Temerity Magazine Volume 1 Issue 3

Looking Forward to Liberty – Ryan Underwood at Broken Arrow TeaParty July 4th

By request, here are my notes from today. Thanks to the
rain, the ink was disappearing as I was speaking!/ru

———————————————————–

I am not here today to talk about politics.

Let me tell you why.

For example, I’m not really interested in discussions about
this tax or that tax, because it amounts to debating whether
we should prefer a ball and chain around our ankles to a
yoke upon our necks.

In any case, as long as you are forced to pay tax to keep
your own homestead, you are a serf; the amount of such a
tax only defines the depth of your serfdom. Why do we not
hear impassioned calls for a “fair property tax” — which
would be none whatsoever?

The income tax forces you to share your profits with your
masters to further their own purposes. But even if you
object to the arrangement forced upon you, the property tax
says “you must work within whatever state profit-sharing
arrangement exists, or you will be homeless.”

Some people would like to tell you that one political party
or another, one political organization or another, or one
mass media demagogue or another is the answer. We have been
told this for as long as I can remember, for my entire life.

They tell you this because the last thing they want you to
realize is that the answer is actually within each one of
us. What we have been failing to do is to ask the right
questions.

I think I would receive much agreement here if I were to say
that stealing is wrong, regardless of whether or not it has
been legalized.

But is it wrong for the State, in the name of “law and
order”, to kill a man who resists stealing of his
possessions and furthermore refuses to be carted off to the
dungeon for mere defense of his property, with knowledge
that he would then both be in the dungeon and his property
would be taken to boot?

What about when the State lies about the value of a man’s
property, so that its self-interested taking of the property
can be spun as having come at less cost to the taxpayers?

Let’s go back a few generations with the “Ghost of Liberty
Past.” The economic historian Murray Rothbard wrote
extensively about colonial America, revealing scores of
events that have fallen down the public-school memory hole.

One such event is the Crown making a gift to William Penn of
what would later become Pennsylvania. The part of the story
that is not told is that it took Penn almost two decades to
successfully establish a government in Pennsylvania, because
the Quakers were not only not interested in political
government, but refused to consent to it, refused to
cooperate, and were otherwise incorrigible in their love for
liberty.

Another event that has been largely forgotten, when it has
not been misrepresented, is Shays’ Rebellion. The usual
story that is told is that farmers got themselves into debt,
declared war on the bankers, and were put down by state
troops with merely a dispassionate interest in “law and
order”. Well, the usual story omits a very important
detail: the “debt” that the farmers accrued was in the form
of unpaid taxes to the state of Massachusetts to cover debts
the state itself had run up. The mercantile interests
behind the state government, who would have profited from
the taxes, raised the army that put down the rebellion, and
thereby kept the poor in servitude to the state-connected
rich.

These stories hint at the reasons why Thomas Jefferson said
a little rebellion now and then is a good thing. He didn’t
mean post angry messages on Internet message boards. He
didn’t mean go door to door and try to convince people of
the correctness of your political views. Nor did he mean to
provoke violent confrontation, as anger and frustration
tends to lead to. He meant intelligent, calculated
resistance to political power, together with your families,
neighbors, and friends.

Do you really want independence on this Independence Day?
Resolve to do like the Quakers did. Buy some fertile land
somewhere you wish to live, and as time goes by, buy even
more land from the surrounding areas. Sell plots within
your land to family and friends who share your beliefs.
When someone comes in from some faraway government
pretending to have the authority to order you around,
politely tell them to leave and not to return.

They are likely to return anyway — given that government
will have no other gods before it — but by owning a large
area of land settled with people who refuse their demands,
their attempts at controlling you will be like trying to
ride a bicycle through a bog. Your little enclave will be
successful at practical resistance where the single family
hiding out in a remote Idaho homestead would not be. A
thousand such enclaves would send Washington D.C. into
bankruptcy proceedings.

If you can’t afford land, then find economic independence as
soon as you can. During the bailout votes, there was a lot
of talk about “Going Galt”, which is to essentially stop
working in order to stop paying taxes. But, if you are
broke, the power elite will have their way with you, because
he who has the money makes the rules. You will not be able
to buy the land, tools, and other capital you need in order
to live an independent life.

