Tom Foley, R.I.P.

Former House Speaker Tom Foley, veteran Democrat
politician and longtime member of the House of Rep-
resentatives from Spokane, Washington, passed away
recently after being weakened by a stroke. He was 84.

Foley served thirty years in Congress, culminating in
becoming the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
He lost his seat in the House in the 1994 elections,
which saw the Republicans rout the Democrats in many
races across the country, including gaining a majority in
the House for the first time since 1952. It is a very un-
common happenstance to see a House Speaker voted out
of office; such was the magnitude of the GOP victory
that year in which the party roared its displeasure with
Democrat President Bill Clinton and his policies.

But Foley was no radical; solidly left-of-center to be sure,
but he broke with his party on some key issues such as
gun control. In fact, Foley was an NRA member. The man
at least had some consistency in his approach to politics,
which is more that can be said for too many people in
both political parties, who demand that the people do one
thing while they themselves do another.

May the former Speaker of the House rest in peace.


MEM

Thanksgiving Greetings and Thoughts of Gratitude

My dear readers, your grateful Peasant wishes each and
every one of you and your families a beautiful, blessed,
happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful for your readership,
your friendship, and your support, without which I could
not succeed with this endeavor.

Let us all be thankful for the many blessings in our lives:
our good health; our homes, our food (especially our
Thanksgiving turkeys and trimmings!); our jobs (those of us
that have them; the prospects for new employment for those
who lost their jobs in the Obama Economy are slim); our
families and friends; our pets; being able to enjoy yet
another bright, rosy sunrise and yet another beautiful,
soothing sunset; to be able to hug our family members and
tell them how much we love them; to go for walks or rides
in the country; to watch and hear little children playing
in a nearby yard or playground, hearing their joyful
laughter; to putter in our gardens, our kitchens, our
hobby rooms, our dens, our workshops and our garages;
to worship at our houses of worship, be it to attend a
service or just to pray on our own, on our knees, to He
who has given us these many blessings; to volunteer
our time and labor to these places as well as to our schools,
charities, and neighborhood efforts such as street cleanups,
or to simply help a neighbor who is in a tough spot and in
need of repairs to his home, food to feed his family, pay
their mortgage or rent, or to babysit their children when
they can't afford to hire someone to do the job; to work
on the campaigns of office seekers whom we support,
and to vote for them on election day; to celebrate our
country's birthday with Fourth of July picnics, parties,
brass bands, and fireworks.

And most of all, that we are citizens of what is the most
remarkable, prosperous, just, and free nation among nations;
the greatest guarantor of individual liberty and autonomy;
founded by an outnumbered, outfunded, ill-equipped yet
proud, bold, and resolute populace of oppressed colonists
of what was then the world's biggest superpower, who
waged a long and bloody but victorious war against all odds
to give birth to her upon a bed of devastation and carnage;
the United States of America. Let us be forever grateful for
these colonists' sacrifice, and for the inheritance we have
received from them, and to defend our inheritance from
those in the present who seek to take it away.


MEM

Thoughts on the Death of JFK

My dear readers, the 22nd day of this month is
the 50th anniversary of a most tragic occurrence;
the most recent assassination of an American
president. John F. Kennedy, our president at
that point in time, was shot dead while riding in
an open convertible through Dallas, Texas, when
he was visiting there to firm up support for what
would have been his reelection campaign in the
following year.

Much has been said about the terrible event in
the following years; some say that a lone gunman
committed the atrocity, others say that he was
part of a vast conspiracy to bring Kennedy and
his presidency to a quick and bloody end, still
others say that the man thought to be the gunman
did not kill President Kennedy but rather was a
chosen scapegoat to cover up who really did the
ghastly deed and anyone else who might have been
behind the plot. Your loyal Peasant has heard more
conspiracy theories concerning the Kennedy
assassination than I can keep up with, and these
certainly vastly outnumber those which I have
run across concerning any other event in our
country's history, therefore I shall neither pick out
the theory or thories that may seem to make the
most sense from the standpoint of likelihood of
happening nor add any theory of my own (by the
by, I haven't got any theory to add in any event).
All I wish to say, regarding this dark anniversary,
is that this was the fourth of four assassinations
of presidents of the United States, and that I am
grateful that there hasn't been any more since.
May there never again be another one, either!
One of the principles which our great and wonder-
ful country was founded on is the preference for,
and the moral superiority of, the ballot over the
bullet for making political change. May all of
our elected and appointed officials be kept safe
from those who would eschew the former for
the latter.

