Those Who Turned Away….

Every Senator steps forward on his first day in office, puts his hand on the Bible and then utters these words…..

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;
…

The Fourth Amendment, considered by most to be part of the Constitution states the following……

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

These are those following who allowed unwarranted wire tapping by the government to continue….. five more years. It was voted in 2008 to expire on Monday.

R Andrew Alexander TN
R Kelly Ayotte NH
R John Barrasso WY
D Michael Bennet CO
D Richard Blumenthal CT
R Roy Blunt MO
R John Boozman AR
R Scott Brown MA
R Richard Burr NC
D Benjamin Cardin MD
D Thomas Carper DE
D Robert Casey PA
R Clarence Chambliss GA
R Daniel Coats IN
R Thomas Coburn OK
R William Cochran MS
R Susan Collins ME
D Kent Conrad ND
R Robert Corker TN
R John Cornyn TX
R Michael Crapo ID
R Michael Enzi WY
D Dianne Feinstein CA
D Kirsten Gillibrand NY
R Lindsey Graham SC
R Charles Grassley IA
D Kay Hagan NC
R Orrin Hatch UT
R Dean Heller NV
R John Hoeven ND
R Kathyrn Hutchison TX
R James Inhofe OK
R Johnny Isakson GA
R Mike Johanns NE
R Ron Johnson WI
D Timothy Johnson SD
D John Kerry MA
D Amy Klobuchar MN
D Herbert Kohl WI
R Jon Kyl AZ
D Mary Landrieu LA
D Carl Levin MI
I Joseph Lieberman CT
R Richard Lugar IN
D Joe Manchin WV
R John McCain AZ
D Claire McCaskill MO
R Addison McConnell KY
 D Barbara Mikulski MD
R Jerry Moran KS
D Clarence Nelson FL
D Earl Nelson NE
R Robert Portman OH
D Mark Pryor AR
D John Reed RI
D Harry Reid NV
R James Risch ID
R Charles Roberts KS
D John Rockefeller WV
R Marco Rubio FL
D Charles Schumer NY
R Jefferson Sessions AL
;D Jeanne Shaheen NH
R Richard Shelby AL
R Olympia Snowe ME
D Deborah Stabenow MI
R John Thune SD
R Patrick Toomey PA
R David Vitter LA
D Mark Warner VA
D James Webb VA
D Sheldon Whitehouse RI
R Roger Wicker MS

The world didn’t end after 2008… It may not end now in 2012.. but estimates are currently that over 10,000 Americans have been picked up and held like Joe Padilla somewhere without access to an attorney, without access to communication, without access to due process, because of the Patriot Act.

One day we will ask how this could happen. Who was too blame? Who could have stepped up and stopped it, but instead, chose to turn away?

This will be their answer.

2000

This is post number 2000.

The only real significance is it is 150 posts more than where Tommywonk stopped exactly one year and fifteen days ago…

If some future historian looks back, I can only guess they may kindly make some note of the quality of thought that underlies these efforts, but my guess, is no one will ever notice…

Irregardless, as long as the urge to put thoughts down for others continues, we will go on. As usual, with no goal, no direction, and no ulterior motive. Probably upon reflection, my biggest surprise, right here, right now … is that I still enjoy it so much, and can’t wait to jot my thoughts down, click the button, and send them off to where ever cyberspace and the vast internet ocean, lets them drift….

For each of you who have become regular over the years, … thank you friend…

At What Price, Loyality?

This is going to my hard core Republican friends. Why are you still supporting Romney?

1) You know he is not going to win.
2) You know as the election heats up, his Bain Capital experience will make Republicans untouchable for decades.
3) You can’t pin down where Romney stands on anything.
4) He tied his dog to a car.
5) He stands with black people and says “Who let the dogs out, woof, woof.”

Most of you are telling me, “I certainly can’t vote for Obama. I guess I’m not voting for President this time.”

Let’s say, just for argument sakes there was a presidential candidate out there who says to have good government you need: …………………

1. Become reality driven. Don’t kid yourself or others.
Find out what’s what and base your decisions and actions
on that.

2. Always be honest and tell the truth. It’s extremely
difficult to do any damage to anybody when you are
willing to tell the truth–regardless of the
consequences.

3. Always do what’s right and fair. Remember, the more
you actually accomplish, the louder your critics become.
You’ve got to learn to ignore your critics. You’ve got to
continue to do what you think is right. You’ve got to
maintain your integrity.

4. Determine your goal, develop a plan to reach that
goal, and then act. Don’t procrastinate.

5. Make sure everybody who ought to know what you’re
doing knows what you’re doing. Communicate.

6. Don’t hesitate to deliver bad news. There is always
time to salvage things. There is always time to fix
things. Henry Kissinger said that anything that can be
revealed eventually should be revealed immediately.

