White House Releases 1.9 Million Visitor Records

From the White House Blog --

In September 2009, the President announced that—for the first time in history—White House visitor records would be made available to the public on an ongoing basis. Today, the White House releases visitor records that were generated in September 2011. Today’s release also includes several visitor records generated prior to September 16, 2009 that were requested by members of the public in November 2011 pursuant to the White House voluntary disclosure policy. This release brings the total number of records made public by this White House to more than 1.9 million records—all of which can be viewed in our Disclosures section.

My early pick for the Republican nomination

An Open Letter to Tea Party Voters

        By Jeffrey Moore

I have been trying to logically ferret out any misconceptions I may have about the Republican presidential field before the start of the caucus and voting season. I want to take a look at each one here and try to come to a reasoned decision by voting time. For the fact that all of these candidates have desirable attributes among them, it would be preferable to nominate an amorphous being which possesses the best aspects of each one. Unfortunately I do not have that option. Needless to say, most of these candidates represent the possibility of stepping back from the brink. Each has an element that stands up favorably to the one man wrecking crew named Obama. In contravention to common belief, we have the strongest field of candidates in DECADES. Yes … decades! This is for the fact that they possess an assortment of distributed qualities and the fact that the pendulum has swung so far that the swing is about to go over the top of the swing set. Very strong field. Very strong!

Who can beat Obama? Any one of them! Any one! Obama has been busy the last three years planting powder kegs of self destructing policy bombs. He has blown up the economy, corrupted the justice department, corrupted the energy department, and puffed up the unions and foreign banks with fiat Wall Street cash. This is just the start of the list of complete failures (or radical leftist warrior successes, depending on your point of view).

Many of the lucid out here in fly-over country are wise to the latest shell game. Obama and the shape shifter political class have turned the notion of a contribution to the Social Security fund straight on its head. In the good old days this deduction from wages was an insurance payment but now suddenly, it’s a tax! So Obama and his cronies are allowing Social Security to “wither on the vine” while telling the uninformed that he’s cutting taxes. He can hasten the end of Social Security, a so-called ideal of the leftist disposition, and take credit as a tax cutter as well. It is completely absurd!

This is an election that will be decided by common sense working men and working women. We need a free market leader who understands the meaning of purpose and work. I myself experienced a stint of unemployment. I took the state aid and felt the pull of the addiction to getting money for nothing. It breeds hopelessness. This administration is intent on shifting the mentality toward acceptance of the Nanny state for everyone.

This is what we’re up against. This is what the candidate will be up against. Which candidate can best articulate a different vision and act upon that vision to create positive results? In a future debate against Obama any one of the Republican hopefuls could almost just read the list of disasters, turn deadpan to the camera and say, “Really America? Is this what you truly want?”

Who among these can stir the optimism required to jump-start America?

For my pick, read the full article

Obamacare for the Internet: Stop SOPA NOW!

Obamacare for the Internet!

SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and its Senate cousin (PROTECT IP) are government solutions in search of a problem. Created under the false flag of piracy protection, this bill allows unelected bureaucrat US Attorney General (Eric Holder) to close down without due process, any site listed in a complaint. SOPA grants the federal government the right to restrict search engine results, freeze merchant accounts and force your internet provider to block any site branded in violation of SOPA. An unelected bureaucrat will decide which sites qualify.

What does this mean for you? Under SOPA, if a single complaint is filed against YouTube alleging pirated materiel, the entire website can be shut down while the claim is investigated. If a single complaint is registered against Google claiming they link to pirated materiel in search results, the entire site can be shut down during the investigation. If a single complaint is logged against Amazon.com claiming pirated goods are being sold, the entire site can be shut down and their online payment service frozen!

 Who thought this was a good idea? SOPA is sponsored by Representative Lamar Smith, A Republican from Texas who has been in Congress for over 25 years. His biggest campaign donors are from the TV/Movie industry, giving him over $50,000 a year for at least the past 10 years. SOPA also has 31 co-sponsors and is currently moving through the House Judiciary Committee (chaired by Lamar Smith). Outside Washington D.C., bloggers and experts across the political spectrum have warned against this legislation. SOPA is sponsored by a Republican, PROTECT IP is sponsored by a Democrat. It’s becoming clear that this battle is not about partisan politics or liberal vs. conservatives. This is the Washington elite, using overblown piracy fears to control our internet.

