When
the defense of liberty becomes a crime, tyranny is already in force. At
that point, failure to defend liberty makes slavery a certainty.
Sent: Monday, May 27, 2013 4:52 PM
I
wonder what it is going to take to make our legislators step back and
really look at what Common Core is presenting to our children and listen
to the TRUE facts. They want to raise our scoring levels up so the
“states” are first – not giving any thought as to what they are being
taught by using something that is going to dumb them down to the Skinner
and Pavlov type of indoctrination. Please share these videos with
anyone you know that has children in school – as I stated before – the
combination of what they are being presented through the ELA books and
the added effort of making them study informational and technical
textbooks and as this video reports – the book they are talking about is
“Voices” – Example: the book asks the question –
“Your
mother ___________ you to clean your room and the choices for the
answer are “tells” or “nags” implementing a negative attitude with the
parent which is part of this goal.
These video’s have been done by UTAHANS Against Common Core!
Jane: Do you have any textbook lists for New Hampshire?
Since first researching David Coleman something he said at a NY seminar has stayed in my mind –
Coleman
asked the audience, “Do most people know the two most popular forms of
writing in the American high school today? … It is either the writing of
a personal opinion or it is the presentation of a personal matter. The
only problem, forgive me for saying this so bluntly, the only problem
with those two forms of writing is as you grow up in this world you
realize people really don't give a sheet about what you feel or what
you think.” (His video shows he actually says “shit”!)
Along with Linda Darling-Hammond – how could our children ever fail?
What we all know is that they will no longer SUCCEED!
"And
if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin" it
would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone
tied around his neck." Mark 9:42
The
choice facing the nation is between two totally different ways of life.
And what a prize we have to fight for: no less than the chance to
banish from our land the dark, divisive clouds of Marxist socialism and bring together men and women from all walks of life who share a belief in freedom.”Margaret Thatcher (Speech, 1983)
The Party of Principle – Individual Rights, Free Markets, and Limited Government
Special
Guest at the Next NFLP Meeting 19 June! Mr. Jerry Couey, activist,
media host and all around font of knowledge about Panhandle politics.
Location to be determined…stay tuned
Come on out and ride the NFLP float in the Billy Bowlegs Parade, 30 May, 6 PM, downtown Fort Walton Beach. Get to know fellow Libertarians, throw beads, and have a good time! Please call 850-217-6590 if you will attend…
IRS – You’re surprised?
The blatant targeting by the IRS
of groups opposed to the President clearly deserves prison time for
those responsible. The odious revelations that the power to tax was
used to hinder free expression for partisan purposed rightfully shakes
public confidence that the government protects the Bill Of Rights. The
IRS can, and should, be abolished. But I must ask, why are so many
surprised when this kind of abuse happens?
I would not be exaggerating if I
said every day there are examples of even worse abuses by government.
It has routinely conducted warrantless searches of American citizens.
For a long time it was a crime to tell anyone that a warrantless search
had been committed. In Boston we saw the fourth Amendment thrown to the
winds for tens of thousands of citizens in the pursuit of two armed
men. The mortgage scandals, the LIBOR scandal, and the apparent
immunity of big bankers, such as John Corzine, who blatantly steal
investor funds but never come to trial, leaves the public with puzzled
looks on their faces about the rule of law. Worst of all, American
Presidents have executed American citizens overseas without trial, or
even without public evidence. And this is the short list!
To Libertarians none of this
comes as a surprise because we know big government is bad government.
It’s a pity so many of our fellow citizens cannot see the dingy forest
of government abuse until their particular tree is chopped down.
Pete Blome, Chair, Northwest Florida Libertarian Party
Bill Wohlsifer A tough choice between two of our finest LPF members. Pete Blome
was instrumental in helping re-organize a libertarian movement in the
Big Bend region. He is my closest geographical candidate. But at-large
means at large (and we attorneys tend to stick together). My vote, as of
May 1st (the day that the Brits traditionally defame capitalism) would
be for Jared Grifoni.
Yesterday at 7:38am · Like · 2
Dear Bill,
I’ll ask you to reconsider your vote, since I would best to represent the LPF At-Large.
It is clear to me that the purpose of a political party is to put
people and money together to elect candidates and that is what I’ve
wholeheartedly pursued.
At-Large implies an ability to be everywhere and do everything that
the LPF is involved in. Although I wish this were possible all the
time, I took a more realistic approach and concentrated my efforts on
establishing an organized and reliable libertarian presence in a
manageable area, roughly from Tallahassee to Pensacola (200 miles).
Nowhere in Florida is the potential for actually electing a libertarian
to office greater than in this Panhandle region, where relatively small
efforts in the past have garnered the best libertarian election
results. This is despite the fact there were no LPF Region 5 or Region 6
reps for most of my tenure, or any organized affiliates in the area.
