UPDATE: JAN 18, 2012.

THE PICKLE PIMPS ARE STILL AFTER THE INTERNET, but some things have changed since I originally wrote this article back in 2009. For one, the Republicans took over the House of Representatives, and since we all know how much different they are than the Democrat leadership of 2009, the threat of the internet being hijacked by the federal government has subsided, right? After all, with a Republican Majority in the House, they can kill any legislation like SOPA without a single Democrat vote. So, we don't have a thing to worry about, right?

THINK AGAIN! The Pickle Pimps aren't just Dems. If the Republican leadership was actual "leadership," we wouldn't have to worry about the 'indefinite detention' of people like me that call attention to attacks on the Constitutiion and Bill of Rights that almost as many Pickle Pimps in the Grand 'Ole Party voted for the 2012 NDAA without keeping their oaths as did the Jackasses, but we do. You see, it doesn't matter what Pickle Pimp Brand you support, once you crack the lid on the jar, and dip your hand inside, it still comes out slimy, green, and nasty.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE... CALL YOUR PICKLE PIMPS IN D.C., AND TELL THEM TO KEEP UNCLE SAM'S HANDS OFF THE INTERNET. TELL THEM LOUD AND CLEAR: NO PICKLES, PLEASE!!

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: PUBLISHED ON A PICKLE-FREE INTERNET: SEPT. 21, 2009

I sit at my desk, pondering this pickle We the People are in, and I don't like pickles. I realize things have to change. The diminishing returns of trying to fix this "pickle we're in" with traditional methods has failed. Let's talk about pickles for a moment. I can deal with a pickle on my burger once in a while, and if they get mine wrong, I don't always make them fix me a new burger. I'll just either eat it, or compromise, and de-pickle my burger myself. Nobody's perfect. We all make mistakes.

However, if I keep going back to the same fast-food restaurant, and they keep messing my order up, I'll eventually get tired of the poor service, and accept the fact that they either aren't listening to me when I place my order, or they don't care. Maybe it's not just the guy at the window today, cause this happened before, with a different employee working the drive-thru. Maybe it's the management.

I still don't say anything. I'm busy. Gotta run. But then I come back some time later, and it happens again. I had forgotten how poor the service was. "Oh, yeah." I tell myself. "This is that place they always screw up my order. I won't be back here anytime soon," I remind myself again," trying to mask my obvious insanity.

You see, Benjamin Franklin said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome."

I'm sick of pickles that I never order. Even when I tell them specifically, "NO PICKLES!" They get it wrong. So, I then start looking for options to resolve this "pickle" I find myself in... AGAIN!

More time passes. I like the food here, when they get it right. It's why I subconsciously block out the "pickle problem." Well, I'm not gonna give up just yet. I'll dine in next time. That way I can tell them face-to-face exactly what I want. Then they'll get it right. So, off I drive, thinking I've resolved the problem for next time.

Wrong. The same thing happens when I dine in. Pickles on my burger. Argggh! Sigh. I guess I'll vote with my dollar. I'll eat somewhere else, maybe then they'll start listening.  I fill out a customer service survey I found on the table, and drop it in the box on the wall, hoping to redress my grievances against the pickle. Customer service polling explains why sales have been dropping off. Poor service. The manager gives me a coupon for a free meal next time, if I'll just overlook this pickle problem.

They should listen to customers, the true employer. Ask any businessman. When people start courting their competition, they try to figure out why, and fix it, or make it better. But they don't fix the problem. Well. I still like their food. I'll just live with it, thus lowering my expectations. I grow to except that I get pickles when I don't want them, no matter what I do. I keep finding myself in a pickle.

After a while, I quit complaining even to myself about the pickle problem. I also don't eat there as often, but when I do, I've now learned not to expect much. Well, I don't get much either, and certainly not what I want, what I should be able to expect, especially since I'm paying for it. But wait, I AM paying for it. I'll vote with my dollar. I'm done with this restaurant. Drive thru sucks. Dine in sucks. The food sucks too now, because I'm disgusted with the futility of trying to get something as simple as a burger with "NO PICKLES, PLEASE!"

