Stomping Elephants

Food Stamps Gone Wild!

2009-07-23T18:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a hot one as I drove past the familiar yellow truck making tasty frozen deliveries in a neighborhood.
I thought to myself how good ice cream would be right about now. But my family is on a budget and we had dinner waiting at home and cold soda.
The I noticed something new on the door of the truck. Schwans accepts food stamps. In Washington State it is the Quest Card.
I started to question what I read so I pulled over to ask the driver and he confirmed that they take Food Stamps. I could not believe it. Papa Murphy accepts food stamps as well, and I am sure there are others.
While I am watching every penny those on State Assistance can buy what I can not justify. When our state has a huge deficit we can afford to allow people to purchase what I deem luxury food products. This is intolerable. I can not afford it but I am paying for others to enjoy it?
My grandmother grew up in a poor family. My great grandmother kept the family fed by cooking for the wealthy in Seattle. Those who employed her knew that she was trying to make ends meet and allowed her to take home the left overs for her children. My grandmother was one of the older kids and she did go hungry when there was not enough. I support programs to help those in need. It would have helped my family here and there over the years.
But now it is obviously being abused.Where do you draw the line? In my opinion we should offer vouchers for basics such as hamburger,chicken,, potatoes, bread, milk, fruit, cheese, and peanut butter and even a few essentials like toilet paper and tooth paste.We should not allow luxury items. This is meant for when you are down and out and need to keep your stomach from growling- not just to satisfy the munchies.
What do you think?

It is our Job to Distract the Republicans...

2009-07-09T10:03:00.000-07:00

These are the words I woke up to this morning as I stumbled into the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee. You guessed it, Nancy Pelosi strikes again.

I thought to myself- is this the job of the Speaker of the house, the 3rd in line to the Presidency? Do we not elect them to represent us and look out for the future of this great nation. How many times have we all heard that so and so is "reaching across the isle" to the other party as they try and work out solutions for all of the citizens.

Politics is about compromise.It is working together for a common good. It is bringing ideas forward and listening to others, so that we can make choices that work for the majority.It is a blending of ideas that pushes us forward and makes what was a good idea into one that is great.

Distracting the opposition would not be in the job description. As a Realtor would I make any progress by trying to distract the other agent? I would be working against myself and negating the objective...negotiating on behalf of my client to complete the transaction.

As long as politicians use distraction as way to obtain there objective we will not have economic recovery. We will have a game of Cat and Mouse and our country will suffer as a result.

The Founding fathers did not agree on every aspect. They did however compromise when needed to form the nation that survives to this day. How much time do we have left if we have truly adopted these techniques and forgotten our path?

Steeling Jobs

2009-05-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

We are under economic duress. It is not a secret. Unemployment numbers are edging up. In fact in Michigan there is talk that unemployment could reach 20%. Every little bit it inches up (and 20 % is considerable) it will take that much longer to bring back down and reel back in. Unemployment is like a disease, and it spreads.

With that said there seems to be a concern that takes precedence over American jobs. And that would be the environment. Now I am a supporter of conserving energy and doing my part to recycle. It is important and it also creates jobs. Although not every nation is on that same page. Some do not care what they do as long as they are producing a product that The United States will purchase.

Michigan is known for it's industrial strength. Producing Steel is an integral part of their states economy, and they do a great job. In fact they produce steel with a 1/3 less carbon emissions than China or India. That is something we should be proud of. But is it enough?

Not according to those supporting the Cap and Trade Bill. The efforts of this bill could be devastating to the already fragile economy. That is why opponents are trying to put in place constructive amendments that will take effect if unemployment rates increase or if China and India do not step up to the plate and follow suit with their emission standards. After all we are all in this together ...as we do share a planet.

In essence if this Bill passes without safeguards in place we are going to be supporting other nations economies while sabotaging our own. I encourage all of those considering this Bill on the house floor & their constituents to first consider the United States of America, and our citizens before allowing the passage of such a bill.

