Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Happy New Year!

To all my wonderful readers,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here's a little something to wrap up 2009 with
while stepping into 2010! Check out US Senator
Max Baucus' rather strange speech on the floor
of the Senate recently. Seems he is a sore loser
re: the failure of the Obama health care reform
bill failing in its original version to gain passage,
and some observers of his rambling rant wonder
if he was drunk when he gave it. His speech seemed
to be rather slurred! Was he or wasn't he?

You can judge for yourselves by going to YouTube
to see and hear Sen. Baucus' spouting:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Y9X5ggxzA

Enjoy the piece and enjoy New Year's Eve!
Your pal The Peasant wishes you all a Happy New Year!

MEM

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Christmas Gift Ideas

How's everybody doing?


Your friendly neighborhood Peasant has some wonderful gift ideas

for you! These gift items are geared toward the conservative bookworm

in your family or circle of friends (It may even be you!).


Here is a short list of some wonderful books written by and for "right-

minded" folks, some of them I have scanned at local bookstores and

libraries. Not only will they provide much reading pleasure but also

political and intellectual vitamins to bolster a righty in an argument

with a lefty (or lefties). Some of these books have some terrific humor

as well!



"Going Rogue"

by Sarah Palin

Publisher: Harper Collins

$24.95 hard cover

Governor palin's account of what happened in the 2008 presidential

campaign, including her problems with some of Sen. John McCain's

campaign staffers as well as her assessments on Barack Obama. She

also shares her thoughts on a run for the Presidency in 2012. A must-

read for conservatives looking to rebuild the GOP and reclaim the White

House!


"Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir"

by Christopher Buckley

Publisher: Hatchette Book Group

$24.99 hard cover

The son of William F. Buckley Jr., regarded by many as the Father of

the Conservative Movement in the United States, Christopher Buckley

gives a tragicomic account of the year in which he lost both parents.

His mother, a renown socialite, with her husband hosted many a party

featuring members of Congress, U.S. Presidents and cabinet members,

heads of state from other countries, not to mention many dignitaries and

prominent conservatives from many different backgrounds, passed away

shortly before her iconic husband Bill. Christopher Buckley shares all

what transpired with him and other members of the Buckley clan along

the way in the time of the departures of his beloved parents, whom he

affectionately addressed as "Mum and Pup". Both touching and humorous,

it is a book which resonates well with anyone who likewise has bid a final

farewell to one or both parents (as I have done).


"Arguing With Idiots - How To Stop Small Minds and Big Government"

by Glenn Beck

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

$29.99 hard cover

Packed with sharp insight, solid wisdom, and pointed humor, Glenn Beck's

latest book is a great source of information to use when arguing politics

and related things with a liberal. He crafts wonderful comebacks and

arguments geared toward stock, reflexively made points from left-leaning

opponents. Beck also gives many facts to have at the ready, backing them

up with logic and giving the sources of these facts. Informative and fun!


Also from Glenn Beck:

"Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-Of-Control

Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine"; a book which pays homage to

and bases itself on the writings of one of our country's founding fathers.

A reminder that actions do indeed have consequences.


"An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems"

which tells how Americans can work to solve the problems relating to the

enviornment, the economy, national security, and more besides. A fine

antidote to the "solutions" thrown at us by the "politically correct" and by

people with self-serving agendas.



I shall share some more conservative-themed Christmas gift ideas as I

find them. Meantime, I hope that these aforementioned ideas prove

helpful to you in your Christmas shopping efforts. These are wonderful

books to give to that special someone and a self-indulgent treat just for

you!


Again, Merry Christmas & Joyful Tidings!


MEM









Wednesday, December 2, 2009

December Plans

Hello, my wonderful readers! I hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving last month.
Your Peasant had a quiet and restful one which was most appreciated, especially since I
was schduled to work on Black Friday, the day following Thanksgiving and the busiest
shopping day of the year in the United States. It is so named, Joyce Behar you left-wing
loudmouthed mini-brain and your fellow magpies on The View (a truly pitiful TV-talk show)
because it is the one day of the whole year which can enable a retail business to pull in enough
revenues from sales to ensure a profit for the year, going into "the black" and away from
"the red" (the latter meaning losses rather than profits). It is not, as Behar proclaimed
recently on this joke of a talk show, a racist term!

I want to take the time to alert you all to my having to alter my blogging schedule for the
month of December, as it is going to be an even busier month than I originally anticipated.
Between work and some social committments, as well as some personal business to attend,
I will not be able to post each week as I normally do. Rather, I shall post every two weeks
rather than weekly for this month. I shall, of course, resume my weekly blogging schedule
in January. Things should quiet somewhat by then and my schedule should lighten as well.
In the meantime, I do hope that I'm not disappointing anyone; this is a very necessary but
temporary measure. I never want to let you, my loyal readers down in any way. You mean
the world to me!

