Spartanburg County lies in the heart of the I-85 corridor between Atlanta and Charlotte. It is home to very heavy industry, including Miliken, BMW, Johns Mansville, Envista, and many others. The county seat is located in the city of Spartanburg, a growing metro of about 40-45K. The city is also the headquarters for QS/1, Advance America, and Denny's.
Political
Spartanburg is overwhelmingly Republican. It usually votes 60-65% Republican in any major statewide or national race. Local margins are even higher, and Republicans run largely unopposed in many areas of the county. Spartanburg is one of the key areas necessary to win the state, and as such it gets a disproportionately high amount of political attention. As a Republican, it is not possible to win South Carolina without winning heavily in Spartanburg and Greenville. Doing well here in the Upstate will easily eliminate doing poorly in the entire midlands and lowlands, which votes highly Democratic, but is largely rural and sparsely populated.
Chuck Norris was here but I was informed that his legal team felt I was "violating 'their' rights" and furthermore "violated Chuck Norris' right of publicity". I plead "Warhol with quotations". Not sure how a hand-drawn, artists rendering plus researchable, verifiable quotation can be considered violating someone's rights but I was threatened with the closing of my paid pro-account if I reuploaded. Makes me wonder how long the collection "Freedom is popular" will last. :(
For a complete list of RP Creations made by SCButterfly: http://www.dailypaul.com/156254/ron-paul-2012-the-excitement-builds
There is one political party in the post '72 Democrat Party and two political parties in the Republican Party, on the right is the "Right Wing" Paleoconservatives political party and on the left is the "Left Wing" Neoconservatives political party... and the war is on.
"I don't want to be in Washington another six years and watch the Republican party betray the trust of the American people again. I mean, we had the White House. We had a majority in the House and the Senate. We voted for more spending and more earmarks. Most of our senior members seem to be focused on taking home the bacon. I'm not going to be in a Republican party like that and that's not what the Republican Party is across America," Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) October 2010
Several Upstate conservative groups are warming up to the idea that they need to look beyond the November election and on to replacing specific power brokers in South Carolina — and, eventually, reforming the entire system."
Click here to read the full story, which includes quotes from Campaign for Liberty members Talbert Black (SC Coordinator) and myself (Spartanburg Co. Coordinator).
Allison Anthony Ballentine Bannister Barfield Battle Bedingfield Bingham Bowen Bowers Brady Branham H. B. Brown Cato Chalk Clemmons Cole Cooper Crawford Daning Delleney Duncan Forrester Frye Gambrell Gunn Haley Hamilton Hardwick Harrell Harrison Hayes Hearn Herbkersman Hiott Horne Huggins Kelly Knight Limehouse Littlejohn Loftis Long Lowe Lucas Merrill Miller Millwood D. C. Moss V. S. Moss Nanney J. M. Neal Neilson Norman Ott Owens Parker Pinson M. A. Pitts Rice Sandifer Scott Simrill Skelton D. C. Smith G. M. Smith G. R. Smith J. R. Smith Sottile Spires Stavrinakis Stewart Stringer Thompson Toole Umphlett Vick Viers Whipper White Whitmire Willis Wylie A. D. Young T. R. Young
Total--85
Those who voted in the negative are:
Agnew Alexander Allen Anderson Bales Brantley G. A. Brown Clyburn Cobb-Hunter Dillard Funderburk Gilliard Govan Hart Hodges Hosey Howard Jefferson Kennedy King Kirsh McLeod Mitchell J. H. Neal Parks Weeks Williams
Total--27
The Concurrent Resolution, as amended, was adopted and ordered sent to the Senate.
Today, our battle to pass Audit the Fed through the U.S. Senate has been joined. The first shot was fired on the floor of the Senate tonight by Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina.
Senator DeMint has a well-deserved reputation for taking the battle to the other side in the Senate, and tonight he once again proved why he is such a valuable ally in our fight to bring transparency and accountability to the Federal Reserve.
