Conservative Review

20 ways Democrats in Congress Just Trampled Your Freedoms

Steve Spinks — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:24:29 +0000

Investor’s Business Daily has a great list of freedoms that the just-passed Health Care bill will trample. Find it here.

Pelosi and Marx on ‘Freedom’

Steve Spinks — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:58:57 +0000

Ed Kaitz has a superb take on the difference between the freedom you and I believe in, and the “freedom” that Pelosi espouses.Check out the entire article in American Thinker.

Nancy Pelosi wants to give birth to a new kind of freedom in America — the freedom from being "job-locked."

In an interview with Rachel Maddow Thursday evening, Pelosi asked Americans to "think" about a bright, new, liberating kind of utopia:

Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer, a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance. Or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risks, but not be job-locked because a child has a child has asthma or diabetes or someone in the family is bipolar. You name it, any condition is job-locking.

Health Care Reform Won’t Reduce The Deficit

Steve Spinks — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:10:01 +0000

Nick Gillespie from Reason TV gives 3 reasons why the government’s health care takeover will likely cost Americans more, not save money as they proposed. Find it at Conservative For Change.

New Documents Point to Obama Not Being Qualified to be President

Steve Spinks — Sun, 03 May 2009 22:57:08 +0000

AP- WASHINGTON D.C. – In a move certain to fuel the debate over Obama’s qualifications for the presidency, the group “Americans for Freedom of Information” has released copies of President Obama’s college transcripts from Occidental College. Released today, the transcript indicates that Obama, under the name Barry Soetoro, received financial aid as a foreign student from Indonesia as an undergraduate at the school. The transcript was released by Occidental College in compliance with a court order in a suit brought by the group in the Superior Court of California. The transcript shows that Obama (Soetoro) applied for financial aid and was awarded a fellowship for foreign students from the Fulbright Foundation Scholarship program. To qualify, for the scholarship, a student must claim foreign citizenship. This document would seem to provide the smoking gun that many of Obama’s detractors have been seeking.

More here.

Tagged: obama, qualifications, smokinggun

Tea Party Leaders Accept Obama’s Invitation to Talk

Steve Spinks — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:51:17 +0000

New York, New York – April 29th, 2009 – The National Leadership Team of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition (http://www.nationwideteapartycoalition.com) today accepted President Obama`s invitation "to have a serious conversation about
how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we are going to stabilize Social Security.”
The invitation was extended by the President at a Town Hall Meeting held in Arnold, Missouri today (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21870.html).

Michael Patrick Leahy, a member of the National Leadership Team of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, said " We want to broaden the scope to address the President`s runaway march to socialist-statism, and the rampant across the board irresponsible spending he is promoting with his $787 Billion Stimulus Plan and his $1 Trillion Annual Deficit, his takeover of General Motors, Chrysler and the
Banks ."
Kellen Giuda, organizer of the New York City Tea party attended by 12,000 and of Parcbench (http://www.parcbench.com) said, “I think a constructive dialogue with the President would be a great opportunity for him to acknowledge that, yes, many Americans have a problem with the way Washington is handling our taxpayer dollars and also that we are concerned about health care and social security reform. I am happy he is open to a discussion. The Tea Parties are protesting against fiscal irresponsibility and any dialogue we can have will hopefully bring a better public understanding of our country`s finances. Health care and social security reform is a
large concern to us."
The National Leadership Team of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition includes 25 of the more than 900 local organizers of the April 15, 2009 Tax Day Tea Parties held across the country, which were attended by more than 1 million Americans. Members of the National Leadership Team includes Judson Phillips, organizer of the Nashville Tea Party attended by 10,000, James Dickey, organizer of the Dallas Tea Party, attended by 5,000, and JoAnn Abbot, organizer of the Washington, DC Tea Party attended by more than 3,000. The full list of the 25 members of the National Leadership Team of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition can be found at
http://www.nationwideteapartycoalition.com/about.php

