Garden State Gays Are Tired of Democrats Blowing Smoke Up Their Skirts

`    Gays in New Jersey are finally waking up.

After Democrats in the assembly, state senate and governor’s office promised to pass gay marriage legislation for more than four years, their failure to do so has finally made gays realize something. It finally dawned upon them that they are being taken for a ride by Democrats.

Year after year, former Governor Jon Corzine told gay activists that same sex marriage was a top priority for him. So did the Senate President, Dick Codey. And Speakers of the Assembly did as well.

For many people their promises offered reason to be happy. Democrats have controlled New Jersey for over eight years. They have held the majority in both state houses and the governor’s mansion under three different Democrats, Jon Corzine, Acting Governor Dick Codey and Jim McGreevey, who oddly enough announced that he himself was gay and then resigned. Talk about your profiles in courage.

So with all these Democrats holding all this power and promising to do what the gay community wanted, you’d think Democrats would deliver. And they almost did. Almost.

After Governor Corzine promised to make same sex marriage a top priority during his first, second and third year in office, he reiterated that in his fourth year in office, he would do it. But as Jon Corzine found himself in a tough reelection year, that promise, well, it fell to the back burner.

The same thing with the Assembly Speaker and Senate President. Although they spoke of their desire to see marriage equality legislation, they just couldn’t seem to find a way to bring it up for a full legislative vote.

In the mean time, Republicans have been urging that the issue of same sex marriage be put on the ballot for the people to decide on.

But Democrats failed to allow that too.

It wasn’t until Governor Corzine lost his reelection bid and became a lame duck, that outgoing Senate President Dick Codey brought it up for a vote in the State Senate. Governor Corzine stated that if the Senate and Assembly passed same sex marriage, he would sign it into law.

How brave of him.

Since he now had nothing to lose after already losing the election, now he was willing telling the legislature that if they pass it, he will sign it.

Meanwhile, the only reason Dick Codey brought the bill up, was to put the incoming Senate President in a tough position.

Like Corzine, Codey had nothing to lose either. He was defeated by State Senator Steve Sweeney for his leadership position as Senate President. So the outgoing Codey put the incoming Sweeney in a tough position that would have either the majority of voters angry at Sweeney for voting for same sex marriage, or have gay activists angry at him for not voting for it.

So Codey’s revenge took place. He called a vote on same sex marriage.

The measure failed.

This despite the fact that Democrats hold the majority of votes. And as for Sweeney, the incoming Senate President, ………he abstained.

Now wasn’t that an act of courage.

As for Garden State gays, they were mortified and infuriated.

As is the case with most gay men and women, New Jersey gays do nothing but swoon over everyone and anything associated with the Democrat Party. If their was a Democrat to donate time or money to, they were there. If there was a rally a Democrat needed bodies for, gays were there. The gay community also went to the polls and voted for any candidate who was a Democrat in near unanimity. They view voting for Democrats in an election as more of a tradition, than a decision. They just pull the lever for the column that says Democrat. No matter what, they vote Democrat. They have some sort of blind faith in them, believing that they are on their side and have their backs.

Well now they have finally woken up.

Steven Goldstein, President of Garden State Equality, the largest gay political organization in New Jersey, has come out and told its more than 65,000 members to stop donating to the Democrat Party.

According to Goldstein, Democrats waited to act on gay marriage until after the election when they should have instead acted on the issue long before the election. And so now Goldstein understands the game that was played and that he was just one pf the unwitting players. He now also understands that Democrats have taken support for them from the gay community for granted.

But no more says Goldstein. He declares that the “gay ATM machine is closed” and he wants the gay community to stop blindly supporting Democrats.

Well its about time!

Scandal Plagued New York Times Said To Have Expose of Scandal On Governor Paterson

    The New York Times is said to be coming out with an exclusive expose on New York Governor David Paterson. According to sources , the details are so troubling that Governor Paterson will be dropping out of the race for Governor, if not also stepping aside as Governor.

Governor Paterson has denied that he is doing either. He also claims that that wild rumors swirling around any bombshell revelations that the New York Times may have or is rumored to have on him are scurrilous and untrue.

What those revelations in this New York Times, so-called expose are, is unknown but the blogosphere has been abuzz with suggestions ranging from heavy drug abuse while serving as Governor, involvement in a prostitution ring, or funneling state money to himself, to bribing Eliot Spitzer to take him on his Lt. Governor or taking a bribe to appoint Richard Ravitch Lt. Governor.

The only thing that is known for sure is that three Times reporters are collaborating on a news story that most likely deals with Governor Paterson’s character, or lack their of.

If while describing Paterson’s character, some sordid details arise, is not clear. For all we know Kirsten Gillibrand, the obscure Congresswoman he appointed to to the US Senate, has produced a blue dress of her own that contains the personal DNA samples of Paterson.  Which would help explain why Kirtsen Gillibrand is now Senator Gillibrand. Or it could be something as  innocuous as Paterson having not returned a neighborhood friends baseball cards back when he was a little boy in Manhattan.