Thank you all for your understanding and your continued support! May Christmastime be
especially joyful for you! We will visit again before the year closes.


Merry Christmas To All!

Mark E. Minor
Your Faithful "Peasant"

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Counting My Blessings

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, our national day of expressing gratitude for the things
in our lives for which we are thankful. While it is easy to give thanks in good times, it is a
far stronger statement to give thanks in times like these as it is much more heartfelt when
circumstances are daunting. Even in the darkest hours one can still find good things to be
grateful for; to start with, one can be grateful that one is alive, and therefore has the where-
withal to rise up from the lowly, dreary place one has fallen to. And though it sounds like a
cliche', things can certainly be worse than they actually are. All of us should bear this in mind,
especially when we feel our pain the most.

Here are some of the things that your humble Peasant is thankful for, and not just at
Thanksgiving:

Rising each morning to greet another day, in which I sow the seeds for the things in life
that I desire to have, to accomplish, and to enjoy.

I have very loving, caring, generous friends who have helped me to navigate the stormy
waters in which I have had to sail in during the past two years. Their help has been invaluable
in helping me to overcome some career, legal, and other challenges which have been products
of this perilously weak economy.

After losing the lease on my previous home and getting evicted for failure to keep current on
the rent, I have a new home where my landlord is also an attorney specializing in financial
difficulties of various sorts --- and he is assisting me with related litigation against me PRO
BONO (free of charge)!

When I lost a decent-paying job which also afforded me health insurance and a retirement plan,
one friend hired me to be a member of his landscaping crew, as well as to administer a youth
basketball league. Another friend helped me to gain my current job, a Christmastime position
at a JC Penney store which could last beyond the yuletide season. This same friend also helped me to move to my current home, never asking for compensation or renumeration.
A friend at my church, who is an organizer of our job seekers' support group and a career coach
as well as a resume' specialist, crafted a brand new resume' for me --- I never even asked her
to do this and would never have done! --- volunteering her time and labor.
Food is not a problem. I have been paid in both money and groceries by my landscaping friend
for my work. I also receive a monthly grocery voucher from a program at my church, for which
I shall repay same for all their help when things improve a bit more for me.
My health is quite good. I have ample stamina as well. I'd better have, as I am on my feet all
day each work day at JC Penney!
My gratitude for having my dear cat Kevin with me for ten wonderful years is without measure;
although he passed away last year just two days after Thanksgiving I shall always be thankful
for the time we spent together, right up to the end. Kevin breathed his final breath as I held him
close. I immediately prayed a prayer of thankfulness for having this beautiful and loving little
companion, and will never stop being thankful for Kevin's presence in my life. I could not ask for
a better, finer cat, or any animal companion for that matter.
I am deeply grateful for all of my friends, past and present, passed on and still living. I cherish
each and every one of them! They have brightened my life more than I can describe with any
words. They each mean more to me than I shall ever mean to them.
Finally, I am so very grateful to live in a country where there are countless opportunities to
create and enjoy a wonderful life with career success, a generous income, and the comforts and
pleasures that it makes possible; where I am free to express my thoughts, opinions, and ideas
(such as those here in my blog); where liberty for the individual, rather than total compliance
with and obedience to the state, is the rule. I am thankful every day for being a citizen of the
United States of America.
MEM

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Death by Political Correctness?

In the aftermath of the massacre at Fort Hood, Texas committed by a single gunman,
U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, many people are wondering as to whether the
military and the government were too slow to recognize and react to the warning
signs of potential danger in Hasan, who killed 13 people and wounded at least 29
others before being shot (not fatally) by a civilian police officer, or were following a
protocol of political correctness. There were many signs that Hasan was trouble waiting to erupt, yet was allowed to complete his training to give treatment to
soldiers in combat zones suffering from combat stress; Hasan, trained in psychiatry,
was soon to be deployed to Iraq and was most upset about it.

For starters, Hasan openly called himself a Muslim first and an American second.
During army training he was very vocal in this regard, also stating that he held
Shari'a law above the U.S. Constitution. Shari'a law is a strict code which the most
radical Muslims adhere to, prescribing harsh penalties (including death) for trans-
gressions of its provisions. When asked about his stance by fellow officers, Hasan
would become sweaty, nervous, defensive, and belligerent.

Second, Hasan gave a PowerPoint presentation he titled "Why the 'War On Terror' Is
a War on Islam" at a public health seminar(!).The officer in charge of the event
astonishingly had approved Hasan's chosen topic. What made that officer think that
Hasan's topic was relevant to the purpose of the health seminar? And wouldn't that
presentation, under any circumstances, be detrimental to the morale of the troops?
Usually all branches of the U.S. Military forbid expressions of such substance in
both times of peace and war. Why was an exception made here?

