Just over two years ago, Rajendra K. Pachauri seemed destined for a scientist’s version of sainthood: A vegetarian economist-engineer who leads the United Nations’ climate change panel, he accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the panel, sharing the honor with former Vice President Al Gore.
But Dr. Pachauri and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are now under intense scrutiny, facing accusations of scientific sloppiness and potential financial conflicts of interest from climate skeptics, right-leaning politicians and even some mainstream scientists. Senator John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, called for Dr. Pachauri’s resignation last week.
In a brief op-ed in USA Today, White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan charges that critics who question the Obama administration’s decision to grant Miranda rights to accused Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab are “serv[ing] the goals of al Qaeda.”
“Too many in Washington are now misrepresenting the facts to score political points,” Brennan writes. “Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda.”
Really, Brennan? I’m serving the goals of al Qaeda by criticizing the administration? Because it seems to me that the ones serving the goals of al Qaeda … are the people who made the decision to give American constitutional rights and the benefits of the American criminal justice system to a foreign enemy combatant who attempted to kill hundreds of airline passengers in a spectacular flying inferno of death. I’m thinking that advertising to the jihadis that a failed attempt at infidel-murdering martyrdom will result in three squares and a lawyer instead of harsh conditions as a prisoner of war might just result in a spike in their recruitment numbers.
But what do I know? I’m just some Tea Partying hick. I need to go find some intellectual journalist to ’splain it to me… Where did I put that TIME magazine?
On the evening if the first day, we gathered in the main hall for mingling and hors d’oevres. There, we ran into good people from Cherokee County, Cleveland County, Henderson County, and Polk County. Meet Debbie Arcenaeux of Polk County 9.12 Project:
The featured speaker that evening was former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo. While many of his remarks, especially those about the education system in America, were on target, Congressman Tancredo’s speech was met with mixed reviews and was, of course, portrayed by the media as jingoistic and racist.
The speech would likely have been objectionable to Progressives, Socialists, supporters of amnesty for illegal immigrants, and opponents of the preservation of American culture, but it was not racist. If I could find the entire speech anywhere online, I would post it here. Apparently, it doesn’t serve the media’s purpose to publish the entire speech in context. Here is part of the speech.
Feb.5
On the second day, after breakfast and a short speech by Memphis Tea Party organizer Mark Skoda, we broke out into sessions. We attended the Leadership Institute’s training session on using new media. This class was led by one of the media directors of the wildly successful Scott Brown campaign. In it, we learned more about the effective use of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter Google AdWords, Google Docs, Google Forms, Google News Alerts, online petitions and polls, Ning, Drop.io, and text messaging services such as Tatango. This class was a great value and many of the ideas put forward are things that Asheville Tea PAC will be able to use effectively in the upcoming Congressional campaign.
We then went to lunch where we heard speeches by Judge Roy Moore, candidate for Alabama Governor, and Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch. Tom Fitton’s speech was extremely informative. Asheville Tea Party members should definitely avail themselves of the information provided by Judicial Watch at their website.
After lunch, David DeGerolamo and I conducted a breakout session on “How To Unite State Tea Party Groups.” The session was well attended and received. After we finished our presentation (without PowerPoints because the IT guy never showed up) we took questions. When the hour allotted for our session was up, the participants agreed that they wanted more of this topic and material. We inquired of Judson Phillips, the convention organizer, if it would be possible to hold another session during the free period the next day and he provided us a room and a three hour time period.
At dinner, we heard from Congressional Candidate and media personality Angela McGlowan and WND founder Joseph Farah. McGlowan’s speech was inspiring. Farah’s speech was almost entirely devoted to challenging the authenticity of the President’s birth certificate. This was a disappointment to me and, I believe, a negative contribution to the Tea Party Convention.
Fortunately, what followed eclipsed Farah’s speech completely. We had the privilege of screening an as-yet-unreleased movie, Generation Zero. This movie which will be released in select theaters in the coming weeks, is a jaw dropping assessment of our current economic straits, presented in a way that holds you visually captive. I had the opportunity to speak to Stephen K. Bannon, the man behind the movie, at the close of the convention and found him to be sincere and passionate about his work. He wants this movie to not only be a tool for education and motivation, but a source of pride for the Tea Party movement which he feels is heir to the Ronald Reagan legacy. As soon as the film is available on DVD, Asheville Tea Party will host a public viewing.
