The Internet is a large-scale version of the “Committees of Correspondence” that led to the first American Revolution — and with Washington’s failings now so obvious and awful, it may lead to another.

People are asking, “Is the government doing us more harm than good? Should we change what it does and the way it does it?”

Pruning the power of government begins with the imperial presidency.

Too many overreaching laws give the president too much discretion to make too many open-ended rules controlling too many aspects of our lives. There’s no end to the harm an out-of-control president can do.

Bill Clinton lowered the culture, moral tone and strength of the nation — and left America vulnerable to attack. When it came, George W. Bush stood up for America, albeit sometimes clumsily.

Barack Obama, however, has pulled off the ultimate switcheroo: He’s diminishing America from within — so far, successfully.

He may soon bankrupt us and replace our big merit-based capitalist economy with a small government-directed one of his own design.

He is undermining our constitutional traditions: The rule of law and our Anglo-Saxon concepts of private property hang in the balance. Obama may be the most “consequential” president ever.

The Wall Street Journal’s steadfast Dorothy Rabinowitz wrote that Barack Obama is “an alien in the White House.”

His bullying and offenses against the economy and job creation are so outrageous that CEOs in the Business Roundtable finally mustered the courage to call him “anti-business.” Veteran Democrat Sen. Max Baucus blurted out that Obama is engineering the biggest government-forced “redistribution of income” in history.

Fear and uncertainty stalk the land. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says America’s financial future is “unusually uncertain.”

A Wall Street “fear gauge” based on predicted market volatility is flashing long-term panic. New data on the federal budget confirm that record-setting deficits in the $1.4 trillion range are now endemic.

Obama is building an imperium of public debt and crushing taxes, contrary to George Washington’s wise farewell admonition: “cherish public credit … use it as sparingly as possible … avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt … bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be Revenue, that to have Revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised, which are not … inconvenient and unpleasant … .”

Opinion polls suggest that in the November mid-term elections, voters will replace the present Democratic majority in Congress with opposition Republicans — but that will not necessarily stop Obama.

A President Obama intent on achieving his transformative goals despite the disagreement of the American people has powerful weapons within reach. In one hand, he will have a veto pen to stop a new Republican Congress from repealing ObamaCare and the Dodd-Frank takeover of banks.

In the other, he will have a fistful of executive orders, regulations and Obama-made fiats that have the force of law.

Under ObamaCare, he can issue new rules and regulations so insidiously powerful in their effect that higher-priced, lower-quality and rationed health care will quickly become ingrained, leaving a permanent stain.

Under Dodd-Frank, he and his agents will control all credit and financial transactions, rewarding friends and punishing opponents, discriminating on the basis of race, gender and political affiliation. Credit and liquidity may be choked by bureaucracy and politics — and the economy will suffer.

He and the EPA may try to impose by “regulatory” fiats many parts of the cap-and-trade and other climate legislation that failed in the Congress.

And by executive orders and the in terrorem effect of an industrywide “boot on the neck” policy, he can continue to diminish energy production in the United States.

By the trick of letting current-law tax rates “expire,” he can impose a $3.5 trillion 10-year tax increase that damages job-creating capital investment in an economy struggling to recover. And by failing to enforce the law and leaving America’s borders open, he can continue to repopulate America with unfortunate illegals whose skill and education levels are low and whose political attitudes are often not congenial to American-style democracy.

A wounded rampaging president can do much damage — and, like Caesar, the evil he does will live long after he leaves office, whenever that may be.

The overgrown, un-pruned power of the presidency to reward, punish and intimidate may now be so overwhelming that his re-election in 2012 is already assured — Chicago-style.

• Christian, an attorney, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury in the Ford administration.

• Robbins, an economist, served at the Treasury Department in the Reagan administration.

