This week a champion of family values, a stalwart conservative
in all ways, and a dynamic congressman suddenly resigned his
seat in the House of Representatives to spend more time with
his family back in Wisconsin, where he and his wife are
expecting a baby soon, a baby entering this world with a heart
condition which threatens the little child's life even as she
is waiting to be born. U.S. Representative Sean Duffy (R-WI)
announced his resignation on Monday of this week, to take
effect September 23. Sean Duffy simply wants to be there for
his newest and neediest child, as well as for his wife Rachel
Campos-Duffy and their eight other children.
Duffy wrote on his Facebook page, "As you all know, raising a
family is hard work ... it's especially true for one as large and
busy as mine. Being away from home in Washington four days
a week is challenging, and for that reason, I have always been
open to signs from God when it comes to balancing my desire
to serve both my family and my country." Duffy has been in
the House for 8 1/2 years, representing a district in northern
Wisconsin which previously was long held by a Democrat
who decided against running for another term when Duffy
first announced his candidacy for that seat. Duffy stated that
he and his family just recently learned that their baby, due in
October, has this deadly malady and that their baby will "need
even more love, time, and attention due to complications,
including a heart condition."
"With much prayer, I have decided that this is the right time
for me to take a break from public service in order to be the
support that my wife, baby and family need right now," he
continued, saying to his constituents that he loved being their
representative in the House but that his family was his first
love and most important responsibility. He also said that he
is not leaving politics forever, just for this critical time to
be on hand for his family. The Peasant says to Sean Duffy
"Bravo and God bless!". He has served his district well,
and has also done his constituents and all Wisconsinites
proud, never more so than in doing this self-sacrificing
act. Would that we had more public servants, both elected
and appointed, who have this ethic, this moral compass,
this sense of proportion and priority. And perhaps maybe,
just maybe, see Sean Duffy toss his hat in the political
ring again some day.
God bless you, Rep. Sean Duffy, and your family.
You have set the standard for what family values, a conservative
touchstone, are all --- and should be --- about. You are a
role model and a beacon for us all. Thank you, sir, for your
service and your example.
MEM
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Back From Ireland on Lake Michigan!
After four days of Irish culture (especially the music!),
singing with my Chuck Ward Celtic Song Circle pals,
visiting old friends and making new ones, having some
beers with my cousin Finbarr Clancy of the High Kings
while checking out another band, whose members Finbarr
knows well and loves their music, Rum Ragged, from
Canada (a wonderful band, I do concur), and enjoying
wonderful weather throughout the event, your red, white
and blue (and green) Peasant is gearing up for a return to
the business at hand with you, my fantastic readers!
Next week we'll have a new story to examine and discuss,
giving comfort to the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable
(those who made themselves comfortable by afflicting others)
as always. By the by, have I ever mentioned to you that
Cousin Finbarr is also a conservative? And judging by the
news coming out of his native Ireland, the Emerald Isle
could use a few more folks like my cousin.
Be that as it may, I'll see you all next week!
MEM
singing with my Chuck Ward Celtic Song Circle pals,
visiting old friends and making new ones, having some
beers with my cousin Finbarr Clancy of the High Kings
while checking out another band, whose members Finbarr
knows well and loves their music, Rum Ragged, from
Canada (a wonderful band, I do concur), and enjoying
wonderful weather throughout the event, your red, white
and blue (and green) Peasant is gearing up for a return to
the business at hand with you, my fantastic readers!
Next week we'll have a new story to examine and discuss,
giving comfort to the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable
(those who made themselves comfortable by afflicting others)
as always. By the by, have I ever mentioned to you that
Cousin Finbarr is also a conservative? And judging by the
news coming out of his native Ireland, the Emerald Isle
could use a few more folks like my cousin.
Be that as it may, I'll see you all next week!
MEM
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Time for The Peasant's Irish Holiday
Friends, your busy Peasant is readying himself for the 2019 Milwaukee
Irish Fest, which begins on Thursday this week. Among the many
things which I have to tend to are preparing with my fellow singers in
our Chuck Ward Celtic Song Circle, as we are going to have some small
but wonderful little gigs around the festival grounds during each day
of the fest, including at the end of each day of the event.
This is going to be big for our humble little circle of singers! We have
an opportunity to become even better known around Milwaukee and
the vicinity, as well as to recruit new members. And your musical
Peasant will get to visit with relatives from the Emerald Isle itself
along with local friends and friends from farther afield, including
Eire itself (That's Gaelic for Ireland, by the by).
As a consequence, there shall not be any article this week for you,
but we'll get back to business the following week, right here at
PWAP. Thank you all for your kind understanding and indulgence;
this annual event is important to me in so many ways, and it
rounds out my summers in a most pleasurable way. And of course,
I'll tell you all how our song circle performances went!
Until next week!
MEM
Irish Fest, which begins on Thursday this week. Among the many
things which I have to tend to are preparing with my fellow singers in
our Chuck Ward Celtic Song Circle, as we are going to have some small
but wonderful little gigs around the festival grounds during each day
of the fest, including at the end of each day of the event.