My suggestion instead is to work hard AND pay no taxes.
There is a bustling community on Craigslist of people
buying, selling, and trading everything under the sun, with
no government regulations or taxes involved. Spend your
time when you are away from your corporate job in the
official economy learning to do something that is valuable
in the underground, unofficial economy. And if you have not
yet redeemed your Federal Reserve notes for gold and silver
coin, for heaven’s sake, do so while you still can.

Maybe one day, we the people will have the power not only to
vote for a new crop of legislators, but to do as the kings
did when they would dissolve Parliament and send the whole
lot of scoundrels home for a year. Maybe we will one day
have the power to live our lives in our own style, following
our own moral code even when it is in opposition to the
moral code of government.

But until that day comes, declare independence in your head,
and get busy living the way you want to live. Nobody is
going to do it for you. Declare your independence!

–
Ryan C. Underwood
runderwo(at)mail.win.org

[Editor's note: We don't have video from this event yet, but will post when/if available]

1 New Heart

fousesquawk-this post was kindly shared with us by our great Grizzly Groundswell Author Gary Fouse from FouseSquawk blog

1 New Heart

If you are starving to hear a great story coming out of the whole Israel-Palestinian conflict, this is it. Meet Hank Dannecker Jr. and his wife, Michele, two American Christians who pulled up stakes a couple of years ago and moved to Israel to answer God’s call to help people. Without even knowing they would have a home to provide a roof over their heads, these two went to Israel to help bring medical care to Palestinian and other Arab children with congenital heart problems. Their home-grown movement called 1 New Heart is linking up Israeli doctors working for free to provide heart operations to needy Palestinian/Arab children. Together with the Israeli organization, Save a Childs Heart (SACH), approximately 15 children a month are being given a new lease on life. For about $10,000, a child can be given the necessary operation and affiliated care and medications. As stated, the doctors work for free, but the costs of transportation, the hospital costs, room, anesthesia, etc must be covered. This cost is divided between SACH and 1 New Heart. (Since the Israeli agency cannot directly find Palestinian and other non-Israeli children to help, they use Hank’s group as an intermediary. It is Hank who literally transports the children and their families from Gaza for example, through Israeli check-points, and to the hospital (Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Israel).

You might be asking the question I myself posed to Hank Tuesday over the phone; why do so many Palestinian children suffer from congenital heart defects? The reason is a high level of intermarriage in Palestinian society where a marriage to say, a half-sister is acceptable. As a result, about 20 of 1000 Palestinian children now have heart defects, according to Dannecker, a much higher than normal rate.

Aside from the obvious humanitarian benefit, there is another great benefit involved. These are children that are being raised to believe that Christians and Jews are evil beings. Their families sit in mosques and listen to the vilest descriptions of Christians and Jews preached by many of their imams. They are told that Christians and Jews are descendants of apes and pigs who eat Muslim babies. This program puts the lie to that. Not only the child, but his/her entire extended family sees the humanity and the charity of these Christians, Jews and Israeli doctors who donate their time and skill to saving young lives. If you still believe that reconciliation is possible between the religions in the Middle East and between Israelis and Palestinians, this is a program you can believe in.

It goes without saying that the crying need is funding. Hank’s organization, 1 New Heart, while not yet a 501 C3 organization, collects its contributions through the Israeli Missions Project, which is so recognized and which sends 100% of the funds received to Hank.

I am attaching some photos which Hank sent to me via email. They show a 5-year-old Palestinian girl named Majed, who received a heart operation from Israeli doctors. You can see her family and the doctors in the operating room. I am also posting one of Hank’s newsletters and the 1 New Heart brochure below. In addition, what follows below is a film clip showing the actual transportaion of a Palestinian child and her family into Israel proper for an operation. Finally, I am posting the address to which contributions can be sent. If you agree with me on the beauty and importance of this humanitarian project, I hope you will consider a contribution and pass this information on.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJa0_jEXXFE&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

From 1 New Heart’s brochure:

HISTORY

In 2006, the vision for this outreach was born when we met a three-year-old Palestinian girl named Jumanah, who was fighting leukemia. Jumanah’s name is Arabic for “silver pearl,” and her little life was truly a “pearl of great value” (Matthew 13:45-46).

