Archive for January, 2009

I’m Georgia Palmieri and I’m a College Republican.

I grew up in the midst of corrupt Chicago politics where I witnessed firsthand how Illinois Democrats abused the public good in order to line their own pockets and it’s the principal reason for my firm Republican convictions.

Now I live in New York City where my husband and I raised our daughter, Stafford. I worked under Governor Pataki in the Division of Housing and Community Renewal until 2007.

I’ve stayed active in politics and have voted in every election I’ve been eligible to vote in. It’s imperative to vote in my eyes, particularly for young people. It is important to look at all of the information and say, “I have a choice to make.”

When I think of young voters, I think of Stafford; my twenty-two year-old daughter, a Yale University graduate who’s currently working for a think-tank in Washington, DC. She first participated in a political campaign at the young age of seven when Rudy Giuliani ran for mayor of New York City.

I want my daughter’s generation to be engaged in the political process and embrace a conservative message, which is why I support the College Republicans.

Right now Republicans are experiencing a cool blast of frigid air in our faces. But I believe that we can start with a clean slate and begin to attract more young voters, like my daughter. The College Republicans are central to succeeding with this mission. That’s why I am a College Republican.

I’m Meghan Hughes and I’m a College Republican.

I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio; where as recently as 2008 conservatives were almost always guaranteed a win.

I’m 26 years old and a graduate of Miami University of Ohio where I was active in theatre and the College Republican chapter. Despite my political science professors’ attempts to brainwash me with their liberal-laced curriculum, I was never afraid to voice my opinion and reach out to fellow campus conservatives. I know firsthand the importance of the College Republicans’ presence on campus and that’s why I support them.

Since graduation, I’ve stayed active in politics and am currently a member of the Blue Chip Young Republicans – the Greater Cincinnati area chapter for young, conservative professionals.

In my career, I’ve worked my way up from being a bank teller to a bank manager. Needless to say, I see on a daily basis the importance of personal and fiscal responsibility. As a single woman, I work hard to support myself and save money when I can. And in 2008, I became a first time homeowner. I also believe in personal responsibility, which I knew would be a huge part of owning a home.

As you know, the media is skeptic of young Republicans. They even question our existence. I’d like to set the record straight: We young conservatives do exist.

There is a myth that young people only ascribe to our party’s principles because:  (1) their parents’ ideology or (2) they were born with a silver spoon. That’s what the media and Democrats want you to believe.

I worked my way through college and formed my own opinions. Each month I make a student loan payment and appreciate the value of my education. While I share many of the same beliefs with my parents, I’m not afraid to disagree with them.
 
Despite our losses in November, I still believe in the conservative movement. I have faith that our Republicans in leadership positions will push back when President Obama tries to raise my taxes!
 
It’s encouraging when I meet with young clients who share that they, too, are Republicans. I know the power of my generation. I believe in the College Republicans and know that their work at the grassroots level will help renew our party. It’s their efforts that will help us win the youth vote in the coming years. That’s why I’m a College Republican.

Cicero on the economic stimulus:

There are, though, many especially those greedy for renown and glory, who steal from one group the very money they lavish upon another. They think that they will appear beneficent towards their friends if they enrich them by any method whatsoever. But that is so far from being a duty that in fact nothing could be more opposed to duty. We should therefore see that the liberality we exercise in assisting our friends does not harm anyone. Consequently, the transference of money by Lucius Sulla and Gaius Caesar from its lawful owners to others ought not to be seen as liberal: nothing is liberal if it is not also just. 

How come I can never say it quite like that?

(h/t: Mario Rizzo)

This isn’t a post about how President Obama already has the press turning on him, or if his approval ratings are already slumping, or any such other typical “Is the HOPE fading already?”-type post. No, I want to ask a question of our die-hard Barack Obama personal partisans.

