Independent Patriots for America

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No Greater Love Has Any Man Than To Lay Down His Life For A Brother

Is A Brokered Republican Convention Inevitable?

Friends,

I want to say right off, I won’t be taking “personal” pot shots at any political party, individual, race, creed, or gender, in expressing my thoughts. With this said, you wonder what rant is coming now? Right?

Well, after reading what I propose, read what Tom Segel says in his latest contribution below…I agree completely with what Tom says, and in a nut shell, he makes the point that the problems America is facing today is the fault of you and me.

To be up front, I oppose the current Democratic party leadership principles almost completely…in fact I can’t think of a single principle Democrat candidates for President are suggesting that I can support. It’s almost the same situation with the Republican candidate for President…too soft on major issues, a liberal tilt, and too close to those that support the Democratic principles I reject.

Tom Segel makes the point we, the American people, must change our ways and “next time do it right” when we elect political leaders. Well folks, “the next time” is coming up in November and if we don’t do it right it could cost us eight years of disaster, or worse. Your question, “what can we do? The die is cast…we have to live with the republican candidate and one of the democratic candidates for president.” Wrong for me!

For folks that believe the Clinton/Obama option is the right choice, then go for it. Neither Obama, Clinton, or McCain is right for me and I believe they’re not right for millions of other Americans. What is occurring reflects the “lesser evil” attitude as the only option. There is another option.

Now you say, as so many of you have said to me before on other issues, “what do we do?”.

Not long ago the United States Congress tried to force totally unacceptable illegal immigration legislation down the throats of the American people. This was met with an outcry of opposition from every segment of America with an anger, disgust, and rejection that rocked the legislators on their heels and in retreat. America rose up, spoke loud, clear and demanded a closed border, prosecution of lawless employers, and no amnesty or special privileges for those that break the law. (The Republican presidential candidate seems to be the only one that still doesn’t get it).We must once again come together with that same determination and resolve to do it right regarding presidential selection…the impact is potentially disastrous for America if we fail.

Question: Where do you fit in the Zogby poll below? Are you unhappy with your presidential choices? Are you willing to cast a presidential vote for someone you don”t support? Are you part of the “unhappy” group in this Zogby poll recently released?
——————————————————————————–
ZOGBY PRESS RELEASE:

“UTICA, New York - Nearly half of likely voters - 48% - are not satisfied with the current candidates for president, with Republicans and conservative voters the most unhappy about their likely candidate choices in November, a new nationwide Zogby Interactive poll shows.

In what could spell bad news for the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, an overwhelming 86% of self-described “very conservative” voters said they are displeased with the current presidential candidates - and 65% of these voters said they are very unsatisfied. The vast majority of conservatives (76%) and Republicans (76%) also expressed significant dissatisfaction with the current candidates, as did more than half of political independents (55%).

How satisfied are you with the current candidates for president?

——————–Satisfied——–Not Satisfied——Not sure
Likely voters———-51%—————48%—————-1%
Republicans———–24%—————76%—————-<1%
Democrats————-82—————-18%—————–1%
Independents———44%—————55%—————-1%

Note: Some totals may not equal 100% due to rounding. End of poll data.
——————————————————————————–
Now, let’s draw back on what happened with the Illegal Alien Amnesty Bill and apply that outrage and impact on the president candidate question.

Based on the Zogby presentation 76% of Republicans and 55% of Independents are not satisfied with the presidential options…a huge population of America do not want what appears to be a “forced feeding” of unpalatable candidates. What will this large number of dissatisfied Americans do? Accept it or say “hell no” just as we said “hell no” to the unacceptable Illegal Immigration Amnesty Legislation? Will we continue to roll over and allow the political apparatus to “force feed” us or will we rise up make a statement, and reject political slavery?

Here’s what we can do…I’m only speaking about the Republican nominee but any American, regardless of party that is unhappy with the republican presidential choice should support what is suggested below.

Start a movement across America demanding the Republican Presidential Convention reopen the nomination process…a brokered convention if you will that will seek Godly guidance in discussing, analyzing, evaluating, and voting to accept additional presidential nominations from the floor, before considering Senator McCain as the presidential nominee. The goal should be to nominate a republican presidential candidate with conservative credentials consistent with a Reagan vision for America to become President of the United States.

Please don’t sigh and say “we can’t do that”. We can and must do this. The political apparatus is not the decision makers…we are, the voters. What the delegates do at the convention is not their will, but the will of the America people. Only a small percentage of America, a few million have said McCain is the choice…the other 250 million have not spoken. It will only take a few million of us to out number the primary votes McCain received and convince the republican apparatus a new candidate is demanded. If we want it to happen and speak loudly enough, McCain will go and a conservative will carry the republican banner in November 2008…and win the Presidency.

