Wo-b-gon

Turning and turning in the widening gyre the falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

- The Second Coming, by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

In Lake Wobgon the adults were responsible, the family was intact, and all the children were above average…. Lake Wobegon is more than an American town created by one really good storyteller. The people in the story town ring true at some level for many of us. It reflects a time and the people's behavior reflects the kind of values that are of value. Their ties with each other are straight forward. Interactions with their community is almost predictable. We look around and know there was a time when these Wobgon citizens walked all the streets in all the small towns that make up this country. Wobegon is gone. It has been lost to the challenge of progress. From time to time and mostly by accident we see or more likely sense that in the cool shadows of tree lined small town streets are vestiges of the social structures that built the town, raised the families, and built the nation. We get a glimpse and quickly it melts back into the shadows.

We, in the Tea Party, realize and accept that yesteryear small town America can't return…. What is not acceptable is the loss of the moral values and beliefs that made it such a powerful social tool. In losing America's Wobgon we lost so many of the things that made us strong as a people and a nation: The historical family unit, the values, the beliefs, and our unique form of government.

Of all the states, I believe, we in Mississippi have struggled to hold on to the Wobgon America. Many outsiders simply smile. Others laugh and speak of Mississippi folk as a little backward, a A little behind the times. Possibly they are right in one way but have completely missed in another. The times they speak of have brought this country to a point of collapse. This time has brought us to economic decay, social regression, greed and envy, and a constant undercurrent of class warfare. Yes, we are behind in this great social change and rather proud of it. As our President preaches his form of progressive controlling government with it unique equality verses inequality interoperations and childhood ideas of what is fair if one group has more than another group... I wonder how did we come to this? What did we in America's Wobgon(s) do or not do that allowed this plague of biblical proportions to fall on our nation.

It is difficult to point to one thing because in fact it was a thousands of small acts, mostly out of our view, by government that got us to where we are today…. Let us look at a small list of these small acts to see just how our government has operated believing they would go unnoticed. Unnoticed by most and ignored by the liberal press but clear examples of the level of their governing. Here is a list of just ten most egregious things the federal government paid for this year:

Reported in the dailycaller.com

10. $764,825 for a study on how college students use cell phones and social media
The National Science Foundation awarded the University of Notre Dame this grant to study the mobile and social media habits of college freshmen. We can tell you exactly how college freshmen use mobile phones and social media: for 3 a.m. texts and phone calls to that girl in American History. We could have saved the government a lot of money. Just ask us.
9. $136,555 for teachers to retrace Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in England
This grant, awarded to teachers from Kent State and Eastern Illinois Universities, allowed Middle English lit fanatics to take the trip outlined in Canterbury Tales. We’re betting £10 that the tour guides just make up half of the landmarks.
8. $55,660 on butter packaging
Kriemhild Dairy Farms received this chunk of change to package their grass-fed cow butter. The funding isn’t the only thing that’s too big: The butter itself is 85 percent fat.
7. $606,000 for a study about online dating
Columbia University researchers received over a half-million dollars to study online dating. Maybe the Ivy League nerds who conducted this study should put down the lab coats and go to a bar — or at least the library.
6. $484,000 for a pizza restaurant
Arlington, Texas has one more beer and pizza joint, thanks to this grant to a private developer. The groovy Mellow Mushroom, a national chain, is known for its hippie theme.
5. $48,700 towards the Second Annual Hawaii Chocolate Festival 
These funds were awarded to promote Hawaii’s chocolate industry. The Aloha State is already full of sandy beaches, clear blue water, and sun. Why do they get all the good stuff? (That’s the mayor of Hershey, Pennsylvania on Line 1.)
4. $147,138 to build a magic museum 
Maybe the wizards at the American Museum of Magic in Marshall, Mich., can make the federal deficit disappear. The grant was awarded to promote the “history of magic entertainment.”
3. $96,000 on iPads for kindergarteners
One school district in Maine was awarded this grant to buy every kindergarten student the latest Apple gadget. These kids can’t add yet, but thanks to Uncle Sam they’ll never need to.
2. $175,587 for a study on the link between cocaine and the mating habits of quail
The funding for this super-important scientific study is down from its 2010 level of $181,406. But we think the amount is ridiculous for research that proves what the film “Blow” already did: that cocaine is linked to high-risk sexual activity.
1. $130,987 for dragon robots
We think the phrase “dragon robots” sounds pretty cool. But when their purpose is to help develop preschoolers’ vocabulary, that’s when we get a little worried. The National Science Foundation will spend nearly $1 million over four years to determine if the dragon-shaped robot can enhance toddlers’ learning skills — because Elmo and Barney are just so 1990s.

We get these kinds of funded 'programs' through lobbing efforts by small groups and they are supported by congress because it buys them campaign money and votes. OK… I know this is tedious stuff but these ten only represent a small percentages of governments 'feel good -vote buying handouts." These silly costly grants problems can be fixed through simple political will and voter awareness.

The greater problem has been that elected official's willingness to turn over the governing to the various federal departments allows them to write regulations and gives them the power to prosecute and fine citizens and business. Through regulations they limit business and exclude start up companies. I won't give but one recent example. I know that you have heard many others.

In Montana’s Finley Basin there are known tungsten deposits. An Australian company wanted to bring revenue and jobs to the state by developing the resource. While the property was successfully drilled and recognized by Union Carbide in the seventies, it is now about 200 yards inside a road less study area. The Forest Service was willing to offer a conditional drilling permit.

Among the conditions were these requirements:

•          The drill sites must be cleared using hand tools,
•          The drilling equipment and fuel must be transported to the site by a team of pack mules,
•          The mules must be fed certified weed-free hay, and
•          Drill site and trail reclamation must be done using hand tools.

The company gave up. Can anyone blame them…..?

As this year comes to a close we can look back with some pride in the Tea Party's accomplishments. Possibly the most import is the recognition that the citizens in the Tea Party have found their voice and have been accepted as a major player in the state and federal political process. No small accomplishment in such a few years.

Now they see us coming…..So the hill will get steeper and the road rougher for us and any person we choose to support. For many Americans the Tea Party is a fringe group that they sense is dangerous to them, their liberal candidates, and the controlling government. Is their perception of us correct? YES

We feel we are fighting for a way of life and a set of beliefs set forth in the original founding of this country. They feel they are fighting for a way of life and a form of government they believe in and rely on. How can we get through these next ten months without falling into the simplistic media thinking of one group is good and the other bad….? Our President is pushing as hard as he can for the division.

Liberal voters and liberal thinking are not our enemies. It is not our fellow Americans but government and governing as it is practiced today that is the enemy. The governing process has been corrupted by all (not the new folks) of the good ole boys and girls currently in congress… So long as one is left the political system is tainted. This virus is called, ' do anything to get reelected' and will continue to spread to all of the newly elected given time…. How many time have we seen this….? Just count the number of senators we have had in Mississippi over the past century. It's shockingly few.

We are the stewards... Our current elected leaders are incapable of fixing the problems they have created. We need to accept this…. Saying some of them seem OK just confuses the mission of taking our government back. They have all played their parts in this destruction.

Come January One The Oxford Tea Party clock starts it countdown to the next elections as we did last year. When it starts to tick there will be little more than three hundred days till we decided who our new elected employees will be. That isn't much time. We must use it well. Who we like and dislike needs to be set aside quickly and focus on who can beat Obama in the elections and has the ability to lead the nation.

Yeats warning: The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

How is this campaign and the candidates shaping up in your minds? More conservative writers are taking closer looks at who might be the leaders in the conservative presidential candidates. In their articles they are more or less confirming what many of us have been worrying about with our candidate group.

Below is a article by John Hawkins who I read often. He a younger man and conservative to the core….I won't make any comments about what he has to say but what he is saying is being echoed by many other conservative writers.

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2011/12/27/7_reasons_why_mitt_romneys_electability_is_a_myth/page/full/

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I just have a feeling its going to be a really GOOD new year.

Ron
 
docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/

There is a Santa Claus

Let me introduce you to Amy Lutz  // Saint Louis University // @AmyLutz4 an article she wrote for the College Conservative web site…Amy is reminding us about Christmas and its meaning in the hearts and minds of Americans.

 Yes There is a Santa Claus

By-  Amt Lutz
 
In 1897, a young girl named Virginia wrote a letter  to The New York Sun, asking if Santa Claus did in fact exist. Newsman Francis Pharcellus Church responded with a now-famous editorial entitled “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.” Virginia worried, since she had neither seen Santa Claus nor did she possess tangible proof of his existence, that the jolly man was not real. Francis Church reminded Virginia, and all of us, that seeing is not believing. We must first have faith and believe in the existence of Santa Claus’ spirit of generosity and love before we witness it in action. One hundred and fourteen years after the letter was printed, many of us find ourselves empathizing with little Virginia. How can things like love and generosity exist when the world seems so dark? Millions of people
 find themselves out of work, trying to make ends meet. Political bickering halts any hope at forward progress. Even talk of Christmas has been largely eradicated  from public discourse. How could a figure as loving and generous as Santa Claus exist in such a seemingly hopeless world? Perhaps, like Virginia, we all need to be reminded once again of his existence.