If this gigantic, trillion-dollar stimulus bill passes, adorned with hundreds of pre-packaged projects long sought by Congressmen promising their constituencies they’d bring home the bacon; if fully one third of our national annual budget is added on top of the already monstrous debt that is to be covered by future generations; if this extra spending is nothing more than larger, badder versions of already existing programs, efforts to cover budget holes and expand debt-ridden agencies; if these new programs and projects simply fold into the existing Colossus of government, never to be repealed because of their new-found “necessity” – How are we ever supposed to get to the reforms, the  overhauls of government, a “government that works” that President Obama has promised us? How will America remain competitive against nations that are investing in personal savings, innovative technological improvements, and free-market reforms, and not, like us, trying to prop up the system of government appropriations that got us into this mess?

Who can deny that today’s federal government is a slow-moving Leviathan, full of waste and tethered to the status quo by the chains of bureaucracy? Surely, everyone wants a government that works. How does throwing the largest single expenditure in American history on top of the shoulder of the next generation help us get out from under the “old way of doing things”?

How can we expect to see a cleaner, more efficient, more technological government, when we are fattening the old one at the fastest rate in American history?

David Brooks made some of the same points in his column,

On Tuesday, President Obama was inaugurated and vowed a new era. On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee met and showed the old era was very much alive. Democratic subcommittee chairmen sat like potted plants because all power was wielded by Chairman Obey. Republicans were in the dark because of an information embargo placed on the majority staff.

Read the rest, it’s pretty interesting. He’s right. President Obama has a choice to make. He can decide to concede to the way things have always been done in Washington. He can let everyone tack on their favorite idea and light up the Christmas tree stimulus bill. Or, he can decide to lead our nation down a different path that represents a more efficient and transparent way of doing business. The path he promised.

Everyone wants better roads, faster Internet, and cleaner skies, but we have to recognize we have only so much money to go around. Let’s be responsible when we are dealing with the financial future of our next generation. Let’s hope that our leaders recognize they might be determining for us younger Americans what our financial future will look like.

President Obama has a chance to lead our country in a new direction. I bet he doesn’t, but I hope he does.

…she wants to provide everyone with contraceptives through the stimulus package.

I mean, really? If you need to start being this creative with the stimulus cash, maybe we’re trying a little too hard to spend a trillion dollars of taxpayer’s money. While many conservatives disagree with spending huge amounts of money on things like bridges, subsidies for clean energy, etc., one could at least see how it would make sense to the average person on the surface. But, spending money to stimulate the economy and create jobs by…passing out condoms?

That’s just the Dems are just using the stimulus to push through items on the social agenda. You would think that the Democrats would want MORE taxpayers, not less – especially when they will need so many more people to shoulder the burden of an extra trillion dollars of debt.

Meanwhile, Japan is sending their workers home to make more babies (H/T @alexashrugged). With falling birthrates, and skyrocketing entitlement costs here at home, maybe we should be doing the same thing…

College Republicans are the most active youth political organization in the country with over 200,000 members across 1,800 colleges and universities nationwide. We are dedicated to advancing the conservative agenda, campaigning for Republican candidates, and mobilizing the youth vote. The grassroots efforts of the College Republicans are central to promoting conservative values to the next generation of voters and activists.

But we need your support to continue our efforts. Please take a minute to watch this quick video from Charlie Smith, National Chairman of the College Republicans on what you can do to help take the fight to the liberal left.

How You Can Help?

1. Sign up for our e-mail list. We will provide you with the latest news from the College Republicans and ways you can help support the next generation of conservatives.

2. Help us continue our efforts for the Republican Party by making a $5 donation. The conservative movement can’t survive without your continued support.

Because of contributions from generous supporters like yourself, we have been able to launch efforts such as Lifeinthefield.com a group blog from fifty of our field reprentatives, and Whereisthered.com a cross-country road trip through Republican Congressional districts to campaign for Republican candidates.

So, President Obama has signed an executive order that will shut down Guantanamo Bay, where a few hundred terrorists are kept separated from the ability to do the world harm, by the end of the year. Genius! Except, he has no plan on what to do with them. Oh.

