So Utah, we are under full attack by an organization called Common Sense Issues. They are located at 8190-A Beechmont Ave. #103, Cincinnati, OH 45255-6117. Phone Number 719-216-6232. They are a 501c4 Social Welfare organization under the IRS Code. http://www.irs.gov/charities/nonprofits/article/0,,id=96178,00.html
For some reason, they have decided that Tim Bridgewater needs to loose the primary election and that Mike Lee needs to be the victor. Why? What part of Utah politics, Utah's candidates, and Utah’s Republican Primary does this organization feel the need to sway the outcome and have a specific candidate win? Who has asked them to spend a fortune in radio, TV, print and internet advertising to meddle in the outcome of a Utah election? Was it a candidate? Well we know it certainly wasn't Tim Bridgewater, unless of course he had a sudden desire to lose the race and impugn his own integrity and character! Was it Mike Lee? Was it Energy Solutions? Was it some other group that needs Mike Lee to be beholden to them? Good questions?
I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of outside influences sticking their noses into Utah politics. The same goes with other states. If you are not going to be a constituent of the candidate or you are not a resident of the state that they will be representing, get out of the campaign and stick with your own state! This is Washington DC politics at its worst and it is right here in Utah. Heavy outside influences, resources and money could very likely change the outcome of our primary election by persuading the voters to change their opinion because of extremely negative and misleading advertising. This is one of the very worst problems that are present in Congress today. Outside influence, lobbyists, huge contributions, PAC funding and advertising, and under the table payments of cash and services for paybacks through legislative assistance.
But when these powers are used against an individual candidate, they usually have an overpowering effect on the outcome because of the large amounts of advertising and negative press that they can buy with their huge war chests. In other words, a person in Ohio is trying to change the outcome of a Utah election so that the candidate he has an interest in wins, regardless of what the people of Utah thought they wanted through their own research and information gathering.
So who is this person pulling the strings in Utah from Ohio, who asked him to attack a candidate with every bit of dirt they can think up and some that is fabricated, who is paying the bill for this request, and what is the benefit to them if the attacks change the outcome of the election?
We should seriously consider whether we would want Mike Lee to represent us when he is using the things that he attacks in his campaign as the tools to win the election! Lobbyists and heavy political attacks to force an outcome other than what the people want.
Voters of Utah, a lawyer who acts like the politicians we are trying to remove from Washington DC or a businessman that uses every legal and promoted resource available to get a successful result in his businesses. Which do you want trying to correct the problems we are facing in this country?
Vote. It is your God given right to help decide the future you will have to live with and the one that we pass down to our children and grandchildren.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
A sad day.
I don't know if you have noticed, but I had not put a new post on my blog for a little bit. I have wanted to write about many, many things but I hadn't because I was still formulating what my real thoughts were. I have seen some things take place in the last two weeks that have just amazed me at what was being done. This morning after listening to the radio and realizing what has happened, it triggered me to the keyboard.
A local radio talk show host was fired yesterday by his employer. His employer has a customer that did over $600,000 in advertising last year with the company that owns the station. The company that does the advertising has an attorney that it uses that is also a candidate for the senate seat in Utah. The talk show host had endorsed the other candidate, even though he was seriously involved in questioning his past as I had pointed out in my last post. So, coincidence? I think not. The company that pays for all of that advertising is also a heavy supporter of the attorney candidate and is extensively involved in lobbying trying to get legislations passed to help its operation and profits.
In Utah we have a senate primary race between Mike Lee, a Washington DC related attorney and Tim Bridgewater, a successful businessman that has used government programs to promote his businesses over the years. These were the two winners from the state convention in May. I had been rather pleased with the way the race was going, no negatives, focusing on strengths, and good hard debates that didn't really show a lot of difference in platform issues, just differences in vocation and background. Then about two weeks ago it turned. Outside interests started focusing large amounts of resources into the race. Negative ads started running on TV, radio, internet, and mailings. Tim Bridgewater was being attacked by Mike Lee's camp and outside non-Lee groups. Other groups started coming back at the Lee camp with some ads but Tim held out of the attacks on Mike. Then the temperature really started heating up on the Bridgewater attacks and it started getting ugly. Groups that are not the Lee campaign office started really attacking Bridgewater with radio, TV, internet and print. Attacks that as I mentioned in my last post were against him using every resource available in his business. We all do it, we didn't create the programs available, we just use them. Hard to find fault with that when you really think about it.
Then on Monday of this week, some individuals started claiming with press releases that the Utah TEA Party and 9-12 Project were endorsing Mike Lee. I actually got into some extensive discussion with some of the leaders about how they could envision the right to endorse a candidate in the name of the TEA Party and 9-12 Project. They argued back that they had a majority of their members wanting Lee and so they could do this. When I questioned them about the fact that I, a TEA Party member and 9-12 Project member had never heard of this polling and that I was for the other candidate, the discussion vaporized and went away. Funny how lack of authority being questioned makes people slip away.