Tea Time for 12 Million and Counting

2009-04-16T09:56:00.001-07:00

I wanted to pass this post along to all of you who wondered how the Tea Party went. It was a great success. I think we will see even more in the months to come!
Via Kevin Robinson ~I buy short sales (Crownline Home Builders):
For once the protesters had jobs. For once the protesters were dressed in actual clothing not some kind of dirty retro hemp robes. For once the protesters did not sing Kumbya. For once the protesters did not throw things at the police. Conservatives at a protest? Something new?
Whenever you read about any type of protest in this country it is always populated by the leftists. They love a good protest. I think that in actuality, many of them are hoping the The Grateful Dead will be playing at the protest or that someone will be giving away free money.
Conservatives are getting madder by the day about our new leaders out of control spending. The answer to every problem seems to be "spend more money". Yeah, we all know that President Bush spent like a drunken sailor. And for 8 years we were told by libs that he was spending way too much. Most of us conservatives did not like his spending and spoke up about it. Now our leader has quadrupled the national debt. Nice answer to a problem. Hey we owe 1 trillion dollars that we can't pay. Yeah we are mad about it but lets go ahead and increase it to 4 trillion. What a great business mind the man must have. Of course, to the folks that solve every problem that way, the money they spend is not theirs. The sentiment out there in this country is anger and it is growing.
Just the fact that people with jobs had to take time off work to go and protest is big news. Add to that the fact that protest has always been the domain of liberals and leftists. This has got to be tough for the libs. I have noticed that many of them are trying to spin the Tea Party protests as something put on by some big evil corporations (as if corporations are populated by non-people or something). I even read an article that tried to convince it's readers that "this can't be a real Tea Party, for a real Tea Party has to do with taxation without representation". Go ahead you big govt loving libs and keep on trying to convince yourselves of that.
Even worse news for a lot of hard core lefties is that many of the Tea Parties were attended by loads of Democrats. Dems who probably voted for our new leader and now have realized that he is a sham. His hope and change equals no hope and no change coming back.

Is the Government in Your Garden?

2009-04-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

This is serious. We have to take action before this or anything like it is ever passed!

This past week Bill HR 875 was introduced with little media fanfare. I saw a little bit of news coverage which basically espoused how the bill was designed to make our food supply safer. Like so much going on in our government right now, nothing is further from the truth. It turns out that HR 875 is an attempt by two major corporations, one of which is Monsanto, to eliminate organic seeds from our food supply and replace them with genetic and chemically altered seeds.
This has the potential to put small organic farmers out of business. It will effect the real estate value of rural farming towns and will forever change our food supply. Don't let this happen.
It could end Farmers Markets - this is serious business! Don't Let It Pass.
If you understand the importance of sustainable agriculture and choose to eat organic and pure foods as nature intended for our bodies, please take a second to call your congressional rep and ask them to vote down bill HR 875 which will outlaw organic farming. If we all do not do our part, we'll be stuck with GMO and pesticide-ridden garbage "foods."
If this passes, then NO more organic ancient heirloom seeds will be allowed. Instead only Monsanto genetically altered seeds that are now showing up with unexpected diseases in humans will be legally grown.
The US House and Senate are about (in a week and a half) to vote on bill that will outlaw organic farming (bill HR 875).
This bill is cleverly disguised to fool Americans into thinking it's to our benefit. is also disguised as the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (bill HR 875).
Main backer and lobbyist is Monsanto - chemical and genetic engineer ing giant corporation along side Cargill, ADM, and about 35 other related agri-giants. This bill will require organic farms to use specific fertilizers and poisonous insect sprays dictated by the newly formed agency to "make sure there is no danger to the public food supply". This will include backyard gardens that grow food only for a family and not for sales essentially making tons of money for these companies through the sale of their pesticides and also polluting our waterways.
Short Video 1:http://pr1.netatlan tic.com/t/ 9661579/7793682/ 598242/0/
Short Video 2: http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=eeWVkTU1s1E
To Find & Call Your Representative:
Go to http://pr1.netatlan tic.com/t/ 9661579/7793682/ 598244/0/ and enter your zipcode. Express your concern politely and nicely and pass the word on. Thanks!

