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Gay Marriage and Utah

Gay Marriage has been a very emotional issue in Utah over the past year.  Not only did we see many people in Utah support Proposition 8 in California, but we also watched the rise and defeat of the Common Ground Initiative here in Utah.

I know many Ron Paul supporters here were totally against the Common Ground Initiative.  These same people also said they would never again support Governor John Huntsman because of his support for the CGI.

I look at this as a “Divide and Conquer Issue.”  A term I coined myself.  When it comes to defending the Constitution, defending freedom, or solving our economic issues, gay marriage is a sure fired diversion.

I believe Jesse Ventura and Ron Paul may hold the key to dealing with this issue.






As a side note the Sutherland Institute of Utah lead a movement against the Common Ground Initiative.  The Sutherland Institute also sponsored a screening of IOUSA.  The documentary was made by David M. Walker, former Comptroller General and this Heritage Foundation. The film looks at:

  1. the US budget deficits
  2. the US savings deficits
  3. the US trade deficits
  4. and the US leadership “deficits”

Oddly enough the focus at the end of the film is to cut or restrict Social Security in some way, as apposed to Ending the Federal Reserve Bank, or doing something to curtail the US trade deficit which is reaching $1 trillion per year.

The solution proposed by Ron Paul on Tonight Show, October 30, 2007 was to close US military bases in 130 counties around the world, use that money to meet our current obligations, and then give young people the option to opt out.

According to I.O.U.S.A military spending is such a small fraction of the US budget, it should not be taken into consideration.



Bliss Tew – John Birch Society

 
icon for podpress  Bliss Tew John Birch Society Regional Field Director [47:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On January 10th 2009, Bliss Tew our Regional Field Director for the John Birch Society joined me on the K-TALK Producer’s Show.

You can find out more about Bliss and the John Birch Society in Utah County by going to http://jbs.meetup.com/13 or for the rest of the country go to http://jbs.meetup.com then put in your zip code to find a John Birch meetup group near you.

Bliss stated the John Birch Society currently has an education campaign and an action campaign to restore sound monetary policy.  The JBS efforts have been in place for 50 years.  In 1995 JBS published The Creature from Jekyll Island : A Second Look at the Federal Reserve.

Bliss gives an overview of the US monetary system, and how JBS is currently working to educate Congress on this issue.  Currently JBS has a petition in the form of a resolution which has been distributed to JBS leaders in each state so they can get the resolution to their membership.  Members of JBS can then go talk to their elected officials as constituents, and ask their elected officials to sponsor the resolution.

The last paragraph of the resolution states Congress should protect citizens from the losses that can and have occurred by the Federal Reserve inflating the money supply.  There are four key bills introduced by Congressman Ron Paul that can accomplish just that:

H.R. 2756

H.R. 4683

H.R. 5427

H.R. 2755


Bliss gave a great explanation of what happened to the Zimbabwe dollar.  (For pictures of Zimbabwe currency check out What a Real Crisis Looks Like.)

Bliss mentioned there’s a great new film produced by JBS called Dollars and Sense, which can be purchased from the JBS online store http://www.shopjbs.org.

Bliss covers why we should be concerned over a Convention to amend the Constitution and recommends a video produced by JBS called Beware Article 5.  I point out a with a Democrat majority in Congress, they will most likely try to strip the Second Amendment.  We have a new Congressman in office, Jason Chaffetz, so we need to make sure he is aware of the dangers a Con Con may pose.

JBS has also been working to educate people on efforts to create a one world government.  There are many books and videos on the issue in the JBS online store http://www.shopjbs.org.

Here’s another video if you’re not convinced.  If Walter Cronkite says so, it must be true.  The only problem is he’s on the wrong side.


You can go to jbs.org to sign up for a free JBS news letter, or become a member for only $83.00 per year.  This money will be well spent.  It’s used to coordinate JBS efforts across the country, and to provide educational materials at very low prices.  There aren’t many places you can buy a DVD to distribute for $1.00 or less.