This is going to be big for our humble little circle of singers! We have
an opportunity to become even better known around Milwaukee and
the vicinity, as well as to recruit new members. And your musical
Peasant will get to visit with relatives from the Emerald Isle itself
along with local friends and friends from farther afield, including
Eire itself (That's Gaelic for Ireland, by the by).
As a consequence, there shall not be any article this week for you,
but we'll get back to business the following week, right here at
PWAP. Thank you all for your kind understanding and indulgence;
this annual event is important to me in so many ways, and it
rounds out my summers in a most pleasurable way. And of course,
I'll tell you all how our song circle performances went!
Until next week!
MEM
Thursday, August 8, 2019
William Schultz, R.I.P.
A mentor and a source of inspiration to more than one generation
of distinguished conservative thinkers and writers, an undeniable
force for conservatism in a field long since dominated by liberals,
William Schultz was the one to seek out for advice and guidance
for conservatives making careers in journalism. New York born
and bred, and an alumnus of Antioch College --- neither of these
places being favorable environs for anyone on the Right --- Schultz
signed the Sharon Statement in 1960, thus joining forces with
William F. Buckley Jr. and his then-spanking new conservative
organization for young conservative activists, the Young Americans
for Freedom. Over the course of his long and storied career, Schultz
collaborated with the editorial staff of Human Events; was the
Washington editor for Readers Digest for several decades, leading
the venerable publication to report on the moral and political
bankruptcy of Communism in the waning years of the Cold War,
as well as exposing the folly and the fallacies of Hillary Clinton's
national health insurance plan in the '90s.
The list of literary and journalistic stars who were taken by Schultz
under his wing include Fred Barnes, Jonah Goldberg, Robert Novak,
and William E. Simon, the last listed here having also been
Secretary of the Treasury during the Nixon Administration.
William Schultz thus left a grand journalistic and political legacy
upon leaving this world for otherworldly pastures at the age of 80.
Well done, sir. Resquiescat en pace.
MEM
of distinguished conservative thinkers and writers, an undeniable
force for conservatism in a field long since dominated by liberals,
William Schultz was the one to seek out for advice and guidance
for conservatives making careers in journalism. New York born
and bred, and an alumnus of Antioch College --- neither of these
places being favorable environs for anyone on the Right --- Schultz
signed the Sharon Statement in 1960, thus joining forces with
William F. Buckley Jr. and his then-spanking new conservative
organization for young conservative activists, the Young Americans
for Freedom. Over the course of his long and storied career, Schultz
collaborated with the editorial staff of Human Events; was the
Washington editor for Readers Digest for several decades, leading
the venerable publication to report on the moral and political
bankruptcy of Communism in the waning years of the Cold War,
as well as exposing the folly and the fallacies of Hillary Clinton's
national health insurance plan in the '90s.
The list of literary and journalistic stars who were taken by Schultz
under his wing include Fred Barnes, Jonah Goldberg, Robert Novak,
and William E. Simon, the last listed here having also been
Secretary of the Treasury during the Nixon Administration.
William Schultz thus left a grand journalistic and political legacy
upon leaving this world for otherworldly pastures at the age of 80.
Well done, sir. Resquiescat en pace.
MEM
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Advocating One Thing While Doing Another
There is a burgeoning field of candidates vying for the Democrat
Party's presidential nomination, with 24 hopefuls at the moment
jockeying for position as they come out of the gate for the start
of the White House race. One of them is Tom Steyer, a hedge
fund manager-turned-presidential aspirant, billionaire,
and liberal activist whose specialty is environmental issues
but also wants to lessen what he sees as the impact of corporate
money in politics: "I believe our democracy is corrupted by
corporate money, and the only way to bring real change is from
the outside by giving more power to the American people,"
Steyer said in a recent statement. "That's why I'm running for
President."
So let's see how Tom Steyer's record to date supports (or not)
his avowed stands of these issues. In recent years, he has shared
of his vast fortune with the Democrat Party to the tune of
$350 million, much of it dedicated to fighting climate change.
He is going to fund his long-shot campaign for President with
$100 million of his own money; Forbes estimates his fortune
to be around $1.6 billion. Steyer amassed his wealth through
Farallon Capital Management LLC, the hedge fund he founded
in 1986 and personally operated for 27 years. Yet he complains
about the influence of corporate money in the political arena,
claiming he wants there to be less of the big bucks there.
By 2007, Farallon became one of the world's largest hedge funds,
with $37 billion in funds. During Steyer's time as its manager,
it lent over a billion dollars to coal-mining projects in other
countries.
Having been a consistent Democrat donor for over thirty years,
he increased his presence in the party as a fundraiser during
John Kerry's unsuccessful 2004 presidential effort. In 2008,
Farallon lost 36% of its funds' values as real estate markets
in the U.S. and other countries went bearish. Itching to become
more involved in politics, Steyer stayed on to see his hedge fund
firm through the aftermath until stabilization took root. In 2012
he announced to his clients that he was going to focus on
philanthropic activities, which he had begun some years before,
naming a successor to take over the firm. His choice,
Andrew Spokes, was previously in charge of the unit that
financed the international coal projects. Doesn't sound terribly
green to me, unless you are thinking of monetary green.