Yes, America, Santa Claus does exist. He is perpetually present in the hearts and minds of compassionate Americans and his work is evident everywhere. Santa Claus embodies a spirit of love. Where would we be without love? Without love, greed, selfishness, and doubt this world would plunge into real darkness. A loveless world would be one of universally broken families, empty churches, and nonexistent charities. Is this the world we want to live in?  Of course not. For the most part, love is still present in our nation; we just need to have faith before our eyes can be opened to its presence. We can see love in the heart of a child who blinks back tears as they witness a parent return from military service overseas. Love is present in the frozen hands of Salvation Army bell-ringers, in the food that lines the shelves of homeless shelters, and in the care packages sent overseas to our fighting men and women. Those whose hearts burst unabashedly for God (i.e. Tim Tebow) in the face of insurmountable criticism are also some of the greatest possessors of love. Like the reindeer that propel Santa's sleigh, love is the force that propels the charity and good work we see throughout the holiday season.

The love of Santa Claus is personified by the generosity of the season. True charity, not forced redistribution, is the basis for holiday giving.  We can see Santa Claus in the generous spirit of an unemployed parent who scrapes together just enough money to give her children a Christmas.  Santa can also be found in the actions of people who give their time and effort for the benefit of others through charity work and volunteering. Someone who embodies the spirit of Santa Claus puts an emphasis on giving and not receiving. Ponder this: Santa Claus spends the entire year preparing for a night of universal giving. What if we could grab onto this spirit of generosity more often? Perhaps then, the world would not appear such a negative place.

Therefore, America, Santa Claus is present all around us. Just because we have not seen him does not mean his spirit does not exist. Intangible things like love and generosity cannot be captured in a bottle or seen by the human eye. They must be experienced and sought out. Santa's spirit is not something that is revealed to us at random. We must seek it out and hold tightly to it. We must believe in his spirit and act out upon his virtues so that his presence can be preserved for the entire nation. When viewing this struggling nation through a lens of negativity, it’s easy to miss his presence. Yet, if we look upon the world with an optimistic perspective, Santa Claus is all around us. First we must believe. Then we act with a heart full of love and a spirit of generosity. After that, we will be able to see the workings of Santa Claus everywhere. I will continue to believe that Francis Church was right when he told little Virginia that Santa Claus not only lives, but that his spirit will exist forever.
 
 By: Amy Lutz

These young College Conservative writers will be our grandchildren's teachers, bosses, friends, and leaders....

If anyone is wondering why The Oxford Tea Party is investing so much blog time on this College Conservative web site and the young folks doing the thinking and writing, it is because they offer hope…. Once I found their site everyday I read what they have to say, noting how many different colleges they attend across the country. I am inspired and for the first time in a long time I begin to look to the future of the nation with optimism. Also, (bite my lip) with some amount of shame and guilt. They, along with many in the Tea Party, expected us to be better stewards.

Log onto their web site and sign up for their e-mail….Also, you might drop Amy a note.

As a nice follow-up on Amy's article click on the link below and just have a wonderful time. (When the video starts open to full screen….)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWq60oyrHVQ

Ron
 
docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/

Saint - vs - Politician

I have been side tracked, for the moment, from the College Conservative by yet another really good article by Thomas Sowell… I have sent along a number of articles by Mr. Sowell and from the feedback many of our readers liked his articles.

By Thomas Sowell

If Newt Gingrich were being nominated for sainthood, many of us would vote very differently from the way we would vote if he were being nominated for a political office.

What the media call Gingrich's "baggage" concerns largely his personal life and the fact that he made a lot of money running a consulting firm after he left Congress. This kind of stuff makes lots of talking points that we will no doubt hear, again and again, over the next weeks and months.

But how much weight should we give to this stuff when we are talking about the future of a nation?

This is not just another election and Barack Obama is not just another president whose policies we may not like. With all of President Obama's broken promises, glib demagoguery and cynical political moves, one promise he has kept all too well. That was his boast on the eve of the 2008 election: "We are going to change the United States of America."

Many Americans are already saying that they can hardly recognize the country they grew up in. We have already started down the path that has led Western European nations to the brink of financial disaster.

Internationally, it is worse. A president who has pulled the rug out from under our allies, whether in Eastern Europe or the Middle East, tried to cozy up to our enemies, and has bowed low from the waist to foreign leaders certainly has not represented either the values or the interests of America. If he continues to do nothing that is likely to stop terrorist-sponsoring Iran from getting nuclear weapons, the consequences can be beyond our worst imagining.

Against this background, how much does Newt Gingrich's personal life matter, whether we accept his claim that he has now matured or his critics' claim that he has not? Nor should we sell the public short by saying that they are going to vote on the basis of tabloid stuff or media talking points, when the fate of this nation hangs in the balance.

Even back in the 19th century, when the scandal came out that Grover Cleveland had fathered a child out of wedlock -- and he publicly admitted it -- the voters nevertheless sent him to the White House, where he became one of the better presidents.

Do we wish we had another Ronald Reagan? We could certainly use one. But we have to play the hand we were dealt. And the Reagan card is not in the deck.
While the televised debates are what gave Newt Gingrich's candidacy a big boost, concrete accomplishments when in office are the real test. Gingrich engineered the first Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in 40 years -- followed by the first balanced budget in 40 years. The media called it "the Clinton surplus" but all spending bills start in the House of Representatives, and Gingrich was Speaker of the House.

Speaker Gingrich also produced some long overdue welfare reforms, despite howls from liberals that the poor would be devastated. But nobody makes that claim any more.

Did Gingrich ruffle some feathers when he was Speaker of the House? Yes, enough for it to cost him that position. But he also showed that he could produce results.

In a world where we can make our choices only among the alternatives actually available, the question is whether Newt Gingrich is better than Barack Obama -- and better than Mitt Romney.

Romney is a smooth talker, but what did he actually accomplish as governor of Massachusetts, compared to what Gingrich accomplished as Speaker of the House? When you don't accomplish much, you don't ruffle many feathers. But is that what we want?

Can you name one important positive thing that Romney accomplished as governor of Massachusetts? Can anyone? Does a candidate who represents the bland leading the bland increase the chances of victory in November 2012? A lot of candidates like that have lost, from Thomas E. Dewey to John McCain.
Those who want to concentrate on the baggage in Newt Gingrich's past, rather than on the nation's future, should remember what Winston Churchill said: "If the past sits in judgment on the present, the future will be lost." If that means a second term for Barack Obama, then it means lost big time.

Thomas Sowell (Redstate 12/20/2011)

One of the many problems with our political process lays in the idea that leopards never change their spots…. BUT we don't elect leopards. We elect humans who have, like you and I, made many decision that were wrong throughout our lives. It is the wrong decisions that we have learned from. All of the decisions anyone makes are never all wrong. BUT the political game is to ferret out every mistake politicians make and ignore all of the good decisions they have made.

In real life we don't behave this way. In real life we look at family, friends, and neighbors and find the positive things we like and love in them. Things they have done for us, their friends, and family. Is it something within us or the political system supported by the liberal media that distorts our evaluating when it come to the electing of politicians? Whatever it is we see it in every election cycle.

So long a we, as individuals, allow ourselves to be guided by this distorted political process the possibility of being able to select the best candidate for the job that need filling will be hit and miss at best…. The game of " I'm not as bad as he is" has got to be stopped and that can only be done by us.

This Winston Churchill quote: "If the past sits in judgment on the present, the future will be lost." (Is that not what we have come to in our campaigning process….?)

Ron
 
docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/

The U.S. and Islam: Trading Safety for Tolerance

Sydney is one more example of the young leaders coming on board. When I read her article I asked myself if I could have written or would have written this article at her age and the resounding answer was "NO"….. I was at, what I now call, the liberal adolescent democratic stage of my life…I think many other suffered this same adolescent period and have looked back and wondered what could I have been thinking?..... Well, we weren't thinking but doing what adolescents do.

Most of us grew out of the adolescent transition period but many of our age group did not. This group has been the majority in congress for a very long time still thinking like adolescents imagining they can have something or anything they might want for nothing. Our social programs reflect their thinking.

Well, the Tea Party is in the throws of dealing with them but along with this we must find many more ways of encouraging and nurturing our young people like Sydney. This mission needs to have the same level of commitment as our commitment to replacing Obama and the liberal congressional crew.

My guess is that these young conservatives see the Tea Party folks together with the liberal folks who in the process of destroying their nation and their future. God help us but I can understand their thinking. Hopefully we can redeem ourselves somewhat in their eyes with the 2012 elections.

