Is Puerto Rico Being Forced Down the Path to Statehood?

From the Pittsburgh Tea Party Patriots --

Would you please call the U.S. Representatives today and ask them to vote no on H.R. 2499? This is a trojan horse, middle of the night kind of bill that you may not have heard about yet. The Left is trying to label anyone who votes against this bill as a racist, so all representatives must be called!

TIME TO MELT THE PHONES!

Congress is at it again!

Now they are trying to sneak in a vote that would put Puerto Rico on the path to statehood. The only trouble is, they haven't exactly told US about it (sound familiar??).

Please take a moment and read the information below, then pick up the phone and CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE! ... Then call five friends and ask them to do the same! :)

Click on congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.htm to get your Representative's best phone numbers. Start with the DC offices, then move on the the LOCAL numbers!

Demand your Representative vote NO on HR 2499

Here's what Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com had to say:

There is a bill to make Puerto Rico a state. Again, they are trying to pull one over on us and on Puerto Ricans, who have consistently said they do not want to become a state. Read below for more information (from Eagle Forum). This was also discussed by Rep Tom Price on a conference call yesterday.

Please consider this:

• The U.S. would transform, overnight, into a bilingual nation. At least half of Puerto Ricans do not speak English, the language of our U.S. Constitution and founding documents. The Washington Times article, "Puerto Rican statehood," analyzes all the implications of adding a foreign language-speaking state to the Union.

• It would bring immediate demands for massive federal spending. The average income of Puerto Ricans is less than half that of our poorest state, and infrastructure and the environment are far below American standards. Puerto Rico has a population with a median national income of $17,741, nearly a third of that for the U.S.

• Puerto Rico is already a democracy. Despite the bill's deceptive title, Puerto Rico already has an elected government and exists as a self-governed commonwealth of the U.S.

• Statehood would give Puerto Rico more congressional representation than 25 of our 50 states! It would inevitably give Democrats two additional U.S. Senators and 6 to 8 additional Members of the House.

H.R. 2499 is stealth legislation designed to lead to the admission of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico as the 51st state, thereby making us a de facto bilingual nation, like Canada. The U.S. Congress should not be forcing Puerto Ricans to vote on statehood, especially since the Puerto Rican people have rejected statehood three times since 1991!

No Member of Congress who describes himself as a limited government, fiscal conservative should be casting a YEA vote for H.R. 2499, as Puerto Rican statehood would cause an immediate increase in federal expenditures, particularly for taxpayer-funded welfare state services.

The Puerto Rican government is even playing hardball with it own people! Read this by Ann Shibler :

The United States House of Representatives is set to vote on H.R. 2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act, as early as this week. This bill would mandate a non-binding expression by the voters of Puerto Rico as to their wishes with regard to retaining their commonwealth status or becoming a state or becoming an independent nation, but in conjunction with other legislation already introduced inside Puerto Rico, the commonwealth status of the island could be eliminated as early as this year.

Three times in the past 43 years Puerto Ricans have voted against becoming the 51st state in the Union, the last time being 11 years ago. But this time the bill is rigged to eliminate the commonwealth option and grant either full statehood, or total independence. Sen. Jose Hernandez-Mayoral of the island's minority Popular Democratic Party said, "Behind this innocuous bill lies a fully thought out assault on Congress to designate the island the 51st state." "With the commonwealth option out of the ballot, statehood is finally, albeit crookedly, assured a victory."

To read the whole article click here.

For the complete text of HR2499 Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009 click here.

SWAT Team Called on Tea Party Patriots

Yesterday, Wednesday afternoon, April 28, as Tea Party Patriots held a protest outside of an event where President Obama was speaking, the Secret Service called in SWAT teams to handle the protesters because they would not move and were singing patriotic songs.

Look at the video at these sites:

Fox Nation Report on the incident
Video on the Dana Report, Local Coordinator in St. Louis
Report on HotAir

Now compare the above videos with this video of phone messages and emails left to our friends at FreedomWorks. (These phone messages and emails left at FreedomWorks who light of recent accusations, took the opportunity to set the record straight.

DISCLAIMER: Full of harsh language and violent rhetoric. Emails and voicemails are only edited to remove names and phone numbers.)

Tea Party Patriots Co-Founder makes 2010 TIME Top 100 List

From 2010 TIME --

Every revolution needs icons. The Tea Party movement may have mushroomed because of its reluctance to anoint a leader, but leaders have emerged nonetheless. In February 2009, Jenny Beth Martin was one of about 20 people who took part in the original conference call (convened via Twitter hashtag) in response to Rick Santelli's now famous rant. Her commitment to building the burgeoning movement has made her one of its breakout stars.

