Regnad Kcin's blog

(author not known - from the Northern Florida Republican Liberty Caucus maillist [republican-609] ):  So lets see, we now have the Eisenhower family, the Goldwater family, Chuck Hegel, Colin Powell, numerous GOP Congressmen and GOP Mayors all rejecting the Neo-Conservative message.

Additionally over 1/2 dozen GOP US Senators are skipping McCain's glorious debut at the GOP convention.

I wonder if this has anything with the Neo-Conservatives alienating the traditional Constitutional Conservatives? I suspect there will be many more conservative leaders and icons leave the party rejecting this message of debt, loss of liberties, war and fascism.

When the Eisenhower family is rejecting the Party we have problems.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/107476

Iowa Republican Leach, Ex-House Member, Backs Democrat Obama
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aH5Jv25YbDRc&refer=worldwide

NYT columnist: 'Demoralized' Republicans fleeing RNC will make McCain 'lonely guy' in Minnesota
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bob_Herbert_McCain_will_be_lonely_0815.html

Colin Powell to endore Obama
http://www.thedailybackground.com/2008/08/13/colin-powell-to-endorse-obama/

Also, Barry Goldwater Jr. will not be attending the Republican National Convention he will be a t the Campaign for Liberty with Ron Paul and the Constituional Conservatives.

Another GOP Senator Skipping Convention
Sen. Pat Roberts (KS) is now the eighth Republican senator to announce that they will not attend the GOP Convention in St. Paul, Minn., next month.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/13/another-gop-senator-skipp_n_118746.html

GOP exits to cost party millions
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-05-18-PAC_N.htm

Alan Keyes Leaving Republican Party
http://www.theamericanview.com/index.php?id=1035

So when the Patriarch conservatives are leaving the party it has to refer one back to this article?
Are Ron Paul Republicans Welcome in the Republican Party of Florida?
http://www.nolanchart.com/article3956.html

The Big Switch: Conservatives leaving the Republican Party
http://newsparade.com/2007/09/16/the-big-switch-conservatives-leaving-the-republican-party/

From Politicio.com
8/11/08

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12476.html

While excitement is building for a Democratic Party convention capped by Barack Obama’s historic acceptance speech before a sold-out, 75,000-seat football stadium, the GOP convention the following week is shaping up to be a considerably more staid affair, marked by the conspicuous absence of many of the usual convention attendees.

Republicans aren’t exactly planning to avoid the convention in droves. But compared to past conventions, lawmakers, lobbyists and candidates aren’t beating a path to St. Paul either.

Of the 12 Republicans running in competitive Senate races — five of whom are incumbents — only three have said they will be attending the convention. Six are definite no-shows, and three are on the fence.

“Nobody likes a funeral,” said a Senate Republican press secretary who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing “the overall climate of general malaise about the party” as the reason for hesitance on the part of Republicans.

On the House side, according to a report in The Hill, during a July 31 conference call National Republican Campaign Committee Chairman Tom Cole of Oklahoma discouraged congressional hopefuls from attending, saying that doing so would potentially be a “waste of time.”

At least a handful of Republican incumbents, ranging from vulnerable incumbents such as Jon C. Porter and Dean Heller, both of Nevada, to safe veteran members such as Jim Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin and Sue Myrick of North Carolina, have also decided to stay home this year.

“While the congressman believes spending time with the delegates and the party faithful is productive, he is focused on campaigning in his district and ensuring that we keep Nevada red,” said Matt Leffingwell, Porter's press secretary.

The political environment is just one explanation behind the absence of convention fever. Many GOP lobbyists also have decided the convention isn’t worth the trip — despite the seemingly limitless networking and schmoozing opportunities — in part because of logistics and location.

In 2004, D.C.-based conventioneers could zip in and out of New York City by train. The 2000 convention in Philadelphia was an even shorter ride.

Many Americans don't know that there is such a place as the US Territory of American Samoa, or that American Samoa sends a Delegate to the House of Representatives. Amata Aumua Coleman Radewagen is the GOP candidate for that office, and as a long-time Republican she is the 5th ranking member in seniority in the Republican National Committee, and the National Chairwoman to the RNC from Am. Samoa.

Amata is a small government, traditional values, constitutional rights, fiscal conservative, grassroots political activist.

She is basing her campaign on Five Principles that resonate with true conservatives and with "Ron Paul Republicans":

1. The centrality of God in our lives and the primacy of the family are the inextricably intertwined, fundamental building blocks of our society...