For that is how a free and civil society functions.


MEM

The Government Shutdown Ends, and the Republican Senate Leadership Shuts Out the People

The impasse over whether or not to raise the debt limit
has ended, and now what remains is the aftermath. One
of the points of contention had been what to do with
the Affordable Care Act, a/k/a Obamacare; to fund or
to defund? Coming into the deadline to pass a budget
and to raise the debt limit this has been a source of
hostility and rancor, as well as stubbornness and
pettiness.

Congressional Republicans were united, or at least
seemed to be, behind eliminating Obamacare; the
House had drafted and passed legislation to do just
that, only to see the measure voted down by the
Senate, sparing the bill the president's veto. But
here, the GOP in both chambers could have gotten
President Obama to at the very least concede some
ground regarding his health care plan which would
have placed one-sixth of the nation's economy under
government auspices. First, the Republicans told
Obama that they would be willing to raise the debt
limit and allow Obama's spending measures in the
budget to stand, provided that Obamacare would not
see implementation. Obama would have none of it.
Second, the Republicans changed their stance on
Obamacare to defund it, that is, letting the
program sink or swim with what it had been given.
Obama again refused. Third, the GOP changed
its tack to delaying Obamacare for one year so
people could get a chance to see what they would be
expected to buy for health insurance and get them-
selves financially prepared to pay the horrendously
costly premiums (remember when Obama told us
that his health plan would save us money? And
that if we already have health insurance that we
are happy with we could keep it? Yet more mule
fritters from the Liar-in-Chief!). Obama's response?
Nothing doing.

And all the while, Obama made sure to make the
government shutdown as painful as possible for as
many people as possible, and tried his damndest to
get people to believe that the Republicans were entirely
to blame. Remember what happened to the WWII
veterans who came to visit their memorial? That
was but one of many shocking examples of Obama's
arrogant, petty, vindictive behavior, showing him
as less of a president and more of a dictator.

But in the final version of the budget, the Republicans,
led by House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell, helped pass a budget that
does nothing --- NOTHING --- to address the most
serious fiscal problems facing our nation and does
nothing to repeal, defund, or delay Obamacare; the only
thing that the Republican jellyfish gained on the latter
was income verification measures to verify eligibility
for Obamacare subsidies to assist with the premium
payments. Crumbs off the table instead of a slice of
roast beef! The Republicans did what they all too often
do when in a fight; they wimp out and turn tail. But
there's more, and it ain't pretty.

Sen. McConnell was offered a sweetener by President
Obama: a $2.9 billion payment to build a dam in his
home state of Kentucky if he would accept Obamacare
as is and pipe down. Moderate-liberal Sen. Lamar
Alexander (R-TN) wrote the amendment into the bill
to seal the deal. Meanwhile, Kentuckians and their
families will see their health insurance premiums rise
and their number of available providers dwindle. No
relief for them, nor for anyone else in the other
forty-nine. Too bad, so sad. The elitists score big,
while us peasants get shut out. And their pals in
the pharmaceutical industry will reap big gains from
this foul bargain; $35 billion in profits. No wonder
so many Big Pharma corporate bigwigs were gung ho
for Obamacare! No defunding, no delays. And McConnell
gets his "Kentucky Kickback", and further invitations
to Washington cocktail parties as his thirty pieces of
silver. This is crony capitalism at its worst!

Then the bill was sent back to Boehner and the House.
In that chamber, the Republicans were split along
ideological lines, with 86 representatives voting for
this wholesale sellout and 144 stout souls sticking to
their principles and the people who sent them there
to rein in a runaway budget and bring down the mon-
strosity that is Obamacare.

Again, your enraged Peasant wishes to remind you, my
grand readers, that this sort of behavior by the GOP is
the reason why I left the party and have been a conser-
vative independent ever since. I saw this atrociousness
on other issues back during the second Bush admini-
stration, the selling out of the party's conservative core
and core supporters like myself, just to line some pockets
and get ingratiated with the D.C. "swells" as well as with
Wall Street and some big corporate interests, and it made
me sick to my stomach. And I know that this latest
fiasco from Washington is making you folks reach for the
barf bags and the Kaopectate as well. So here's the cure
for what ails us: starting with next year's elections, we
get rid of the spineless, the schemers, the sellouts, and
the hoity-toities who have gotten fat on the clubby
surroundings there in Washington, forgetting who sent
them there and the reasons why! We shall "primary"
these jerks by sending true conservatives with titanium
spines, crystal clear minds, and impeccable integrity.
We won't forget those on the other side of the aisle
either! We shall send candidates of this very caliber to
challenge and defeat them come the general election.
We'll strengthen the House and take the Senate, sending
the country clubbers packing along with the far-out,
far left-wing Democrats! And in 2016, we'll field a
true conservative --- not a "Beltway conservative" ---
to be the Republican presidential nominee, and field
a like-minded running mate for him/her. No more
McCains and Romneys! Only REAL conservatives
need apply! We need, and we must, nominate and
elect people who will fight for us and not tire quickly
of the battle, who will not retreat, who will never
surrender. Our country is in dire need of such leaders,
therefore our duty is clear. We can not depend on
many of those now in Congress; we must now depend
on ourselves.