In the last segment Bliss explains more about how members of JBS members make a difference in politics at the local level.  As always I stress the importance of becoming a delegate, or at least attending your neighborhood caucus so you will know who your delegates are.  If you know who your delegates, and precinct chairman are you can provide them with educational information like Dollars and Sense or The Creature from Jekyll Island

I mention I was able to send each of my delegates and chairman a link to this video.  It’s a speech by Democrat Marcy Kaptur before Congress expressing her concerns over the North American Union, also known as the Security Prosperity Partnership.

This clip isn’t in the greatest condition because the accounts of the people who post it, keep getting suspended. I believe people are downloading copies and uploading the clip again every time it gets removed.  This is the third time I have gone to pull up this clip by a bookmark, only to find the video I had bookmarked was deleted.


For more information, listen to the podcast posted at the beginning of this post.

Utahns for Liberty of Utah County

Issues Covered in Podcast:

 
icon for podpress  Utah County Campaign for Liberty [44:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I apologize to everyone, it took me a couple of days to add this page.

On Saturday I filled in for Linda Strasburg.  My guests were Lowell Nelson and David Garber from Utahns for Liberty of Utah County.  I first met Lowell and David in September of 2007 when I joined a Ron Paul meetup group started by David.

On the show David gives us a background on how he started the meetup group, and became involved in the Ron Paul movement — now known as Campaign for Liberty.

Lowell, who is an excellent person to work with, gave us a summary of how the political system works and how each and everyone of us can get involved to make a difference.

We also stressed people from different political backgrounds and affiliations have all come together to support the Campaign for Liberty to defend the Constitution.

Cathy from Herriman called in and brought up Tom Drashyl who had appeared as a guest on the Gayle Ruzika  show.  This set me off on a tangent over my concerns over Barack Obama “Birth Certificate Issue.”

I stated in my opinion, it’s a red herring.  What I mean by that is people’s attention to is being diverted to an issue that probably isn’t even a real issue.  You can go to FactCheck.org to see high resolution closeup pictures of Barack Obama’s Birth certificate.

I believe the “Birth Certificate Issue” obscures really damming issues related to Barack Obama.   The political pundits tell people “Obama is moving to the center” when actually he is just showing he is corrupted and corruptible.  Sadly people let political pundits think for them.  They frame people’s perspective, and the majority go along with it.

I should stress these following points about Barack Obama are really important reasons why we need to clean out Congress.  Obama is not going to restore the Constitution, and neither is Orrin Hatch or Robert Bennett.  They helped trash it with the Patriot Act in the first place.

First Obama did not run on a platform of restoring the Constitution by repealing The Patriot Act.  Barack Obama voted for the Reauthorization of the Patriot Act.

Barack Obama voted for the Foreign Inteligence Servailence Act (FISA) after he promised everyone he would vote against the bill.

The New York Times reported on February 3rd 2008: Nuclear Leaks and Response Tested Obama in Senate.

When I went back and look at this article, I believe it’s even worse than what I reported on the air:

Mr. Obama scolded Exelon and federal regulators for inaction and introduced a bill to require all plant owners to notify state and local authorities immediately of even small leaks. He has boasted of it on the campaign trail, telling a crowd in Iowa in December that it was “the only nuclear legislation that I’ve passed.”

“I just did that last year,” he said, to murmurs of approval.

A close look at the path his legislation took tells a very different story. While he initially fought to advance his bill, even holding up a presidential nomination to try to force a hearing on it, Mr. Obama eventually rewrote it to reflect changes sought by Senate Republicans, Exelon and nuclear regulators. The new bill removed language mandating prompt reporting and simply offered guidance to regulators, whom it charged with addressing the issue of unreported leaks.

Those revisions propelled the bill through a crucial committee. But, contrary to Mr. Obama’s comments in Iowa, it ultimately died amid parliamentary wrangling in the full Senate.

“Senator Obama’s staff was sending us copies of the bill to review, and we could see it weakening with each successive draft,” said Joe Cosgrove, a park district director in Will County, Ill., where low-level radioactive runoff had turned up in groundwater. “The teeth were just taken out of it.”

The history of the bill shows Mr. Obama navigating a home-state controversy that pitted two important constituencies against each other and tested his skills as a legislative infighter. On one side were neighbors of several nuclear plants upset that low-level radioactive leaks had gone unreported for years; on the other was Exelon, the country’s largest nuclear plant operator and one of Mr. Obama’s largest sources of campaign money.

