Sheriff’s Forum Tonight…

Let the “games” begin!

The Coeur d’Alene Police Officers Association will be hosting a forum with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Candidates at 6:00 pm in the Community Room of the Coeur d’Alene Public Library.

“Hutch’s” Huckleberry Hounds will be out in full force trying to trip up John Green, the candidate with the most extensive and obviously well rounded professional resume.

Also appearing will be Ben “I’m not a Democrat…really” Wolfinger and Bob “I endorsed Kennedy, too” Foster.  (Joking aside, Foster has a pretty decent resume)

Adam Johnson will be tonight’s comic relief.

DFO of HBO fame will be there so he can get to the bottom of just how “conservative” John Green is…

Stay tuned Chuckle Club; this is going to be an interesting race!

Hijacking Heritage….

Monday former Congressman Bill Sali released a letter to the members of the House of Representatives of the Idaho Legislature.  The letter was about pending legislation, House Bill 510 introduced by Sali which would allow for a license plate displaying our “In God We Trust” national motto.  The Statement of Purpose of House Bill 510 reads,

“This legislation will create a National Motto specialty license plate. Part of the fees collected for these license plates will go to the American Heritage Foundation to provide materials for purposes such as helping to educate the public regarding the founding principles of the United States of America, promoting citizenship and patriotism and promoting honor and respect for positions of public service and authority, including military service and veterans, law enforcement, educators, firefighters, first responders and elected offices.”

According to the Sali letter, there have been attempts to derail the legislation.  Sali wrote “Sadly, some have attacked out intentions.  A Spokesman-Review Editorial claimed we intended to “pay Bill Sali”. Also Rep. Phyllis King recently appeared on KIVI TV claiming that the license plate fees would “go to” Director Sali “personally” to “line his own pockets”.

Sali’s letter goes on to state that as a non-profit organization that adheres to the transparency and reporting requirements of the IRS, such behavior on the part of any of the directors would be impossible.  The letter also states that American Heritage Foundation will also adhere to the standards of Charity Navigator, a private organization that insures its members follow best management practices in the running of their charities.

We heard that House Transportation Vice Chairman Rep. Julie Ellsworth is attempting to amend HB 510 to remove from the bill the American Heritage Foundation and replace it with the Idaho Food Bank.  Evidentially Rep. Ellsworth does not think that  “educat[ing] the public regarding the founding principles of the United States of America” as so stated in the bill’s Statement of Purpose is a worthy cause.  It appears the chairman of the committee; Rep. Joe Palmer, supports the Ellsworth’s attempt to amend the legislation.

Specialty License plate bills have been somewhat controversial in the legislature.  Some members believe that we should not have any specialty license plates in Idaho.  A handful of members will vote against every specialty license plate bill every time.  Noe one knows of any other attempt to do what Ellsworth is trying to do, and that is to strip out of a specialty license bill the organization that brought the bill to the legislature and replace it with another organization that had nothing to do with the drafting of the legislation.  We also don’t know of any specialty license plate bill that has ever failed to get through the legislative process.

We think conservatives should support former Congressman Sali is his attempt to provide for an “In God We Trust” specialty license plate.  If you agree, please contact the members of the House Transportation Committee and tell them pass HB510 without any amendments.  You may call them at (208) 332-1000.  Or send them an e-mail.   Below are listed the members of that committee:

Chair Joe Palmer                   jpalmer@house.idaho.gov
Vice Chair Julie Ellsworth    jellsworth@house.idaho.gov
JoAn E. Wood                        jwood@house.idaho.gov
Leon E. Smith                       lsmith@house.idaho.gov
Scott Bedke                           sbedke@house.idaho.gov
Richard Wills                         rwills@house.idaho.gov
Phil Hart                                phart@house.idaho.gov
Bob Nonini                            bnonini@house.idaho.gov
Marv Hagedorn                      mhagedorn@house.idaho.gov
Linden B. Bateman                lbatemen@house.idaho.gov
Frank N. Henderson               fhenderson@house.idaho.gov
Jeff Nesset                              jnesset@house.idaho.gov
Shirley G. Ringo                    sringo@house.idaho.gov
Phylis K. King                       pking@house.idaho.gov
William M. Killen                 wkillen@house.idaho.gov

Is Idaho Ron Paul Country? Kind of looking that way…

Ron Paul at Twin Falls, Idaho

 

Twin Falls, Idaho.  Today Ron Paul spoke to a crowd of over a thousand people at the Twin Falls Senior High School in Twin Falls, Idaho.  This was Congressman Paul’s first visit to the Gem State during the 2012 presidential campaign.  To an enthusiastic crowd, Congressman Paul spoke about the need to obey the Constitution and the need to return America to the principles of the founding fathers.

Congressman Paul implied that America is no longer a republic, but is now a pure democracy.  He reasoned that free countries are richer than those that are oppressed by excessive taxation and regulation.   Paul said “We have to recommit ourselves to believing what a free country is all about.  And in a free country you always have more wealth.”  He also said, “We need more defenders of liberty in Washington and less lobbyists.”

Paul said “When the republic comes back we won’t have an income tax any longer.  And with respect to our Constitution, we will have sound money, we will have a gold and silver standard, we will not have bills of credit, and we won’t have a federal reserve system.”  He also said, “If it is our life and our liberty, we ought to have the ability and the right to keep the fruits of our labor.”

After calling the many wars the United States has been involved in recently illegal, Paul made the point that we have been trumping up charges against our opponents to justify invading them.  About the Patriot Act, Paul said, “I was pretty annoyed when they passed the Patriot Act, and I voted against it.  Now if they would have given that bill a proper name like “Repeal the Fourth Amendment Act” it probably would not have passed.  You can be pretty sure that whatever name Congress gives a bill, it probably does the opposite.”

Paul talked about the plight of the poor, and noted that all American’s are getting poorer and poorer.  According to Paul, this is a result of the inefficient spending on the part of a government that has grown too large while spending a huge part of our GDP unwisely and crowds out private enterprise.

The Congressman encouraged the crowd to educate themselves on the principles of limited government, on economics, on banking and on the ideals of our founding fathers.  He told the crowd that they were on the winning side as many people across the country are becoming interesting in the foundational principles of freedom and liberty and that these concepts are getting more and more popular.

For the next few days, Congressman Paul’s Pacific Northwest visit includes the following event locations in Idaho and Washington:
Friday, February 17, 2012

4:00 p.m. PST
University of Idaho Moscow Rally
U. of Idaho Commons – Student Union Ballroom
Moscow, ID 83884

7:30 p.m. PST
Spokane Washington Rally
Spokane Convention Center – Ballroom 100ABC
334 West Spokane Falls Blvd
Spokane, WA 99201

Saturday, February 18, 2012

12:30 p.m. MST
Boise Rally
CenturyLink Arena
233 South Capitol Boulevard
Boise, ID 83702