjollypolitics.com/wp/?s=hcrp">Paul Simpson</a>, founder of Conservatives in Action - a group who helps precinct chairs manage voter information in their precincts? Paul who dares challenge the way HCRP is doing things, and who hopes to improve, strengthen and grow the HCRP?</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We don't know, because Kneer doesn't say. But Kneer DOES say they should shut up. Bill would prefer critics to remain silent, but why? Is it not possible to both criticize an organization AND work for its success? </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aren't the two sometimes the same thing? </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Edited to add - It'd be very interesting to go drop your opinion on to Kneer's article, just to see whether they are moderating comments as well. Most posts don't have comments, but that could be because they write such crap. So go on, leave a comment, and report here below whether your comment made it to the light of day!</b></i></span></span>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-60162743135844749232012-04-30T02:27:00.000-05:002012-04-30T06:03:57.916-05:00OOPS Part Two<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSkC2laoT9KcKudaZjn-ECrlTPwk-8TExxEPZcLjSA5UeG_UI3F7rH0nfh2gPMaDKfRoj6JfgUpkcs56NCDFLh2FM4xOxryJBE0I6itLYX6K9Xmq9G75YKEMY6Twfd58PG50_-cI-85i8/s1600/oops.jpg" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b>See the first post <a href="http://yfrog.com/z/jckj8dj">HERE</a>.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b>See the edited post <a href="http://texas.patriotstatesman.com/2012/04/simpson-the-party%E2%80%99s-financial-savior/">HERE</a>.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>THIS JUST IN: </b></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The following is a formal retraction
of the claims made in a piece entitled, <a href="http://texas.patriotstatesman.com/2012/04/simpson-the-party%E2%80%99s-financial-savior/">“Simpson, the Party's FinancialSavior?” </a>The aforementioned piece was based on faulty information which proved
to be incorrect.</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><i><b>Here are the facts as I now
understand them:<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><i><b><br />
Randy Kubosh was not involved with the introduction or passage of the speaker
fees resolution.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><i><b>Kubosh is not “Democrat-leaning,” is
a member of the Republican Leadership Council, President of the Pachyderm Club,
and tireless party supporter for many years. The Kubosh family has been engaged
notably in conservative efforts to stop red-light cameras, thereby protecting
the privacy rights of Houston residents, and have financially supported
numerous conservative candidates and causes.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><i><b>As far as it is known, the Kingwood
Tea Party did not condition funding of the HCRP Senate convention on the
admittance of Congressional contender Ted Cruz to speak The offer was made
without restriction other than acknowledgment of donation. Printing this
without multiple sources of corroboration was irresponsible.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><i><b><br />
Paul Simpson is not in fact causally linked to the resolution governing speaker
fees, and the hasty connection of Simpson to this resolution on the basis of
faulty information provided to me by Richard Dillon and Bill Kneer, is not a
conclusion that is valid short of certain additional information. Both of these
individuals provided the information underpinning much of my piece. I can only
accept responsibility for my part. I do not wish to participate in a he said,
he said form of mudslinging. <o:p></o:p></b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><i><b>For those who briefly viewed an
earlier draft of, <a href="http://yfrog.com/z/jckj8dj">“Simpson, the Party's Financial Savior?”</a>, it must be noted
that since I was not in attendance at the HCRP Executive Committee meeting in
question, it is imprudent to discuss what did or did not take place between
specific individuals. I withdraw those comments. And I do sincerely apologize
to anyone I offended.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></div>
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What was written in the referenced piece is entirely uncharacteristic of my
typical <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/john_griffing/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0068cf;">modus operandi</span></a> as a writer and a journalist.
It is my sincere hope that all parties concerned will overlook my honest
factual error. <o:p></o:p></b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><i><b>John Griffing</b></i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b>FROM FISHIE:</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b>Kudos to John Griffing for setting the record straight, and for doing it so gracefully. And shame on Kneer and Dillon for misleading John. It makes one wonder if anything they say can be trusted.</b></span></div>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-64197060711787181292012-04-24T16:48:00.000-05:002012-04-25T08:46:03.089-05:00Oops!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Politics in Harris County sure gets interesting, especially around primaries.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Consider:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1P1jMw_ql7GKIQGjGhlv_ZIsn6QgAWVWGVEvJMbD3BnhMiZyzwFwx0p7ItfkPDrd13qgaD3gK42BrN4JtmYxjmFPU5LqNV4jqj1AaEv9PySOmY_2tt4pDRUysbYzOSxbO7QviT4vpI6w/s1600/Version+1+highlighted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1P1jMw_ql7GKIQGjGhlv_ZIsn6QgAWVWGVEvJMbD3BnhMiZyzwFwx0p7ItfkPDrd13qgaD3gK42BrN4JtmYxjmFPU5LqNV4jqj1AaEv9PySOmY_2tt4pDRUysbYzOSxbO7QviT4vpI6w/s320/Version+1+highlighted.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://yfrog.com/z/jckj8dj">(See the original post captured here.)</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the post that went up to replace it:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx-P4ubVc2XMwBshO9p0JfqKkb4fPQX1cr8V_z7eIcbINBb7IJ30rrOsf0N9LkA9_2xuo7BanwKK83NIM7Gd_V1znrZNkDPzc39ifgmG8oKFkzx2j4-DRyTzsz5jtKb0APvqMh4hu0ACI/s1600/Version+2+highlighted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx-P4ubVc2XMwBshO9p0JfqKkb4fPQX1cr8V_z7eIcbINBb7IJ30rrOsf0N9LkA9_2xuo7BanwKK83NIM7Gd_V1znrZNkDPzc39ifgmG8oKFkzx2j4-DRyTzsz5jtKb0APvqMh4hu0ACI/s320/Version+2+highlighted.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://texas.patriotstatesman.com/2012/04/simpson-the-party%E2%80%99s-financial-savior/">See the second, replacement post here.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More soon.</span>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-57343845747740564582012-04-19T11:14:00.001-05:002012-04-24T22:16:31.870-05:00And the HCRP Fail Continues...UPDATED<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr89GaVKxoxSsvOM6tlbx-rmEaOxifKh3yvaTp24_s-ktl8MWxxJtj16jtCLyh7JIrjJrsqNAC8yC8TT1YGRRu_7XYR-S3IzqM6WuXds6MzmRgai8YF_2rMsxA3dVDWUrIhTrnMk2PBxc/s1600/fail+ship.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr89GaVKxoxSsvOM6tlbx-rmEaOxifKh3yvaTp24_s-ktl8MWxxJtj16jtCLyh7JIrjJrsqNAC8yC8TT1YGRRu_7XYR-S3IzqM6WuXds6MzmRgai8YF_2rMsxA3dVDWUrIhTrnMk2PBxc/s1600/fail+ship.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's worse than we thought. This local Republican gang is in a downward spiral. The latest is that the party is doing everything it can to avoid the grassroots. This is especially hilarious when the HCRP "rapid response team" is out charging critics with <a href="http://texas.patriotstatesman.com/2012/04/the-garage-door-politicians-are-back-has-it-been-2-years-already/">not wanting to work with the party</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This just in from <a href="http://kingwoodtps.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/hcrp-senatorial-convention-funding/">Kingwood Tea's</a> website:</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>UPDATE # 2 - After <a href="http://attackfish.blogspot.com/2012/04/oops.html">THIS POST</a> where I found two versions of the HCRP story, GUS FARIS updates us here:</b></i></span><br />
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<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">UPDATE:
Tuesday, April 24, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Well, Mr. Griffing has struck out again.