I will say this though. If there is something explosive here, I would look to see if President Obama and his Chief of Staff, Rham Emanuel, have their fingerprints on the origins of the story. The President has made it clear that he and the Party do not want David Paterson running for Governor. They see his earth shattering unpopularity as a very high risk for Democrats in New York during the crucial midterm elections.  Instead, they want the son of former Governor Mario Cuomo, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to be at the top of the ticket in November, not Paterson.

But Paterson has not bowed down to President Obama’s wishes, and such an act of disrespect for the Democrat messiah is bound to have repercussions. Especially if the President’s right hand man, “Rhambo” Emanuel is involved.

Emanuel is ruthless. He has mailed dead fish to legislators who have opposed the side he is on and even been the key figure in stories told about a dinner during the Clinton campaign where Emanuel sat at the table and began repeatedly stabbing a knife into the table as he stated the names of people who were not on the side of the Clinton campaign and adding the word, “dead”, once their name was said.  ‘So -and-so, DEAD!’….. Thump. “So-and-so, DEAD,’ thump………

So digging up dirt on David Paterson and leaking it to the New York Times is not out of the realm of possibility for the President’s Chief of Staff and head “get-it-done” guy.

But all of the speculation about  the Times story is based upon innuendos and guesswork . Which when you think about it is all that the New York Times is really based on.  I mean, ever since Jayson Blair and Harold Raines, the New York Slimes has had the credibility of The National Enquirer, which by the way was the first periodical to brake the story about the John Edwards affair.

So who really knows what will be said about Paterson in the New York Slimes?  No one believes that rag anymore and no one likes David Paterson either.

Next scandal….I mean next story.

Congressman John Murtha, Dead at 77, After 18 Terms In Congress

 At age 77, long serving Congressman John Murtha has died.

John Murtha was a Marine and he was the first Vietnam veteran elected to Congress where he served with as much vim and vigor as any individual fighting on the battlefield of any war.

In 1974, after the incumbent Congressman, John Saylor, died in office, Murtha won a special election to fill the vacancy and held that seat until his own death in office.

As a rabid liberal that loved to poke and prod conservatives, Murtha  saw himself as a true defender of middle class Americans and veterans and was always a reliable liberal vote on all issues from taxes, abortion and defense spending to education, welfare and hate crimes legislation.

During his 36 years or 18 terms of representation of the people from Pennsylvania’s 12^th district, Murtha saw his share of controversy. One of the most devastating was his entanglements in the Abscam scandal that had undercover investigators catching political figures taking bribes for favors. After Murtha was caught telling the undercover agents how they could legally invest their money, Murtha was captured on tape saying;

“I’m not interested… at this point. [If] we do business for a while, maybe I’ll be interested, maybe I won’t”.

In the end, after Murtha cooperated with the FBI and testified against two Congressman who were caught taking the cash from operatives, he was never prosecuted but a crowd of doubt hung over him forever more.

In another whoops moment, during the 2008 Presidential race, Murtha was caught calling the voters of his district rednecks and racists because he felt many would not be voting for Barack Obama for President because of his color.

Meanwhile, in the life goes category, the race to replace John Murtha will begin before Murtha is buried. Democrats will soon be scuffling among themselves to find a surefire successor, someone whom they hope will also hold the seat until their dead bodies have to be removed from it.

As for Republicans, such antics are not likely.

The gentleman who ran against Murtha in 2008, Lt. Col. William Russell, (ret.),  released the following statement and posted it on his website:

“On behalf of Kasia and our entire family, I want to express our deepest sympathy on the passing of Congressman John Murtha. Today’s news will be met with profound sadness by the hundreds of thousands of constituents he served in Johnstown and throughout the 12th Congressional District.

To Joyce, their children and grandchildren, we extend our heartfelt respect as you honor Mr. Murtha’s memory and reflect on his legacy in the upcoming days and months.”

A retired career Army man, Russell ran one of the strongest challenges to Murtha and is likely to end up being Congressman Murtha’s successor, especially in the current environment that liberals are facing. Murtha’s district is heavily Democrat, but if Russell’s 2008 election returns are a sign of anything, it will be that he has the ability to appeal to rational Democrats as well as common sense Republicans.

By law, seats vacated during a term are filled through special elections, unless the vacancy occurs closer to the next general election date than a pre-established deadline. Seeing as how the next general election is but eight months away, there is not likely to be a special election.

If by chance there is a special election called for, I would hazard to guess that Russell would be the odds on favorite to win. Between that and the Democrats recent success with “special elections”, don’t look for this seat to be filled until after the November general elections.

