House Republicans Choose Boehner & Blunt

House Republicans picked Rep. John Boehner (R-OH ) to serve as minority leader when Democrats take control of Congress in January. Boehner is currently the No.2 House Republican majority leader. He defeated Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) by 168-27. In a press conference, Boehner said, "We're going to work as a team and we are going to earn our way back into our majority. We need to fight for a smaller, less-costly, and more accountable federal government."

Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo) won minority whip for the No. 2 GOP post. Blunt is currently the No. 3 House Republican majority whip and defeated Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) by 137-57.

House Democrates Chose Hoyer & Clyburn

Rep Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) a practical moderate, was elected House majority leader. Hoyer's routed (149 to 86) Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), Nancy Pelosi's handpicked candidate. Arkansas' Democrat Rep. Ross and Snyder voted for Hoyer; Rep Berry voted for Murtha. Pelosi had publicly backed Murtha, a longtime friend whose recorded session with undercover FBI agents, alleged record of earmarking pet projects while vice-chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and comments on recent ethics reform proposals had raised questions among some about his fitness to lead and Pelosi's judgment in supporting him.

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) elected House majority whip. Clyburn was chairman of the House Democratic Caucus prior to being elected majority whip.

Election Basics

An accurate analysis of election results requires getting down to the basics. Too often the mechanics of winning elections are lost in the message. Here is the most basic question: What determines the outcome of an election? The answer is simple: Receiving the majority of votes.

The operative word for any challenger against an incumbent is change. In order for a challenger to beat an incumbent in an election, he must convince the voters that change is needed. The bottom line is that in 2006, the Democrats convinced the majority of voters that change was needed. In contrast, the operative phrase for an incumbent is, "change will make things worse." Republican incumbents failed to convince enough voters that change in leadership is a bad idea.

What contributed to this sense that change in leadership was needed? The persistent whining and character assassination by the liberal media, the appearance of worsening conditions in Iraq and no apparent progress, and the highlighting of corruption in the Republican Party. Republicans can't change the liberal whining, but they can do something about successful leadership and corruption in their ranks.

Here is another basic principle to consider. The majority of people do not vote for a message. They vote for personal security and safety: financial and family. "Life, liberty, and happiness" are more easily pursued in a safe environment. Thus, voters elect those who have gained their confidence to provide better living conditions. Voters reject those who appear to be less competent or who are less familiar to them.

For example, the fact that Republicans can win in Arkansas (John Boozeman, Frank White, Ronald Reagan, Mike Huckabee, Tim Hutchinson, and John P. Hammerschmidt) shows that people are not necessarily voting for a party or for principles. They are voting for candidates they believe will provide competent leadership that will secure their pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.

From one election cycle to the next, the same electorate vote for candidates from different parties and who have different messages. So, what do all winners have in common? They have won the confidence from the majority of voters. In other words, having the right message does not win the majority of votes. To be sure, the message content of a candidate is important, but it is obviously not preeminent. The promised outcome is preeminent. More specifically, voters must be convinced that a candidate can successfully provide greater safety and security for the voter.

I submit that conservative candidates must design a strategy for the next two years to recapture control of the House and Senate on these principles:
1. Voters vote for safety and security
2. Change is needed
3. Democratic incumbents are a threat to the well being of voters.

Democratic incumbents cannot be trusted.

Democratic incumbents policies have sacrifice safety and security.

4. Voters can have confidence in conservative leadership.

Principled, trustworthy, and competent leaders who lead successfully

Offer policy solutions with predictions of positive results

Offer critiques of Democratic policies highlighting failed results

The bottom line is that conservatives must go beyond their message. They must convince the majority of those who cast their votes that conservative leadership will improve the voters' safety and security.

Meet the House Speaker - Rep. Nancy Pelosi

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, served for years on the executive committee of the socialist-leaning Progressive Caucus, a bloc of about 60 votes or nearly 30 percent of the minority vote in the lower chamber. Until 1999, the Progressive Caucus website was hosted by the Democratic Socialists of America. Following an expose of the link between the two organizations in WorldNetDaily, the Progressive Caucus established its own website under the auspices of Congress.