His new conspiracy theory is as bad as his last one. He claims that KWTP made
the offer to fund the convention with the caveat that Ted Cruz speak at lunch.
That is wrong on two points. KWTP did not make the offer; I did. And I never
tied any requirement to it except that we be the sole sponsor and be recognized
for it. (“We” are some TEA Parties and other conservative groups.) When Jared
finally called back </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">8 days
after the offer was made and we had a chance to talk, he mentioned the caveat
that Mr. Cruz speak. I told him then that I had never said or implied anything
like that and asked where he heard it. He said he got that information from
Jeff Yates. I asked if he talked to Elizabeth Dillon and added that she is the
person to whom the offer was made. Then I added that I don’t know Jeff Yates. I
have never talked to him, and I did not know where he would get any information
like that. Jared then said he never talked to Elizabeth. So this requirement is
a pure figment of somebody’s imagination, sort of an outright lie. What was
illicit and inappropriate was when Jared offered to take our money and use the
other donations for other activities. I told him clearly that we wanted nothing
to do with that. This was not a petulant position as described – we just did
not want to participate in any activities that we thought might be illegal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We did talk about other
activities and possibilities for cooperation. We agreed to talk after the
convention to explore those. We do have funds that might be used for some of
those purposes, whatever they are, should they foster cooperation between HCRP
and conservative groups – just like we attempted to do with our original offer.
However, Mr. Griffing’s continuing attacks are taking a toll on our friendly
attitude and desire to cooperate with all conservative Republicans defeating
liberals in the upcoming elections. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>UPDATE - Apparently all this attention happened, and then Jared called. <a href="http://kingwoodtps.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/hcrp-senatorial-convention-funding/">Read the update here.</a></i></b></span><br />
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Local Grassroots Conservatives Offer to Fund Entire Senatorial Convention, but HCRP Never Returns Calls</h1>
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<a href="http://kingwoodtps.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/hcrp-senatorial-convention-funding/" rel="bookmark" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: rgb(255, 255, 255) !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Permanent Link to Local Grassroots Conservatives Offer to Fund Entire Senatorial Convention, but HCRP Never Returns Calls">APR 17</a></div>
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Posted by <a href="http://kingwoodtps.wordpress.com/author/jrazz2/" rel="author" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #999999; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Posts by Robin Lennon">Robin Lennon</a></div>
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<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4e4e4e; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On Monday, April 9, 2012, on behalf of the Kingwood and some other TEA Parties and 912 groups, we contacted Elizabeth in the HCRP office and offered to sponsor the entire cost for the HCRP convention on Saturday, April 21, 2012.</strong> We thought this was a reasonable offer since the HCRP would not be charging candidates to speak this year and they would be short funds for the convention. We did not ask for any control of any function of the convention, only that we sponsor the event solely and be recognized for doing so. We made the offer because we believe in the importance of having an open forum between voters and all candidates including those who represent our TEA Party core beliefs.</div>
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Elizabeth promised to contact Jared and ask that he call us to arrange how to get the money to the party. <strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jared never called, and Elizabeth quit taking my calls for the rest of the week.</strong> I am very sorry to have to report to you that our efforts seem to have been for naught. Today, we took the money off of the table because we can only assume that HCRP and Mr. Woodfill do not want our money or any association with our TEA Parties. We hope that their own fund-raising activities allow them to sponsor a fair and open forum for all the candidates, and we look forward to participating in that effort.</div>
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Submitted by Gus Faris, KWTP Director, 4/16/12 on behalf of Harris County Grassroots Conservatives.</div>
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***</div>
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<b>Now ask yourself WHY would the party ignore a solution to the highly publicized financial issues that were highlighted (AGAIN!) at the last executive committee meeting?</b></div>
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<b>Why would the office just stop taking calls regarding an offer to help?</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b>Who could possibly benefit from the party ignoring an offer to pay for the entire convention?</b></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b>And then I think you need to ask yourself whether this is the "solid conservative leadership" that we hear so much about. </b></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b>And ask yourself how in the world this short-sighted, insular thinking is going to get the job done in November. </b></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b>Ask how this ill-equipped, poorly-funded cadre on Richmond will launch any kind of effort against their ostensible opposition, when they are too busy fending off offers of help from within their own ideological branch. </b></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b>You could also ask "What are they afraid of" but I think the above example tells you all too clearly what they're afraid of. </b></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b>They're afraid of YOU.</b></div>