What can you do?

Contact your congressman and let them know SOPA (H.R. 3261) has no place in America. This is not a bill that can be amended into something acceptable, it must die completely.

Contact members of the Judiciary Committee specifically and urge them to defeat SOPA by any means necessary.

If you or someone you know lives in Wisconsin, North Carolina, California, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Iowa, Utah, Arkansas, Pennsylvania or South Carolina, please forward this alert to them. These states have congressional members on the Judiciary Committee, see below for the complete list.

Judiciary Committee

GOP Members

Lamar Smith (R-TX) [Chairman]

D.C. PH#: 202-225-4236

D.C. FX#: 202-225-8628

Email: http://lamarsmith.house.gov/Contact/

F. James (Jim) Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI)

D.C. PH#: 202-225-5101

D.C. FX#: 202-225-3190

Email: http://sensenbrenner.house.gov/email_zip.htm 

Howard Coble (R-NC)

DC PH#: 202-225-3065

DC FX#: 202-225-8611

Email: http://coble.house.gov/Contact/ZipCheck.htm 

Elton Gallegly (R-CA) 

DC PH#: 202-225-5811

DC FX#: 202-225-1100

Email: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml 

Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)

DC PH#: 202-225-5431

DC FX#: 202-225-9681 

Email: http://goodlatte.house.gov/contacts/new 

Dan Lungren (R-CA) 

DC PH#: 202-225-5716

DC FX#: 202-226-1298

Email: http://lungren.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=84&sectiontree=384 

Steve Chabot (R-OH) 

DC PH#: 202-225-2216 

DC FX#: 202-225-3012

Email: https://chabotforms.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=58& … 

Darrell Issa (R-CA) 

DC PH#: 202-225-3906 

DC FX: 202-225-3303

Email: http://issa.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&vi … 

Mike Pence (R-IN) 

DC PH#: 202-225-3021

DC FX#: 202-225-3382 

Email: https://forms.house.gov/pence/IMA/webforms/contact_fo … 

J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) 

DC PH#: 202-225-6365

DC FX#: 202-226-1170

Email: http://randyforbes.house.gov/Contact/ZipAuth.htm 

Steve King (R-IA) 

DC PH#: 202-225-4426

DC FX#: 202-225-3193

Email: https://forms.house.gov/king/webforms/issue_subscribe … 

Trent Franks (R-AZ) 

DC PH#: 202-225-4576

DC FX#: 202-225-6328

Email: http://franks.house.gov/contacts/new 

Louie Gohmert (R-TX) 

DC PH#: 202-225-3035

DC FX#: 202-226-1230 

Email: http://gohmert.house.gov/Contact/ 

Jim Jordan (R-OH) 

DC PH#: 202-225-2676

DC Fax#: 202-226-0577

Email: http://jordan.house.gov/Contact/ 

Ted Poe (R-TX) 

DC PH#: 202-225-6565

DC FX#: 202-225-5547

Email: https://forms.house.gov/poe/webforms/zipauthen_contac …

Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)

DC PH#: 202-225-7751 

DC FX: 202-225-5629

Email: https://chaffetz.house.gov/contact/email-me.shtml 

Tim Griffin (R-AR) 

DC PH#: 202-225-2506

DC FX#: 202-225-5903 

Email: https://griffin.house.gov/contact-me/email-me 

Tom Marino (R-PA) 
DC PH#: 202-225-3731
DC FX#: 202-225-9594
Email: https://marino.house.gov/contact-me/email-me 

Trey Gowdy (R-SC) 
DC PH#: 202-225-6030
DC FX#: 202-226-1177
Email: http://gowdy.house.gov/Contact/ 

Dennis Ross (R-FL) 
DC PH#: 202-225-1252 
DC FX#: 202-226-0585
Email: https://dennisross.house.gov/Contact/ 

Sandy Adams (R-FL) 
DC PH#: 202-225-2706
DC FX#: 202-226-6299
Email: http://adams.house.gov/Contact/ 

Ben Quayle (R-AZ)
DC PH#: 202-225-3361
DC FX#: 202-225-3462 
Email: http://quayle.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=58§io … 