The Winners & Losers In American Politics for the Week of 2/1/10 – 2/7/10

 

WINNERS

The Republican National Committee

The RNC has not exactly been on top of their game since 2006 and they have essentially been floundering since 2008. As a national organization it has been unable to create one unifying national message representing what the G.O.P. stands for and it has been unable to out-campaign Democrats. Well this week the Republican National Committee finally exhibited a hopeful sign of their getting back on track with some smarts. The day after Illinois voters nominated the candidates that will be running for President Obama’s old senate seat, the RNC was up and running with an ad that defined the Democrat nominee and friend of President Obama, Alexi Giannoulias. The ad compares Giannoulias, the son of a banking magnate, to the Soprano’s and discusses his connections to crime figures and his shady financial arrangements with politicians and slumlords. The episode demonstrates a positive sign for the GOP. They are apparently seeing that we must get out in front of the opposition and define them before they try to define us. Strategists are apparently reawakening to the need to have Democrats run on our playing field, not the other way around. It is a small step, but as someone who has not been very impressed by the job that Republican National Committee has been doing, this was a pleasant sign.  Keep this up and finally find a message that articulates what the G.O.P. stands for and that Republicans will unite behind and maybe we’ll be back on track again.

Judson Phillips

The founder of the Tea Party Nation pulled off an event billed as the first Tea party National Convention. The event was a success in the sense that it helped motivate those in attendance and even offered workshops that essentially offered some of the technical knowledge that would help Tea Partiers channel their new found civic interest and anger in a productive way. As for Philips, he was criticized for not using a non-profit model for his grassroots organization but he used a powerful argument to defend any profit made at or during the convention. He stated that sending out letters that tells people, “The world is ending, but for $50 we can put it off for a couple of weeks,” just did not strike him as sincere. He added “My vision for Tea Party Nation was to use the capitalist system to support our activities,” he said. “The whole idea of begging for bucks is absolutely repugnant to me. I’m not saying people who have nonprofits and seek donations are bad people or anything like that. I’m just saying, for our group, I don’t like it.” The argument is compelling and in the end, it worked for him. People who could afford the $500.00 a plate dinner which featured Sarah Palin and her keynote address, were satisfied and those who paid for the chotchkies, souvenirs and workshops at the convention were also content. In the mean time, Phillips’ organization raised a pretty penny and it received a great deal of exposure. So the bottom line is that he proved to be a winner this week.

 

LOSERS

 Democrats 

After the Senate Democrats passed legislation that raised the debt limit by another 1.9 trillion dollars, this week Democrats in the House also passed the same debt limit increase. As was the case in the Senate, not a single Republican supported the measure. The move adds a debt burden of $6,500 to every man, woman, child, transvestite, transgender and every other human life form that lives in the United States. But if that wasn’t bad enough, when the amendment raising the debt limit was passed, the partisan liberal majority cheered and applauded. Are Democrats jackasses or are they just, to quote Rham Emanuel…..f’ing retarded? When the Stock Market crashed, did stockbrokers and traders on the floor of the Exchange jump up and cheer and clapped? Not exactly. In the 1920’s, when some of them lost their life savings, they jumped up to their windowsills and jumped out of them. They did not jump to their feet in glee as did the Democrats who burdened one generation of Americans and sold out the next generation of Americans. All in one vote. AND THEY CHEERED! If that is their reaction to bad news, they must pee themselves when there is good news.

Global Warming

After it was proven that some disingenuous scientific data was exploited by liberals in an attempt to create hysteria over global warming, this week scientists discovered that European liberals had overstated the effects of global warming on the Netherlands. The environmental extremists claimed that the quickening pace of global warming has now placed 50% of the Netherlands below sea level. Well most people know that this dam clustered nation has always had more of its land below sea level than any other nation. Hence the reason for all the dams. But now scientists have come out and established that contrary to the extremists 50% calculation, only 20% of the Netherlands remains below sea level, about the same percentage that it is famous for having under sea level. And then this weekend I found myself in a blizzard at my New Jersey home, where almost two feet of snow fell. Now, two days later, I am told to brace myself for another snowstorm that will dump anywhere from a foot, to another two feet of snow. This just three days after the second storm this winter that dumped that same amount so far this season. Hey Al Gore………….you and your theory are a losers this week. Man certainly does have an effect our environment but not to the climatologically extremes that the business of global warming hysteria mongering suggests.

President Obama’s Super Bowl Party Has One Very Special Guest

    It’s Super Bowl Sunday and tens of millions of Americans are gathering around their televisions to watch a purely American pass time and tradition, the National Football League Championship game.

No matter who you are, even if you have only a passing interest in football, this is the game that most Americans watch. That includes those people in Washington, D.C. who are fumbling with national policy like a receiver wearing boxing gloves. You know the ones……politicians.

