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This (below) is a very succinct summary of how our immigration policy got us to the Boston terror attack, hat tip Henry.

And, it’s only too bad that ol’ Teddy didn’t live long enough to see the fruits of his treason in his own home town.

No caption necessary…

It’s not a good idea for bloggers to post a whole article from another publication, so I hope the Political Outcast doesn’t mind me sharing this excellent report by author Marilyn Assenheim in its entirety.

You need to know that you have been fed a bunch of bull about the Statue of Liberty—it originally had nothing to do with immigration!

From  Political Outcast (emphasis mine):

 ”Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-lost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

These are the famous last five lines of the sonnet The New Colossus written by Emma Lazarus (1849–1887) in 1883 that appear on the Statue of Liberty.

Ms. Lazarus, the daughter of a privileged, Jewish family in New York City, was actually referring to the plight of poor, European Jewry, brutalized throughout Europe, in that sonnet. The Statue of Liberty, at the foot of which the sonnet found a home in 1903, was a gift from France whose sole aim was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of America’s independence from England.

Contrary to the Left’s hijacking of intentions, these were the true meanings behind the statue and sonnet. The significance of Lady Liberty and the sonnet have been deliberately distorted ever since by the Left.

The existence America promised was the shared aspiration of the “wretched” of every nationality that flocked here. They knew that by coming to our teeming shore, with work, they could obtain the liberty, security and standing that could never be realized in the lands of their birth.

Their children were not cemented to the same existence they’d shared with their fathers and their fathers’ fathers. They could rise from the lowest to heights unimagined in a single generation. American immigration laws were enforced. Immigration was controlled, as is the responsibility of any sovereign nation to its inhabitants. The shared aim of immigrants, regardless of their country of origin, was that they wanted to be Americans. Citizenship was earned. The oath of loyalty to the émigré’s new, chosen homeland was administered in English

It would never have occurred to anyone to have it otherwise; no ethnic group was ever dissuaded from maintaining their heritage. But there was never any question that they were, first and foremost, American.  [See my post at RRW on patriotic assimilation, here---ed]

Ted Kennedy changed all of that. In 1965 Kennedy revamped the entire immigration system. He eliminated firm immigration caps and introduced chain migration into America from every overpopulated country in the world, smashing annual immigration numbers.

In the 1970s Kennedy massively expanded refugee programs, introducing enormous loopholes and encouraging a national resettlement trade that became a major lobby for more and more immigration.

Kennedy was far from finished. In 1986 he got Republicans to agree to blanket amnesty; the amnesty to end all amnesties. This is the amnesty the Left always lays at Ronald Reagan’s feet. The law was deliberately written in a way that was guaranteed not to work. Just a few years later, Kennedy would use the inability to enforce the 1986 rules as an excuse for issuing more green cards and more amnesties. So much for Democrat promises.

Kennedy’s 1990 Immigration Act boosted immigration by another 35%. George H.W. Bush was his accomplice. Today’s Republicans seem eager to compound that disgrace. The 1990 Immigration Act also randomly gifted 50,000 green cards a year to people from countries selected because they had few ties and cultural connection with America. Worse still, highly skilled, European, English-speaking immigration applicants were denied, almost to a man.  [This 50,000 reference has to do with the diversity visa lottery---ed]

The make-up of America’s immigrant population had been changed. Kennedy’s assaults on America’s structure were eulogized by Doris Meissner,* Former Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioner: “Senator Kennedy helped change the character of the immigration system, and indeed the country, bringing the United States a step closer to its founding ideals of fairness and opportunity for all.”

For all? Ms. Meissner conveniently avoided the fact that Emma Lazarus’ sonnet doesn’t state: “Give me your tired, your poor, the wretched refuse…” exclusively.

I heard Meissner speak at the 30th Anniversary celebration of Ted Kennedy’s Refugee Resettlement Act in 2010 at Georgetown University.  She and others were expressing joy over the expansion of the asylum sections of the law—the number of asylum seekers was growing rapidly and they were all filled with enthusiasm.  I mentioned it here when I called for Congress to investigate how all of these asylum seekers from the third world were reaching our shores.

