Republicans @ MindSay

Back home in Tecumseh, Michigan; in Lenawee County I am know for being "different" and, therefore, dangerous.

I have been evicted from McDonald's, WalMart, Meijers, my alma martre Siena Heights University, from my polling place during the 2004 vote for attaching a small "American flag" to my sweatshirt that stated "Voting Is For Brave People". For the offense of pursuing my happiness these things happened to me.

Ya wanna see the videos.  I got 'em.  No falsification here.  I have them back in AUSPONA.

I have been openly surveiled by the Adrian Police Department for the offence of carrying a Kerry For President sign while walking my dog down Main street.

Further, two Lenawee County Sheriff patrol cruisers, yes two cruisers with lights flashing [no sirens, though] once pulled me over [got the video] and detained me to ask me why I staged a one-person picket line on public property to protest in front of a business because that business was proud to advertise on WABJ Radio where Rush Limbaugh was at the top of its' programing.

When I was allowed to resume my ligitimate right to pursue my happiness and freedom of speech and expression it was done with the assurance, from Deputy McCrate, that I had every right to do what I was doing.

I told him of my knowledge that I had that right and, if I did not say it I was surely thinking: What ta fuck are you stopping me for, why impede my pursuit of happiness being conducted in a lawful manner to tell me I had the right to do what I was doing? Why?

Back home, in my beloved Michigan in AUSPONA, I will most certainly be openly and aggressively called an ignorant and unpatriotic creep. So, my MINDSAY friends, I am looking to and counting on you to help me face the gauntlet I must and am willing to run.  The crucible of retrograde imbecilic Republicanism, of fascism in southern Michigan is really quite daunting and not, in fact, of just Republican political stripe.

Some of the hardest political fights I will face will be from the old-line Democrat leadership both local and statewide. I include both the Michigan senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow as, in the least, Republican fascists enablers.   

You have been and will continue to be some salve for some of my emotional wounds. The prime reason for my return to AUSPONA is to work actively and aggressively to see to the ligitimate inauguration of The Brave Sen. Barack Obama as its' next duly elected president.

Sincerely in pursuit of happiness and freedom from insane fudking retrograde tyranny of whatever political stripe,

Mr. David Tecumseh Schmidt, MSW '82 University of Michigan Tecumseh High School '59

By Kaylee Porter, 6-21-08

	Ron Paul speaking at the Hilton Garden Inn in Missoula. Photo by Brandon Gonski

Enthusiastic Ron Paul supporters waited through a $45 a plate dinner, multiple GOP speakers and an auction conducted by former Sen. Conrad Burns to hear their candidate speak Friday night at the 2008 State Convention Banquet.

They say it was worth it.

“He was fantastic,” said Elena Gagliano, a retired Philipsburg Mont. resident. “He believes in freedom and I’m sick and tired of infringement on my life.”

Paul, a tenacious, long-shot former Republican presidential candidate who has found considerable support in Montana with his message of small government and constitutionalism, received a warm welcome from the large crowd at the Hilton Garden Inn in Missoula. Montana GOP chairman Erik Iverson said nearly 470 people were in attendance—a record for the summer convention.

“I tell a lot of folks that I like speaking outside Washington because I hear less applause in Washington when I give a speech there,” Paul said in his opening remarks. “We have a lot of friends here in Montana.”

Despite Paul’s loss in the Montana primary, he does retain strong support in the state. He took second to Mitt Romney in Montana’s Republican caucus in February and in the primary he won some Montana counties, including Missoula and Flathead.

But the results of the delegate vote that came in shortly after the banquet ended were all in favor of McCain.

Though Montana GOP delegates generally all go to one candidate, some Paul supporters were surprised McCain claimed all 22.

“Every single one of the delegates? Really?” Shawn Bailey, 32, said with surprise. “It reflects the tendency to vote along party lines. Everybody thought that was the safe way to vote so enough people voted that way.”

“That’s horrible,” Newman Ryan, 20, said after a few speechless moments of head shaking. “I think it reflects that the American people don’t understand what’s going on with America. I also think it’s because the media has been pushing McCain from the start.”

Ryan, from Plains Mont., had hoped that a portion of the delegate would go to Paul.

“It would be awesome of Ron Paul won some of the delegates,” Ryan said. “He’s a better candidate for the younger generation because he wants to help get us out of the system we are in, like social security. I mean, none of us really have that to look forward to. And he understands how the Federal Reserve is corrupt and we need to get rid of it because there is so much debt that us young people are going to suffer for a long, long time.”

Although there are few ideological ties, many have compared Paul to Barack Obama because of his appeal to young voters like Ryan. These young supporters are similar in their newness to the political process and their passion.

Paul spoke directly to this group during his speech saying, “The young people who have joined our campaign are rallying to the cry of self-reliance and getting out of the control of government and getting their independence back.” The comment was met with cheers and a standing ovation.

Other people at the banquet, however, were skeptical of Paul’s electability.

“I don’t necessarily agree with McCain 100 percent, but the important thing to me was electability. When I was taking a look at putting a Republican in the white house I thought he stood the best chance,” said McCain supporter Ron Devlin.

Other McCain supporters at the banquet did not view Paul as a candidate.

“The choice is between Obama and McCain,” Col. Sam A. Roberts, an alternate delegate, said. “Ron Paul is not a candidate.”

But Paul supporters are unlikely to give up easily. Of Friday’s loss in the delegate vote, Bailey said, “it shows the Liberty Caucus has a little more ground to build. But our power’s growing. We aren’t going anywhere.”

Harry Browne said this in 2000 before the election:

"No. You know, I know, everybody watching this show knows that four years from today, whichever of them is elected, government will be bigger, more expensive, more obtrusive, and more oppressive. If you vote Republican or Democrat, you are giving up. You’re saying ‘I’m never going to be free. America will never be a free country again. I will never get smaller government. So I’m just going to vote for the one I think will take me to hell at the slowest-possible rate.’"

I got a report about the Texas Republican Convention last night from a few people who were there. The news was not good. I still had high hopes that the people who believe in following the Constitution(Ron Paul supporters) would make a good showing and have their voices heard.

Sadly, we have a lot of work still ahead of us. Dr. Paul was not even allowed to speak at the convention. People who tried to mention Dr. Paul were shouted down and had their mics cut off. The 17 year old son of our County Convention Chairman was "detained" or "removed" just for asking Governor Rick Perry a question about the Trans-Texas Corridor. He told Perry that I-69 would run through his parents' home. Apparently that qualifies as a terroristic threat.

The establishment has a firm hold on this party. I know that is not breaking news to you. We must continue to push harder at a local level. We must purge the party of all establishment types and neocon boot-lickers.   

We are told we have to swallow our dislike of Republican wars, Republican spending, Republican inflation, Republican deficits, Republican corporatism, and Republican fascism -- and support Bush 1. Bush 2, and McCain -- so as to get conservative Supremo judges. Well, the four totalitarians who voted against habeas corpus the other day -- Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts -- are Bush 1 and 2 choices. Indeed, as the conservative Federalist Society and the conservative movement notes in pushing for the "unitary executive," to be a conservative judge means to support the executive police state and indeed executive dictatorship across the board.

By Lew Rockwell

Visit www.lewrockwell.com