[Editor's Commentary: Instead of using the news photo that accompanies this article, I have used this 1933 image from our media library to make a point. If we don't take back Congress this November, I fear this country may be headed for another Depression. No matter what the polls say this fall, you must vote in this election and bring as many conservative voters with you as you can.]
~~John Cronin~~
By: Mike Averill Tulsa World Staff Writer
Iron Gate was forced to suspend its food box distribution program Friday morning due to a large, misinformed crowd.
The line started forming at 6:30 a.m. outside the food pantry, located on the south side of Trinity Episcopal Church, 501 S. Cincinnati Ave.
“We estimate there were 2,000 people here this morning,” said Connie Cronley, executive director. “The heat, the crowd and the incorrect information they have received rendered, in my judgment, a situation that was unsafe.”
Cronley attributed the crowd to false information sent via group e-mails and Facebook regarding supplemental food boxes, 30-pound food boxes paid for by a $2 million federal stimulus grant to the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma.
“It’s like a bad version of the old telephone game in which children whisper a sentence to one another and it is passed around a circle. At the end, the sentence is not recognizable,” Cronley said.
The message that was circulating was that the food boxes were free for anyone, however they’re actually restricted to families with children younger than 18 and there is an income restriction as well.
Through the program families can receive one 30-pound food box for each child and one box for every two adults. Families also receive one household box (toilet paper, soap, shampoo, toothpaste) for every two people younger than the age of 18 in the household. Families may receive these boxes each week.
Iron Gate receives 250 food boxes and 125 household boxes each week that it distributes Fridays and Saturdays in conjunction with its regular grocery distribution program. The program runs through September.
In June it distributed 382 food boxes and 191 household boxes and these served 165 adults and 217 children.
Cronley said distribution should resume in a few weeks once a better system is in place.
“The need seems to be overwhelming, not only in Tulsa but in the surrounding towns. We need to figure out how to better distribute these boxes. Other agencies are sending people to us for food,” she said.
The main ballroom at the St. Louis Ritz-Carlton was filled to capacity with Republican Party activists and St. Louis community leaders last night for the annual “Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award” that was bestowed on Emerson Electric CEO David Farr.
Mr. Farr is an accomplished public speaker and he got several very strong rounds of applause in his speech, but one statement he made provoked the proverbial “pin-drop” silence. Mr. Farr was commenting about the reasons businesses invest in national economies and what causes them to suspend their investments. He was talking about the huge increases in taxes starting in 2011 as the Bush tax cuts expire and also the onerous costs of Obamacare. Here is the statement that caused the silence.
“Right now, there is not a single incentive for a company to invest in America.”
That caused us to look around the table to gauge each other’s reaction. It was grim. Here was the CEO of a $22 billion company with 145,000 employees telling us that he didn’t have a single reason to hire new employees, invest in capital goods or expand his business in any significant way.
What an indictment of the job-killing policies of the current regime. The same dreary litany of higher and higher taxes, more and more regulation, less and less opportunity and the inevitable drift, stagnation and Jimmy Carter-style “malaise.”
Even though that phrase had a sobering effect on the crowd, I don’t want to give the impression that we were anything but fired up. We recognize the seriousness of the situation we find ourselves in, but we also recognize that there is something we can do about it come November. We can, to use an increasingly popular expression….”throw the bums out!”
Wow!! What an election night. Obviously, there is so much to report, I’ll just post the results of one on my picks while I labor diligently to get the rest of the info up on the site.
Congrats to pro life, pro business, pro tax cuts Carly “Landslide” Fiorina for her resounding victory in Cally Fornia!
Republican
Maps
Candidate Votes Percent
Tom Campbell 362,698
21.9%
Chuck DeVore 315,196
19.1% Carly Fiorina 932,792
56.3% Tim Kalemkarian 14,810
0.8%
Al Ramirez 31,739
1.9%
The best strategy for Republicans running for office this November? Get President Obama to campaign for your Democratic opponent. It’s a plan that appears to be working rather splendidly for the GOP so far. In fact, it’s so successful, there should be little doubt that Republicans would be willing to open their wallets and fund Obama’s campaign travel through Nov. 2.
Obama campaigned for Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who lost his primary to Rep. Joe Sestak 46 percent to 54. Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley 52 percent to 47 in January’s special election, despite Obama’s support for Coakley.
