I was pleased to hear today that Mr. Weir has been served recall papers.  I have been disappointed in times past of people who are not willing to leave their computer desk and actually DO what they believe needs to be done.

Our public officials must act in a public sphere.  No hiding reasons or donors.  No shying away.  No remaining silent on important issues.  Public means public.  I also expect my public officials to be open.  Mr. Weir has been a very 'closed' person while on the city council.  His attempts to hide, or just not talk about things, is extremely disappointing to me as one of his constituents.

Whether or not he is recalled does not matter.  The process, however, will show Mr. Weir, and our other public officials, that we expect them to represent us.  We expect trustworthiness.  We expect openness.  We expect these things because the Constitution of the United States declares that the People are truly in charge.  The attempt to recall Mr. Weir is a manifestation of the People's power.

I will be signing the petition for his recall.  But I would like to encourage Mr. Weir to resign his post in understanding his loss of the people's trust.  Either way, a victory.

Once again I am tired.  I am tired of seeing shady and corrupt public officials in government.  I have Weir on my mind.

John McCain seems to think that it is okay to limit how much can be given to a political candidate.  I see this as an affront to freedom of speech (which must include freedom of expression).  I do, however, believe that every cent given to a public official, must be viewable to the general public.

This is so important for the people to have access to.  We must see who gives to an official in order to better understand our official's political motives.  I say, let whoever give as much as they want to a candidate.  And in return, let the people see who is giving the money and how much money they gave.

Do you see why this is important?

Ken Weir seems to keep quiet.  He didn't want to fully complete his form 700 last year.  I don't know why.  But it seems like there might have been some conflicts of interest.  He was finally forced to provide the information.  Now, he doesn't offer a credible explanation for wanting to oust Johnson.  The reason he gives is a difference of views, but I see consistency.  Is it that they see different on one particular issue?

This dilemma has led me to support any recall, or resignation, of Ken Weir.  I expect my public officials to be glad to provide information to the public.  Any less shows me dishonesty and disregard for the people.

Have you ever noticed the FEAR of citizens?  I don't know what they fear, but it seems like people sure have a problem with voicing their opinion and getting involved in politics.  I sit here online occasionally and see what people have to say about politics.  I read today about the great injustice of councilmember Weir and his Abernathy connections.  And, I've heard all of this uproar before.  But the picture that bothers me is that this uproar never seems to carry out into the public eye of the newspaper and city streets.

People are more than willing to rip into something here in the blogosphere, but they never make the time to get signs and people together to go and protest.  Have you ever noticed?  I have only lived here in Bako for about 2 years, and the only protesters I ever see are those hired ones "Shame on" so and so.

I often wonder why this is, and I guess it's because people are afraid.  This is the only explanation.  If it was really important to you, than why aren't you out in the streets!  Make your voice known!!!  You talk on here about how some of our councilmembers don't represent us.  Then DO something.  And typing behind a fake online name is a joke.  I'll believe you when I see you in the streets.

The media sure has a way of ruining things.  Have you ever noticed?  I read a story this morning about how Prince Harry's being in the army caused the other soldiers to be more at risk than they otherwise would have been.  What a load of crap!  What would have caused a situation like that is the media reports telling the world where he was!

The media has this 'very special way' of spoiling things.  Who cares if this prince wants to be in the army.  Is it not reasonable that someone who is qualified and WANTS to be in the army should be able to join?  Is that really unreasonable?  So, someone like Johnny Depp wanted to serve, and he could, then we should say no because he would endanger the other soldiers?!

What we need to do is get the stupid media to stop throwing all this information out all over the place.  It makes any plan or move we have obsolete.  The day we do decide to leave Iraq will be ridiculous, especially if we are trying to leave in a special way.  I can see it now, "Oh, there will be one helicopter leaving out of such and such a street in Bagdad at 11:17pm local time.  The pilot of the helicopter is General Petreaus himself and they will be evacuating the following soldiers:....  They will fly over this town and that town, etc etc etc."  Or maybe they would say something like "All American troops are scheduled to be out of Iraq by March 5, 2009.  The last ride out of the country for the soldiers will be at 2:13am that same day."

If you think these kinds of reports would happen, you need to go turn on the news right now and look at the stuff they talk about.  They give away all of the information that is useful to 'the enemy'.

Well, this little rambling session was a little drawn out, but I stand by my words.

I have had it with the psychos in our country.  Why is it that cities like San Francisco and Berkeley harbor so much hatred towards the great principles of our country?!  Maybe it is our fault for voting for those who don't effectively support our American principles.  When cities and schools speak out so harshly against the brave youth in our military I want to puke.  I am so sick of the pessimism directed towards the United States, and I am speaking mostly of the pessimism that is generated from within.  We need to return to honoring our country and those who sacrifice their lives and time for its causes.  I am not talking about politicians.  I am talking about those who choose to serve and try to maintain what our country is supposed to stand for.  I am just blabbing on here with no structure, but I feel like my mind is going to explode if we don't unite and call for a return to our country's values and principles.

February 19, 2008

To Whom It May Concern:

I was surprised to hear my professor announce that we had homework due on Monday February 18, 2008.  I asked for clarification of the day, due to President’s Day.  My professor reaffirmed that we would have class on President’s Day.  I thought this seemed strange, so I looked into it more over the weekend.  I found the academic calendar for CSUB online and noticed that my teacher’s assertions were correct.  I also noticed that the campus was closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and would close for Cesar Chavez Day.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez did great things for our country and for civil rights.  However, I believe that their accomplishments pale in the face of those of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  I believe it is not unfair to say that without George Washington and Abraham Lincoln we would not have had a Martin Luther King, Jr. or Cesar Chavez.  Or at the very least, we can be sure that we would have had to wait far longer to see one of their likes arise in America.