I do go back by at some point, and use my coupon for a free meal to make up for a service-connected disability with my burger. Just because it's free, doesn't make it better. It doesn't make it good. I still get a pickle on my free meal, and what's worse, since they know they aren't gonna make anything off this, they skimp on the lettuce and tomato, and my fries are cold, and the drink is flat. Arrgh! Okay. I give up, but you don't win. I do. I'm voting with my dollar, because I live in a free country, where I can do that. Or at least that's what I tell myself.

Once they miss my dollars enough, and those of the other customers who eventually got fed up, and ate elsewhere, justice will be done. They'll either straighten up, or go out of business. That's the free market. Competition in a capitalistic economy drives inovation, and encourages competitors to produce a better product or service. It goes back and forth over time. Each burger joint trying to keep their customers from going to the competition. Quality goes up all around. Satisfied customers tell their friends. More people eat at your burger joint. Business makes more money, and can pay its employees better. That makes them happy. Customers are happier too. They get burgers with no pickles, if that's what they want. Quality of life goes up. Successful pursuits of happiness achieved. Don't you love the simple logic of that?

Let's recap. I don't like pickles on my burger. If I can't get what I want in a hurry at the drive-thru, and can't get it inside, face-to-face, I vote with my dollar. Bad burger joint closes. Justice is served, and nobody's in a pickle, unless they want to be. I scratch my head. Seems like common sense to me, but I digress.

So, I'm sitting at my desk, going through my emails, and I run across one about the internet, and the plans for a new and improved internet. "Cool," I think to myself as I read further, I'm a techy. It seems the government has a new website to promote a new idea for the internet. It's called http://www.openinternet.gov. Nice looking site. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has a video posted, to "communicate" to me how a "federal commission" is going to make the internet the best thing since sliced bread.

This federal commission in charge of "communications" has this heartwarming message that I am part of something big. It says,

"Welcome to OpenInternet.gov. Together we can preserve a free and open Internet to promote greater innovation, job creation, and a more connected America."

 

Wow! That does sound like the best thing since sliced bread. We're together, free and open. It's gonna promote innovation, and create jobs, and best of all, make us a more connected America. Well gee. Who wouldn't want that? Sign me up. But wait a minute. This sounds too good to be true. I remember being in a pickle before, when I thought I was getting what was advertised; what I was paying for.

I was about to go throught the drive thru. This looks and sounds like what we need, but I've been in a pickle before because I took the drive thru. Maybe I should go inside, and dine in. So I watch the video of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. Hmm...  sounds like the burger joint manager, who can't really explain why I keep getting pickles that I don't want. What the burger joint manager said sounded nice too, but didn't communicate anything that mattered. FCC Chairman Genachowski's video communicates NOTHING of substance. Well, ain't this a pickle.

Where's that customer service card? They had one at the burger joint.  Hey! They want me to join the discussion. So, I click on the button under the ridiculous video, under the heartwarming message. I type in my two-cents worth, and am about to hit send, but it won't. They want to know my email address. Why does the FCC need my email address to post a comment on a "free" and "open" internet. Isn't that like a poll tax, or something?

I remember the cash-for-clunkers fiasco, where you effectively gave the government "ownership of your computer, now and forever, and everything on it." NO PICKLES, PLEASE!  I've seen management at this burger joint in action before. If I give them my suggestion, and its the next best thing since sliced bread, then they can just take the message. Why do they need to identify the messenger?

If they were sincere, it wouldn't matter who the messenger was. They didn't ask me to join a mailing list. They asked for opinions. It won't let me just leave a message. Now, I've seen how this government treats people with views that are contrary to their agenda. Talk radio. Lou Dobbs. Glenn Beck. Fox News, in general. Even the insurance company Humana got a pickle they didn't want on their burger when they warned their customers about Obamacare.

Well, I don't need to post my message on their site. They won't like what I have to say. Besides, I might end up on their hit list for daring to point out the obvious. Keep your hands off the internet. You're obviously not qualified, or motivated to do what's in MY best interest. That's my free speech you're messing with. I don't trust you to control it. You've forgotten who the customer is: WE THE PEOPLE.