Third, Hasan openly praised the murder of a U.S. soldier by a Muslim at an Arkansas
recruitment center. So much for loyalty and comradeship. Why wasn't Hasan court-
martialled or discharged from the U.S. Army?

Fourth, Hasan was caught corresponding via e-mail with a radical imam, Anwar Al-Awlaki, from Yemen. Al-Awlaki had called upon all Muslims to kill American
soldiers in Iraq. The imam is well known to U.S. Intelligence. It is only now, after
the tragedy, that Hasan's computer is being "scrubbed" --- examined for all e-mail
correspondence between Hasan and Al-Awlaki.

Fifth, Hasan cleaned out his apartment near the base shortly before the shooting,
giving away all of his possessions to his neighbors. He obviously was not planning
to return.

As a "by the way" there is the fact that Hasan was considered a mediocre student in
his army training for his position and a lazy worker to boot. This avered by the
doctors and staff at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Uniformed Services
University of the Health Sciences, the latter a military medical school.

So the burning question: Why was Nidal Malik Hasan allowed to go through U.S.
Army training as a combat health professional and given promotions all the while,
despite all the bells, buzzers, and whistles? The U.S. Military has been instructed by the government to practice and emphasize more diversity and inclusiveness, especial-
ly concerning personnel of Muslim faith.But did it go too far by turning a blind eye
toward an angry, resentful soldier of that faith for the sake of that diversity? While it
is fine and commendable to provide opportunities to serve our country to all Amer-
icans of all social, religious, and ethnic groups, performance and loyalty --- espec-
ially the latter! --- must never be sacrificed for the sake of achieving and maintaining
diversity. Both our security and sovereignty depend upon maintaining certain stan-
dards. If our president and Congress do not agree or understand this, then we should
clean house in the 2010 and 2012 elections!

MEM

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A Veteran's Day Tribute

With today being November 11, a date we Americans have designated as Veteran's Day
to honor our fellow citizens who have served in our military, your faithful Peasant wants
to devote this blog to this very purpose. The political issues and stories of the day can wait
a while for our time and attention; they will all be here tomorrow, believe me!

Although our rights, as well as the laws which guarantee them, are enumerated in our Constitution
it is our brave citizens in our military who protect them while protecting our country itself. No enemy
force would ever come to our land, discover our codified laws for governance and the preservation
of our rights and liberties and say "Gee, these Americans have this thing called a 'constitution' that says
we can't impose our own rules on them; we'd better turn around and go home!". They would have to be
driven out or killed in combat, and our military people are the ones among us trained for and charged with
that very duty.

It is a very great sacrifice that our men and women in our armed services make when they join up.
Their every word and deed is prescribed and regulated much more than in civilian society. When they
are given instructions to do something they are orders, and must be obeyed without question. They go
through long, strenuous basic training to be readied for their tasks ahead. They give up many of the comforts
of home, and when in a war zone, their only comfort is just being alive --- and their hold on that one remaining
comfort is very tenuous. While we enjoy our comfy, cozy beds, our safe and attractive homes, our plentiful
and delicious food and drink, and our recreational activities, our military men and women live in conditions
which would make the spartans of ancient Greece shudder. While we worry about what we're going to wear
to work, or to a party, or to go on a date, our military folk worry if they're going to come marching home or be
carried home in caskets. They worry if they will get to see their spouses, their children, their parents, their
friends, and their homes again.

And for all of this dangerous, harrowing work on behalf of all of us and our country, what do they ask in return?
Precious little, really. They love it when we take the time to thank them in some way. Sometimes we throw a
parade for them. Sometimes we hold a party for them in an armory, a veterans' hall, a courthouse, or a town
hall. Perhaps even at a state capitol or our nation's capitol. Or we turn out to welcome them home when they
complete their depolyments, greeting them at airports and seaports. Even when an individual just takes the time
to walk up to a veteran and says "thank you" for his or her service, that makes the vet's day!

It is the very least we can do to simply thank our veterans for their sacrifice and their service to our country;
after all, they gave up so much to do for us what they did. And they did it for the greatest and noblest reason
that anyone could ever do anything for anyone: out of love. That's right. Out of love for their ---for our --- fine
and wonderful country. And we all reap the benefits of their shockingly difficult labor, with the liberties which
we enjoy but so many of us take for granted. Included among them is freedom of speech, really expression,
in its many forms. Your Peasant benefits in this way, wielding my trusty "pitchfork" each week taking on those
in power who abuse that power when they abuse us. And I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am to
our men and women in uniform, both past and present. Among them are members of my family and some of
my friends.

