Words Have Meaning

I have been watching, with increasing disdain and concern, the recent uptick in dialogue about “Climate Change”. When this psychotic depressed child from Sweden, Greta Thunburg, was thrust literally out onto the ‘World Stage’, from out of nowhere, at the United Nations conference, to boost the absolute fallacy of anthropogenic climate change, it energized and emboldened the leftists in a profound way.

The One-World globalists who are pushing this nonsense have been very effective in getting the discussion to almost always start, and end with, “it is settled science”, and the “vast majority of scientists agree”. When in fact they do not agree.  And if they did, that is not even the point. Science is not a matter of consensus. It is based on data collection, then hypotheses, which undergo rigorous testing and proving, or disproving. Science is not undertaken by majority rule.

And the data definitely does not support the failed hypothesis of anthropogenic (man caused) global warming. We are in fact currently in a fifteen plus year cooling pattern. And further, the rise in CO2, if it is occurring, is at such a nominal rate that it could not have any effect upon our climate. 

But even the republicans have bought into the left’s choice of words, and have, even if unwittingly conceded ground on the CO2 issue. According to Dr. Don Easterbrook, Professor Emeritus of Geology, at Western Washington University, “CO2 cannot possibly cause global warming” primarily because it is a trace gas which has only increased in atmospheric content by only eight one thousandths of one percent.

But when we use their terms like climate change and Carbon sequestering, we concede ground and ultimately lose the argument. We cannot afford to give them any credence for their fraudulent claims. One example I observed recently was at the Timber Unity rally on the Oregon State Capitol mall, where thousands were gathered to protest Governor Kate Brown’s notorious Cap and Trade bill. Timber and Agriculture were represented there, as they should be, for their survival and way of life are threatened by such regressive and costly legislative quagmires. But one spokesman for timber actually took the stage and started with, “we have to do something about carbon emissions but this isn’t it”. And that’s exactly the problem. Admitting or confessing to a crime that we haven’t committed.

This entire climate change discussion is based upon fake science, with no data to support it! And our only response should be to counter their lies with the truth. They are giving us false alternatives to solve a problem that doesn’t even exist. I don’t know how much more simply it can be put than that. It is simply a case of a solution in search of a problem.

There is no global warming, we are in a fifteen plus year cooling trend, and no amount of taxing the productive industries in this country will solve anything, period.

Climate Change is a hoax, from top to bottom! And those promoting it are trying to bring about economic collapse so that they can merge us all into one big socialist family. It is time to call them out on this fraud, every time it comes up, and not concede any ground!

Dump the Destroyers in 2020

I had the distinct honor of attending a private reception this past weekend for one of President Trump’s chief economic advisors, Stephen Moore. Among the many encouraging things Moore had to say to our group was that we should pray that Elizabeth Warren is the nominee the democrats choose.

Well, it’s far from over, but it is looking like there may be an early answer to our prayers (see Beacon front page today, Warren Now Front Runner).

But if that isn’t good enough news that Trump gets to run against Pocahontas, Pelosi has given us perhaps the best possible Trump card to play in the 2020 election, a failed Impeachment attempt! She has finally caved in to the slathering mob of died-in- the-wool (Zombie) socialists in her party, including, but not limited to, the Squad; Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Tlaib and Pressley.

I fully expect next to learn that Maxine Waters is apoplectic with joy over her political dream-come-true. Waters has been chanting this ‘Impeach him’ mantra since before President Trump’s inauguration.

I wrote an editorial back in June of this year entitled Democrats the 3-D Party. The three D’s I referred to, which sum up the Democrat Party of today, are Death, Dependency, and Deception. The Democrat of today is for the Death of the unborn and the infirm (elderly), they have been the party of Dependency by offering ‘free’ goodies such as; college tuition, healthcare, housing, food, cell phones, and yes even cash to their built-in constituency (minorities and now illegal aliens) for years, and lastly the party of Deception, creating false narratives about just about anything, but their favorite target these days is President Trump.