That includes President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, who are throwing a Super Bowl [arty of their own at the White House. The guest list includes some of the many unelected and unaccountable czars that the President appointed , as well as Cabinet members and members of Congress.

Of course in the spirit of bipartisanship that the President has only recently found to be so important, all the guests at this presidential Super Bowl party are Democrats.

Ahh……Oh wait…..I got that wrong.   President Obama did invite one Republican…….one.

Can you guess who it was?

 I bet you can’t.

It was Congressman Joseph Cao.

Cao (pronounced gow) is from Louisiana. New Orleans to be exact.

Cao won a special election to replace disgraced Congressman William Jefferson and is the first Republican to hold that seat since 1890.….. That’s 1890, not 1980. He is also the first Vietnamese American elected to Congress and now the only Republican to be invited to the Presidential Super Bowl Party.

Now one could claim that Cao being a Representative of New Orleans is the reason he was invited. With the New Orleans Saints in their first NFL championship game, it would seem natural. But I have a feeling that Cao’s invite was due less  to who he represents than it was for what he voted for. You see,  Joseph Cao was the only Republican in the House of Representatives to vote for the House version of healthcare reform.

Could this all be a coincidence? Maybe, but somehow I think the reasons for the invite of the only Republican at this event had less to do with the White House’s desire to see the Saint’s come marching in and more to do with the hopes of Cao becoming as loyal a supporter of the President’s policies as he of the New Orleans Saints.

Palin Packed A Punch In Her Keynote Address To Tea Party Patriots

  

Down in Nashville, thousands packed a sprawling Gaylord Opryland Hotel to hear Sarah Palin deliver the keynote address to Tea Party Patriots during their first national convention.

Palin spoke to a crowd very friendly to her but she did so amidst a storm of controversy that swirled around  acceptance of a speaking fee that totaled $100,000.

For many, not only was the fee exorbitant, it was seen as an insincere gesture. If Governor Palin is truly so supportive of the independent, limited government Tea party crowd that believes in restoring our Constitution and rebuilding our national economy with entrepreneurial spirit and free enterprise, than why did she demand such a high profit margin from those who are part of a such a movement?

The question was taken serious and the Governor made it known that she will be reinvesting that money back into the cause, not her personal bank account.

Now don’t get me wrong, I hold nothing against Sarah Palin charging a speaking for and making a profit. This is America, but I do have a problem with political figures being greedy and $100,000 from a grassroots, essentially voluntary movement , is a bit greedy. But the Governor found a quick way to at least calm the storm by saying that she is not taking the money for herself. Still, it was the wrong move.

And this comes from someone who was touting the merits of Sarah Palin’s selections as Vice President before most Americans ever heard of her. I was among those like Adam Bricker, the creator of the original Draft Palin website and blog that helped coordinate the support that we wanted to show for Sarah.  So I am one of her biggest supporters and most ardent defenders. I believe she is not a part of the political class, not a member of the old boys club, and as far removed from  Washington, D.C.,  insider politics as Alaska is from the White House. All of which I find important for a nation that wants change and desires to walk away from the status quo.    Sarah Palin is anything but the status quo. She is an outsider with an independent streak that will not allow party loyalty to supersede common sense or national priorities. She is a fiscal conservative, a defender of religious freedom and expression, and get’ er done type of leader. The type of leader America needs. So to say the least, I support Sarah.

I even supported her surprise decision to step down from her last year as Governor of Alaska.

I saw it is a courageous, and bold step, as well as a sacrifice.

Sarah Palin had become such a lightening rod for of attacks from the left, that her time, her limited personal finances and the business of the state of Alaska were all being absorbed and wasted on frivolous lawsuits and false allegations that simply did exactly what Sarah Palin said it did in her resignation announcement……it distracted too much from the business of the state. By stepping down, Sarah Palin knew that her bright Lieutenant Governor, Sean Parnell, could step up and continue the good work that she started, unhindered by the distractions of the liberal elitists who care more about tearing their opponents down then building our nation up.

Yet as much as I sincerely believe in Sarah Palin and her decisions, I could not defend $100,000 profit from those who you claim to be helping. But she says that she is putting it back into the cause now, so I will believe her.

I also believe in the words that she spoke in her keynote address.

The speech was clear and sharp. Palin herself seemed to lose her place at several points, but her ability to improvise and quickly get back on track made those moments almost unnoticeable. In general, the Governor hit on all the hot button issues. Overspending, lack of transparency, lack of accountability, false job creation blamimng all he world’s problems on President Bush, etc, etc,. Perhaps her strongest point came when she spoke of the national security failings of the current Administration. On that issue she ran through a long list of misdeeds such as pulling our missile defense shield out of Europe, the mishandling of the underwear bomber case, and the President’s inability to prosecute the War On Terror effectively. One of her biggest round of applause came after she looked at a war veteran in the audience and said that the President wants to give foreign terrorist the rights that you fought for us to have and allow him them the “right to remain silent” and then  “lawyer up” before we can get any important information out of them.