In summation, I just want to say to all of our armed service people, the men and women of the U.S. Army,
Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines thank you all a trillion times over! I, and
we all, owe you a debt so great that we shall be forever in paying it! You are why our great country, The
United States of America, is free, prosperous, and strong. May it be so forever more! And God Bless
each and every one of you! Folks, if you enjoy your freedom, thank a vet!

MEM

Friday, November 6, 2009

The Reckoning

The results of Election Day this week have shown two things:
the manifestation of the outrage of many Americans over the
growth of government and resultant spending with their elected
officials' refusal to even listen to their objections, and a preview
of what's in store for many more of these arrogant elitists in 2010.
These races were for the governorships of New Jersey and
Virginia and for the U.S. House seat from New York's 23rd
Congressional District.

In New Jersey, a very solidly Democrat state, voters angry at
Democrat Gov. John Corzine over his gluttonous appetite for
taxing and spending gave him his walking papers, voting in
Republican Chris Christie to replace him. Christie promised to
slash taxes and expenditures as well as to crack down on the
corruption in Trenton, which has been largely perpetuated by
Democrat legislators. Corzine was running for a second term,
and has become just the third incumbent governor in New
Jersey's history to be defeated in a bid for a second term,
while Christie became the first Republican governor there
since the 1980s.

Virginia chose Republican Bob McConnell as its next governor
over Democrat State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds. In a very conservative
state where Democrats have made considerable gains in recent
elections, electing Democrat governors and swinging the state for
Barack Obama in last year's presidential election, Virginia voters'
disgust with skyrocketing government growth and encroaching
economic stagnation shot the Democrat's rocket out of the political
sky.

 In New York's 23rd Congressional District, however, conservative
activist Doug Hoffman lost to Democrat Bill Owendespite a gallant
campaign along with the withdrawal of Republican nominee Dede
Scozzafava from the race just days earlier. But it was a nail-biter;
Owen took 49% of the vote to Hoffman's 46% while the New York
GOP bosses' sweetheart Scozzafava received 5%. Her name
remained on the ballot because she withdrew too late in the
season to have her name removed. Scozzafava, being a true class
act, promptly endorsed the Democrat Owen after announcing
the cessation of her campaign. To the best of your favorite
Peasant's knowledge, the New York Republican bigwigs
never raised a peep to object, let alone did anything to
counter Scozzafava's blatant act of party disloyalty.
This race should have been a slam dunk!

The contested seat was held by a conservative Republican for
nearly twenty years, and had been in GOP hands for more than
a century! But the New York Republican Party chiefs, being much
more liberal than the national party, handpicked a candidate who
was politically indistinguishable from most Democrats over a true
conservative Republican who then had to run on the New York
State Conservative Party ticket. I would not be surprised if these
same party poopers voted for the Democrat Owen after their
stooge Scozzafava exited the race!

The commonality in all three races? The Tea Party Activists!
Many disgruntled voters banded together with the Tea Party
Movement by not only voting for, but also actively campaigning
for conservative candidates, putting liberals in both parties on
notice that they WILL be listened to, that they WON'T be brushed
aside, and that they are taking back our government at all levels.
If the Democrats and the "Establishment" Republicans want to
avoid further political bloodletting, they have exactly one year
to clean up their act. If they fail to do so, they'd better dust off
and update their resume's because they're going to need new
employment!


MEM

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Battleground: Upstate New York

The civil war in the Republican Party between the forces
of principle and the forces of expediency has come to the
23rd Congressional District of the state of New York.
The district, which comprises much of upstate New York,
is sparsely populated with much of the populace concentrated
in small towns while a scattering of dairy farms dot the area.
Politically, the citizens lean rightward, although Barack Obama
won the district with 52% of the vote, while they sent U.S. Repre-
sentative John McHugh (R) to Congress nine consecutive times.
With McHugh having been appointed Secretary of the Army by
Presidnet Obama, a special election will be held on Tuesday,
November 3 to choose McHugh's successor.

Three candidates are on the ballot: Republican candidate Dede
Scozzafava, Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, and
Democrat candidate Bill Owens. The district's GOP is divided
between Scozzafava, the pick of the party bosses, and Hoffman,
the choice of the rank-and-file Republicans and the Tea Party
activists.

Dede Scozzafava, a 10-year member of the New York State
Assembly, compiled a voting record that one would expect
of a substantially liberal democrat. In fact, her voting record
puts Scozzafava to the left of nearly half of the Democrats in
the assembly! She has voted for a state version of "Card Check",
a measure which would eliminate the Secret Ballot in union
certification elections as well as force workers to accept binding
arbitration. Workers would be vulnerable to attempts to pressure
them into voting in a union in their workplaces. This measure also
mirrors the federal legislation crafted by congressional Democrats.
Scozzafava also has spoken in favor of President Obama's stimulus
plan and has voted for a state stimulus plan drawn up in Albany.
Furthermore, she has cosistently voted for increased taxation and
spending throughout her decade in New York's Assembly and is
also a staunch abortion rights supporter. The 23rd District counties'
GOP chairmen have gotten behind Scozzafava; though disturbing,
this is not surprising when you consider that the liberal wing of
the New York Republican Party reclaimed control of the party
in recent years.