Mark Amodei (R-NV) 
DC PH#: 202-225-6155
DC FX#: 202-225-5679
Email: https://amodei.house.gov/contact- 

Democrat Members

John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) [Ranking Minority Member]

DC PH#: 202-225-5126

DC FX#: 202-225-0072

Email: http://conyers.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact … 

Howard L. Berman (D-CA) 

DC PH#: 202-225-4695 

DC FX#: 202-225-3196 

Email: http://www.house.gov/berman/contact/

Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) 

DC PH#: 202-225-5635

DC FX#: 202-225-6923

Email: https://jerroldnadler.house.gov/Forms/WriteYourRep/de 

Bobby Scott (D-VA) 

DC PH#: 202-225-8351

DC FX#: 202-225-8354

Email: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Mel Watt (D-NC) 

DC PH#: 202-225-1510

DC FX#: 202-225-1512

Email: https://forms.house.gov/watt/webforms/zipauthen_conta

Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)

DC PH#: 202-225-3072

DC FX#: 202-225-3336

Email: http://forms.house.gov/lofgren/webforms/landing.html

Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)

DC PH#: 202-225-3816

DC FX#: 202-225-3317

Email: http://www.jacksonlee.house.gov/Contact/

Maxine Waters (D-CA)

DC PH#: 202-225-2201

DC FX#: 202-225-7854

Email: https://watersforms.house.gov/Contact/ContactForm.htm

Steve Cohen (D-TN)

DC PH#: 202-225-3265
DC FX#: 202-225-5663
Email: https://cohenforms.house.gov/Forms/WriteYourRep/ 

Hank Johnson (D-GA)
DC PH#: 202-225-1605
DC FX#: 202-226-0691
Email: https://hankjohnsonforms.house.gov/contact-form.shtml 

Pedro Pierluisi (D-PR)
DC PH#: 202-225-2615
DC FX#: 202-225-2154
Email: http://pierluisi.house.gov/english/contact-us.html 

Mike Quigley (D-IL)
DC PH#: 202-225-4061
DC FX#: 202-225-5603
Email: https://forms.house.gov/quigley/contact-form.shtml 

Judy Chu (D-CA)
DC PH#: 202-225-5464
DC FX#: 202-225-5467
Email: https://forms.house.gov/chu/contact-form.shtml 

Ted Deutch (D-FL)
DC PH#: 202-225-3001
DC FX#: 202-225-5974
Email: https://deutchforms.house.gov/Forms/WriteYourRep/defa … 

Linda Sanchez (D-CA)
DC PH#: 202-225-6676
DC FX#: 202-226-1012
Email: https://forms.house.gov/lindasanchez/webforms/issue_s … 

Jared Polis (D-CO)
DC PH#: 202-225-2161
DC FX#: 202-226-7840
Email: https://polisforms.house.gov/Forms/WriteYourRep/defau … 

Newt Gingrich Wins Tea Party Patriots Straw Poll

More the 23,000 people participated in the Tea Party Patriots Presidential Tele-Forum and Tea Party Straw Poll last night. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum were on the call last night to answer questions that were submitted by local Tea Party leaders.

The results of the straw poll taken from the more than 23,000 participants on the call are as follows;

Newt Gingrich 31%
Michele Bachmann 28%
Mitt Romney 20%
Rick Santorum 16%
Ron Paul 3%
Rick Perry 2%
Jon Huntsman 0% (.34%)
(Results are rounded to nearest percentage point. Margin of error +/-1.59%)

(Interpretation: The following question was posed to the listeners for each candidate with 1 being Not Enthusiastic and 5 being Extremely Enthusiastic. “On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest, how enthusiastic would you be if were the nominee?” This chart shows how enthusiastic the participants would be in the event that each candidate were the nominee.)

Check the TPP website later this week for audio clips of all of the candidates and speakers

Special Thanks to:

Emery McClendon, TPP Local Coordinator, Fort Wayne, IN
Julianne Thompson, TPP Local Coordinator, Atlanta, GA
Herman Cain, Businessman / Former GOP Presidential Candidate
Steve King, Congressman from Iowa

Thank you to all of the candidates & callers who were able to participate!

-- Ohio Health Care Compact Web Site Launched -- Help Secure Health Care Freedom in Ohio

Introduced into the Ohio Senate earlier this year, efforts by Tea Party Patriot groups in Ohio to enact a Health Care Compact were put on hold so as not to confuse or undermine efforts to pass Issue 3, the Ohio Health Care Freedom Amendment.