Republican Chris Christie trounced New Jersey’s Democratic incumbent governor, Jon Corzine, even after Obama did his best to pull Corzine to victory last fall. The story repeats itself in Virginia, where Obama didn’t have the clout with voters to help Democrat Creigh Deeds defeat Bob McDonnell for Virginia governor. Numbers don’t lie.
The White House may try to argue that Obama was not on the ballot Tuesday in Pennsylvania, nor in New Jersey and Virginia last year or Massachusetts earlier this year, where, despite the president’s efforts on behalf of the Democrats in each and every one of those races, his candidate lost. And while there is, indeed, a whiff of anti-incumbency in the air, Corzine was the only incumbent on that list where that point can even be debated. (House incumbent Sestak beat Senate incumbent Specter.) Obama himself may be the most vulnerable incumbent, and his “help” could be the kiss of death.
Searching desperately for something resembling a shred of good news from Tuesday’s results, Democrats are celebrating their ability to hold on to a House congressional seat (until November, at least) in Pennsylvania held for 36 years by the late Rep. John Murtha (D) in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin. But Democrats opining that holding Murtha’s seat is an omen for their party’s fortunes come November are more foolish than prescient.
Democrat operatives are loath to admit the hotly contested Pennsylvania primary between Specter and Sestak spurred more Democrats to get out and vote, thus putting Democrat Mark Critz over the finish line in Murtha’s congressional district. Simple turnout levels between Republicans and the more passionate Democratic voters interested in the Senate primary are what most likely kept the seat in the “D” column.
Pennsylvania Democrats came out to vote so they could vote against Obama’s pick for the Senate. Obama had nothing to do with Critz’s win. Putting the full weight of his presidency behind Specter failed, just as it failed in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
With Obama’s approval rating below 50 percent (according to the most recent Real Clear Politics poll average) and his approval and disapproval numbers just about even, his astonishingly high self-esteem isn’t likely to save him or his party. Prior to Brown’s stunning win over Coakley, the Democrats’ supposed heir apparent to the late Ted Kennedy’s throne, Obama was queried about Democrats’ trepidation about November. Obama unflinchingly stated, “The difference between here [2010] and ’94 is, now you have me.” Yes. We do. Along with government takeover of our health, banking and auto industries and the saddling of our nation with debt burdens for generations to come.
One primary night seems to have shattered nerves across the Capitol.
Instead of toeing the party line, two Democratic senators broke away and handed Harry Reid an embarrassing – albeit temporary – loss on financial reform because they wanted more aggressive measures. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) seems to have reversed a plan to vote with the Democrats to advance the Wall Street bill, further upsetting the once smooth path to passage for the bill.
The takeaway message from Tuesday night is that nobody’s safe, and they feel like they might be punished by voters for actually being bipartisan.
The unpredictable swings signal that this is going to be a long five months for congressional leaders if they want to build any consensus deals on legislation.
Citizen McGlowan: Political Author and Fox News Contributor Angela McGlowan is one of three Republican Candidates in the 1st Congressional District of Mississippi. During this interview, McGlowan speaks for the first time about receiving death threats, being urged by the Republican machine to withdraw her candidacy, as well as being the target of political dirty tricks. McGlowan also discusses her candidacy, the upcoming GOP Primary, and the political environment heading into the 2010 Mid-Terms.
The Obama administration doesn’t love it. Senate Democrats aren’t wild about it, either. Even respected financial watchdogs like Paul Volcker oppose it.
But a controversial proposal by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) that would force investment banks to spin off their derivatives businesses appears to enjoy a quirky protected status until Tuesday — primary election day in Arkansas, when Democrats decide if Lincoln can go for a third term.
Trying to shore up her left flank, Lincoln went further than the White House, the House and the Senate Banking Committee to crack down on derivatives, the complex financial instruments at the heart of the 2008 economic crisis.
And Lincoln’s in no mood to compromise just days before her May 18 primary. So Democratic leaders have held back from going too far to force changes in her bill and risk embarrassing Lincoln ahead of the vote, according to multiple Senate aides and industry officials familiar with the negotiations.