The Democratic Socialists of America's chief goal is to work within the Democratic Party and remove the stigma attached to "socialism" in the eyes of most Americans. "The Democratic Party is something the public understands, and association with it takes the edge off. Stressing our Democratic Party work will establish some distance from the radical subculture and help integrate you to the milieu of the young liberals." The goal of the Democratic Socialists of America has never been deeply hidden. Prior to the cleanup of its website in 1999, the DSA included a song list featuring "The Internationale," the worldwide anthem of communism and socialism; the "Red Revolution," and "Are You Sleeping, Bourgeoisie?" In the last several years, the Progressive Caucus has moderated its image for mainstream consumption. Read More

Christians Flee Bethleham

More and more Arab Christians are leaving Bethlehem for fear of being killed by radical Muslims. According to Sami Awad, executive director of the Holy Land Trust,"?Most of the Christians here are either in the process of leaving, planning to leave or thinking of leaving." "Insecurity is deep and getting worse." The Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land said Christians could become "extinct" in the area within 60 years. A Christian restaurant owner, Ibrahim Shomali, is selling what he can before he leaves with his wife this month for Flint, Michigan. Read Story ...

The Principles of a Free Society

Limited Government - The rightful functions of government are to guarantee individual liberty, private property, internal order, the provision of national defense, and the administration of justice. When the state exceeds this proper role, it accumulates power and becomes a threat to personal liberty.
Individual Liberty - Individuals possess rights to life, liberty, property, and freedom from the restrictions of arbitrary force. They exercise these rights through the use of their natural free will.
Personal Responsibility - Personal responsibility is central to the idea of a free society and to the concept of self-government. Because each individual is morally responsible for his acts, citizens in a free society have an obligation to educate themselves to further the common good through the political process: this is the proper and necessary function of self-government.
The Rule of Law - Laws, not men, rule a free society. The Constitution of the United States, with its division of powers, is the best arrangement yet devised for empowering government while preventing the concentration of power.
Free Market Economy - Allocating resources by the free play of supply and demand is the single economic system compatible with the requirements of a free society, and also the most productive and efficient supplier of human needs.
Moral Norms - The values, customs, conventions, and norms of the Judeo-Christian tradition inform and guide a free society. Without such ordinances, society induces its decay by embracing a relativism that rejects an objective moral order.
Intercollegiate Studies Institute works to instill an understanding & appreciation for America's founding principles.

Post Election Thoughts

Over the past couple week, many right-of-center college students have felt disappointed. The Republican Party many of them supported has now lost power in both houses of Congress. But is this really a time to be gloomy?

Being a conservative is not about having some kind of power. For, as Lord Action reminded us, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Being a conservative is something different. It is holding on to an idea and keeping that idea alive no matter where the tide of history takes us. As T. S. Eliot told us, "We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors' victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation it will triumph." With these thoughts in mind, we must continue to educate ourselves on the principles of a free society and do our part to expand this education to others around us. Excerpt from the ISI Director's Dialogue, Nov, 2006 monthly newsletter for Campus Representatives & Faculty Associates High School & College Students May Join for Free the Intercollegiate Studies Institute

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Tags: colleges, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, ISI

Governor Huckabee Defends Gift Registries

Gift registries have been set up to help friends of Arkansas first lady Janet Huckabee choose gifts for the Huckabees' new home as they prepare to leave the governor's mansion. Huckabee leaves office in January after 10 years. The couple purchased a $525,000, 7,000-square-foot home in North Little Rock this year, and friends of the first lady are giving her a housewarming party, Huckabee spokeswoman Alice Stewart said.

Huckabee said the gift registries were put together by his wife's friends for a housewarming party. "Tell me what she can do for somebody in the last month of her tenure when she's not even an elected official and has no power whatsoever," he told reporters. "Is she not entitled to have some friends that have nothing to do with me?"

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Tags: Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, Gift Registry, Janet Huckabee

McConnell & Trent Lott to Lead Senate Republicans

Sen. Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, was elected unanimously to be the Senate minority leader in the new Congress. He'll replace Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who is retiring from the Senate under a self-imposed term limit and is a potential contender for the GOP presidential nomination in two years.

The Republican caucus elected Sen. Trent Lott, of Mississippi, a former whip and majority leader won election to the No. 2 post as GOP Whip by one vote over Sen Lemar Alexander, of Tennessee.