Join the RNCC

2009-03-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

About the RNCC
Mission Statement
The Republican National Conservative Caucus (RNCC) was founded by several members of the Republican National Committee in order to promote conservative Republican principles, policies, and politics, and to educate the public about their importance to liberty. We will have a discussion with America about how we can work together to restore our Constitutional Republic, to reverse the current march toward socialism, and how we can translate conservative principles into meaningful public policies for a freer society. We want to inform and to mobilize the American people to join us in this important work.
We are committed first to God, then to family, then to country, then to conservatism, and only then to our political party. Consequently, although we are proud Republicans, we will not hesitate to hold everyone in account based on not only words, but also deeds, including ourselves, when we fail to adhere to founding principles.
We believe that conservative values—free enterprise, free markets, limited government, low taxes, the sanctity and dignity of life, protecting the family, individual responsibility, and a strong national defense—are best for America. The best way to defend our individual freedoms and liberty is to not just to articulate those values, but to apply them consistently. We are committed to offering our members concrete steps by which they can help us restore these ideals to America and to save our country from the disaster that a full-fledged embrace of liberalism will bring.
Former president Ronald Reagan once reminded us that, if we fail to protect freedom, “one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” May that never be the case for us! We invite everyone who shares our vision to join our movement. Together, we can restore the promise of America for ourselves and our children.
Purpose of RNCC Website
The RNCC website, RepConCaucus.com, provides the principle means for the members of the Caucus to inform and to activate the American people to take the steps necessary to restore our Constitutional Republic. The website will provide posts on current public policy debates and Republican politics that provide particularly insightful analysis and information. The posts are intended to be timely and relevant. We hope you will want to read them. In addition, the website will be a source for important resources on our constitutional principles, other topics, and for links to especially useful sources of information. The website is geared toward conservative Republican activists.
Founding Members
The following members of the Republican National Committee are the founding members of the Republican National Conservative Caucus:
Linda Ackerman, Republican National Committeewoman, California
Cathie Adams, Republican National Committeewoman, Texas
Evie Axdahl, Republican National Committeewoman, Minnesota
James Bopp, Jr., Republican National Committeeman, Indiana
Donna Cain, Republican National Committeewoman, Oregon
Gio Cicione, Rhode Island Republican State Central Committee
Cindy Costa, Republican National Committeewoman, South Carolina
Demetra DeMonte, Republican National Committeewoman, Illinois
Jeff Kent, Republican National Committeeman, Washington
Peggy Lambert, Republican National Committeewoman, Tennessee
Willes Lee, Chairman, Hawaii Republican Party
Kim Lehman, Republican National Committeewoman, Iowa
Carolyn McLarty, Republican National Committeewoman, Oklahoma
Randy Pullen, Chairman, Arizona Republican Party
Pete Ricketts, Republican National Committeeman, Nebraska
Steve Scheffler, Republican National Committeeman, Iowa
Brian Sullivan, Republican National Committeeman, Minnesota
Helen Van Etten, Republican National Committeewoman, Kansas
Phyllis Woods, Republican National Committeewoman, New Hampshire
Solomon Yue, Republican National Committeeman, Oregon
Become a Member
If you share our vision for America, become a member of the Caucus. You will be entitled to post entries on the website, subject to review and approval by the editorial staff of the Caucus, and will receive useful updates and calls to action from the Caucus.

Selling the United States to India One Piece at a Time...

2009-03-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

I was floored to hear this morning that IBM is laying off more workers in the United States. It has been occurring all over the place and to see it once again is devestating.

All of us in the Real Estate Industry and around the nation are painfully aware that every job lost is going to effect each and every one of us. From the Grocery store clerk, the truck driver to the Barista,the Real Estate agent and the Lender, we all feel the effects of lay offs and lost wages.
Like and Aftershock of the Stock Market the jolts just keep coming. What is frustrating me about the IBM layoffs is that they are sending the lost American jobs to India. How is that helping out when times are tough?

I try to buy made in the USA any time that I can. I try to support all of the local jobs and businesses in my area every chance I get. I feel it is my patriotic duty. Not only does it benefit those workers ...it benefits ME. Every penny I spend in my community or in my Country comes full circle. It enables those that are on the receiving end to employ me to sell them a home, employ my husband as a firefighter through the property taxes collected, and my teenage daughter who works at McDonalds.

We have to stop the hemmoraging somewhere. It should start with shopping local and keeping jobs in the U.S. This also means that the United States has to be an affordable place to employ.IBM has been employing citizens in the US for over 100 years. It began as a small company in New York.It took a nation such as our to ispire innovation and give it room to grow. To allow it to decide what was best for the company.I can't imagine that the decision that IBM made was an easy one, but it is one that we are going to have to deal with now.

If we do not support our own in these trying times...just exactly who are we supporting?

Have you head of the 912 project?

2009-03-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

Glen Beck has been sharing about a project he is involved with called the 912 project. It is about the way our nation worked together on the day following 911.
On September 10th life was what it was. Planes flew over head, the stock market ticked forward, and we felt safe.On September 11th the world as we all knew is changed. We had a common enemy...FEAR. The skies were deafening with their silence, the stock market stopped, we watched as our fellow citizens flung their bodies out of burning infernos to escape the heat and welcome death. Sleeping that night was a luxury few experienced. As the days rolled into weeks we did not know what to expect next. We discovered white powder in the mail, searched hopelessly for missing family members, and yet another plane slammed into New York.
It all seemed unreal. Where did this come from? When was Bruce Willis going to step up and save us? This is America. Why would this happen here?
The only thing left for us to do was to Unite. This is not a new idea for our nation. We have done it many times in the past. Who would have ever guessed that the ragtag team General Washington had could defeat the British. We did. We will again. This is not a time where we can take our eye off the ball. We are in danger. We may loose our County. We have choices to make.
While these decisions are not easy they need to be made. Yes we have issues with our economy.But if we focus on this and allow the rest to fall by the wayside we will encounter a great evil once again.
It is time to take the attitude that we shared the day after September 11th. We need to unite again as one. Hold our values strong and push forward with the dynamic force that our county was born with.
The following are our nations 12 Core Values
Honesty
Reverence
Hope
Thrift
Humility
Charity
Sincerity
Moderation
Hard Work
Courage
Personal Responsibility
Gratitude
The following are the 9 principals
1. America is good.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
If you can agree that the preceding list exemplifies The United States Of America then you are a 912 Patriot...JOIN US!