Source: Investors

Other stories at We Are Change Colorado Springs

The American People Don’t Need More Handouts – What They Need Are Good Jobs

How Recessions Cause Wars and Revolutions

Support Tyranny Or You’re A Terrorist

The U.S. Federal Government under both the Bush and Obama administrations has made it perfectly clear that in the event of almost any major disaster scenario, including economic and environmental, they see the institution of Martial Law as not only viable, but inexorable. From legislative actions like the Patriot Act and the Enemy Belligerents Act (currently in committee) to continuity of government programs such as Rex 84 (formerly classified) and Presidential Directive PDD 51 (currently classified, even from Congress), all the “legal” precedents have been put into place to allow the Executive Branch to implement military oversight of civilian affairs, dissolution of Constitutional liberties, even the end of Miranda Rights and the right to a speedy impartial trial as protected under the Sixth Amendment. In some cases, government legislation allows for the rendition and torture of American citizens as combatants, all for the “greater good”, of course…

Some in this country dismiss such bills and directives as abstract novelties that don’t constitute any real threat to our freedoms or our daily life. People have a tendency to assume that the atmosphere we live in today will remain the same tomorrow and always. Many of us never consider that dramatic, even violent change in American domestic policy is possible on a moment’s notice. On the contrary, the continuity legislation now in place shows that our government under the direction of corporate globalists is not only prepared to implement a military lockdown of this country, they fully anticipate that such an event will occur in the near future.

In this article, we will examine how Martial Law will be presented to the citizens of the U.S., how it would likely evolve and progress, and what the ultimate end result will be if such action is not stopped by the Liberty Movement and the American public.

A “Reasonable” Tyranny

Tyranny does not always burst through your front door wearing body armor and brandishing an assault rifle. Sometimes, it waltzes through your living room and sweeps you off your feet. Sometimes it wears a glad mask that promises warmth and safety. Sometimes, tyranny invites you out to the party and makes you feel like you belong.

NEVER leave your drink unattended around tyranny…

Regardless of how apathetic the American public may seem at any given moment, the majority of them at their core hate false authority backed by thuggish jackboot mentality when directly faced with it, and will not capitulate to despotism easily. That’s just the way we are. Revolution is in our blood (though now slightly diluted), and it is an undeniable aspect of our national psyche. Widespread and immediate military control of U.S. streets would be met with a fury the world has never seen. If martial law were ever to be achieved by the Federal Government, it would have to be presented to Americans gradually, as absolutely reasonable and necessary to their personal well being not to mention that of their family. Globalists would have to twist the reality of martial law into a tapestry of fuzzy logic and two dimensional rationalizations, making the action appear almost mathematically evident. They would also need a crisis on a scale nearly beyond belief.

The U.S. is on the verge of many such crises. The economic health of this country is blatantly unstable, and even some mainstream analysts who called us “fear mongers” six months ago are now reluctantly admitting that some form of collapse is probable:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/opinion/28krugman.html?hp

The financial life of America hangs by the thinnest of threads, and any moderate disaster at this stage will most definitely send it spiraling out of control.

Reports of U.S. warships positioning off the coast of Iran are now verified by the Department of Defense, and the media is beginning to spew WMD propaganda once again:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=131181&sectionid=351020205

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65R0HD20100628

The likelihood of a U.S. or Israeli attack on the major oil producing nation has increased drastically. It is only a matter of time before Iran gives the West an excuse, or the West fabricates an excuse from thin air. Any new war, anywhere, would spell disaster for the world economy. Period.

And, perhaps the most devastating of all circumstances, BP’s act of eco-terrorism in the Gulf of Mexico has turned from a distraction that should have been disentangled immediately, into a slow motion catastrophe whose consequences could be so far reaching they might turn out downright biblical, not to mention, an ample pretext to call for a coastal evacuation and even martial law:

http://www.examiner.com/x-17299-Hernando-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m5d9-Gulf-Oil-Spill-2010-Plans-to-evacuate-Tampa-Bay-area-expected-to-be-announced

These scenarios do not include the ever present threat of government sponsored false flag terrorism, which could exacerbate social tensions one hundred fold. A 9/11 scale attack, perhaps even nuclear in origin, would assuredly be followed by a declaration of martial law.

Under circumstances like these, people tend to allow their fear to dictate what is “reasonable” at the moment. Principles often take a back seat to “moral relativity” in the face of misfortune, even though wisdom demands that principles be held as most important in the worst of times. Freedom and civilian control over government are vital not just when our wallets are stuffed, our stomachs are fed, and the weather is mild, but when the threat of national upheaval hangs in the sky like a sun-baked vulture. When an early and unpleasant demise becomes a distinct possibility for a significant majority of the citizenry, this is when liberty should take precedence over all things.

One argument is always presented by tyrants and their flock during the initial stages of social enslavement: “You can’t enjoy freedom if you are dead. It is always better to be alive, no matter the cost.”