2. The sanctity of life is inviolable. As part of our belief system, Samoans view all life as being precious in the sight of our Lord. Life, which is God’s greatest gift to Mankind, begins at conception. I oppose any efforts by outside forces to undermine our values, interfere with our customs or impose on us any beliefs that are inconsistent with our traditional practices.

3. The preservation of private family property rights is the foundation of our culture...The fabric of our society was founded on the principle of family ownership of private property. Private land taken by government for the common good must be minimized and our property rights must be safeguarded by enforcing the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which requires just compensation whenever private property is needed for a compelling public purpose.

4. A strong national defense is essential for the protection of our freedoms under the American Flag. I believe the freedoms we enjoy, which are granted by God and guaranteed by the United States, are best preserved by a strong national defense...

5. The American principle of federalism, which limits the intrusion of the federal government into the lives of the people, is central to preserving our way of life. I believe strongly in the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which limits the powers of the federal government to those enumerated in the Constitution.

Amata continues-- The right to self-government and the right of the people to control their own lives is central to the preservation of our proud and ancient culture and our relationship with the United States. Our self-government has evolved over the 108 years of our membership in the American political family. Efforts to refederalize American Samoa weaken the underpinnings of our self-government and erode our ability to preserve our culture. I oppose any effort to expand federal authority over American Samoa without the consent of the people. Problems within our system are resolved best not by uprooting it, but by guiding it effectively by qualified leaders chosen by the people through the democratic electoral process.

About the composition and factions in the GOP Amata says: "What some people fail to appreciate is that our party is not a monolith. As we like to say, we are the party of the big tent...There is no national litmus test on what makes a Republican...This is about American citizens who are reaching out to us to become Republicans and we should include them because we have a big tent. There's plenty of room for everyone and we should be proud that they want to join us..."

Google Amata Aumua or see her website http://www.amata.as

She is running for office against a big government collectivist and can use our support.

Her husband Fred Radewagen is from the Chicago area and used to work for some candidates in the Illinois GOP such as Jim Thompson.

Former Navy Seal, Wrestler, and Governor of Minnesota, author Jesse Ventura is interviewed by Al Jazeera English. Jesse, author of "Don't Start the Revolution Without Me" talks about partisan politics in the United States and shares his astute and candid observations.

Part 1

Part 2

"The powers that are granted to the President by the Constitution are
borrowed from the people, all others must be stolen from them."

It's rather amazing how little has been said in the media about the recent Congressional Hearings on Congressional Limits to Executive Power. 

The entire 6-hour video is archived on CSPAN here

Bruce Fein makes some profound remarks in this short excerpt:

Vincent Bugliosi makes some equally interesting statements. (more available on YouTube)

Jim Rogers has more strong words on the bailout.

And Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) lashes out at Bernanke and Paulson. (with commentary) at Bernanke at Paulson

Bunning published his text here:  bunning.senate.gov/public/index.cfm

John McCain is the candidate that Conservatives love to hate. The grassroots either despises McCain or at best say they wish McCain could inspire more enthusiasm.

Look around.  There aren't any McCain signs.  No McCain bumper stickers except Anti-McCain bumper stickers.  No McCain buttons except a few that have been vandalized to say "Non-McCain" or "Not McCain".  

Sure, there are a few die-hards out there who say that John McCain is a true war hero or some such notsense.  There are many of his comrades, some of them men known to be honourable, such as Tom McKenney, who has stated that McCain is anything but a hero, and the worst possible candidate.  Of course we feel sorry for what ever suffering he endured in 'Nam, but that makes him one of thousands, and we arent about to suggest any of the others as a Presidential candidate.

What must be the most troubling to the GOP, is that while voters continue to learn how unreliable and vacuous, and hence vulnerable, Mr. Obama is, McCain still continues to drop in the polls.  Particularly the recent FISA vote by BHO, and BHO's waffling on the war has got some of his potential supporters upset. Some of us have long wondered if McCain isn't simply a cats' paw placed to ensure that Obama gets elected, much as was done in Illinois in the Senate race where Alan Keyes served a similar function.  The amazing poll results for lackluster quasi-libertarian Bob Barr (even despite his appalling  neocon running mate WARoot) indicates the seriousness of the displeasure with the "presumptive GOP nominee".

Even though some of the people can indeed be fooled all of time, it is hard to imagine how the best the GOP can offer us is an irresponsible Navy-brat flyboy who graduated 894th in a class of 899, and particularly at a time when we are entering in to a potentially devastating economic & monetary crisis, and escalation of interventionist wars.

Steve Lendman suggests that maybe the Republicans really don't want to lose in November, and discusses several aspects about McCain including his health condition in this interesting piece. 