Of course, who is going to listen to me, but the question is, will Congress listen to the Brothers Tsarnaev speaking loudly from Teddy’s home town?

Follow me on twitter!  AnnC@RefugeeWatcher

As for blogging, anyone can do it!

Workshop this Saturday, Frederick! You are not too old to learn something new! Be there!

I haven’t had much time to post here at Potomac Tea Party Report recently because Refugee Resettlement Watch is hopping as a result of the revelation that the Boston Marathon bombers got into the US as political refugees (see my posts on the subject here).

The issue of abuse of our Legal immigration system has been near and dear to me since 2007.

Tonight I am nagging conservative readers to write a blog and sign-up for  twitter. 

I was initially reluctant to participate in those two forms of social media—blogging 6 years ago and more recently I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to open a twitter account, but am so glad I did!  I used to check Drudge a zillion times a day, but no more because all I have to do is go to twitter where I have selected some great people to follow and boom—instant updates from people I respect (and from some I oppose too—it’s always good to know what the other side is saying).

For example, on last Friday morning (very early!) Drudge wasn’t even up to capture the breaking news, but my twitter friends were on top of  it and had been apparently reporting all night.

And, now, if I see some good articles I want to pass along, I tweet them out!  So…..

Follow me on Twitter!  Ann C@RefugeeWatcher

And, please let me recommend that you choose something to blog about that actually provides a service.  Pick a topic and become the expert on it.  Don’t be a gadfly running your mouth on this issue or that one (like I have been here at PTPR).  And, take it from me, don’t try to do two blogs at once (if you want to have a life).

Since the mainstream media has virtually given up on investigative journalism, we citizen journalists must become the investigators.  Honestly in an hour or two a day, you could become an expert on such juicy topics as food stamp fraud or medicare fraud, or on a slimy politician, or on a Leftwing group, or on Agenda 21 and property rights, or research your local school system curriculum and budget or expose what your county government is doing to waste money.  You get my drift!  Be a resource for all of us!

So, what I am working up to is that there is still time to sign up for MD CAN’s workshop on Social media (Twitter and blogging) this Saturday, April 27th, in Frederick.  Go here for info. on signing up.  If you don’t want to sign-up on line, just show up on Saturday with a check (and your laptop, or whatever).

“I have seen shameful things.”

Update:  Obama gang to hold immigration Day of Action for Commie, May Day, week here.  They gotta get this done before the damage from Boston metastasizes.

It seems that Boston didn’t slow anyone down—the amnesty pushers will be back today on Capitol Hill peddling their wares.   We are even hearing arguments that the Boston bombings wouldn’t have happened if we had amnesty—I kid you not!

This came to me in an e-mail this morning, hat tip: Paul. Erickson would call this shameful too I suppose, but this one small graphic expresses the feelings of many Americans.

See the list of those testifying today—there are some we know and respect including Kris Kobach, Mark Krikorian, Steve Camarato, and Chris Crane.  It there are others on the list on the side of restraint, I don’t know them.

Of course, the emperor with no clothes, Grover Norquist, is on the list.

Erick Erickson at Red State this morning pretty much sums up where we are with his morning briefing:

Describing himself as a “squish” on immigration, beginning in pleasant tones he goes on to blast the Republicans, especially Grover Norquist, for the dirty tactics being employed.  The pleasant tones at the outset are definitely gone when he says (among other things):

“I have seen people whore their faith in the name of immigration reform.”

Here is Erickson after admitting he thinks we need some reform, but that comprehensive is not the way to go (emphasis mine):

Saying all of that, I am deeply, deeply disturbed by the games being played by pro-immigration advocates on the right, including staff in Senator Marco Rubio’s office, Grover Norquist, and others.  [Readers, be sure to read the Breitbart report about dirty tricks involving Norquist and Rubio used against Jim DeMint and Heritage over the cost to taxpayers of this legislation.  I was going to post on it until I saw this Red State piece.---ed]  [Update!  Heritage/DeMint fires back, here. Bill will cost taxpayers trillions!]