Feb.6
On the morning of the third day, we heard from Amy Kremer, early leader in the Tea Party movement and one of the organizers of Tea Party Express. We also were treated to a speech from Andrew Breitbart, founder of BigHollywood.com, BigJournalism.com, BigGovernment.com, and Breitbart.tv. Andrew’s speech was amazing and, as he brought the crowd to its feet over and over again, his words brought the mainstream media to its knees. We are so pleased and proud that Andrew Breitbart counts himself among us. I had a chance to speak to him and, hopefully, have persuaded him that Asheville should be one of his next stops in his busy travel schedule.
After Breitbart’s total evisceration of the the mainstream media, we had a Panel Discussion. Our own David DeGerolamo, founder of NCFreedom, was a member of the three person panel answering questions from the general audience. The other two panelists were Amy Kremer of Tea Party Express and Mark Skoda of Memphis Tea Party. Videos of the panel discussion are available here and here.
After the panel discussion and lunch, we returned to the meeting rooms for our second session of “How To Unite State Tea Party Groups.” We presented the material with PowerPoint slides this time and took a few questions. Then, we broke up into four geographical regions to discuss amongst ourselves what works, what doesn’t, and what’s next. After a half hour, we reconvened and Judson Phillips joined us. At this session, we discussed how to use Tea Party Nation’s website as a hub of communication for the nation’s Tea Parties and where to begin with networking. In the coming weeks, we will be developing this network further with Tea Party Nation and devising a Toolkit for Tea Party organizers to use in their efforts to organize their states for improved communication. Also at this session, we had a chance to utilize a new media tool we learned about in the Leadership Institute session.
The day was capped off by dinner, a performance by singer/songwritier/patriot Jon David, and a rousing speech by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Governor Palin’s much anticipated speech carried no hint of an attempt to coopt the Tea Party movement for personal or political gain. Much to the contrary, Governor Palin extolled the benefit of the Tea Party not having a national leader or spokesperson in that we are a force for change in both parties and across ideological boundaries. You can see her entire speech here.
Much to my great pleasure, the convention ended without a single mention of the formation of a Tea Party political party. It was entirely devoted to opening up lines of communication among patriot groups, encouraging the movement, and moving forward using strategies that work. There was no heavy handed partisanship on display and no divisiveness or conflict among members. If my schedule permits, I will gladly accept the invitation I received from Judson Phillips to present another session on “Uniting a State” with David DeGerolamo at the next Tea Party Convention in July.
This is the man who is responsible for the exposure of rampant corruption in the ranks of ACORN, as well as the exposure of the mainstream media’s refusal to cover the ACORN story. Andrew is the proprietor of BigHollywood.com, BigGovernment.com, BigJournalism.com, and Breitbart.TV. He’s also a super funny, really regular guy with a four kids whose ages are the same as my kids. Here’s a clip from Andrew’s most excellent speech which he gave this morning at the first National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, TN. The speech was the highlight of my convention experience. This is high praise; the convention was terrific. More details about the convention to come.
I was thinking today about what I like about the President. I have to ask this of myself often because I don’t want to end up like the nuts with Bush Derangement Syndrome. Those people wouldn’t have given George Bush a break if he had cured AIDS, cancer, and the common cold. Coincidentally, I saw this tonight.
Seriously, what is it about this spoof that makes the President so likable?
It’s that, “You got me,” laugh, I think. I like him here. Really.
This fabricated moment of humility and honesty reminds me of a genuine one that impressed me several months ago. Remember this?
One other moment that stirred affection in me was this one:
Rush Limbaugh played an audio clip of this all week long like he was going to hang it around Obama’s neck like a rotting albatross. Personally, I thought it was nice to have a window into the President’s humanity, and also to hear that he is willing to call a jackass a jackass.
During his State-of-the-Union address Wednesday night, President Obama spoke about a deficit of trust between the American people and political leaders. New Rasmussen Reports polling on the president’s speech shows just how deep that trust deficit has become.