Gee, this sounds like my "single-payer," government-run VA Medical Care. You've heard of that right? It's for our veterans who find themselves in a pickle, that need healthcare. And if you're in a pickle, and go to the management, don't expect much. Read my blog entry titled "VA Leaves Combat Veteran Stranded 150 Miles From Home" further down, to get the full effect of what I'm trying to say here.

Our corrupt government doesn't even read the Constitution, their "employee handbook." I'll just post it on the FIRE Coalition Blog, or on my PatriotWatchdog blog at MySpace. I don't need their permission there. I don't have to give them my email address to speak my mind. I'm a free man with a Bill of Rights. I'm the employer, not the employee.

So, I go to log into our blog at http://blog.firecoalition.com, and what do I see? Not our blog. I see a big, scary window, warning me that "this might be an attack site."

Well, ain't this a pickle. Did I mention I don't like pickles? At the FIRE Coalition, we actually do "question with boldness," and we actually do "speak without fear." We hold our elected officials feet to the fire with our 1st Amendment right to free speech. We don't just take the drive thru, we go inside, and meet with our Congressmen, Senators, etc... You know them right? OUR EMPLOYEES? Our humble servants with "honorable" at the beginning of their names?

Over the past two years, since I took on the role of National Director, whenever the FIRE Coalition pressured the government too hard, or told too much of the truth about the "pickle" We the People are in, we get attacked. Like that "Where's Waldo" game, you could almost just assume that I was in D.C., because our sites, and emails would come under attack, crash, get hacked.

I used to use that as a litmus test. Hey, we must be doing something right. We're angering some powerful people if they can get past the well-managed security on our sites, and email accounts. But since I don't advertise where and when I go, it really narrows the list of possible culprits. Now, my philosophy is that there are only two groups of people that we should be talking to about what's wrong with our country: We the People, and the people we elect. Period.

What that means is that I don't waste my time trying to argue the merits of defending Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution with the illegal alien foreign national invaders who comprise the largest invasion in world history. They are not the solution. They don't have a seat at the table, or shouldn't. They don't respect our laws, our sovereignty, our culture, our language. Nothing. So who would know where I am, if I don't advertise ahead of time where I am, except maybe some of those government officials whose feet I hold to the fire.

When I was in the military, I took an oath, just like our Members of Congress do, just like the President. If I betrayed my oath, I would on the carpet in front of my commander. I'd have some explaining to do. I might even go to prison for betraying my oath. If honor, loyalty, and sense of duty to your fellow countrymen wasn't enough to keep your attention to detail, the threat of going to Levenworth might do the trick. Wouldn't that be a pickle?

Well America, our government is being run like a poorly managed burger joint, with employees that can't read their "employee handbook," (the Constitution), that keep trying to shove pickles down our throat, no matter how often, or how loud we tell them, "NO PICKLES, PLEASE!"

Our burger joint employees won't read the complaint box either, (we have no redress of grievances), or listen to the customer satisfaction surveys. Like a large number of the illegal alien employees that don't speak the same language we do, (at OUR burger joint), they don't even read the bills their special interest salesmen write to get us out of the latest pickle. A pickle, I might add, that we wouldn't be subjected to in the first place if management had upheld the "employee handbook."

They just offer us a free burger to appease us. We go away. They can sit back and live fat off the stockholders of the burger joint. Things have gotten so bad, our burger joint is going bankrupt. We need new management. We tried that three years ago, when the House and Senate swapped hands, and got a whole new fresh set of empty promises. We were already in a pickle. The "change" we got was more pickles! Are we insane? No. We are not.

We the People have something most of the rest of the world does not, "a sleeping giant" that hates koolaid, but loves sweet tea. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said, "Never let a crisis go to waste." Yesterday, President Obama declared the H1N1 virus a national emergency. If you listened to the donkey that's behaving like an ass, or the elephant who's lost his memory, you might have noticed the "triggers" that were put into place after 9/11/2001, and even more "triggers" when our poorly managed burger joint staff put the people in New Orleans in a pickle after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast.