They are attacking other conservatives who disagree with them as racists, slavery supporters, bigots, haters, baby killers, un-Christian, etc. They are waging a coordinated attack between Senator Rubio’s office and others against conservative stalwarts like the Heritage Foundation and Jim DeMint.

They are proposing a plan that thus far appears to be unworkable, is wholly too complicated, and is a distraction from issues that we could all agree on in the name of getting a plan acceptable to Democrats. In the process, their attacks on conservatives designed to intimidate, browbeat, and silence them opens old wounds and does exactly what the Democrats hoped to do — divide the right and play directly to the fears of Hispanic voters who have for so long seen political leaders of both parties demagogue the issue.

Many of the people who want an immigration solution frankly could care less about hispanic voters. They see this as an issue the GOP has to get right on and they will do whatever it takes to get right on the issue. They are playing political games. Seeing self-styled conservatives and libertarians trying to pass any legislation that is labeled “comprehensive” should always be a red flag.

I have seen friends paint others as racists, as sympathizers to abortion advocates, and as haters all to try to steam roll through their preferred policy solution. I have seen good conservative organizations attacked and lumped in with fringe groups. I have seen mainstream groups characterized as fringe. I have seen people whore their faith in the name of immigration reform.

I have seen shameful things. What will be the cost paid in these attacks? These are not liberals attacking, but other members of the center-right. They now claim that maybe Boston would not have happened had this bill been passed or, at worst, at least with this bill millions of new immigrations coming into the country will be known instead of unknown.*** I’m sure the dead eight year old and his family will be consoled by that.

I want an immigration reform plan that will solve the problems we now have with unskilled workers who come here illegally. I am not sure that the proposed plan will do that. What I do know is that conservatives should be deeply skeptical of Republicans who call upstanding conservatives racists and baby killers while allying themselves with the race baiters and baby killers of the left on this issue.

See our entire archive on Grover Norquist—Open borders Islamist—one day we will all know how Grover Norquist whored America—perhaps for his faith!

***Readers the alleged Boston bombers were known to us.  They came to the US as refugees and we supported them for ten plus years with social services and education.  The “comprehensive reform” bill, being discussed today in the Senate Judiciary Committee, has a section on refugees which seeks to make it easier for more refugees to enter the US with even less security screening than is happening at the moment.

See all of my posts on the Boston Bomber Brothers, here, at RRW.

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Update of the updates:   Be sure to check them out at Refugee Resettlement Watch!

The story is breaking so fast its hard to keep up with.  But, many of you know I have another blog—Refugee Resettlement Watch—where I archive posts on our LEGAL (and in need of reform!) refugee program.

Reports this morning indicate that the Islamic terrorists in Boston were resettled there as refugees about ten years ago.  Here is my post at RRW with the news.

Here is a World Net Daily story quoting their uncle in Maryland:

Tamerlan left Chechnya with his family in the early 90s, and lived for years in Kazakhstan before being welcomed into the U.S. as a refugee.

[.....]

Tsarnaev, 19, and his older brother, Tamerlan, had been living together on Norfolk Street in Cambridge. An uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., told the Associated Press the men lived together near Boston and have been in the United States for about a decade. They came from the Russian region near Chechnya, which has been plagued by an Islamic insurgency stemming from separatist wars.

You might be interested to know that the Gang of Eights massive “comprehensive immigration reform” bill has a refugee section that will facilitate more refugees coming to the US.  I’ll tell you more when things calm down!

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Update:  Hearing wrecked by Boston chaos created by Borat Brothers.  Janet Napolitano a no show! (Daily Caller).  Is Immigration Reform DOA?

