The GRCC Conservative

The Conservative Canvas

2009-05-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

I created this blog a couple years ago while attending the local college. I have since graduated and moved to a new University. Along with the move, I also have remained silent for many months - most of which I have spent in Africa, specifically Zambia, sharing the Gospel with children in grades 4th-8th. I have since returned and my heart is ever burdened for fighting for the freedoms I hold dear. I am in the beginning stages of forming a new blog called "The Conservative Canvas" which will replace "The GRCC Conservative." Please visit my newly introduced blog at http://conservativecanvas.wordpress.com/

Sincerely,
Chaz Oswald

Save the good ol' ship or it may not return to sea for yet another voyage

2008-11-19T12:09:00.000-08:00

The day after Election Day I didn’t get out of bed until 10 am. No I was not suffering a hangover, I was suffering a loss. I spent that day lounging around the house as I feared to turn on or read anything that the media had illustrated.

In full retreat of all media outlets, with the exception of the occasional Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, I have resigned from such. In fact, I have declined to watch any news with the omission of Bill O’reilly for 45 minutes as I awaited Right Michigan’s national break. (If you haven’t congratulated Nick yet, please do!)

For the next few weeks I sat back and studied blogs as each blogger attempted to make sense of the situation. Some were alluding to a re-construction of our party and our principles. Some went on to say we need to ‘modernize’ and become ‘relevant’ to the youth of our country. Others, yet, called for the resignation of party leaders and officials. It became the blame game. If we continue to blame each other our conservative party will implode. We need to return to our roots and our principled, moral, ideals.

The mission of our party was effectively stated by Abraham Lincoln in which it is “to lift the artificial weights from all shoulders, and clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all.” Our focus, as the Republican Party has always been on that of opportunity. Not necessarily the ‘equality of outcome, but rather the equality of opportunity.’

More than 150 years later, the Republican Party stands for the same principles on which it was founded. Representative Christopher Cox said it best: Our party stands for “free minds, free markets, free expression, and unlimited opportunity.”

The Republican Party has a historical backdrop of which it played a vital role in bringing an end to slavery within the United States. Our party played a vital role in extending the rights to vote to men and women of all backgrounds, races, and creeds. We aided in conducting or accompanying within the modern civil rights era. Furthermore, we were “the leading role of our party in establishing an American policy of peace through strength that has freed hundreds of millions of people around the world from slavery and brought freedom, democracy, women’s rights, and minority rights to the former Soviet Empire and across central and eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East (Cox, 2005).

These astounding and astonishing achievements are results of dedication and opposition of the Democratic Party over the last 150 years.

Our party was formed on March 20, 1854 and a few moths later, after platforms and positions had been drafted, the first Republican state convention was held in Jackson, Michigan.

A few “firsts” of the Republican Party were eloquently spoken by Rep. Chris Cox:

Every single African-American in Congress, House and Senate, until 1935 was a Republican.

In 1872, the first black governor took office in Louisiana. I love his name: Pinckney Pinchback, a great Republican. Our own state of California was the first to have a Hispanic governor. Can you guess his political party? Republican Romualdo Pacheco became governor in 1875, long before anybody had ever heard of Cruz Bustamante.

The first Hispanic U.S. Senator was elected from New Mexico in 1928. You guessed it -- he was a Republican, Octaviano Larrazolo.

Republicans led the fight for women’s voting rights -- and the Democrats, as a party, opposed civil rights for women. All of the leading suffragists -- including Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton -- were Republicans. In fact, Susan B. Anthony bragged, after leaving the voting booth that she had voted for “the Republican ticket -- straight.”

The suffragists included two African-American Republican women who were also co-founders of the NAACP: Ida Wells and Mary Terrell, great leaders of our party, both of them.

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the accomplishments of the GOP. It is a remarkable 150-year string of civil rights achievements.

With this previous election we must remember the words of Ronald Reagan, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

Our party may not have won the battle but “…I know that the Lord is always on the rights side…it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side” (Abraham Lincoln).

57 million voters voted against Barack Obama. It is our duty to unite and fight for the freedom that is always “one generation away from extinction.”

I leave you with the words of Abraham Lincoln: “If all do not join now to save the good old ship of the Union this voyage nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage.”

-Chaz Oswald

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y5_q-rWMkg&feature=related

"Twas the night after elections...

2008-10-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

'Twas the night after elections
And all through the town
Tempers were flaring
Emotions all up and down!

I, in my bathrobe
With a cat in my lap
Had cut off the TV
Tired of political crap.

When all of a sudden
There arose such a noise
I peered out of my window
Saw Obama and his boys

They had come for my wallet
They wanted my pay
To give to the others
Who had not worked a day!

He snatched up my money
And quick as a wink
Jumped back on his bandwagon
As I gagged from the stink

He then rallied his henchmen
Who were pulling his cart
I could tell they were out
To tear my country apart!

On Fannie, On Freddie,
On Retzo and Ayers!
On Acorn, On Pelosi'
He screamed at the pairs!

They took off for his cause
And as he flew out of sight
I heard him laugh at the nation
Who wouldn't stand up and fight!

So I leave you to think
On this one final note-
IF YOU DON'T WANT SOCIALISM
GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!

*For Those Who Fought For It, Freedom Has A Price The Protected Will Never Know*
Use your brain, vote McCain

-McCain Militia
-Chaz Oswald

Why I'm Voting Democrat

2008-10-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday!

We are two weeks away from one of the most important elections of our time. It is essential that we educate the masses and get out the vote. But for your Tuesday, I thought it would be nice for a little sarcastic humor. Of course, sarcasm is no good and not funny if it does not hold an element of truth.

Why I'm Voting Democrat:
-I'm voting democrat because Barbara Walters is my idol and so is P.Diddy.

-I'm voting Democrat because English has no place being the official language in America.

-I'm voting Democrat because I'd rather pay $4 for a gallon of gas than allow drilling for oil off the coasts of America.

-I'm voting Democrat because I think the government will do a better job of spending my money than I could.

-I'm voting Democrat because when we pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq, I know the Islamic terrorists will stop trying to kill us because they'll think we're a good and decent country.

-I'm voting Democrat because it's alright to kill millions of babies as long as we keep violent, convicted murderers on death row alive.

-I'm voting Democrat because I believe businesses in America should not be allowed to make profits. Businesses should just break even and give the rest to the government so politicians and bureaucrats can redistribute the money the way they think it should be redistributed.

-I'm voting Democrat because I believe guns, and not the people misusing them, are the cause of crimes and killings.

-I'm voting Democrat because oil companies' 8% profit on a gallon of gas are obscene, but government taxes of 18% on the same gallon of gas are just fine.

-I'm voting Democrat because I believe three or four elitist liberals should rewrite the Constitution every few months to suit some fringe element that could never get their agenda past voters.

-I'm voting Democrat because illegal aliens are not criminals, are not sucking up resources through government aid, hospital services, education, or social services, but are just people trying to make a better life by coming to America illegally. We can't blame them for that, can we?

-I'm voting Democrat because my trial lawyer's crippling multi-million dollar lawsuits against doctors, hospitals, drug companies, and HMO's will make health insurance and medicine much more affordable.

-I'm voting Democrat because Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, and Jesse Jackson will end racism once and for all.

-I'm voting Democrat because Christians in the Republican Party are intolerant, theocratic warmongers and atheists like William Ayers have never hurt anybody.

-I'm voting Democrat so that no family member of mine will die in a hospital bed. They will still be waiting in line for Obama's socialized medicine, so they will never actually make it into a hospital bed.

-I'm voting Democrat because I like eminent domain and big business and government kicking me out of my home and taking my land.

-I'm voting Democrat because everyone knows that raising taxes at the top won't hurt people at the bottom.

-I'm voting Democrat because skin color and good oratory skills are more important than judgment and experience.

-I'm voting Democrat because protecting barren wasteland is more important than energy independence.

-I'm voting Democrat because my college professor told me that America is evil and should give up its place in the world.

-I'm voting Democrat because I believe that Cuba, Russia, and China should be on the United Nations Human Rights Council.

-I'm voting Democrat because I believe that everyone is essentially good -- even people like Ahmadinejad who call for the destruction of Israel. He just needs a little understanding.

-I'm voting Democrat because we should all be forced to drive ugly cars with the horsepower of a riding lawnmower.

-I am voting Democrat because I believe in change; although I don't know WHAT the change will be, or HOW it will happen, AND I am pretty sure that I won't WANT to actually change anything.

-I do, but still....I believe in change.

-I'm voting Democrat because the government knows how to raise children better than their parents do.

-I'm voting Democrat because I want the rich to work harder, give me their money, and pay for my services so I don't have to.

And for those who want cold hard facts...

George Bush has been in office for 7 1/2 years. The first six the economy was fine.
A little over a year ago:

1. Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;
2. Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;
3. The unemployment rate was 4.5%
4. The DOW JONES hit a record high-- 14,000 +
5. American's were buying new cars, taking cruises, vacations overseas, living large.

But Americans wanted "CHANGE" So, in 2006 they voted in a Democratic Congress and yes--we got "CHANGE" all right. In the PAST YEAR:

1. Consumer confidence has plummeted;
2. Gasoline has risen over $4 a gallon;
3. Unemployment is up to 5.5% (a 10% increase);
4. Americans have seen there home equity drop by $12 TRILLION DOLLARS and prices are still dropping;
5. 1% of American homes are now in foreclosure.
6. As I write THE DOW is well need I say more

So, I ask, do we really want more `change' from the Community Organizer?

I hope you enjoyed a little humor on your Tuesday. I just wanted to thank the facebook group `Why I'm Voting Democrat' and a new conservative friend, Kellen Giuda, who thoughtfully came up with these wonderful zingers!

-Chaz Oswald

F---ing For Virginity

2008-06-30T02:35:00.001-07:00

I read a sign today with what appears to be a common sense form of wisdom. “Bombing for peace is like f---ing for virginity!” At first, this sounds entirely reasonable. Indeed, a bombing run is by definition an act of war, which happens to be the exact opposite of peace. The problem is that, like many truths, the truths of war and peace can be counter-intuitive.