Here, one must ask the question of how does Tom Steyer square
these investment activities with his environmental advocacy
of battling climate change, which those on the Left like Steyer
wholeheartedly believe is due to human activity rather than
nature's caprices.
Ah, but Steyer has involved himself (and his money) in other
interesting things as well. In 2007 Steyer was asked by
Californian Democrat operative Chris Lehane to help fund
the campaign to defeat a proposed ballot initiative in that state
which would have apportioned California's presidential electors
in a way which would have benefited Republican presidential
nominees. Steyer's $1 million infusion into that campaign
helped it to succeed, as did the $5 million he gave to the effort
to defeat a proposition to overturn a state law to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, giving some financial easement
to California's businesses which have long been bound up in
red tape and high taxes as the cost of doing business in
California.
And we haven't even discussed Steyer's maniacal fixation on
impeaching and removing President Donald Trump from
office; now that the impeachment scheme has fallen flat,
Steyer fancies himself as a "White Knight" who will ride in
and save our country from the villainous, awful President
Trump. Oh yes, Steyer has a particularly bad case of TDS
(Trump Derangement Syndrome), a disease quite prevalent
on the left side of the political divide.
All this by someone who wants to lessen the influence of big
money from the corporate sector in politics; brilliant idea of
Steyer's, get corporate big money out of politics by putting
your own corporate big money in. And now this man wants
to be our next president? The Peasant thinks not.
MEM
Party's presidential nomination, with 24 hopefuls at the moment
jockeying for position as they come out of the gate for the start
of the White House race. One of them is Tom Steyer, a hedge
fund manager-turned-presidential aspirant, billionaire,
and liberal activist whose specialty is environmental issues
but also wants to lessen what he sees as the impact of corporate
money in politics: "I believe our democracy is corrupted by
corporate money, and the only way to bring real change is from
the outside by giving more power to the American people,"
Steyer said in a recent statement. "That's why I'm running for
President."
So let's see how Tom Steyer's record to date supports (or not)
his avowed stands of these issues. In recent years, he has shared
of his vast fortune with the Democrat Party to the tune of
$350 million, much of it dedicated to fighting climate change.
He is going to fund his long-shot campaign for President with
$100 million of his own money; Forbes estimates his fortune
to be around $1.6 billion. Steyer amassed his wealth through
Farallon Capital Management LLC, the hedge fund he founded
in 1986 and personally operated for 27 years. Yet he complains
about the influence of corporate money in the political arena,
claiming he wants there to be less of the big bucks there.
By 2007, Farallon became one of the world's largest hedge funds,
with $37 billion in funds. During Steyer's time as its manager,
it lent over a billion dollars to coal-mining projects in other
countries.
Having been a consistent Democrat donor for over thirty years,
he increased his presence in the party as a fundraiser during
John Kerry's unsuccessful 2004 presidential effort. In 2008,
Farallon lost 36% of its funds' values as real estate markets
in the U.S. and other countries went bearish. Itching to become
more involved in politics, Steyer stayed on to see his hedge fund
firm through the aftermath until stabilization took root. In 2012
he announced to his clients that he was going to focus on
philanthropic activities, which he had begun some years before,
naming a successor to take over the firm. His choice,
Andrew Spokes, was previously in charge of the unit that
financed the international coal projects. Doesn't sound terribly
green to me, unless you are thinking of monetary green.
Here, one must ask the question of how does Tom Steyer square
these investment activities with his environmental advocacy
of battling climate change, which those on the Left like Steyer
wholeheartedly believe is due to human activity rather than
nature's caprices.
Ah, but Steyer has involved himself (and his money) in other
interesting things as well. In 2007 Steyer was asked by
Californian Democrat operative Chris Lehane to help fund
the campaign to defeat a proposed ballot initiative in that state
which would have apportioned California's presidential electors
in a way which would have benefited Republican presidential
nominees. Steyer's $1 million infusion into that campaign
helped it to succeed, as did the $5 million he gave to the effort
to defeat a proposition to overturn a state law to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, giving some financial easement
to California's businesses which have long been bound up in
red tape and high taxes as the cost of doing business in
California.
And we haven't even discussed Steyer's maniacal fixation on
impeaching and removing President Donald Trump from
office; now that the impeachment scheme has fallen flat,
Steyer fancies himself as a "White Knight" who will ride in
and save our country from the villainous, awful President
Trump. Oh yes, Steyer has a particularly bad case of TDS
(Trump Derangement Syndrome), a disease quite prevalent
on the left side of the political divide.
All this by someone who wants to lessen the influence of big
money from the corporate sector in politics; brilliant idea of
Steyer's, get corporate big money out of politics by putting
your own corporate big money in. And now this man wants
to be our next president? The Peasant thinks not.
MEM
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