The TEA Party is not a political party. It is a movement that you voluntarily join and participate in to advance the rejuvenation of our country, government and political ideals that the founding fathers had. There are no TEA Party candidates in reality. There is no TEA Party nominating convention, official endorsements, requirements for membership, laws or rules for maintaining membership, and not dues, means for contributions, official leadership etc. So how could the Utah TEA Party officially endorse Mike Lee? Seriously, think about this! Maybe some splinter groups could have a large number of members that favor Lee and the leaders of those groups could claim that, but the TEA Party cannot! Leaders of discussion groups do have the right as individuals or leaders of their individual groups to claim endorsement for themselves and their own groups but that is it.
The 9-12 Project is simply an awareness project to get people to demand the following of 9 Principles and 12 Values that our elected officials and leaders in this country should adhere to and follow. Same as the TEA Party, there is no official leadership, no elected officials, no endorsements, no candidates, etc. It is a movement to get people involved in politics, to demand accountability from our elected officials, a way to make sure that the candidates running are worthy of our vote and that those that are elected are worthy of holding office. It is a way to help individuals become educated and informed about their candidates so that they can make informed decisions about who to vote for. Many candidates publicly and officially claim to live by these principles and values and use this in their campaigning. Fine. Great! They get the importance of this project!
I ask that those who are overstepping their authority and using self-imposed power to endorse for these two great groups to stop and to remember their role is not to be leaders, but to involve others so that we the people will have the say, not those who want to take power. So that we the people will have candidates in the races that we may choose from as informed individuals. So that the candidates for office know the importance of the principles, values and ideals of these two groups.
Anyone is welcome as a member of the TEA Party! Anyone can join the 9-12 Project! There are Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, non affiliated members of both groups. This is what is meant to be! No political party affiliation, just the citizens of this country who are concerned about the direction it is going coming together to use the united strength in these two groups to make accountability to our Constitution, our country and the patriot citizens of the country a priority for politicians.
I still endorse Tim Bridgewater as the best candidate. If for no other reason than the fact that we have enough lawyers in Washington DC! How many 2700+ page bills can we take and survive? Have you ever known a businessman that would draw up anything longer than 25 pages? NO! We don't have time to deal with legalese; we focus on the operations and the solutions! Remember the times of Honesty, Integrity and Truthfulness? H.I.T. Yes, part of the principles and values of the 9-12 Project!
Members of the TEA Party and 9-12 Project; do not let self-imposed leaders with personal ambition take over the groups. If these self-proclaimed leaders have an agenda other than building momentum in the movement of restoring the greatness to our country, educating and informing the public about the candidates so that we as individuals can make informed, educated choices, then they need to be ignored.
The TEA Party and the 9-12 Project have awakened the patriots of this country! The movements have brought an awareness of accountability back to politics and they have brought to the races, individuals who endorse, live and promote the principles and values needed to be the foundation of the restoring the importance of our Constitution, restricted government and the ideas of the founding fathers of our country back to our government.
Register to vote. Make sure your family members, friends, neighbors and associates are registered to vote. Then, we need to make sure that we all vote in the primaries and general elections. Apathy and laziness will hand control of our country over to those with evil intent. We have allowed this to happen too much so far. Let's not allow it to happen anymore. We can still turn this around and restore our country back to the greatness we once enjoyed.
May God bless America and all those who struggle in restoring, protecting and preserving it!
A local radio talk show host was fired yesterday by his employer. His employer has a customer that did over $600,000 in advertising last year with the company that owns the station. The company that does the advertising has an attorney that it uses that is also a candidate for the senate seat in Utah. The talk show host had endorsed the other candidate, even though he was seriously involved in questioning his past as I had pointed out in my last post. So, coincidence? I think not. The company that pays for all of that advertising is also a heavy supporter of the attorney candidate and is extensively involved in lobbying trying to get legislations passed to help its operation and profits.
In Utah we have a senate primary race between Mike Lee, a Washington DC related attorney and Tim Bridgewater, a successful businessman that has used government programs to promote his businesses over the years. These were the two winners from the state convention in May. I had been rather pleased with the way the race was going, no negatives, focusing on strengths, and good hard debates that didn't really show a lot of difference in platform issues, just differences in vocation and background. Then about two weeks ago it turned. Outside interests started focusing large amounts of resources into the race. Negative ads started running on TV, radio, internet, and mailings. Tim Bridgewater was being attacked by Mike Lee's camp and outside non-Lee groups. Other groups started coming back at the Lee camp with some ads but Tim held out of the attacks on Mike. Then the temperature really started heating up on the Bridgewater attacks and it started getting ugly. Groups that are not the Lee campaign office started really attacking Bridgewater with radio, TV, internet and print. Attacks that as I mentioned in my last post were against him using every resource available in his business. We all do it, we didn't create the programs available, we just use them. Hard to find fault with that when you really think about it.