They have no agenda; no plan to bring order to our nation’s fiscal house, no attempt of any mind to secure our border against the ongoing  invasion, no plan to rebuild our infrastructure, no foreign policy objective, no attempt to stop the endless wars abroad or stop the ISIS threat, no attempt at stopping election fraud and abuse, and no effort to create American jobs, nothing, nada, zip!

They have nothing to offer but destruction!

They are the destroyers. Since Barack Hussein Obama was elected to bring unity and harmony we have experienced more racial tension than at any time since the Civil Rights struggle in the 60’s. We had come so far,  until the great uniter came along! Since those inglorious Obama days we’ve gotten “Black Lives Matter,

ANTIFA, talks of reparation, a complete revision of the real Civil War history and destruction of not only monuments commemorating that struggle but institutions and universities that paid homage to what we as a people overcame.

There is a great quote in today’s Beacon by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir; “One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.” Yet this is what the party of destruction, the Democrats, has been hell-bent on achieving for decades. They have nothing but hatred for our past, our great achievements, our triumph over past struggles, our victory over tyrants abroad, our prosperity within the reach of everyday men and women, and hold utter contempt for our status as the longest surviving republic in world history!

This past week I received, as a birthday gift from one of my sons, the movie Armstrong. Talk about a great American achievement! And coming at a time when we absolutely needed to conquer that new frontier, space. And yet the revisionists have been at it again. In the recent Hollywood production First Man, starring Canadian actor Ryan Gosling (which I refuse to watch) they show the moon landing sequence of Apollo 11 with Gosling portraying Armstrong, minus the historic placing of the American flag. Armstrong spoke with such eloquence “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”. I was but eleven years old when Apollo 11 captured the love and admiration and pride of a nation. And it was an American achievement, with American engineers, pilots, scientists, technicians, mechanics, and skilled labor of every kind that culminated on that glorious day July 16, 1969.

A brief movie review on the film Armstrong. It was very good, narrated by Harrison Ford, as Neil Armstrong, and some great insight into what made Armstrong the great pilot and astronaut that America needed.

However, I was very disappointed in the efforts of the producers to  try and recast the moon landing as a global achievement. But as a whole it is well worth watching, and reliving for some of us, that great memory when American ingenuity and perseverance paid off! This is what we should be teaching our children today!

Not the tripe that the party of destruction wants to teach our young; LGBTQ gender confusion, a narrative of shame about our past overcoming of slavery, and the evil greed of corporations and business owners.

Instead we should be teaching our young about the free-market economic system which has provided more prosperity to more people than any system in the history of the world. And paying tribute to a true leader President Donald Trump, who has delivered on every major policy agenda he was elected to achieve. A president unlike any other in my lifetime, and one who has restored our economy and created real increases in wealth and standard of living for all Americans.

Another great achievement of this president is exposing the Deep State and the horribly corrupt, agenda driven mainstream media for who they are.

Americans of all walks and every party are beginning to see the deception they’ve been sold for many, many, decades. This latest impeachment charade like all the other slanderous attacks against this president will be seen for what it is, bitter partisan, anti- American posturing by those who despise our nation and our history.

I am thrilled by our prospects in the 2020 elections.

It is fitting that the year 2020 is the year that metaphorically speaking our people will finally be able to see with clarity the promise America offers, not just for Americans but for all people of good will seeking freedom throughout the world. But if we are not diligent in the defense of this great nation, the consequences for mankind will be unthinkable.

Let us unite and throw out the destroyers, the party of Death, Dependency and Destruction in this coming election and continue America’s great legacy of freedom and achievement that have made us the envy of the world.

A Bridge Too Far: Governor Brown slaps rural Oregon in the face, again

Following the Timber Unity Rally at the Oregon State Capitol last Thursday June 27, the Republican Senators who had been AWOL over the HB 2020 Cap and Trade Bill, came back to the capitol to close out the 2019 legislative session.

Many called their return a victory. I’m not one of them. Among the many problems with their return, the biggest by far was the passage of HB 2015, the bill granting illegal aliens Oregon Driver’s Licenses.