Upon learning of the difficulties Palestinian families can face in finding access to even basic health care, we helped to raise money and awareness for Jumanah’s medical treatment. We witnessed firsthand what a powerful sign of God’s love this was for her entire family.

THE NEED

Congenital heart disease (CHD) causes the death of thousands of children in developing countries each year. Eight out of every 1000 live births around the world have some form of CHD. While vast resources have been expended in the West to treat these children, most third world countries lack a comparable infrastructure. In Palestine the doctors and hospitals are not trained and equipped to perform the most basic heart surgeries. Even in Israel there are only a few doctors that can perform such complicated pediatric heart surgeries.

WHAT WE DO

We assist in communication between West Bank children’s family members and Israeli doctors, facilitate the children’s travel to Israeli hospitals, and help offset the cost of the surgery. The doctors volunteer their time and expertise, but the costs of the operation room, equipment, the medication, the anesthesia, as well as the transportation costs of the child, have to be covered.

OUR GOAL

…is to sponsor one child per month and utilize the doors God has given us to open a way into the spiritual hearts of the families we are working with. We have the opportunity to watch new life begin through the physical changes a life saving heart surgery brings. As we build relationships with these children and their families, our main focus and goal is to share Christ’s love and His ability to change their spiritual hearts as well.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The most important thing you can do to help us in this work is to pray for us. Pray that we would have the right words to share at the right times. Pray that the Lord would continue to open up doors for us to minister to these hurting children and their families. Pray that many would come to know Christ through this work.

The sponsorship for each child’s open heart surgery is $5,000. If you, your church or organization are interested in storing up treasure in heaven by sponsoring a child, please contact us for more information. All sponsored children receive 100% of all the funds raised for their heart surgeries.

We invite you to come visit us and to catch God’s vision for changing the hearts of people in Israel and the Middle East, one child, one family, one heart at a time.

1NewHeart
www.1newheart.org
7-1 Hamalach Belavan Street
Jerusalem 93545 Israel
1newheart@gmail.com

Below are pictures of 5-year-old Majed and her family as she traveled to Wolfson Medical Center with her family and received her heart operation.

En route to Wolfson Medical Center

Arrival accompanied by her grandfather

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From 1 New Heart’s May newsletter:

Dear Friends,

Spring has arrived here in Jerusalem and with it much change and new life! It’s been a few months since we have communicated with you, and we would like to take this opportunity to bring you up to date on the work and ministry being done, as well as to give you a glimpse in to what is happening in our family life.

In our last newsletter we shared about 5 year old Majed, the little girl from Jenin who underwent open heart surgery. Miraculously she was able to go home within one week following her surgery. Unfortunately we cannot bring another child until we are able to pay SACH for Majed’s sponsorship of $5,000.

Our desire is to continue this work of compassion, helping other children in the West Bank territories receive medical treatment and heart surgery.

Part of what we do is to communicate with the children’s family members and Israeli doctors, facilitate the children’s travel to the hospital and help offset the cost of the surgery. The doctors volunteer their time and expertise, but the costs of the operating room, equipment, surgical supplies, medications, as well as the transportation costs of the child, have to be covered.

The total cost to bring children and perform open heart surgery is $10,000. for each child. This is a much reduced cost because of Save A Childs Heart (Israeli non-profit org.) and Israel’s socialized medical care. It is our heartfelt goal to sponsor one child per month but it cannot be done without the body of Christ responding to this need. For us to continue this work we need to raise half the cost which would be $5,000. for each child.

We feel so strongly about this work that, during these last three months, we have written (and re-written!) a strategic plan/proposal and recently submitted it to the BICWM (Brethren in Christ World Missions). The WM board of directors will be convening in early June and our prayer is that this work of compassion will continue for years to come.

It is with great joy we extend to you or your church this awesome opportunity to store up treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy. All sponsored children will receive 100% of all the funds raised for their heart surgeries.

Family life is also in transition. We learned in early March that a new addition is coming soon! We are expecting our third child – the due date is sometime between November 9-15th. We all are eagerly anticipating a new baby brother or sister!