The U.S. and Islam: Trading Safety for Tolerance

by Sydney Phillips
 
           Radical Islam stands not only as a threat to the Western civilization, but to the lives of Americans themselves.  When will the American government recognize the need for defense?   Or will we continue to elect leaders that apologize  for the “blasphemies” the American people have committed against the Muslim faith and blacklisting  those who recognize jihad as terrorism?
           
Islam has a long, violent history, beginning with Muhammad and the forming of the Qur’an in the early 600’s. The revelations of Allah through the prophet Muhammad are the core teachings of Islam, an eloquent compilation of laws for spiritual matters, as well as everyday living.  The jihad is a central teaching of the Qur’an, and there are two kinds ofjihad—the greater and the lesser. The greater jihad refers to an individual’s spiritual struggle against sin, but the lesser jihad mobilizes Muslims in the annihilation of non-believers.
         
   From the beginnings of his political career, Muhammad led his people to attack infidels; this is commanded in Qur’an multiple times. Just to provide a few examples: “whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him” (Sura 2:217) and “make war on unbelievers and the hypocrites, and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate.” (Sura 9:73).  Furthermore, the Islamic constitution clearly declares war on Western civilization  by calling for the execution of those guilty of apostasy, or the rejection of Islam, and requiring military training for readiness.

            Humans act and react according to a decided purpose and the outlook derived from that purpose.  Americans tend to see the world through a Western lens.  We subconsciously assume that all religions are inherently peaceful, despite the violence found in Christian religious history.  However, the difference between acts of violence committed in the name of Islam and those committed in the name of Christianity is simple; destroying nonbelievers actually adheres to the Islamic faith, whereas this kind of violence deviates from the teachings of Christ found in the New Testament.

            Furthermore, an important aspect of Islamic culture to consider is their all-encompassing loyalty to the holy text. Muslims take the Qur’an a lot more seriously than American culture takes the Bible in the West.  The Qur’an is not a set of guidelines to the followers of Muhammad; it is a set of laws that devout followers take absolutely literally. Islam is not going through a phase, nor do they need a viable reason to seek to destroy us; their purpose is to spread Islam at all costs.  They want to wage war on the West because our culture and values are antithetical to their existence.

             We cannot continue to either ignore or appease threats such as the rise
 of the Muslim Brotherhood, specifically HAMAS , and their ardent anti-Semitism, the adoption of Islamic law by other nations such as Sudan , and the evidence of nuclear weapons in Iran.

Domestically, they’re infiltrating  Washington, supporting  Occupy Wall Street, and advocating political correctness, so much so that our leaders’ are willing to sacrifice  free speech for the sake of Islamic cooperation.
          
  America can react in one of two ways. Either the Obama administration will continue letting Islam negatively influence  our way of life, slowly assimilating to the culture linked to terrors like honor killings  and therefore rendering ourselves susceptible to attack, or we can elect a leader who realizes the danger of radical Islam and seeks to provide protection for the American people. We need someone in the White House who will not revolve foreign policy around religious tolerance, but recognize the need for a backbone when dealing with people who have a religious and cultural responsibility to actively pursue our demise and destruction.  The American people need to reclaim exceptionalism and embrace true liberty so that America's founding principles may be preserved for future generations.

We seem to have forgotten who attacked us on September 11, 2001.  We seem to have forgotten their motivations.  We seem to have forgotten their convictions.  I hope that we'll remember when we enter the voting booth.

Additional Credits to:

Armstrong, Karen. (2001). Islam: A Short History. Weidenfeld & Nicolson History.
Spencer, Robert. (2002). Islam Unveiled. Encounter Books: San Francisco, CA.

Sydney Phillips
 
 // Lee University // @sydphillips

Please give Sydney a big 'at-a girl'…

Sydney wrote this article on the College Conservative web site.

I have tried for years to get everyone I know to read the Koran. Absolutely no luck. Sun Tu in his great book, 'The Art of War' to win you must know your enemy…simple advice often not followed…but is we don't know who our enemy is and how they think and what they believe, how then do we protect ourselves? Read the Koran…Learn what the people we call 'terrorist' believe and what they do because of their beliefs. Obama has read the Koran and it impacts his governing as well as guiding his goals and our lives.

I am going to try all this week and part of next week to introduce you to as many of the young conservative college writers on the Conservative College web site as I can…...

Click on this link below and get a little Christmas lift from another group of college students.

http://www.carlsonschool.umn.edu/holiday11/

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Ron
 
docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/

Can't Buy Me Love

I have been thinking about Christmas and Christmas gifts. My last Christmas wishlist was limited so I have decided to add to the list for those who are still considering what to give me for Christmas. Just pick any country on the list and delete it….

Old Beatles song title, "Money Can't By Me Love".

Does that stop us from trying? Absolutely not…..

The last little missive was pointing out many of the social programs our government run that cost trillions of dollars. It seemed to come as a great shock to many readers given the comments received.

Since the last note was about things we are doing in this country, lets take a look at things we are doing 'over there.' We pour money into each of these countries every year. I don't want to go into the shenanigans of how we do so much of our foreign aide but focus on how these countries reward us with their support in the world forum. (I'm sure many have seen this list.)

How they vote in the United Nations:

Below are the actual voting records of various Arabic/Islamic States
which are recorded in both the US State Department and United Nations records:

Kuwait votes against the United States 67% of the time
Qatar votes against the United States 67% of the time
Morocco votes against the United States 70% of the time
United Arab Emirates votes against the United States 70% of the time.
Jordan votes against the United States 71% of the time.
Tunisia votes against the United States 71% of  the time.
Saudi Arabia votes against the United States 73% of the time.
Yemen votes against the United States 74% of the time.
Algeria votes against the United States 74% of the time.
Oman votes against the United States 74% of the time
Sudan votes against the United States 75% of the time.
Pakistan votes against the United States 75% of the time.
Libya votes against the United States 76% of the time.
Egypt votes against the United States 79% of the time.
Lebanon votes against the United States 80% of the time.
India votes against the United States 81% of the time.
Syria votes against the United States 84% of the time.
Mauritania votes against the United States 87% of the time.

U S Foreign Aid to those that seem to truly hate us:

Egypt, for example, after voting 79% of the time against the United States,
still receives $2,000,000,000 annually in US Foreign Aid.

Jordan votes 71% against the United States
And receives $192,814,000 annually in US Foreign Aid

Pakistan votes 75% against the United States
Receives $6,721,000,000 annually in US Foreign Aid.

India votes 81% against the United States
Receives $143,699,000 annually.

This list could go on and on……The point is when you, me, or government decides to buy something (anything) the expectation is to get something back. What we get back from these countries is a request for more money.

Money does not buy us love or much else from our above list of friends.

Wherever we look we find our government has weaved a web of foreign policy that is so complex that it becomes impossible to follow the logic. (Assuming there is one.) For sure it smacks of the programs, the hand-outs, and thinking that goes back to the Cold War era with Russia back in the fifties.

Our foreign policy is like the TAX code. (Also, all other government programs.) Nothing ever get dropped or changed but get added to. For something to be dropped or changed is to admit that what was done should not have been done. This is electoral death to any and all politicians. We see this haunting Romney and Gingrich in this current campaign.

The system that we use in our election process is flawed.

"I have a friend and we exchange e-mails and ideas. He has two children going into the job market and is worried about their future…. Mine are all to old for me to worry about them 'making it' in life. He has begun to look closely at Mississippi's education system and job creation in the state. Both are resting very comfortably at the bottom of most lists of states.

I think you can pick up the gist of what this series of e-mails have been about.
Here is my response to his last mail…..

Doom is the right word....Next time Sam wants to go shopping at Penny's go with her.... As she looks through clothes you read labels.... Every label you find  'Made in America' I  will buy you lunch....My wife came home a few weeks ago complaining about this....There is a new men's store on Jackson avenue, ...Go in and just read labels....

There a book titled Singularity - I have had it for months and each time I start to read I put it down. It is a little overwhelming. The book speaks to such profound changes. So many are well underway but Americans, as a whole, see these changes happening but don't think about consequences. 

The changes already made are in place and can't be changed... Example: We stop making men's shirts. China makes men's shirts and charges 1 dollar. China raises the cost of their shirts 10 cents. What happens to us.....? Oil goes up 10 cents a gallon. Where does the 10 cents go. The working tax payer pays the additional 10 cents at the pump. Government takes their tax dollars and gives it to poor folk and they buy gas and pay the extra 10 cents also...Where do those 10 cents go....The working man has now paid 20 cents more for  a gallon of gas...The American citizens along with their government representatives can't connect the  dots. 

