Due to some severe computer problems, I didn't get a chance to post the Groupapalooza media pick-ups from Mill Valley, California on Sunday.
For those of you who are reading from around the country and may not know it, Marin County is the liberal belly of the beast. Some beastly individuals tried to silence, shut-down, shout over and strip conservatives of their right to free speech and assembly for a Tea Party event, while calling us names and generally acting like dopes.
Didn't happen.
Take a look at this article from MarinMore.com and marvel! Congrats to organizer Sally Selikovsky and Brian Sussman from KSFO Radio, and others who pulled it together for a HUGELY successful 600 person event!
Hundreds of conservatives (Republicans and others), show up at Marin event
The Mill Valley Community Center was awash in red, white and blue as hundreds of Republicans, Independents, Libertarians and self-described conservatives gathered for a rousing networking event on Sunday afternoon to promote their brand of change.
The so-called Groupa-Palooza event, was billed by sponsor Bay Area Patriots as the "largest gathering of conservatives in the Bay Area" and when we arrived shortly after 1 p.m., there were at least a hundred people lined up outside waiting to get into the already jam-packed event. There were a few colorful characters sprinkled among the flag-wearing grandmothers and preppy business types, but overall it was a pretty sedate bunch.
Not so sedate were the handful of Lyndon LaRouche supporters who waved Hitler-style Obama posters while shouting anti-Obama slogans at the crowd.
Sally Zelikovsky, the event organizer and founder of Bay Area Patriots was quick to point out that although "they're exercising their right to free speech, they're not with our group."
What was missing in this very liberal county, was the opposition. Nary a protest or Democrat sign to be seen anywhere. Sitting nearby, however, was Deborah Phelan, a local Progressive Party organizer who had waged a one-woman fight against the conservative event.
"The decision was that we were not going to protest," said Phelan, "Because we don't give any credence to the people who are sponsoring this event."
Terry Inscoe an Independent from Ross, who was standing in line, was one of those who gave the event credence.
"I'm not with any particular group," he said, "I wanted to hear what peoples views are. I'm concerned with deficit spending and I prefer a small government to big government and I don't like the health care bill."
Inside, political groups ranged from the traditional like the 72-year-old California Federation of Republican Women to the more fringe My Liberty San Mateo 9.12 Projecta group inspired by Glenn Beck. If there was a unifying theme at the event, it was a preponderance of buttons and placards reading "Reset 2010." It is the rallying cry of conservatives everywhere as they make the push for a change in the political makeup of Congress with next November's election.
Roger Hubbard of Marin was carrying a broom to illustrate the point.
"It's a clean sweep in November," said Hubbard, "And for Harry Reid come November, the only thing he's going to be pushing through the house, is a broom."
(We assume he meant 'house' not House as Reid in in the Senate.)
Party faithful pitched their particular passion; heath care reform, guns, taxes or immigration. There were speeches and tributes, and a particularly beautiful a-Capella rendition of the national anthem sung by a quartet of schoolgirls.
There were also a lot of political candidates pushing their platforms from the well known (Carly Fiornia for U.S. Senate) to the lesser known (Doris Gentry for State Assembly, 7th District). Everyone was giving away some kind of swag--hats, buttons, pencils and postcards but if you wanted the hot item of the day, a "Reset 2010" button, that set you back two bucks.
Speaking pointedly about the Democratic leadership in Congress, Zelikovsky echoed the reset theme as she addressed the crowd-
"And remember, you'll all be eating humble pie in November when we reset the Congress in 2010- and debug the political system that has been corrupted by politicians like Reid and Pelosi."
Gap between Federal Workers and Private Sector Workers is a whopping $38,548
By Dennis Cauchon USA TODAY
Federal employees earn higher average salaries than private-sector workers in more than eight out of 10 occupations, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data finds.
Accountants, nurses, chemists, surveyors, cooks, clerks and janitors are among the wide range of jobs that get paid more on average in the federal government than in the private sector.
Overall, federal workers earned an average salary of $67,691 in 2008 for occupations that exist both in government and the private sector, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The average pay for the same mix of jobs in the private sector was $60,046 in 2008, some $7,645 below the average pay for federal workers.
However, these salary figures do not include the value of health, pension and other benefits, which averaged $40,785 per federal worker vs. $9,882 per private worker, a difference of $30,903 per worker in 2008, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
"The data flip the conventional wisdom on its head," says Cato Institute budget analyst Chris Edwards, a critic of federal pay policy. "Federal workers make substantially more than private workers, not less, in addition to having a large advantage in benefits."
Federal pay has become a hot political issue in recent months because of concerns over the federal budget deficit and recession-battered wages in the private sector.
US Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., made federal pay an issue in his successful campaign to fill Edward Kennedy's seat, and is fighting for a federal pay freeze.
USA TODAY used Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data to compare salaries in every federal job that had a private-sector equivalent. For example, the federal government's 57,000 registered nurses working for Veterans Affairs and elsewhere, were paid an average of $74,460 a year, $10,680 more than the average for private-sector nurses.
The BLS reports that 216 occupations covering 1.1 million federal workers exist in both the federal government and the private sector. An additional 124 federal occupations covering 750,000 employees (air-traffic controllers, tax collectors and others) did not have direct equivalents, according to the BLS.