Occasionally, a chance comes along to take quick action on a bill, and Senator DeMint took just such an opportunity.
A little while ago, the Senate voted to pass HR 2918, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act. This $3.1 billion bill contains, among many other things, provisions for GAO audits on certain agencies.
With this in mind, Senator DeMint attached the full text of S 604, the Senate version of Ron Paul's Audit the Fed bill, to HR 2918 as Senate Amendment 1367 before it was considered for final passage.
However, Senate Democrats refused to even allow a vote on the amendment! Instead of giving it a chance to stand before the Senate, they swept it under the rug with a parliamentary tactic.
After Senator DeMint brought Audit the Fed to the floor, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska raised a "point of order" to prevent a vote, claiming that the amendment violated Senate Rule 16 by "legislating" on an appropriations bill. The Senate president agreed, and the amendment was shot down.
Senator DeMint did not back down, though, and directly challenged Senate leadership by pointing out the other GAO audits contained in the bill. As Senator DeMint listed them off, the Senate president was forced to agree with Senator DeMint that each one he described, all of which would be left in for final passage, also violated Senate Rule 16.
So the issue wasn't about "legislating" on the bill or violating the Senate Rules (which is commonly done), it was about preventing a thorough audit of the Federal Reserve for the first time in its history!
Senate leadership is hoping this issue will just fade away so they can get on to what they deem to be more important business, like dictating what kind of healthcare plan you and I can carry or passing destructive Cap-and-Trade legislation.
But the American people deserve answers on what the Fed has done with trillions of our tax dollars and what they are committing us and future generations to as part of their secret deals with foreign central banks and governments.
The leadership could have taken a crucial, historic step toward achieving such accountability today, but they turned their backs on transparency. This fight, though, is just beginning.
As Senator DeMint noted from the floor, the Audit the Fed bill has wide bipartisan support, and he rightly warned the Senate even if they delay today, they WILL have to deal with the issue on the floor.
It is up to you and me to back up Senator DeMint's words by making sure the momentum continues to build and the bill comes up for a final vote.
The rejection of the Audit amendment is just the first battle in our war. Now is the time to really put the pressure on the U.S. Senate to Audit the Fed!
Senator DeMint fired the opening salvo and showcased the hypocrisy of the Senate for allowing other GAO audits to be included in the bill while refusing to even allow a vote on Fed transparency.
Again, we're just getting started. Senator DeMint will keep fighting to pass Audit the Fed on its own or as an amendment, and we need to continue putting pressure on our senators to do everything in their power to achieve a floor vote! Visit our Audit the Fed action page to call, write, and fax your senators tonight and urge them to support S 604 and to push for a final vote.
This came straight from Senator Jim DeMint's Facebook!!! What a true champ!
Will the Federal Reserve Be Audited?
Today at 10:15am
It will come as a surprise to many Americans to know: 1) the Federal Reserve is not part of the U.S. government, but is a private organization; and 2) it has never been audited. But more than half of the members of the U.S. House of Representatives have become cosponsors of Congressman Ron Paul's bill to audit the Fed, and similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate.
Enacted in 1913, the Fed began issuing currency in 1914. All U.S. currency today is Federal Reserve currency. The last U.S. Treasury-issued dollars backed by precious metal carried the date 1968. Since then, the value of all dollars has steadily evaporated due to inflation. All value will soon disappear completely if the process under which the Fed is permitted to print vast quantities of new money isn't terminated.
As an important first step in exposing what the Fed has been doing for almost 100 years, Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) introduced the Federal Reserve Transparency Act on February 26. Known more popularly as the "Audit the Fed bill," H.R. 1207 has already garnered 224 co-sponsors, more than half of the 435 House members. This remarkable achievement could not have occurred without the congressman's valiant run for the GOP nomination that awakened millions. He has been warning that the nation would suffer an economic meltdown for many years. Moreover, the recession that has already harmed so many has generated widespread demand for examining the Fed's books.