However, what they fail to mention is that it is exceedingly difficult to enjoy being alive when you are a modern feudal peasant whose destiny is subject to the whim of power hungry corporatists and madmen. There is nothing meaningful in that kind of life, just as there is nothing meaningful in the life of a cog in a great machine except to turn around and around. You can’t enjoy freedom if you are dead, but you also can’t enjoy living if you’re not free.

At the beginning of any autocratic system, total authoritarian control is almost always presented as a panacea, a wonder-drug for the masses. When confronted with epic struggle, some people would rather defer responsibility for their survival to someone else rather than make the effort to save themselves, and thus, totalitarianism is born. Martial law in America would be no different. It will be presented to us as purely rational and absolutely necessary; an “extreme solution to extreme times”. Its success would rest solely on how many of us are willing to make the effort to determine our own destinies, and how many of us are too cowardly to do so.

Consequences Of Martial Law

Regardless of how well governments sugarcoat the prospect of martial law at its introduction, after it has been instituted, it doesn’t take very long for the people to realize they have been duped. The consequences of a militarized society cannot be hidden after the fact, nor does the establishment feel the need to hide those consequences after they have been handed unlimited power.

To peer into the future of what American martial law might look like, one need only research the history of martial law and dictatorships in general. From the Philippines to China to the Soviet Union, the stages of tyranny are pretty much the same no matter where you are in the world. Anyone who believes martial law in America will forgo any of these terrible steps, or that we will somehow maintain a sense of propriety and fairness, is going to be sorely disappointed.

Free Press Destroyed: The very first action of any government that has achieved military control of a country is to dominate the flow of information. The greatest threat to elitist domination is usually the people who they mean to rule over. Ending freedom of the press stalls chances that a view that opposes government control will gain footing. In America, the mainstream media is already under globalist control and would likely remain active during martial law, at least for a time. FOX, CNN, CNBC, etc, would change little, while the true free press (alternative web news which now dominates over the ratings of mainstream media) would be attacked, if not shut down completely. Government enforced web filters (like those in China and being legislated in Australia) could be put in place, and arrests of citizen journalists are liable to occur.

Dissolution Of Checks And Balances: In some cases, military rule allows for the dissolution of states rights and even of Congress itself. If Congress is allowed to remain, it would be in a ceremonial capacity only. Under martial law, all decision making is “streamlined” into the hands of the executive branch. The excuse given for this is often the same everywhere; the President (dictator) must not have his hands tied by checks and balances during a state of crisis, otherwise, his decisions are slowed, and more people could be hurt. Once the executive branch of a country removes checks and balances, they almost never put them back willingly, even after the so-called “crisis” has subsided.

Erasure Of Civil Liberties: Say goodbye to Habeas Corpus immediately. All tyrannies have abruptly suspended rights to fair trial, rights to legal representation, Miranda Rights, even the right to know what one has been charged with before being arrested. This process quickly devolves the justice system to the point where those who are detained simply disappear, and are never heard from again. The U.S. currently has many pieces of legislation that have passed or are pending which allow rendition and even torture of regular citizens, specifically in the event of a national emergency, which under current rules, the President can declare at his leisure.

Curfews, Checkpoints, Searches, Citizen Spies: Say goodbye to privacy. Expect ID checkpoints, and arrests for lack of ID. Expect nighttime curfews in cities enforced with extreme prejudice. Expect warrant-less searches of your home without cause, not to mention surveillance of web and phone traffic. Also count on the fact that some people, out of paranoia, or out of some twisted desire for petty influence, will start pointing an accusing finger at anyone who looks at them the wrong way, and the establishment will encourage this. Tyranny is much easier when the citizens police each other. We actually see some of this behavior today, however, under martial law, there is absolutely no chance whatsoever of holding the authorities or anyone who supports them legally accountable for any wrongdoing. There is essentially no means to voice grievance. Martial law is like a free pass to law enforcement officials to do whatever they please, whenever they please.

Arrests Of Activists And Dissidents: Political opponents of the establishment, no matter how honorable and peaceful they may be, would likely be arrested. Those who have the capability to lead a movement in opposition of the current government or those who have the respect of a sizable percentage of the populace will become priority targets during martial law. All tyrants seek to quash other voices, especially strong voices, so that they can create an environment in which THEIR voice is the only one that can be heard. Activists are normally labeled as subversives, insurgents, or terrorists. They are arrested and treated as enemy combatants. The reigning government will claim that such people are “dangerous” to the stability of the country, and a threat to national security. Associating activists with terrorists also makes the idea of rendition and torture slightly more palatable to the fearful public.