We start with a truth written by an ancient Roman. “Let him who desires peace, prepare for war.” This is much closer to our conservative ideals than the idea of “bombing for peace.” If we are not prepared for war, our enemies will attack us. We are a nation of vast wealth and many resources (even huge amounts of oil which the democrats make sure we can’t use). On top of that, we are a Christian nation, whether we want to be or not. Even if most of us aren’t Christians, we will always be viewed as Christians. This means that our enemies have plenty of material reasons, but even more powerful religious reasons for wiping us out. In addition, we have great influence around the world, which irritates those who already hate us for our religion and wealth. I could go on for a long time, citing reasons that we will have enemies forever, and even demonstrating that adopting Obama’s plan of taking everything up the @$$ won’t pacify them.

What can we do then? We must be powerful. We must be prepared. We must have the most powerful military in the world by far and not depend on allies. (Remember the military maxim; trust an ally weaker than you, but never an ally more powerful than you). We must be prepared to back our words with force. President Bush did exactly that. He tried diplomacy with Saddam Hussein and was patient, but when Hussein mocked us instead of demonstrating that we had no cause for fear, Bush backed his words with force. We had tried for well over a decade to deal with Iraq diplomatically but our failure to back that with force emboldened our enemies. Bush wisely put an end to this by demonstrating that we mean what we say.

War doesn’t produce peace the next day, but backing our words with force will show our enemies that they can’t toy with us like Hussein did. More importantly, it tells our enemies that we will defend ourselves against attack and that it’s not worth the risk to murder our people, like they have countless times, such as on 9/11.

I would contend that one of the main reasons we are not more secure than we are against our enemies is that we keep electing pushover democrats like Bill Clinton or potentially Barak Obama, who wish to make a clear statement to all our enemies that we will not finish what we start, and will pave the way for the Iraqi government to be overthrown by terrorists who can establish another Iran, or who spent almost a decade telling Hussein that we really don’t care whether or not he plans to annihilate us and Israel. We need to counter this by electing a strong man who, while not a lover of war, is not afraid of it. We need a man who is willing to back his words with action to the point that our enemies will take his words seriously. In this upcoming election, who do you think that man is?

Conservatism and Mental Illness

2008-06-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

In almost all ways, I love conservatism and conservative values. In almost anything I love talking with conservatives and discussing with those who are wise, the truths of politics and what our nation needs. However, there is one area in which many conservatives seem to be sorely lacking. The issue is mental illness.

I have far too many members of my family suffering from mental illness, so I have come to be a major advocate in favour of supporting mental health issues and ending the stigma against them. In my efforts to help those suffering from these often genetic diseases, I have met liberals and only liberals. Not once have I met someone even remotely conservative who takes up these issues except for my own parents. Instead I see conservatives say evil things about the mentally ill. Yesterday, I listened to a conservative pundit use “mental illness” as the ultimate intellectual insult to hurl at the liberals. Hearing him speak in such a way made me want to hit the bugger.

How are we so wise in almost everything, but so foolish in this issue? Why do I see so many conservatives treat the mentally ill as subhuman? We are better! If we know the truth about economics, and proper size of government, and tax policy and so many other issues, how can we not know the truth about mental illness?

My friends, the liberals are enslaving the mentally ill to their system just like they do to the poor. The liberals take up the cause of the mentally ill, but royally screw them over just like they do to everyone else. Even issues that are very good to fight for are fought for in entirely the wrong way. Take the issue of parity. Bigotry against the mentally ill means that there is no insurance company out there that will cover mental health as well as physical health. The mentally ill desperately need the same coverage for terribly expensive medical costs. How do we solve the problem? Well the liberals want regulations. They want to shove parity down the industry’s throat. Talk about a good cause fought for in a bad way! We need to give tax breaks to industries that rise above petty anti mental illness bigotry. Encourage them, rather than regulate them. There may be an even better solution. But only we conservatives can find it.

I have a mentally ill conservative friend who refuses to take up the cause of mental health because everyone else in that cause is liberal. We must not give in! We must take this issue from the liberals and do it right! Mental illness is a real issue being very badly handled by liberals and ignored by conservatives. Let us right this wrong.

Gentle Readers, I have great faith in conservatism. I don’t mean to slam our ways, so much as call you to action. The first action is to educate yourselves on mental illness, and I’ll provide a link or two for that. Next we must find solutions to the stigma problem and help the mentally ill to help themselves, rather than enslave them to the government systems like the liberals are doing. I believe in you, my friends. I know we can do this!

Links:

NAMI: http://www.nami.org/ - look for information about the different mental illnesses
Mental illnesses page: http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Inform_Yourself/About_Mental_Illness/About_Mental_Illness.htm

I’ll post more links later

$4,000,000 Signatures?!

2008-06-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks I have been out an about running my errands. I make a stop at the bank, maybe get a little take out, and pick up a new release from blockbuster.

While making my rounds I have been stopped more than once and asked to sign a petition.

Me being the political junkie that I am, of course I have to know the details of such a petition. So I ask, “For what cause am I supporting by signing such a petition?”

Of course, the usual broad answer is only spat out after a few stumbling words are uttered. You know if they are stumbling terribly they really have no idea what the petition is for, so they begin to make up the cause.

I was told that the petition I would be signing is one that police officers, firefighters, and nurses have all sponsored in order to make sure Congress does not pass a pay raise. So to get this straight, if I signed the petition, I asked, I would be signing in order to stop Congress from raising their salary?

“Oh, yes,” the gentleman responded, without looking me directly in the eyes.

After finding out he had been getting paid a couple bucks per signature and listening to his dumb hollow responses, I realized he was in it for the bling bling and not the cause.

That is only one example over the many occasions over the last couple weeks that I have been asked to sign the same petition. Of course every person I have encountered had a different tale for me. I was even offered a job at one point to help circulate petitions. How absurd!

After doing a little digging and getting a little help from Nick De Leeuw we discovered what the real cause is behind the petition. And know, it has nothing to do with the aforementioned hoax and outright lies from the circulators.

The following dictation is taken from Nick at http://www.rightmichigan.com/ and the following describes the proposed Constitutional Amendment of which the petition is really for.

· Two (2) seats on the Supreme Court would be eliminated. It targets those with the least seniority, Justices Young and Markman, both Republicans re-elected in recent years by overwhelming margins. They'd lose their jobs as of December 20, 2008.

· All seven (7) Court of Appeals seats up for grabs in 2010 would also be eliminated as of this December, cutting short by two years the terms of previously elected judges. Six of the Court of Appeals judges being targeted are generally considered to be "GOP." The seventh, Helene White, has been nominated by President Bush to take a seat on the federal bench and will be moving on anyways.

· All judges would be subject to a pay cut beginning in 2009 that would reduce compensation to what the position garnered in the year 2000. Judges who took the bench before 1997 have their pensions calculated on their final salary. The paycut, in essence, would force these judges to chose between early retirement and significant long-term financial penalties. One judicial insider who spoke on condition of anonymity claims that in theory up to half the judgeships in the state could suddenly go vacant. While that could create major delays and case back logs it would also provide Jennifer Granholm with the ability, in one sweeping set of action, to appoint half the bench in the State of Michigan.

· The Judicial Tenure Commission would be rebuilt including an affirmative action provision mandating the makeup of reflect the population of the State of Michigan.

· The House of Representatives would be reduced to eighty-two (82) members. The Senate to twenty-eight (28). New district lines would be drawn according to strange provisions requiring "competitive" apportionment. Half would be drawn with a majority Dem base, half with a majority GOP base while four (4) Senate seats and nine (9) House seats would be restricted to a maximum 53% base from either political party.

· A new redistricting commission would be created with four (4) Democrats and four (4) Republicans and a ninth "non-partisan" member serving as chair. The ninth member would be selected by no fewer than six of the other eight members. If an agreement on the ninth cannot be reached each Party would submit a name and then toss a coin.

· The redistricting plans also require six of nine votes for passage. Without the requisite number each Party submits its own redistricting plan for approval of the "non-partisan" chair. The "non-partisan" chair who may actually be a Democrat selected by the flip of a coin. Once this "non-partisan" chair approves plans from each side another coin is tossed deciding district boundaries statewide.

What a scary world we live in when Looney leftists have to lie to get what they want passed. Though, it comes as no surprise.

-Chaz Oswald

OBAMA, HOISTING HIS COLOURS. YO-HO!

2008-05-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

Well it is not just Obama blaming his problems on racist America but also many of his followers which are following suit.

Last night the Barackstar did draw a large crowd down to the Van Andel Arena. Droves of dems lined the streets to catch a glimpse of Obama. Also there to greet B. Hussein was a group of College Republicans and Kent County GOP-ers. It was a very peaceful protest. White flags were waved to show Obama’s defeatism as he would pull troops from Iraq if he were elected.

Though we were peaceful, the expected became reality. Obama supporters were using off color language toward us. Their shameful ignorance was abounding as we were also called racist for protesting Barack.

I am here to set anyone, who boorishly thinks the same, straight. We didn’t protest him because he was black. We protested him because he is the most liberal U.S. Senator. He has no experience to back up his run for office and his divisive, arrogant, and pompous attitude is something that needs to be contested. Obama’s political ideals will, and are, destroying any traditional values this nation has left.

For further reading on Obama’s blame on racist America: http://www.rightmichigan.com/story/2008/5/13/114053/778

Kent County GOP White Flag Ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlSj4f9sbe0

Chaz Oswald

MAY'S REVOLUTIONARY RESOLUTION WEEKEND

2008-05-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

The Michigan Federation of College Republicans hosted their second Resolution Weekend. This time however it was in Jackson, Michigan to assist Congressman Tim Walberg with literature drops. Nearly 3000 houses were hit last weekend by the team of 35 or so College Republicans from around the state.