(AP) Voters in Indiana, North Carolina and Ohio kept their incumbents and voted for an old Capitol Hill hand – Republican Dan Coats – in Tuesday’s primaries despite the nation’s bottom-barrel support for Congress and frustration with the Washington establishment.
In Indiana this fall, Coats – who was recruited by the National Republican Senatorial Committee – will face Democrat Brad Ellsworth, whose nomination is assured. The candidates are seeking the seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh.
Coats, 66, retired from the Senate in 1998, has worked as a lobbyist and was U.S. ambassador to Germany under President George W. Bush. He overcame spirited challenges from four, including state Sen. Marlin Stutzman, a tea party favorite who was endorsed by South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, and former Rep. John Hostettler, who had the support of one-time presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas.
This YouTube video featuring Dr. Frank Lutz on The O’Reilly Factor is from March, 2009.
It reminds us why the Democrats are likely to suffer an epic defeat at the polls this November. The anger of many Democrats at the irresponsible actions of the most incompetent President in American history, coupled with the defection of the much prized Independent voter, spells doom for the Dems this Fall.
A fair deal for taxpayers and state workers in California.
By: Meg Whitman
To get spending under control in Sacramento, the next California governor must have the courage to confront the public-employee unions and reform the state pension system. Short of raising taxes or cutting education to the bone, there is no other way to dry up the red ink in the budget.
The amount the state spends on the worker-retirement system has increased by 2,000 percent in the past decade. This year alone, the state will spend $3.3 billion on pensions and other retirement benefits for government workers. Conservative estimates peg the system’s unfunded liability at $182 billion. This means the average household in California is on the hook for nearly $15,000 unless bold reforms are put in place
To understand the pension crisis, you have to closely examine the lavish benefits politicians have promised to win union support for their campaigns. Under the current system, government workers receive retirement benefits that are far more generous than what is available to Californians who work in the private sector. Many state workers can retire today at age 55, after 30 years of work, with 60 percent of their salaries and 100 percent of their health-care benefits for life. For example, a DMV field rep who retires at age 55 could expect to draw a pension valued at $400,000. For some state workers, the benefits are much higher. The pension of a prison guard could easily be $1.4 million.
In comparison, the median American household only has $100,000 saved at retirement. It is simply unfair to ask non-government workers to pay higher taxes to fund benefits that far exceed what they can ever expect to receive in retirement. It’s also dishonest to continue promising benefits to state workers that are so woefully underfunded.
We have an obligation to both taxpayers and government workers to find a solution that will guarantee the solvency of the state’s pension fund without requiring higher taxes. We must raise the retirement age for non–public safety workers from 55 to 65. We must require state employees to contribute a larger portion of their salary to help pay for their retirement benefits. We must extend the vesting period, and we must bring new government workers in under a different deal where they receive a defined-contribution retirement plan similar to the 401(k) plans that most taxpayers have.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will endorse Marco Rubio over Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida’s Republican Senate primary more than two years after Crist helped crush Romney’s presidential aspirations by endorsing rival John McCain.
Romney plans to announce the endorsement Saturday and campaign with Rubio in Tampa on Monday, according to a Romney adviser who asked to remain anonymous because the official announcement has not been made.
Romney is the third major 2008 presidential candidate to endorse Rubio. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee have also endorsed the former House speaker. Giuliani, who endorsed earlier this month, was also counting on a Florida victory during the 2008 campaign and now says Crist backed out of a promised endorsement.
Crist and Rubio both sought Romney’s endorsement, the adviser said, but Romney believes Rubio has a stronger conservative record and is an idea-driven leader. Romney was also disappointed that Crist vetoed a teacher merit-pay bill this week that was a high priority for Republican lawmakers and former Gov. Jeb Bush.
Romney’s PAC is contributing the maximum $5,000 allowed to Rubio’s campaign. In 2006, Romney flew to Tallahassee as head of the Republican Governors Association with a $1 million check to help Crist’s run for governor.
In 2008, Romney and McCain were in a tight battle for Florida with Romney slightly ahead in polls leading up to the primary. Crist endorsed McCain just three days ahead of the election and some political observers believe it was enough to give McCain the win, which he used to build momentum and capture the nomination.
Romney is often mentioned as a potential 2012 presidential candidate. By backing Rubio, a favorite of conservatives, Romney could endear himself to Republican voters who were uncomfortable with his moderate stands on abortion and gay rights when he ran for office in Massachusetts.