</div>
</div>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-21217396000183368822012-04-13T11:26:00.002-05:002012-04-13T12:03:53.027-05:00HCRP Update - Convention Attention<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipq2xiU7bU_eRu-T71R9B8K-lm-KEP-1zVN_QyIxzMB5QrtY77vWVmupnvnr8EftqFdc8cXd2T70GrULszip4wpezF4_yU-pjSxNQfppgdObCA6dJCEKHQ4SIZOLBV25dAUH3aguwkDdo/s1600/hcrp+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipq2xiU7bU_eRu-T71R9B8K-lm-KEP-1zVN_QyIxzMB5QrtY77vWVmupnvnr8EftqFdc8cXd2T70GrULszip4wpezF4_yU-pjSxNQfppgdObCA6dJCEKHQ4SIZOLBV25dAUH3aguwkDdo/s320/hcrp+logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Harris County Republican Party Senate District Convention (say THAT three times fast) is happening next weekend, April 21st. If you've been keeping up, you'll notice that the HCRP was forced to change the funding model for the convention at the last Executive Committee meeting, when the body pretty much revolted. More detail on that appears <a href="http://attackfish.blogspot.com/2012/04/hcrp-42-meeting-recap.html">here</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(And if you don't know anything about the convention process and want to be a part, or need a refresher course, I'll be teaching Convention 101 this coming Tuesday evening on April 17th, so join us for <a href="http://houstontps.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Dinner-and-a-Movement-April-17.pdf">"Dinner and a Movement."</a> )</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the latest buzz is that candidates will not be allowed to "electioneer" in the hallways, but instead will need to be corralled into a "candidate room." Maybe the leadership is afraid of frowns from a fire marshal or something, but this really takes the cake. Apparently the candidates would be too much of a distraction, or get in the way and block the halls. But by all means, even if we can't trust them to behave in the hallways, let's trust them with public office! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Isn't that #headdesk inducing?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Candidates are letting me know they are not happy with this. And I know plenty of them who would love to say something publicly, but think it would ultimately be unwise to do so. Well, the HCRP body spoke for them at the last meeting - I'll help speak for them now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In lieu of a long story, I'll just gather all the latest links and let you do the reading at your own pace. But before I do, I want you to think about one thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How many times have you complained about the RNC or the Republican Party Leadership? Are you one of the people who refuses to give the RNC money, and sends it to candidates instead? Why is that? Do you feel the national party leadership is competent? Did Michael Steele disappoint you during his term? Did you ask yourself how we got these leaders?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those leaders are chosen in part via the convention process. At the state convention, the delegates vote on the state leadership and the RNC members from Texas. Those RNC leaders end up voting for the national party. It all starts at the district convention.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So if you agree the national party has had its problems, what gives you confidence the local party is any different? Check out these two sites - <a href="http://www.hcdp.org/">Democrat</a> and <a href="http://www.harriscountygop.com/">Republican</a> - and tell me which informs people more, which helps people do political things with ease, which is messaging properly. Then go check out the links below and tell me if you see a theme running through them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And if you're as upset by all this as I am, consider whether it's past time for a new leadership model.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<a href="http://attackfish.blogspot.com/2012/04/from-randy-kubosh-on-hcrp-leadership.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Randy Kubosh's Open Letter</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bigjollypolitics.com/wp/2012/04/12/harris-county-republican-party-im-part-of-the-solution-and-heres-the-problem/">Kelly Horsley's Big Jolly Letter to the Editor</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bigjollypolitics.com/wp/2012/04/12/harris-county-republican-party-brother-can-you-spare-a-dime/">Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/04/04/pay-for-play-at-the-harris-county-texas-republican-party">"Pay To Play" Convention Covered on Breitbart</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=423">The Harris County Leadership Hole</a></span><br />
<br />Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-55208964132948752572012-04-13T11:11:00.000-05:002012-04-13T11:11:23.308-05:00From Randy Kubosh - On HCRP Leadership<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY6vmrz5MPfWspL-oVRfIiiNHGL-Kg3GLnulJlIqTEmCPnX5-U7wLqwekJxLukd7ZpKocZo7C9M7rA4EbMmVSN00fB_xlnXF2NurAPi0NTEShVE9EE_h_gk_eZdIFE7xxMk865xJDEV9w/s1600/kubosh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY6vmrz5MPfWspL-oVRfIiiNHGL-Kg3GLnulJlIqTEmCPnX5-U7wLqwekJxLukd7ZpKocZo7C9M7rA4EbMmVSN00fB_xlnXF2NurAPi0NTEShVE9EE_h_gk_eZdIFE7xxMk865xJDEV9w/s320/kubosh.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
This just came across my desk. I offer it without any editorializing. Just read it. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">"Good
is the enemy of great",</span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> a paper about the current state of
the Harris County Republican Party </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Many
attribute this quote to Jim Collins the business writer.
In actuality it is an updated quote by Voltaire, which was <b><i>“perfect
is the enemy of good”</i></b><i>.</i> Whichever version you prefer the
point is clear, <b>when we settle for mediocrity we are doomed</b>.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Such
is the case with the current state of the Harris County Republican Party.