Kindness Matters...

2009-03-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

I just ran across this article in eppraisal's newsletter.I thought that you would all appreciate it. I gets me thinking that I may never know where we are headed next.It does seem that people have a heart. I have seen a lot of kindness to those that are going through difficulties these days and it warms my heart.
Stay in your home as a renter after foreclosure
Freddie Mac launched an initiative to allow qualified tenants and former owners to rent bank-owned properties after foreclosure. They will continue to suspend evictions until April 1, 2009 to ensure there is ample time for current occupants to learn about the options available to them under the new initiative.
To qualify for a lease, the tenant or former owner must occupy the property and show they have adequate income to pay the monthly rental amount established by the property management company based on market rents for the area in which the home is located. Occupants must agree to allow the home to be shown to potential buyers as it will be marketed for sale during the lease period.
Additionally the home must be in safe, habitable condition and meet all local codes for rental properties to qualify.
I think it agreat way to help someone out and to keep the property in good shape. Which can be rare in foreclosures.
What are your thoughts?

A Little Rant...

2009-03-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

I remember crisp fall days with out a cloud in the sky,working in the yard and the sweet scent of a small fire burning outside. It was a lot of work and after a tiring afternoon we would all gather around and roast marshmallows and talk about our plans for the next day. As we looked around we could see all the hard work we had done and a spruced up yard to show for it. We were proud of our team work and the results.
That is not the case today. While you can still be happy with a manicured yard. You have to make sure you haul it all off. No more camp fires in the back yard. No more roasting over burning embers, or inviting the neighbor kids over to tell scary stories late into the night as their faces lite up with the flickering flames.
The Clean Air Dept. can fine you. Maybe the first time they will let it go, but after that it can be hundreds or thousands of dollars.The local Fire dept. may be called to put it out, using valuable resources that could be better spent on a structure fire.
Where does all the extreme crazy stuff stop. I would much rather they pick on the stinky Diesel school buses that leave clouds of fumes right in the children's faces. Where do we drawn the line. I have even heard talk of taxing farmers for the gases their cows produce.
Enough is enough. I would like to go back to a time that we cared, but we used a little dose of common sense along with it.

My 800 Billion Thought for Today...

2009-03-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

I would feel better if I thought that this was all about stabilizing the economy and not about personal ambitions. Nestor and Katrina are right- It has to take it due course. If the plan was so grand wouldn't investors be jumping on board instead of running for life jackets?
We need to stabilize. Lets put together a panel of economists, citizens, Realtors, investors, and yes- representatives. Have them mull this over before they just throw money at it. There are men who have made fortunes from nothing. They probably have some good ideas, but it will take ACTION.
Personal responsibility needs to take hold. Don't just hold your hand out... get to work. Find a way to make it work. The lazy mentality that "the man" will take care of you is what is tearing our county apart. If you look back these programs were never intended to be hand outs, just a help out as you get on your feet again. Something some Americans and others taking advantage of our system have not considered doing in a long time.
What we need to do to fix this issue is put everyone on the job of solving this crisis and not waiting around for the next stimulus check or hug from the government.
Get inspired. Make a difference. Move forward without looking back. These are the days that fortunes are made. Invest in your self,and your dreams. Just go for it...and in turn we will all prosper.-Dinah Lee Griffey

Welcome

2009-01-25T12:15:00.000-08:00

This blog has been created for those with conservative minds to share their thoughts. We would like to maintain a positive atmosphere here. We hope that the content provided and commented on will strive to shed a uplifting light on our party by representing the accomplishments and goals that we are all reaching for.

To quote an exceptional President, Ronald Reagan...

"Republicans live every day as though it is the 4th of July and Democrats live every day as though it is April 15th."

With that in mind, lets strive to place Patriotic content here and uplift one another's spirits with positive words.