What the north lacked, and what I supplied, was an organized and
reliable Libertarian presence to tell all liberty loving and free market
respecting citizens that what they want is not to be found in the
Republican or Tallahassee dominant Democrat Party, but with us. It is
working, and I seek to grow our success throughout Florida as far as my
strength and resources will let me.
As you well know, it is easy for others to forget that there is
another distant part of Florida called the Panhandle. I live 140 miles
to the west of Tallahassee, 475 miles from Tampa, and a full 745
miles from Miami. It is difficult for libertarians up here to
participate in the many events going on in the southern part of the
state (such as conventions), but that does not mean we are
inconsequential. Few people anywhere have the time and the means to
meaningfully travel the length and breadth of the state in the pursuit
of LPF goals, but I made a commitment to myself and other Libertarians
to participate in every convention, join in the LPF booth at the Florida
State Fair, dial in in every LPF phone conference I could, and in 2012
even walked the halls of the State House Capitol handing out LPF
position papers on issues to Panhandle legislators. State geography is a
fact we have to live with, and given the distances involved, an
at-large rep here clearly makes sense, and benefits local libertarians,
the LPF, and yourself.
Distance has another effect in that it is obvious you, and others, do
not know what I’ve been doing for the Party. I began the work of the
LPF in my own County, Okaloosa, even before I was elected At-Large Rep.
Okaloosa was the local center of support for the Snitker campaign in
2010, and led the State in voter turn-out for him. It is the same story
for the Johnson Campaign. I am constantly seeking out talented and
motivated people willing to work with the Northwest Florida Libertarian
Party (NFLP) and the LPF, and have been privileged to find so many.
Under my suggestion, the Northwest Florida Libertarian Party (formerly
the LPOC, Libertarian Party of Okaloosa County) changed its Constitution
to allow full participation by people in six neighboring counties that
do not have the dedicated libertarians or resources to create their own
affiliates. This does not mean the NFLP would not fully support any
libertarian who wanted to create an affiliate in another county. On the
contrary, our change brought together libertarians who would otherwise
have nothing, and provides a basis for others to build on and grow
around here. In order to seek out even more potential libertarians,
I’ve encouraged participation in civic and activist groups formerly the
exclusive domain of the major parties. As a result, the NFLP and the
LPF are a known, and respected, feature in the Fort Walton Beach Tea
Party, The Panhandle Patriots Tea Party, the Santa Rosa Tea Party, the
Escambia County Tea Party, the Walton County Tea Parties (North and
South), the Destin Chamber of Commerce (of which the NFLP is a member),
the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce, the Pensacola Rotary, the Okaloosa
Island Condominium Association, and the Fort Walton Beach Kiwanis. We
even showed up at a local Democrat Party hootnanny. For the same
reasons, we are active in government. NFLP members have spoken before
their respective County Commissions. I am a regular speaker at
Okaloosa County Commission meetings, state representative ensembles, and
the rare public appearances by our Congressman Jeff Miller, where I am a
well-known voice of the opposition on a wide range of topics from
official corruption, to unaccountable government in the Mid Bay Bridge
Authority, to using public money to improve private property, to most
recently, opposition to the state law that allows County government to
pass secret tax breaks for particular businesses that the public, by
law, may never know. I am a familiar name to local politicians, to all
the Okaloosa candidates for Sheriff, as well as to State Representative
Matt Gaetz, his father Senate President Don Gaetz, and Senator Greg
Evers . Past Republican candidates for the State House, Mike Hill, and
for Congress, David Scholl, were classmates of mine long ago. I’ve
gotten to know who runs the major parties in the Panhandle, and by such
associations the libertarian message is getting out, in the opposition
camp, that there is an alternative to the major parties. Our message of
individual rights, free markets, and limited government is both real
and something the major parties constantly betray to the detriment of
their supporters. People around here have come to know libertarians
can be leaders, to like what they hear, and that we are here to stay.
My efforts on behalf of the LPF do not end there. Since 2009 I’ve
written at least 60 opinion pieces published by the media, been on TV
twice, and made numerous radio talk show calls advocating the
libertarian position. I’ve also written papers for the express benefit
of the LPF, such as the Convention Hotwashes, or surveys that recorded
what went well and what went poorly. I’ve made hundreds of phone
calls, and written thousands of emails, to registered libertarians
keeping them informed, asking them to get involved, and inviting them to
events. I’ve made my lists of contacts, media sources, and positions
papers freely available to anyone working with the Party, including you,
if you remember. I’ve given speeches at April 15th tax day
rallies, the Fort Walton Beach Tea party, and the Eglin Air Force base
Retirees Association, and the Escambia Teacher’s Union. For the sixth
year in a row libertarians will construct a parade float to be in the
Fort Walton Beach Billy Bowlegs Parade seen by thousands (kind of a
Mardi Gras event) advertising our candidates. Local libertarians have
operated a booth representing the LPF at the Northwest Florida Fair
(5000 attendees), the Santa Rosa County Fair (20,000) and the Pensacola
Interstate Fair (250,000+). The April meeting of the NFLP attracted
attention in that we had Ms. KrisAnne Hall as a guest speaker, who can
be added to the list of past speakers including Lawrence Vance (of von
Mises), Kerry Bowers (of the FairTax) and Karl Denninger (of the Market
Ticker), and Paul Rubin (Senior Economist under Reagan) . I also
maintain the NFLP website, libertarianpoc.org. As you can see, I seek
out and try to take advantage of opportunities as I come across them.