While we have had some recent success, the <b>truth is we have seen a
steady decline</b>. Most specifically in the last 4 years. In 2008 we saw
a near Democratic sweep of countywide race, while losing many good conservative
judges in the process. While 2010 was a bounce back year, the results were more
of a referendum on President Obama than a Conservative resurgence. Two
years ago <u>in the 2010 election the Democratic candidate for Governor won the
majority of ballots cast in Harris County.</u> <b><i>The very real and
damaging result is that the Democrats will control the election judge position
in all early voting locations in Harris County in 2012. This could mean loses
in a close election.</i> </b><u>This slow slide into the abyss has not occurred
without warning</u>. But the entrenched leadership won’t allow dissent within
the party structure, and those that sound a warning are called disloyal and
their motives are questioned, meanwhile the questions themselves go
unanswered.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The problems at the County Party are many and they are not
new</span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">.
Offices have been closed; calls go unreturned, longtime conservative activists
are marginalized because they are not part of Mr. Woodfill’s team. This is
not leadership; nor is it a way to grow a party. <em><b>You cannot make something better by
staying the same.</b></em> We have problems but we also have solutions.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Here
is a <i>partial </i>lists of a few of the glaring problems.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> *<b>The
Party’s website is outdated, cluttered and ineffective.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Please
don’t take my word for it, just go look for yourself at the Harris County
Democrat party website, <a href="http://www.hcdp.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext;">http://www.hcdp.org/</span></a> and then compare it to
the Republican website. Communication has changed, Face book, smart phones,
Twitter are instantaneous and cheap. The democrats have capitalized on this
change. But the technology is not exclusive to them. There are many local
Republican candidates who are doing a better job of using social media than the
party itself. We should look to them and use what works and improve where
we can. The party has had many opportunities to do this; Mr. Woodfill has not
acted upon these opportunities.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> *The
<b>full list of Precinct chairs</b> is on the HCDP website and in a
downloadable format, it's easy to navigate and for anyone wanting to get the
information it is there. Unlike our own party’s website which you must click on
one precinct at a time. And even then, half the time the information
seems to be outdated.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">*<b>Fundraising
is anemic</b>, party leadership recently failed to convince the Executive
Committee to support their plan to pay for the convention. Now they make
panicked and desperate pleas for funding. This is not
leadership; it's panhandling. The need for a county convention
was not a surprise. While it is true the exact date was not known until
the Federal court issued its ruling; it was always a statutory requirement that
the convention itself be held. Where was the planning, the foresight?</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Additionally there are many unanswered question about how
the party has spent its money. If there has been no wrongdoing then open the
books, do an audit, if you have nothing to hide, then why are you hiding?</span></i></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">*The
HCDP also has monthly brown bag lunches where Democratic Party leaders will
meet with anyone that desires to attend. We can’t seem to get our own party
chairman to show up at any club meetings. Only now when the
chairman has a primary opponent is the party is holding Senate
District meetings where Mr. Woodfill does nothing more than reprocess outdated
information and techniques on communicating to local voters.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">*<b>Where
is the facebook, twitter, email suggestions</b>? Why not mention the importance
of communicating this info to members of non-political organizations one
might be a part of? The party chair should be in constant and open
communication with the clubs. It would not be difficult for the chair to meet
once a year with Club Presidents. In fact this practice should be routine.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">These
are <b>only a few of the problems</b>; a complete listing of the problems would
be too depressing. We can do better, we have an option. There are many
talented and dedicated conservatives who want to be a part of the solution. <b>The
fixes are there, why they may not all be easy, but most are quite simple.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> The
<b>change begins with a change in leadership</b>. It’s time that we have a new
party Chairman. Let’s fix this before it’s too late and the
democrats control all of Harris County.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Randy Kubosh</span></em><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Randall D. “Randy”
Kubosh</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Life Long Republican and
Pro-Life </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Pct. 2 Chair; 2010,
2011, 2012</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Ambassador Level RLC
Member; 2010, 2011, 2012</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Former Secretary of the
HCRP Finance Committee; 2011</span><o:p></o:p></div>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-85984846295144549892012-04-11T15:46:00.002-05:002012-04-11T15:47:49.383-05:00Living With Romney?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know, I know; a lot of people are bummed that Santorum dropped out of the presidential race. Newt's still chugging away, but mathematically there's not much hope for Newt. What the upcoming primary voters in states yet to hold a primary actually do is looking less and less important to the eventual outcome.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, that doesn't mean that people should drop their favorite candidate in the primary and just vote for Romney. Protest votes and sending a message are fine strategies, and I applaud and encourage them, and will engage in them when Texas votes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But eventually, we'll get to the place where Romney has accumulated enough delegates to be the Republican nominee. That's a prospect that fills few reform Republicans and conservatives with glee. So then what?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/jimmiebjr">Jimmie Bise Jr</a>. has an answer. Go to the site for his radio show <a href="http://www.deliveryshow.com/">"The Delivery"</a> and download the podcast from April 4th. Listen to the whole hour. Jimmie rants about the Romney candidacy, and does it in a way that I find quite eloquent. But Jimmie doesn't just rant. Jimmie proposes a Grand Bargain.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I couldn't say it as well as he does:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"I've reached a compromise in my head with the Republican Party...</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"I am going to extend some credit to the Republican party. I am going to vote for Mitt Romney. I am going to do my very best, consistent with my ability to keep my own intellectual integrity intact. I am going to recommend to my friends that they vote for Mitt Romney... I want Mitt Romney to beat Barack Obama. I will do whatever I have to do to drag this dead horse over the finish line.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"That's what I'm going to give the Republican party... Republicans, that what you get from me. I don't want to do this, I don't like doing this, but I will do it. I'll do it because, quite honestly, you have me behind the eight ball.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"But know this, Republican Party; after November, I am no longer behind the eight ball. And I don't have to do anything else for you at all...