Economic Feudalism: In an autocracy, everything becomes a matter of national security, even the state of the workforce. All jobs become state jobs. The very poor become a possible burden. The middle class and the very rich (if not already part of the establishment) become possible competition. This is why most tyrannies seek to establish “harmonization”, which is really just a flowery way of saying that everyone is made equally dependent on the system for their survival. It is hard to become a successful man in an oppressive society if you are not one of the elite. It is even harder to be a pauper in the same society because you are seen as a parasite feeding off the collective (though you are probably hurting no one). Martial law is always followed by an end to economic prosperity for the average citizen and the removal of the traditional middle class. In the end, this causes the public to subjugate themselves. It creates a system which rewards those who submit with a semblance of the status they once had. The alternative: barely eking out an existence while under constant fear that you could be labeled an impediment to social progress. Given this choice, many would choose to conform.

Food, Water, and Healthcare Rationing: Food and water are life. Control these two things in a culture, and you have the makings of a tyranny. One of the most notable aspects in the elitist quest for empire is the trail of hunger and starvation they leave in their wake. All methods are greenlighted. Burning of farmland, hording of grain, heavy taxation on livestock or harvests, government micromanagement of planting, everything is fair game. Food regulation can be taken to a whole other level in our modern age. With malicious corporations like Monsanto in operation, genetically modified crops can be created to control diet, ‘terminator seeds’ which yield only one crop can be used to keep the masses from replanting, and the pollen from these plants can be used to infect the genus of non-GMO crops birthing mutant strains which damage the food chain. By creating a food shortage, rationing then becomes inevitable, and with rationing comes greater influence. Healthcare rationing would be a natural extension, until every moment of ones life relies on the good graces of a centralized bureaucracy.

It is rare for a government to implement all of these actions in a single instant. Usually, they are introduced slowly over a period of years, and with each new decree a problem is preemptively engineered by the elites to give a “reasonable” cause, or generate a concrete fear. As time passes, people forget what life was like before, left only with the dreadful circumstances of the present, and a disquieting sensation in the pit of their stomachs, telling them that the world they have been presented is not the world we should have settled for.

Never Compromise Liberty

Tyrants prevail when they are able to fool the masses into compromising their ideals, and their conscience. They enjoy devising scenarios by which we are made to tread through a “grey area”, a place where the truth is supposedly a matter of perspective, and that which is right and balanced could become unbalanced and destructive. Once you choose to compromise a fundamental principle, they then use that moment to set precedence.

“If torture is tolerable in the chance that it could save some lives, then perhaps it is tolerable in other situations…” they say. “If some freedoms are expendable in the name of security, then perhaps others are as well.”

How do we stop elites from setting precedence in this way? We never compromise.

“Grey Area” scenarios are a charade. A rigged casino game in which there is only a single outcome and a single winner, and the winner is definitely not you. The crisis is usually one that the establishment created in the first place, i.e. the economic collapse, the BP oil spill, false flag terror, etc. And, the solution is always predetermined. No obstacle has only one solution, there are a myriad of answers to every dilemma, some far better than others. Yet, time and time again, we are offered only one way to resolve every disaster; greater centralization and extended government power.

Most disingenuous of all is the constant promise by government to keep us safe. No government has the power to offer security. Security provided by others is an illusion. The only true safety is that which one provides for himself. We accomplish this by becoming self reliant, self aware, and tough minded. We do not wait for some abstract ruling body to come to our aid, and we do not trade our freedom on the false promise that they will honor their agreement.

I have heard it argued that America is different, that we should not suspect our government capable of tyranny because “we are the government”. I find this assumption extraordinarily naïve. Our government has not represented the wishes of the people for decades. The leaderships of both major parties have supported almost identical legislative measures and extolled parallel globalist ideologies, making a mockery of our election process by giving us only one choice in the casting of our vote. We should be very suspect of such a government, for we are not the same, our goals are entirely opposed, and only one group can be allowed to endure; those who wish to dictate, or those who wish to be free.

I have also heard it said that freedom exists under the purview of government. That the liberties we enjoy are only possible because of the protections that government provides. Elitists often take advantage of our presumption that government is some kind of cultural obligation, one that we must bow to, and that by attrition, we must bow to them. In reality, government is a philosophical construct; a framework that only exists because we will it so, and that administrates freedoms only so far as we allow it to do so. WE are the source of our liberty, NOT government. It is we as individuals who ultimately must protect the freedoms we enjoy. Under no circumstance is any government more vital than our personal liberty. The choice is eternally simple; when asked to sacrifice one or the other, government must go.