Doug Hoffman, an accountant, is a rock-solid conservative
Republican. Snubbed by the district's party bosses, Hoffman has 
the enthusiastic support of the Tea Party people along with that 
of the New York Conservative Party. Favoring tax cuts over tax 
increases, growing the economy over growing the government,
and being conservative both fiscally and socially (Hoffman is pro-
life on the issue of abortion), he says "I am not your run-of-the-mill
politician, and maybe that's why the Republican bosses don't like
me." A first-time office seeker, he has steadily gained ground on
both Scozzafava and Owen in recent polls.

Bill Owen, an attorney, is a garden-variety liberal Democrat. 
He stands out in contrast to Dede Scozzafava in one way:
Owen has actually criticized her for SPENDING TOO
MUCH MONEY! He has publically ripped Scozzafava for
voting for bloated, tax-and-spend-crazy state budgets in the
Assembly(!).  Robert Ripley, call your office! This story is
an item for your "Believe It Or Not!" Museum!

Do you see how Republicans are shooting themselves in the
foot here? They have a golden opportunity to retain a long-
held congressional seat and make a statement at the same time,
that the GOP is back on the wagon of fiscal restraint, the pre-
servation of personal freedom, and halting runaway government,
but they're blowing it big-time! William Farber, Hamilton County
Republican Chairman, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal in
an October 16 article about the upcoming special election
stating "We asked, is it possible to put in place a Republican
candidate that uniformly stands for all the conservative values
of the far right, but is unelectable?  I would much rather have a
candidate like Dede Scozzafava that I don't agree with 100% of
the time, but has always been honest and forthright."
Judging by Farber's remarks, one can draw the following
conclusions: (1) Farber does not know his district very well,
if at all. It has approximately 46,000 more registered Republicans
than Democrats, and most of the time votes for conservative
candidates. (2) Farber is ignorant of the fact that the conservative
values of what he arrogantly terms "the far right" helped the
Republican Party become the majority party for the while it
adhered to those values. That is how Ronald Reagan was elected
to the presidency in 1980, and how the party won both houses
of congress in 1994. (3) If Farber does not, in fact, agree with
Dede Scozzafava "100% of the time", he at least seems to agree
with her enough of the time to back her over the much more
conservative Douglas Hoffman. The New York Conservative
Party has given her a 15% conservative rating based on their
analysis of her votes in the Assembly; she is regarded as one of
the most liberal members of that chamber, regardless of party
affiliation. So what does that say about Chairman Farber?
(4) Finally, since Farber finds Scozzafava "honest and forthright",
can it be implied that he finds Hoffman dishonest and shifty?
If so, is it because of some character flaws that Farber has seen
but has not become apparent to anyone else, or is it because Farber
believes, ad hominem, that conservatives are untrustworthy?

Such ignorance and stupidity can only doom the Republican Party
to further wandering in the political wilderness. The GOP-leaning
electorate  in New York's 23rd Congressional District can drive this
point home by voting for Douglas Hoffman to be their next U.S.
Representative in Congress.


MEM



 

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Principle Versus Expediency

The battle for the Republican Party rages on.
The forces of principle, the people who favor limited
government, are exchanging volleys with the forces of
expediency, those who support expansion of government
power in the marketplace as well as in other areas of our lives.

One particular shootout merits mention here, a matchup
between U.S. Representative Ron Paul (TX) and U.S. Senator
Lindsay Graham (SC). Rep. Paul, who blends conservative and
libertarian political views, wants to grow the economy rather
than the government. He wants "honest money" instead of
the increasingly plentiful fiat money rolling off Uncle Sam's
printing press at an ever-increasing speed. Rep. Paul
wants to lower taxes to allow taxpayers to have more
of their own money to spend on needed goods and services,
which in turn will stimulate those businesses that provide them,
thereby creating jobs and stimulating the economy.
Sen. Graham, meanwhile, favors more governmental involvement
in the quest to stimulate the economy. Being quite chummy
with the advocates of larger government, he has been quoted
in a story that was recently published by 
The Daily Bell (http://www.thedailybell.com/) as saying that
"(he was) not going to allow the Republican Party to be 
hijacked by Ron Paul". Graham thinks that the Republican
Party should back candidates "who can win" regardless
of whether their political philosophies square with that of
the "Principle" crowd. Principle, to Sen. Graham and his
followers, seems to be all well and good unless it gets in
the way of seemingly quick and easy political gain.