One of the most important things I believe Sarah Palin told the Tea Party audience is not to be discouraged and understand that no candidate is perfect . This is true and for those Tea party protestors who are finally taking their civic responsibility seriously and getting involved for the first time, if they do not realize that no candidate is 100% with them on every issue, than they will perpetually disappoint and frustrate themselves.

In general, Sarah Palin’s speech did not knock me over, but it was powerful and appropriate and I believe, sincere. However I do wish she was a bit more upfront with the Tea Party audience. They needed to be told that for them to be an enduring movement that effects an enduring change for the better in America, than they better focus their attention on changing things from the inside out. Sarah Palin should have told them that they must takeover the existing political parties and shape them into the organization that truly represents them on the issues and nominate candidates with the same sense of convictions as them.

That would have been the most important things Governor Palin could have told her audience.  The people in attendance to hear hermay have now become activists, but it i important that thei activism is not wasted on ditractions that will simply discourage them and succumb to the same fate as all other third party movements in  America.

I will say this though, one of my favorite lines in the speech came when Sarah Palin asked, “How’s that hopey-changey thing going for ya“?

Ronald Reagan’s Birthday; Will We Ever Again Have The Right Person At The Right Time?

    Today is the 99^th birthday of President Ronald Reagan.

Back in 1980, Ronald Reagan took a nation that was held hostage by Islamic extremists, an economy racked with double digit inflation and double digit unemployment, and brought it back from the brink of collapse. With misery indexes, inflation, stagflation, a shrinking economy, a tattered military and the “days of malaise” brought about by a liberal President and liberal controlled Congress, Ronald Reagan took the reigns of power and in a few short years, turned it all around.

The Reagan presidency lifted our will and spirit, he brought about a rebirth in the entrepreneurial spirit, grew the economy, rebuilt our military, stood up to our enemies, and looked the Russians in the eye and made them blink. His stewardship of our nation spurred on the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, the reunification of Germany, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the lifting of the communist cloud that hung over Eastern Europe and won the Cold War.

At home he stood up against overregulation and unions that held us hostage to their demands. He made us confident and made being an American something to boast about again.

Today as we try to spend our way out of a depressed economy, create unsustainable employment opportunities, grow the size of government by inventing new positions for unaccountable and unelected Czars and try to have the federal government control every aspect of our lives, we are experiencing a return to the days of malaise.

As I have indicated in the past, the presidency of Barack Obama is the second coming of the Carter Administration…..or in this case, the second term of President Jimmy Carter.

While Jimmy Obama or Barack Carter does all that Ronald Reagan had to once save us from, today, on Reagan’s 99^th birthday, we can’t help but ask ourselves who will save us from repeating history and from reinventing the misery index? Who will stop the hemorrhaging of trillions of dollars into unsustainable government programs and government jobs? Today we ask ourselves, who will be the next right person to come along at the right time and restore our nation to that shining city on the hill that Ronald Reagan so gloriously spoke about?

Though not perfect, Ronald Reagan was that person in the 80’s, but who will it be in the second decade of the 21^st century.?

Ronald Reagan was one of a kind and so one should not try to remodel themselves or morph themselves into Ronald Reagan. He was right for his time. But we are in new times. We confront new challenges and to deal with them we must have contemporary leaders who face our contemporary problems. So although we should not try to seek out a second Reagan, the next generation of American leaders will still benefit greatly by heeding some of the lessons that Reagan taught us and applying them to today‘s problems .

He made us understand that we can never back down from challenges and that we can’t just go along to get a long. He made hundreds of millions realize that you can’t make the poor rich by making the rich poor and he taught us that our nation’s strength lies not in its government but in its people.

If the next generation of American leaders holds true to those lessons, one of them will emerge as the right person at the right time to lead us and bring us back from the Barack Carter brink that we are teetering on.

Thank you President Reagan and Happy Birthday.

Advice To Tea Party Patriots; “Change Things From The Inside-Out”

    This weekend, the largely informal Tea Party movement attempts to take a step toward becoming a formal organization. Thousands are gathering in Tennessee forthe Tea Party’s  first national convention and begin to organize innumerable numbers of citizens who are dissatisfied with the direction our government has been and is going in.

Although the Tea Party movement is new, the anti-government sentiment that motivates those in it, is not new. There has always been an anti-establishment and “they’re all alike” component that has motivated people and inspired attempts to create “third parties”. The most recent one to have come closest to, but still fall short of success, was sponsored and headed up by H. Ross Perot in 1992. In his first bid for the presidency, Perot’s near 19% of the vote earned him no electoral votes but did essentially throw the election to Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton.