Of course, I must make special mention that I was also campaign
manager for Calen Fretts for Congress in the First District of Florida.
It is difficult to describe what it takes to run a Congressional
campaign without it sounding like hyperbole, but it is an effort which
takes hundreds of hours of continuous effort, and occupied my time for a
full year. There had not been a libertarian campaign in the Panhandle
since 1994. The who, what, where, whens and whys of a Federal campaign
had to be immediately learned and were successfully applied by me. A
libertarian had never been on the Congressional ballot in this District
before Calen Fretts, and it was only through persistence and planning
that Calen achieved that milestone using the petition method. This was
something even his Republican opponent could not boat of, though he
tried. Despite the lack of affiliates and a regional LPF rep, I found
and organized 33 working libertarian volunteers covering an area of 5200
square miles. In the end, although he lost the election, his campaign
spread lasting respect for Calen Fretts and Libertarians throughout the
District, and it has raised serious questions in the minds of many
Republican voters about the efficacy of reelecting the incumbent to
office year after year. The Libertarian Party in Florida is stronger
for the Fretts campaign. You might remember that I sent a complete
Hotwash of the Fretts campaign to all LPF Executive Committee members,
for their benefit, something I do not think any other campaign did.
It is clear these activities take money, lots of money, which has
heightened my concern over the lack of fundraising by the LPF. The NFLP
had $2000 in donations in 2012, and already we have $3000 for 2013, but
we are a relatively small organization. The Fretts Campaign gathered
about $15,000 in contributions ($1000 of which came from the LPF), but
the Libertarian State Party can only boast of a $25,000 war chest for
the whole state. Lack of funds is the single greatest limit on our
effectiveness as a political party, and we must fix that. To do so I
propose the LPF concentrate on three areas. The first is our message.
People want to be in control of their own lives and money, and we need
to better present how a libertarian in government would be in the
voter’s self- interest. We must show how this puts money in their
pockets without government handouts. Next is fundraising. I will
continue seeking out politically active people and donors in the
Panhandle and use better techniques to persuade them that it is in their
own interest to ditch the major parties. It is easy to spend money,
and it is frequently necessary to further our cause, but spending
without means to recoup what is spent is a plan for disaster. The last
part is candidates. Finding candidates is hard, but it is easier when
we present an attractive message, and have donors that can support a
candidate who wants to win. That is what people who run for office want
to do, win. Of these three goals the most important is fundraising and
that will be, for me, the major priority that the LPF should pursue in
the future.
Being a lawyer is a skill worth having in these litigious times we
live in, but I am not a stranger to applying the law to policy. My
undergraduate degree is in political science from the United States Air
Force Academy, where I also took classes in law, and my graduate degree
is in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma. I was the
political advisor for the United States Forces in the Azores and had
daily contact with Portuguese, Department of Defense and Department of
State officials, including their lawyers, over matters related to
administering the only bilateral treaty for the stationing of United
States troops in Europe. This treaty covered everything from the
passage of military forces through Portugal to the hiring of local
workers. I performed the prep work for renegotiating this treaty. I’ve
represented the United States before Ambassadors, under Secretaries of
State, and foreign militaries including a guerilla army when I served
with the United Nations. I read the law, and still believe an average
citizen, like me, can navigate the legal rocks with prudence and
foresight. I was the first to point out and take action almost two
years ago over how the LPF was not in compliance with several parts of
the Florida statutes FS97-106. I learn more every day how the law is
stacked against third party participation in the political process, and
increasingly think we must fight this trend for the sake of the
Republic. Furthermore, northwest Florida has a concentration of
military interests unlike the rest of the state. The Cradle of Naval
Aviation is based in Pensacola, there is a Navy flight training center
in Escambia County, and the Eglin Range is the largest Air Force Base in
the U.S., spanning three counties. I’ve seen three wars, and my career
as a pilot and officer assigned to Special Operations, and experience
flying the Predator drone, lends me credibility in circles that the
Libertarian Party needs to court.
I hope I get your vote. Let’s work together to make a stronger Libertarian Party.
Regards
Pete