But this is precisely the kind of thinking which caused the
GOP to sell out its principles along with its base. It is also
why, after 32 years in the party, your beloved Peasant left 
after the 2006 debacle and has been a conservative independent
ever since. Those of us who came to the Republican Party
looking for an alternative to ever-growing, costly, inefficient
and paternalistic government were betrayed by many of those
whom we elected to Congress and the White House.
As a result, many among us either voted for Libertarian Party
or write-in candidates, stayed home, or even --- yes, some
disaffected conservatives really did this --- voted for Barack
Obama and other Democrats, thinking that they wouldn't be
any worse than moderate-liberal in political tone. I wonder
what they're thinking now! So the Democratic Party won
control of the House and the Senate in 2006, then gained the
White House in 2008, padding their majorities in the
chambers of Congress.

The lesson to be learned is this: the way for the Republican
Party to regain and maintain power is to return to the principles
of limited government which it had abandoned for political
expediency, and to regain the trust and support of its base,
even if its has to beg on bended knee for it, and the party
may well need to do so. Offering the same thing as the
opposition but in smaller portions is no true alternative,
and the people are smart enough to recognize that. If the
people don't receive a clear-cut alternative to the proponents
of Big Government, then what happened in the last two elections
will continue into the forseeable future; this will be a trend that
we as a nation might not survive long enough to successfully
counter.


MEM

Friday, October 16, 2009

An Important Development

On Monday October 12 I was offered a wonderful, exciting job
with a major retailer for the Christmas season as a sales associate
in their menswear department, and I joyfully accepted the offer.
My work schedule shall begin as part-time, then become full-time
as Christmas draws closer.

Now, you may be asking "Why is the Peasant telling me this? Does
he believe that there is hot political action taking place in the
world of retail?" I mention this because my work schedule will
sometimes necessitate having to post on different days than I
have done to date. For example: I have been posting on Fridays
and Saturdays since starting this blog, but some weeks I will
have to work on those days and likely put in long hours.
So, during those weeks I shall post on different days, but at
least I will still be able to post weekly as has been my plan
from the outset. This is, of course, a weekly blog.

Rest assured, my wonderful readers, that there shall be no
forseeable interruptions in the essays offered weekly by your
ever-lovin' Peasant! Much to the consternation of the left-wingers
and "faux" conservatives, we shall continue to shine the light
of scrutiny on them while giving support to the people afflicted
by them, and have loads of fun in the process!

Your favorite Peasant has been hit hard by the sickly economy,
as has to bring home the bacon as best he can, as is so for
many of us. But this is what ensures that I am in touch with what
we all have to struggle with every day, unlike many of those in
the halls of power. This is what's known as "Keepin' it real!"

Thank you, my loyal readers, for your understanding and support!
We shall be triumphant!


MEM

Saturday, October 10, 2009

(Tea) Party Hearty!

The United States of America came to be when the citizens
of thirteen English colonies in North America protested,
and later went to war over the relentlessly increasing
taxation and regulation of commerce, the centralized
governance of the colonies, and the arrogant unwillingness
of the Crown and the Parliament to even listen to the
colonists' complaints. One of the more famous acts of
protest that was staged before the war was the Boston
Tea Party.

One December day in 1773 a handful of Bostonians raided
the supply of tea shipped over by the British East India
dumping it into Boston's harbor. It has been said that
American freedom was brewed in the world's biggest teapot.

Today, many Americans are complaining to our federal
government, as well as to our state and local governments
about the profligate spending and skyrocketing taxes, as
well as the increasing regulation of not just business but
every aspect of our lives. With our complaints falling on
willfully deaf ears, we are holding "tea parties" to
publicize our grievances; these rallies alert and educate
people about the fiscal and general radicalism of our
elected officials and the painful consequences where our
fortunes and our liberties are concerned. The very spirit
that the American colonists exhibited over two hunderd years
ago in standing up to the British government is alive and
well in the American citizens standing up to Washington
as well as the state and local governments through rallies
and town hall meetings.

President Barack Obama and the Democrat majority in Congress,
joined (distressingly) by some republicans, ridicule us for
our objections to their "stimulus packages", their buying shares
in heretofore private sector entities to gain control of them,
and their arrogant desire for stringent regulation of our lives
under the rubric of countering global warming (more on that in
a future posting!). We get further disrespect and contempt
from the very people we elected to our state and local
governments, not to mention the media. We have been called
"howlers", "angry mobs", "racists(!)", and "astroturfers".
Yet we have conducted ourselves in a peaceful manner at all
our gatherings, never instigating hostile confrontations,
only striving to make ourselves heard and our point of view
listened to. We have, in fact, been jeered, physically attacked,
and some of our members being "of color" subjected to racial
epithets. One black man at a town hall meeting in Saint Louis
was slurred and assaulted just for selling buttons with
conservative messages at the event. He had to be hospitalized
for treatment of injuries sustained in the attack.
Apparently a politically conservative black person brings out
the "inner racist" in the diversity-loving, pluralistic Left.
Our ranks are made up of mostly, if not entirely, local
citizens coming together in our town halls and municipal
parks to share our views; our enemies have bben the ones to
bus people in from afar to crowd us out of town hall gatherings
and to shout us down at these meetings, even trying to disrupt
our Tea Party rallies.