Tom Segel gives the details of past inaction on the part of American voters…read what he says. Do we want more of the same?

If we don’t want more of the same then all across America letters to editors, faxes to politicians, demanding convention delegates conduct a re-look, expressing the “brokered convention” idea on radio talk shows, bombarding all media with the idea, saturate the blogosphere, inundating Republican Convention delegates that McCain is unacceptable, stop sending campaign contributions to McCain and other quasi-conservatives, bombard the Republican National Committee with demands for a conservative republican nominee…all this and more. A repeat of the attitude that defeated Illegal Alien Amnesty Legislation will restore a conservative republican presidential candidate to face the democrat nominee.

Republicans need to accept the fact that with McCain as the republican nominee, there will be a democrat president elected in November, 2008. A brokered Republican Convention is the only solution.

Harry Riley, COL, USA, Ret

Thomas D. Segel
Tom@thomasdsegel.com
www.thomasdsegel.com
956 423 3126

Oil Too Expensive? You And I Are To Blame!

750 words

Harlingen, Texas, May 16, 2008: Well, my last fill-up of gas only took $60 out of my wallet. And, I still had about four gallons in the tank when I turned on the pump. It made me very angry and I made my feelings known to a lot of people. Roaring about the high price of gasoline and oil seems to be the only topic of conversation these days. You hear it at work, at home, after church and in the barbershop. It leads the nightly news, makes headlines in daily newspapers and is expressed in fearful ways by school officials, business owners and those who rely on the fuel to power their farm implements and heavy machinery.

Right now everyone is blaming the politicians for this major attack on family, city, state and national budgets. It is right to point the finger at Washington. Those who cast votes in Congress are the major culprits in this energy war. But, right next to them stand the American voters who placed these politicos in positions of power.

At the top of the list in this “blame game” are those who have insisted on voting the Democratic ticket regardless of reason or logic. What they have earned is the consequences of pandering to the liberal left. We knew we were in trouble back in 1973 with rationing, gas lines and about 30%of our oil requirements being filled by imports. Now, 35 years later we have still done nothing to improve our energy supply and our national need for imported oil has grown to more than twice the 1973 requirement.

Republicans had a chance to correct the problem back in the early 90s. They gained control of Congress in 1994 with promises made in their “Contract with America”. Then, instead of staying on mission and growing their majority, the GOP managed to give us the dalliances of Newt Gingrich, followed by the scandals involving party leaders such as Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham, Mark Foley and Bob Ney to name a few. Added to that, a complete departure from conservative values, pork barrel spending and a mismanaged war totaled up to a stinging defeat at the ballot box and a return to Republican minority status.

If you traditionally voted the GOP ticket, you can blame yourself for failing to place quality individuals in office. Those elected managed to misuse the public trust, lost to the opposing party and ended any chance we had to move toward energy independence.

Those of you, who cast your lot with the Party of Thomas Jefferson, also deserve a major portion of the “blame pie”. Your emotion driven votes to empower obstructionists have kept us energy dependent. For more than thirty-five years Democrats have managed to torpedo any chance we had to keep our energy ship afloat. In vote after vote and bill after bill, those who lean far left of center have bent to the will of NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard), environmentalists, animal rights advocates, and other socialist driven causes to stop any attempt at drilling in national waters, Alaskan locales and other known deposit sites. They have refused to listen when our President asked them to increase our energy development and even placed him in a position where he has been begging the leaders of other countries to feed our demand for in increased oil supply.

But, oil is not the only thing the American public has voted to restrict. Voters have kept us from increasing natural gas, wind driven energy and even solar power by allowing restrictive legislation. Voters have kept nuclear power at a standstill by placing into public office politicians who voted against power plant construction. Voters have allowed litigation to stop the construction of oil refineries and coal operated power plants. Voters have placed multiple barriers in place to stop the advancement of our abundant coal supply as an alternative energy source.

The usual response to such charges is “I didn’t vote for any of those things!” But, you did really do just that. In America’s representative republic, those we place in office are charged with voting the will of their constituents. Thus, you and I are the reason oil has started robbing our nation of a prosperous future. We are also the reason alternative forms of energy have not been developed.

How do you correct the problem? You do it by using those same ballots that got us in this mess…. But, next time do it right!

Semper Fidelis Tom Segel tomsegel@sbcglobal.net

War protesters: Freedom of speech or lawless action?

By: Luigi DeFrancesco

Is it really an exercise of freedom of speech or undermining a President, who happens to represent a political ideology opposite to the one they belong to, and placing our troops in harms way?

Is this act of “presumed” freedom of speech bring results of unintended (or intended) consequences in the battlefield?