Now that Issue 3 has passed with a mandate in all 88 counties, and the voters of our state have clearly stated their support for health care freedom in Ohio, it is time to take the second step in securing true health care freedom for Ohio -- with the Ohio Health Care Compact.

As part of a 50 state initiative between the Health Care Compact Alliance and the Tea Party Patriots, Health Care Compacts have already been passed in 4 states (TX, MO, GA & OK ) and have been introduced in 11 other states, including the Ohio Health Care Compact.

To learn more about the Ohio Health Care Compact and how you can help fight to secure a true health care freedom in Ohio go to www.ohiohealthcarecompact.com.  

Health Care Policy is about who & what is covered.
The Health Care Compact is about who decides.
And Ohio should decide what is best for Ohio!

The Politically Incorrect Story of Thanksgiving

At this special time of year when we give thanks, it is important that we recognize the true origins of Thanksgiving.

With Happy Thanksgiving wishes to you, your family and your loved ones from the Cleveland Tea Party Patriots, the below story gives a politically incorrect but accurate history of Thanksgiving...

By Richard J. Maybury

Each year at this time school children all over America are taught the official Thanksgiving story, and newspapers, radio, TV, and magazines devote vast amounts of time and space to it. It is all very colorful and fascinating.

It is also very deceiving. This official story is nothing like what really happened. It is a fairy tale, a whitewashed and sanitized collection of half-truths which divert attent ion away from Thanksgiving's real meaning.

The official story has the pilgrims boarding the Mayflower, coming to America and establishing the Plymouth colony in the winter of 1620-21. This first winter is hard, and half the colonists die. But the survivors are hard working and tenacious, and they learn new farming techniques from the Indians. The harvest of 1621 is bountiful. The Pilgrims hold a celebration, and give thanks to God. They are grateful for the wonderful new abundant land He has given them.

The official story then has the Pilgrims living more or less happily ever after, each year repeating the first Thanksgiving. Other early colonies also have hard times at first, but they soon prosper and adopt the annual tradition of giving thanks for this prosperous new land called America.

The problem with this official story is that the harvest of 1621 was not bountiful, nor were the colonists hardworking or tenacious. 1621 was a famine year and many of the colonists were lazy thieves.

In his 'History of Plymouth Plantation,' the governor of the colony, William Bradford, reported that the colonists went hungry for years, because they refused to work in the fields. They preferred instead to steal food. He says the colony was riddled with "corruption," and with "confusion and discontent."    [Socialism always has corruption to gain power, confusion to deceive and discontent because it is so harmful, causing the people to suffer] The crops were small because "much was stolen both by night and day, before it became scarce eatable."

In the harvest feasts of 1621 and 1622, "all had their hungry bellies filled," but only briefly. The prevailing condition during those years was not the abundance the official story claims, it was famine and death. The first "Thanksgiving" was not so much a celebration as it was the last meal of condemned men.

But in subsequent years something changes. The harvest of 1623 was different. Suddenly, "instead of famine now God gave them plenty," Bradford wrote, & quot andthe face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God." Thereafter, he wrote, "any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day." In fact, in 1624, so much food was produced that the colonists were able to begin exporting corn.
What happened?

After the poor harvest of 1622, writes Bradford, "they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop." They began to question their form of economic organization.

This had required that "all profits & benefits that are got by trade, working, fishing, or any other means" were to be placed in the common stock of the colony, and that, "all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock." A person was to put into the common stock all he could, and take out only what he needed.

This "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" was an early form of socialism, and it is why the Pilgrims were starving. Bradford writes that "young men that are most able and fit for labor and service" complained about being forced to "spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children." Also, "the strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes, than he that was weak." So the young and strong refused to work and the total amount of food produced was never adequate.

To rectify this situation, in 1623 Bradford abolished socialism. He gave each household a parcel of land and told them they could keep what they produced, or trade it away as they saw fit. In other words, he replaced socialism with a free market, and that was the end of famines.

Many early groups of colonists set up socialist states, all with the same terrible results. At Jamestown, esta blished in 1607, out of every shipload of settlers that arrived, less than half would survive their first twelve months in America. Most of the work was being done by only one-fifth of the men, the other four-fifths choosing to be parasites. In the winter of 1609-10, called "The Starving Time," the population fell from five-hundred to sixty.