For us to make shirts again government would need to stop taxing business, drop all regulation, and lower minimum wage... Along with all regulations regarding growing of the cotton to the manufacturing of the cloth, worker's benefits that are required, and transportation regulations, etc. There is no will to make these  changes even if it could be done. 

I'm going on about this because we and government still the see the world in terms of 1 + 1 = 2....BUT we are in a world where 1 + 1 = 5...This speed of change is growing that fast. What used to take ten years now take two…The model that government uses to do 'their' predictions is still 1+1 = 2 … Confusing and misleading.

Not that we care that much what happens in China when the plants that makes shirts are fully operated by computers?  Next time you have a chance to watch a video on car manufacturing notice how few people are working…Going back a number of years a steel mill closed and almost 800 union members lost their job. A Japanese company bought the closed plant. Made a deal with the union that their members would have first crack at the new jobs. But they had to pass the test for new workers. Not many union members applied. Seven union men passed the test. The company hired from outside the union. The plant became automated and has 114 people working producing high grade steel profitably. That is one small example of computing power and the changes it can make.

The change has happened. These changes are just now impacting us in so many different way that we are beginning to see them. 

The poorly educated as well as many well educated can't find work.  Cannot support themselves…There are over 100K of these folks coming into the job market each month. So it take 100K new jobs each month jut to stay even with where we are….. There seems to be little chance that our President along with a Democratic Senate will allow anything to happen that could in anyway help businesses to create the minimum 100K to keep us from sinking father into the abyss.

Look at the numbers and see how many children MS will graduate from high school next year and ask will 10% of the graduating class get a job?

Hopefully - YES. but what do the other 90% do?

This is a dark picture.... Mostly we do not want to look at this problem. Most don't have enough knowledge to even know there is a picture that needs looking at... There have been so many mistakes made, over long periods of time,  and often with the best of intentions by government that simply can't be undone. 

Talk to you soon, RN"

Well, in less than a week my promise to myself about looking at everything in a positive way has faded…..

The link below to Redstate is long thoughtful article but well worth the read. Note how many comments this article has gotten.

http://www.redstate.com/dan_mclaughlin/2011/12/14/taking-newt-gingrichs-ideas-seriously/

Ron
 
docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/

Agents of Change

I know it's getting late and everyone is busy with Christmas shopping. So for any of you who been thinking about what to get me for Christmas, I thought I would sent you a list of items I really want. You could pick and choose.

At first reading this list may not seem very personal and slightly outside the Christmas present box but these are the things I want.

Also, these happen to be the very same things the 'new' conservatives in Congress want. (Some of you may have seen their list…..)
   
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.
• Save America 's Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.
• International Fund for Ireland . $17 million annual savings.
• Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.
• National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.
• National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.
• Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.
• Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.
• Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.
• U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.
• Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.
• Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.
• John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.
• Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.
• Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.
• Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings
• Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.
• Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.
• Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.
• Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.
• Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.
• Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.
• New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.
• Exchange Programs for Alaska , Natives Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts . $9 million annual savings
• Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.
• Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.
• Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.
• Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.
• Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.
• Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.
• FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.
• Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.
• Economic Assistance to Egypt . $250 million annually.
• U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.
• General Assistance to District of Columbia . $210 million annual savings.
• Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.
• Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.
• No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.
• End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.
• Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.
• IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.
• Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings.WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years.
• Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.
• Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.
• Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.
• Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings
• Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.
• USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.
• Subsidy to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). $93 million annual savings.
• Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.
• Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.
• Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings..
• HUD Ph.D. Program.
• Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.

Give or take a million dollars here and there, these cuts would come to a few trillion in spending. If all these programs were cut I don't think I would miss any of them. Why don't we drop each of the 'new' congressmen a Christmas note and say something like, "I also think it’s a good idea to cut the HUD Ph.D. program." As well as anything other programs you have strong feeling about.

We need to stay in touch with the 'new' congressmen. These little 'thank you notes' coupled with Christmas wishes would remind them they are governing at our consent and best wishes….

We need to keep our hand on their shoulders in every way we can think of and at every opportunity.

Between now and January 2012 I have decided I am going to make a concerted effort to have a positive attitude about everything our federal government says and does…I decided this two days ago and this morning I read the latest release from the FED: The average U.S. household lost $21,261 of net worth over the summer months, they informed us in their quarterly just released Household Report.. OK…(A promise is a promise…) So I have decided to look at these numbers and say, "Well these numbers are not as bad as they could have been." ( Note: There are more reports scheduled from the FED this coming week so I don't know how long I can keep this up.)

This time of year we celebrate the simple fact that God loves us for who he is, not for who we are….A time when start focusing on the people in the inner circles of our lives. We let them know how special they are to us. This bonding mostly has to do with blood ties along with a handful of friends thrown in for good measure.

There is another powerful and strange bonding taking place not based on blood ties but ideas and beliefs. In many ways this bonding is not new to us as American citizens but more of a rebirth. The bond is growing with new decisions we make and the accomplishments we achieve. The old Tea Party event was simply a clarion call to battle. That battle was won with men and rifles. The call today for this new generation of Tea Party members is being fought in the streets of every city and the climax will be in every voting's booth in every polling station in the nation.

The question might be why are we having to fight this fight. Do we not have enough enemies around the world? Isn't there something better we ought to be doing? Yes…. Soul searching… We are the ones who let our beliefs slip and and our values erode. It was our job to keep the watch. The enemy has been at the gate a long time and no bell have been rung.

This little video is a lesson in values and culture. I think you will like it.

Merry Christmas Mr. President… Have a wonderful vacation in Hawaii, kick back and count the number of days till the 2012 elections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGab38pKscw&sns=fb

Ron
 
docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/

Simply a Disaster

This article is simply nothing more a graphic example of our national debt. The numbers are so large we can't grasp them. Our President, democratic congressman, some brain damaged republicans, and liberal press tells us the 'debt' ain't so bad….

Take a couple of minutes and watch this presentation. The timeline they use makes this slightly more understandable. (Slight is the operative word.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=JY8LKII_MNA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

We must find away for every citizen in America to understand what our politicians have done. Our President is crossing the country speechifying the idea that we need to spend more.

As long as this President is in office along with the present congress we cannot not stop this. They all must go.

Ron
 
docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/

New Hampshire

First up… New Hampshire has been a mystery cloaked in political ambiguities. This small state has always played some large role in presidential elections that I have never understood…In just a few weeks, once again, the voters of this state will set the tone for this next election cycle.

Since the next election, I think, will be the most important election in my lifetime I decided I need to understand what the heck goes on there…. So I turned to Google… along with reading conservative web sites looking for some clues.

On Redstate's site I found this article by Michael E. Hammond…. As you read his article you will quickly see this is a conservative man with a long political history in New Hampshire. He has done us a service by writing this article….Certainly explaining the ambiguities of this small state in ways that an outsider could not see.

Michael E. Hammond

I was the sole general chairman of the New Hampshire campaign of Pat Buchanan in the winter of 1995-6.

I was alone because my co-chairman, faced with unmoving single-digit poll numbers, had fled for the Dole campaign.

I remember Pat’s consternation about our seemingly stagnant poll numbers.  And yet, when New Hampshire voters began focusing on the election, those polls became meaningless.  Just a few weeks before the primary.

The “pitch fork” brigade carried New Hampshire.  And I am convinced that had there not been shenanigans in South Carolina, a GOP under a Buchanan banner would have defeated Clinton and rewritten history — unlike — the sleazy stand-for-nothing Dole.

So — what do you want to know about New Hampshire?

(1) New Hampshire Is A Conservative State

In 2006 and 2008, many conservatives, including me, either sat out the election or supported Democrats.

We did this because we were sick-and-tired of Bush’s massive government spending, ballooning deficits, national ID cards, warrantless wiretaps, and other Orwellian innovations.

In addition, like a duck riding a tidal wave, New Hampshire floated with the national mood.

Democrats — and a lot of Washington “experts” — concluded that New Hampshire was the “new Vermont” and they suffered for it.

In 2010, the voters gave the GOP nearly three-fourths of the 400-member House, 19 out of 24 seats in the state Senate, all five seats on the governor’s “executive council,” both U.S. House seats, and the U.S. Senate seat.

True, 2010 was a “tsunami” year, but it was, I think, closer to the norm than 2008.

(2) No One Has New Hampshire “Locked Up” Now

Most New Hampshire residents get mostly Boston television (on the commercial channels).

They remember Romney’s rabid support for abortion, gun control, same-sex rights, and RomneyCare.

They also remember when, as governor, he brought “staties” (Massachusetts state troopers) up to his place on Winnipesaukee to keep locals off a portion of their lake.

Romney has reached a “flexible wall.”  Virtually everyone knows him and has an opinion of him.  He is not going to get the votes of people who hate him — perhaps not even in the general election.

And, if he can’t carry New Hampshire, Romney threatens to be 2012′s “Bob Dole.”