Martin, 39, is a co-founder and the national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, an umbrella organization that claims 1,800 local affiliates with some 15 million members. She serves as co-chair of her hometown Tea Party in Atlanta, and she helped lead the 9/12 movement's march on Washington in September. It was only as she watched protesters trickle down Pennsylvania Avenue to promote Tea Party principles, she says, that "the enormity of the movement hit me."

The former Republican consultant is an unlikely beacon — a mother of young twins, she blogs about clipping coupons, her household menu plans and her family's battle with bankruptcy, which had Martin cleaning houses to make ends meet when the Tea Party began brewing. "I have a tendency to raise my hand to volunteer too often," she says of the decision to launch the Tea Party Patriots. Her peers are glad she did.

Speaking as one of the local coordinator & State Coordinators -- we could not be happier! And we may be biased, but we do not believe there is a better example than Jenny Beth as to what the Tea Party movement is really about.

I recall the initial nationwide conference calls in the days immediately following the 1st Tax Day Tea Parties. Maintaining the integrity & original intent of the Tax Day Tea Parties, remaining a grass-roots, bottom up type non-partisan group has always been at the forefront in the Tea Party Patriots birth and infancy. Jenny Beth was always stressing this must be maintained as the TPP's grow.

Jenny Beth, we know you do not like the spot light, that you have shied away public recognition for your hard work you do , but-- Congratulations! In the spirit of a true American you have truly earned this.

Immigration Reform Groups Target Ohio Senators

Patriots,

Arzella (Lake/Geauga County Tea Party Patriots) has been on top of immigrations issues here in OH and on a national level. Arzella forwarded the below information on how pro-immigration groups are making targeted efforts urging our OH Senators to support "their" version of immigration reform.

We need you to contact Sen. Brown & Sen. Voinovich and let them know your feelings on any immigration reform.

From the Lake/Geauga County Tea Party Patriots --

Immigration reform advocates in OH are visiting every U.S. Senate office across the state, urging public support and immediate action on reform legislation

A diverse coalition of immigration reform supporters are touring the state, asking Senators Brown and Voinovich to publicly support comprehensive immigration reform legislation this year.

Every office of Senator Brown and Senator Voinovich needs to receive phone calls, e-mails and faxes on this issue. We do not need an Amnesty Bill passed. What we need is for our borders to be secured and our existing immigration laws to be enforced. In 1986 amnesty was given to approximately 3 million illegal immigrants. It is now 2010 and we are looking at over 20 million illegal immigrants.

Senator Sherrod Brown:
DC p (202) 224-2315 f (202) 228-6321
Cleveland p (216) 522-7272 f (216) 522-2239
Cincinnati p (513) 684-1021 f (513) 684-1029
Columbus p (614) 469-2083 f (614) 469-2171
Lorain p(440) 242-4100 f (440) 242-4108

Senator George Voinovich
DC p (202) 224-3353
Toledo p (419) 259-3895 f (419) 259-3899
Cinncinati p (513) 684-3265 f (513) 684-3269
Nelsonville p (740) 441-6410 f (740) 753-3551
Columbus p (614) 469-6697 f (614) 469-7733
Cleveland p (216) 522-7095 f (216) 522-7097

Protect City of Euclid voting Rights

Our Euclid Team Leader, Jason Alan, put this together for voters in Euclid.

PROTECT EUCLID VOTING RIGHTS

• In Nov. of 2009 Euclid Council terms were extended from 2 to 4 yr. terms. Now if they perform poorly we have to wait possibly 4 years to VOTE them out.

• OR another way for them to be removed is to gather signatures in the form of a petition and have it placed on the next elections ballot.

• Issues 26 and 27 deal with this and are on the May 4th primary ballot in the form of city AMENDMENTS.

• ISSUE 26 Article III, Section 2,
  Recall - The charter of the city of Euclid be amended to increase the number of signatures needed to file such petitions (removal of elected officials) to 25 percent of the electors voting in the most recent general election.

• Currently, the charter requires ONLY 15% of those who voted in last years election.

• ISSUE 27 Should Article III, Section 2,
• Recall of the Charter of the City of Euclid be amended to require a declaration of intent to petition for the removal of any elected officer of the city; and to impose a 45 day time limit on the filing of petitions after the declaration has been filed.

• Currently, there is NO time limit on the gathering of signatures for recall.

• The DECLARATION to RECALL is something new.

• If you combine the new staggered City Council terms, with the newly added 4 year terms and if ISSUES 26 and 27 pass they are further distancing themselves from us “Their Employers”.