Then the Jamestown colony was converted to a free market, and the results were every bit as dramatic as those at Plymouth. In 1614, Colony Secretary Ralph Hamor wrote that after the switch there was "plenty of food, which every man by his own industry may easily and doth procure." He said that when the socialist system had prevailed, "we reaped not so much corn from the labors of thirty men as three men have done for themselves now."

Before these free markets were established, the colonists had nothing for which to be thankful. They were in the same situation as Ethiopians are today, and for th e same reasons. But after free markets were established, the resulting abundance was so dramatic that the annual Thanksgiving celebrations became common throughout the colonies, and in 1863, Thanksgiving became a national holiday.

Thus the real reason for Thanksgiving, deleted from the official story, is: Socialism does not work; the one and only source of abundance is free markets, and we thank God we live in a country where we can have them.

Happy Thanksgiving

Is Sen. Rob Portman making backroom deals with Sen Sherrod Brown over new Consumer Czar?

H/T Medina Tea Party Patriots

According to a recent article on Big Government, Senator Rob Portman may be breaking ranks with his party by voting to confirm the former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), or in more accurate terms -- Consumer Financial Protection Czar.

The director of the CFPB is empowered to regulate almost any industry for any reason and cannot be removed for any reason other than malfeasance. The position is a five-year term, so the next president will have to deal with Cordray regulating our economy, despite the president’s wishes.

Many Conservatives are wondering why Portman would join Senate liberals in supporting Cordray, who has shown himself to be an extremely liberal Progressive. The below article indicates Portman may also be facing pressure and making backroom deals with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to confirm Cordray, which is why it is imperative that we let Senator Portman know that we will not stand for this outrageous betrayal of conservative values.

Please contact Senator Portman and demand that he vote against the appointment of Richard Cordray for director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Senator Rob Portman

D.C. Office Phone: 202-224-3353

Local Office Phone: 513-684-3265

Twitter: @robportman

From Big Government --

In the pitched battle over whether government should take over our health care system, a group of pro-life Democrat congressmen held the line to oppose the legislation because they knew the bill authorized funding for abortion.  Under intense pressure from the president and their pro-choice comrades in the Congress, the group, led by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) flip-flopped when they received a letter from the president ensuring that government would not spend money for abortion.  They were had.

 

Now Sen. Rob Portman appears ready to “pull a Stupak.”  Under pressure from Democrat Sen. Sherrod  Brown, Portman appears ready to cut a deal to confirm former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to a five-year term to head the super-regulatory agency known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Word on Capitol Hill is that Portman has assured Cordray he has no problems with his nomination and is asking for assurances that his concerns about the Bureau will be address – not in legislation, but in a letter.  Has Portman learned anything from the Stupak incident?  Apparently not.

Unlike Portman, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) is taking a principled stand against the creation of a new super regulatory agency and is not shaking in his boots.  Shelby has organized his colleagues who have pledged to oppose the nomination of Cordray or any other nominee unless the Bureau is reformed.  Unlike Portman, apparently, Shelby is smart enough to demand real statutory changes as opposed to “promised” changes.

The CFPB was structured in a way to give huge, and perhaps unconstitutional, power to its Director.  Alan Raul, who served as general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget and associate counsel to President Ronald Reagan, described the CFPB’s power as “an independent agency on steroids because Congress essentially exempted the director from any meaningful accountability or strong presidential oversight.”

As structured, the Director is empowered to regulate almost any industry for any reason and if Cordray is confirmed by the full Senate, would be given a five-year term and be removable only by malfeasance.  So if a Republican wins the presidential election, they would enjoy four years of Mr. Cordray regulating the economy, no matter what the president did or said.

Not only should the CFPB be reformed, it should be eliminated.  If Mr. Portman gets weak knees, he will ensure that another government regulatory agency – one with more power than most – will be around for a long time.

Please call Senator Portman and remind him he was not elected to make back room deals with Senator Sherrod Brown but to act with conservative conviction and integrity like Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL).

Senator Rob Portman

D.C. Office Phone: 202-224-3353

Local Office Phone: 513-684-3265

Twitter: @robportman