So, we thank God continually for you as we partner together to impact the land of Israel for time and eternity!

To Jesus be all the Glory!
Blessings,
Hank, Michele, AbbyRose & Levi

The DANNECKER’S serving in Israel
Prayer and Needs Update May, 2009

We serve under the auspices of Brethren In Christ World Missions. For more information, you can contact BIC, PO Box 390, Grantham, PA 17027-0390 or in Canada; 2700 Bristol Circle, Oakville, ON L6H 6E1.

Financial support can be made payable to: Clear Creek BIC, attn: Vicki Stiffler, 6150 Big Creek Rd., Clearville, PA 15535. In the memo blank, write “1 New Heart”.

Dannecker family information: Mailing address: 7-1 Hamalach Belavan St. Jerusalem 93545 Israel
Skype (PA) phone #: 814-806-1014
Email: ablesmom@gmail.com OR 1newheart@gmail.com
——————————————————————————

The website for 1 New Heart (http://1newheart.org is not yet up and running. The website for Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) may be found at:

http://www.saveachildsheart.org/

Kindly shared with us by Gary Fouse of FouseSquawk blog

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Grizzly Groundswell: Weapon of Mass Instruction and Inspiration!

Are you Grizzly?

Theodore Media LLC is getting Grizzly in some exciting ways!

What I am looking to do, and have done it for the most part is unite
the conservative thought, voice and image across this great nation.  I
am not as concerned with your content because that is your thought,
voice and image, I want to lift that up, even if we disagree.  Actually
if we disagree that is just better radio! 

My emphasis is to
totally defeat and keep future generations boot on the neck of
socialist squirrels.  I focus on getting grizzly in your backyard and
realize who the hell cares what the Federal Goverment is doing if we do
not rule our own backyards.

My goal is to monetize this effort and afford one or more 24/7 online radio stations.  Our goal is to start adding commercials not only for each others efforts but paying ads that will fill our coffers and maybe put some food on our tables.  I am running this through Theodore Media LLC.  I am hoping to finally get a cash flow so that we can reinvest in the vehicles we already provide for great conservatives and lift them up.

In doing this, we need everything from a sales force, to producers and audio genius to make the commercials fun and effective.  We may go with a low pricepoint and sell :15 second spots so the work goes up, but the numbers game helps us offer a great product at a lower price point. 

It is getting Grizzly and growing like crazy! 

Essentially I need for you and our other authors, radio show hosts to take advantage of this platform I am providing for conservative thought, voice and image.

This is what I have built so far, think of it as a three legged stool:

Theodore
Media LLC: A Three Legged Stool 1) Grizzly Groundswell Blog Networks 2)
Temerity Magazine 3) Grizzly Groundswell Radio Network

1. Grizzly Groundswell Blog Network:  30+ blog networks with over 1800 unique visitors each day.  You cross post your blog posts and show promotions to this network with links back to your site and related posts in your archives.  With over 200+ conservative authors it is truly the place to go to get conservative thought, voice and image.
2. Temerity Magazine: We are now on our third issue.  It is a great vehicle where our bloggers can gain Published resumes and get our message out in a new way each month.  It is gaining prestige and reach each day. Themes for the rest of the year and specs for submissions are available on www.temeritymagazine.com and the submission deadline is the 8th of each month.
3. Grizzly Groundswell Radio Network: Now with three shows going 7 days a week. 

• Grizzly Groundswell: www.blogtalkradio.com/grizzlygroundswell 7-8 PM CST

1. Sunday: Tommy & Howie on Chandlers Watch
2. Monday: Susanna Lohse: Miss Kitty
3. Tuesday: Shelli Dawdy & Sandra Crosnoe: CLC
4. Wednesday: Chad Everson, Bear Fan Ron & Jeannie-ology
5. Thursday: Leo Shishmanian: Barack Obama’s Teleprompter
   