Third parties do not have a good track record in the United States. That is in large part due to the fact that we have a two Party system. It is not solely a two Party system, but it essentially is. Even so, there do exist many official third parties. Take a state like New York. There in addition to Democrats and Republicans you have four other major parties. There is the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the Libertarian Party and the Right To Life Party.

There are even more than that, but those are the four most prominent. They often run their own candidates but more often than not, they cross endorse candidates.

For instance a Democrat may occasionally be found also running on the Conservative line. Usually, the Republican is endorsed by the Conservative Party and the Democrat is endorsed by the Liberal Party. On many occassions,  Republicans run on the Conservative and Right To Life lines. These crossed endorsed candidacies have the total vote on the Republican line added to the total votes that they get on the Right To Life and Conservative Party lines.

What this essentially does is give individuals who can’t get themselves to pull the lever for a Republican, the opportunity to vote for the Republican, but on the Conservative or Right To Life line.

This is how Rudy Giuliani became Mayor of overwhelmingly Democrat New York City.

He won the Republican nomination but there were far too many New Yorkers who refused to ever vote Republican, even if they did like Rudy. So what did he do? He got enough signatures to create a third Party line called the “Independent Fusion Party.”

It was that line that gave Rudy enough votes to win, because the total he received on the Republican line would never have been enough to elect him.

But the point to all this is that regardless of these third party entities that may exist, they more often than not, align themselves with either the Republican or the Democrat candidate. Why? Because we are essentially a two Party nation. For some of us the two Parties represent clear differences. To some of us, it is not so much Republican or Democrat as it is right or wrong. It is that clear cut. For others, both Parties are the same. These angry voters are today calling themselves Tea Party members.

And so at their convention, they are organizing.

For those who could afford the exorbitantly high priced tickets that are required for each of the events at their convention, they are being offered workshops such as “How to do Voter Registration Drives and Where to Find Conservative Votes” & “Women in Politics” or a workshop sponsored by the Young Americans for Freedom called “How to Involve the Youth in the Conservative Movement”. Training in these areas are crucial for any movement so I commend the organizers of the Tea Party convention for understanding what needs to be done to be a successful activist.

But my question to all these new activists and their newfound enthusiasm is ………Where the hell have you been??

Why did it take elected Republicans who went astray and the most left leaning, socialist admiring, wealth spreading, President in history, to wake you up and get you up off of your collective arses?

And now that you have finally woken up to the fact that we are losing our country and shredding its Constitution, what are you doing?

You’re trying to take the same historic path to failure that others who believe the grass is greener on some imaginary third side of the street took.  And that is despite the fact that you know there are only two sides to a street.

I find myself greatly frustrated by the new awakening that suddenly has millions of people saying “hey, wait a minute, that isn’t right” or “Hey, can they do that”. What “they” have been doing hasn’t been right for years, but your lack of civic responsibility allowed it to get to where it is today.

Which brings me to the direction I advise that Tea Party activists take.

Now that our government has your attetion, use the Tea Party Convention well.  Be inspired by its speakers. Absorb the organizational knowledge being provided in the truly useful workshops that the convention offers. Then take that inspiration and knowledge and do what you should have started doing a long time ago. Apply that organizational ability and activism into taking over the two Parties that exist. Make those Parties the political organization that represent what you want them to represent, not what the establishment political class wants it to stand for.

Start at the local level.

Whether you know it or not, there are elections held that elect your local Republican or Democrat Leaders. The first subset of leaders are your local committeemen. One man and one woman within small sections of your neighborhood are elected by the registered voters of the respective Parties who live in that area. They are usually called “election districts”. The people who win the election in their respective election district or precinct, then become municpal or district committeemen. At the same time, there is also usually an election for either district leaders or Municipal Chairmen. These people organize the district or municipality represented by district or precinct committeemen. In some cases these leaders are not voted on in the general election but by the town or precinct committeemen who were elected by the voters in a general election.

District Leaders or Municipal Chairs then organize their committeemen and together they select County Chairmen. This occurs at a county convention where the county committeemen elect the County Chairmen.

As we climb the organizational pyramid, at a state Party convention, County Chairmen elect a State Chairman and at national conventions, State Chairmen elect a national Chairman.

This is how the Parties, that Tea Party protestors so despise, organize.

Now if only these Tea Party Patriots participated in that process, they could be controlling the Parties and stop being controlled by the Parties.

It should also be known that in many cases, the same process that elects the Party leadership, also takes place in regards to the official endorsement process of candidates. In many cases, it is how nominees of the respective Parties are selected when local, county or state offices open up, especially in the event of seats that become vacant. In those cases, the same process that elected your district or municipal chairmen will select the nominee who will run in a special State Senate, State Assembly or City Council election.

Understanding this process is essential to any Tea Party Patriot.