The Constitution of the United States was drafted as a means to reign in government and force it to respect the freedoms of the people. It exists to deter the power hungry, for under the Constitution they are supposed to be denied the control they thirst for, not given unrestrained supremacy. Martial law is a tool by which the power hungry can remove the restraints of the Constitution and cast aside freedoms on a whim. This is unacceptable no matter the state of affairs. War, terrorism, economic collapse, environmental catastrophe, none of these events gives anyone the license to usurp our liberties. It cannot and will not be allowed. As the 4th of July approaches, we here in America should remember what it means to call ourselves a “sovereign people”. It is a title every man is born with but few men have the strength and fortitude to keep. “Independence” requires taxing vigilance, a persevering spirit, and the determination to see that neither is tread upon. Independence has a price. In the event that we are confronted with martial law in this country, it is a price we may have to pay all over again.

Source: Neithercorp Press

Other stories at We Are Change Colorado Springs

Welcome To Our Hell: The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MSEHPA)

Why Are Internment Camps Being Built?

One Day Soon, We’ll All Be ‘Homegrown Terrorists’

Getting audited is such a hassle! Just ask the IRS.

A new report from the Government Accountability Office inspected thetax agency’s financial statements from the 2009 fiscal year with the exacting thoroughness of, well, of an IRS auditor, and found a few billion-dollar errors.

According to the report (PDF), the IRS made a variety of accounting errors last year that “could adversely affect the reliability of its financial statements” and result in “duplicate or erroneous refunds.” Among the mistakes were a “failure to record the receipt of a taxpayer’s $3 million payment” and an $8 billion discrepancy between two accounting systems tracking how much money taxpayers owe. The audit also found a $5.1 billion “unexplained variance” between the total amount the agency took in last year and the amount its detailed tax files said it took in.

But what’s a few billion here or there, right?

In truth, the shortcomings are all relatively minor infractions given the size of the IRS, and don’t materially affect its performance of its duties. And you’ll find similar lapses in virtually any close examination of a huge bureaucracy.

But it’s still good to know that the IRS had to go through it, if only so it can empathize with the American taxpayer.

Source: Yahoo News

Other stories at We Are Change Colorado Springs

Anti-Hate Group Finds Yet Another Group It Hates

80% Favor Auditing the Federal Reserve

One Day We’ll All be Terrorists

Gen. Walt Natynczyk welcomed the new NORAD commander, U.S. Admiral James Winnefeld, who pledged the Americans’ full military support during the upcoming G8 and G20 summits in Toronto.

NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defence Command, is a binational military organization established in 1958 by Canada and the U.S. to monitor and defend North American airspace.

NORAD monitors and tracks man-made objects in space and detects, validates and warns of attacks on North America by aircraft, missiles, satellites and space debris.

Speaking at a press conference in Ottawa Monday, Winnefeld told reporters he was interested in accomplishing two things during his tenure.

The first is to re-emphasize the importance of NORAD — which he called a “very, very important security relationship that is emblematic of the overall relationship between our countries.”

“It’s symbolic of the partnership between our two countries evidenced by our ongoing … international security force, forces in Afghanistan and also places like Haiti and the like,” he said.

The second thing Winnefeld said he wants to do “is really to listen and learn.”

“As the commander of NORAD, I not only work for the United States, I work for Canada and it’s very important for me to listen to the national security team in Canada, to discover what is important in Canadian minds so that it can influence what I do.”

continued at CBC News

Other stories at We Are Change Colorado Springs

The Criminalization of Protest

Wearechange schools Pittsburgh police on constitution @ g20

G-20 opponents, police clash on Pittsburgh streets

Two former CIA officials have admitted to creating a fake video in which intelligence officers dressed up as Osama Bin Laden and his cronies in an effort to defame the terrorist leader throughout the middle east.

The details are outlined in a Washington Post article by investigative reporter and former Army Intelligence case officer Jeff Stein.

Stein’s sources told him that during planning for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the CIA’s Iraq Operations Group considered creating a fake video of Saddam Hussein engaged in sexual acts with a teenage boy, then flooding Iraq with copies of the tape.

That idea, along with faking Iraqi news bulletins, never came to fruition according to the former CIA officials, because agreement on the projects could not be reached between the Iraq Group and CIA’s Office of Technical Services.