6. Friday: LeftFootLeeds & Chris Walden
7. Saturday: Attila the Honey & Uncle Sam Honey
   

• Grizzly Politic: www.blogtalkradio.com/grizzlypolitic 8-9 PM CST

1. Sunday: Ken Pettigrew: What Pisses YOU off?
2. Monday: OPEN!  <could be YOU!
   
3. Tuesday: R. P. Ramsey
4. Wednesday: Keith Miller
5. Thursday: Ruthie Report: You respond
   
6. Friday: CJ Galdes
7. Saturday: OPEN! <could be YOU!

• Socialist Squirrel: www.blogtalkradio.com/SocialistSquirrel 9-10 PM CST
  

1. Sunday: Bear Fan Ron & Taylor Gombos
2. Monday: Mark W. Johnson & Bear Fan Ron
3. Tuesday: Rod Eccles & J. Sage Bobcook
4. Wednesday: Chad Everson
5. Thursday: (every other week) Sid Bridge: The Endive / Dawn Wildman & Sarah Bond
6. Friday: Toni No Bologny!
7. Saturday: Toni No Bologny!
   

• 26 great hosts getting Grizzly weekly!

My hope is that you utilize all three legs of this online presence. This efforts are automatically fed to Twitter, and other social media to over 72,000 first order followers on Twitter and growing, more on Facebook, and other social networks that are too numerous to list here. 
Ken says our voice is the weapon, he is right but you amplify that voice in the Grizzly Groundswell and it is essentiall a weapon of mass instruction and inspiration! 

Get Grizzly!
TeddyBear@TheodoreMedia.com

Chad Everson

Don’t forget www.GrizzlyTemerity.com for all your hosting and Domain needs!

Theodore Media LLC is reselling GoDaddy.com hosting so that our membership, readers and listeners can get the best prices on hosting and domain names so that we can get every Conservative thought, voice and image online and Grizzly!!!

We are working hard and fast to get you the tools to get Grizzly right in your backyard!!!
Isn’t my wife @GiddyGaddy just the most lovely Model you have ever seen?

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Open Letter to the Grassroots — of, for, and by us all!

Factoid #1: You are organizing local events and working very hard, but want a consolidated site for listing events and ways to be connected to others doing the similar things.  Some groups are trying to take credit for what you are doing, have their own, agendas, are attempting to raise money from these efforts, and building databases of contact information.

Solution #1: A site that is run by the grassroots for the grassroots that doesn’t try to solicit for or capture the general publics’ contact information, doesn’t appeal for fund donations for no clearly stated purpose, and whose agenda is transparent.

We decided, with all of that in mind, to create Tea Party Grassroots.  Because we started from scratch, we decided to strive for a listing venue that would be useful to activists for many kinds of events and activities.  So in addition to a section for All Events, we have added the following categories:

•    Tea Party
•    Other Rallies & Protests
•    Conferences & Conventions
•    Media Events
•    Volunteer Activities
•    Liberty Rider Itinerary

Next we will be exploring creating listings by states.  As time allows, we are featuring individual events as a top post on the site.  Featured events are automatically propagated through a number of channels including automatic feeds on Twitter and Facebook.

We have employed a number of tools on the site that offer extendable functionality; Google Calendar and Maps.  Full calendars (by category or All Events) can be copied over to people’s personal calendars using the iCal (.ics) technology and map links are embedded. When events are listed, we copy the information over to the map and use a specific pin for each category. The map is located here.  Like the Calendar, the map can be copied over to a visitors’ own Google map.

In addition to the features noted above, we have a growing group on Facebook, which will be updated regularly and “bigger” events listed. For example, for July 4, a “national” Independence Tea Party Event has been created.   We will list links to individual location events for that date from the primary listing site (to prevent exclusion of multiple events on same date from occurring).

In addition to the event listings, we are providing some helpful information and resources to site visitors such as signs and slogan ideas, suggestions for getting involved, and founding documents.

Factoid #2: People are looking for ways to connect with others of like mind and work on projects together.

Solution #2: Those of us who have been putting these events on and bringing people together in our local areas to have an impact on swiftly moving events have many good ideas which we can share with one another. We all need input from others, and we all need support from those who have “been there” in dealing with the many issues that arise. We need to be able to communicate with one another, so we have also created a site for organizers and activists:  Tea Party Grassroots Organizers

This is the place where the listing form for submitting events is located, along with a form to offer to volunteer to help us with this project, and a form to submit a blog post.  We are adding resources on a daily basis to assist organizers and activists in their efforts.