This issue had been clearly decided by Oregon voters back in 2014 with more than 66 percent (2/3rds) of Oregonians opposed. And a Zogby Poll published on June 19, 2019 shows over 63% of Oregonians still opposed to granting illegals driver’s licenses.

Oregon democrats hold a supermajority in both the House and Senate, as well as having a left-wing progressive socialist in the governor’s office. They are drunk with power, passing bills like HB 2015 that are clearly against the will of a majority of Oregonians.

And now Governor Brown has suggested that the job killing Cap and Trade legislation, that was thwarted by 11 Republicans denying the democrats a quorum, may be back on the table. This time with her exercising so-called executive power, similar to what her mentor Barack Hussein Obama used to ram his agenda through. The problem with Brown’s scheme though, as far as I can tell, is there is no such thing as Executive Orders for the governor of Oregon. And if so, nobody, and I mean nobody, can recall this type of extreme measure ever being used in Oregon history!

From the Oregon Secretary of State’s website the duties of governor are defined:

The Governor of Oregon has retained the powers and duties granted at the time of statehood. These include drafting and recommending a budget to the Legislative Assembly, initiating planning for future state activities and serving as the focal point for coordination of federal and local governments. The governor is also the commander-in-chief of the state’s military forces.

The governor may call legislative special sessions and may veto single items or emergency clauses on legislative bills. The governor may grant reprieves, commutations and pardons and serves as chairperson of the State Land Board.

In case of vacancy or disability, determined in accordance with statutory provisions, the Office of the Governor respectively passes to the Secretary of State, State Treasurer, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House.

I’ve done some preliminary research on the subject of executive powers; I’ve talked to a former state senator, and confirmed with a lobbyist who worked in the Oregon capitol for four decades, and they cannot point to one example where “executive powers” or “executive privilege” has been used.

It is also very peculiar that not one journalist, besides me (that I know of) has even raised the question! They’re all like deer in the headlights on this one. And I personally think Kate Brown is delusional, in addition to being unbalanced. But at the very least she has lost complete sight of the concept of a representative form of government. She simply is ruling by dictatorship.

There is a movement underway to recall Governor Brown, and if any recall could ever be successful this one might have a good chance.

The other significant problem with the Oregon legislative process, in particular as it is wielded by the democrat dictatorship, is the use of emergency clauses, which even in the clear absence of any real emergency, has been, and is being used to ‘seal’ any legislation, by preventing the referral back to Oregon voters. This has got to be put to a stop!

I strongly urge everyone to keep a close eye on this use of so-called ‘executive power’, and call the governor’s office demanding that she listen to the will of rural Oregon, and abandon her destructive Cap and Trade scheme.

It will ruin Oregon and lead to massive reductions in state revenues over the long run.

Not one word has come out of her office after hearing from thousands of her constituents last week. So let her hear from you!

National Popular Vote Passes in Oregon Senate

By David Jaques, The Roseburg Beacon 

The Oregon Senate passed SB 870, the National Popular Vote act, which will bind Oregon’s Electors to the national popular vote. Many consider this an end run around the Electoral College. Instead of the winner of the popular vote in the State of Oregon getting the electors, they will be tied to the national popular vote if the Oregon House passes SB 870.

The senate vote is being  heralded as bipartisan, due to the fact that two democrats voted against the bill and two republicans voted in favor.

The Oregon Senate voted Tuesday April 9, and the count was 17 aye to 12 nay with one vote excused. Two republicans; Chief Sponsor Senator Brian Boquist SD12 from Dallas Oregon, and Senator Chuck Thomsen SD 26 from Hood River were the only two republicans who voted aye.

Senator Bill Hansell, republican SD 29 from Athena was excused and therefore didn’t vote. According to Hansell’s staff he was testifying before the California legislative Assembly instead and was absent for the critical vote. Had those three republican votes been against the SB 870, the NPV bill, the count would have been 15-15 and the bill would have failed to pass.

The Oregon House will take up the matter next. With the House split of 38 democrats to 22 republicans there is very little likelihood of the NPV failing to pass in the House. If it passes and is signed into law Oregon will be the 16th jurisdiction to pass the plan, joining California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois, which will have the effect of giving them additional electoral votes, and thereby potentially controlling the outcome of future presidential elections.