As far as I can tell, the  hearing scheduled on the massive Immigration bill crafted behind closed doors by eight US Senators is still on for this morning in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Gee, you would think that John McAmnesty and his side-kick Marco Rubio, might face a few tough national security questions in light of the war zone in Boston this morning

Update!  NBC News (on twitter) and other outlets are reporting the killers are Chechen (Muslim) brothers… will post here as soon as we know which accounts are accurate.

I’ll keep you posted if I hear about whether the immigration hearing is  called off as it was earlier this week.

Update!   Twitter reports now are that the Judiciary Committee hearing on the Immigration bill is still on with Janet Napolitano on the hot seat.

Related:  New best buds smooching—Grover Norquist and Human Rights First, here.

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Peter Brimelow willing to say things most aren’t!

Here is an article from World Net Daily that is so politically-incorrect to the mainstream media (and to the GOP elite!) that you won’t see it discussed in too many places.

Peter Brimelow at World Net Daily earlier this week (emphasis mine):

Everyone knows that the Republican Party needs to extend amnesty to 12-20 million illegal aliens in order to win the Hispanic vote. Right?

But, to quote Josh Billings: “It’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

And it’s not just that Hispanics will never vote Republican anyway – because they are poor and naturally like government redistribution, and because they have eyes and can see that Marco Rubio is a white Cuban, not a Mexican.

Both those things are true, of course, but the real reason the current Hispanic hysteria is wrong is that there simply aren’t that many Hispanic voters. Whites will continue to dominate the U.S. electorate for the foreseeable future.

And it’s whites – especially the white working class, above all in the North – who are up for grabs.

Hispanics cast perhaps 10 percent of the votes in the 2012 presidential election. (All these numbers are a little fuzzy because exit polling is inexact.) Whites cast 72 percent.

And, remember, this was an election in which minority turnout rose because of Democratic anti-white race-baiting, and GOP turnout fell because of Mitt Romney’s wimpish failure to motivate the Republican base.

Indeed, incredibly, this is the second presidential election in which white turnout fell – it was down in 2008, too, for GOP nominee John McAmnesty.

(See a pattern here?)

Brimelow uses numbers to make his case, read it all.

Please visit my post yesterday and call your legislators in Washington!

Update April 18th:  Hey Senator McCain, are you going to postpone the hearing again out of respect for those suffering in Texas today?

Hearing rescheduled for Friday at 10 a.m. here.

McCain (thought bubble!): We will hold the hearing after we figure out if the Boston terrorist was here legally or not!

Senator McCain says it’s out of respect for the victims, and I say that is B.S.   We still don’t know who the Boston marathon murderers are, but if (IF!) he (or they) is a Saudi national on a student visa as some outlets are speculating (readers note! still speculation!!!), imagine the furor at the hearing if he/they are on expired student visas and thus in the US illegally.

***Update April 18th***  The Muslim Issue is reporting that the Saudi national, who is no longer a suspect, is being deported after Obama met with Saudi ambassador—what is up with that?

This ‘amnesty’ bill would in fact give such illegal aliens (visa overstays!) a chance to stay and work and become citizens some day.  When you consider the “gang of eights’ work, remember we aren’t just talking about the friendly Mexican faces you see at your local McDonalds.  We are talking about illegal aliens from all over the world who have either crossed our borders in the dark of night or those who walked or flew right in with visas and never left!

Here is Breitbart (quoting Politico):

The bipartisan Senate “Gang of Eight” pushing immigration reform is moving ahead with its plan to roll out an approximately 1,500-page bill this week despite the bombings that rocked the Boston marathon on Monday.

The bill reportedly grants amnesty to the at least 11 million illegal immigrants in America. “Millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States could earn a chance at citizenship under a sweeping Senate proposal to be released Tuesday that would represent the most ambitious overhaul of the nation’s immigration system in three decades,” the Washington Post wrote in a breaking news alert late Monday night. “The highly anticipated proposal from an eight-member bipartisan group also aims to stem the flow of undocumented immigrants into the country by creating tens of thousands of new visas for foreign workers in low-skilled jobs, according to a 17-page summary of the bill obtained by The Washington Post.”