And time is of the essence.


MEM

Honoring Our Brave Veterans

Friends, Veteran's Day is close at hand.
Your loyal Peasant has shared many thoughts
and observations of the day and those for whom
this day was established; but keep this one, basic
thought in mind on this Veteran's Day and every day:
If you enjoy your freedom, thank a vet. Because that
vet bought you your freedom at a frighteningly steep
price! Repaying our vets is so very easy, though;
just walking up to one of our warriors of any present
or past war, shaking thier hand and saying "Thank you
for your service and scarifice" makes their day!

Want to do more? Volunteer at a VA hospital or a
vet's home. If you drive, offer a ride to a vet to take
him or her to their doctor for their appointment, or
to take them shopping for groceries or whatever
else they may need. Invite them to participate in
your community's parades on Veteran's Day,
also Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, or just
a parade solely to honor them at any time at all!
Are you a history buff? Fancy yourself a historian?
Offer to record the stories, the memories, the thoughts
of a veteran and his or her service. Know this,
however, that many of our vets are rather reticent
about their wartime exploits for varying reasons,
but you'll find more than a few who will be all too
happy to share tales of their experiences with anyone
who has an appreciation of them and their service.
They would feel so honored, and very touched that
someone cares so much for and about them!

You can certainly come up with more ideas like these
to act upon. And you will make Veteran's Day, and
every day, so much more meaningful for the vets that
you help --- and for you as well.


MEM

Rep. Alan Grayson is Not Fit to Serve in Congress!

An especially vitriolic denizen of the far Left has
recently spewed his especially toxic venom against
the Tea Party recently. How fitting that this monster
has unleashed his most horrible and terrible attack
on those of us who only want our government to
readhere to the Constitution in its governance, to
limit itself in scope and power, and to be account-
able to We the People instead of forcing us to be
subservient to it --- just as the founding fathers
desired and made clear in drafting our Constitu-
tion --- just before Halloween.

U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) had sent out a
poisonously hateful e-letter likening the Tea Party
to the Ku Klux Klan, complete with a photo of a
KKK cross burning with two Klanscreeps in full
white regalia, and the burning cross presented as
the letter "T" in "Tea Party" spelled out next to the
cross. Beneath the picture is a caption saying
"Now you know what the "T" stands for".

Now, Grayson has a reputation for saying outrageous
things about Republicans, especially conservative
Republicans, their legislation, and their opposition
to Democrats' legislation that range from simply
intemperate to forest fire-raging hateful. This
individual --- I hesitate to refer to him as a man
--- has been in and out of Congress and elected
political offices of other sorts largely because of
his offensive behavior and statements. Since his
being returned to the House by virtue of running
for a seat from a different district, Grayson has
gone on the warpath against all whom he politic-
ally disagrees with, reaching new lows in the
process. This e-letter that he sent out, your out-
raged Peasant does not know whether it went
out to his constituents in his district or to
supporters near and far for fundraising purposes,
also includes some transcripted conversation
with fellow left-wing hatemonger Al Sharpton
when Grayson was on Sharpton's MSNBC
show earlier this month. The exchange between
these two moral microbes compliments the
rotten photo all too well, is all that your angered
Peasant will say about that!

Meanwhile, Tea Party activists, especially black
conservatives in the movement, are beyond offended.
They are way past angry. They want to run this
bully out of Congress! Lloyd Marcus, a friend of
your faithful Peasant and one such black conservative
in the Tea Party movement, said in an e-letter sent
out to those on the Conservative Campaign Committee
members list, "As a black conservative who has been
a headliner at hundreds of Tea Party rallies, and
penned the "American Tea Party Anthem", I take
special offense over the hateful words and conduct
of Congressman Grayson .... " The e-letter went on
to show the conversation Grayson and Sharpton
had.