Tagged: obama, tax, teaparties

Some kind of Professionalism at our Clerk of Courts Office

Steve Spinks — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:14:34 +0000

I would like to bring to the attention of all registered voters in Hardee County, page 7C of this week’s Herald Advocate (April 23, 2009). A local resident writes to the editor about a recent experience with the Hardee County Clerk of Courts office pertaining to an unanswered jury duty summons. Our local agencies, the Clerk, the Sheriff, and the Judge’s office have repeatedly harassed this resident over an unanswered jury summons by someone who does not even reside at her residence. In the letter to the editor, the resident calls to question the amount of wasted time, money and effort that our local government has spent in pursuing such a minor affair. Especially during a time of economic downturn when money is tighter than ever. According to the resident, this issue covers a time period of 10 months or longer.
The written response by our elected Clerk of Court, Hugh Bradley, is pathetic. Not only does he not answer the resident, who mind you is a taxpayer with a legitimate grievance, but has the audacity to insult all of us by insisting that his office efficiently follows the laws of Florida as it pertains to jury duty.
I beg to question Mr.. Bradley’s definition of efficient. There was a time when I was an employee of the Clerk of Courts office. As an employee of the Clerk’s office, I was involved in many roles, including jury duty management. This resident has raised legitimate questions, has posed a legitimate grievance, and deserves a legitimate response. Although it has been some years since I left service of the Clerk’s office, I can speak on how jury duty was handled while I was there.
During the time of my employment (1997-2001) the laws of Florida changed the jury pool from registered voters to licensed drivers. The idea was that it would give a greater number of people to select from and make getting qualified jurors easier. The result was a greater number of undeliverable jury summons. Because we knew that many summonses came back undeliverable by the post office, we would estimate the number of undeliverable summons and add that to the amount of jurors needed prior to issuing the summonses. Those that came back were instantly marked off the juror list. Florida law also provided for eligible excuses, that if a potential juror could provide, the juror would be excused, no questions asked. Florida law made it a punishable offense for a potential juror to not show. However, due to the high volume of no shows, usually the presiding judge would not pursue the issue. Simply put, it wasn’t worth the effort. The only time that I knew of a warrant being issued for a no show came when a potential juror made a request to be deferred and after the judge granted the deferment, didn’t show. Needless to say, the judge was highly upset, having bent over backwards to allow the potential juror to be excused the prior month. Ultimately the decision on whether or not to issue a warrant against a potential juror for not answering a jury summons lies with the judge presiding. During my tenure at the Clerk’s office, most judges viewed this as a waste of time, and would only do so after conference with the Clerk.
Selecting jurors from a driver’s license pool leads to many potential problems. People don’t change their address on their driver’s license when they move. Not everybody that has a driver’s license is eligible to serve on a jury. There are a high number of driver’s licenses that are obtained fraudulently. Given this knowledge, past precedent, and past policy, I would like to ask the Clerk why it has taken 10 months to resolve this issue. Why, when informed that this juror does not reside at this residence, was the jury list not corrected, and this juror not purged from the system? All of this was standard operating procedures when I worked for the Clerk’s office. It is my belief that Mr.. Bradley owes this resident an apology for what is obviously a sign of a poorly managed office.
As taxpayers and voters of this county, I feel that there are many other issues with the Clerk’s office that we should be asking. The Clerk of Court serves as county treasurer, comptroller, accountant and auditor. In her letter, the resident asks how our county can waste so much of taxpayer’s money going after someone who didn’t show for jury duty at a residence where they do not reside. As a taxpayer and voter myself, I have to ask, why does our county continue to have one of the highest property tax rates around, and why isn’t our county Clerk (the so called, accountant and auditor to the board) more involved in the county budget process? Also Hardee County has had one party rule for as long as anyone can remember. Maybe instead of looking to nickel and dime the taxpayers with higher fees and taxes, our County should go on a diet and stop wasting money? Perhaps it is time we elect fiscal conservatives to our local offices and vote out the party of tax and spend liberals?

- Russell Graylin Smith

Tagged: clerk of courts, hardee, hughbradley, jury

Middle East Opinion on Obama’s First 100 Days

Steve Spinks — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:45:52 +0000

DUBAI, April 24 /PRNewswire/ — A recent survey by the market research company Real Opinions in the Middle East on the first 100 days since US President Obama was inaugurated shows that although the image of the US and leadership on the global stage has improved, performance on issues closer to home in the Middle East are dividing opinion.

There is success for Obama with overall opinion of the US from a Middle Eastern perspective improving by 42%. This is backed up with 35% believing the leadership of US on the global stage has also improved while 43% believe there is no change and just 9% believe it is actually worse. There are also encouraging signs on the subject of the economy with more than twice as many than his predecessor believing they are more confident with the global economy recovering under his leadership (37% improved, 15% worse).

However, in terms of key issues such as Middle East stability, the opinion is more closely divided with 20% believing it has improved and 14% believing it has become worse.