These "triggers" were just crisis management devices to solve a problem, but the real intent was to nibble away at our rights, our sovereignty, our Constitution, etc... After all, they gave us heart-warming rhetoric, to make us feel good about giving up a little liberty for a little more security.

Do not be so naive as to believe our President, Congress, and the rest of our burger joint employees at the top haven't read the Constitution, or the wisdoms left by the Founding Fathers. We the People advise each other that the Founders said, "Any people who will give up a little liberty for a little security will get neither. The traitors know that too. They also heard us advise each other about another Founding Father wisdom: When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.

The President and Mr. "Don't let a crisis go to waste" Emanuel want us afraid of them. They don't like us having liberty or freedom of choice. Foreign and domestic enemies of our Constitution and sovereignty create crises that will steer the sheeple towards the solution that will give them more power, and We the People less.

Eventually, if the foreign and domestic enemies of our Constitution get their way, we'll be too afraid to challenge them. Our apathy and pragmatic compromising have us in a real pickle. Our burger joint is in such a state of despair, with an ever-increasing onslaught of pickles we didn't ask for. They call tax increases an elimination of tax cuts. They call patriots racists. They call their customers potential domestic terrorists to both quiet the messenger, and marginalize the message.

When the formerly "sleeping giant" won't drink the koolaid, well gee, that's another crisis. They try to shut We the People up at every turn. Discredit the messenger, and you discredit the message. Nice try, pickle-pushers.

I have a question for FCC Chairman Genachowski. Who wrote that "non-communicative" koolaid commercial for you? George Orwell? Mr. Chairman, who crafted the imaginary crisis you aluded to, Aldous Huxley?

We the People can't survive on your animal farm, and this ain't 1984 either, no matter how much you may slobber over the concept. It's time for a stockholders meeting at "All-American Burger," to discuss the diminishing returns of the pickle-pushers before we have to shut down our burger joint. Wouldn't that be a pickle?.

By the way, here's what I would have contributed to your OpenInternet.gov site if it was the message you wanted, and not the messenger. 

The government can best preserve a "free and open" internet, whatever that means in government-speak, by keeping their hands off it.

If you really want to improve access and availability, how about holding those providers accountable that We the People gave billions in tax credits to, in order to help them expand their service to rural areas? They also got the benefit of expanding their business. That's how you sold it to We the People over a decade ago. But did you regulate or monitor our money? No. Did you make sure they kept their end of the bargain? No.

Can you explain why We the People should believe you this time? You attach words like "free" and "open" to give people a warm fuzzy while your real goal is to take control of the last bastion of free speech, fill the pockets of the "chosen ones" that will provide this new service, and goose-step that much closer to socialism and the total dissolution of the United States.

People used to vote with their dollar. What do you think they'll vote with when you take all their dollars?

Keep your hands off the internet. I watched the FCC video. FCC... stands for Federal Communication Commission. We the People would think that the Chairman of our FCC could actually "communicate" I'd be embarrassed. And because I believe Chairman Genachowski is a willing usurper, while we ARE at war abroad,

If the FCC can't even "communicate" using "common sense" language, with complete thoughts, and precise wording..., again, I have to ask, We the People should trust you why? We shouldn't. We don't. Mind your own business. Here's how you "play" with words:

Pretentious pickle-pimps pontificating pernicious propositions of peace and prosperity won't proselytize PatriotWatchdogs, Putz!

 

TRANSLATION: NO PICKLES, PLEASE!

 

Restoring Constitutional Governance

 

UPDATE from Valley Forge: FRIDAY, Aug 13, 2010 (REJOINORDIE REPORT now includes letter to AZ Gov. Brewer, VA Attorney General Cuccinelli and SCOTUS Chief Justice Roberts)

 

  We the People have a problem. In fact, we have a whole host of problems, not the least of which is our refusal to use the God-given "common sense" we were born with. There are 50 states in the United States, but it wasn't always that way. This country started when 13 colonies declared their independence from a tyrannical monarchy, and then as independent states, enjoined themselves to form a nation with a Divinely-inspired compact, they called the "New Constitution."