Since 2003, executives and employees of Exelon, which is based in Illinois, have contributed at least $227,000 to Mr. Obama’s campaigns for the United States Senate and for president. Two top Exelon officials, Frank M. Clark, executive vice president, and John W. Rogers Jr., a director, are among his largest fund-raisers.

The history of the bill shows Mr. Obama navigating a home-state controversy that pitted two important constituencies against each other and tested his skills as a legislative infighter. On one side were neighbors of several nuclear plants upset that low-level radioactive leaks had gone unreported for years; on the other was Exelon, the country’s largest nuclear plant operator and one of Mr. Obama’s largest sources of campaign money.

Barack Obama voted for the Wall Street Bailouts just as Robert Bennett and Orrin Hatch did.

It’s not hard to see why Obama supported the Bailouts either.  According to Opensecrets.org, who collects publicly available FEC information and analyzes it, here are Barack Obama’s top ten (10) contributors:

Contributor Total
University of California $1,074,898
Goldman Sachs $936,757
Harvard University $769,300
Microsoft Corp $717,858
Google Inc $710,649
JPMorgan Chase & Co $650,510
Citigroup Inc $611,216
University of Chicago $561,709
National Amusements Inc $536,854
Skadden, Arps et al $527,495
Sidley Austin LLP $525,945
Time Warner $508,348
Stanford University $485,199
Wilmerhale Llp $471,229
UBS AG $470,245
Kirkland & Ellis $451,655
Morgan Stanley $448,752
Columbia University $431,516
Latham & Watkins $427,574
IBM Corp $424,246


This is of great concern to me because I believe people have to much trust in Obama.  They are letting their guard down, and that’s dangerous.

Mohammad I almost forgot.  This one is just for you, for all the times you have called in saying what a great guy Obama is.  I would like to ask you watch and listen to Obama’s speech to AIPAC (American Israeli Political Action Committee).

This is an excellent article from John Pilger everyone should read Beware of Obama’s Groundhog Day.



Charles called in after I ran through this list, and stated there was probably a minimum leak threshold with the Obama letting companies off the hook for nuclear leaks.  I confess that is probably true, but the New York Times article does not give the exact mounts.  Charles stated he has been concerned about the push for a one world government for years.

If anyone thinks Charles is up in the night, watch this video.


[update added 1/7/2009] I forgot to add Obama lied to Iowa voters, or the Canadian Ambassador Michael Wilson over NFTA.  Take your pick.


This gets us back to why it’s so important for people to stay politically active, and become politically active.

The Utahns for Liberty of Utah County meetup group does not charge any sort of membership fees.  All that is required is for you to go to the web sight and sign up.  It’s very helpful if you attend a meeting when one is scheduled.  Utahns for Liberty of Utah County works with many other groups in Utah when the issue is liberty related.  This group is a great way to stay in touch with whats going on, and network within all of the other state groups.

Rhonda Lee called in to state she believes the system is rigged so there’s no point in getting involved.  Lowell makes the point that is rare.  Usually the reason we fail is because citizens fail to get involved.

Lowell and I could not agree more on this points.  Conspiracy should not be used as a scape goat.  We can’t use conspiracy as an excuse to do nothing.

There’s a lesson I learned from a video called Where There’s a Will There’s an A+:

If you fail to try, you are guaranteed to lose.  Real failure is failing to take action.  Even if you try at to do something and don’t succeed, you should at least be proud of yourself for giving it your best shot.


When I joined this meetup group, I learned how the caucus system worked, and I have been able to pass this information on to others like Mark Maxon.  I never would have been able to become well informed on the issue if it wasn’t for David Garber, Lowell Nelson, and Mike Ridgway who provided additional information like this UEA training site Caucus101.

Utahns for Liberty of Utah County will be participating in an End The Fed rally planning meeting on 1/8/2009, as well as many other events.  Please check the calendar and join us.

http://www.meetup.com/CFL-Provo/calendar

There will also be more caucus training sessions as we get closer caucus season.