In a similar report, Politico indicated the group may hold off the press conference announcing the release because of the terror attack in Boston but will still likely file the bill on Tuesday. “The bill they plan to file as early as Tuesday – a public roll-out was delayed because of the deadly blasts at the Boston Marathon – is certain to spark an emotional debate that will dominate Washington for the remainder of the year,” Politico wrote in a breaking news alert shortly after midnight Tuesday morning.

I can just see McCain, Graham and Rubio on their knees praying that the terrorist in Boston is not in the US illegally!

Update thanks to Robin!  Rubio said last night that the hearing was postponed to give Senators more time to read the 1500 plus-page bill!  (Pick yourself up off the floor and stop laughing!).  They really think we are idiots!

Say a prayer for the victims in Boston, and then…..

And, it sure looks like Speaker John Boehner and the other “rich elitists” (Ruling Class Republicans) in the House are ready to s**** us too!

Do it for Michele!

You don’t need me to tell you, it’s all over the news now—Senator Marco Rubio has drunk the koolaide and millions of illegal immigrants will be legalized, be on the welfare rolls, be competing for jobs, be getting Obamacare and voting for Democrats so that even more goodies will flow their way (until of course the Nation dies!) if Tea Partiers sit on the sidelines.

The only hope going forward seems to be developing in the House of Representatives with the Gang of Six—TRUE TEA PARTIERS UNLIKE MARCO RUBIO!   Here is the news, no time to analyze it.

JUST GET ON THE PHONE TODAY AND ALL WEEK TO EVERYONE IN CONGRESS AND STOP THE AMNESTY FREIGHT TRAIN.

Our hero! Rep. Steve King of Iowa

From National Review Online:

King [Rep Steve King of Iowa] and his crew are not driving the negotiations, and they increasingly feel like outsiders within their own party. “The meetings of the Gang of Eight and the secret meetings in the House of Representatives — the people who have been standing up for the Constitution and the rule of law haven’t been invited to those meetings,” King tells the assembled group of reporters. The other huddlers — Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Lou Barletta (Pa.), Mo Brooks (Ala.), Louie Gohmert (Texas), and Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.) — nod and grimace. “We’ve got all the rich guys and the elitists talking to each other,” Rohrabacher says. “Unfortunately us regular folks don’t have that kind of coordination.”

You, the regular folks, are all that is left for the Gang of Six to count on!!!

And, while you are calling, call Rubio’s office and give them a piece of your mind too!  Call the staff directly.  I listed them in this post!

Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 for all others.  Or, look up direct lines.  If those are busy, then call their local offices!

P.S.  If you are on twitter, please tweet this!

Update:  Tea Party Patriots is training its calls on Washington (and Districts) tomorrow, here.

Please see action suggestion at the end of this post!

That’s Grover Norquist, slayer of loud bullfrogs, whose gig, although not so new, is to be a leading proponent of the amnesty push.   He really stepped up his game this week by attacking Jim DeMint and the venerable Heritage Foundation just as thousands of illegal aliens led by the socialists at CASA de Maryland and the unions (why?) arrived for their Hill rally.

Gustavo (Sandinista!) Torres of CASA de Maryland! FOG (Friend of Grover) Photo: Boston Globe

Readers, sorry I haven’t posted much here lately, but I’ve been following my own advice and focusing on the refugee resettlement program where, by the way, unemployment among LEGAL immigrants is through the roof while Grover clamors for more cheap labor for his big business clients.  I also went to Washington this week to drop off some literature with Senate and Congressional staffers on immigration.

There are lots of stories over the last few days about Grover on the offense, thanks to Richard Falknor (Blue Ridge Forum) for the tweets.  I’m writing here today because I need to keep my Norquist archives up-to-date.*

And, because there is some action you can take to counteract Norquist.