(3) Social Issues Play a Major Role

Gun issues are huge. In addition, there is a very significant evangelical community centered around laces like Nashua, Amherst, and Concord. The Catholic pro-life contingent is also very influential. If undivided, this is enough to carry the state.
Most (but not all) of these people loved former New Hampshire Senator Bob Smith, and they will probably not forgive Rick Santorum’s role in ending his political career.

Similarly, Michele Bachmann has done all of the right things in Washington and could have been (and perhaps still could be) a formidable candidate. But she seems to have conceded the state.

(4) ObamaCare Is The Issue Which Turned This State From Deep Blue to Blood-Red

We knew the end was near when an incumbent Democrat congresswoman — forced to finally hold  a town meeting — required constituents to go through a metal detector and refused to answer questions from anyone not issued a “question-asking ticket.”

You may remember the spin placed on last Tuesday’s elections.
Among “mixed” results, the one time when the word “overwhelmingly” was used was when critical swing State Ohio — fresh from repudiating the GOP on unionization — overwhelmingly rejected the ObamaCare mandate.
And yet, over and over again, Speaker John Boehner and Leader Mitch McConnell forgo the opportunity to make this an issue.

Given the D.C. Circuit’s recent 2011 decision to uphold the law, it is even less clear that Anthony Kennedy will cast the deciding vote to overturn it.
But, even if he does, the GOP needs to spend the next seven months reminding Americans that:

• Obama resorted to unthinkable and varied sleaze and corruption to slam the bill through;

• Obama spent a year trying to nationalize health care, rather than creating jobs;
• To accomplish this, Obama put massive tax increases on the poor and middle class; and,

• The horrific burden of the mandate will fall most heavily on the youthful core of Obama’s 2008 base.

Yes, ObamaCare can be repealed immediately a year from January by a majority vote in the Senate if Republicans control the Senate, House, and White House. 

However, if Americans don’t hear anything about ObamaCare repeal until October 15, 2012, don’t expect them to believe Republicans are serious.

(5) Here, and Nationally, Candidates Need To Take On The “Obama Smear Machine”

Obama cannot win the upcoming presidential election.

But Republicans can lose it.

Obama’s sole winning strategy, as I said last summer, is to “Barry Goldwaterize” every GOP candidate who becomes prominent. And he has thus far done this with incredible success.

I don’t know who leaked the Cain allegations to Politico. But I know that they became national news because the Obama worshipping media chose to make them so.

So remember these words:

“Obama Smear Machine”

Every time the media undertakes to assassinate the character of another Republican, people should, in a Pavlovian way, remember these words.
 by Michael E. Hammond, former General Counsel Senate Steering Committee 1978-89 and a Dumbarton, New Hampshire resident.

Thanks Mr. Hammond and thank you Redstate….

I don't know what to make of this…. But two things strike me: 1) People of this state seem to invest thought and time to politics and 2) They as a group seem to be conservative…. Maybe these two principles lend credence to their voting outcomes. Who knows…They don't always pick the winner and maybe it isn't important. Even though a lot of attention is paid to what they do….

What is important about New Hampshire and Iowa is that their voting will take place very soon. Who wins their votes will be discounted by the liberal press and the rest of our want-to-be candidates will be dismissed more or less from the race.

Right now Romney is polling well despite what Mr. Hammond believes is his history of bad ideas and social positions on health care, guns, and abortion.

The tension is building. Gingrich is leading Romney in Iowa and South Carolina by a wide margin in current polls.

People change, values change, goals change just like poll numbers. What doesn't seem to change is people's willingness to cast stones.

When we don't carefully mind our own house, government puts its foot in the door. Once done, we begin to lose confidence in ourselves and our abilities. As our self-confidence begins to slip, government gets two feet in the door. Very soon it is they, not we managing the house. They do a poor job and we blame them for it. They try harder and their failures grow. Now we have lost confidence in them and us…. The house has a strong foundation but only we can do the maintenance and the rebuilding needed.

Obama has a large ego, arrogance, strong will, and a mission. Newt has a mission, strong will, and a strong ego. Romney, bless his heart, just wants to be president.

I thought Barney Frank made an astute remark about Romney: He said, "Romney would be the greatest thing that has happened for the Democrats since Barry Goldwater…."

All of the liberal press is slyly supporting Romney. That speaks very loudly in support of Barney Frank's idea.

There we are. Depending on our choices and actions it is we who can win or lose this election.

Ron
 
docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/

Jackie - 'G'

There has been so much said in the media that clearly is misleading about Newt Gingrich that I thought this simple short article from his daughter would put some of the rumors to bed. At least for some.


My father, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, has been in politics as long as I can remember.

And as long as I can remember, media coverage about him has contained misstatements of facts. The vast majority are simple mistakes that are easily corrected, understood and rewoven into an ongoing storyline.

But one of them seems to have taken on a life of its own, and simple corrections have not sufficed to set the record straight. Why does this happen? I can't be sure, but I suspect that the narrative created by these untruths proves to be so much more compelling and more dramatic than what actually happened that it proves irresistible.

I'm talking about the story of my father's visit to my mother while she was in the hospital in 1980.

For years, I have thought about trying to correct the untrue accounts of this hospital visit. After all, I was at the hospital with them, and saw and heard what happened. But I have always hesitated, as it was a private family matter and my mother is a very private person. In addition, for the four people involved, it was one of a million interactions and was not considered a defining event by any of us.

My mother and I have both recently run into quite a few people who hold an inaccurate understanding of this hospital visit. Many think my mother is dead.

So, to correct the record, here is what happened: My mother, Jackie Battley Gingrich, is very much alive, and often spends time with my family. I am lucky to have such a "Miracle Mom," as I titled her in a column this week.

As for my parents' divorce, I can remember when they told me.

It was the spring of 1980. I was 13 years old, and we were about to leave Fairfax, Va., and drive to Carrollton, Ga., for the summer. My parents told my sister and me that they were getting a divorce as our family of four sat around the kitchen table of our ranch home.

Soon afterward, my mom, sister and I got into our light-blue Chevrolet Impala and drove back to Carrollton.

Later that summer, Mom went to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for surgery to remove a tumor. While she was there, Dad took my sister and me to see her. It is this visit that has turned into the infamous hospital visit about which many untruths have been told. I won't repeat them. You can look them up online if you are interested in untruths. But here's what happened:

My mother and father were already in the process of getting a divorce, which she requested.

Dad took my sister and me to the hospital to see our mother. She had undergone surgery the day before to remove a tumor.The tumor was benign.

As with many divorces, it was hard and painful for all involved, but life continued.
As have many families, we have healed; we have moved on.

We are not a perfect family, but we are knit together through common bonds, commitment and love.

My mother and father are alive and well, and my sister and I are blessed to have a close relationship with them both.

My sister and I feel that it is time to move on, close the book on this event and focus on building a great future. We will not answer additional questions or make additional comments regarding this meaningless incident, which occurred more than three decades ago.

As I said, my mother is a private person. She will not give media interviews. She deserves respect and should be allowed to live in peace.

Jackie Gingrich - Cushman
Townhall. com 11/15/2011

As we approach these first two primaries, it is so important that we do so with a willingness to measure the candidates on their abilities as a leader. Each of us along with our hopeful candidates have histories. Each of us along with our candidates have strengths and weaknesses in different areas of our lives. However, the sum of our lives lay in our strengths over a lifetime and not in bad judgments made throughout the course of a lifetime.

As the people and the nation have grown so have our problems as a nation and as a people. To try and compare the last national crisis to the current crisis is simply not doable. None of the previous crisis's core issue had to do with how the nation would govern itself. The country has transitioned itself away from a powerful lower skilled manufacturing based economy into a technological manufacturing based economy. In so doing it has displaced and limited so many citizens in search of the American dream. And in so doing it has moved the greatest capitalist nation the world has ever seen to a threshold of a partially open door with a sign hanging loosely that reads, "Welcome, welfare state, enter here."

If the 2012 elections do not flood the halls of Congress and the White House with leaders with foresight, courage, resolve, and experience that door will swing wide and once opened it can't be closed. Just ask England, France, etc. None of us born and raised here can fully appreciate just how a socialist nation works. It looks good from the outside because the people get more than they pay for….. That is until there is no money or things left to pay them with….All of Europe is flaming out. America and Canada are the last holdouts and both are drifting.

In the elite upper circlers of the GOP they are waiting for a candidate to show well in the primaries they say. But the money along with their organization is pushing towards Romney. The voters have said "No" to Romney already so what has he done between now and the last time to change their minds? I suspect most who are reading this article said "No" to him in his last go-around. (Barney Frank in his, I'm not going to run for office again announcement said, " Mitt Romney would be the best thing that has happened for Democrats since Barry Goldwater." It has taken thirty years for me to find one thing this man has said or done that I have agreed with.)