I could put together a large corresdpondence making my point undeniably clear and persuasive, but I will constrain myself for now.  I will only say that this is an outrage on our country.  I cannot believe that the media ignored this situation.  I am now writing this letter to President Mitchell, and sending a copy to the newspapers and the CSU administration.  I desire no reply or recognition as the author of this statement.  I desire action.  I desire movement towards a greater respect for our country’s heroes.

As a citizen of the United States of America, I demand that we celebrate our country!  I demand to see more American flags on the campuses of our government run schools.  I demand the celebration of our country’s leaders.  We are going down a dangerous road.  I will not remain silent until our schools have more American flags on their campuses.  And, I will continue to speak out against the ignoring of those holidays that celebrate our country’s founding and principles.

Sincerely,

A concerned student and citizen.

I am a Republican. I am a Republican because I agree with the principles of the Republican Party. Arnold Schwarzenegger is not a Republican. Sure, he is registered as one, but he does not act like one. I had high hopes for Arnold, but I have been let down.

What I have learned is that you cannot always support the person you feel will be able to beat a Democrat, or any other person for that matter. You must always support the person who is the best. I believe that the best candidate for the Democrats is whoever matches the Democratic party's platform the closest. I won't tell you who that is. But I will tell you that the person that we (Republicans) vote for in the primary should be the person who best represents our Republican principles. Which of the candidates matches the party platform the closest?

For all of you McCain supporters, wake up. John McCain is not the most Republican of our choices. At this point we also know that only McCain or Romney will win the Republican primary. We also know that Huckabee's continued presence in the race is taking votes away from Mitt Romney.

I ask all of you today, to cast your vote for MITT ROMNEY. Mitt is the best chance we have to save the integrity of the Republican Party. Take a step back and look at the principles most important to you. I know that MITT ROMNEY comes closer than any other choice we've got.

We are at a critical point. The future of the Republican party might very well depend on our voting tomorrow. Remember that as Republicans we believe in lowering taxes (something McCain voted against). We also believe in cutting spending (something that Bush has not done, but Romney will do). We believe in encouraging legal immigration into our country. However, we are opposed to granting any illegal aliens an easier, faster, or a more sure pathway to citizenship than those who come here legally. John McCain supported the Immigration reform bill that would have 'favored' the illegal immigrants over those who are trying to come here legally. We believe in free speech, especially free political speech. Speech can be defined in many different ways. John McCain wants to limit our free speech. He did this through pushing McCain-Feingold.

MITT ROMNEY was at one point in time not opposed to abortion. However, he made a change in the right direction, and has been consistently for life ever since. MITT ROMNEY understands the economy better than our other choices. MITT ROMNEY understands the threat we face from radical islam. He has never encouraged a timetable for withdrawal, and will not withdraw our troops until the job is done. MITT ROMNEY has not resorted to distorting facts and quotes to try and influence people to vote for him. He has run exclusively on his achievements. MITT ROMNEY has character.

We must remember Arnold. Remember our mistake. We voted for the guy because we thought he could win. We need to remember that when you vote just because he can win, you sell out, and you end up with something you never wanted in the first place.

I apologize for the long rambling on. But we need to remember what it means to be a Republican. WE MUST VOTE FOR MITT ROMNEY!

Call all of your friends and family and encourage them to vote for MITT ROMNEY!!! It does not matter who you have been supporting. If you feel that you might need to switch your vote to MITT ROMNEY, don't be embarrased. It's okay. Set the example. Stand up for our principles. We can't sell out our principles. We must always remember who we are!!!!!

VOTE FOR MITT ROMNEY!!!!!!! Pass this message on and call all of your friends and family!!!!! Have fun at the polls.

 

Whoever called the Thomas / Benham discussion a 'slugfest' is a little sheltered.  I was so excited to watch a 'slugfest' between the two.  The blogger said it was even better than the Obama / Clinton debate.  Well, this blogger got one thing right...Thomas and Benham were on the news.

I saw Cong. Thomas clearly explain two of the possible options for the road project.  Benham seemed a little uncertain of her statements.  Cong. Thomas is right.  We need those roads.  He got us the money to do it.  Here we have a chance to get this road stuff done without raising our taxes (like Delano) and we have some people out there trying to keep the project from starting up.  Come on!!  Lets do this before we can't.

I have been extremely busy researcing which of the presidential candidates is the best choice for our country.  It did not take longer than the first five minutes of the first Democratic debate that I knew our Democratic choices were not the best for our country.

I found that many of the Republican candidates have excellent credentials and experience, yet I found myself confused as to which one would be the best choice for our country.  I quickly found that many Republican leaders in our community jumped on the Rudy Giuliani bandwagon.  I found this particularly confusing because Giuliani hardly matches the typical profile of what a Republican represents.  McCain's views on immigration and free speech fall short of the Republican standard.  Huckabee's tax increases are hardly a Republican standard.  Romney's inconsistent stands on abortion and same-sex marriages removes any certainty that he is a true conservative.  The only candidates who clearly represent the Republican principles and values are not being supported by the influential political figures because they are seen as incapable of winning the general election.  I see a common trend of voting for the person who can win, not the person who is the best choice.

So many people are abandoning their principles so they can say their candidate won.  Well, I would ask them, what do you do when your winning candidate signs liberal bills?  Will you be happy when your canidate raises taxes?  What do you do when you finally realize that your candidate is not much of a conservative at all?  Well then you have a problem.

You can never abandon your principles.  The once great Republican Party has very few representatives running for President of the United States who really represent the Republican principles.  We need to remember and return to the counsel of our parents: always remember who you are.  Let's reexamine the candidates and start supporting those who truly share our principles and values.  This is the only way to truly win.