However, the two sources reveal that the agency did previously concoct at least one fake Bin Laden video:

The agency actually did make a video purporting to show Osama bin Laden and his cronies sitting around a campfire swigging bottles of liquor and savoring their conquests with boys, one of the former CIA officers recalled, chuckling at the memory. The actors were drawn from “some of us darker-skinned employees,” he said.

The former officials told Stein that the project was taken over by the military after it ground to a halt:

The reality, the former officials said, was that the agency really didn’t have enough money and expertise to carry out the projects.

“The military took them over,” said one. “They had assets in psy-war down at Ft. Bragg,” at the army’s special warfare center.

This latest revelation bolsters evidence that the intelligence agencies, and perhaps more significantly, the military have been engaged in creating fake Bin Laden videos in the past.

As we have exhaustively documented, Intelcenter, the U.S. monitoring group that routinely releases Bin Laden video and audio, much of which have been proven to be either rehashed old footage or outright fakes, is an offshoot of IDEFENSE, a web security company that monitors intelligence from the middle east.

IDEFENSE is heavily populated by long serving ex military intelligence officials, such as senior military psy-op intelligence officer Jim Melnick, who served 16 years in the US army and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in psychological operations. Melnick has also worked directly for former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Intelcenter notoriously released the “laughing hijackers” tape and claimed it was an Al-Qaeda video, despite the fact that the footage was obtained by a “security agency” at a 2000 Bin Laden speech.

IntelCenter was also caught adding its logo to a tape at the same time as Al-Qaeda’s so-called media arm As-Sahab added its logo, proving the two organizations were one and the same.

Could the CIA group of “dark skinned actors” have been behind the infamous December 2001 “Fat nosed” Bin Laden video, that was magically found in a house in Jalalabad after anti-Taliban forces moved in?

The tape featured a fat Osama laughing and joking about how he’d carried out 9/11. The video was also mistranslated in order to manipulate viewer opinion and featured “Bin Laden” praising two of the hijackers, only he got their names wrong. This Osama also used the wrong hand to write with and wore gold rings, a practice totally in opposition to the Muslim faith.

Despite the fact that the man in the video looks nothing like Bin Laden, the CIA stood by it and declared it to be the official “9/11 confession video”.

The latest revelations also shed light on another past Bin Laden release — a tape in which he ludicrously declared himself in league with Saddam Hussein in the weeks before the invasion of Iraq.

The notion that the CIA project was taken over and drastically improved by the Pentagon at some point after 2003 jives with the improvement in quality of Bin Laden videos in later years. Most notably the video that was released immediately ahead of the 2004 election, and it’s digitally manipulated duplicate from 2007, in which Bin Laden appeared to have a dyed beard.

For a run down of some of the most notoriously dubious Bin Laden videos see the following article.

New Bin Laden “Confession” Tape: Fake Like The Rest?

Source: Information Liberation

Other stories at We Are Change Colorado Springs

Fake Al-Qaeda – Video CENSORED across Israel

Osama bin Laden’s missing family found in secret compound in Iran

VA State Police Say Anti-NWO and Gun Rights Activists are Terrorists

Colorado’s CD-5 Explodes in Controversey

The question is who lit the fuse that exploded on Norton when she attempted to address Colorado’s Fifth Congressional District Republican Assembly on May 21st, 2010? When was it lit, and why, and did it really need to be? Well, maybe the real question is: Will Colorado’s GOP insiders ever again attempt to ram something down the TEA Parties’ throats?

Friday’s 5^th Congressional was supposed to be typically uneventful and the emails preceding it indicated that.  We were to select our Representative to the U.S. House and Doug Lamborn was running unopposed and recently voted the most Conservative member of Congress.

We also had a candidate for the State Board of Education, Paul Lundeen, who was also running unopposed and endorsed by his predecessor.  As one contributor to a liberty oriented email list put it “I don’t see any reason to go to the 5th CD convention.  Unless you like rah, rah sessions.” but I was awake and had taken the time to get myself elected delegate so off I ventured to Loveland, CO.

First a little background, within days of the El Paso county Republican Assembly Jane Norton announced that she was pulling out of the Assembly process and going to get on the primary ballot via the petition process.  A move that would leave her unable to attend the Assemblies in an official capacity, display signage at the events, or address them as a candidate.