There are two main streams of ancient Chinese philosophy based upon two patriarchs, Lao Zi and Kong Zi (aka Confucius).  Lao Zi is the great libertarian writer accredited with the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching).  The Dao De Jing is a deep and insightful theoretical work that is sometimes compared with the Sermon on the Mount.   The Chinese refer to the Dao De Jing as being "Lao Zi".  There are numerous English translations - the one by Jane English and Jia-Fu Feng is particularly poetic and lovely - but it is interesting and amazing to note the complex style of the original Chinese which is extremely terse and efficient, and to note the plethora of words in English which are required to cause an approximation of the meaning expressed in just a handful of Chinese characters.

Kong Zi (Confucius) is less theoretical and more practical, and directs his efforts at the action of day to day events and specific advices.

Like many writings of ancient wisdom, the texts of Laozi and Kongzi are quite well preserved and modern copies can be compared to very ancient copies found in tombs and similar archeologic attestments.  The fact that such ancient writings have been so carefully preserved through the ages indicates that these writings have been long held by the preservers to have significant value for the future generations.

The sayings of Kongzi are numerous enough that there are web widgets that can display a different saying each day. 

Today's saying by Confucius is "The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home."

There are 2 lines of discussion that seem obvious to me:

1.  What is the relevancy of writings of "ancient wisdom" to us today?  Are they truth or just obsolete B.S.?

2.  What are the threats to the integrity of the home, if any? & What, if anything can be done to undo or lessen the impact of those threats?

Educate Thyself. 

Don't talk to the police.  Don't talk to the police.  Don't talk to the police.

http://www.hackaday.com/2008/06/16/dont-talk-to-the-police/

Ross Perot has a new (at least it's new to me) website with some educational information including a

slide show on federal revenues and spending and projections for the future.

Quo usque tandem abutere, Catalina, patientia nostra?

The Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act (S. 3038) is going into discussion.  Doubly arrogant, they think that not only can they legislate against physics and geology, but also they believe they can hoodwink the public with this pretext for more devastating and stifling control and crippling taxation.  And they call it security?  How dare they!?  Are the people really so stupid as this to suck up this drivel?   This is the same Joe Lieberman who we saw on TV with his hand up Senator McCain working McCain's mouth.

"Global warming has little to do with the improving the environment or reducing pollution. The real agenda is taxation and further consolidation of authority into a powerful centralized and increasingly global government." 

more here.

The continuing expensive, brutal, illegal and seemingly interminable war in Iraq was the defining issue in the 2006 and portends to be so in 2008 election, as one cause of the fracture of among conservatives, departure of GOP membership in droves, and the cause of the impending November trainwreck.  There is another reason for Americans and particularly young people to be concerned.  This is not a push-button war fought with unmanned drones and electromechanical technology.  This version of Neocon Playstation X demands bodies for its meatgrinder.  Do you feel a draft?

It has been pointed out in this forum that neoconservative warmongering is definitely not part of the conservative Republican tradition, and both McCainoids and Obamites scoff and laugh at this notion.  There is a a new book supporting this concept.  Bill Kauffman, onetime Senate staffer and think tank editor turned essayist and author, who lives in upstate New York has written - Ain't My America: The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle-American Anti-Imperialism.  This book is the subject of an excellent review by Doug Bandow.  Doug Bandow is a Washington-based political writer and policy analyst and Robert A. Taft Fellow with the American Conservative Defense Alliance. He served as a special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and as a senior policy analyst in the 1980 Reagan for President campaign.  Some excerpts from the book and review follow.

*

"[T]here is a long and honorable (if largely hidden) tradition of antiwar thought and action among the American Right. It stretches from ruffle-shirted Federalists who opposed the War of 1812 and civic-minded mugwump critics of the Spanish-American War on up through the Midwestern isolationists who formed the backbone of the pre-World War II America First Committee and the conservative Republicans who voted against U.S. involvement in NATO, the Korean conflict, and Vietnam. And although they are barely audible amid the belligerent clamor of today's shock-and-awe Right, libertarians and old-fashioned traditionalist conservatives are among the sharpest critics of the Iraq War and the imperial project of the Bush Republicans."

..."In pre-imperial America, conservatives objected to war and empire out of jealous regard for personal liberties, a balanced budget, the free enterprise system, and federalism," explains Kauffman. To them, dissent was "a patriotic imperative." But another commonality was being vilified and worse. He adds: "As the American Firsters discovered, protesting war is a lousy career move. Dissenters are at best calumniated, at worst thrown in jail for standing against foreign wars and the drive thereto."