On Tuesday, Senate Democrats elected Sen. Harry Reid, of Nevada, as Majority leader and Richard Durbin, of Illinois, as majority whip.

MSU Settles Lawsuit with Student for Violation of Rights

Springfield, MO, KLOR 10 TV Emily Brooker with assistance from the Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit Oct 30th against Missouri State University, claiming that her First Amendment rights were violated by a class project. The lawsuit claimed Booker's religious rights were violated. A fall 2005 class project, assigned by professor Frank Kauffman, required students to write a letter to the Missouri legislature in support of the rights of homosexuals to adopt. Students were required to sign the letters, which would be forwarded to the General Assembly. Brooker refused to sign the letter. Brooker then was called before the School of Social Work review committee, received a grade of "C" in Kauffman`s class as a result of the incident. She appealed and was eventually granted a grade of "B" in the class.

MSU's president announced the settlement and said Brooker's official student record would be cleared of the Level 3 review. Brooker will be paid $9,000, and MSU will waive academic fees or reimburse Brooker an amount equal to two years of degree work toward a Master of Social Work degree. Brooker will also receive $3,000 per year in living expense for two years of graduate education. MSU also ordered an evaluation of the SMU Social Work program by an external team of reviewers. The instructor, Dr. Kauffman, has stepped down as director of the Master of Social Work program and has been re-assigned non-classroom duties for the remainder of the fall semester.

Pro-Homosexual Democrats To Push Anti-Christian "Hate Crime" Legislation

Nov 14, 2006 - With the Democrats taking control of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives this January, we can expect the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and its pro-homosexual surrogates newly elected to Congress, to begin an aggressive push for passage of a ?hate crimes? bill designed to provide federally protected status to the behavior of homosexuality. This hate crimes bill is likely to be a re-engineered version of the old Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act (LLEEA). The pro-homosexual, anti-Christian Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is another bill that will be revived as part of the homosexual agenda. Read More...

Bad Night For Parents & Unborn Children

Missouri voters decided to approve a stem cell research bill that will result in the legalized killing of human embryos for their stem cells. Amendment 2 was opposed by Missourians Against Human Cloning, but voters rejected the arguments against the killing of embryos. ...Read More...

Marriage Protection Amendments Win In 7 Of 8 States

Voters in Idaho, Wisconsin, Virginia, Tennessee, Colorado, South Dakota and South Carolina have overwhelmingly approved marriage protection amendments to their state constitutions. Arizona voters, however, defeated a marriage amendment. In Arizona 51.4% voted against the amendment; 48.6% voted for it. Read More...

Penalties of Arrogance - Hope in the Future

At least to conservatives, arrogance helped bring the Republicans down. This is a sad reminder of the stark differences in the Republicans who went to Washington in 1994 and the ones who served in 2006. What is even sadder is that many of those who were elected in 1994 became those in 2006 whom the Republicans looked at as out-of-touch, arrogant, and part of the Washington establishment.

Overwhelmingly, respondents feel that new leadership is needed. The message sent by conservatives was clear. Republican officials and leaders had lost their way. The party of reform had become the party of the status quo. The silver lining in all of this is that if we recognize where Republicans failed and make the needed changes, we can come back from these electoral defeats. Republicans must remain reformers. We must reduce the influence and reach of Washington, not embrace it. If we remain servants to the cause, America will not abandon us. Our ideas are strong. Now is the time to embrace those ideas and put leaders in place who will advance them. Full Story by Bobby Eberle

Islamic Extremists Seeking WMD, Diplomat says

Al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremists have sought to obtain chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials for use in terrorist attacks, the Associated Press reported yesterday, citing an anonymous British diplomatic source...Full Story

New Congress, Old Politics

When you win the presidency, you get control of the entire executive branch. You can run the foreign policy of the most powerful country on earth. You can issue executive orders without asking anyone. You can appoint judges and justices who serve for life. When you win control of Congress, you can schedule hearings. You can run the House post office and the page program. You get better offices, and more staff people.

You also get attacked for not having a plan. ...As for a mandate, the Democrats didn't exactly run on a plan for America. ... So what they're likely to do is hold hearings. Lots of them. Hearings are sort of like Congress' version of reality television. ...