The president in the speech declared that his administration has cut taxes for 95% of Americans. He even chided Republicans for not applauding on that point. However, just 21% of voters nationwide believe that taxes have been cut for 95% of Americans. Most (53%) say it has not happened, and 26% are not sure. Other polling shows that nearly half the nation’s voters expect their own taxes to go up during the Obama years.
The president also asserted that “after two years of recession, the economy is growing again.” Just 35% of voters believe that statement is true, while 50% say it is false.
Obama claimed that steps taken by his team are responsible for putting two million people to work “who would otherwise be unemployed.” Just 27% of voters say that statement is true. Fifty-one percent (51%) say it’s false.
Administration on Aging | Administration for Children and Families | Drug Enforcement Administration | Employment and Training Administration | Farm Credit Administration | Federal Aviation Administration | Federal Housing Administration | Food and Drug Administration | General Services Administration | Health Resources and Services Administration | Mine Safety and Health Administration | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | National Archives and Records Administration | National Credit Union Administration | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | Occupational Safety and Health Administration | Social Security Administration | Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration | Small Business Administration | Transportation Security Administration | Western Area Power Administration | Central Intelligence Agency | Environmental Protection Agency | Federal Emergency Management Agency | Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality | Information Agency | Minority Business Development Agency | National Security Agency | Trade and Development Agency | US Agency for International Development | Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) | Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board | Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board | Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board | Federal Executive Board | Federal Housing Finance Board | Federal Reserve Board | Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board | Merit Systems Protection Board | National Labor Relations Board | National Mediation Board | National Transportation Safety Board | Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board | Railroad Retirement Board | Census Bureau | Bureau of Consular Affairs | Bureua of Economic Analysis | Citizenship and Immigration Services | Dureau of Engraving and Printing | Federal Bureau Investigation | International Broadcasting Bureau | Bureau of Land Management | Bureau of National Affairs | Federal Bureau of Prisons | Bureau of Reclamation | Bureau of Transportation Statistics | American Battle Monuments Commission | Appalachian Regional Commission | Commission on Civil Rights | Commodity Futures Trading Commission | Consumer Product Safety Commission | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | Federal Communications Commission | Federal Election Commission | Federal Energy Regulatory Commission | Federal Maritime Commission | Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission | Federal Trade Commission | Medicare Payment Advisory Commission | National Capital Planning Commission | National Commission on Libraries and Information Science | National Indian Gaming Commission | Nuclear Regulatory Commission | Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission | Postal Rate Commission | Securities and Exchange Commission | United States Sentencing Commission | United States Commission on International Religious Freedom | United States International Trade Commission | Advisory Council on Historic Preservation | American Foreign Policy Council | Chief Financial Officers Council | National Council on Disability | President’s Council on Bioethics | Department of Agriculture | Department Of Commerce Department of Defense | Department of Education | Department of Energy | Department of Health and Human Services | Department of Health and Human Services | Department of Homeland Security | Department of Housing and Urban Development | Department of Interior | Department of Justice | Department of Labor | Department of State | Department of Transportation | Department of Treasury | Department of Veterans Affairs | African Development Foundation | Inter-American Foundation | National Science Foundation | Comptroller of Currency, Office of Congressional Budget Office | Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office | Executive Office for Immigration Review | Federal Employment Office Of Personnel Management | General Accounting Office | Office of Government Ethics | Government Printing Office | National Reconnaissance Office | Office of Electronic Government and Technology | Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight | Office of National Drug Control Policy | Office of Personnel Management | Office of Science and Technology Policy | Office of Scientific and Technical Information | Office of Special Counsel | Office of Surface Mining | Patent and Trademark Office | Office of Technology Assessment | Food and Agriculture Organization | International Civil Aviation Organization | International Criminal Police Organization | International Labour Organization | International Organization for Migration | North Atlantic Treaty Organization | U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services | Defense Security Service | Federal Relay Service | Fish and Wildlife Service | General Services Administration | Health Resources and Services Administration | Indian Health Service | Institute of Museum and Library Services | Internal Revenue Service | Minerals Management Service | National Park Service | National Technical Information Service | U.S. Postal Service
Experience shows that nothing is operated with less economy and with more waste of labor and material of every kind than public services and undertakings. Private enterprise on the other hand naturally induces the owner to work with the greatest economy in his own interest.