We created a blog site, Tea Blogs: Tea Party Tales, specifically for organizers to share their stories and thoughts about the movement. A blog post submission form is available on the Organizers site.

In addition to the site and blog, we created a Twitter ID and Hashtag for Tea Party Organizers, TPOrg #tporg.  This is one id that has posts from the Tea Party Grassroots and Organizers sites automatically fed.  We encourage organizers to use the hashtag in communications with one another, and many have already begun to do so.

If used widely, this tag could enable very fast communications among a large number of people. Not only could we all retweet events and other important information for one another, but, we could also provide quick support when help is needed.

Finally, there is further work to be done in providing the kind of communicative ability for organizers and activists we are striving for. We do have a forum, which is currently turned to private.  We are currently looking at options, however, to be installed on the Organizers site, to keep communications all in one place. If you would like to help with this part of the project, let us know.

========================================

Now you might ask who is the ‘we’ in this piece.  Most of the site development was done by Shelli Dawdy, Joan Fabiano, and Sandra Crosnoe. In a broader sense, many of the Constitutional Liberty Coalition had input and provided testing and insight all along the way.  Thanks to each and everyone who helped and continues to provide guidance and share with grassroots folks everywhere.

Will Grassroots Leaders Arise?

Occasionally something is so clear to me that I assume others understand. Then I find out that is not true. So to that end this seems very necessary to go over and may be old information to some. Did you know that there are those among us who are actually empowering those who would destroy us with time, talent, and treasure? Yes folks, we are complaining about the enemy and the enemy is in our midst. If we refuse to recognize the problem, how will we deal with the problem?

Is it easy? NO!

“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:8

It means we must insist on a standard that other groups do not have. It means that we must challenge those among us not doing things properly. It means that we must examine our own hearts and repent daily and ask forgiveness of God and our brothers and sisters when we err. It means that we stand ready to rescue the one sheep who is being abused by the tyrant even when it means that others will look down on us for doing so. It means answering to the Lord God Almighty above men and the desires of men (and women too – this writer uses masculine for mankind with no qualms to PC!)

The purpose of this piece is to announce a new site that is born out of a need to protect the Grassroots. It will succeed only if grassroots people choose to engage and support and promote. It was worth doing whether that occurs or not because you will have been given a choice. You will know which choice you made and why.

TeapartyGrassroots.com is now online. At this incredible site you can find an event or list an event. The event will be published to a composite page and a master teaparty google calendar. We have also opened a page and a calendar for LibertyRider – Michael Maresco and his cross country ride with day one now complete and Michael safely in Trenton NJ. This website and calendar process has huge implications for our movement and the protection thereof if you will make it yours. If you continue to empower the national groups sapping your strength – that will be your choice because at least now you have an option. [Editor's note: more sections to this project are opening daily including now: all events, teaparties, other rallies and protests, liberty rider days, conventions and conferences, media events, and volunteer opportunities.]

Please try it out and take your name off of the national sites who are taking credit for your efforts and trying to collect money from your grassroots constituents to do things that you may or may not agree with at all! I was recently at a meeting where a field director from a national group took personal credit for all the teaparties in Oklahoma. I personally knew that wasn’t true so do you think I believed the other things he claimed credit for? I am not saying these national groups are all bad – just must be reined in and monitored closely by real people who actually want bailouts stopped, the constitution followed, etc. etc.

I pray you will ponder these matters and understand the importance of proper action. Please properly empower the real servant leaders among you and rein in those who are plundering your efforts and sapping your energy to other ends. Please let us know how you plan to help by commenting on this piece here and sharing it with your networks if you are in agreement.

For Life and Liberty,
Sandra Crosnoe for
Constitutional Liberty Coalition

Grizzly Groundswell Awarded The Golden Sammie for $5,000 Best State Blogger Award

The Golden Sammie Winner is…

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Sam Adams Alliance proudly announces the winners of the 2^nd Annual Sammies Awards

Chicago, April 7 –

The Sam Adams Alliance is proud to announce that the winners for the 2nd Annual Sammies Awards have been selected.

Due to an overwhelming number of entries and growing interest, the Sam Adams Alliance decided to extend the entry deadline from February 23 to March 20. Nearly 200 entries later, the Sammies Awards committee had their work cut out for them.