</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"So here's where the compromise comes in... I'll drag his bloated ideological corpse where it has to be...</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>but I want something in return... You have dragooned me into doing something for you....</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"I'm telling you, you're not going to have me locked to this oar forever... after November, you start paying me back...</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"I will not do this again.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"No more, Republicans, I'm done with this. WE are done with this. All those tea party people that right now you think you have under your thumb, they're there till November."</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hear the rest at The Delivery, and tell me what you think. I think I could live with this, the way Jimmie puts it.</span>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-37134339516547122302012-04-09T09:55:00.000-05:002012-04-09T14:38:07.507-05:00Other Places I Write<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I write whatever I feel like writing here - sort of Fish unedited. But sometimes I scribble things down somewhere else.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last night's Harris County Republican Party Executive Committee meeting was... interesting. As <a href="http://houstontps.org/?p=1709">I wrote on HTPS this week</a>, there were rumors of several resolutions being offered, and those were the talk of the meeting. There's no way to know what motivated people, but attendance was the highest I can recall, both among precinct chairs, candidates, and visitors.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One highlight of unity before getting into the conflict: the Local Government Committee's report contained a resolution opposing the <a href="http://houstontps.org/?p=1699">Houston Feeding Ordinance</a>, which passed the committee unanimously, and which was adopted by the executive committee with their report. So HCRP's MEMBERSHIP is on record as opposing the attempt to control efforts to feed the homeless in Houston. The Local Government committee deserves props for making this issue part of their report, and the membership should be pleased to know that the resolution will be brought before Houston City Council today. A lot of the time resolutions passed in these meetings don't appear to matter much, but this one does; it carries official weight of the party in opposing a bad ordinance. That's all to the good. Kudos, people; well done.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And what of the other resolutions? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>AUDIT</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Randy Kubosh offered the resolution to ask for a monthly financial accounting, which was ruled out of order, since it would involve a bylaws change. Changes to the bylaws require some notice ahead of the meeting, and thus this resolution truly was out of order. Bylaws changes are proposed through the Rules Committee, which operates with a natural (and understandable) reluctance to propose a lot of changes to the bylaws. That said, a member who wanted to increase reporting, or make changes to the accountability requirements would have to navigate Rules committee meetings, hope that the committee approved the changes, wait for the Rules committee to notify the membership of a proposed change with proper notice, and then wait for the meeting at which there was enough of a quorum in order to vote on a change to the bylaws. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a little maddening, sure. A lot depends on the members of the Rules committee, and whether they judge the change to be acceptable. But making bylaws difficult to amend is purposeful - it ensures deliberation before changing rules or procedures that are already in place</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so members have proper notice of structural changes to their organization</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so that everyone knows ahead of time what is being proposed</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so membership has time to digest the effect of the proposed change</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still, proposing some financial accountability on the floor of the Executive Committee meeting is one way to begin building support, but the members calling for this kind of accountability next need to begin drafting changes to bylaws and circulating them among the membership. If the Rules committee sees a very large and passionate portion of the membership supporting this move, they will have a difficult time ignoring it. Petitions from the precinct chairs, anyone?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>FUNDING CONVENTION</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In response to the news that the party would be charging candidates to speak at the upcoming April 21st convention, Ed Hubbard and other activists in the county challenged "the way we've always done things" and called for the leadership to request donations from those in attendance instead. Ed went so far as to start a <a href="http://www.bigjollypolitics.com/wp/harris-county-republican-party-sd-convention-pledge-drive/">pledge drive</a> to prove that the grassroots would indeed step up to the challenge and pay for the event. A resolution to that effect was offered last night as well. Most opponents felt that charging candidates from between $500 and $5,000 to speak was certainly a practice that should be stopped.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The short story is that, though there was no way to mandate that the party charge individuals an admission fee, the final amended resolution threw the issue back to the Advisory Committee (made up of the county's Senate District chairs) and scrapped the candidate fees. Though <a href="http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Harris-County-GOP-adopts-then-rejects-stumping-3454221.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">Chairman Woodfill complained about it to the Chronicle</a>, Hubbard's thinking here is sound:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">since the candidate-funding model began, there has been an influx of new precinct chairs</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">those new chairs and activists are still learning how the party operates </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">many have been brought to the party through tea party and grassroots efforts</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">many have ties to low-budget, grassroots candidates who would be at a disadvantage using the candidate-funding model</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All that is important, because the arguments last night from those who wanted to keep the model were along these lines:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">we've done it for a long time now, what's new?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this is a political stunt</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">candidates ASKED for this back in the '90s</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">candidates benefit most, why not have them pay?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tea parties charge candidates, why not the party?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You already know what I think of "We've always done it" thinking. And as for a political stunt? Is there any time that this resolution could be offered when leadership or its cronies would NOT say that? Any hint of criticism of the leadership seems to bring out the same sad cast of characters, blustering and arguing that "the critics never do anything to help" and similar arguments. As one who has seen over the past several years how very MANY of these critics of the party leadership have given their time and effort to work with and for the party, I'm disgusted with those old lines. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If candidates indeed asked for this model back in the '90s, it would seem even then that forces in the party were hoping to keep low-budget (read: not backed by big money) candidates from reaching that audience. No need to have an opportunity to critically assess EACH candidate, just the ones who can afford it. Sure candidates, benefit, but so do the attendees, and shutting some out for not having a fat checkbook effectively favors candidates in an election, and should stop.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the tea party charge? Tea parties have charged for tables and booths, just as any other exhibitors would do. What they have not been known to do is charge candidates to become part of a speaker roster. If anything, tea party has given candidates more exposure, for less money, than any political party so ill-funded has been able to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This resolution was debated furiously; at one time opponents of the resolution attempted to table it into irrelevance, which the body refused to do. It finally passed, and we will know soon what model will take its place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>POLLAND REBUKE</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before the resolution to rebuke Gary Polland for his support of Mayor Parker in his Texas Conservative Review could be offered, a hasty motion to adjourn (well after normal meeting adjournment times, to be fair) was made, seconded, and passed. It's no wonder EC members were weary after the prior measures, and were ready to go home. It seems that resolution will have to be brought up in a future meeting; however timing was important on this item. Polland's endorsements will be going out during this primary season, and the EC lost an opportunity to let him, and primary voters who receive his newsletter, know that he has lost credibility in Harris County. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We'll see what happens at convention, in the primary, and at the next EC meeting. Change is slow, people, but sometimes it does come.</span>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-9492578676813931112012-03-29T16:19:00.001-05:002012-03-29T16:19:52.170-05:00Rant Alert - HCRP<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLqYwDk2n6I-peQg5Zwz2TbAmJrKKKVIGpQ0PdXviV9D_lgkaMY4U6eJRoAwvwcwECBu61t8Dd8YCb_doDY5ts0TdF3DBXMfDw9DNd-Pc7man83tr8uYEJoTE1K9aOQCmojqD79G-jMM/s1600/smoke+filled+room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLqYwDk2n6I-peQg5Zwz2TbAmJrKKKVIGpQ0PdXviV9D_lgkaMY4U6eJRoAwvwcwECBu61t8Dd8YCb_doDY5ts0TdF3DBXMfDw9DNd-Pc7man83tr8uYEJoTE1K9aOQCmojqD79G-jMM/s1600/smoke+filled+room.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I know it's shocking, but I occasionally feel the need to go on a rampage about political events. The life of a grassroots political activist is full of frustrations, obviously. The bad part is when we identify problems and offer solutions, and are totally ignored. Even worse is when everything we do to try to support good candidates is countered by an establishment mindset, afraid of change and afraid of losing power.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's start here: <a href="http://www.bigjollypolitics.com/wp/2012/03/28/harris-county-republican-party-a-system-we-should-be-ashamed-of/">THIS</a> appeared on Big Jolly Politics this week. In it, Ed Hubbard talks about the way the Harris County Republican Party has continued its slide into ineffectiveness. The latest? It seems the local party, unable to finance the required District conventions, will <strike>extort</strike> ask candidates to pay from $500 to $5,000 to address the attendees at the convention. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Think low-budget, grassroots candidates can afford that? Not easily. So, keep those candidates without huge money interests behind them from being able to talk to voters at the convention. Pay for the convention with money from candidates. Kill two birds with one stone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's Ed in his own words: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<b><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">I am going to be very blunt in what I am about to say—very few activists or primary voters have any real say in who wins most, if not all, of our local GOP primary races any more. In large part, you have no say because there is no functioning party organization in Harris County to provide a level playing field for our primaries. In fact, over the last 10-15 years, our local party apparatus has been gutted. And it has been gutted on purpose.</span>
</i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What Ed touches on in his piece is the way the party has largely become completely ineffectual:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charging candidates to pay for the convention, keeping the office open, paying staff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Failing to recruit precinct chairs</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://bigjolly.com/sections/harris-county/307-do-alleged-pay-to-play-endorsements-work.html">Allowing an endorsement racket to operate in county politics, effectively allowing three men to decide who will win primary races</a></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're not sure you follow all that, just ask yourself this - <b>what is a political party supposed to do? What is its function?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My guess is that your answer (regarding HCRP) would be something like "get good people elected" or "elect conservatives" or "show some leadership on the issues" or "fight for conservative causes." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Ed's point is that the HCRP has set all that aside, and instead focused on empowering and enriching a small number of people connected with the current chair and the prior one. Ed starts making that case in his post where he documents how much income one former chair has made in appointments by judges he helped elect. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stunning, really, how all this goes on. And frustrating how few people know what is happening. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have to say, too, that Ed Hubbard and I first met right after the 2008 election, when he showed me just how horribly Republicans did in Harris County. That was before there was a tea party, before there was a strong grassroots activist network, before I knew what was happening. And truthfully, I still don't know after four years all the players, what they do, how they're related. But I've seen the results.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In response to the party's lackluster involvement, in 2009 and 2010, Houston Tea Party Society ran precinct chair and convention training all over the county, and in many parts of the state as well. When the precinct chair filing deadline ended, HCRP had a large number of new filers, new people running for precinct chair. Sadly, at the same time, a huge number of existing precinct chairs did not refile, so the number of precincts with chairs has remained right around 50%. Imagine what would have happened had HTPS NOT recruited over 100 new activists!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The point there is HTPS and other tea party groups and liberty activists should not have to be fulfilling party functions. We shouldn't have to teach people how to get involved - HCRP should. We shouldn't have to teach people how the convention process works - HCRP should. We shouldn't have to recruit people to join the party system and work for conservative candidates - HCRP should. We shouldn't have to teach people how to use social media to engage people politically - HCRP should. So is it any wonder that my motto has been "Doing the Jobs Republicans Won't Do"? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which brings up this: the people most afraid of tea party success are not necessarily on the left. And now you know why. When tea party people see something wrong in the GOP and say something about it, the GOP <i><b>hates that</b></i>. Republican establishment thought that the tea party would be the burst of energy, the Ground Team for the GOP. Then, when the tea parties started offering venues to challengers, or criticizing the leadership, the GOP realized that tea parties may not have been the easy allies they were looking for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the weeks ahead, I'll be linking here all kinds of research that will prove that the HCRP isn't fulfilling its proper functions, and connect the dots for people. It won't be light reading. Read it anyway. Either you learn what's going on, or you forfeit the right to complain about how "the Republican leadership sucks." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-78343168689791005532012-03-09T15:35:00.002-06:002012-03-09T15:35:34.366-06:00Friday Favorites #13<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6NY-bN5GOi58THaXyxEQAkG_rWlxy5_hm6ftxqf7IYVnkYXgEaTlqT9aWw2aVyj-93ciw1KAT2AwyBGyFE0gLRxaTd6ViDZu-ftOuMmx5u0AvOST8gdy3tKWBVqZZgpt6X9YqYiNBj90/s1600/andrew-breitbart-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6NY-bN5GOi58THaXyxEQAkG_rWlxy5_hm6ftxqf7IYVnkYXgEaTlqT9aWw2aVyj-93ciw1KAT2AwyBGyFE0gLRxaTd6ViDZu-ftOuMmx5u0AvOST8gdy3tKWBVqZZgpt6X9YqYiNBj90/s320/andrew-breitbart-.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boy, it's been a long time since I did a Friday Favorites! It's not you, it's me. Really. I'm a mess, for a host of reasons, but chiefly because it's 2012 and stuff is happening every day. Which doesn't help excuse it, but at least people will nod their heads an say "Yeah, I know, right?" and promptly forget about it and move on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's a lot to get to today, so let's jump in!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJwb_wEaW2M"><b>How to Deal With Slow Walkers</b></a> - This cracks me up - every time. I totally plan to buy one of these.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2010/04/hot-corn-dip-from-trisha-yearwood.html">Hot Corn Dip</a></b> - I am fanning myself, I swear. Yum yum!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://widk.com/"><b>Wish I Didn't Know</b></a> - And you will, but check it out anyway, because where else could you learn about <a href="http://widk.com/2012/03/09/police-catch-robber-wearing-t-shirt-and-tutu-and-nothing-else/"><b>fetching robbery attire</b></a> and <b><a href="http://widk.com/2012/03/06/woman-is-addicted-to-growing-her-nails-jeopardizing-her-health-refuses-to-cut-off-her-babies/">nail growth addiction</a>.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/top_stories/Police%3A-Man-Tries-to-Steal-Beer-Truck20120130-ktbcw-#axzz1l3DnAPol"><b>Crime Doesn't Pay</b></a> - but when beer is involved, sometimes it's very tempting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh2dm_FYKpE">Cat Stops Baby From Crying</a></b> - You know you want this cat. Squeeeeee! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://spinsucks.com/communication/nine-ways-to-make-yourself-charming/"><b>How To Make Yourself Charming</b></a> - I love Gini Dietrich - she always has something helpful to put out. A pretty good example here, but check out the other things she's done.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/07/lottery-winner-on-food-stamps-i-thought-maybe-it-was-okay-because-im-not-working/">Lottery Winner Still on Food Stamps</a></b> - Yeah, there's no problem in this country, not at all!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ksat.com/news/Austin-passes-plastic-bag-ban/-/478452/9213398/-/arhpnnz/-/index.html"><b>Austin Passes Plastic Bag Ban</b></a> - Who's surprised by this? Well, don't get to cocky if you love in Houston because...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetexasconservative.com/?p=376"><b>Houston Attempting to Pass Feeding Ordinance</b></a> - yeah, don't you DARE get caught sharing food with a homeless person!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/blogger-demonstrates-serious-flaw-tsa-body-s"><b>TSA Scanners Exposed</b> </a>- Pardon the pun, but check out this video debunking these "sophisticated" full body scanners! Then see how <b><a href="http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/11120-youtube-censors-anti-tsa-video">You Tube Censored It.</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>Rush v. The Media</u> - </b>It all started with a <a href="http://attackfish.blogspot.com/2012/03/dont-take-bait.html">Fluke</a>, and went downhill from there, culminating in a series of <a href="http://attackfish.blogspot.com/2012/03/whos-boycotting-rush.html">sponsors leaving Rush's show</a>. But as expected from the Breitbart-influenced New Media, the story didn't end there.<b> </b>Amy Miller<b> </b>penned <a href="http://thecollegeconservative.com/2012/03/07/getting-it-on/">this awesome piece</a>, and others have continued to turn the subject back from an imaginary "war on women" to a real discussion of religious liberty and fiscal responsibility.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://michellemalkin.com/2012/03/07/announcing-twitchy-com/">Michelle Malkin Announces "TWITCHY"</a></b> - I am loving <a href="http://twitchy.com/">this news site</a> - even if you don't tweet, you can follow what's happening on Twitter! Brilliant!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-tina-fey-effect/2012/03/09/gIQAwmjO1R_blog.html#excerpt?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost">There IS a Tina Fey Effect</a></b> - I've known this since 2008 and the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm1KOBMg1Y8">How Obama Got Elected</a> study. Go back and look at it. See what conservatives are up against this time around, and then ask yourself if the culture war is worthless.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.sunshinestatesarah.com/2012/03/we-have-lost-giant-rip-andrew-breitbart.html#.T1Emv2O9ukU.twitter">RIP ANDREW BREITBART</a></b> - The best list of tributes you'll find (mine's in there too) and a great testimony to the life of a great warrior. Check out the <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/">BIG</a> sites since the revamp, and also catch <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/20865894">our own local "wake"</a> held last weekend in his honor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So sorry so short, but you'll have plenty to keep you busy until next time! Love ya, mean it!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-1481396185836721962012-03-06T13:26:00.001-06:002012-03-06T13:27:18.020-06:00Where Does Big Government Come From?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been puzzling over this for a while now, and while I can't yet prove it, I think I have figured out part of the reason that government has grown to the extent it has, and how we let it happen. I'm just scratching thoughts down here so I don't lose them, but I'd love to have a ton of comments on this one, to see whether I'm totally off base.<br />
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We talk about how we've lost the "community" aspect to our lives - how we don't know our neighbors and so on. But why is that? Could it be due to any of the following?<br />
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<b>The double-income family phenomenon is likely making more families independent than ever before.</b> Rather than the historical multi-generational living arrangements, families are more likely now to be found living in completely separate units from other family members, and even in completely separate states.<br />
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<b>The rise in the number of jobs a typical person has in a lifetime reflects more mobility in terms of moving to a new job.</b> It used to be that a person was more likely to do one thing, or work for one company, over his lifetime. Whether a farmer or a factory worker, one typically signed on for the duration. <a href="http://www.infographicsarchive.com/business-economics/how-many-jobs-do-americans-hold-in-a-lifetime/">Studies </a>place the number of jobs an average person works in a lifetime at something like 10 or 11 now. Is that because companies feel more free to hire and fire? Is it because a two-income family depends less on both people working?<br />
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<b>Housing value bubbles could have spurred more families to "move up" in house.</b> As rising prices allowed homeowners to realize wealth by selling a large asset, the proceeds could then be used as a down payment on a larger home. This means people could have moved out of established neighborhoods into newer, less settled subdivisions.<br />