Your favorite Peasant had the pleasure of attending a Tea Party
get-together in Milwaukee in September, and I found no angry
mob, no "howlers", no racists, and the only person spoiling
for a fight was a left-wing counter-demonstrator who attacked
a teenaged girl who was taking photos of the event. Thankfully
the pinko thug was apprehended and turned over to the police,
and the girl and her camera were unharmed. One of the attendees
who helped subdue the troublemaker was none other than
Joe The Plumber, one of the speakers at the bash. Joe is the
gentleman who questioned Obama during the latter's campaign
stop in Ohio, where Joe is from, regarding his palns for higher
taxes and increased spending to fix the economy. Joe became a
folk hero almost immediately! I had the great pleasure and
privilege of meeting Joe and visiting with him at the rally's
conclusion; he is a fine and patriotic man and now a renown
activist and plumber both!

Among the guests who addressed the gathering were syndicated
columnist Michelle Malkin, Milwaukee County Executive and
gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker, and local radio talk
show hosts James T. Harris (a conservative black man; so much
for we Tea Party activists being racist!)and Vicki McKenna.
We in attendance were civil, jubilant, carried no signs
with violent or obscene messages, and even cleaned up after
ourselves, not so much as leaving a single plastic cup or
candy wrapper on the ground! Contrast that to rallies held
by the lefties, who leave gobs of trash at the parks, college
campuses, and the grounds of city halls, state capitols,
and other such places. The left-wingers love to accuse we
conservatives of not caring about the enviornment, but THEY
are the ones who give Mother Earth a black eye whenever they
hold a political rally!

We who hold our tea parties are merely exercising our rights
to peacibly assemble and express our opinions and ideas;
rights that are guaranteed for us all, regardless of political
persuasion. Let us tell President Obama, the Democrat-comtrolled
Congress, and the sellouts in the Republican Party that we shall
continue to hold out tea parties, attend town hall meetings,
and to write, fax, e-mail, telephone, and visit their offices
in Washington, in our state capitols, and our city halls to
inform them that we don't want to fund through our taxes
dubious "stimulus programs" which will not stimulate our
ailing economy but instead will line the pockets of the backers
of Obama and his fellow dems. We do not want them to regulate
our businesses out of busienss, nor regulate them or our
personal lives with stringent mandates to combat an enviorn-
mental threat that does not exist! And we WILL make these
elected officials of ours listen to and serve us, NOT ignore
and disrespect us, not dictate to us, and to realize that they
are our servants, NOT OUR MASTERS! When these elitist fools
finally get all this into their arrogant heads, or we replace
them with people who do understand the role of public servants,
then the tea parties will cease; our work will be done.

In the meantime, let's (tea) party hearty!


MEM

Friday, October 2, 2009

Walk the Walk

Can you tell what is wrong with each of the following pictures?

A married conservative governor known for promoting family values
as well as other socially conservative virtues, enters into an
affair with a woman from Argentina. He plans a trip to visit her
in her home country, covering his tracks by instructing his staff
to inform the press and the people of his state that he was going
hiking on the Appalachian Trail for a week. Should an emergency
occur necessitating the governor's return, no one would be able
to contact him. The state would be placed in a vulnerable position.
All of this, after the governor's public condemnations of one-time
congressional House Speaker-designate Bob Livingstone (himself
a Republican) and then-President Bill Clinton for their extra-
marital dalliances; he accused Livingstone of lying to cover up
his affair and stated that Clinton should resign the presidency.
The truth of the tryst comes out despite the governor's secrecy,
leaving his family life and his career in shambles.

A conservative Republican candidate for a seat in his state's
legislature, or perhaps in Congress, is elected on the tradi-
tional conservative vow to reform the budget so as to rein in
spending and lower taxes. On the campaign trail, he was critical
of the Democrats' always seeking more and more revenue for gov-
ernment programs of questionable necessity and purpose ---
read "pork". "No more pork-barrell projects! Accountability to
the taxpayers!" was the candidate's promise to the people.
But not long after taking office, the legislator veers away
from the candidtae's promise, voting for exactly the kind of
projects that the candidate had criticized, all to gain favor
with powerful interest groups with deep pockets and loads of
clout.