This move perplexed many as she had been anointed from on-high, the National Senate Republican Committee (NSRC), and was receiving considerable funding from the East coast establishment.  It is the NSRC that is used to bypass CO’s rules for candidates as the Party can’t support one until they are designated for the ballot or win the primary.  This usually happens at the State Assembly but if more than one candidate gets 30% or more of the vote then there is a primary (held in August) and candidates can’t be supported until after.  (For a more in depth expose of the NSRC see my previous article.)

The NSRC is the good ol’ boys’ back room of the 21^st century.  They are one of the main reason that the average person scratches their head in November and wonders how we got stuck with a particular clown.  I’m not sure what the Democrats call its counter part but I’m sure they have one as evidenced by some of those clowns.

Speaking with Robin Coran, Ken Buck’s El Paso county campaign coordinator, I discovered that her team had called almost all the delegates (I didn’t get a phone call but recently changed my number) and they were leaning almost 75% towards Buck.  Norton would need to get at least 30% at the State Assembly to get on the ballot.  Getting trounced by an upstart opponent when she is the party’s chosen one wouldn’t look too good.  Failing to get 30% would be worse, if that’s possible, as she wouldn’t get on the ballot at all (and it would be too late to petition on).  That is why she likely chose to go the route of petitioning on; after all you can always pay people to stand in front of China-Mart and collect signatures on your behalf.  I suppose that’s what you do when your grass-roots support is really only grass-trimmings: a claim made by someone with no depth of support.

El Paso county is conservative central in Colorado and if she can’t win here then she can’t win.  Boulder and Denver, CO are our counter weight and could be called progressiveville.  If a Democrat wants to win a state wide seat they must take Boulder and Denver by a significant margin.  If a Republican wants to win a state wide seat they must, likewise, take El Paso county.  Norton’s prospects must have looked much more bleak than any of the establishment media let on for her to opt for the petition route.  That said the stage was set for the Assemblies.

The doors to the 5^th CD opened for credentialing at 2:30pm and an agenda and proposed rule packet were handed out along with credentials.  Unnoticed to all but a few, or the one that spoke up, was a change in the rules allowing for a candidate to speak if another candidate for that office was also allowed to speak.  Ken Buck, heavily endorsed by the TEA Party movement, was of course going to be allowed to speak.  That opened the door for Norton to speak under the newly adulterated set of rules.  These nuances eluded me, and most of the delegation at the time, and only became clear after speaking with Kay Rendleman, former Chair of the El Paso county Republicans.

Kay actually attended a gathering of the Ron Paul Republicans back in 2008 and narrowly won the Chair in 2009 with the support of the Ron Paul Precinct Leaders and others voting.  She was an extremely fair and process oriented Chairperson with a depth of knowledge exceeding most members of the party.  Her recent resignation was to take the lead in Ken Buck’s campaign and show her colors, something that was never evident while she held the position of Chairperson.  I would like to thank Kay for taking the time to explain the technical details of Friday’s events to me as this article wouldn’t be complete without them and her insights and thoughts are interlaced with the events below.

As the Assembly got underway it built up momentum as there was no reason to even seat the alternate delegates as nothing was supposed to be contested.  A rah, rah event as mentioned above.  In fact the floor was never opened for discussion of the rules.  Point of Order came a cry from behind me.  I thought great, a chance to see Robert’s Rules of Order in action.

The point was made about discussion of the rules while I’m reading through them and talking to a delegate friend, Chris Nixon, sitting next to me and attending his first CD-5 Assembly.  I was completely wrong in my analysis at the time as I thought he was trying to weasel a speaking slot for Jane Norton.

The Assembly was stopped and the rules reviewed.  His point was soundly defeated.  Not because people wanted Norton to speak but because they didn’t.  At least those that respected the Assembly process.

In hind sight, and with the benefit of Kay’s insight, the mistake the objector made was not first calling for a Point of Information and explaining to the delegation exactly what was going on.  Had the delegation been aware of the rule change and the significance thereof he would have had much more support.

He then could have called for a Point of Order and would have probably been victorious.  Had the delegation been aware of the reasons then those supporting the CO Republican Party rules, and the Assembly process, would have supported him and defeated the rule change allowing Norton to speak.  And quite frankly this would have been preferable to what happened next when former Lieutenant Governor, not really an outsider, Jane Norton did get the microphone.