I spent most of the past week, in Texas, with family who think of themselves as conservative Republicans. They along with their circle of friends seem not have an awareness that the house is on fire. Their discussion hinges around the notions that all that is needed is to tweak the tax code one more time and things will be OK.

The polls say that 80 to 90% of voters feel the country is going in the wrong direction but what does that mean to them? To us?

In thirty days the conservative votes will start getting counted. Without a conservative leader who can articulate what the wrong direction is and what a right direction needs to look like we will end up with a second term Obama.

There is a little trick I use on the computer that I have found helpful. Put a copy of the National Debt clock on your home page so every time you open your computer you see the clock ticking and tallying…. This tallying is a constant reminder that these liberal Republican leaders who are trying to pass themselves off as conservatives were and are major contributors to this national destructive debt.

Barney Frank and Chris Dodd may go down in history as two of the most destructive congressional members in our history. Both seem to realize their game of liberal vote buying politics are over and left on their on volition. Even while California and Nevada are crashing and burning, Nancy, Barbara, and Diane from California along with Harry cannot read the writing of the moving hand on history's wall. So go be…..

Eight governments in Europe have collapsed in the last few months and have been replaced with conservative leaders or so they say. This change was to late in coming. These countries have crashed and burned already. Our country's leaders have crossed the same line….They have to go…All of them…

Ron
 
docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/

College KIDS? - Hardly

I am very excited because today is the opening day of the College Conservative web site…..It hasn't been more that a month since I was bemoaning the fact that there wasn't much conservative political activity on colleges campuses. I wasn't surprised there weren't many conservative groups, given the professors who stride those stately halls, but simply disappointment. Disappointment along with a recognition that our Tea group needs to find ways of encouraging our next group of college students/leaders to be conservative.

Below is one of the first postings on the College web site and at the bottom of the article is a link to their site. The site does have a way to make comments and hopefully we will be encouraging.

The War That Must Be Won

Domenic Gelsomino // 11.28.2011

According to Ronald Reagan, the 11th Commandment of politics is: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.” Well, in today’s day and age, I think that commandment can and ought to be bent a bit. The stakes are too high and the need is too dire. Conservatives across the nation have been searching for the next Ronald Reagan. Unfortunately, he (or she) has yet to appear.

All America got out of the Republican Party were RINO’s (Republicans In Name Only) – moderates and liberals of the party which, for political purposes, would break away from their conservative roots and sway to the other side on many policies.

George H. W. Bush raised taxes and increased entitlements because he could not stand up to the Democratic-controlled Congress. While he kept us safe for eight years, President Bush passed historic tax cuts and No Child Left Behind – a massive growth of power to the unconstitutional Department of Education. He expanded federal spending to Lyndon B. Johnson extremes (according to the American Conservative Union), and bowed to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid from 2006 to the end of his second term in 2009.

Congressional Republicans in the post-Reagan Era did not kid around either. In 1994, under the leadership of Newt Gingrich, Republicans were swept into historic numbers in both chambers of Congress—ending a forty-year Democratic rule of the House and an on–and-off control of the Senate. After sustaining a comfortable majority for nearly a decade, many of them slowly began entering a power-induced coma and slipped away from their conservative platform. They started spending taxpayer dollars at Democratic Party levels, failed to end useless federal departments, created programs that further strengthened them, and began chipping away at their pledges in the Contract with America.

Today, the tables have turned. Conservatives are tired of RINO’s holding the GOP mantle hostage. We are ready to fight to bring the party back to where it was originally meant to be. Thanks to the Tea Party and clear-cut conservative messages, conservative Republicans overwhelmingly won the House back in 2010, kicked out several moderates in the Senate, and picked up a majority of state legislatures and governorships.

We have a wide range of presidential candidates and a handful of true conservatives ready to make President Obama a one-term President. Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum are within that range. On many issues, I would dare to venture into mentioning Newt Gingrich, as well. The man is a genius—make no mistake about that.  Now that conservatives have been dealt their hand, they must play the right card to the voters and ensure that a true conservative clinches the nomination.

Conservatism in its purest form is the form of governance the Founders intended for our country. It is embodied in the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights that accompanies it. Limited government, free market capitalism, traditional values, individual liberty and a strong national defense define (and must continue to define) conservatism. As a result, a new generation of conservatives is ready to stick to this platform and usher conservatism back into the Republican Party.

Will the Republican Party be ready to follow? Or will it allow the Establishment and the RINO’s to dictate its every move and hold it hostage with liberal policies? If so, will this enable President Obama to win a second term?

The survival of the Republican Party and the future of America depend on the next GOP presidential nominee.  Let us show America that we don’t want an establishment puppet as a nominee.

Domenic Gelsomino // Boise State University // @ChrmnDomG

http://thecollegeconservative.com/2011/11/28/thewarthatmustbewon/


This morning I had to take this (blank, blank) computer to a computer shop to have it fixed, for the moment, once again. Tim, fresh out of college, did the work. I noticed a poster above his workspace of Ron Paul…. We struck up a political discussion. He said he had been, along with a small group of friends on his campus, the only conservatives there…. Clearly he was a Ron Paul fan….

So the young folks are out there. We just need to find a way of interacting with them. (Knowing there is a possibility they may not want to interact with us.) It was pretty clear that Tim felt we are the ones who went to sleep at the wheel.

Thirty days to the first primary…. So important…. Iowa will follow shortly… From these two primaries we will have a pretty clear sense of how the wind is going to blow. Hopefully all the candidates will read the signs and choose to do what is best for the Presidential race.

Ron
 
docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/

We Can't Wait

To borrow the 'newest' trite catch phrase from our President's arsenal of trite catch phrases…."We Can't Wait" and he is right. We in the Tea Party can't wait…. His campaign is running full speed ahead and our campaigning candidates are still in the sort-out-phase.

We need to decide very soon who will be the candidate we support. I haven't talked to anyone in the Tea Party that is happy, gung ho, or ecstatic with the current slate of candidates…. Even when Reagan was running, at this point in his campaign, there wasn't a happy, gung ho, ecstatic group of voters either. BUT something begin to happen. As we listened and watched him speak we began to sense the depth of understanding and beliefs Reagan held about our government, America, and our people. His understanding and beliefs resonated in us… We began to trust the man and somehow knew he held the same principles and values we did. He not only talked them but walked them.

In looking back over that campaign, you can't really put your finger on the turning point in voter's minds. Carter was just being Carter in the campaign and Reagan was just being Reagan…It was as if some silent hand moved across the nation. There wasn't some big moment but a simple growing awareness that Reagan understood the depth of the problems facing the nation. He was the one we needed as our leader. It turned out that Reagan beat a sitting president by the greatest landside in history. The fact is it was we who selected our new leader and it was we who fired a sitting president…

Now, with the obvious said, know that we are less than sixty days from our first state primary for our group of presidential candidates. These first few state primaries often set a pattern that will be followed in other states. It is for that reason these early primaries are so important.

Clearly the upper core of the GOP wants to see Romney as 'their' candidate. That by itself is not such a bad thing but when you couple their push with the liberal media also giving Romney lots of attention, the two together become a really a bad thing.

When Romney ran against McCain, what were his highest poll numbers? IF Romney couldn't make a better show against McCain, how could he possibly be a competitor against Obama? After all this time and after all the years he has worked at becoming president, look at his polling numbers that hang around 25% I don't even know where the 25% is coming from. Certainly not from the people I know.

Watching Romney it seems that his claims on his personal business experience can be questioned. His ideas on social programs are almost nonexistent. His notion about taxes and the IRS in general is a nonstarter. When he speaks of his business abilities it is likely that most voters do not know what he did in his investment company.

Rather than trying to explain Romney's business acumen read a good description of how and what kind of business he did through which he made a lot of money and seems very proud of what he did.

Bain Capitol

"By the green-hued yardsticks of Wall Street, the 1990s buyout of an Illinois medical company, Dade International, by Mitt Romney's private equity firm was a spectacular success.

Mr. Romney’s career at Bain Capital, which he owned and ran as chief executive, is a cornerstone of his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination — a credential, he argues, that showcases the management skills and business acumen that America needs to revive a stalled economy. Creating jobs, Mr. Romney says, is exactly what he knows how to do.

Mr. Romney’s company, Bain Capital, sent in a team of 10 turnaround experts from Boston to ferret out waste, motivate executives and study untapped markets.

By the time the Harvard M.B.A.’s from Bain were finished, sales at the medical company, Dade International, had more than doubled. The business acquired two of its rivals. And Mr. Romney’s firm collected $242 million, a return eight times its investment.

But an examination of the Dade deal shows the unintended human costs and messy financial consequences behind the brand of capitalism that Mr. Romney practiced for 15 years.