• This does NOTHING to benefit the residents of Euclid, and will ONLY benefit the elected officials “Our Employees”

VOTE NO! VOTE NO! VOTE NO!
On Issues 26 and 27

Finance Reform Legislation is not over! Sen. Reid Pushing for another Cloture Vote

Well that was a temporary victory with he Finance Reform legislation in the Senate, after failing to get a Cloture vote, Senator Harry Reid is trying to ram it through again!

Thanks to Marianne from the from the Mansfield Tea Party Patriots for this below piece from Sen. McConnell's office.....

Update of where we are on the floor:

Cloture on the motion to proceed Senate Bill 3217, also known as the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 failed last night by a vote of 57-41.

· All R’s voted No
· 2 D’s voted No – Nelson (NE) and Reid (voted no for procedural reasons)
· 57 D’s voted Yes
· 2 Absent – Bennett and Bond

After the vote Sen. Reid entered a motion to reconsider the cloture vote and the cloture vote will occur today at 4:30 pm.

Also last night, Sen. Reid filed cloture again on the motion to proceed to S.3217, the Financial Reform Bill. This cloture vote will occur on Wednesday if cloture is not invoked this afternoon.

So we are back in today debating the motion to proceed to the Financial Reform Bill and have a 4:30 pm vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to S.3217, the Financial
Reform Bill.

Sens. Dodd and Shelby continue to talk in hopes of getting a bipartisan agreement.

Read Sen. McConnell’s opening floor remarks from this morning on Financial Reform by clicking here and also a piece from the Communications Center by clicking here.

Patriots, we need to continue making the calls and making sure the Republicans Senators stand together against the Cloture vote. For more information on SB 3217, Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010, and information of which Senators to contact click here.

ORP Chairman Kevin DeWine calls Tea Parties in OH "Liars & Noisy Distractions"

The continued battle between the Tea Party/9.12 movement and the GOP leadership in OH is continuing to heat up. The arrogance & poor leadership in the Ohio Republican Party (ORP) is simply amazing. While you read the below statement please remember ORP Chairman DeWine wants you to vote for the candidates endorsed by the Ohio Republican Party in the contested statewide GOP primary races.

Making every attempt in trying to claim the ORP shares the same values as the Tea Party groups here, like typical political hacks, the actions of the party prove different. In the below release ORP Chairman Kevin DeWine implies the Tea Party & 9.12 groups are a bunch of "ridiculous, no account, frothing at the mouth, agenda-pushing liars just trying to make noise."

H/T Matt at Weapons of Mass Discussion for this release by ORP Chairman Kevin DeWine (picture added)

Finally, I've seen and heard a lot of ridiculous accusations lately about the role of the Ohio Republican Party in this primary election. Understandably, much of it is motivated by the heightened emotions of political primaries and too often spread with little to no accountability through email, blogs, and social media sites.

Unfortunately, most of it is flat out false, and it's typically generated by people who find the truth just too inconvenient for their agenda. I want you to know you can always contact my office or email me directly if you want answers to any rumor or accusation about something we're doing. This election is too important to let "noise" distract us from the real goal of winning in November.

First, we find it comical the Chairman DeWine talks about the Tea Parties having little or no accountability through email, blogs, and social media sites after his Frat Boys controlling the ORP Face Book page launched a full-frontal Elephant Clan attack on a long time supporter that disagreed with them. This member was pretty much told, "shut up, your stupid, and just make campaigns calls like you are told." You can read this exchange for yourself by clicking here.

Addressing the rest of the nonsensical comments from Chairman DeWine, not only do we challenge him -- but dare him -- to dispute one iota of information posted on this blog, our website or our Face Book page regarding him, the Ohio Republican Party and/or the actions of his ORP State Central Committee leading up to this years primary races.

Take your pick Mr. Chairman -- the Tea Parties & 9.12 groups are nothing without the GOP, the Ohio Republican Party called the police on Patriots protesting at their HQ over the sham state endorsements given out or the false claims you share our values. (click the red links to read more)

Patriots, besides being upset many Tea Party members are running for the State Central Committee as individuals, this is nothing short of an inept, self-serving, arrogant party chairman who's stepped in a pile of elephant dung created by none other then himself and his sheep-like State Central Committee feebly trying to calm the fears and growing anger from within his party ranks by trying to demonize the Tea Party movement in Ohio through some grand old party propaganda. Pretty much like the liberal left and MSM does on a daily basis.

Summing it all up... in reality it appears it is the Tea Partys & 9.12 groups in OH that are becoming an inconvenient truth for the agenda of ORP Chairman DeWine, his State Central Committee and his handpicked, party endorsed, non-Tea Party type candidates.

The floor is yours Mr. Chairman....