Tools for Pro-Palin blogging

I was blessed with the opportunity to speak on the topic of blogging at the first Conservatives 4 Palin meetup last weekend. One of the ways that we can support Governor Palin and the conservative movement is through blogging. I simply wanted to lay out some practical ways to begin blogging for the Governor, the conservative movement, and our country.

A lot of political blogs use either Blogger or Wordpress. Each platform has its advantages. From my personal experience, Blogger is a little bit more user friendly. However, Wordpress is a little more aesthetically pleasing, and you can ban "trolls" who leave unacceptable comments, which will happen if you write supporting the Governor. If you are concerned you won't be able to start and maintain a blog, do not fear. You can do it! Here is a tutorial for using Blogger and a tutorial for using Wordpress. Both formats provide a step-by-step method of starting a blog, and actually writing a blog post is very similar to writing an email.

With a blog, you can write about anything. However, if you are looking for a way to support Governor Palin and the conservative movement through blogging, here are a few ideas, but be creative and try whatever you feel may be effective.

• Fact Checking and Fisking- The media often misrepresents Governor Palin's record and statements. Governor Palin has often said she has our back. Blogging to support Governor Palin and correct the record is a way for us to have her back. Fisking is a blogging term that means taking apart an argument presented by the main stream media or pundit.
  This can also entail doing the job of critical analyzing the Obama administration, something that the mainstream media often fails to do. Highlighting the ineptness of liberals allows the conservative alternative to be seen more clearly.
• Expanding upon Governor Palin's policy positions-This could mean breaking down what Governor Palin said in a media appearance or a Facebook post and simply expanding upon what she said by using her previous statements or other sources. Here is an example.
• Compare Governor Palin's policy positions to those of President Obama. Obviously, the contrasts are pretty stark, but putting them side-by-side helps illuminate these difference further. Here is an example regarding how Governor Palin and President Obama differ on handling the oil spill and energy independence.
• Personal Narratives- Over the past year or so especially, people have had the opportunity to hear the Governor speak or have meet her at a book signing or the like. Sharing your personal experience is a unique way to articulate about the Governor's sincerity and intelligence.
  
• Cut-and-paste- As long as an article or Facebook post is properly linked or attributed, sharing a well written piece about the Governor or a Facebook post from the Governor is a way to further spread the message.
  

If you are looking for good resources for Pro-Palin blogging, look no further than the Governor's Facebook page, which provides a good overview of her policy positions. If you are in need of information regarding her gubernatorial record, check out the archives of her Alaska governor's site. Additionally, with the assistance of many others, I put together a two sheet overview of the Governor's gubernatorial accomplishments. Feel free to post the link and/ or print out copies to hand out.

There are a variety of ways to use other forms of new media.The American Majority has a nice overview of using some such components of new media (Twitter, Facebook etc) to support conservatism. See here (H/T Peter S.) If you wish to use twitter, which is further described at the American Majority link, here is a mechanism to "auto-tweet" your blog posts. You can also link your blog to other pro-Palin blogs using Palintwibe and Blogs4Palin.

I hope these can be useful resources that you can use to get started with Pro-Palin blogging. Governor Palin has our back. Let's show her in every possible way that we have hers.

Cross posted here.

Mama Grizzlies Roar! -UPDATED!

Last night, Governor Palin posted a SarahPAC video on her Facebook page. I have to say it is extremely well done. Watching this campaign-feel video, you have to wonder why the idiots in the McCain campaign didn't use Governor Palin in their 2008 campaign ads?! With this message, it can be effectively argued that Governor Palin is helping to lock up the "mom" vote specifically and the female vote in general for 2010 elections and, Lord willing, for herself in 2012.



UPDATE: How does a mama grizzly react when her cubs are endangered? See here.

UPDATE II: Here is a good take on the "mama grizzly" from Michelle Malkin.