Excuse me if I forget a few Colleges but we did have representation from:
-The University of Michigan
-Hillsdale
-Grand Rapids C.C.
-Eastern Michigan

-Central Michigan
-Western Michigan
(and again I am sure I am missing a college or two)

We met at 7:00pm Friday night at the Ganson Street Baptist Church where we had dinner (of course delicious pizza) and played Matt Golden’s hilarious ice breaker to kick the weekend in to gear. Justin Zatkoff and Matt Hall both spoke, both encouraging us and thanking us for our involvement with Resolution Weekend.

Once we completed dinner, it was time to head to our hotel. This time we did not have to stuff any literature but rather spent the remaining evening engaged in political conversation and even fun games until the early morning.

Saturday arrived quickly, and after getting around it was time to meet at Congressman Tim Walberg’s headquarters to pick up literature and coordinate the drop-off! I of course drove and filled my car with four others to head out. After driving around for way to long we finally found our first address. It was rather exciting! Upon finishing up our literature drops we went straight back to headquarters (minus a Starbucks run) for lunch. This time Quiznos!

To complete the short weekend, that was way too much fun, Congressman Tim Walberg encouraged us with a few words. Then, after getting a few pictures it was time to say goodbye. Yes, as always, it is hard to say goodbye to your friends but it felt awesome knowing we helped the Congressman get a jump start on his campaign in a fashion that frightens the left!

I hope you join the REVOLUTION at our next RESOLUTION WEEKEND!

Stay Encouraged and Look Up,
Chaz Oswald

May Already?!

2008-04-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

Trees are budding, flowers are blooming, and school is concluding. After an extremely chilly and snowy winter I know I am not alone with hoping the warm weather appears rapidly.

With May only a couple days away I wanted to remind all College Republicans that this weekend is our May Resolution Weekend! Many of you were able to attend our first, and quite successful, Resolution Weekend in April. This event will be relatively similar.

This time, however, we will be in Jackson, Michigan. We are planning on leaving again from C.C. near the flagpole around 5:00pm on Friday. Check in time at our hotel will be around 7:00-7:30pm Friday evening and we will be done Saturday around 3:00pm to head home. Yes, it will be a relatively short trip but it will have an enormous impact on elections.

Chaz Oswald

The SCCC Holds a Nationwide Protest

2008-04-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

New to GRCC is a group of students who are doing everything in their power to change laws to allow concealed weapons on campuses. They are part of a nationwide organization call the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, or SCCC. Being Republicans, we understand their logic. The idea is that if people who are able to carry concealed weapons everywhere else in the state were allowed to carry them on campus, then school shootings at colleges would decline because students and professors would be able to defend themselves against madmen. There is a lot of opposition to this logic but the logical answers to these challenges can be found here. I strongly recommend reading that link as there is a wealth of good information there.

This week the SCCC is participating in an Empty Holster Protest. The idea is that everyone in the SCCC is to wear an empty holster to school all day every day of this week. This should attract a lot of attention and when asked they tell about what they are aiming for. I myself took part in the protest yesterday and will be there tomorrow and Thursday. When I was there, I also handed out fliers and told people about our group, trying to recruit more members. I met with a lot of success. Many believe in our cause.

I should mention that the SCCC is entirely nonpartisan. They are not a Republican group. Obviously, we Republicans are supporting them but it is important that people realize that Republicans and the SCCC are different entities.

If you are interested in joining the SCCC here are some links for you. The national website is http://concealedcampus.org/. The SCCC is found mostly on Facebook, so here are some links for you: The national Group of SCCC, The Michigan section of the SCCC, The GRCC Chapter, which several of our GRCC College Republicans are a part of. Please feel free to explore these links, and become a part of an excellent cause.

EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed

2008-04-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

How did we get here? Where are we going? Is there meaning to life?

Chances are, at some point in your life, the aforementioned questions have crossed your mind. You may find answers to those questions as I do: in the realm of a loving Creator. Such an ideal is not a popular one with the ‘intellectual’ crowd. Often times, believing in a Creator leads to persecution, mocked and belittled, from Dawkins in many walks of life, especially in the [governmentally funded] classroom.

Ben Stein, you know the boring teacher from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, who stood at the front of the class taking attendance, “Bueller, Bueller?” Yesterday, April 18th, Steins new film, EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed, opened in select theaters nation wide. His new documentary gives macro-evolutional theory a deserved hard time, and Ben has fun with it along the way.

Interviewed by World magazine, Stein was asked: In an ideal world, what impact would you like to see this documentary have?

Stein: I would want it to open freedom of speech at schools and universities so that people could express their concerns and reservations about Darwinism and any subject in science related to macroevolution so that one small group would not have a lock on what’s discussed on campuses.

On its way to the House of Representatives in Florida is a bill that would ensure academic freedom that mandates you cannot be punished for questioning Darwinism. Missouri is about to introduce a similar bill as well. But it is completely unfortunate that we should even need such laws, in a land of freedom of expression and thought, but apparently we do.

Ben Stien shares a potentially dangerous message, so buckle up and hold on:

We tolerate free speech in any other part of society, but not here. What makes this any different? In my experience, people are confident in their ideas and are not afraid of criticism. So that tells me that Darwinists are afraid. They are hiding something. I now realize it is my duty to get the word out. To warn others before it is too late. So I am going to begin by warning you. Feel free to watch this film if you must and I hope you do. But you got to know that doing so could land you in a heap of trouble. Some of you are going to lose your friends for watching this film. Some of you may even lose your jobs. In fact, if you are a scientist with any hope of a future, I suggest you leave right now. College or high school students, especially teachers, legislators, journalists, any one else with a stake in this debate should probably leave now as well. But if you do leave, will anyone be left to fight this battle? Anyone? Anyone?

I urge everyone to view this documentary. The media and the scientific world are doing their best to keep Creationism silent, but let your voice be heard and watch EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed, which is in theaters now.

I want to leave one thought with you from Paul Little:

There are many real things outside the scope of verification by the scientific method. The scientific method is useful only with measurable things. No one has ever seen three feet of love or two pounds of justice, but one would be foolish indeed to deny their reality. To insist that God be proved by the scientific method is like insisting that a telephone be used to measure radioactivity.

Official EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKAMuQWld6g

Chaz Oswald

A Successful Event

2008-04-16T21:29:00.001-07:00

The Resolution Weekend last Friday and Saturday was most definitely a success. Six of us from GRCC drove down to Oakland County and met at Oakland University to get organized and discuss petitions. We were trained in how to circulate petitions and also how to become precinct delegates. After the speeches, we had dinner and socialized. Socializing with other College Republicans is always a pleasure. We get to know people we should know and have a great time doing it. In this world, one always benefits from knowing the right people, and the right people were there at the resolution weekend.

After dinner we started putting literature together to give to people on Saturday. One would think that stuffing four pieces of lit in each newspaper bag would be boring, but anything is a good time when done with friends and those who are likeminded. Political discussions with liberals can often be taxing but the same discussions are much fun for me personally when had with fellow conservatives.

The next day, we gathered again at OU and met Joe Knollenberg himself, who spoke to us about our mission that day. We also heard from Jack Hoogendyk, who is taking on Carl Levin for the US Senate this November. It is such a blessing to listen to men such as these who really care about the little guys in our party. Afterward, I stood and chatted with Knollenberg himself, and I must say it is exciting to chat with a man who is in the US House of Representatives. I’m shy and didn’t really know what to say, but I must say that it was a motivating experience.

I was more than happy to go door to door to support this man in this vital reelection campaign. While we were distributing literature, we asked each person a few questions and asked them to sign a petition, which was to get Jack Hoogendyk on the ballot. It turns out that Hoogendyk still needs more signatures to get him on the ballot for US Senate. Many people signed and we made much progress.

The most exciting thing about this is that we were making a serious political difference. For years, I’ve wanted to make things better in this world. Do we all? But now I’m getting a serious opportunity. By getting going door to door, talking with people, and getting them to sign petitions, we are getting better people into office to displace those who wouldn’t be beneficial. We young college students are making a big difference. Only about 1% of Americans do anything at all in politics, and by doing this we’ve entered into the 1% most influential people in America. Can you tell this excites me yet?

Making a difference isn’t restricted to the people who went last weekend. Right now, any number of you Gentle Readers can go to the nearest Republican headquarters and grab petitions for Hoogendyk and get people signing. We need 15,000 signatures statewide before May 13th I believe.

There is one last opportunity I want to mention to you, and it is explained on Right Michigan. Basically we’re circulating more another petition to get an excellent man and a strong conservative a position as judge in the 4th District Court of Appeals. We plan to make a day trip of it this Saturday. If you clink the link above to Right Michigan you will see all the details you need to get involved!

Resolution Weekend

2008-04-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

A group of us from GRCC and friends of those from GRCC are heading to Oakland Couinty to help Congressman Joe Knollenberg win a contested seat in Congress.

We will gather near the flagpole at the bostwick commons at CC at noon on Friday. From there we will head to Oakland County to try to be there by 5:00 PM. I'm giving us some extra time in case traffic or something holds us up but we want to be prompt.

There will be a seminar and a dinner on Fiday night which looks to be a great event to attend. On Saturday we will be passing out literature for Congressman Knollenberg and will have lunch with the congressman himself. Indeed, I believe he will be going door to door with us as well.

The seat is contested and it is important that we keep it. When we do, you can say that you have influenced politics in a good way.

At around 5:00 we will be finished and will head home, satisfied with another successful event. Our goal is to get twenty people to join us from our group, which will be a great help.

Free speeches and freedom to be positive politics in action!