But laws are a different matter. Whatever Congressional Democrats want to do on that score requires the president's signature. Democrats obviously don't have the votes to override a presidential veto, so there you are, stuck working with the president. That's what all the mumblings about bipartisanship are about. Read full story by Susan Estrich, Fox News

Retiring RNC Chief Sees Three Lessons

Retiring RNC Chief, Ken Mehlman, said Republicans must now do three things - first, rededicat themselves to their conservative, reform principles. Second, Republicans must try to work where we can on a bipartisan basis with Democrats, while maintaining conservative principles. And finally, Republicans must lose the taint of corruption: "people who serve...at any level are people that ought to be about public policy and public service." [Melman retires at the end of January.]

Dobson: GOP abandoned us

Dr. James Dobson 9/11/06 Colorado Springs: Laura Ingraham said it best. When Congressional Republicans wait until the First of October to begin reaching out to their base, they are destined to lose. That was the GOP s downfall. They consistently ignored the constituency that put them in power until it was late in the game, and then frantically tried to catch up at the last minute. In 2004, conservative voters handed them a 10-seat majority in the Senate and a 29-seat edge in the House. And what did they do with their power? Very little that Values Voters care about.

"Many of my colleagues saw this coming. I said in an interview with U.S. News and World Report shortly after the 2004 elections, "If Republicans in the White House and in Congress squander this opportunity, I believe they will pay a price for it in four years---or maybe in two." Sadly for conservatives, that in large measure explains what happened on Tuesday night. Many of the Values Voters of '04 simply stayed at home this year.

"The unfortunate thing is that Republican leaders still don't appear to get it. Sen. Arlen Spector, R-Pa, said on Wednesday that the election results represented a 'seismic earthquake' and that his party must become 'a lot more progressive and a lot less ideological.' Dick Armey emerged from four years in the wilderness to blame conservative Christians for Tuesday's defeat. They were, he said, 'too involved' with the party. He can't be serious! Someone should tell him that without the support of that specific constituency, John Kerry would be President and the Republicans would have fallen into a black hole in '04. In fact, that is where they are headed if they continue to abandon their pro-moral, pro-family and pro-life base. The big tent will turn into a three-ring circus.

"Republican leaders in Congress during this term apparently never understood, or they forgot, why Ronald Reagan was so loved and why he is considered one of our greatest presidents. If they hope to return to power in '08, they must rediscover the conservative principles that resonated with the majority of Americans in the 1980s -- and still resonate with them today. Failure to do so will be catastrophic. Values Voters are not going to carry the water for the Republican Party if it ignores their deeply held convictions and beliefs.

"To quote Dr. Ken Hutcherson, 'When Republicans act like Democrats they lose, and when Democrats act like Republicans, they win.' And therein lies the lesson of '06."

Unrelenting Attack on the Family

Words by Del Tuckett, Focus on the Family Magazine - The ultimate tradgedy of the securization of our culture is that, in turning our backs on God, we end up shutting our eyes to the ultimate source of truth and reality. The consequences are huge when we consider the ones that relate to the family. The attack has been fierce and nothing less than breathtaking.

In some cases the attacks are obvious: abortion, redefining marriage, child and spousal abuse, cohabitation, easy divorce. Other attacks are not quite so obvious, yet they too, are aimed directly or indirectly at the family: pornography, radical feminism, homosexuality, safe sex messages, feminization of men, masculinization of women and a plethora of laws that undermine the family. The increasingly negative message about marriage are also leading those in their 20s and 30s to abandon matrimony altogether.

Some messages, even carry an "in-your face" hostility toward the family. For example, in the work place, a derogatory word is beginning to be used to refer to workers who have children. They are called breeder (said with a sneer). Read More - "Defending God's Design for the Family" by Del Tackett

Remembering Our Veterans

God has granted us the privledge to live in America with certain inalienable rights.
It is the VETERAN (any person who is serving or has served in the military):
- not the preacher, who has preserved for us the right to freedom of religion.
- not the reporter, who has preserved for us the right to freedom of the press.
- not the poet, who has preserved for us the right to freedom of speech.
- not the campus organizer, who preserved for us the right to freedom to assemble.
- not the lawyer, who haspreserved for us the right to a fair trial.
- not the politician, who has preserved for us the right to vote.
If you enjoy your freedom.......next time you see a veteran.......THANK them