Governor Palin's Year of Health Care Rationing Prescience

This past December, Politifact called Governor Palin's "death panel" Facebook post "the political lie of the year". While those of us who understood Governor Palin's statement in context knew full well that she was stating the truth about rationing of care that would occur under a more socialized system of healthcare, based upon the kinds of people President Obama has placed in his administration, it should be quite clear that rationing is a means to the ends of his version "health care reform".

Last night, following the recess appointment of Dr. Don Berwick to head up Medicare and Medicad. Governor Palin tweeted:

Press Corps-pls do your job as Obama sneaks in Berwick appt;pls cover his mission:socialized healthcare&rationing based on"quality of life"

As citizen journalists, let's take a look at Berwick, shall we? In May, I wrote a post for our local 912 Project that partly focused on Berwick:

On April 19th, President Obama nominated Dr. Donald Berwick to be the administrator for the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services. Berwick has expressed support for the the National Health Service, the United Kingdom's government-run healthcare system that has the UK lagging on breast care survival, heart attack mortality, and life expectancy compared to even other European countries with socialized medicine. You can hear his support for the the NHS in the video below of a 2008 speech in the United Kingdom:

Berwick has additionally expressed support for the UK's National Institute for Clinical Health Excellence (NICE), the entity that determines the "clinical effectiveness" of various procedures and treatments and whether or not a patient should receive such treatment and other standards regarding care. In essence, NICE determines the quantity of care that a patient receives based upon the incurred cost. In the clip above, Berwick favors for UK healthcare system over that of the United States' system as it is now.

Hmm, rationing of care? Support for an entity like NICE? Death panels, anyone? Of course this is not the first Obama administration official to espouse this mindset. Last summer, Governor Palin and Congresswoman Bachmann called out President Obama' s health care adviser, Zeke Emanuel:

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Health care by definition involves life and death decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any health care discussion.

Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives. I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors.

Both the man who advises the President on health care and the man charged with the duty of overseeing entitlement health care programs that provide for millions of Americans are strong supporters of rationing. It's quite obvious that perhaps in addition to spreading around the wealth, President Obama wants to spread around the health. In addition to these men, former White House economic adviser, Peter Orszag, has said, " the only real solution…is to move toward a healthcare system that is based upon quality and efficiency — not upon quantity.” If a healthcare system is not based upon quantity, then it means that the number of patients who can be treated is limited, rationing. While quality and efficiency are noble goals--you want to make sure that people are well treated and not overtreated--these cannot be goals that take precedence over ensuring that people are actually treated at all.

So nearly a year after the Facebook post heard 'round the world, it's become even more apparent that Governor Palin was extremely prescient about the means to justify President Obama's health care reform ends: rationing. The biggest political lie now? Those claims that Governor Palin lied about death panel!

Cross posted here and here.

Get Rid of the Silly Signs!

My future husband, ur, I mean Congressman, Aaron Schock, came out today saying very much what I've been thinking since the passage of the "stimulus" package nearly a year and a half ago--those "stimulus" road signs that I pass on a daily basis are ridiculous. Why spend money on such things? The cost of those signs are $20 million nationwide and $650,000 in Illinois. Yes, this is drop in the federal government's overflowing budgetary bucket, but does that mean that it needs to be spent? No! While even some conservatives make a stink when liberals look to trim the fat in minor areas rather than make larger cuts elsewhere, such cuts are indeed needed. Yes, we need get entitlements and the debt under control, but smaller cuts and reduction of stupid wasteful spending are needed as well. There's no need for signs to say that a project is funded by an unsuccessful piece of legislation. There's no need for chunks of money to go to silly earmarks or other forms of frivolous, unnecessary spending.

Personally, I think that federal funding for highway development and repair is justified and necessary. Building roads is one of the duties given to Congress by the Section 8 of Constitution. However, there's no need for unnecessary spending to advertise such projects. They might as well have a sign that says, " Look! Unemployment is higher than it would have been had we not passed the 'stimulus'" bill.