At Bain Capital’s direction, Dade quadrupled the money it owed creditors and vendors. It took steps that propelled the business toward bankruptcy. And in waves of layoffs, it cut loose 1,700 workers in the United States, including Brian and Christine Shoemaker, who lost their jobs at a plant in Westwood, Mass. Staggered, Mr. Shoemaker wondered, “How can the bean counters just come in here and say, Hey, it’s over?”

From 1984 to 1999, Mr. Romney and his deputies made fortunes by investing in, acquiring and then selling about 150 companies. It was high-stakes work that shaped Mr. Romney’s values and views, taught him the art of salesmanship and negotiation and took him deep inside the boardrooms and factories of American business.

Because financial data for many of the acquisitions are not publicly available, it is difficult to fully tally the wins and losses, the jobs created and the jobs eliminated on Mr. Romney’s watch. But the experience with Dade, Bain’s biggest transaction at the time, shows how Bain managed its investments, structuring deals so it would be hard for Mr. Romney and his partners not to come out ahead.

Bain and a small group of investors bought Dade in 1994 with mostly borrowed money, limiting their risk. They extracted cash from the company at almost every turn — paying themselves nearly $100 million in fees, first for buying the company and then for helping to run it. Later, just after Mr. Romney stepped down from his role, Bain took $242 million out of the business in a transaction that, according to bankruptcy documents and several former Dade officials, weakened the company."

Writer: Michael Barboro's article in the NYT (today…..)

During this same period of time there were many companies like Brian Capitol doing the same kind of business…So the business ethics are not what is being questioned but the substance of the idea that Romney created companies, ran companies, and created jobs… He bought and sold companies along with a small army of Harvard business school graduates. Jobs always get lost in mergers and acquisitions. It is the nature of that kind of business. Also, this business model is not so unlike the Obama business model for this country. So if Romney starts sounding a little like Obama to you in terms of how he would fix the problems of this country you can better understand why.

Romney's heath plan as governor is as much of a direct step towards a socialist form of health service at a state level as the Obama's health plan is at the national level. He has been able, it seems, to do a 'two step' around this health bill issue every time it's raised.

The polls are telling us that Romney is the front runner in the Republican party and will be the nominee. However, no matter what he does, his poll numbers don't go up or down much…..It seems that most of the candidates will barely get through the two early primaries.. Huntsman may hang in because, like Romney, he looks to the national GOP like a vice-presidential candidate and has international experience. ( To me, both appear to be both shallow and slick and I'm sure I'm misreading both men.)

I like what Perry has done in his state of Texas and I like what he says but he doesn't quite understand what he is up against and is not prepared. I really hope he can get his campaign on the road...Also, no one would imagine him in second place on the ticket. So, it would seem that he must be the top of the ticket or nothing.

The question for us is, who is the best qualified, most experienced, trustworthy candidate for us to pick ? ….. I may be over reading this but what is beginning to happen for Newt Gingrich is similar to what happened for Reagan. People are beginning to listen to what he is saying. I think we all knew or assumed he is the only candidate in this bunch who has the knowledge and experience to actually get things done in Washington from the get-go.…. The incredible thing that has happened and it has happened so few times in our lifetimes, is we have a candidate who we have known and watched for twenty plus years who has not waivered in his conservative views or actions. If this situation was not confounded by the political process, common sense would tell us this is a candidate the Tea Party can trust to guide our country. However, this is politics and common sense doesn't often play a part.

For all we know Obama, like Bill Clinton, might wake up in his second term in office and become a better president. For all anyone knows Mitt Romney might make a great president….. If you were down to your last dollar, which we seem to be as nation, which of these two would you bet on?

If we talk about Newt possibly becoming our presidential candidate then we must also look at his history outside of government and the focus moves to his marriages.

In watching the polling numbers and looking at the questions being asked by the polling organizations, it appears that many women look at Newt's personal history with wives and find him unacceptable as a candidate. If this is so, then that is where the story will end…..He nor any other candidate can win this coming election against Obama without the women's vote.

Marriage is important to the well being of societies. Every society has laws and rituals concerning marriage. Clearly they differ depending on culture and religion but are there in one form or another. Mexico has introduced a new legal marriage contract that is outside religious sanctions. More of our young people are choosing to live together instead of marrying. This is not new news.. What, if anything, is important about any of this is that attitudes and customs are changing with close to fifty percent of marriages falling apart…This trend in marriages ending is not going to change in any foreseeable future. We have had a president and a good number of presidential candidates who were into their second marriages. Ronald and Nancy turned out to be a pretty good president and first lady.

Now the challenge for women who find Newt unacceptable as well as the rest of us is, 'If not Newt - then who?".

1)Who can we find that meets our criteria of a conservative leader?
2)Who can we find to possibly beat Obama in the coming election?
3)Who has the statesmanship qualities and experience to lead this nation?
4)What candidate can we trust to keep his/her promises?

Let us invest a little time listening to Newt outside of simple sound bites in the news media. Below is a link to a speech he made in Iowa where he begins to lay out the new contract with America. Besides the conservative ideas in this contract his call to the country and challenge to each of us to participate is a far cry from any other politician in recent memory.

Even if Newt does not become the presidential candidate his ideas of what needs to happen to set the country on a better path reflects most Tea Party beliefs and hopefully whoever may become the candidate will be able to incorporate the ideas in their campaign. (Click - listen - write him…..)

http://www.newt.org/contract/videos

Ron
 
docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/

Australian Tea Party

I thought I would drop this note to everyone about what is going on in others parts of the world. I have been a member of the Australian Tea Party for a year or more. In that time I have gotten all of their activities notices as well as everything they put on their web site…. They are an active group of Tea Party folks... What is also so clear is we, in this country, are not alone in this struggle against the socialist movement taking place in seemingly all representative forms of government everywhere. Australians are complaining about the same things the American Tea Party groups are complaining about and fighting against.

Here is their latest notice:

G'Day TEA Party supporter/friend/contact.

As I hope you are aware the Australian TEA Party is diligently planning to spoil the Gillard Obama love fest planned for the 16/17th November in Sydney and Canberra.

I'm sure most of you are acutely aware of the strong links between the left around the world and between Obama and Gillard in particular.

The intention is for both P.M Gillard and Pres. Obama to stage manage a carefully crafted propaganda event to distract their domestic populations from deeply unpopular policies they have each implemented despite their original campaign promises.

It is our duty to make sure they do not get away with that!
 
http://austeaparty.com.au/web/?p=5903
 
 http://austeaparty.com.au/web/?p=5936
  
PLEASE make every effort to attend this rally. Also please promote this to your friends and/or interested parties.

We will also be conducting opportunistic spot protests in addition to the rally.
The list of calamity being visited on the Australian and American peoples by these 2  left wing ideologues is considerable.

The chance to confront both Obama and Gillard at the same time is a rare opportunity indeed.

THIS IS THE BIG ONE ... This is your chance to REALLY help make a difference.

Please contact us if you are able to help in any way..please include a contact phone number.

If you are not able to help by geography or circumstance perhaps you know of someone who can.

We need as much help as we can get in order for this to achieve a memorable result.
 
David Goodridge 
National Director
the Australian Tea Party
www.austeaparty.com.au
 
Drop David a note. Let them know we understand and support the efforts they are making and told them of our success in the Mississippi elections.

Flawed

We are all flawed to some extent. We have all done things throughout our lives we regret. Most poor decisions were made in our younger years and we learned from the mistakes. However, as we aged and were confronted with new turning points and challenges in our lives often poor choices were made again. Some more critical than others... Some just hurt us but others were also hurt by our decisions. What is most unique about life and living is things once done can't be undone. It not a chalk board that can be washed clean so what is left is consequence and regret. This is true for each of us as well those who choose a political career.

Flawed is the human experience that is part of our lives as well as those who struggle in the political arena. To the extent we can accept our flaws and shortcomings we can be accepting of shortcomings in other. However, in our liberal media there is a rush to cast the first stone. This is not a one time event for the media and a way of life for politicians. No examples are needed because we have seen it in every election cycle. The media has already started exposing every shortcoming in every candidate that does not represent their beliefs and biases. Also, what the liberal media knows about voters is once the first stone get thrown there are many who rush to throw the second and third stone... Hardly a surprise and certainly expected….

With this said, the media is not the problem…. The problem is what lies in our hearts, minds, beliefs, and values. How we judge ourselves and how we judge others is and will be the voter's issue over the next many months. We are in the throws of interviewing someone to represent us in our government. We, in the Tea Party, have a rather clear picture of the job and the job description. To the extent we can stay focused and stay on point we will look at each of the candidates only in terms of whether they do they have the experience to do the job and do they understand what we want their mission, as our representative within our federal government, to be? That seems simple but it is not.