If today the Right seems a wholly-owned subsidiary of the War Party, the American people are less enthused. Naturally, this worries the elites who believe their role is to initiate wars for other Americans to fight. Observes Kauffman, "Bush Republicans and pro-war Democrats have fretted mightily over recent surveys from the Council on Foreign Relations showing that the American people are reverting to – horrors! – isolationism, which the CFR defines invidiously as a hostility toward foreigners but which I see as a wholesome, pacific, and very American reluctance to intervene in the political and military quarrels of other nations."

Indeed, the essence of nonintervention, however labeled, is that it is not the American purpose to engage in global social engineering. Whether the genesis of that belief is fear of or respect for foreigners really doesn't matter. This reluctance to intervene is the highest form of internationalism. That is, noninterventionists respect other peoples enough to believe that Americans do not have the unilateral right to roam the world killing, maiming, and injuring whoever happens to be Washington's declared enemy of the moment in pursuit of whatever happens to be Washington's declared objective of the moment.

Kauffman appropriately begins with the nation's founders, men whose views on war are dismissed as quaint by most politicians today. For instance, George Mason told the 1788 Virginia convention debating ratification of the U.S. Constitution: "I abominate and detest the idea of a government, where there is a standing army." Notes Kauffman, "His view was not anomalous; militarism was."  Imagine that, national politicians opposed to war. But a wariness of military entanglements was a constant of early America. There is, Kauffman observes, George Washington's Farewell Address, which is "as close to an expression of early American political omnifariousness as one might find," a veritable "sacred text among conservative critics of empire." American children typically read it, or parts of it, but how many learn that, as Kauffman writes, "Washington's valedictory amounts to a repudiation of U.S. foreign policy from 1917 to the present"?

Then there was the Mexican-American War (which Thoreau vigourously condemned - r.k.) , a shameless spasm of imperialist war-mongering growing out of a border incident created by the U.S....Kauffman's lauds an obscure Whig politician by the name of Abraham Lincoln who exposed the lies that brought America into the Mexican-American War, as well as a Congregationalist minister, Samuel J. May, who denounced the war from his pulpit....The Spanish-American War and, even worse, the brutal suppression of Filipino freedom fighters – who resisted American imperial rule just like they resisted Spanish imperial rule – moved a step beyond previous conflicts. An estimated 200,000 Filipinos, most of them civilians, died. Kauffman cites Felix Morley: "The deeper result was to make Washington for the first time classifiable as a world capital, governing millions of people overseas as subjects rather than as citizens. The private enslavement of Negroes was ended. The control of alien populations had begun."

....If Woodrow Wilson was liberal, his liberalism was symbolized by the jackboot...

Support for nation-building has come to dominate much of the Right. Even liberal Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) receives right-wing accolades because he supports visiting death and destruction along the Euphrates. But Kauffman points to other conservatives – the traditionalist icon Russell Kirk, for instance, who denounced proponents of "American hegemony." ...Current political heroes include Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), the sole antiwar voice in the Republican presidential race, and Rep. John "Jimmy" Duncan (R-Tenn.), an old line conservative who told Kauffman: "I've become convinced that most of these wars have been brought about because of a desire for money and power and prestige." Duncan, ever gracious to those around him, "is a throwback, a Taft Republican in search of a party of peace and frugality," as well as "a glorious anachronism as a representative of a place and a people," enthuses Kauffman.

Most disastrously, writes Kauffman, "the Republicans in the age of George W. Bush have become a War Party, nothing less and certainly nothing more. Dissident GOP voices are rare and unwelcome echoes." Even more tragic is the fact that the so-called Religious Right has joined the War Party. Notes the waggish Kauffman: "The Christian conservatives who have supplied Bush with an indispensable, almost blasphemously enthusiastic following might consider alternative Christian political traditions," such as that of William Jennings Bryan, "Or, if I am not being too much of an originalist, a biblical fundamentalist, that of Jesus Christ."

Conservatism once was an honorable term, associated with "decentralism, liberty, economy in government, religious faith, family-centeredness, parochialism, smallness," notes Kauffman. But he thunders: "The cockeyed militarism of the Bush administration, and the historical ignorance and cowardice of the subsidized Right that has cheered him on, have poisoned the word conservative. For years, if not wars, to come." Today, he complains, the word conservative "reeks of manslaughter and militarism."

Ain't My America is deeply moving, with its eloquent retelling of the largely lost American tradition of conservatives against war. The loss of that tradition has cost Americans much blood and treasure. In closing this fine volume Kauffman echoes George McGovern, calling us all to rediscover our better nature,: "Come home, America. Reject the empire."