Dan Healy, the CEO of Real Opinions who conducted the survey commented ‘Breaking some of these results down to the areas directly impacted by recent events such as those in the Palestinian Autonomous Area (PAA), 19% believed Middle East stability has worsened, 17% believe it has improved while just over half believe it has not changed (54%). When it came to the issue of the Palestinian & Israeli situation, 30% in PAA thought this was worse under Obama’s leadership, which is twice as many as those who thought it had improved on 14%. For half of these respondents, they don’t believe there is any change between Presidents Bush and Obama.

Healy added, “The overall acceptance of the image of U.S. has greatly improved but in terms of some key issues in the Middle East there is very little change. I think it’s safe to say that under Bush’s leadership and policies the goodwill and the favourable disposition towards the U.S. in the Middle East eroded away and now it’s a new chapter, like a love affair, rekindled, very much awakened and I think it’s a window of opportunity to leverage this favouritism in terms of policies to tackle some of these issues.”

Research on the eve of the US presidential election showed the Middle East very much in favour of Obama over his then rival McCain in terms of being perceived as the best person capable of handling these key regional issues. Healy added “With the election of Obama, many have raised expectations in the Middle East of a change being made to policies and this appears to be transferring into dissatisfaction for some with the perception of little change being made by the time of this study.”

On the eve of these results being released was the announcement by US officials that leaders of Egypt, Israel and Palestinians have been invited for talks in Washington in a new push for Middle East peace.

Healy commented ‘Overall, these results suggest there is certainly a dramatic and favourable image change for the US in the Middle East with Obama as leader over the last 100 days. In terms of policy on some key Middle Eastern issues, there is certainly room for an improvement and this might be about to change with this invitation for talks.’

Research Methodology

The survey was conducted in both Arabic and English online from 10th to 20th April with n=2,789 respondents in the Middle East. Respondents were from the Real Opinion online panel and the results have approximately a 2%+/- margin of error with a CI of 95%.

About Real Opinions

Real Opinions is a full-service market research company, specialising in online media, with global and Middle East research expertise and best practice. Based in Dubai and London, Real Opinions has proven ability to help strategically guide communication, insight and assess the effectiveness of campaigns.

Real Opinions is an accredited member of ESOMAR, an international organisation for market research. For more information about us and this study, please visit http://www.real-opinions.com

Q. The US President Barack Obama will soon have been in office for 100
days and this is often a time to assess a political leader’s progress.
Please rate how you believe the following has changed under his
leadership.

Leadership of US on global stage

Total UAE Bahrain Algeria Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait

Base: All 2789 334 51 191 487 32 251 54
respondents
Minimum % % % % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 35 52 35 23 35 47 25 39
Worse 9 8 12 8 6 6 10 9
No change 43 30 45 51 45 44 51 41
Don’t know 13 10 8 18 14 3 14 11

Lebanon Libya Morocco Oman PAA Qatar Saudi

Base: All 37 44 288 27 116 32 538
respondents
Minimum % % % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 59 32 31 33 32 38 36
Worse 3 2 11 15 11 13 10
No change 32 59 47 37 44 47 39
Don’t know 5 7 11 15 13 3 15

Sudan Syria Tunisia Yemen Iran

Base: All 72 151 39 38 7
respondents
Minimum % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 40 25 33 39 29
Worse 10 7 5 21 0
No change 40 54 46 29 43
Don’t know 10 14 15 11 29

Palestinian & Israeli situation

Total UAE Bahrain Algeria Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait

Base: All 2789 334 51 191 487 32 251 54
respondents
Minimum % % % % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 12 13 8 10 10 16 12 17
Worse 21 15 20 23 22 13 25 13
No change 58 60 67 56 60 63 55 61
Don’t know 9 12 6 11 8 9 9 9

Lebanon Libya Morocco Oman PAA Qatar Saudi

Base: All 37 44 288 27 116 32 538
respondents
Minimum % % % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 16 9 14 7 14 13 11
Worse 11 18 24 33 30 22 22
No change 62 68 55 56 51 59 58
Don’t know 11 5 8 4 5 6 9

Sudan Syria Tunisia Yemen Iran

Base: All 72 151 39 38 7
respondents
Minimum % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 8 11 15 18 0
Worse 15 19 21 26 0
No change 71 62 54 45 86
Don’t know 6 7 10 11 14