7. Last, be willing to do whatever it takes to get your
job done. If you’ve got a job that you don’t love enough
to do what it takes to get your job done, then quit and
get one that you do love, and then make a difference.

Honesty. Integrity. Principal.

Sounds good so far. Let us say just for argument, he had chief executive experience. Let us say just or argument that he once ran a state, one of the fifty in this union. Let us say while governor, this is what he did…..

During his tenure, New Mexico experienced the longest period without a tax-increase in the state’s entire history.

1) He cut the rate of government growth in half,

2) Left the New Mexico state government with a budget surplus and 1000 fewer employees (without firing anyone),

3) Privatized half of the prisons in the state,

4) Brought a state-wide school voucher system to New Mexico.

5) Vetoed 750 bills (more than all the vetoes of the other 49 Governors in the country at that time, combined) with only 2 overrides, earning him the nickname Gary “Veto” Johnson.

6) In 1999, Johnson became the highest-ranking elected official in the United States to advocate the legalization of drugs.

7) Shifted Medicaid to managed care.

ISN’T THAT WHAT YOU WANT? ISN’T THAT WHAT WE NEED?

Can you not think of a better way to show your lack of enthusiasm over a wealthy capitalist buying his way to the top of your ticket, by voting for someone who has character, who does what you’ve always wanted, a doer, not a talker?

And to think…. you were simply just going to throw your vote away.

His name is Gary Johnson. He is the new party’s candidate for President.

Remember Republicans. It is your values that are important. If your party has given up and moved on from your values, don’t think you have to be loyal to the word…. “Republican”… What you have to be loyal too, is yourself. Always. Never lie to yourself.

You don’t need to waste your vote on Romney. You probably need to find more about this guy, Gary Johnson, and then throw your support behind him.

Don’t worry it is not one of the two parties on whose ticket he is running. Remember, at one point in time, the Republican Party was a once a third party too. One that went mainstream because of its core values, its principles resonated with everyday American People.

SOPA BLACKOUT DAY

Image direct result caused by actions of the stupid fools impersonating a US Congress

This Wednesday, on January 18th 2012, we too will be participating in SOPA Blackout Day… I encourage every true American patriot left, to do likewise.

A New Face In Town

I certainly don’t want to steal Nancy’s thunder… and I don’t know if she’ll publish this, but I’m about to go underground again and I thought this must be aired so all know that all is not well…..

You can see her words here… It is pulled from a comment section of this blog, and it gives her account of her ride down to Washington DC.

But I wanted to point out the involvement of one Jennifer Hill, the new face in town, and a very pretty face I might add. I encourage more people to use this performance as a model when dealing with this human being who WAS ELECTED TO REPRESENT OUR INTERESTS… without further ado…..

“Sorry, I am in a better head space today. Yesterday I was on the ACORN bus to the DC health care rally.

We went to chat with Sen. Kaufman’s aide first. Ted is fully on board with an affordable, universal access plan for the health and security of the American people. Carper..not so much.

Traveling down the hall, I strode right up to newest DEM Sen. Spector and took his hand in greeting. ” Hi there DEM Senator! Nancy Willling from Delaware here”. He gave me a huge grin in response.

And later, after meeting with Tom Carper’s staffers….(Carper ducked in the door to lecture us..his secretary interrupting after a few minutes..”your next appointment is here”

Carper “I’ll be right there” and continues to blab when Jennifer Hill, SEIU spokesperson, interrupted Carper and boy, then he jumped down her throat saying please don’t interrupt me.

She shot right back saying that since he was evidently going to leave without hearing a single direct word from any of the two dozen Delawareans crammed into his conference room that she wanted to be sure that we were able to say a few words to him directly.

And he did let her get a few sentences in.

After that meeting concluded (and the presentation from the DE coalition was submitted) we gathered in the atrium hallway in front of his office doors. An organizer from Health Care For America Now was telling us some good future actions would be to keep the pressure on Carper and that Jay Rockefeller had just presented A REALLY GOOD bill to focus on and promote.

Right then, Jay himself, on crutches with a knee brace and an entourage of interns squeezed around our crowd and we all hailed him with cheers!!!!

So, while the interview with Carper was VERY disappointing, the rally was great and the coalition intends to move ahead.

(of note: Carper’s staffers were polite but firm that the bill had to be bipartisan and when Jennifer said that we only would need 51 they fell out. A sore point. They said nooooooooooooo that most of the items under consideration would not be appropriate under the reconciliation rules.

Once again, Jennifer didn’t hesitate to say that the most important piece was the financial piece which certainly did fit under reconciliation rules. The staffers were none too pleased.”