The USA was involved in a War that, in accordance with the War power Act of 1973 was presented to congress. Congress passed a resolution approving the action against Afghanistan and Iraq. Both Democrats and Republicans voted for the resolution. Congress approval of the war resulted in the commitment of our troops. The performance of our soldiers has been so astonishing to make all Americans proud. Does a minute fraction of the USA population have the right under the freedom of speech clause to undermine our government action based on a decision made by Democrats and Republicans alike, to be involved in a War against terrorists?

Has the Supreme Court rendered an opinion on dissent in time of war? The following cases should give us some guidance. In Schenck v. United States judge Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. opinion, writing for a unanimous majority, ruled that it was illegal to distribute fliers opposing the draft during World War I. Holmes argued this abridgment of free speech was permissible because it presented a “clear and present danger” to the government’s recruitment efforts for the war.

In Brandenburg v. Ohio the United States Supreme Court held that the government couldn’t punish inflammatory speech unless it is directed to inciting and likely to incite imminent lawless action. In his concurrence of this decision judge William O. Douglas dealt with the classic example of a man “falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.” In order to explain why someone could be legitimately prosecuted for this, Douglas called it an example in which “speech is brigaded with action.” In the view of Douglas and Black, this was probably the only sort of case in which a person could be prosecuted for speech.

How one would apply the two Supreme Court decisions to today “dissent” against the USA involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan?

With the Schenck v. United States case one could state the case that “the clear and present danger” to the population of the United States of America by the terrorists is real and devastating as the attack against the Twin Towers both in 1993 and in 2001 as shown. These two attacks on the same target show the persistent attempt to do the USA terrible harm therefore our government has the duty to stop the terrorists that are a “clear and present danger” any where in the world therefore based on this decision no USA citizen has the right to undermine our government effort to protect our lives and properties.

In the Brandenburg v. Ohio decision one could conclude that the “dissent” shown only against our governments is directed to incite imminent lawless action. Here is why: the war against Iraq has been over for a while. The free elected governments of Iraq and the USA are working to bring law and order in that land. The people that are taking armed action against the legitimate government of Iraq are lawless terrorists that believe that Iraq would be a better staging area against the interest of the people of the United States. Our troops and those of Iraq are placing their lives on the line in order to achieve their goal the same way United States troops tried and succeeded to do in Germany and Italy after the end World War II. Then the United States solved the insurgency problem quickly by executing insurgent on the spot where they were captured. The History channel showed a documentary on the German insurgency not long ago. The other factor that helped our troops was that no “dissent” was allowed during that period. After sixty-three years we still have troops in Germany and Italy.

How are dissenters inciting lawless action? Ho Chi Min the north Vietnam dictator stated it very plainly: without the mass demonstrations in the USA against the war in South Vietnam we would have never won the armed conflict against the USA Armed Forces. The Vietnam era dissenters incited a lawless action by North Vietnam when it broke the Peace Treaty of 1973 and invaded South Vietnam with catastrophic results in the region in human lives lost not only in South Vietnam but also in Cambodia.

The terrorists in Iraq and around the world are counting on the same “dissenters” to continue undermining the governments of Iraq and USA with the hope that they will force the USA to pull out of Iraq and then they would only have to face a weaker army similar to that of South Vietnam.

Each time the “dissenters” protest against our government the terrorist get bolder and more bombs explode against our troops.

Are these “dissenters” inciting imminent lawless action against our troops or are they exercising their freedom of speech? You be the judge!

Comments to: Luigi DeFrancesco
lsdefrank@yahoo.com

The argument most certainly will be, “America is not in a “declared war”.

Who would have believed…Larry, Curly and Moe as America’s major party presidential candidates.  I realize the comparison is an insult to the The Three Stooges for which I apologize.
 
America is surely desperate to elect someone without moral principle but heavy on the “relativism” platform.  What I hear from the LCM crowd tends to suggest they will fabricate moral standards, distort as they go, and apply whatever fits their scheme to be elected. (The sniper fire was intense, after 20 years I’ve learned about my Pastor, open border-closed border and illegal alien citizenship)  There’s nothing of substance in a single candidates message, only rhetoric…a constant politically correct promise of a “full plate of pork” for every American for a vote.
 
The two major parties decided they want no candidate with leadership and management experience, opting for LCM of which two support abortion, gay rights, same sex marriage, open borders, surrender to the enemy, more taxes, expanding government, to name a few.  The third is a mixture of the other two with questionable traits, experience, and position.
 
As some point America will become totally fed up with being forced “more of the same” by the dominant two party system and cast it off as so much incestuous, pathetic, systemic failure. 
 
As for me I’ll vote for a third party candidate, feel good about myself, and trust God for the best.  If my choice loses, there’s not a dimes worth of difference between the LCM winner.