Three major cases are winding their way through the federal judiciary right now that shouldn't be there. A lawyer I know counseled me against calling it a "kangaroo court" because he said there is no evidence that a preconceived outcome is afoot. Well, I guess in respect to the individual cases that may be true, but in the bigger scheme of things, they are ALL "kangaroo court proceedings" because in the grander scheme of things, We the People, and the sovereign states that created a federal government have no rule book by which we can expect a fair hearing.

The federal judiciary, with the help of Congress, is making up the rules as they go. In my opinion, the pre-determined outcome is to finish abolishing States' Rights, and to further divide We the People so that we won't put our differences aside and work together for the common good, as the Founders advised.

Case 1: U.S. v. State of Arizona  (SB-1070)

Case 2: U.S. v. State of California  (Defense of Marriage)

Case 3: U.S. v. Commonwealth of Virginia (ObamaCare)

In each of these cases, a U.S. District Court Judge has issued rulings that affect entire states. In each case, the respective legislatures of the sovereign states passed state legislation that their governors in-turn signed into law that affect millions of their citizens, and yet in each case, one inferior court judge, hearing the case before them, has issued injunctions, and passed judgment on a not-so-inferior party in their respective cases.

No offense to the District Court judges, but they are out of their league, and have ZERO jurisdiction to even hear the cases, let alone pass judgment. Why do I say that? Simple, because that is what the U.S. Constitution says.

The Framers of the Constitution recognized that there would be times when a single state might disagree with the federal government, or vise-versa. They also knew that a case involving a whole state was more important than one than involved a single citizen. The citizens of those 13 confederated states eventually signed a contract with each other that included an acknowledgment of the special circumstances that might arise if a "State" was a party in a case where the result might impact the entire Republic, and they did NOT leave it to the lesser or inferior courts to be the "first to hear the case."

No siree, they did not. States which find themselves embroiled in a legal controversy with the federal government get "front-of-the-line" privileges, bypassing all the inferior courts. States get to have their cases heard before the supreme court in the land, the Supreme Court of the United States.

U.S. Constitution, Article III, Section 2, Clause 2, Part One, reads:

"In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers, and Consuls, and those in which a State is Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction."

It does not say the Supreme Court "may" have original jurisdiction. It says SHALL.

Legal and political pundits would have you believe that "precedent" and "statutes" have been in place for decades that allow the federal government to sue a state, or vise-versa, and use the U.S. District Court system to act as the court of "original jurisdiction." This practice has been made near perfect for the political animals amongst us, for it affords them the opportunity to gather political capital as the cases proceed through the rat-maze of the appellate process, and it eases the burden on the Supreme Court to actually have to sit through and actually "hear" cases.

Depending on how a case is going, and which way the political winds are blowing, when it reaches the Supreme Court, they have the option, primarily at the discretion of the Chief Justice, as to whether they will even hear the appealed case at all, or simply let the appellate decision stand.

This can be a very handy shell game to play on the ignorant, and rarely is justice served, and rarely is REAL scrutiny applied to the Supreme Court and its occupants.

By the time most cases make it to the Supreme Court through the appellate process, the majority of the public has forgotten about the case altogether, and find themselves saying, "Oh, yeah. I remember that...," when they hear of the Supreme Court's ruling.

Do the elected leaders of a State have the right to marginalize the sovereignty of that State by participating in an un-Constitutional inferior court proceeding on behalf of the State? No, they do not, and yet, over time that has become the norm. We the People, so busy with our pursuits of happiness, haven't even taken the time to read the Constitution and Bill of Rights put in place to protect our liberties and freedoms, and over the centuries, aspiring men and women, playing on our ignorance, have nibbled away at the very sovereignty of the States. And these States, I might add, are supposed to be powerful enough to stand between us and a rogue, out-of-control federal government.

How can a State do that, if they allow themselves to be relegated to an "inferior" status? How can a State expect it will get a fair hearing of its grievances, in a timely manner, such that the inner-workings of that state and its citizenry aren't held hostage for years, waiting for justice to pay them a visit.

Uncle Sam, looking down his nose, is telling Virgina, Arizona, and California, "We'll get to you in our own sweet time. Go play in the inferior courts for a while. Maybe when you appeal to the Supreme Court, we'll try to squeeze you into our busy schedule."