Today, we learn about Said Ali al-Shihri, a terrorist released from Guantanamo Bay in 2007 and sent back to Saudi Arabia to go through their rehabilitation program. Unfortunately, despite claims by Saudi Arabia that “no graduate of its program has returned to terrorism,” al-Sahihri did just that. Released for only a couple of months, he dove below radar and made his was to Yemen.

In the Internet statement, Al Qaeda in Yemen identified its new deputy leader as Abu Sayyaf al-Shihri, saying he returned from Guantánamo to his native Saudi Arabia and then traveled to neighboring Yemen “more than 10 months ago.”

…

A Yemeni journalist who interviewed Al Qaeda’s leaders in Yemen last year, Abdulela Shaya, confirmed Thursday that the deputy leader was indeed Shihri, the former Guantánamo detainee. Shaya, in a telephone interview, said Shihri had described to him his journey from Cuba to Yemen and supplied his Guantánamo detention number, 372. That is the correct number, Pentagon documents show.

Now, President Obama has no idea where to put these dangerous people. He has no plan on where or how to put them through a trial to determine their guilt. And he has no plan on how to handle the situation, should it arise, where an American jury finds an obviously guilty terrorist innocent based on a technicality in US law. Do you let them go in the US? Do you ship them home so they can slip back onto the battlefield and kill US soldiers?

There is no plan. Guantanamo was the least worst of all the bad options on how to handle these people, and President Obama is putting us all in danger by ordering its closure. The Pentagon has confirmed that dozens on released detainees have returned to the battlefield in Afghanistan and elsewhere. How many American troops did they kill? How many Afghani lives were taken or put at risk by these people? And now, President Obama wants to make it even easier for them to get right back to what they love doing – killing the infidel.

This isn’t even to mention the possibility of liberal judges requesting that vital US intelligence secrets be spilled in open court during trials of these newly-domesticate terrorists. The very

President Obama made an unannounced visit to the White House press corps tonight, and boy did he get a zinger of a question!

Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration with a Deputy Defense Secretary nominee who lobbied for Raytheon, Obama interrupted with a knowing smile on his face.

“Ahh, see,” he said, “I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can’t end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I’m going to get grilled every time I come down here.”

Pressed further by the Politico reporter about his Pentagon nominee, William J. Lynn III, Obama turned more serious, putting his hand on the reporter’s shoulder and staring him in the eye.

“Alright, come on” he said, with obvious irritation in his voice. “We will be having a press conference at which time you can feel free to [ask] questions. Right now, I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself to you guys – that’s all I was trying to do.”

How dare the press ask the man such an outlandish question! I mean, so what if he’s being entirely hypocritical and violating his self-imposed rule about lobbyists not being allowed to serve in his administration – he’s President Barack Obama and he is not to be questioned!

Fortunately, other members of the press were able to avert disaster, noticing the fau paux and intereceding:

The president was quickly saved by a cameraman in the room who called out: “I’d like to say it one more time: ‘Mr. President.’ ”

Whew! Truth averted. Maybe next time.

I’m Bobbi Holliday – yoga and flute instructor at Lorain County Community College in Elyria, Ohio. I’m a small business owner, Mother, Grandmother, and proud supporter of the College Republicans.

Two weeks ago, I made a $5 donation to the College Republicans. I know it’s not much, but I am confident my donation will make a difference.

You too can make a difference.

Please donate $5 today to help the College Republicans make 2009 the year of the conservative movement.

While I’ve changed in many ways since becoming a student of yoga in 1965, one constant remains the same and that is my conservative beliefs. Personal and fiscal responsibility, free enterprise, and the American dream of owning your own business. That’s me.

I support the College Republicans and their efforts to maintain the conservative movement, and I hope you will too.

P.S. Just $5 can make a difference, please join me in supporting the College Republicans today.