 Harry Riley, COL, USA, Ret

Isaiah 40:31 - But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

http://www.usawakeup.org/

Friends,

Officials may be uncertain, confused, bewildered in Edinboro, PA surrounding the assault on the Swartout family on April 22, 2008. 

More than once I have wondered why there were no police present at the peace demonstration that day. Would this unfortunate act of violence been prevented?  I would hope so.  Be that as it may, a family standing up for America may be in the cross-hairs of a railroad action………..

It appears the Swartout’s received citations (or whatever they are called) in the mail today charging them with “harrassment” based on the physical altercation of April 22nd.  The citation suggests there is an option to plead guilty, pay a fine of 231.00 each and be done with it.  Nothing would please the Edinboro police Department, District Attorney (DA), or the peace thugs more than to have the Swartouts plead guilty. Based on my observation, this is bizarre and absurd…no guilty plea is a possiblity…fighting this tooth and nail in the courts is the only option.   I suspect if the fine was only $2.00 that would be too much….Any requirement to acknowledge guilt for standing up for America, our troops, families while being assaulted for exercising a constitutional right is prepostureous.

It would appear reasonable for the DA to reflect what happened with regard to the Duke University case in North Carolina.  Failure to consider all the evidence or allow distortion and fabrication to derail justice would surely bring the sledge hammer of the law on Edinboro officials, the city, and possibly other institutions.

Fox News Bill O’Reilly aired a short segment with Carrie Swartout on Tuesday and indicated he would be following the case.  O’Reilly raised concern as to whether the DA in Edinboro was being objective and upfront with the case…O’Reilly sounded a cautious note with regard to the Edinboro DA and urged her to retain an lawyer.  It was unfortunate the segment was so short, sandwiched between other news, that Carrie was not able to mention she was kicked in the head which resulted in a concussion, her son received a blow to the face, and husband received numerous abrasions from the attack…keep in mind the Swartout family took no aggressive action beyond a defensive posture.

There is some indication no one in Edinboro wants to take responsiblity for deciding who gets charged.  Police seem to suggest the DA decides but so far there is no information that the DA has looked at the evidence.  As noted by Bill O’Reilly during his report of the incident, the DA or his office would not respond to queries from Fox News. 

Some who organized the peace protest have been encouraging followers to call child protective services, implying that parents who bring family members to an event to stand up for America, wave the flag, are somehow negligent. These are the tactics of the “anti-everything” crowd who have one goal…destruction, chaos, confusion, intimidation and violence…all demonstrated and more on April 22nd. There are also other acts of intimidation…night visits to the Swartout home by unknown individuals, vandalism of the family vehicle…  What’s wrong with citing those that attack children, use intimidation etc.?

The goal of the peace thugs is to stop any countering of their protests…they want to shut down the freedom of speech guaranteed to the Swartout family.  Jason Swartout spent nearly 10 years on active military duty, is now in the reserves/guard, and is a veteran having served in Iraq.  He, personally stood in the gap in Iraq for those in Edinboro that would tear America down and what happens?  He decides to stand on the street and lift up our troops and gets sucked into violence going to the aid of his 14 year old son who was under stress while taking a video of public displays associated with the peace group.

Dan Malone, Gathering of Eagles New York offers the following which includes detailed description of the April 22 assault using the Swartout video as well as video from a peace element source.

Quote:
Follow this link to my latest brief article on the assault on the Iraq War Veteran and his family with links to the original video of the event and newly released video from the ‘peace’ thugs’ perspective here:

http://newyork.gatheringofeagles.org/?p=119

Feel free to use the links to the videos and anything else you might want to copy from this or the prior two articles:

http://newyork.gatheringofeagles.org/?p=103
http://newyork.gatheringofeagles.org/?p=99

Thanks,
Dan
Unquote

There is no suggestion in my observations that violence is condoned, supported, or should be a tactic to answer the “peace thugs” in Edinboro, PA.  Neither is there a suggestion that those that resist violence will be runover.  My hope is the Swartout family will use legal means to deal with any charges from police or the DA and pursue civil action against those who attacked them or failed security. My hope also is that peaceful demonstrations supporting our nation, troops, families will continue in Edinboro and everywhere else in America that anti-America crowds gather.

There have been a number of patriots contact me and offer financial support to the Swartout family if it is needed…I add my personal offer also.

We can stand up to hateful acts against America or knuckle under…the Edinboro assault is no small issue…it reflects a cancer that is growing more destructive to America.  Each time we make excuses for not challenging these “nut cases” we only encourage them on…..

We are fortunate to have courageous Americans like the Swartout family who think America is worth whatever it takes.

Harry Riley, COL, USA, Ret.

www.eaglesup.us “Where there is no offense, there is no effect.”

Isaiah 40:31 - But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.