You can vote for Schock's call to end funding of these signs as an amendment to be brought before the House.

Independence Day: From Subjects to Citizens

A recent discovery by preservationists at the Library of Congress has shown an interesting piece of history within the one of the pivotal documents of America's founding. When Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, it was organized into 5 parts:"the introduction, the preamble, the indictment of George III, the denunciation of the British people, and the conclusion." In the section indicting King George, Jefferson delineated a list of grievances that many colonists had against the King. One such indictment was of "treasonable insurrections". In the Declaration itself, here is how that section reads (note: original spelling is used):

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. (emphasis mine)

However, as the preservationists have recently discovered through use of high tech devices, Jefferson had changed one word in that section in the transcription of this document that was truly indicative of how the Founders viewed the tyranny of King George. The workers at the Library of Congress discovered that although the document refers to "our fellow citizens" in the aforementioned section, Thomas Jefferson modified this section which originally referred to our fellow subjects. The Founders and early American patriots did not wish to be viewed as subjects to a King whom they had a long list of grievances against. They wished to be seen as citizens who had liberty, not subjects who were under tyranny.

When we simply look at what distinguishes "subjects" from "citizens", we can see what a declaration of independence truly means. A citizen is one who is under the protection of a governing body, while a subject is one under the control of a governing body. Jefferson and the other Founders saw that, because of they had become subject to tyranny, forced to fight against their fellow citizens, obstructing justice, imposing taxes, and a whole slew of other injustices and constraints to liberty, they had been relegated to subjects, and that in order to seen as they truly were, citizens, Jefferson and the other signers of the document needed to declare their independence.



The bravery, boldness, and foresight of these brave men and the providence of God allow us today to live in freedom. Some shared their vision; some gave their wisdom; and some even gave their lives. The sacrifice of many has given liberty to so many more. Freedom is not free, but we have every reason to celebrate the blessings that we have as Americans. John Adams even foresaw that this Declaration would be celebrated. Let us heed his words as we celebrate independence (note: original spelling is used):

I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. -- I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. -- Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

Cross posted here.

Governor Palin: A Year as a Titleless American

It's July 3rd, 2010. Governor Palin is in Wasilla with her family making plans for the Independence Day holiday. She has just been informed that a 40th frivolous ethics complaint has been filed against her for talking with reporters at an Anchorage 5K race about her best selling book that was released just in the Spring. Things are still moving forward with the transcontinental gas pipeline, and after a fierce battle with the obstructionist Alaskan legislature, a prudent FY2011 budget has been passed.

On the national political front, President Obama and VP Biden are hitting up the links trying to decide if the administration should meet with the head of BP more than 2 months following a massive oil spill. The administration had passed its first major piece of "reform" legislation --a government take over of health care--during the Fall of 2009 in spite of the protest of a sincere,bold, but somewhat faceless group of Tea Party Patriots. President Obama is on near cruise control with his agenda, with few prominent, outspoken, well known critics of his administration. Tom Campbell had recently defeated Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore for the GOP nod in Califorina. Nikki Haley had recently returned to the South Carolina legislature as an up-and-coming reformer who had a strong showing in the primary for governor, but didn't have quite enough to make it over the top.

Such may have been the Alaskan and American political scene had Governor Palin not stepped aside from the governor's office. As Governor Palin stated when she made that famous, shocking announcement a year ago, she had no intention of running for a second term, nor did she want to waste countless hours of staff time and hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer monies fighting the ridiculousness of unfounded lawsuits, so she resigned. She no longer wanted to be relegated to spending the majority of her time battling dozens of baseless frivolous ethics charges which was not productive for her state. She instead knew she could fight for Alaskans and Americans outside of office, and she knew the man who would fill her place would follow the same agenda as she had.