This is perhaps the sickest antiwar advertisement I've seen in some time. Can you imagine troops getting blown up on video used to sell the radical left's global warming agenda? The clip's below, from the Soros-backed VoteVets. Note how the spot's running as a click-thru web-ad at Daily Kos, where it reads, "TELL CONGRESS TO DEFEND AMERICA BY PASSING CLEAN ENERGY CLIMATE LEGISLATION" and "OIL MONEY IS FUELING TERRORISTS AND FUNDING OUR ENEMIES" (screencaps here and here)
We send $1 billion a day in oil money overseas -- often to nations that don't like America very much. Some of that money ends up in the hands of terrorists and funds deadly attacks on American forces, like EFPs specially designed to piece our armor.
This is what our troops are up against, everyday ...
Actually, VoteVets doesn't care a bit about Middle East oil dependency. Founder John Soltz has been in the news before. Melanie Morgan attacked him and VoteVets in 2007 for supporting al Qaeda in Iraq. See, "VoteVets.org Scam Exposed," which links to this Wesley Clark ad:
Melanie eviscerated John Soltz in a 2007 PBS debate, saying that VoteVets advocacy was "shameful and really disrespectful to our troops":
... let me also say that I certainly would hope that the Democrats, if they’re planning their strategy meetings with people like Mr. Soltz and MoveOn.org, others who are meeting daily in telephone conference calls, which we are not, by the way, on our side, that al-Qaida is listening to their results, as well ....
And by the way, please keep Melanie Morgan in your prayers. She's fighting the good fight against thyroid cancer. See, "I Ain't Dead Yet, Says the Cowgirl."
Thank God for Liz Cheney and Andrew McCarthy. They are talking, talking and talking every single day about a subject that Left wing activists and Obama administration officials wish would just disappear: The Al Qaeda Seven. In fact, they won't shut up about the volunteer lawyers who represented terrorists - and now are employees at Eric Holder's Department of Justice. Talk about a conflict of interest!
Normally, I would never even consider linking to the New York Times, but this blog is too important to miss.
The Thread is an in-depth look at how major news and controversies are being debated across the online spectrum.
While it’s unclear whether it’s been Dick Cheney’s health problems or relatively low profile in recent weeks, but the left side of the blogosphere hasn’t had much to say about its Republican bête noire lately. So imagine the relief when another member of Cheney family decided to step into the breach:
“Nine top political appointees at the Justice Department previously worked as lawyers or advocates for ‘enemy combatants’ confined at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prompting new questions from Congress and conservative critics about the integrity of the administration’s handling of detainees,” reports Richard A. Serrano of The Los Angeles Times. “One of the sharpest critics is a group called Keep America Safe, run in part by Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. It has derided the unidentified appointees as the ‘Al Qaeda 7,’ and in a video on its Web site Tuesday asked, ‘Whose values do they share?’ ”
Should we worry that the Justice Department hired lawyers who had defended terrorist suspects? Or are their critics the real threat?
Well, not Liz Cheney’s apparently, and we can assume her father and probably her mother are of the same opinion. But what about the nation’s 78 million other families?
Chez Glenn Greenwald, we find displeasure. “It’s the type of McCarthyite act which would, if we had any minimal standards in our political culture, result in the shunning of Cheney and Kristol by all decent people … This slander encompasses scores of American military lawyers, who have vigorously, passionately and often successfully defended numerous Guantanamo detainees, including those accused of being Al Qaeda operatives.”
Lloyd Marcus, an unhyphenated black American responds to attack on Mark Williams, spokesman for the Tea Party Express, by Dylan Ratigan at MSNBC:
"..As a black proud Tea Party patriot, I am extremely offended by MSNBC TV show host Dylan Ratigan's baseless accusation that the Tea Party Movement (my white brother and sister fellow patriots) embraces Nazis and racists. Ratigan's attack epitomizes the liberal media's commitment to protect Obama and his radical agenda at all costs. They have a genuine disdain for freedom, capitalism and We The People."
And more attacks are coming towards Tea Party Patriots like Sally Zelikovsky, a stay-at-home Mom of three who is organizing a conservative political candidates forum and Tea Party event in Mill Valley, California this weekend.
Deborah Phelan, a former Mill Valley resident and Associated Press reporter, is demanding that the city shut down the event, silence the participants, and run them out of the county...being the nice progressive that she is.
"...Christine Sansom, director of the Mill Valley Department of Parks and Recreation, said that so far, Phelan has been the only person to object to the Bay Area Patriots' use of the community center.
"Our building is a rentable building, and we don't discriminate against renters as to what their political beliefs, or religious beliefs are," she said. "I can't. There is freedom of speech."
Way to go, Christine! Even the dopiest liberal (usually) understands the concept of Constitutional freedom.
If you live anywhere in the greater Bay Area, it's a great idea to scamper over to the Mill Valley Community Center on Sunday and meet some great pariots, talk to your fellow conservatives, and hook-up with the conservative community.
"The decision was that we were not going to protest," said Phelan, "Because we don't give any credence to the people who are sponsoring this event."
"I'm not with any particular group," he said, "I wanted to hear what peoples views are. I'm concerned with deficit spending and I prefer a small government to big government and I don't like the health care bill."