Here is a good summary at the Washington Examiner of the latest on the grandstanding Grover (or is it treasonous Grover?):

A battle has been brewing in the Republican Party for some time, long before President Obama was re-elected this past November. On one side is the big business Washington establishment represented by K Street lobbyists and the Chamber of Commerce. On the other side are populist, main street, grassroots conservatives represented by the Tea Party and Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint. Few issues divide the Republican Party more clearly along these lines than immigration reform. And this week, the battle just got ugly.

Grover Norquist, who took thousands of dollars from former-lobbyist and convicted fraudster Jack Abramoff, has long been an advocate of granting amnesty to the millions of illegal immigrants currently in the United States today. And National Review reports that Norquist has stepped up his amnesty campaign since Obama won four more years in the White House this November. Norquist is now hosting weekly Friday meetings with other Republican groups like the Chamber of Commerce that support importing cheap labor from other countries no matter how high the unemployment rate is.

Read it all!   Will Rubio and DeMint go toe to toe?

Daniel Greenfield at Frontpage Magazine has more, here.  Greenfield knows well that Grover is an Islamist. You will have to see our Norquist archives for more on that topic.  Greenfield begins:

Grover Norquist, champion of Islamism infiltration, is working to advance the cause of tax reform by backing an illegal alien amnesty that will impose a whopping economic burden on the country… leading to higher taxes.

The most thorough look at Grover’s leading roll in support of amnesty came on Tuesday of this week when Betsy Woodruff penned this report at National Review Online.

If you oppose amnesty you are a “bitter-ender” (huh?):

Grover Norquist is known as an anti-tax crusader, but in the coming weeks he will be just as much a pro-immigration crusader, combatting what he calls the “bitter enders” who oppose comprehensive immigration reform.

Norquist says that he’s trying to counteract the effect of “a handful of radio talk-show hosts who talk loudly.”  [LOL! Loud bullfrogs?---ed]

“The bitter-enders who are still responding to radio talk-show hosts from eight years ago haven’t noticed that the world has shifted from underneath them,” he says. “The people who need cover are the guys who are still voting like they were Pat Buchanan.”

Norquist’s group, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), is using its famous Wednesday meeting as a model for marshaling conservative activists behind an immigration overhaul. In recent weeks, Norquist and his advisers have hosted fortnightly Friday meetings for conservative leaders and pro-reform Republicans.

The meetings connect conservative-movement organizations, members of the business community, and Hill staffers — including staffers from some of the offices of members of the Senate’s Gang of Eight. In the closed-door sessions, the attendees coordinate strategy and messaging and discuss the Gang’s latest developments. While a typical Wednesday meeting often addresses dozens of topics, the Friday meeting is all about making comprehensive immigration reform a legislative reality.

The organizations that have sent representatives to the meetings include the Cato Institute, the Hispanic Leadership Network (an offshoot of the American Action Network), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Hispanic Leadership Fund.

Norquist working the Rubio staff!   Norquist is the staff’s “comrade-in-arms!”

ATR and Norquist are also in the loop on Gang of Eight talks. They get inside information on the status of the discussions, and they pass that information along to conservative leaders. They don’t directly shape the Senate negotiations, but they work to influence Republican messaging.

They’re trying to give Senator Marco Rubio’s office a little relief, at least in the public square and within the movement. Rubio’s staffers have run the conservative Republican pro-reform push almost singlehandedly in Congress, says a source close to ATR’s work, who argues that Rubio has been instrumental in nudging his colleagues behind the scenes. Norquist and his aides say they are the Rubio office’s comrades-in-arms. They don’t directly coordinate with Rubio’s office, but they do try to help shoulder the burden of pushing a controversial policy to a skeptical audience.

How about making it a little harder for the Rubio staff?

I told you earlier that I was in Washington this week, stumping on the Hill and among other things I stopped in Senator Marco Rubio’s office and asked to see his immigration staff.  Of course no one had time to see me, but I did get their names and contact information.  I also overheard the receptionists field one call after another where they promised to tell the Senator the caller’s message.