That may not be what the occupants of SCOTUS say, but that is the reality, and it IS OUR FAULT.

We the People must demand that our respective States stand up for their State's Rights when Uncle Sam comes a calling with a complaint against them.

If we find that our State's Attorney General and/or Governor doesn't have the backbone to stand up for a State's Right against the federal government, then we must replace them. An oath to uphold the Constitution is no small commitment, and we must stop letting our elected and appointed officials "fudge" on that commitment.

Are we "united" States when foreign governments are allowed to enter briefs in a lowly and inferior district court case brought by our own government against a sovereign state. It is obvious that Arizona is fighting for its life. Who in the federal government sees Arizona as more than simply a group of sheep, being led to a collective slaughter?

Why is Governor Brewer even participating in this charade? Why is Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli particpating in his suit against Obamacare in an inferior court?

Does not A.G. Cuccinelli represent an entire State? Has he read the Constitution? And what about California? Should they allow an inferior court judge to tell them their constitution is un-constitutional? Wake up People! We must restore Constitutional governance at all levels of government, or it won't be long before the Constitution is just a "piece of paper."

I have written Arizona Governor Brewer and Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts regarding this dangerous and ongoing usurpation of the Constitution.

Open Letters to Governor Brewer, Attorney General Cuccinelli, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts

RESTORE CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNANCE

RE-JOIN OR DIE!

Freedom Action National Conference

  The Forces of Freedom

Return to Valley Forge

August 12 – 14 - 2010

www.FreedomActionConference.com

 

  Special message from Tom DeWeese, President of American Policy Center:

  New developments for the upcoming Freedom Action National Conference

 

• Radio Row: Several national radio shows will be broadcasting live from the Conference, including Sam Bushman’s Liberty Round Table and Laurie Roth’s the Roth Show.  More will be announced shortly.

 

• Reception for Tom Woods: Friday night’s banquet speaker is best selling author Tom Woods (“Meltdown”, and his latest, “Nullification.” There will be a special reception in his honor, where conference attendees will have the chance to talk with him personally. Also present at the reception will be conference Keynote speaker Michael Badnarik, (2004 Libertarian presidential candidate and author of the book, “It’s Good to be King.”) and Sheriff Richard Mack (author of “From My Cold Dead Fingers”). There will be book signings from these and other authors throughout the Freedom Action National Conference.

 

• Special screening of the film “Don’t Tread on Me:” Film maker Gary Franchi is pleased to announce there will be a special screening of his new film, to take place on the first night (August 12^th) of the Freedom Action National Conference. Immediately following the screening, several spokesmen who are featured in the film will be on hand to discuss it and answer questions from the audience.

 

The Freedom Action National Conference is sponsored by the American Policy Center and The DeWeese Report and 23 co-sponsoring organizations. The conference will take place August 12 – 14, 2010, at the Dolce Hotel in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

Local action, from strengthening State 10^th Amendment rights, to exposing the efforts of UN-based organizations in our local communities, like the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) will be the focus of the Freedom Action Conference.

 The Freedom Action National Conference will teach you several ways to do that.  

You will learn from leading spokesmen, legislators, and activists. And you will have a chance to learn in special work shops, and to network with leaders from around the nation.

You will focus on the vital issues of the day, including the dangerous policies like Sustainable Development; biometric surveillance and the growth of Fusion Centers; violations of Second Amendment rights; violations of Constitutionally-guaranteed state sovereignty; the growing government takeover of health care and the use of natural supplements and cures; the reasons why a Constitutional Convention now is the wrong solution at the wrong time; and how many of these bad policies are being enforced through the power and wealth of organized labor.