Then on Monday of this week, some individuals started claiming with press releases that the Utah TEA Party and 9-12 Project were endorsing Mike Lee. I actually got into some extensive discussion with some of the leaders about how they could envision the right to endorse a candidate in the name of the TEA Party and 9-12 Project. They argued back that they had a majority of their members wanting Lee and so they could do this. When I questioned them about the fact that I, a TEA Party member and 9-12 Project member had never heard of this polling and that I was for the other candidate, the discussion vaporized and went away. Funny how lack of authority being questioned makes people slip away.
The TEA Party is not a political party. It is a movement that you voluntarily join and participate in to advance the rejuvenation of our country, government and political ideals that the founding fathers had. There are no TEA Party candidates in reality. There is no TEA Party nominating convention, official endorsements, requirements for membership, laws or rules for maintaining membership, and not dues, means for contributions, official leadership etc. So how could the Utah TEA Party officially endorse Mike Lee? Seriously, think about this! Maybe some splinter groups could have a large number of members that favor Lee and the leaders of those groups could claim that, but the TEA Party cannot! Leaders of discussion groups do have the right as individuals or leaders of their individual groups to claim endorsement for themselves and their own groups but that is it.
The 9-12 Project is simply an awareness project to get people to demand the following of 9 Principles and 12 Values that our elected officials and leaders in this country should adhere to and follow. Same as the TEA Party, there is no official leadership, no elected officials, no endorsements, no candidates, etc. It is a movement to get people involved in politics, to demand accountability from our elected officials, a way to make sure that the candidates running are worthy of our vote and that those that are elected are worthy of holding office. It is a way to help individuals become educated and informed about their candidates so that they can make informed decisions about who to vote for. Many candidates publicly and officially claim to live by these principles and values and use this in their campaigning. Fine. Great! They get the importance of this project!
I ask that those who are overstepping their authority and using self-imposed power to endorse for these two great groups to stop and to remember their role is not to be leaders, but to involve others so that we the people will have the say, not those who want to take power. So that we the people will have candidates in the races that we may choose from as informed individuals. So that the candidates for office know the importance of the principles, values and ideals of these two groups.
Anyone is welcome as a member of the TEA Party! Anyone can join the 9-12 Project! There are Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, non affiliated members of both groups. This is what is meant to be! No political party affiliation, just the citizens of this country who are concerned about the direction it is going coming together to use the united strength in these two groups to make accountability to our Constitution, our country and the patriot citizens of the country a priority for politicians.
I still endorse Tim Bridgewater as the best candidate. If for no other reason than the fact that we have enough lawyers in Washington DC! How many 2700+ page bills can we take and survive? Have you ever known a businessman that would draw up anything longer than 25 pages? NO! We don't have time to deal with legalese; we focus on the operations and the solutions! Remember the times of Honesty, Integrity and Truthfulness? H.I.T. Yes, part of the principles and values of the 9-12 Project!
Members of the TEA Party and 9-12 Project; do not let self-imposed leaders with personal ambition take over the groups. If these self-proclaimed leaders have an agenda other than building momentum in the movement of restoring the greatness to our country, educating and informing the public about the candidates so that we as individuals can make informed, educated choices, then they need to be ignored.
The TEA Party and the 9-12 Project have awakened the patriots of this country! The movements have brought an awareness of accountability back to politics and they have brought to the races, individuals who endorse, live and promote the principles and values needed to be the foundation of the restoring the importance of our Constitution, restricted government and the ideas of the founding fathers of our country back to our government.
Register to vote. Make sure your family members, friends, neighbors and associates are registered to vote. Then, we need to make sure that we all vote in the primaries and general elections. Apathy and laziness will hand control of our country over to those with evil intent. We have allowed this to happen too much so far. Let's not allow it to happen anymore. We can still turn this around and restore our country back to the greatness we once enjoyed.
May God bless America and all those who struggle in restoring, protecting and preserving it!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Hypocritical Discussion
The other day I was listening to a local SLC talk show host that was talking about Tim Bridgewater on his show. Yes, I know I am for Tim Bridgewater, I have endorsed Tim Bridgewater and I feel he is the best candidate for the Senate seat. But, when we use our arguments to take down a candidate and the argument we are using is blatantly hypocritical, we are wrong.
Tim has been accused of gaining largess off the federal feeding trough. Some of his companies have been getting grants, funding, loans etc. from the federal government for funding of projects they are building or developing for thermal energy production around the world. Because of this, he is being accused of being the wrong candidate for the senate seat and should be defeated in the primary.