Moderation

2008-04-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

Sadly, we've been getting a bit of a troll on here recently and now have to moderate our comments. a liberal was using our site to proclaim more liberal trash in the comments section than our posts had room to promote sensible, conservative reasoning. We hoped to ignore it, but the problem grew to the extent that we've decided to moderate comments. To all those who have valuable input, fear not. We value your views, even if they do not concur with ours. We are open to a dialogue. We are avoiding only long propaganda filled streams of random liberalism. We haven't had this problem yet, but I would like to note that really we're against any comments that outdo our posts' length. This is our blog, not a blog for everyone to get on their soapbox. Let's keep the comments as actual comments and not long winded articles

God, Guns and Rock n Roll

2008-04-01T23:47:00.001-07:00

ANNOUNCEMENT: Before I begin the post I would like to mention that we are heading to Rochester to campaign for Congressman Joe Knollenberg on the 11th and 12th of this month. I will post on this soon, but if you want more information now, go to this link on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=12343976494

Once again, we headed down to Kalamazoo to see a speaker invited by the Western Michigan University College Republicans. This time the speaker was Ted Nugent and as usual it was an amazing event. We Republicans got our pictures taken with Ted, enjoyed a reception, and got autographs, yet in my mind, the best part was the speech itself.

Nugent’s passion was refreshing. We often hear famous people passionately speak out against our beliefs, but rarely for them. I thought he was an excellent balance to John Stossel as well. While Stossel reached for our minds, Nugent reached for our hearts. This is not to say that Nugent did not have the facts and statistics to back up what he said. Rather I mean that his focus was getting us energized about passionately pursuing our goals. He repeatedly told us that we need to get out there and fight for what is good however we can, whether that means talking to politicians, joining the NRA, or doing whatever else can influence people for the better.

I have some quotes from Nugent that I particularly enjoyed and thought I would share them with you.

ABOUT THE SECOND AMENDMENT:
“The Second Amendment is an individual, God given, right”
“Every mass shooting of innocents in America happens in a gun free zone”
“Every time I hear the term ‘Animal rights’ I go and kill an extra hundred of something”

ABOUT THE WAR IN IRAQ:
“Our warriors have studied the war. They knew what they were getting into when they joined. They looked into what could happen to them in Iraq AND THEY CHOSE TO GO!”
“Man is driven to do good and stop evil”
“War IS the answer. Good people war on evil”
“The diplomacy is over”
I want to note about this last quote, that we tried diplomacy with Iraq for an entire decade before we went in. It failed, and that is what he was referring to.

ABOUT MICHIGAN:
“The real curse of Michigan is not the jihad of the left, but the apathy of the right”

ABOUT HIS CRITICS:
“My critics are the wind beneath my wings”
“If the assholes don’t like you, that just proves you’re not an asshole”
Note: on two separate occasions, a student yelled out “f--- you” and Nugent loved that more than anything else

FINAL EXHORTATION:
“Go forth! Raise Hell!”

As you can tell, Nugent wasn’t anything near politically correct, which was, again, very refreshing. We try not to say anything that will allow the liberals to destroy us in the eyes of those whom they’ve duped. It was refreshing to see someone who didn’t care what the liberals said about him.

Supporting the troops?

2008-03-25T03:18:00.000-07:00

How often is it that we see signs saying “SUPPORT THE TROOPS. END THE WAR!” Truly, I tell you these signs make me want to punch someone. A close friend of mine, a sergeant in the Marine Corps just got back from serving in Iraq. He missed his wife and extended family while over there but he was proud to be serving our glorious nation. He was in the same room as our president as he gave a speech to the world about how our mission has met great success in Al Anbar province of Iraq and that success is spreading to the whole nation. He told of how Iraqis are rejecting the terrorists. My Marine friend was excited about the speech. He was abundantly happy that America finally heard the truth about his mission.

Sadly, no one heard that message, because it was played during the day, without anyone from the liberal media really commenting on it. Fox News talked about that but people who watch Fox are ridiculed by everyone else. The story got nowhere, and people feel that we are losing Iraq despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. When I informed the Marine of this it deeply saddened him. Sergeant S. strongly supports our mission in Iraq along with every other Marine I have ever met.

As I walked with another Marine, Lance Corporal V., we saw a sign declaring that we must leave Iraq and together we flipped off the sign in great anger for we believe in our mission. I was honoured to take a stand on the war alongside a Marine, even though no one saw us. That very Marine in now serving in Iraq and I just read her blog about her fellow Marine who has died. After discussing the sadness of his death, these are her words “I pray his family does not think he died in vain”

I know another Marine, Lance Corporal B. who is infantry. When he goes to Iraq, he may very well die. Knowing this, he does not back down in his support of our mission. Even with his brother who is also a Lance Corporal in the infantry serving in Iraq currently, he does not wish for him to be sent home, despite the fact that his brother could die any day. Does he not care for his brother? On the contrary I have seen his weep over his brother. But he knows two things. 1) there is very little chance either he or his brother will die. Very few American warriors have died in the big scheme of things. And 2) if he does die then his death will not be in vain, for it will have supported our liberty and the liberty of the free peoples everywhere.

I tell you truly that to tell us that supporting the troops means ending the mission is a slap in the face to all four of these very brave men. As to the Marines who don’t support our mission, I have yet to meet any. Don’t tell us what the troops believe, let them speak for themselves!

SUPPORT THE TROOPS! SUPPORT OUR MISSION!

A Successful Event

2008-02-25T08:19:00.000-08:00

I must echo Chaz’s assessment that State Senator Bill Hardiman’s speech was quite a success. He spoke rather inspiringly of his hard past and what he still made of himself. He is a reminder that in our great nation, anyone, from any background can succeed. He spoke not only of his past, but of his faith, and then of why he is a Republican. We were pleased to see a good number of people attend and to see that they asked good questions. There was one man in particular who asked very tough questions, and I felt that Senator Hardiman handled them quite well.

Thanks to liberal propaganda against us, it must be hard to be a black Republican, when we are labeled such racists, and Senator Hardiman did touch on the issue of race. He spoke very honestly mentioning that despite the fact that there is no good reason for it to be an issue it simply is. He is the second black Republican state senator ever in Michigan, the first one serving back when blacks were first allowed to serve a long while ago. I loved his analysis of why he is a Republican. Simply put, his beliefs align with the Republicans, and no threats of racist labeling will keep him from what he truly believes.

Senator Hardiman shared his passion about the economy with us as well as his passion for his faith and other beliefs. I found it particularly exciting to hear how much he cared about helping our economy, replacing old unskilled labor jobs which are simply gone, with new skilled labor and education to provide that skilled labor. Of course, it’s tough to figure out how to do that, but Senator Hardiman spends much of his time working on that problem and his passion will be a benefit to all of Michigan. If we could only have more people like Senator Hardiman serving us here in Michigan or even nationally, we would be in a much better social and economic state.

Embracing Family, Faith, and Diversity

2008-02-12T09:44:00.001-08:00

Senator Bill Hardiman is a remarkable man who has never shied from his deeply rooted convictions. He is a man who has an undying commitment to public office. “Every decision he makes, every vote he casts is based on his strong Christian beliefs, family values and what’s best for West Michigan.”

Senator Hardiman will be with us on campus at Grand Rapids Community College. The event will be held February 21st and will start promptly at 7:00pm. It would be an honor to have you and others you know to join us for a wonderful evening dedicated to family, faith, and the immense diversity found in Grand Rapids.

Notable guests could possibly include President Juan Olivarez, Ph.D.

Event Details:

Where: Calkins Science Center Auditorium
When: Thursday, February 21st, 2008
Time: 7:00-9:00pm

Free parking can be found around campus as well. In addition, here is a map for further direction: http://www.grcc.edu/ShowPage.cfm?PageID=234

I hope to see you there!

Chaz Oswald

The War on Liberalism

2008-01-26T16:42:00.000-08:00

Thursday evening, the College Republicans of Grand Rapids Community College were blessed and privileged to have Representative Kevin Green on campus to address and encourage us as an organization. It was a remarkable opportunity to get to know Representative Green in a one on one setting.

We spent the evening [obviously] conversing political affairs. The topical issue stressed was our dire economical issues stemming from the leadership in Lansing; and I am not referring to the Republicans.

Often portrayed by the prejudice media, the problems facing our state are often referred to as the “Legislator’s” fault. By employing the term “Legislator” they dumb down the focus of the legislators who are producing the horrific issues threatening our state: the dems.

One such concern confronting our state is one that should honestly frighten you. Green explained that the dems are pushing to change the traditional birth certificate from saying “Mother” and “Father” to “Parent A” and “Parent B.” What, I ask, is happening to the morals in this country? I am speechless. We are in a one state recession and the dems are proposing this? How brainless can they be? Before long, I am sure, that the designated terms of “Mother” and “Father” will be diluted and soon outlawed. The dems need to be stopped and put out of business.

Concluding our meeting, Representative Green left us encouraged and motivated to fight the good fight against the terrorism known as liberalism.

Furthermore, I could not help but be reminded of 2 Timothy 4:7, "I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I kept the faith." We must remember most of all that our focus, faith, and loyalty must be to Christ. By offering Him ourselves, He will direct our paths in ways of righteousness.

Chaz Oswald

Freedom Fighters

2008-01-24T11:00:00.001-08:00

Yesterday in my history class, a guest speaker came to talk about GRCC’s program to study in Ireland for three weeks in the summer. One of the many features of this trip is that we would be allowed exclusive access to the glorious IRA members, even commanders of large “units” who talk to very few people. This was supposedly exciting because these were the people who bravely fought against the diabolical English oppression of the poor helpless Irish.

I was shocked. It took a while for it to truly sink in that we would actually be talking to terrorists and even terrorist leaders. I mentioned this to a classmate afterward, and he said he supports the IRA as he has much Irish pride. I protested that they are terrorists, and he said that they are not terrorists but “freedom fighters”. This reminds me of the relativistic saying “One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter”. Like most relativistic sayings, this is crap.