Tom DeWeese and Laurie Roth will serve as co-hosts for the event.  Featured speakers will begin with a keynote address by Constitution expert Michael Badnarik, followed by an extensive lineup of experts and national spokesmen, including: Sheriff Richard Mack; Washington State Rep. Matt Shea; Oklahoma State Rep. Charles Key; Pennsylvania St. Rep. Sam Rohrer; National Rights To Work Committee President Mark Mix; Gun Owners of America Director Larry Pratt; International ID expert Mark Lerner; Constitutional Convention experts Chuck Michaelis and Larry Greenley; IRS experts Steve Hempfling and Tom Cryer; Illegal Immigration expert Jeff Lewis;Global Warming expert Marc Morano; United Nations Expert William Jasper; Sustainable Development/Agenda 21 experts Dr. Michael Coffman, Tom DeWeese and Michael Shaw; Property Rights champion Dan Byfield; Health Freedom experts Dr. Jane Orient, Scott Tips and Dr. Jeff Marrongelle;  Education expert and author Beverly Eakman; grassroots activists Catherine Bleish and John Bush; and alternative media experts George Shepherd, Gary Franchi and radio personality Sam Bushman.

These experts will not only educate on the vital threats Americans are now facing, but will also focus on action all of us can use to fight back.

• The 10^th Amendment movement is catching fire as state legislators are finding ways to add “teeth” to law rather than mere resolutions.
• Rep. Matt Shea will explain how it’s being done.
• Sheriff Richard Mack is teaching local sheriffs that they have the power to say no to federal agents.
• Local communities are learning how to expel international provocateurs like ICLEI. Michael Shaw will explain how it’s done.
•  A new approach to fighting against federal and state intrusion called “Coordination,” is having tremendous success in helping regain local control. Expert Dan Byfield will not only tell of those victories but will also lead a workshop to teach how it’s done.
• Ron Mann will lead a training workshop to teach new activists how to run campaigns on very little money.
• And Beverly Eakman will train activists how to break up the outrageous consensus meetings that are being used in public forums to enforce policy without public discussion and debate. All of these processes lead to diminishing the power of the Federal Government – all based on local action – just like the Constitution intends.

The Freedom Action National Conference is shaping up to be the finest lineup of speakers and leaders assembled for any conference of this size anywhere in America.      

Be there!

 

I could add MANY examples that illustrate the exact same pattern of intolerable acts, and attacks against this PatriotWatchdog, the FIRE Coalition, its partners, and numerous others for years, but will refrain for now, as Digger's stellar work speaks for all of us.

 

On May 4, 2010, Mr. Smeriglio and I both attended a press conference in the Pennsylvania Capitol Media Center with Rep. Daryl Metcalfe and others as they announced the introduction of HB-2479, the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Communities Act. HB-2479 mirrors Arizona's SB-1070. Rep. Metcalfe is the founder of the State Legislators for Legal Immigration Coalition, with members from 36 state legislatures across the country, including AZ State Senator Russell Pearce, the prime sponsor of SB-1070. You can view the PA press conference at the SLLI site, and read my formal remarks here.

 

I encourage those of you who are able to attend and/or support the efforts of the June 5, 2010 Phoenix Rally to do so. I am also pleased to announce Mr. Daniel Smeriglio is the new Pennsylvania Director for the FIRE Coalition, and will be representing our support at the Phoenix Rally. Mr. Smeriglio will be speaking at our Ohio conference on June 19, 2010. I would be there myself, but the FIRE Coalition is holding our first National Security Conference of 2010 the day before in Topeka, Kansas, and two weeks later in Hamilton, Ohio.

 

If you cannot make the Phoenix Rally, please consider attending/supporting one of the below FIRE Coalition and Patriot Coalition National Security Conferences coming up. Click either banner below for more information.

Be wary of huskters and political hacks who talk the talk, but don't walk the walk. Restoring Constitutional governance is everyone's responsibility. Attrition through enforcement of our existing laws works. The illegal alien foreign national invasion of America must end, our borders and ports of entry must be secured. Legal immigration levels need to be both merit-based, and reduced to levels that are in the best interest of the American people. National security truly begins at home. Knowledge is power. Get informed and get involved. The country you save should be your own!

"To a Patriot, Defending Life and Liberty IS the Pursuit of Happiness."

-PatriotWatchdog founder & FIRE Coalition National Director, Jeff Lewis

I need to speak frankly about some very dangerous attitudes I continue to see exhibited by Americans today including, unfortunately, some of the same patriots involved in the fight against the illegal alien invasion.