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<b>More education raised a child's potential standard of living far above his parents. </b> The G.I. Bill, Pell Grants and the student loan programs helped vast numbers of people attend colleges and universities, some of whom were the first in their families to attend college. But that's not all - compulsory K-12 education (or as much of it as a district could force a child to attend) changed education entirely. Children of farmers would not have been expected in prior generations to complete schooling past 8th grade, for example. Now the national expectation is that all children will attend school through high school, and there are many initiatives to push those expectations upwards, stressing a college education for all students. At any rate, more opportunity for education among poorer families meant that their children could easily outstrip their earning power, particularly if a young couple were both college-educated and worked. No need to stay and live in the old neighborhood, then; just go back occasionally to visit the folks.<br />
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<b>The focus on education outstripped the focus on a work ethic.</b> With more students continuing their education beyond a bachelor's degree and staying in school longer, the need to work (unless to make up gaps in the student loans or scholarships, or for drinking money) has been all but done away with. This along with easy credit could be responsible for people making bad money decisions and having difficulty tying the value of "stuff" to the hours they work.<br />
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<b>A population with fewer ties to place feels less responsible for their places. </b> People who move around a lot develop fewer ties to the places they live, and thus less civic engagement and less community involvement. Whereas small town living meant the neighbors knew all your business, it also meant they could more easily identify each others' needs. A disconnected and transitory populace is far less likely to see a problem and say "I need to do something about that" and far more likely to say "SOMEBODY needs to do something about that" and then delegate the problem to a government entity.<br />
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So that's what I came up with - the less of a community we find where we are, the more likely we are to see a big government solution for everything. Make sense? What am I leaving out? Thoughts?<br />
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<br />Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519698322671868469.post-30607065514238341682012-03-05T13:23:00.002-06:002012-03-05T13:24:19.870-06:00Don't Take the Bait<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.therightscoop.com/newt-owns-david-gregory-on-contraception/">There's no debate about access to contraception. - Newt</a></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Newt's right. And too many conservatives are getting sidetracked, as the administration drags red herrings across the campaign trail, hoping to get conservatives off message.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This past week we were all treated to <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/how-the-sandra-fluke-story-unfolded_b114885">THIS STORY</a> - Sandra Fluke, described as a "young law student" testifying at a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlRC0nsjtKQ">hearing on Women's Health</a> held by Nancy Pelosi, followed by a scathing on-air rebuttal from Rush Limbaugh wherein he <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9JLRypv9eA">described Ms. Fluke as a slut</a>. It's the story that won't die, following on the heels of several weeks of media and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r69tEHGBskU">debate questions</a> attempting to paint socially conservative presidential hopeful Rick Santorum as a right-wing nutjob. The leftist blogosphere has been having a field day with this, tag-teaming with the mainstream media to create the general feeling that social conservatives are nuts. And they hate women. And they go to church and listen to the pastor or minister and stuff. And they are creepy. I mean, who goes to church anymore?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Breitbart Conservatives know that this is not about access to birth control, or religious zealots trying to force everyone to adhere to their religious beliefs. It's not about poor women denied health care or how the GOP hates women or college students being labelled "sluts."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's about the First Amendment, and religious freedom. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The backstory that the media is running from concerns (wouldn't you know it) Obamacare. Apparently the "Affordable Care Act" contains a Contraceptive Coverage Regulation, which is supposed to make those crusty religious organizations like Catholic universities and hospitals and charities (who exist, of course, solely to oppress women) offer, against the teachings of their faith, birth control coverage in their comprehensive medical coverage plans.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's go over that again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Institutions like Catholic hospitals, which carry out their missions in accordance with certain tenets, are going to be forced to pay for coverage that will violate those tenets. The administration's "compromise" of making insurers pay instead of these institutions is a <a href="http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-obama-contraception,0,3592211.story">false compromise</a> - a university would still be paying the insurer for the coverage through increased rates for everyone, because no insurance company is going to just offer these services free.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No matter how you look at that, it's a violation of the institutions' right to freedom of religion. End of story. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As an aside, it's hugely comic that the left attacks people of religion for *not* following the teachings of their faith as hypocrites, and then attacks them when they *do* follow the teachings of their faith as "women-haters."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Follow the logic of Ms. Fluke and those who support her viewpoint: I'm attending a prestigious university costing me huge fees and tuition rates, and I can't afford (or can't find) cheap contraceptives. Perish the thought of cutting back on other discretionary expenses (like most of the rest of the country) in order to afford contraceptives. This isn't, and has never been, about "access" - I have "access" to a lot of things that I may not be able to afford right now. It's about a cynical attempt to get young voters and women back on the Obama plantation and stop looking at the miserable unemployment numbers, the horrible foreign relations issues, the rising energy prices.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This "get your rosaries off my ovaries" thing would make much more sense if the people working in or attending these institutions did not end up there voluntarily, freely associating with an organization run by a faith tradition. And they are certainly free to un-associate. But no, they want to force *their* morality on Catholics, and guarantee that those bad old Catholics won't be allowed to make them feel "judged" by limiting their medical coverage to procedures and medications that actually follow the church teaching.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps Congressman Issa should have let Ms. Fluke testify after all, and while vetting her, subpoenaed her Visa debit card receipts for the past few months. For the cost of a Starbucks a day, you can get some pretty decent birth control. It isn't the church's problem if you want to have your Starbucks and your birth control pills too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Fishiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865042936899849740noreply@blogger.com3