At this point the significance was crystal clear to many and soon to be to everyone.  A quick glance of confusion towards my newly minted active friend, Chris, he leapt to his feat calling for a Point of Order.  When Chris was ignored by Lisa Taskerud, Chairman 5^th Congressional District Republican Central Committee, he was no longer in participant mode as a delegate; he was on home turf as an agitator.

Chris is also a member of We are Change and quite comfortable taking on the establishment.  Having 30-40 other people in the room, me being one of them, screaming Point of Order at the same time didn’t exactly have a calming effect on Chris.  He looked at me and said “walk out?”  I saw the microphone being taken back by the chair, Ms. Taskerud, and raised my hand as if to say hang on a second to Chris.

When the first words out of Ms. Taskerud’s mouth were something about respect it was all over.  You see Scott McInnis had spoken a short time earlier and although he wasn’t a friend of the TEA Partiers he was shown the respect due a Republican that was going through the Assembly process.  This wasn’t about respect for the GOP by the radicals, it was about respect for the process by the members of the process.  Allowing Norton to speak was about disrespecting the process and back room maneuvering by the power players, those of whom had no respect for the rank and file nor the process.  I looked at Chris and simply said “Go!”

Chris and I turned and started walking towards the doors.  We were not alone.  I called a friend of mine (I think he might be hiding out with “Where’s Waldo?” Bruce somewhere) to explain what had just happened.  After laying out the details he asked how many people left.  “I don’t know, I was one of the first ones out the door.” was my reply.

At this point I realized the mixed blessing of the parking situation when Chris reminded me of the rather large bullhorn he keeps in the car.  The thought of him returning to the Assembly with a bullhorn and calling for a Point of Order is still entertaining me two days later.  That might not have ended well as the Sargent at Arms, I believe the Park County Sheriff, had removed the original protester from the reports I got later.  Then again, perhaps that would have made a better story as I’m sure that bailing Chris out of jail would have involved a camera crew and a hundred of his closest friends with many bullhorns and large signs.  Chris was out of his element inside the party process; standing outside of it and screaming is akin to his back yard.

On the drive home the emails and phone calls started coming in.  Initial reports were fully half of the delegation had walked out on Norton.  Surely keeping her mouth shut and not wielding the big money donors to get a last minute rule change would have been preferable to the events that transpired.  Later reports were as low as a third of the delegation but the statement was made and the effects can’t be repealed.  Norton may be the favorite of the donors but she is no favorite of those seeking to restore the Republican party to a place of honor and respect.

To Kay’s credit, even as someone that plays her cards extremely close to the vest, she thought the events were tacky.  To Ken’s credit, he has a chosen a consummate professional to help with his campaign.  And to Lisa Taskerud’s discredit, she chose to adulterate the rules accepted by the party by making a slight, and almost unnoticed, change to the letter of those rules to enable her, and the anointed one, to violate the spirit of those same rules, and completely disrespect the Assembly system.

I would love to have an insider’s report on the events that transpired prior to Crist’s abandonment of the Republicans, the events of Bennett’s defeat in Utah, and as an ultimate prize, the events that led to the absolute slaughter of Kentucky’s anointed one: Trey Grayson.  I am by no means an insider so let’s call this a participant’s views on the process.  Imagine being a fly on the wall when the power brokers of any of these states met to discuss their failures and the TEA Party’s successes.  Particularly in Sarah Palin’s dressing room.

You see, the rumor all day at the Congressional Assemblies was the purported endorsement of Jane Norton by the Grizzly-Mom, moose hunter herself: Ms. Palin.  All day the subject had come up.  The first day, Friday, was the Congressional Assemblies to be followed on Saturday by the state wide Assembly and Sarah was to speak that evening.  “Was it inappropriate for Sarah to steal the thunder of Colorado’s Assembly process by speaking hours after it ended?”  “Was she angling for a Presidential run and hoping for Norton’s big money donors?”  The questions and speculation flew all day long and the only real fact was that she was speaking.  Well Sarah Palin did speak and she did not endorse Norton.  I’ll leave any further speculation to the reader.

The Republican Party establishment is being exposed and called out at every turn by the TEA Parties so I’d like to conclude with a message for the Democrats:  You clean your house and  we’ll clean ours!

Source: GreenDragonTavern

Other stories at We Are Change Colorado Springs

Bloomberg Smears Anti-Obamacare Activists As Terrorists

One Day Soon, We’ll All Be ‘Homegrown Terrorists’

Subverted Tea Party Movement Told to Embrace Republican Platform