By understanding the methodology involved, instead of trying to build a third side to a street, you can rebuild the existing side that you prefer and make it into what you want.

If you can get Tea Party Patriots elected to County Committeemen positions, you can put into office the Republican or Democrat Party leader of your municipality. Elect Tea Party Patriots to Municipal Chairmen positions and they can elect the Tea Party protestors that they want to be Republican or Democrat County Chairs. From there you do the same with State Chairmen and ultimately the Chairmen of the Democrat and Republican National Committees. It is also how you effect and in many cases select the candidates for state assembly, state senate, Governor, Congress, and the Senate.

If you were apart of that process, you could shape your party platform, you could also be a part of the screening process that endorses candidates and throws the full weight of the Party establishment behind those endorsed candidates. If you were a part of that process, you would be the establishment and you would be able to eventually take credit for electing people who will take this country in the direction that you want to see it go in.

So my advice to Tea Party Patriots is this. Change things from the inside out. Energize, stay angry and motivated, stay focused and become a part of the process instead of fighting the process and succumbing to the failure of all other third Parties.

Do you want to cross endorse or throw your weight behind the establishment’s candidates or do you want be the candidates that others cross endorse and help? Don’t fight with the political Parties………..

TAKE THEM OVER AND MAKE THEM REPRESENT YOU AND WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO REPRESENT!!!!

New Jersey Offers A Perfect Snapshot of the National Midterm Elections

    When it comes to New Jersey, the existing congressional district lines seem to make the results of the upcoming midterm elections fairly static in the state. Of the 13 congressional seats that New Jersey sends to Washington, D.C., five are held by Republican and eight are held by Democrats. That 5 to 8 ratio is actually exceptionally well balanced  when compared to other states in the region like Connecticut, New York, Maryland, or Massachusetts. For the most part, despite the anti-incumbent, anti-Democrat sentiment that exists, most of New Jersey’s representatives are on ground that is relatively more solid than some of their other counterparts nationwide.

But New Jersey Democrats are not feeling very comfortable. In fact many are worried. Some more than others.

Some Republicans may also find themselves having a harder time than usual. Leonard Lance, Chris Smith and Frank LoBiondo may face primary challengers after they went and voted for the extreme liberal tax scheme known as Cap-and-Trade. Having declined my own opportunity to challenge my Congressman, Chris Smith, I do know that a challenge to his nomination is being quite seriously contemplated. The same may apply to LoBiondo and Lance. As three of the only eight Republicans in Congress to support Cap-and-Trade, many Republicans feel that we need nominees that better reflect our belief in limited government, less spending and state rights. Voting for Cap-and-Trade was as removed from those principles as one could get.

However, it is not likely that those challenges will be successful.

Smith, LoBiondo and even Lance, a congressional freshman, have a strong following and oodles of dough that will allow them to buy their nomination come the June 8^th primary. And that is all they really need, because in their districts, the Republican nomination is normally tantamount to victory in the general election.

The same goes for most of the Democrats in the Garden’s State’s congressional delegation. But none of them are totally confident under this anti-incumbent environment that seems to be hurting Democrats much more than Republicans. Three Democrats are especially concerned………Frank Pallone, John Adler, and Rush Holt.

Pallone’s district is heavily Democratic and he has more campaign cash on hand than any other Congressman…………..$4 million. Pallone is strong in his Central New Jersey district, but as we have seen, the strength that Democrats have normally been able to count on is not there these days. Pallone’s district also produced unusually large pluralities for a Republican when they overwhelmingly supported Chris Christie for Governor over Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine. So he could be in trouble, especially if a decent and aggressive Republican candidate who can tap into the money needed to compete with Pallone materializes. And that candidate might have arrived.

Congressman Pallone has never faced a challenger who could be defined as a serious threat. But that could be different this time.

The millionaire publisher of New Jersey’s  Two River Times newspapaer, Diane Gooch,  is said to be willing to run and invest 2 million of her own money into her race and raise the rest through donations. If that’s true, Pallone could be, at the very least, in  the race of his life. And no one deserves a good challenge more than him.

Pallone is one of the most vocal liberal legislators in the state. He supports anything and everything liberal and when it comes to economic policy, Frank Pallone does nothing but vote for pork and any measure that will spend taxpayer money. Frank Pallone is of the school of hought that believes when we are going through good economic times, it is the federal government’s moral obligation to spend. But on the flipside,when we are going through tough economic times, Frank Pallone is of the school of thought that believes we have to spend our way out of those bad times. In other words, Pallone’s answer to everything is spend, spend and spend more……..accept for when it concerns securing our nation’s borders or our military capabilities. That is where he supports spending cuts.

It is with this fire for spending that Pallone hopes to someday soon run for statewide office, more specifically the US Senate. So it would be nice to see him be taken out now, while he is in the lower house. If Diane Gooch does decide to run, she may be the one to do it.