Iran nuclear issue

Total UAE Bahrain Algeria Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait

Base: All 2789 334 51 191 487 32 251 54
respondents
Minimum % % % % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 28 28 35 30 25 34 25 28
Worse 13 11 14 10 12 25 13 9
No change 43 46 41 36 45 34 48 46
Don’t know 17 15 10 24 17 6 14 17

Lebanon Libya Morocco Oman PAA Qatar Saudi

Base: All 37 44 288 27 116 32 538
respondents
Minimum % % % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 46 20 30 44 28 31 23
Worse 11 11 13 11 20 19 14
No change 32 50 41 41 35 38 46
Don’t know 11 18 17 4 17 13 17

Sudan Syria Tunisia Yemen Iran

Base: All 72 151 39 38 7
respondents
Minimum % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 36 28 38 39 71
Worse 7 14 5 5 0
No change 42 42 38 29 14
Don’t know 15 16 18 26 14

Middle East stability

Total UAE Bahrain Algeria Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait

Base: All 2789 334 51 191 487 32 251 54
respondents
Minimum % % % % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 20 20 31 13 15 22 17 26
Worse 14 11 6 13 17 9 16 9
No change 56 58 55 59 59 69 58 59
Don’t know 10 11 8 15 10 0 9 6

Lebanon Libya Morocco Oman PAA Qatar Saudi

Base: All 37 44 288 27 116 32 538
respondents
Minimum % % % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 38 14 22 26 17 25 21
Worse 8 14 15 26 19 28 14
No change 46 66 53 33 54 38 53
Don’t know 8 7 10 15 9 9 12

Sudan Syria Tunisia Yemen Iran

Base: All 72 151 39 38 7
respondents
Minimum % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 22 29 10 29 14
Worse 14 11 23 18 14
No change 58 52 51 45 57
Don’t know 6 8 15 8 14

Confidence with global economy recovering

Total UAE Bahrain Algeria Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait

Base: All 2789 334 51 191 487 32 251 54
respondents
Minimum % % % % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 37 46 37 28 38 41 35 37
Worse 15 10 8 15 14 16 18 19
No change 33 31 37 30 35 34 32 28
Don’t know 16 13 18 27 13 9 15 17

Lebanon Libya Morocco Oman PAA Qatar Saudi

Base: All 37 44 288 27 116 32 538
respondents
Minimum % % % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 41 27 35 37 41 50 37
Worse 5 14 19 30 10 16 15
No change 35 41 31 19 30 25 32
Don’t know 19 18 15 15 18 9 16

Sudan Syria Tunisia Yemen Iran

Base: All 72 151 39 38 7
respondents
Minimum % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 40 26 33 50 14
Worse 14 15 21 21 14
No change 33 43 36 16 43
Don’t know 13 16 10 13 29

Overall opinion of US

Total UAE Bahrain Algeria Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait

Base: All 2789 334 51 191 487 32 251 54
respondents
Minimum % % % % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 42 53 49 37 42 53 39 44
Worse 10 9 6 7 9 6 10 6
No change 30 25 35 30 31 31 34 39
Don’t know 19 14 10 26 18 9 18 11

Lebanon Libya Morocco Oman PAA Qatar Saudi

Base: All 37 44 288 27 116 32 538
respondents
Minimum % % % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 51 30 37 33 44 44 41
Worse 3 7 13 33 12 16 10
No change 24 32 31 15 23 19 30
Don’t know 22 32 19 19 21 22 19

Sudan Syria Tunisia Yemen Iran

Base: All 72 151 39 38 7
respondents
Minimum % % % % %
Base: 20
(**), Small
Base: 50
(*)

Improved 40 40 46 50 57
Worse 6 9 18 8 0
No change 32 32 18 21 29
Don’t know 22 18 18 21 14

Inquiries
Dan Healy
CEO – Real Opinions
UK: +44(0)7509038788
inquiry@real-opinions.com

SOURCE Real Opinions

Tagged: administration, me, middle east, obama, performance, survey

Facts are Stubborn Things Series for Grassroots:

Steve Spinks — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:46:44 +0000

A Real Grassroots Alternative for Tea Party: Summary

Posted by admin in Grassroots Not AstroTurf, Tea Party

A consensus seems to have developed regarding when the next Tea Party event should be held: which is July 4. In addition to this post, which summarizes the reasons for a grassroots alternative to the present structure, I have proposed an objective going forward. You can read the summary here or the full text here.