Oregon Republican “leaders” take a hard left turn

Saturday, April 6, at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, in McMinnville, the Oregon Republican Party (ORP) conducted what can only be viewed as an inquisition, targeting Republican National Committeewoman Marylin Shannon, with the sole purpose of displacing one of Oregon’s longest serving champions of the traditional Republican platform. And sadly they succeeded.

Rather than convening a meeting of the State Central Committee for the purpose of coming up with a plan to win back the legislature in 2020 and elect Republicans to other local, statewide, and national offices, or to combat the onslaught of liberal socialist legislation now before the Oregon legislature, they chose to oust the most conservative member of the state Executive Committee, and our representative on the Republican National Committee.

And this process was set in motion over three years ago when Marylin was first elected to the post.

In fact from the first day of her election the old guard establishment bucked her, and have been unrelenting in their personal attacks ever since.

I have known Marylin Shannon for more than 34 years, working with her the first time on the Joe Lutz for U.S. Senate campaign to unseat Senator Bob Packwood, known to many as ‘Senator Death’, for his strong support of abortion. It was a true David and Goliath campaign, but one that we almost succeeded in, despite the incredible odds against us.

Over the next few decades Marylin went on to serve two terms as Vice Chair of the Oregon Republican Party, two terms as the elected Chair of the Fifth Congressional District, four terms as Marion County Chair and a term as Marion County Republican Secretary. She  also has served twenty- four years on the ORP Executive Committee, in addition to having served as a Precinct Committee Woman (before we changed the name to Committee Person to be politically correct) since 1978.

Marylin was elected and served in the Oregon Senate from 1995- 2001. She was elected Republican National Committeewoman just prior to the RNC Convention in Cleveland Ohio in 2016.

Marylin has always been a strong champion for the life of the unborn. She has been a member of Eagle Forum, founded by Constitutional Lawyer and scholar Phyllis Schlafly, and helped Phyllis get the Pro-Life plank into the Republican Party platform at the national level, and has  fought to be sure it remains in the platform. Marylin is currently President of Republicans for Life, and serves on the Board of Directors of Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund.

As to Marylin’s work on the RNC, it is beyond reproach. She was very well respected by all she served with. Here’s what Morton Blackwell, RNC Committeeman from Virginia had to say: “It is a privilege to work with Marylin Shannon at the Republican National Committee in her role as National Committeewoman from Oregon. Marylin is a very effective and diligent worker for constitutional government, liberty, and the other conservative principles in our nation. She is a great asset for the RNC and an excellent representative for Oregon Republican interests.” Blackwell is the longest serving member of the RNC and is affectionately known as the Dean of the RNC. He is also founder and president of the Leadership Institute, which was founded in 1979 and has trained over 200,000 young men and women in communications, fundraising, and political affairs.

Andy Schlafly, Phyllis Schlafly’s son, a constitutional lawyer himself and World Net Daily Columnist, had this to say; “I fully support Marylin Shannon. She was most recently with my mother Phyllis Schlafly at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July 2016. They recounted together how they helped persuade President Reagan to endorse the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in 1983.

Marylin has long stood for principled conservative positions, especially the sanctity of life. She stood with Phyllis in making the Republican Party platform pro-life, and in confirming good pro-life judges to the Supreme Court and other federal courts.

Phyllis is no longer with us, but Marylin exemplifies what Phyllis stood for. With Marylin, Oregon has someone who stands up for our values, and who never wavers. Marylin is one of the finest Republican National Committeewomen in our entire country.”

In a press release last Friday April 5, Phyllis Schlafly’s successor Ed Martin, President of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, issued the following statement addressing the attacks and slander against our Oregon RNC Committeewoman and the recall vote to remove her from the RNC:

“Senator Marylin Shannon is and has long been a towering leader in the conservative movement. For decades she has been an important player in the successful implementation of conservative, pro-family, and pro-life policies. She has served at many levels of party leadership as well as elected office, and she currently leads the Republican National Coalition for Life, which she helped Phyllis Schlafly found in the 1980s. 