If I, as many of our readers, think back, how many really good potential leaders we have lost because the liberal media drove them out of the political process through their form of mud-raking…The number is astounding…..But know they could not have done this without our help. We are to a point where fewer and fewer potential leaders are willing to step into this caldron of potential personal destruction. Who can blame them… Sometimes a Reagan appears…but are few and far between.

This presidential election cycle offers us only a couple of people who fit The Oxford Tea Party idea of a Presidential leader. Some weeks ago we published a article "Romney VS Romney". We will visit him again. Maybe a few more times before the election so he will not be on the radar screen today.

We now have November 8 behind us. All that we can do has been done. We will know the outcome in a few days but it looks like the 'House' has been moved

From now to the 2012 elections seem like a long time but given the gravity of our nation there is really very little time. We are learning. We are now more than just the 'Tea Party' in the liberal media minds but a force. We are the people and the people are the nation. Our history has said to all who have questioned, ignored, or have forgotten this nation is the sum of all its people who will never accept anyone threatening it shores, its form of representative government, or its people's rights, liberties, or freedoms. Those who have forgotten have paid a dear price whether from the outside or inside this nation.

This Presidential election cycle is about elected representatives who have forgotten. Their behavior has limited our freedoms, taken our rights, limited our liberties, hurt our way of life and damaged our economy. Each will feel the wrath of the American voter. Those who are not replaced in the 2012 election will be replaced in the 2014 election cycle. The Tea Party has a long view of our national problems as well as a long memory of who got us to where we are today. Most elected officials can't atone for this destruction and all who participated will be replaced. 2010 was just a start.

We need a closer look at the candidates we have…I assume most of you know there is a new rule in the GOP this time around…Candidates who win in states do not get 100% of the delegates. They only get whatever percentages they win. Example: If Gingrich beat Romney in Mississippi with 40% of the votes and Romney receives 30% of the votes they would go into the convention with 40 pledged delegates and 30 pledged delegates. Usually after the first round of voting at the convention the delegates are released to vote how they choose. ( I haven't been able to find all the details of the new rules.)

Gingrich: This is the most experienced candidates we have…We have all seen his performance as the House leader…His Contract with America which promised and lived up to…His work in balancing the Federal budget four years running,…and of course his shortcomings in his personal life.

Why Gingrich stands out in my mind is because he is one of the few politicians, in my lifetime, who speaks his mind so I always understand where he stands on every issue and he always lived up to his promises. You would think this should be enough to get him elected but it is not. This man is the greatest threat to the quasi socialist movement in this country and the Democratic Party in general. He has been a consistent conservative for what seems like half of my lifetime.

We will work our way through Gingrich's new 'Contract with America.' One of the main differences between this one and the '94 Contract with America he is asking each of us to participate in it creation. We can read through each section and then go to his web site and add our ideas and wishes.

Newt's Contract:

Repeal Obamacare and pass a replacement that saves lives and money by empowering patients and doctors, not bureaucrats and politicians.

Obamacare is a disaster and the first task of my administration will be to repeal it.
The Obamacare law is unconstitutional, unaffordable, unworkable, and stunningly unfair.

Its so-called "individual mandate" is blatantly unconstitutional and an unprecedented expansion of federal power. If the federal government can coerce individuals—by threat of fines—to buy health insurance, there is no stopping the federal government from forcing Americans to buy any good or service.
In addition to the unconstitutional nature of individual and employer mandates, we are learning that they simply don’t work. Their intractable problem is this: once you have a mandate, the government has to specify exactly what coverage must be included in insurance for it to qualify. This introduces political considerations into determining these minimum standards, guaranteeing that nothing desired by the special interests will be left out. And once the government mandates such expensive insurance, the government becomes responsible for its costs. It has to adopt expensive subsidies to help people pay for the expensive plans that it is requiring. The resulting cost to the taxpayer and strain on the budget leads the government to try and control healthcare costs by limiting healthcare services. The inevitable result is rationing by a nameless, faceless, unaccountable board of government bureaucrats.

The Obamacare law also creates one thousand, nine hundred and sixty eight separate grants of power to bureaucrats, most of them to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and her bureaucracy. It creates 159 new boards, agencies and other government entities to administer health decisions that should be up to the individual in consultation with their doctor. This unprecedented grant of discretionary power to unelected bureaucrats guarantees the rise in arbitrary and corrupted decision-making by the federal government.

For these reasons and more, I will fight for the repeal of Obamacare until it is repealed in its entirety.

We must either limit government or we will have government limit us.

Replace

As I carry the banner in fighting for the repeal of Obamacare, I will advocate for specific replacement health policies that will create a free market framework for healthcare, provide affordable, portable, and reliable healthcare coverage, and establish a healthcare safety net focused on those in need. This system will assure healthcare for all with no individual mandate or employer mandate of any kind.
This alternative to Obamacare begins with patient power and localism and the many common sense ideas developed over the past eight years at the Center for Health Transformation.

Over the next year, I look forward to discussing solutions for a pro-market replacement for Obamacare that puts top priority on empowering patients, focusing on the doctor patient relationship, using the best new science to save lives and save money, lowering medical costs, and improving the quality of life for every single American.

We must take advantage of the unparalleled resources we already have: The United States has the best doctors, the best medical schools, and the best hospitals in the world. Our entrepreneurial spirit and drive for innovation has already produced medical advances once considered unimaginable. Replacement legislation must build on these strengths. It must include provisions to make
health insurance more affordable and portable by allowing Americans to purchase
insurance across state lines. It must increase price competition in healthcare. It must improve patient safety and decrease overhead costs by digitizing all medical records, and it must introduce lawsuit reform to stop the frivolous lawsuits that drive up the cost of medicine. Instead of an individual mandate penalty for not buying government approved health insurance, the federal tax code should be reformed to provide every American the choice of a generous tax credit or the ability to deduct the value of their health insurance certain amount. The federal tax code should provide the same tax relief for the individual buying his own insurance as the employer providing health insurance to its employees.

This will lower costs for individuals and families, and will make it easier for people to obtain portable insurance they can take with them from job to job. If you don’t like your employer’s insurance, you get the same tax relief if you buy the insurance of your choice.

Employers should also be allowed to buy individually-owned insurance for their
employees, instead of non-portable, group insurance. This approach provides a foundation of equal fairness for all, rather than the favoritism and rank discrimination of the Obamacare bureaucracies and the current system.
We should extend Health Savings Accounts throughout the healthcare system. Everyone on Medicare should be free to choose an HSA as part of their coverage if they want it. Everyone on Medicaid should be free to choose an HSA for part of his or her coverage.

All workers should be free to use their health insurance tax credit or deduction to choose an HSA in place of their employer-provided health insurance if they desire.
These are a few examples of reforms that we can enact, once Obamacare is repealed, that will transform our current healthcare system into one centered on the individual, where patients and doctors have power, not Washington bureaucrats.

Healthcare is a big deal. It impacts everyone. Drop him your ideas….

If we could pick up a few Senate seats, not lose any House seats, and if Gingrich were to become President is there any doubt Obamacare would be overturned?

Political campaigns have become so ugly, so destructive to the political system, and corrupt at the core. They are an embarrassment for our nation. They don't have to be…For those who missed it click on the link below and see how mature men with similar goals, and good intentions can talk together in a way that elevates the political process. Cain and Gingrich are both gentleman and patriots. It was refreshing to see them talk together.

Ron

docnick37@gmail.com

http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/

PS: This discussion was sponsored by the Woodlands Hills, Texas Tea Party.

http://www.2012presidentialelectionnews.com/2011/11/video-watch-the-full-cain-gingrich-lincoln-douglas-debate/?wpmp_switcher=mobile

How to move a Barn and a "House"

November 8…The day that we have been waiting for and working towards. Or could it be November 8 has been waiting for us?

Cotton on the road side, cotton in the ditch. It must be election day, cause the cotton got picked…

It seems like it has been a long wait…but finally, election day is here and we are here…. It is our time... Mississippi and history have been waiting for us….

A lesson has been relearned….We are the leaders, we are the owners, we are the guides, and we are the roots of this nation….Never them…Never them…

The people we hire on November 8 will work for us. We are their bosses and we pay their salaries… I am confident in saying that the people who get the most votes do not understand this simple dynamism…With this said, our next mountain is the educating the newly hired and the inherent warning that November 8 teaches the older group of shoe in 'good-old-boys.'

So, come November 9 with elections fresh in their minds, they must know we are the committee that all bills must be vetted by…The House, Senate and their committees are there to do the groundwork but the finished bills must be reported to us as the final decisions makers.

Below is a link to a video. Many of you may have seen it. It reminded me so much of Tea Party people and the Tea Party movement. It is well worth watching because tomorrow is election day. Clearly if the barn needs moving or the "House" needs moving one person, one family, can't do it but once the American community understands the problem, mission, and what is at stake they can and will move whatever it is…….

Carpe diem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o83W0gj_CRE

Ron
 
docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/