The Rubio campaign said it would not comment on the endorsement until after it’s made. The Crist campaign didn’t immediately respond to e-mails seeking comment.
Little has changed over the past month in Missouri’s U.S. Senate race, with Republican Roy Blunt maintaining his modest lead over Democrat Robin Carnahan.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state shows Blunt earning 48% support to Carnahan’s 42%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.
I had the opportunity to speak with Hector Maldonado at a meeting of Republican Party activists at the Grand Opening & Open House of the MOGOP (Missouri GOP) Victory 2010 Head Quarters in suburban St. Louis Co. The offices were packed with party loyalists and many “newbies” who haven’t been active in politics in the past, but that was then and this is now.
There was a strong current evident in the crowd and the speakers that the 2010 midterm is the most important election of our lives. We all felt that we have one more chance to stop the destruction of our freedoms and our economy before the Alinsyites temporally in charge in Washington get two more years of unbridled power to effect the dismantling of America.
The offices were packed and the energy and excitement level were as high as I’ve ever experienced. Several big political hitters were there, including Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who is criss-crossing Missouri in his efforts to support Party candidates state wide. Just as a teaser, I have some important news on something Mr. Kinder has planned for later this month, but you’ll have to listen to an upcoming edition of the SOLID PRINCIPLES PODCAST to find out what he has on his agenda.
But getting back to my conversation with Hector Maldonado. Hector is a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserves and he was among the First Responders to arrive at Ground Zero on 911. His account was very moving and, hopefully, we can arrange for him to tell you more about his experiences that day on a future podcast.
Hector is running for the U.S. Senate seat that has opened up as a result of Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond’s retirement and he is as conservative as they come. While SOLID PRINCIPLES does not endorse primary candidates, we do feel it is our role to bring promising candidates to the voter’s attention so that you can make an informed decision.
We need leaders that are in touch with real people and take time to listen to the real issues that affect us the most. We need leaders that know the impacts and hardships of the average American tax payer.
We need leaders that not only know the history of our founding but that believe in our Founders’ Declaration of Independence. We need Leaders that not only know the U.S. Constitution, but that rule by this majestic document. We need Leaders that truly will support and defend the Constitution of The United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
We need defenders of Liberty and Freedom. Leaders who are ready to Guard and Defend it at any cost. Why do we need such Leaders?
“Because Washington needs Leaders that love LIBERTY and FREEDOM, not Power.”
Let Me Be Blunt:With the resignation of U.S Senator Kit Bond for the state of Missouri, his seat now becomes an open race this November. Current candidates include Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan for the Democrats, and Republican Congressman Roy Blunt currently representing Missouri’s 7th congressional district. As part of our 2010 contenders series on Solid Principles, we feature an interview with the Congressman Roy Blunt on his attempt cross over into the US Senate.
Everyone agrees on one thing: The new health reform legislation fundamentally alters the relationship between Americans and their government.
Indeed, Americans of all philosophical stripes want November’s elections to be a national referendum on the big and transformative issues that go to the heart of the American experiment.
To strategists on the right, health care reform has done more to electrify and, significantly, unite the center-right coalition in America since the end of the Cold War.
The movement to repeal Obamacare has begun.
Repeal legislation has been introduced in Congress. Grass-roots campaigns have started. It’s now clear that the 2010 elections are going to turn on a simple question: to repeal or not to repeal.
Initially, no one will need to ask candidates what they mean when they say that they stand for “repeal.” But, gradually, the repeal movement will evolve into something larger and, ultimately, more advantageous to right-of-center candidates.
The notion of repeal will come to encompass the entire Obama agenda.
It will tap into the escalating frustration many Americans feel about many other issues: the $862 billion stimulus bill, budgets that could triple the national debt in a decade, bureaucrats with authority to set the pay of executives at major corporations, a president embarrassed by the notion of American exceptionalism, an antiterrorism strategy that grants Miranda rights to terrorists and redistributionist tax increases that penalize our most entrepreneurial citizens.
Center-right candidates must appreciate that something unusual is going on out there, and they need to understand its source. Voters’ frustrations stem from a growing sense that their children and grandchildren will inherit an America in decline, a dramatic departure from our historic faith in intergenerational upward mobility.