My suggestion is, if she is serious about winning the office, Gooch should make it a two cycle campaign. 

Diane Gooch is unknown and this first time out will really just allow her to get some of the name recognition that Pallone already has. So if Diane Gooch runs hard, gets known and makes this a real close race, she will have made a name for herself and in two years, when Republicans have a strong presidential nominee at the top of the ticket, she can run again and in that race, she will probably put Pallone out of our misery.

Even more fertile territory for Republicans is another district that runs from portions of South Central Jersey and into sections of South Jersey. That seat is held by John Adler, a freshman elected in the Obama landslide of ‘08. The district is a Republican one. Prior to Adler, it was held by Republicans for over a decade, but the incumbent GOP congressman retired and in this open seat, the Republican nominee fumbled while Adler ran a relatively smooth campaign. The combination of the two, combined with the Obama wave, swept Adler in. But the tide has tuned and John Adler is facing a short lived Congressional career.

To make matters worse for Adler, his likely opponent will be a former Philadelphia Eagles football player, Jon Runyon. For a South Jersey district that is heavily influenced by Philadelphia, there are few things better than the ability to appeal to the legions of loyal Eagles fans who will gladly vote for you over the Congressman whose name most of them do not know. For all these reasons, it is safe to say that John Adler is one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the nation and probably one of the many that will go down in November.

The other of the most competitive races pit’s a popular conservative Central New Jersey Mayor against a six term incumbent Democrat whose greatest claim to fame is that he lays low. Holt is the champion of nothing other than supporting innocuous, feel good legislation and quietly casting his lot with liberals on every hot button issue. From the government takeover of healthcare to Cap-and-Trade, Rush Holt is there. But while Rush Holt has Nancy Pelosi’s back, voters in his district are wondering who has their back?

Answering that question is Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre.

Halfacre is a conservative leader who brings to the table much more than any past challengers of  Holt.

Articulate, believable, experienced, energetic and accomplished, Mike Halfacre, is the type of leader that people want to see representing them in Washington. Republicans see Halfacre as principled but pragmatic, reliable and respectable. Tea Party enthusiasts find Mayor Halfacre’s record exemplary and promising. They see a leader who has streamlined government and reduce debt all while lowering taxes. His Administration reduced Fair Haven’s debt burden by selling off unused property, saved the Borough $100,000 by consolidating the office of Borough Engineer with Department of Public Works.

Those and other belt tightening measures allowed Mike Halfacre to reduce property taxes in Fair Haven for the first time in decades and still abide by the wishes of voters who saw the need for a Recreation Director. Mayor Halfacre was then able to increase Borough programs for children and seniors while paying the salary of the full-time Recreation Director through fees paid on new programs. Not by taxpayers.

In other words, Tea Part protestors have no reason to protest Mike Halfacre. He is the type of leader that believes that government must get out of the way and not be a burden to the people, but rather an asset.

All of this is in stark contrast to Rush Holt who has never seen a government program unworthy of funding and never seen an issue or problem that didn’t need a new government program to fund.

Altogether, the three races highlighted here are typical for the 80 to 90 congressional seats that, nationally, the Republican Party will be assisting to wage the most aggressive campaigns in. They are seats occupied by Democrats who, with the right push, can be taken down quicker than a grass hut in a hurricane. And in New Jersey candidates like Mayor Mike Halfacre are the “right push” we need.

Dan Coats Puts Indiana Into Undecided Column & the Senate Map Gets Browner

   Following up on our recent assessment of the Senate races taking place in the 2010 midterm elections, today POLITICS 24/7 moves Indiana into the possible Republican pickup column.

Despite his attempts to sound conservative, Evan Bayh has a lot to answer for and although he is usually on solid ground, Bayh was standing on a bed of shifting sand in this anti-Democrat, anti-incumbent environment.  However; Bayh is well established and has a history of convincing people that he is much more conservative than his voting record shows. So we saw his reelection as tougher than usual but safe.

But not anymore.

Senator Dan Coats has entered the race, and now that he has, with his favorable and reputable record make him a real threat to Evan Bayh as Americans sour on Bayh’s liberal party affiliation and support for some major liberal initiatives.

So In addition to New York, Washington, and Wisconsin being possible pickups for the G.O.P., POLITIICS 24/7 now adds Indiana to the list.

These increasingly competitive seats are just icing on the cake that so far has Republicans beating Democrats in Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania. That’s eight seats. If Republicans can pick up one of the four possible pick up seats, that would give the G.O.P. fifty seats to the Democrats seats. That would allow Vice President Joe Biden to cast the deciding vote. If they can win two of the four pickup seats that would give Republicans 51 seats and majority control, making Joew Biden as inconsequential as he really is.

For a full analysis of the 2010 senate election map and the other races, see; 2010 Senate Races Are Turning The Map “Brown”