“We originally intended to choose the winners within a week of the contest ending, but that quickly became an impossible task,” said Nic Hall, Sammies contest coordinator. “The Sammies committee had a difficult task not just selecting winners, but limiting each of the categories to a few finalists. The Sammies prove without a doubt that citizen activism is alive and well in America.”

The Sam Adams Alliance will be honoring and presenting a total of $40,000 in cash prizes to the winners at a red carpet ceremony the evening of April 18 at the Marriott Renaissance North Shore in Northbrook, Illinois. Winners are being flown to Chicago from all over the country, so they can receive their recognition in an appropriate manner.

“The Sam Adams Alliance believes the winners should receive their awards from distinguished individuals whose own work merits presenting such high honors,” said Paul Miller, Sam Adams Alliance Communications Director. “We are proud to have so many champions of individual liberty and economic freedom presenting Golden Sammies to the winners.”

Guest presenters include best-selling author Michelle Malkin, Stephen Moore and John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, Fox News contributors Jonathan Hoenig and Mary Katharine Ham and just added, Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber.

The winner of the Golden Sammie is….

Fred Baldwin, Seth Cooper, and John Wynne Jr. each won the Wikiteer Award and a $1000 prize for their thorough contributions to Ballotpedia, Judgepedia, and Sunshine Review–all wikis of the Sam Adams Alliance.

Melissa Clouthier, of The Woodlands, Texas, won the Best Microblogger of the Year Award and the $2,000 prize for her use of social media in promoting liberty at the state and federal level.

Ruth Bendl, of Portland Oregon, won the Voter Watchdog Award and the $2,500 prize for her work in monitoring the 2008 election. In her efforts she identified 44 deceased Oregonian voters. She has been instrumental in getting the Vote-By-Mail state to enact new rules about how ballots are transported and counted.

Elizabeth Crum of Las Vegas, Nevada, won the $2,500 Blogivist of the Year Award for successfully embodying the “Say Something, Do Something” spirit of Blogivists.com. Having started blogging at E!! The True Conservative Story last June, in 10 short months she has received recognition from Politico, Instapundit, and National Review Online, as well as been published in Liberty-Watch, and featured on local news stations.

Chad Everson, of Princeton, Minnesota, won the $5,000 Best State Blogger Award for his efforts in building a network of over 150 bloggers and 16 radio personalities on GrizzlyGroundswell.com

Caleb Brown and Austin Bragg, of Arlington, Virginia, won the Best Video Award and the $5,000 prize for their research and analysis of Virginia’s asinine, anti-competitive—and unconstitutional—liquor laws.

James Bell, of Lithia Springs, Georgia, won the $5,000 Tea Party Award for his work in defeating two sales tax increases and proposing a bill, which in 2008 became Georgia law, restricting local government from holding tax votes on special elections.

William Carlin Walker, of Liberty, Missouri, won the $5,000 Sunshine Award for his work in exposing illegal retirement benefits and rampant credit card abuse by top administrators in the Liberty School District—including thousands on alcohol and parties—along with leading a successful petition drive that resulted in a state audit of the district. William’s whistle-blowing led to the resignation of two administrators, and the Missouri General Assembly has introduced four pieces of legislation in response to his investigative labor.

…and the Modern-Day Sam Adams Award goes to:

Ari Armstrong of Westminster, Colorado

Armstrong wins the $10,000 prize for his relentless—and ubiquitous—defense of free markets and individual liberty in the state of Colorado. He is author of FreeColorado.com and a columnist for the Grand Junction Free Press. In the last year, Ari’s work has been published in the Rocky Mountain News, Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Post Online, and featured on numerous radio and television news programs.

The Sam Adams Alliance congratulates all the winners as well as everyone who entered the Sammies contest. Your hard work and dedication to liberty and freedom is greatly appreciated, but now is not the time to rest on your laurels as defending the ideals of our Founding Fathers is a never-ending battle.