Indeed, a Gallup Poll in December found that the percentage of Americans optimistic about America’s prospects over the next 20 years fell from 79 percent in 1991 and 78 percent in 2000 to only 63 percent today.
Meanwhile, a recent Zogby poll found that only 52 percent of Americans believe “it is possible for most middle-class Americans to achieve the American dream,” down from 61 percent barely 15 months ago.
It is significant that the tea party protest movement building over the past year draws deeply from the values, history and even the terminology of America’s founding. This is something new.
Below is the text of an email I received from an acquaintance of mine and I think he summed up my feelings. Tomorrow the law suits start and everything now depends on winning the November elections.
I know I have said this in the past, probably to the point of irritation for many of you, but I think I have to say it again.
If you are not working for a conservative’s campaign, I urge you to call the local office of a good incumbent or a conservative challenger and then to devote every spare minute to their campaign. I know it is a substantial sacrifice because I have done it myself and after tonight’s vote, I will be doing it again.
See you on the campaign trail.
~~John Cronin~~
Looks like we lose along with all Americans….at least temporarily. The lawsuits begin tomorrow. At least 38 states will challenge the constitutionality of the legislation. The final decision may lie with the Supreme Court. This legislation puts America on the path to becoming a second rate nation, both economically and militarily. The democrats own this and it will hurt them for years to come, especially once all the dirty, corrupt details come out. This also cements Obama and this congress as the worst President and congress of our lifetime. Sad day for our country….it may come to be known as Black Sunday.
The Pursuit of Rubber Stamp Russ: When appearing at a fund raiser for Rep. Russ Carnahan of Missouri, House Speaker Pelosi classified Carnahan as ‘Not a High Maintenance Type’. This gave Republican Congressional candidate Ed Martin the idea to now refer to Carnahan as, ‘Rubber Stamp Russ‘. As part of the 2010 Contenders Series, Solid Principles spoke to Ed Martin on his challenge for the 3rd Congressional District of Missouri, and matters relating to the 2010 Mid-Terms.
Republicans hope that 2010 will be a rerun of 1994. There are some striking similarities, which should give them hope. But there are also key differences, which should give them pause.
As was the case 16 years ago, big fiscal measures and a muddled health-care proposal have hurt the president’s standing. In fact, Obama is a bit less popular than Clinton was at this point in the election cycle. In early 1994, Clinton’s Gallup approval rating stayed between 50 and 58 percent. Since the start of the year, Obama’s numbers have varied between 47 and 52 percent.
By: Michelle Malkin Republican Tom Campbell, who served in the House of Representatives for ten years between 1989 and 2001, is currently running for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by California Democrat Barbara Boxer. While the incumbent has acted as little more than a rubber stamp for the Obama agenda, it is by no means clear that Campbell would represent much of an improvement.
His credentials as a self-anointed “fiscal conservative” are tainted by several unsavory elements: an apparent hostility toward America’s staunch ally, Israel; an inability to comprehend the aggressive and hateful nature of radical Islam; an eagerness to appease Islamists who have intimate ties to known terrorists; and a propensity to repeatedly massage the truth until such time as his prevarications are publicly discredited with clear and compelling evidence – at which point Campbell typically concedes that he may have inadvertently goofed. These are hardly the qualities of a man who could be depended upon to help advance a conservative resurgence in America.
Consider, to start, Campbell’s most recent falsehood. In a February 24th interview, the candidate was asked whether there was any truth to an allegation that in 2000 he had accepted a campaign donation from Sami Al-Arian, the University of South Florida professor who was, at that time, the North American leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) – a terrorist organization whose objectives include the destruction of Israel.
Campbell replied emphatically, “I received no contribution from Sami Al-Arian,” though he did concede it was possible that Al-Arian’s wife had given him some money that year. When a Federal Election Commission report subsequently showed that Al-Arian had in fact made a $1,000 donation to Campbell on May 2, 2000 – and that Al-Arian’s wife, Nahla, had given an additional $300 – Campbell reluctantly let the truth drip out:
“I apologize, but I made a mistake. I was aware that Sami Al-Arian had asked others to contribute to me … I did not realize that [he] had contributed himself. It was an honest mistake, with no attempt to mislead.”