Marcus continued, "Enough is enough! In the
'American Tea Party Anthem' I wrote this line:
'So when they call you a racist, because you
disagree, it's just another one of their dirty tricks
to silence you and me." And Congressman Grayson
is trying to silence us ... ".

Grayson, like so many, too many in the Democrat
Party, knows nothing about his party's shameful history
of keeping black people down; enslaving them, keeping
them from voting and running for office, consigning them
to separate but very unequal accommodations, jobs, and
quality of life in our country. As we know, my dear readers,
the Democrats had not just tolerated slavery and these other
injustices done to blacks but had instituted them. It was
the Republican Party, which was founded in the 1850s,
which did away with these wrongs starting with Abraham
Lincoln's presidency and continuing through a savage
civil war and subsequent Republican administrations.
Republican Dwight Eisenhower, while serving as
president, ordered the desegregation of the school in
Little Rock, Arkansas, where Democrat Governor
Orval Faubus refused to obey a federal order to let
nine black students attend class. Republican Ronald
Reagan appointed Clarence M. Pendleton to be the
first black American Chairman of the U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights. George H.W. Bush, Reagan's Vice
President and successor in the White House, appointed
Clarence Thomas, a black judge, to the U.S. Supreme
Court. These appointments marked a turning point in
the lives of black Americans, shattering the ceiling
imposed over them in terms of what they could accom-
plish in American life and what quality their lives would,
and could, have via American law. And let us not forget,
that Republicans in both houses of Congress were integral
and indispensable to the successful effort to pass the 1964
Civil Rights Act; a greater proportion of Republicans in
the Senate than that of their Democrat colleagues voted
in favor of its passage in that chamber, with the very
conservative Republican Senator Everett Dirksen of
Illinois leading the charge. But all of this is lost on
Rep. Grayson and his fellow hatemongers of the Left,
who have much sway in the Democrat Party these days.
And these beasts are not only haters, bullies, libelers and
slanderers but hypocrites as well, for they then turn
around and accuse Republicans and we in the Tea Party
movement of doing to them precisely what they them-
selves do to us!

Someone once said that you can't fix stupid; I say that you
can't fix evil either. It's time to throw Alan Grayson out of
Congress! In next year's Congressional election we Tea Party
folk have to make giving this spiteful fiend the boot; this
we must put on our "to do" list for 2014! And we should also
work to defeat any and all other elected officials and candi-
dates for public office who engages in slinging not just mud
but manure at decent, honest, concerned Americans who
only want to return fiscal sanity and responsibility along
with respect for the Constitution and for We the People.
If we are to reclaim our country, this is essential.

This magnificent country belongs to decent, civil, temperate
people. Hysterical, unhinged, deranged losers like Alan
Grayson have no business being involved in our country's
governance.


MEM

Halloween Greetings!

Enjoy Halloween, my fantastic readers and your families!
Enjoy Trick-or-Treating with your children, host Hallo-
ween parties, watch scary movies that are in keeping with
this unique day, and scare a liberal!

To do this last thing, try any or all of the following:

*Wear a shirt or sweatshirt with Ronald Reagan on it.

*Wear a shirt or sweatshirt with John Wayne on it.

*Plaster your car or truck with conservative candidate's/
causes' bumper stickers and drive around in a solidly
liberal neighborhood or town. Wear a Reagan mask,
too, if you have one!

*For that matter, have your child go Trick-or-Treating
while wearing a Reagan mask, if you live in such a
community! But accompany your child just in case
some lefties try some nasty tricks, i.e. setting dogs
after your little goblin.

*Put up scary Halloween images, i.e. ghosts, monsters,
vampires, zombies, and skeletons wearing or holding
signs daying "Liberals stay away!" Come to think of it,
these would be quite useful during an election season,
especially with Halloween coming so close ahead of
Election Day.

*When decorating your yard with aforementioned images,
top it off with playing recordings of speeches by Ronald
Reagan and Barry Goldwater, and recordings of editions
of "Firing Line", William F. Buckley's talk show.

But best of all, and you can do this any time of the year,
each and every day really; live your lives as the proud
Americans that you are! Wear your candidates' and causes'
pins and clothing when you go out, campaign for same,
attend your services in your houses of worship, help a
neighbor in need, tutor a child who is struggling in school,
clean up your neighborhood, donate money, food, clothing,
and furniture to the poor, do whatever thing or things which
will benefit someone. For that is what we conservatives are
about; service is at our core, and pride in our heritage and
in our great country is our mantle.

Have a Happy Halloween!


MEM