Let's get down to a real discussion. How many of us have never ever received any money from a government entity for something? That means local, county, state, or federal? Think hard before you answer. Let's go through a general list of what could be included:
Loans
Grants
Loan Guarantees
Scholarships
Unemployment
Welfare
Food Stamps
Aid to Dependent Children
Child College Tuition Credits and Deductions
Cash for Clunkers
Energy and Insulation Credits
Energy Savings Rebates
SBA Loans
Sales Tax Credits for Business Growth
Investment Tax Credits
New Job Tax Credits
Social Security
Medicaid
Medicare
Okay, I think that is probably long enough to trigger a "yes" from almost everyone. We have all stood at the feeding trough and partaken of what was offered at some point to some extent. We are not worthy of running for office then either? Think about this. Did Tim Bridgewater make or setup the programs that he was applying to for funding, grants, loans etc? No. He stood in line and took advantage of what was being offered to anyone that qualified. Just like you and I have done.
If he had not done this, would his companies have been as competitive in their projects and programs if they had not and their competitors had taken them? Are we going to sit in judgment against someone for using what is there available? Or should we look at it and realize that Tim has taken full advantage of all resources available to further the success of his companies?
Tim has even said that these programs are part of what is wrong with our government today. He has committed to us the voters that this is what needs to stop along with a whole lot of other things that are wrong. I have talked with him and discussed these items with him and his people. He gets it! We get it! Now don't forget that we have all taken it also!
To the talk show host, I ask that you reconsider your negative comments and make sure that you are the one without sin before you throw the first stone. Make sure that yours was not a hypocritical stand that you took. To the rest of us, think about this also. Did he do anything other than what we would have done or have already done?
This is about who will be able to take the battle to the Senate and reinstate common sense, smart business practices, intelligent analysis, wise consideration and as Glenn Beck says, Hope, Faith and Charity. I still remember HIT also. (Honesty, Integrity and Trust.)
Now each of us need to do the most important thing, make sure we are registered to vote, study the candidates, make an informed choice and then VOTE! Get your family members, friends, neighbors and business associates to do so also.
We got to where we are today, because not enough good intentioned, patriotic and honest people went to vote.
Remember, when good men sit idle, evil men will rule.
Tim has been accused of gaining largess off the federal feeding trough. Some of his companies have been getting grants, funding, loans etc. from the federal government for funding of projects they are building or developing for thermal energy production around the world. Because of this, he is being accused of being the wrong candidate for the senate seat and should be defeated in the primary.
Let's get down to a real discussion. How many of us have never ever received any money from a government entity for something? That means local, county, state, or federal? Think hard before you answer. Let's go through a general list of what could be included:
Loans
Grants
Loan Guarantees
Scholarships
Unemployment
Welfare
Food Stamps
Aid to Dependent Children
Child College Tuition Credits and Deductions
Cash for Clunkers
Energy and Insulation Credits
Energy Savings Rebates
SBA Loans
Sales Tax Credits for Business Growth
Investment Tax Credits
New Job Tax Credits
Social Security
Medicaid
Medicare
Okay, I think that is probably long enough to trigger a "yes" from almost everyone. We have all stood at the feeding trough and partaken of what was offered at some point to some extent. We are not worthy of running for office then either? Think about this. Did Tim Bridgewater make or setup the programs that he was applying to for funding, grants, loans etc? No. He stood in line and took advantage of what was being offered to anyone that qualified. Just like you and I have done.
If he had not done this, would his companies have been as competitive in their projects and programs if they had not and their competitors had taken them? Are we going to sit in judgment against someone for using what is there available? Or should we look at it and realize that Tim has taken full advantage of all resources available to further the success of his companies?
Tim has even said that these programs are part of what is wrong with our government today. He has committed to us the voters that this is what needs to stop along with a whole lot of other things that are wrong. I have talked with him and discussed these items with him and his people. He gets it! We get it! Now don't forget that we have all taken it also!
To the talk show host, I ask that you reconsider your negative comments and make sure that you are the one without sin before you throw the first stone. Make sure that yours was not a hypocritical stand that you took. To the rest of us, think about this also. Did he do anything other than what we would have done or have already done?
This is about who will be able to take the battle to the Senate and reinstate common sense, smart business practices, intelligent analysis, wise consideration and as Glenn Beck says, Hope, Faith and Charity. I still remember HIT also. (Honesty, Integrity and Trust.)
Now each of us need to do the most important thing, make sure we are registered to vote, study the candidates, make an informed choice and then VOTE! Get your family members, friends, neighbors and business associates to do so also.
We got to where we are today, because not enough good intentioned, patriotic and honest people went to vote.
Remember, when good men sit idle, evil men will rule.
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