I don’t like the term “freedom fighter” because it tends to be applied to terrorists that the liberals want to justify. They are the “good guys” among terrorists. The idea is that they are bravely fighting a just cause to gain “freedom”. Here’s the problem. Butchering civilians with no attempt whatsoever to fight honourably against the actual army is terrorism. Murdering people because they are Protestant, is terrorism. Terrorising the English is obviously terrorism. This was a religious war in which the Catholics were dedicated to the murder of as many Protestants as possible. That is terrorism.

Now some people complain that the English were brutally oppressing the Irish which led them to drastic measures. Frankly I know nothing about the truth or falsity of English oppression of the Irish. It could have been horribly brutal for all I know. What I do know is that this does not affect the tactics that are okay for “freedom fighters” Let us assume for the sake of argument that England was every bit as brutal as they are accused of being. This still does not justify the murder of civilians. The civilians had nothing to do with it. They are not acceptable targets of aggression. Let me give you a hypothetical

Let us assume that I am in Germany under Hitler’s oppression back in the thirties and forties. Hitler is now butchering millions upon millions of people, the total of which will eventually reach 11 million souls murdered. My reaction is to butcher innocent Germans who have nothing to do with Hitler. I have no clue who they are, but they are German and are therefore the enemy, so I blow them up. Am I justified? Of course not. I’m every bit as evil as Hitler is, except that I’m killing on the scale I can rather than the scale that he can. Both are contemptible. Even against Hitler, terrorism is wrong, for it does not target the enemy but rather helpless civilians.

Needless to say, I shall not be going to Ireland to talk with the terrorist dogs

Keven Green at GRCC

2008-01-23T21:28:00.000-08:00

Well the title says most of it. State Representative Keven Green shall be speaking today at Grand Rapids Community College. He shall be speaking in the Caukins science center auditorium, which is on the third floor, though if you go in through the back, it's right inside the door. (at the back of the building the third floor is at ground level. How's that for confusing?)

The speech starts at 7:00, so we hope to see you all there!

In Honour of a Legend

2008-01-21T18:42:00.000-08:00

Despite having been labeled a “hypocrite” along with other insults in a recent comment, I shall for the moment let that go and get to the topic on which I wanted to speak today. That’s right, I plan to talk about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There is much to think on concerning Dr. King, but I would suggest in particular one inspiration and one caution.

The inspiration is the enlightenment Dr. King seemed to possess. He did not want whites to be second class citizens. He wanted equality. He knew that violence would get him nowhere. The disadvantaged had tried rioting quite often before Dr. King’s time and it had gotten them nowhere, so he learned the lesson from their mistakes and kept his ways nonviolent.

I think it took a lot for King to not want to replace white superiority with black superiority. Others in his time wanted to blot out all whites from history. Still others wanted less of a revenge but still some revenge. Dr. King was not after revenge. All of this and more is quite inspiring.

As inspiring as he can be, I would caution that there are some dangers concerning Dr. King. Mainly, he has been made into a liberal idol. He has come not to represent the great ability of blacks, but rather the perceived moral decadence of whites. Never does one hear the story of Dr. King’s heroism without hearing of the evil deeds of the whites of the time. Rarely, if ever, does one hear of the whites who were not bigoted.

Most dangerous of all, Dr. King has come to represent diversity and nothing else. We cannot focus on diversity rather than unity. The diversity of America only makes us great if we are also unified. Otherwise it is merely a weakness, causing division between us. Diversity has destroyed many a nation and it can destroy us as well, if we do not hold onto our core values as a unified whole. Dr. King reached for unity, not diversity. The diversity was already there. Let us learn from him and grasp unity in strong values!

Faithful Direction

2008-01-16T15:50:00.000-08:00

Faith, to many people, plays a significant role within the realm of daily life. Why then should it be different for those surrounded by the public spotlight, let alone those who make moral and ethical decisions for the people they represent? In today’s society, religion and politics cross paths with each other, frequently. Not only has it today, but for centuries of presidential elections, religion has played a role from our founding fathers to today’s political decisions. The United States culture is consumed with denominations and people of many faiths. According to the American Religious Identification Survey, 78.5% of Americans adhere to being Christians. Faith is and should play a vital function for those who plan on becoming and who are voting or employing a public servant.

The term Separation of Church and State is often misinterpreted and implemented by liberal and in turn biased courts with their own selfish agendas. The reason for the misinterpretation is that these judges view our Constitution as a living and changing set of standards that govern our great country. By doing so, they abuse the law set forth by our founding fathers who sought religious freedom not religious restriction. If we review the First Amendment of the United States Constitution we can comprehend the profound meaning by offering an honest elucidation of restrictions on religious freedoms. The First Amendment clearly states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Most court rulings hack the second half of the Free Exercise Clause to judge cases that would favor their political agenda to censor the religious right unjustly. But in context, the First Amendment was composed to protect those of religious faiths by assuring no statewide religion would be imposed, required, or established nationally. It furthermore grants or provides religious peoples with freedom to perform spiritual convictions without constraint. So within the public arena, beginning with our founding fathers, faith has always played a significant role. Why else would our Constitution be dripping with religious freedoms if faith should have no impact in decision making?

As aforementioned our nation has its roots deeply grounded in doctrinal ideals. According to an Oxford graduate and Christian Apologist, Dr. Ravi Zacharias who so brilliantly states, “It is a mindless philosophy that assumes that one's private beliefs have nothing to do with public office. Does it make sense to entrust those who are immoral in private with the power to determine the nation's moral issues and, indeed, its destiny? .... The duplicitous soul of a leader can only make a nation more sophisticated in evil.” A person’s religious beliefs trigger where they come from morally and ethically. So within elections, holy assurance or one’s beliefs provide guidance as to which candidate to endorse. And at an equivalent level of conviction, those leaders empowered and chosen must utilize their own faith in resolutions drawn from their desks.

Though a haunting aspect to some, one’s personal convictions and faith in a Creator or Sustainer of Life should be a guiding light not only for those entrusted with power but for those whom assign the duty of representation. From the misconception of the First Amendment to the enlightening words of Dr. Ravi Zacharias, one’s faith must be at the forethought in determining direction of one’s decision. While in the duration of this election cycle, United States citizens will have conflictions on numerous policies. The faithful majority will have conflictions on numerous issues. However, it is our duty to remain unified and preserve our root-not our routes.

Chaz Oswald

The Michigan Primary

2008-01-14T10:07:00.000-08:00

The primary sure has come up quick. Tomorrow, we in Michigan shall be voting to nominate a Republican candidate. I know I will be voting, and I hope all of you will be as well. So long as you know your candidate well. It may be a bit late to advise this but we suggest that you know your candidates well and know what you’re voting for and what you’re not voting for. Hopefully our Gentle Readers have done this by now.

We here among the GRCC College Republicans have many different choices for candidates. I’ve heard a lot of favorites named by many different people. Yet, we have decided not to favour one candidate over another this primary. We will simply be looking forward to the national election and strongly supporting the Republican candidate then. The reason for this is that we do not wish to cause any disunity or division among republicans. We have no desire to attack any republican candidate, as we may end up supporting any of them during the national election.

In other news, we do indeed have a lot of plans for this semester, starting with a speech toward the end of this month and another one in February. We’ll be keeping you posted about events and such during the semester.

R.I.P: Benazir Bhutto

2007-12-27T09:40:00.000-08:00

Rest in Peace

Benazir Bhutto
(1953-2007)

Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan was assasinated while at a campaign rally in Rawalpindhi, Pakistan. The attack occurred just after Ms. Bhutto left the rally, where she had given a campaign address to party supporters in the run-up to the January 2008 parliamentary elections. She died at 6:16 pm local time at Rawalpindi General Hospital. There seems to be plenty of confusion as to what exactly happened - but it has been confirmed by spokespersons from Ms. Bhutto's party and the BBC that Ms. Bhutto was shot in the neck and the chest before the coward gunman proceded to blow himself up.

Benazir Bhutto, who was born in 1953, was Prime Minister of Pakistan twice. She was educated at Harvard and Oxford and was the first female leader of a Muslim nation in modern history. She returned from exile in October of 2007 in an effort to become a voice for the restoral of democracy in Pakistan.

She was by no means a perfect politician, as we can expect she had her foibles - both times she was PM, she was sacked due to corruption and mismanagement. However, she always worked for the democracy in Pakistan, and was an ally to the United States in the fight against terrorism. It is very likely that it was Al-Qaeda, and not Pervez Musharraf as some may think, who perpetrated this vicious and cowardly attack upon a woman who was working actively to bring democracy to Pakistan and fight against Islamic extremists. She was the last best hope that Pakistan ever had to restore democracy. This is a very sad, sad day for democracy.

This attack should serve as a reminder to moderate and secular Muslisms everywhere that Al-Qaeda is committed to the destruction and savage murder of those leaders that are committed to democracy - this should serve as a reminder to them that Al-Qaeda must be fought, and that it is still armed and dangerous, ready to deal a severe blow to the efforts of any country to democratize. We have seen it in Iraq, we have seen it in Afghanistan and now - we see it in Pakistan. This should be a wake-up call, and should make the Islamic world realize that fighting these extremists is the right thing to do.

As we all begin to point fingers, I think we should really think about who could have been behind this cowardly and vicious attack. The Musharraf government could not have provided any more security for Ms. Bhutto, it provided riot police as well as bodyguards and policemen to protect her. Not to mention the PPP (Pakistan People's Party, the party Bhutto was leading) was also providing plenty of security in itself. I seriously doubt that President Musharraf had ANYTHING to do with this horrendous murder. I think that by doing so he would risk losing support of the United States and further risk alienating himself from the people of Pakistan. He would trigger horrendous consequences, and perhaps the end of his regime by authorizing an assasination of Ms. Bhutto. Why would he risk the destabilization of the country he rules to get rid of Bhutto?

This is the work of none other but Al-Qaeda and/or the Taliban, who are strong in the Baluchistan/Northwest regions of Pakistan that border with Afghanistan. It's time that something is done and that the Pakistani government, with the support of the US and NATO, cracks down on the cowardly murderers in this region.