In the first picture, the philandering hypocrite is Governor
Mark Sanford of South Carolina; in the second picture there
are dozens of Republican legislators, all doing one-eighties
to the chagrin of their constituents back home. Gov. Sanford
flushed his political career down the toilet; he was considered
by many in the GOP to be a strong presidential prospect for
2012, and a lock for re-election as his South Carolina's
governor in the meantime. Neal Thigpen, a political scientist
at Francis Marion University, recently remarked "Now he's
(Sanford) not even a lame duck -- he's a dead duck!"
I couldn't have phrased it any better! As for the Republican
legislators who sold out their political principles and their
supporters for perceived political gain, many of them have
instead lost their seats in their state legislatures and in
Congress to Democrats, resulting in shifts of power in these
legislative bodies. Even former President George W. Bush,
an ostensibly conservative Republican, went against some of
these same conservative principles that the Republican Party
rode to victory in elections in the 1980s and '90s with, most
notably Ronald Reagan, in what were watershed events in American
politics. Bush gave us then-record spending, then-record debt,
and then-record budget deficits, paving the way for the election
of Barack Obama to the presidency along with a Democrat-run
Congress. Obama & Company have since taken these to even
higher levels.

The lesson here is that when conservatives in office go against
conservative principles, they cease being a buffer against
liberal statism as well as cease being an alternative to ethical
and moral laxity. To be a conservative entails adherence to a
set of well-defined political, economic, and social principles
which foster liberty and personal responsibility. When conser-
vatives abandon their sense of responsibility, their account-
ability to the people dissolves, along with the people's
confidence in them. This is why the Republican Party was soundly
defeated in 2006 and 2008.

Note to Gov. Sanford and other wayward conservatives:
your deeds, in both your public and private lives, should
always match your words. Don't just talk the talk; you must
also walk the walk. If you can't --- or won't --- do that,
then stop calling yourselves conservatives.


MEM

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Greetings!

Greetings, America!

This is both an exciting and a dangerous time for the United States.
We have a president and a congress seeking to radically
remake our government, our economy, and our society. We also
have a populace who, after having elected said president
and congress on the basis of wanting "change", now has "buyer's
remorse" as it has decided that it doesn't like the "change"
that the president and the congress has unveiled and is trying
to implement. And the two sides are clashing in a war for not
just the direction, but the soul of America.

A rapidly growing number of Americans want our elected public
servants to adhere to the principles of governance that our
country's founding fathers established; limited government,
government truly representative of the people, and adherence
to the United States Constitution --- the document which defines
the boundaries of governmental actions, enumerating the rights
and responsibilities of the federal government within while
setting aside certain other functions to the states to tend to.
We Americans are discovering (or, in some cases, rediscovering)
our constitution and the wisdom of the men who created it, and
are asking our elected representatives why they aren't governing
in accordance with its provisions. Their answer (if you could
call it an answer) is a cold shoulder, disrespect, and ridicule!
Furthermore, some of our elected representatives at the state
and local levels are acting just as arrogantly!

Our elected officials, our supposed public servants, who owe
their positions to us, call us "angry mobs", "malcontents",
"howlers", "rednecks", "racists", and even "terrorists"!
All because we dare to disagree with them over the direction
in which they want to take our country with their brand of
"change"! All because we want them to listen to our concerns
and our ideas for solving the problems that we as a nation face!
"Who do they think they are?" they say about us. We are the
citizens of the United States, the people who gave these
self-styled elites their jobs and political careers, and that
makes us their bosses, NOT the other way around! They view us as
peasants and our country as their fiefdom. Thus, the name and
the purpose of this blog, "Peasant With A Pitchfork".

I am a proud member of the nation-wide "angry mob", one of the
"peasants" who want to reclaim our wonderful country from these
bumptious bums. I want to replace these elitists with people who
understand the role of public servants and gladly embrace that
role and its duties. One of the many freedoms that we Americans
enjoy is the right to dissent, which is enveloped in the United
States Constitution's first amendment which guarantees our freedom
of speech --- the free expression of our thoughts and ideas.
A right that our elected officials seem hostile to us employing
to express our dissent with them and their actions. Thus, this
blog is my "pitchfork".

In this blog I will share my ideas, and those of like-minded
Americans, through not only activism in the political arena but
the arenas of our economy, our marketplace, our education system,
and our culture. We will take the fight to the foe on all fronts!
And I want you, my readers, to feel free to share your ideas for
this endeavor with me and with each other through this blog.
Together we shall contribute to and shape the national dialogue
on what kind of country our country should be. We will thus
create the kind of country which we shall pass on to the coming
generations of Americans. It is our right, our duty, and a great
blessing. Besides, it will be a lot of fun!

Welcome!

Mark E. Minor
"Peasant With A Pitchfork"