The attitude I'm speaking of is complacency in the face of tasks which require some level of personal research and self-education. Let me share my thoughts on why I feel it is imperative that I address this issue with you now. First, a quick history lesson:

According to Thomas Jefferson's 1812 "Manual of Parliamentary Practice for the Use of the Senate of the United States" (Jefferson's Manual) it was the practice for both the House and Senate to conduct at least three full verbatim readings of each bill proposed.

Also according to Title 1, Section 106 of the United States Code, each bill must be made available in written form to each member of Congress before final passage.

For decades now, however, our government has departed from these practices, or at least found "effective" loopholes around them. In the case of the full verbatim readings by the clerks of each house, these practices have been abandoned altogether. In the case of the requirement for written copies to be delivered to members of Congress, both houses by concurrent resolution, have allowed for passage of a bill in the final six days of a session without the bill being in final form.

These dangerous departures from best practices have paved the way for many treasonous bills and amendments to weasel themselves through Congress in the past several decades. More importantly, I will submit to you that these departures make it easy for Joe and Jane Citizen to offer up the excuses that reading the bills would take too much time, and they are just too confusing.

Yes, just the way the process has been designed.

There are only two groups of people that are truly important in this process: 1) We the People, and 2) the people we elect.

If neither of these groups are reading the bills that the Washington lawyers and special interest groups are drafting, yet lending their support and votes to the same (sometimes sight unseen), does that not explain, in part, how we have arrived to this dangerous precipice we are hanging from?

Further exacerbating this disaster-in-the-making, "white knights in shining armor" have appeared in the last two or three decades to "save us." These knights have boldly proclaimed, "Let us take this extraordinary burden from you citizens. We'll read the bills and let you know which you should support...after all, we're on the same side of this fight"

Over the years, however, citizens have just become accustomed to getting spoon-fed the "right answers" on all of the bills, further separating us from the legislative process that was designed and intended for our active and individual involvement.

It was James Madison, author of the Constitution, who said, “It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today can guess what it will be tomorrow.”

Just in the past year, there have been two cases which highlight the need for me to reinforce the importance of taking seriously your personal responsibility to do your own research.

The first of which is the SAVE Act (H.R. 4088 & S. 2368). Many of you know the FIRE Coalition has taken a seemingly unpopular stance against the SAVE Act. Though the bill was touted as a tough enforcement-only bill, it amounts to another piece of feel-good legislation with a provision that gives an active legal defense to religious institutions for "enourag[ing] or induc[ing] an alien to come to or enter the United States…” Not only is this a bad idea, it's unconstitutional. You can read our analysis at http://www.operationbodycount.com/saveact2.pdf, but we encourage you to read the bills for yourselves.

The second bill that has more recently surfaced is H.R. 5515, the "New Employee Verification Act of 2008". This bill, while tough-sounding, actually has language that would nullify and pre-empt any local or state ordinances or statutes that are being enacted across the country and reserve the right to enforce anything having to do with immigration violations to the feds...and we know what a great job they're doing! We will likely be releasing a similar analysis of this bill in the days tocome, so stay tuned.

All of the preceding bills are being backed not only by the "white knights," but even some of our champions in Congress that we have come to trust based on their historical votes. This makes it even easier for Joe and Jane Citizen to throw their collective hats behind bills like these without a second thought...and feeling good about it.

The bottom line is this behavior and apathetic attitude has to stop. For sovereignty's sake, we must pick back up the mantle of responsibility for the direction our republic.

How do we fix this? It's really a very simple 2 point plan in the words of former First Lady Nancy Reagan:

1) "Reading is fundamental"--you have to read these bills yourself, and
2) "Just say No!"--Say "NO" to blindly supporting legislation

The FIRE Coalition will continue to lead by example. We will alert you to any "shenanigans" we see coming out of Washington, DC, and we'll give you our own independent analysis, but we'll expect you to read the legislation for yourself as well, and alert others to your findings.

Thank you for allowing me to address this with you today. We look forward to hearing any comments you may have at feedback@firecoalition.com.

Keep up the fight!

Jason Mrochek
Co-founder & Executive Director
FIRE Coalition
http://www.FIRECoalition.com