Contact:
Paul Miller
Communications Director
312-920-0080 ext 302
847-845-3501 cell
Paulmiller@samadamsalliance.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 07 April 2009 02:46 )

Grizzly Groundswell, members, readers, listener’s and tweople,

I want to personally thank you for buying into this idea of the Grizzly Groundswell.  You have faithfully supported this effort and assisted the growth and now recognition that this interdependent uniting of conservative thought, voice and image all across this great nation. 

This is really a humbling experience, first that you have have been so gracious with your time and talent and promote and lift up this idea, of a Grizzly Groundswell taking our backyards back.  Second, finally getting recognized in a really big way.  Thirdly, it is humbling to me to watch God’s hand on this movement and watch it grow and flurish inspite of my own limitations and our lack of funding. 

I insist that when I accept this award, you take a moment and rejoice with me as our effort is getting acknowledged for all the hard work and effectiveness we have been able to bring about in such a short time, no money, but a lot of faith, hard work and great conservatives pitching in together to accomplish this great task we have ahead of us.

This movement has been blessed by God’s hand from the start.  Hearts were unhardened before I even twisted your arm to join us!  We have surrounded ourselves with the best and brightest conservatives this country has to offer.  Hopefully now, more will find us and we will welcome them in and I need your help to make sure they can get Grizzly faster, and become even more effective in less time then it took us.

I am so proud of you, and thankful that I can call you Grizzly, friends and honestly family. 

You Inspire Me Daily!

Lets teach the country to get Grizzly with us!

Chad Everson

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Move to God’s Country!

Connect with your Opportunity

April 1st – April 30th, 2009

Thinking about your next career move? Check out www.WebFairND.com, a virtual career and internship fair featuring exciting employment opportunities in North Dakota. WebFair ND will run from April 1st – 30th.

There is no registration or fee – search when you have time.

The event is another new way Commerce is working to help businesses find good employees and help North Dakota college students and others find meaningful employment among the thousands of job opportunities in North Dakota.

Variety of Opportunities
Nearly 300 employment and internship opportunities from almost 40 companies are included, representing a broad range of careers such as engineering, healthcare, business, IT, energy, sales, education, and many more!

More Information
For more information, please visit www.WebFairND.com or contact Sarah Johnson at sakjohnson@nd.gov or 701-328-7264.

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Dr. Michelle Everson wins Teaching Award!

Michelle,

My lovely wife and bride, Won the University of Minnesota college of Education and Human Development 2009 Distinguished Teaching Award!!

I am so very humbled and proud of this woman and my wife! This is the blessing but, I could not tell anyone about until it was public knowledge! Woo HOO! So very proud!

So Blessed in Abundance of Freedom & Joy.

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Parental Rights Amendment

Today we invite you to make history.

Representative Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) is as passionate as we are about the Parental Rights Amendment, and he has committed to introducing the bill in the House again this year. Unlike last year, though, we are introducing it this year with the intent to get it passed. (Rep. Hoekstra introduced the bill last year with the intention of beginning discussion on parental rights issues.) Therefore, Rep. Hoekstra wants to have 50 co-sponsors by the time he presents the amendment bill in the House. Fifty is not a requirement, nor a magic number. But it is a significant number. Enough, we hope, to communicate to the committee and to the entire House that we are serious about this bill.

As of today, we have 31 co-sponsors committed to joining Rep. Hoekstra. We need 19 more to reach our goal and introduce this bill in the House of Representatives.

Today, we need your help to reach that goal. Please check our list of sponsors and take the appropriate action:

1)  If you live in the district of a representative who is already on our list of co-sponsors, consider sending them a brief note expressing appreciation to them for standing for this vital cause.

2)  If your Representative is not already on our list, we need you to call your Congressman’s Washington office and urge your Representative to contact Pete Hoekstra’s office (it’s pronounced “HOKE-struh”) and become a co-sponsor of the Parental Rights Amendment.

In either event, you can find your Representative’s (Washington office) contact information by typing your zip code into the box at Congress.org.

Thank you so much for participating in this vital push to get the Parental Rights Amendment introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. When we have succeeded with every step, and the Parental Rights Amendment is added to the Constitution, the day of its introduction in the House, with 50 or more co-sponsors, will be a significant day in American history. Today is your chance to bring that day about! 

Gratefully yours,

Michael P. Farris
President
ParentalRights.org

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