If we do not, what will be their next target? We risk allowing democracy to go down the drain in the Islamic world.

May she rest in peace, and may God bless her family, her supporters and the nation of Pakistan as they grieve her death.

[If you have any questions or are curious about this event or the implications it has for the world and for Pakistan, the BBC has a really good Q&A article in its website.]

The Capitalist Approach to Global Warming

2007-12-17T17:38:00.000-08:00

I’ve done a lot of thinking about a lot of issues. I like to think that any issue I have a strong opinion on is an issues that I’m fairly well informed on. Yet, I still come across new ideas from others wiser than myself. I had such an experience at WMU when we went to see John Stossel speak on Capitalism.

Someone asked Mr. Stossel for his thoughts on global warming. The first part of what he said is basically an average of conservative opinions on the issue. That is to say he believes there is some evidence for it, but not nearly on the scale that the dems are talking about. He was careful to mention that Greenland is called that because it used to be green. We are so worried about the glaciers receding there, yet they weren’t there to begin with. He also touched on the fact that concerns like this are almost like fads and seem to come and go. This is very good information, though I had heard much of it before.

Mr. Stossel then went on to say something that had never occurred to me. If global warming is happening, then there is probably nothing we can do to stop it, but there is a lot we can do to adapt to it. He mentioned that much of the Netherlands would be underwater due to rising water levels if not for the dikes they have built there. This is great information, but how can we adapt to the climate? Wealth! We need wealth to be able to fund the great projects which may be required to keep us safe.

That wealth saves lives is easy to demonstrate. In third world countries, hundreds or thousands die whenever there is a major disaster such as an earthquake or tsunami. In America, virtually no one dies in floods. The reason is that we have the wealth to protect ourselves. We can fund the projects that protect thousands of lives. Isn’t it ironic that the Democrats, who talk the most about our environment, are the ones who will make it harder for us to deal with it?

Despite the vast wealth of information offered to us by Mr. Stossel, this will probably be our last post on him. Feel free to ask either Chaz or myself about the speech or even leave a comment here and we’ll tell you more. Even better, join us in going to other speeches. We are planning events right here at GRCC, so keep watching and we’ll let you know what’s happening. Also, if you want to know more about our meetings, find our group on Facebook: “Grand Rapids CC College Republicans”

How the Liberals Respond to Capitalists

2007-12-09T02:12:00.000-08:00

They’re really nice and friendly and say “Let’s agree to disagree” right? Ha! I wish. Perhaps some of them do, but there is a lot of nastiness from liberals toward those who disagree.

Last post, I mentioned that John Stossel spoke at WMU about capitalism. Well, the liberals were aware he was coming, so they spray painted “Capitalism Kills” on the office of the professor who invited him. Aside from the fact that there is no basis for such a crude statement, vandalizing property is inherently destructive, accomplishing nothing. I am reminded of the speech given by the ex terrorist at Calvin in that virtually all of the questions asked were of a nasty confrontational nature. At WMU the liberals weren’t even that polite. Only one or two liberals asked pointed questions (which Mr. Stossel answered intelligently and gracefully). Apparently they believe that vandalism is a better way to get their message across.

Mr. Stossel mentioned that he has gotten a great deal of hatred from his fellow reporters in the media. He’s gotten nasty messages and overall people there tend to just not like him because of his beliefs. What he said was most puzzling about this is that he’s not even a true conservative, but rather libertarian. He listed many issues on which he takes the liberal stance. Many liberals in the media do not see what they have in common but only what they disagree on.

Obviously, that liberals tend to act like this is sad, but what do we have to learn from it? I’m not just democrat bashing for no reason. So far, I have not seen this level of nastiness from Republicans. Yes, some Republicans are nasty, but I haven’t seen it on the same scale as with the Democrats. We need to maintain this. Indeed, let’s take it further. Let us live lives that demonstrate our enlightened attitude. When a Democrat comes looking for an argument, let’s remain calm as Mr. Stossel did, and not throw insults like the Dems. It may be very discouraging that the Democrats don’t want to work with us, but we must never sink to their level. A good attitude goes a long way.

Guess what? There’s still more I have to share from John Stossel’s speech.
Next post: The capitalist approach to the Global Warming issue

John Stossel at Western Michigan University

2007-12-04T23:26:00.000-08:00

Last week on Wednesday, four of us from the GRCC College Republicans went down to Kalamazoo to see John Stossel speak on Capitalism. The speech was absolutely incredible. Mr. Stossel had a great wealth on information to share with us, and he had done his research on all of it. He made no end of good points, and I would like to repeat some of the topics here to encourage our Gentle Readers to look into these issues.

Mr. Stossel began my mentioning his original set of beliefs which included the belief that big business is bad. He thought that they were out to screw us and only serve themselves. As a result, he wanted to see more government regulation to keep the evil businesses in line. It did not take him long to notice that these rules come at a great cost. There’s the cost to taxpayers to enable the government to employ the people checking up on businesses, and there’s the enormous cost to businesses to comply with all the rules. Now here’s the ironic bit: It didn’t stop the crooks! Those few businesses that were evil minded, continued to be and simply found ways around the rules.

So what do these regulations do if not stop crooks? They strangle our economy. Businesses can’t grow because they’re spending all their money keeping themselves compliant with the rules. If they slip up and break a rule, they get huge fines which hinders them further. Whereas capitalism encourages economic growth, socialism and high regulations discourage it.

But what is to keep the evil businesses in line? Surely no one denies that there are some businesses out there who are less than honest. Mr. Stossel had an answer to this too: our freedom! That we are a free society, and that we have freedom of the press, means that there will be people to make a big deal out of any scams they find. Evil schemes always make the news. It’s simply good business thinking to not allow corrupt practices in your company because you will be found out eventually. Mr. Stossed also noted that there are almost never any nation-wide business scams. Scams almost always get found out long before the business is able to make it big.

It seems too perfect that we can just allow a capitalist market to run itself without government intervention. Do we really expect to just leave it alone and see it flourish? I’ve heard these arguments. I have to admit it is amazing that we can basically do this, but somehow it works. It only works in a free society, but it does work. Captialism isn’t perfect, and Mr. Stossel stressed that it’s not perfect, but it is by far the best system out there.

There is so much more from the speech that I want to share with you, so keep watching. Next post: “How the liberals respond to capitalists”

Taxes

2007-11-26T10:53:00.000-08:00

::Announcement::
Before I begin the post I would like to mention that on Wednesday this week, we at GRCC are heading down to Kalamazoo to witness a speech by John Stossel at Western Michigan University. Everyone is invited to come. Contact Chaz for more information.

It’s no secret that taxes are necessary for a nation to survive. One cannot have a government at all without at least some taxes. Democrats understand this well. What they don’t understand, however, is that taxes are inherently harmful to whatever they are levied on. Anything taxed is something that will be used less. Tax imports and imports will suffer. Tax small businesses and small businesses will suffer. Tax profit and profit will suffer.

Due to Lansing’s refusal to consider budgeting their money effectively, our state government felt compelled to raise taxes. Of course, they had to come up with creative ways of doing this. First they started a service tax, which will seriously harm our service oriented companies (who provide jobs by the way). Still, this tax was not enough so the Dems thought they would continue with their favorite scheme of “taxing the rich” which always leads to a burden on the poor. We now have a tax on investments in Michigan. If anyone makes more than a certain amount of money through investments, this money will be taxed.

Now the Dems set this number pretty high so as to convince the poor that they are not affected, but we must remember that the overall strength of the economy affects the poor far more seriously than the rich. If we have a weak economy, the rich will have a bit less money, while the poor starve and die. But the economy doesn’t survive on handouts to the poor. The economy thrives on big business creating jobs for the poor to feed themselves. This tax on investments means that any rich man with any bit of sense will invest in any of the 49 other states without such a ridiculous tax. This devastates our economy, and makes the poor starve and suffer. The rich will be fine. They just move away and make profit in another state. But if we had been kinder to the rich, then they could have provided jobs to the poor here in Michigan rather than in Florida.

The rich are not obliged to help the poor. We can make no commands to them. But if we provide a good place for their business the rich will be the best thing the poor ever saw in this state. When will we ever give them the respect they deserve for giving us all jobs and health care and wealth that we may one day make it big ourselves? If we continue to tax all the rich out of our state, we will continue to bankrupt ourselves and ensure a dismal future for all citizens in Michigan, rich or poor.

Speaker on Terrorism

2007-11-07T13:36:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week, several members of the GRCC College Republicans joined the College Republicans at Calvin College to listen to a speaker on the topic of radical Islam. The speaker was one Kamal Saleem, and had been a PLO terrorist before converting to Christianity and abandoning his terrorist ways.

Saleem had many good insights into Islam, particularly in its radical forms. He did not speak at length of the 85% of Muslims who are not radical much because his point was that we must be prepared to deal with the radicals. He was careful to mention, however, that only 15% are radicals who want to kill us. Saleem detailed his youth and upbringing in violent ideology as well as his time in America, which he spent converting people here to his version of Islam.

His message was that we must understand Islam and that we must as Christians, show love to Muslims. He stressed that returning hatred with hatred will solve nothing. Now clearly, not all those who agree with his views on Islam are Christians as he is now, but he spoke in a Christian context because not only is he a Christian, but he was speaking to a Christian school.

Saleem’s twofold message of the need for readiness to deal with a bloodthirsty enemy and the need for love for our enemies was particularly impressive. He was not telling anyone to despise Muslims or even that all Muslims are radical. He was simply exhorting us to deal with a dangerous situation appropriately.