Rubio is the key:  Will he choose tea party or cocktail party?

So please call (or e-mail) Rubio’s office at 202-224-3041 and ask for these staff people, call three times if you must! 

These are Rubio’s chief advisors on immigration and surely one (or all) are being lied to by Grover.

Tell them Norquist doesn’t speak for you!

~Enrique Gonzalez, Special Counsel, enrique_gonzalez@rubio.senate.gov

 (sorry for some reason this blog doesn’t make e-mail links hot, so please copy and paste these e-mail addresses into your browser).

~Hampton G. Ray, Legislative Aide, hampton_ray@rubio.senate.gov

~Jonathan Baselice, Legislative Assistant, jon_baselice@rubio.senate.gov

Besides telling them how you feel about amnesty for illegal aliens, and what you think of Norquist,  maybe point to this report in which Janet Napolitano predicts immigrants will turn Arizona blue (America too!).

* Remember the other day, I said each of us should focus on something. Well, someone needs to write a blog exclusively on Norquist, maybe call it Norquist Watch or something more original.

Let me make a suggestion!

If you are feeling like you are being left in the dust and everyone is blogging and tweeting, this is your chance to catch up with new social media.  MDCAN is hosting a hands-on workshop later this month in Frederick, MD.

Here is what the MDCAN facebook page says about the event:

Now more than ever it is important for conservative activists to learn how to use the new media to get our message out. Do you want to join the online conversation but aren’t sure exactly how to do it?

Join us on April 27, 2013 at 2:00pm for a Social Media Workshop with The Leadership Institute. In this 3 hour session you will learn how to set up and publish your own blog and you’ll learn how to get started with Twitter. You’ll also meet people with whom you can begin building your online network of followers.

Bring your own laptop, tablet, or smartphone and make it a hands on experience.

The workshop will be held at Jekyll & Hyde tavern in Frederick so come early for lunch or stay for dinner and drinks afterward to put the “social” in social media. (Meals and drinks are not included in the ticket price.)

Ticket Price: $30

As soon as there is a link posted at the MDCAN website to register (and if you aren’t on facebook), I’ll post an update here.

*Update!* The registration information is now at the MDCAN website, here.  And, if you prefer to send a check instead of registering on-line, please make it payable to MDCAN (mail to:  MDCAN, P.O. Box 111, Keedysville, MD 21756).

Write a blog!   It isn’t that hard.  Just being up on the news, passing it all around to your friends (whose in-boxes are already too full) on e-mail might make you feel better, but it accomplishes little—it’s not enough to be a news junky.  I know I’m a news junky too and it makes me feel good to be on top of what is going on in twenty different areas every day, but it doesn’t advance our mission.

And, when I say write a blog, I mean a blog specific to a certain topic—BECOME THE EXPERT ON SOMETHING!   Don’t be the gadfly running your mouth on myriad subjects all week or all month.  Put your nose to the grindstone and research something.  There are no real investigative reporters left, so you have to be that person.

Pick a topic:  Maryland wasteful spending, Medicare fraud, your local county or city government, gay marriage, the MDGOP, gun owner rights, watch a politician—write a whole blog on just that person!, food stamp fraud, follow some Leftwing news outfit every day and expose what they do.   I could go on and on, you get the idea!

You will be amazed that when you have something new to offer the public, you will get readers outside your little circle of like-minded friends (LOL! you will make some enemies on the other side too and that is always fun!) and you may in the end help bring about the change needed to get us back on track as a Nation.

Stop the gnashing of teeth, get to work, and focus (day in and day out!) on one thing during the time you have carved out in an otherwise busy life.

Not to belabor the point, but if writing is not your strong suit pick something else—work on just one bill in Annapolis, set up a grassroots organization, work on one candidate’s campaign, but focus on one goal at a time, and stop acting like chickens with heads cut off flitting from issue to issue and crying ‘woe is us, woe is us!’ (I know that doesn’t work with the image of a chicken with no head, but you get my drift!)