“Marylin Shannon has only ever stood up for conservative values and spoken boldly even when others would not. The accusations against her are a combination of ridiculous fabrications and manipulations. I ask all of the Oregon Central Republican Committee to support Marylin in this vote. 

She has only ever been a courageous voice for our values. We cannot let those among us whose convictions are the accumulation of power divide us. Please stand with Marylin Shannon during this recall vote. Do not believe these malicious, false attacks.” 

The above remarks were shared with all the delegates at the Central Committee Meeting, but to no avail. The leadership, who disavowed any involvement in the recall effort, had done their legwork and had a sufficient numbers of delegates whom they had successfully lobbied with their whisper campaign and falsehoods to vote against our National Committeewoman.

The first hour and a half of the state meeting in McMinnville was taken up with arguments over the ORP bylaws and the rules of procedure for the meeting which was a meeting by petition for the sole purpose of recalling Marylin. But even before the meeting the maneuvering had begun. Several supporters of Marylin, including the duly elected Chair of CD2, Joseph Rice, were turned away and told they could not register as a participant, or guest due to Fire Marshal restrictions on capacity. Even though the ORP website clearly indicated registration was allowed the day of the event!

Then the Star Chamber Inquisition began in earnest. The low point was when an invited speaker, Russ Walker, the ousted former ORP Vice Chair, and unpaid guest, took to the microphone and accused National Committeewoman Shannon of being a racist and xenophobe, by alleging he heard second hand reports that Shannon had called Oregon’s Committeeman Solomon Yue a communist. Shannon refuted Walker’s claims in her rebuttal, and pointed out how Solomon Yue himself was the one who accused the RNC treasurer of being a communist sympathizer, which Yue had even put in a slide presentation which I personally witnessed at a previous state Central Committee meeting.

The format of the meeting was the most bizarre and carefully orchestrated I have ever seen, including requiring those who wished to speak, including Marylin Shannon to do so from the floor microphone and face the Executive Committee rather than the delegates who were the decision making body, and who would vote on the recall. I ran Douglas County Planning Commission meetings for more than a decade and we did have those giving testimony face the Commission, rather than turn to the audience, because the commission was the decision making body. But in this case it was very unnatural because the speakers had their back to those they were trying to make their case to. This was very inappropriate, and was done to limit the accused and her supporters from addressing the “court”.

And speaking of judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings, Marylin Shannon was never able to face her accusers, as their names were held in secret. ORP Chairman Bill Currier, during an Executive Committee meeting which I attended via telephone conferencing, told Shannon she could have an observer during the petition certification. This was never done, she had no observer, and Currier later denied he ever offered that.

Not only that but the man serving as the parliamentarian at the Central Committee meeting last weekend, Jeff Grossman, is the husband of one of the chief recall petition circulators, Laurie Hein- Grossman. You can’t make this stuff up folks!

North Korea has nothing over this group when it comes to control and secrecy. They did not allow any recording or video of the proceedings, and for the past two statewide meetings have required that any literature or flyers be approved by the Chair and Vice Chair and cannot be passed out to the delegates in attendance. Even the “approved flyers” had to be placed outside the meeting room on a table. At the last statewide meeting they wouldn’t even allow National Committeewoman Shannon to pass out her report on the latest RNC meeting to the delegates!

One of the key charges brought against Marylin Shannon during the inquisition was that she supported someone other than Oregon Representative Greg Barreto and his wife Chris Barreto’s choice for governor, Knute Buehler, favoring instead pro-life businessman from Bend, Sam Carpenter. But Marylin did make it clear that after the primary she did vote for Buehler and that her family did as well.

But when she asked the Buehler campaign consultant if she should endorse in the General Election they said no, because she was too well known as Oregon’s top pro-life supporter and Buehler had gone to great lengths to show he was pro-choice (abortion).

Yes, the Oregon Republican Party has taken a hard left turn after losing statewide in 2018 with the most left-leaning Republican candidate for governor ever. But the grassroots conservative rank and file republicans, aside from a few in the party apparatus, are still conservative and very upset with this latest run of events.