Many people misunderstood his message as a message of hate, or a message that Islam is evil. Perhaps part of this is that he was speaking in a Christian context to a Christian school, but mostly I think it is a misunderstanding due to his emphasis on the radicals among the Muslims who are the ones we need to worry about most. There is a lesson here. When someone speaks for any cause, we must see the true motive and discern very carefully whether it is a message of hate, or rather something else. We must be wise and unbiased when we listen to people

The Red Scare Revived

2007-11-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

Many people may remember their history well enough to recall the “Red Scare” during the Cold War. The fear at the time was that the communists were infiltrating America, so anyone who was even implicated as a communist was blacklisted. If someone was blacklisted, then his life was destroyed. He lost his job, the world hated him, and sometimes he was prosecuted as a traitor.

Does any of this sound familiar? It sure does to me! I never experienced the Red Scare but I have seen an almost identical. I am referring to the endless accusations of racism happening right now. Just recently, Dog the bounty hunter has been accused of being a racist. As a result, his show has been stopped and he has been ridiculed by the world. But this begs the question: does he have the right to be racist? The answer is, he does. Should his life be destroyed for having offensive views? Of course not. In America, the right to believe what you truly believe is sacred. We don’t necessarily agree with Imus, or Dog or others who hold racist views, but in America, we have no right to persecute them. Dog’s life will probably now be destroyed just as that of Imus was, but this is a great injustice.

We have seen other faces to this problem of liberalism. Those who do not support gay marriage are also said to be bigots. Those who believe that it’s okay for a woman not to work are called sexists. Everyone who does not hold to a liberal view of the world is being demonized. If we hold that women aren’t men and that we have serious moral problems with homosexuality, then our right to believe these things is void. How many men will stand up for our rights? How many will demand that our thoughts and beliefs are ours to have? Will we stand up for justice and fight this “Bigotry scare” which persecutes all those who make a slight mistake?

More Hypocrisy From Hilla the Hun

2007-10-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

It’s not news to anyone that Hillary Clinton is a hypocrite. She was one of those who voted for the PATRIOT act, though she then encouraged a filibuster of the same act when it came time to renew it. Also, she voted to give the president power to declare war on Iraq, though she has been abundantly condemning of his decision to use that power, even leading personal attacks on General Petraeus, which were entirely irrelevant to his presentation to congress about our work in Iraq.

Now we have another most interesting event to add to the list. A new book came out, which has not been factually disputed, which states that she listened in on political opponents during Slick Willy’s presidential campaign in 1992. Apparently her opponents were discussing another woman who might come forward about her affair with Willy.

I would state my thoughts but an unnamed GOP official said it better than I could. “Hillary Clinton ’s campaign hypocrisy continues to know no bounds. It is rather unbelievable that Clinton would listen in to conversations being conducted by political opponents, but refuse to allow our intelligence agencies to listen in to conversations being conducted by terrorists as they plot and plan to kill us. Team Clinton can expect to see and hear this over and over again over the course of the next year.”

My only concern is that the media will try to hide this fact. It is up to us conservatives to make sure the truth gets out. Don’t let Hillary get away with her anti-American hypocrisy.

Words from a Marine Sergeant serving in Iraq

2007-10-18T13:25:00.001-07:00

“We get a little info from higher about what's going on in Al Anbar but the Marines that came before us did such a good job we haven't dropped hardly any ordnance. [i.e. Bombs and missiles] The general word about the war is that we're winning and the Iraqis are getting better at standing on their own.”

A Marine I know, who is a Sergeant in the Marine Corps serving in Iraq, said that in a message to his family and friends. How many people know that about Iraq? We’re hardly fighting anymore in Anbar, because there are precious few terrorists to kill in some areas. Let’s face it. Al Anbar is pacified. That’s right. Pacified. (Remember, people, that Anbar was considered a lost cause as recently as a year ago. That’s how much things have improved) Now did you hear that on the News? I’m willing to bet you didn’t. Bush gave a speech to that effect on Labour day, but precious few people even know he gave a speech, much less know what he said. The media refuses to tell us.

Not only that, but they blatantly lied about General Patraeus’ speech to Congress. I watched the speech he gave and he basically said Iraq is just about won. But the next day on the today show, they were showing just the right clips of the dems speaking to make it appear that we’ve lost. It’s not just misleading anymore. It’s lying. Now I don’t mean to rant about the media. I’m sure conservatives do enough of that without my help. But the point is, we need to get our objective information. We know the media lie, so we need another source. My source is the warriors serving in Iraq. My Marine friend is there, so I can ask him. Previously I had a friend serving there as an MP so I asked him and he said that the situation was endlessly getting better, though it was still a lot more violent when he was there. Even that shows the great amount of improvement.

Now I’m not saying that we’ve won yet. Bagdad has yet to be pacified, and they still need our help, But the situation is endlessly improving. That Sergeant isn’t even that far from Bagdad and his area is pacified

It is also worth mentioning that after Bush gave his speech there, Terrorists tried to counter him by stepping up the violence in Anbar. They failed. They simply could not do their job where they have no influence. Don’t let the media confuse you. We’re winning in Iraq.

PS: I used the term pacified, but the Marine I was talking to said that word was not valid. His complaint was that it implied that the people do not trouble us for we have forced them not to, which is not accurate. He prefers to explain that the Iraqis are choosing to work with the Americans and that terrorists are simply not welcome in Anbar

The Nobel Peace Prize

2007-10-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

Here’s a good joke for you. A man, desperate for attention after pathetically losing the presidential election makes a movie about global warming. He gets the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. I can’t believe it’s true but it is. The idea of giving a peace prize to someone for an issue that has not a thing to do with peace is my first objection. Even if global warming were really happening (which is quite debatable), it has nothing to do with peace.

Today our world is at war. This war is quite global. The religious extremists of the Middle East are determined to destroy the West. They fight us at every turn. They don’t much care for the Iraqis, but they fight us in Iraq (they endlessly murder the Iraqis for the sole purpose of hurting Americans). Much of the Middle East is dedicated to the genocide of all Israelis; many of them want the same for the Americans because we support Israel. They will do everything in their power to destroy us even at the cost of annihilating their own people.

And yet, instead of a man helping us to end the war (which we can only end by winning it as to lose would mean our destruction), they choose to give the award to Gore and the UN Intergovernmental Panel. The UN has actively fought world peace by endlessly conceding to the terrorists. They fight Israel in their struggle for survival, and demand that we do nothing to protect ourselves from our enemies. They embolden the evil-minded dictators of the Middle East just as Europe emboldened Hitler in the 30’s.

If we want peace, we must fight the terrorists. They will fight to the last man to destroy us, and are in the process of murdering countless innocent civilians in their quest to do so. We must end this war. We must win this war. If any man were to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, it would be a man who could subdue the terrorists (or at least give us a much greater advantage over them), not some nut parroting pseudo-scientific scare tactics.

Unity

2007-10-12T21:56:00.001-07:00

The Bible has a lot to say concerning unity. In fact, Jesus goes so far as to explain that if the church were unified, then the whole world would know that Christianity is from G-d. Of course, we have seen that Christians are not unified, but just imagine that they were. Nothing would be able to stop them! Indeed, when the entire Roman Empire was Catholic, they conquered most of Europe. (At least in the religious sense.) Just about everyone in Europe was Christian for a long time.

But why am I talking about religion on a political blog? The answer is that we can learn from the lesson of unity. Because the Church is no longer unified, people can stand up to the Christians and indeed they seem to be falling from prominence. There is a lesson for us Republicans here. Our views, of course, are not primarily religious. They are political. We believe in capitalism, in the right of a nation to defend itself militarily when necessary, in the right to life, in low taxes alongside low government spending and more. Now we don’t all support all of these issues but they are common to most of us.

But now we get to the problem of some of these issues. While many of us believe that we should stay in Iraq, others believe we should leave immediately. While some of us believe in laws governing morality others believe that morality should be left more or less unlegislated. We are not identical. We are not uniform. Fortunately, unity does not mean that we are uniform. It means we do not attack one another. It means we share many common goals, even if not all of them.

Now, Democrats aren’t uniform either, but they don’t know how to handle this fact. They fight each other endlessly. If anyone does not match the party platform, the others attack them as wolves. My personal favorite example of this was when Lieberman lost the primary for his seat in the Senate. Despite being liberal, he was rejected for thinking for himself on the issue of the war in Iraq. This infighting is devastating to the Democrats.

We Republicans should be wiser. Despite our wide ranging opinions, we need not attack our own party for differences. There are a couple Republican presidential candidates whose policies I do not care for. I think they might do us a lot more harm than good in some ways, but I don’t attack them. I don’t fight with them, and I don’t protest their campaigns. I won’t necessarily vote for them in the primary, but I see that they are at least better than the Democrats running for office. In any contest between either of them and Hillary or Obama, I would definitely vote for the Republican, because overall they are still better.

Democrats are masters of lies and propaganda. They are good at getting fools who don’t know better to vote for them. Republicans are more likely to tell the truth and we don’t win over the idiots with that method. Our advantage must be in unity in addition to our logic and wiser positions. If we can support each other, we can accomplish much, including keeping the white house.

‘One-State Recession’

2007-10-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

Dearborn, Michigan –yesterday Fred Thompson joined eight other Republican Presidential candidates in a GOP debate. With Jenny running jobs out of our state and raising taxes on the hard working Michiganians, no wonder the main theme for the debate focused upon economic issues.

Mitt Romney said it best when describing Michigan’s economy, “It’s inexcusable that Michigan is undergoing a one-state recession. … And, in some respects, what Michigan is seeing, the entire nation is going to see, unless we take action now to get Michigan stronger.” Romney went on to joke that he was surprised that Granholm did not tax the debate!

According to the Michigan Labor Market, Michigan’s unemployment rate is the highest in the United States at a staggering 7.4%. That even puts us behind the District of Columbia who has an unemployment rate of 5.7%. While George W. Bush has created an atmosphere for our markets that has had 49 consecutive months of job growth, Jenny has scared jobs and people away from Michigan. “Our real problem continues to be that an American company is having to pay an extraordinary high tax. … That’s why people in Michigan are going, looking for something to do,” Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

With Jenny raising taxes on Michigan businesses is it any wonder why we are loosing jobs? As Representative Duncan Hunter explains, “1.8 million jobs…have moved to communist China from the United States, including over 54,000 jobs from Michigan.”