It's hard to delve into alternative history, but one has to wonder how the political landscape would appear if Sarah Palin was still the governor of Alaska. I don't think it would be too far from the aforementioned scenario. She would have made progress on the pipeline (as is being done anyway) and would have continued to battle with legislators to ensure a modest budget was passed. President Obama would be gliding through his first term tone deaf to the voices of the American people. The tea party would still be strong and vocal, but it would not have such a powerful voice, nor widespread coverage, had Governor Palin still been in office. The health care reform bill, stymied enormously by two words and a pair of quotation marks from the Governor, would likely have passed in the Fall of 2009, rather than the Spring of 2010. Aside from Governor Palin, there has not been a voice that has consistently, boldly, and unabashedly spoken against the overreach of the federal government, the reckless spending, and enemy centric foreign policy of the Obama administration. Had Sarah Palin remained governor of Alaska, she could not speak in such a way without an ethics complaint being levied at her. She likely could not have been a vocal supporter of candidates for office, and no one knows about the power of a Palin endorsement better than two fellow mama grizzlies-- Carly Fiorina and Nikki Haley. Both of these women are definitely strong candidates in their own right, but without the endorsement of Governor Palin, they may not have received the visibility and campaign funds to put them over the top. The same could be said of many other candidates.

When Governor Palin uttered the words, " I never thought that I, nor anyone else, needs a title to do this--to make a difference, to help people" just one year ago, in her signature display of self-confident humility, she likely did not know just how great her influence would be. Sarah Palin, without the official title of current governor, has been a voice for everyday Americans, speaking against progressivism, speaking for the principles of our Constitution and supporting those candidates who stand for those conservative principles. The anklebiters and the Left may have thought temporarily that they had won a great victory, but time has most definitely proven otherwise. What do we have left to say but thank you?



Cross posted here and here.

Ignorance of the Left on Full Display

If you listened to the media, you would think that those of us who support Governor Palin were ignorant and uninformed. However, often the converse is true. There's a disconnect between reality and misconception. The misconception is that conservatives, especially those of the Palin variety, are stupid, uneducated blind followers. The misconception is that the anti-Palin crowd are sophisticated, intelligent, and open minded. What does reality show us though? Take a look at this video of anti-Palin protesters:




Fabulous, huh? Let's take a look point-by-point. The Left prides itself on its intellectualism, yet it seems in spite of such superior intellect, their vocabulary, on display in this clip, is rather small and largely consisting of four letter words. Second, the chant of these buffoons is quite enlightening, "eat the rich!". Yes, that will solve poverty in America and cure all societal ills! Why didn't we think of that before?! The Left tries to turn everything into class warfare. However, as we've seen with the bloated budgets circulating throughout Washington and state houses, the true "rich" are not wealthy Americans, but a government who has become intent on gorging itself on other people's money, rich or not. We have a progressive income tax system that falls on the back of the rich. The effects of capital gains and business taxes fall largely on the rich. However, taxes don't just fall on the rich. With the talk of value added taxes and cap and tax legislation, taxes will fall on all consumers. Regardless of what your view is on smoking, the Left, the supposed champion of the little guy, is a big proponent of a regressive (falling largely on the poor) tax on cigarettes. What do these taxes go to? Massive entitlement programs, supposed government "stimulus" programs, bailouts, and earmarks. The true culpable "rich" are those in Washington who have feasted upon the American taxpayer to feed their insatiable appetite.

Lastly, what does this video show? The Left's misunderstanding of what makes America exception. One man in the video states that he "hates the Constitution", and he's a Communist. For someone who hates the Constitution, he certainly did his fair share of exercising his first amendment rights. As we've seen with the SCOTUS confirmation hearings this week, the US Senate is poised to confirm a justice who sees the Constitution as a living document, yet does not see an unborn child as living, even to the point to altering medical information in order to support partial birth abortion. We have a president in office who sees the Constitution as a "charter of negative liberties"--one that tells the government what it can't do. Do we see a pattern here? Disdain for our Constitution, while freely exercising one of the rights vested in that document, is truly a double standard, but hey, if it wasn't for double standards, some on the Left wouldn't have standards.

Cross posted here and here.