All I have to say is, “thanks Jenny.”

Propagated Propaganda

2007-10-01T15:52:00.000-07:00

First of all I want to apologize for any misunderstanding that may have been caused. The use of Trevor’s name was meant as a joke and in no way was it perpetuated because of Matt Hall nor Justin Zatkoff nor Chuck Yob. The mere suggestion there of is pure propaganda promoting political partition.

We as conservatives may have our minor differences from one another but I encourage all to lay aside their egos and become a humble people. Take the advice of Ronald Regan, “He who agrees with me seventy percent of the time should not be my enemy but my ally” (paraphrased). We as conservatives need to put aside our differences and focus on the goal of uniting against liberals.

Now let’s discuss the Ninth Commandment:

Thou Shall Not Bear False Witness

When this situation came up I immediately thought of the Ninth Commandment. Through this I want to stay transparent and keep my witness number one priority.

What came to mind is the term of falsification. We have to, and in fact we are commanded to, be careful not sow or receive doubt about someone without the facts. In this case, facts were (here’s the big word again) falsified. I urge everyone, myself included, to be careful not to assume and jump to conclusions.

“The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” James 3:6

The tongue can lie and like a poison can damage a reputation. Be careful of the lies and falsehoods you spread for God knows the truth. Once a lie is out, it is difficult to catch.

I am not saying this to condemn or judge but to educate through the Word of God.

Again I urge everyone to set aside your differences. Complaining about the past will not change the future and continuing to attack each other is ungodly.

Chaz Oswald

Mackinac Conference 2007

2007-09-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

Well last weekend the Grand Rapids CC College Republicans had a great opportunity to volunteer for Chuck Yob and John McCain at the annual Mackinac Conference. It was a huge success. Not only did most Republican Presidential candidates show up [including the possibility of Newt Gingrich] but more than 3000 Conservatives were on the Island as well.

We not only spent time passing out stickers, placing signs throughout the Island, and making sure Trevor Pittsley did not tamper with the straw-poll, but we also spent time at party after party where we saw many politicians.

Here is a short list of who we saw last weekend:
-Dick DeVos
-John McCain
-Chuck Yob
-Holly Hughes
-Ron Paul
-Mike Cox
-Terri Lynn Land
-Fred Thompson
-Rudy Giuliani
-Duncan Hunter
-Peter Seccia
-Saul Anuzis
-Mitt Romney
-Barb VanderVeen
-Newt Gingrich
and many, many more...

Granholm happened to be on the Island too, of course she didn't show her face, but the flags were flying high outside the Governor's Mansion on the Island.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Us guys standing with Dick DeVos (the man who should have been our Governor)

Myself (Chaz) with John McCain

Rudy Giuliani

Juli working at the Conference (right)

Our College Republican Group (where is Jordon?)

Juli with Fred Thompson

A few of the guys after our dinner at the Grand Hotel

It was a great opportunity and a great conference. We are looking forward to and planning on attending the Mackinac Conference again next year. I hope you can come as well!

The Reality of the Democratic Majority

2007-09-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

So, it's been almost one year since Election Day 2006, when the Democrats gained a handsome majority in the U.S House and Senate. The 110th Congress was given a mandate by the people of America to begin making drastic changes - in particular, changes in the Iraq war. The Democratic majority, led by Nancy Pelosi in the House and Harry Reid in the Senate, unveiled a "Six for '06" agenda of what the new majority planned to do in its first 100 days.

Let me reiterate one more time - it's been almost a year since then, and what does the Democratic Congress have to show for it? Abysmal approval ratings and a track record of doing nothing.

The whole Pelosi-Reid show in Congress has become a failure. What have they got to show for their first year? Nothing!

Anyone remember the good old days of the "Contract with America"? Not only did the Republican Party pass nine out of ten goals [which is a lot more to say than the Democrats' "lofty" six point program] but it went on to produce balanced budgets and have higher approval ratings than the current Democratic majority.

Family Friend to Run for State Rep.

2007-09-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

This press release was given to me by Jordon Gilleland. Jordon is a member of The College Republicans of Grand Rapids Community College and Bob Genetski is a family friend of his!

Press Release
September 14, 2007

Genetski to declare for State House
by Kristen Lark – 616-836-5425

DATE OF EVENT: Saturday, September 15 TIME: 10:30 AM

LOCATION: Holland, Michigan - 146th Ave. between Waverly & M-40 in the field across from the closed Life Savers factory

Bob Genetski will announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination for State Representative for the 88th district (Allegan County-excluding Watson & Otsego Township and the city of Otsego) on Saturday in Holland. Genetski will declare his intent with the closed Life Savers factory as a backdrop, making the Michigan economy a strong focal point of his platform. (note to editor- Life Savers moved to Canada, taking 600 jobs from Michigan)

In his announcement, the Saugatuck native will call for an elimination of income taxes for Michigan seniors. With Money Magazine’s naming of Holland as one of the top towns in the U.S. to retire to in 2006, Genetski feels the elimination would help our state compete for the many retirees who want to avoid deadly weather of some southern states and enjoy the hospitality of the heartland. Furthermore, he believes the influx of out-of-state money will help bolster home sales and reduce the state budget deficit. “The additional retirees will bring a lot of disposable income,” Genetski will note.

The candidate’s speech will strongly oppose new taxes and call for an end to the personal property tax, which he calls, “a ball and chain hindering Michigan’s businesses and costing thousands of jobs.”

Genetski, who teaches at-risk high school students, will call for a restructuring of the state university system. He will recommend the state’s 15 universities to be brought under one board of regents “so that they compete against each other and not the taxpayer.” The educator will call for the current 15 university presidents and boards of trustees to show accountability to working families and develop plans to “cut tuition rates or leave their positions for others who will do so.”

The conservative Republican will also call for an end to prevailing wage laws that he believes forces taxpayers to overpay for public projects, noting a recent study by the Mackinac Center that taxpayers for one school district in west Michigan recently paid $2.5 million more for a project than they would have without state mandated prevailing wage laws.

Genetski is proud of his life long pro-life stance and staunchly opposes embryonic stem cell research.

Three students who recently graduated from Orion Alternative High School, where he teaches, will introduce Genetski. Each credits the teacher for his efforts in helping them graduate against the odds.

Prior to teaching at-risk students, Genetski taught and coached soccer at Otsego high school in Allegan County. Genetski is a member of the Allegan County GOP Executive Committee. He earned a master’s degree in education from Grand Valley State University in 2004. An avid writer, Genetski has penned guest editorials critical of Michigan universities for their lack of fiscal responsibility. These appeared in the Holland Sentinel and Grand Rapids Press. The educator also wrote a piece for the Mackinac Center’s Michigan Education Report that slammed the teacher certification process, calling it ineffective and wasteful.

Ronald Reagan cites Genetski’s father in the book In His Own Hand for a study the elder Genetski did on the damages state and local taxes do to an economy. The campaign is hopeful for an endorsement from a former Reagan cabinet appointee. Bob Genetski, when he is not teaching, plays ice hockey with his Saugatuck-based team Wally’s Whalers. He and his family attend church at St. Peter’s in Douglas.

(note to editor- there should be some good photo opportunities at this event. Bob’s former students could be quite passionate. We will send a standard headshot, but if you would like any shots from the announcement we would be happy to send some- Kristen)

Clear Matt Hall's Name

2007-09-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

On Monday, September 10, 2007, the 'Turn Michigan Red' blog, by Justin Zatzoff, released a statement regarding the misinformation presented by the 'The Michigan Conservative Dossier.' I wanted to pass along the article in my full support of Matt Hall.

Conservative Dossier gets it wrong again!
An article posted on "Conservative" Dossier stating that "Matt Hall pulls endorsement of Chuck Yob" is completely false.

Here is the type of evidence this blog uses to fabricate a story...

This is the email that was sent out that the story is refering to...

---------------------------
Original Message-----
From: fredo005@aol.com [fredo005@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 5:39 AM
To: Hildenbrand, Gerald W USA Mr USA US NCE
Subject: rnc man/woman race

Gerry,

Not sure if you're still in the State's or back in Iraq - either way Ihope this email finds you safe (matter of fact - I'm not sure if youstill use this email).

I'm emailing you just to touch base and get your thoughts about theNational Committeeman's race. I noticed your congressman endorsed Chuck, but I wasn't sure if that means you're going to follow his lead.

Currently I'm "keeping my powder dry." I'd be happy to fill you in onwhat went down at the last state committee meeting but essentiallyChuck/Holly and company sold the McCain campaign up the river forpersonal reasons (to protect the national committeeman/woman seats).Regardless of if you're with McCain or not - Chuck just proved thatthere is a trend in how he operates - internal republican politics comebefore external republican v. democrat politics and that's somethingthat is not good for the party.

Anyhow, I thought we had not talked in a while and this might be a goodtopic of conversation :) just wondering what you're thinking, which wayyou're leaning, etc.

Matt

------------------------

It has been confirmed that the email address this was sent from "fredo005@aol.com" has been used by 11th District Chairman Matt Frendeway in the past, and therefore it is definitely not from Matt Hall.

Reportedly when Matt Hall asked Joe Sylvester to remove the post, Joe refused."Conservative" Dossier using an email from Matt Frendeway to attack Matt Hall? Unbelievable!

The GRCC Conservative

2007-09-11T09:09:00.000-07:00

First of all, we need to remember 9/11. Six years ago today, tragedy struck the United States. On that day four planes were hijacked, the Twin Towers were destroyed, the Pentagon was hit, and 2,997 innocent civilian lives were lost.

Now six years later, we remember what those terrorists tried to accomplish. We must continue to fight the War on Terror in order that an attack on U.S. soil will be prevented in our future. We must support our troops who fight across the world in order that we may live freely in the U.S.

God Bless the United States.

We will never forget 9/11.