In a recent message appearing on YouTube, Rep. Paul pointed out that, while more than half of the House membership has now co-sponsored the bill, an even more important plateau of support would be 290, the number of backers that would negate the potential for blocking the bill through a parliamentary procedure known as suspension of the rules. In other words, he urges continued effort to gain more co-sponsors.
Over in the Senate, a companion measure has been introduced. S. 604 also calls for auditing the Fed and needs its own co-sponsors. To date, the bill's author, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), has been joined by only one co-sponsor, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).
Now that there is such large and growing support for an overall audit of everything the Fed does, Congressman Paul believes that the Fed's authorities and its government supporters who will be under the gun "will come down real hard" to block what the bill seeks to accomplish. But, he says, "Support so far amounts to a major political and moral victory. If the Fed's supporters don't allow this bill to pass, they will prove our point that they are hiding important information that the American people want to see." He also believes any attempt to thwart the purpose of H.R. 1207 will increase demand for the Fed to be audited.
The congressman is correct. Major progress toward achieving long-overdue transparency of the nation's unconstitutional money manager has already been made.
The New American Magazine By John F. McManus Monday, 15 June 2009
ACT NOW: Write a letter to the editor of The State. We must again demand our right to know how our legislators vote. Send your letter to stateeditor@thestate.com.
The "Scoppe Proposal" will deny your right to know how Columbia votes.
Just when I thought I was going to be able to relax because our representatives have left Columbia for the year, Cindi Scoppe, assistant editor at The State, wrote an editorial denying our right to know how our representatives in Columbia vote. Instead of accountability, Scoppe gives them deniability.
The "Scoppe Proposal" as she modestly describes it, is "every[legislator] would be recorded as voting on the prevailing side of any matter, unless they notified the clerk that they wanted to be counted as voting 'no.'" Her words! not mine! Picture the consequences.
Can you imagine the log jam this will create as legislators line up at the clerk's desk to ask to be recorded as voting no? Can you picture the scowls as their fellows anxiously await to get on with the next vote? Can you imagine your frustration when you call your representative to ask why he voted in favor of an issue, only to be told he just didn't have time to ask the clerk to record his no vote? Can you believe the claim? Does this sound like accountability to you? We must have our right to know how Columbia votes. It must be a law for the people, not a choice for the legislator.
The "Scoppe Proposal" will deny your right to know how your representative votes. If implemented, it will destroy everything the grass roots have done to get their right to know passed into law. It will hand a victory to the back room dealers and their shadowy bargains made in Columbia. Imagine the consequences! Can we allow this to happen as we sit on the side lines and watch?
Join with me in sending a message to Cindi Scoppe and Columbia's back room dealers that we will not be denied our right to know how Columbia votes.
ACTION: Write a letter to the editor of The State. We must again demand our right to know how our legislators vote. Send your letter to stateeditor@thestate.com.
Here's "The State" How-To instructions:
Letters to the editor should be no more than 200 words and should be sent to stateeditor@thestate.com. They should include the full name, street address and day and evening phone numbers; only the name and city will be published. Attachments will not be opened; please copy and paste the body of your letter directly into the message. Because of the volume of submissions, they do not generally acknowledge receipt of letters.
TALKING POINTS:
Here are some talking points on roll call voting:
1. Constitutions in 36 states require lawmakers to hold a recorded
vote on final passage of every bill they pass into law.
2. Among the 14 states without any constitutional requirement, joint
House and Senate rules in three states mandate recorded votes on final
passage.
3. In three states, House rules mandate recorded votes, and Senate
rules mandate them in three other states, for a total of 45 states
with a constitutional or procedural requirement that votes be recorded
before a bill may become law.
4. From the SC Policy Council Report: "South Carolina's new House and Senate rules requiring more recorded votes move the state from last in legislative voting accountability to near the top. However, 45 states mandate elected officials vote on the record when passing every single bill into law. South Carolina's lack of such a requirement for items on the uncontested calendar continues to leave it behind this national standard. There should be no vote taken off the record except the most perfunctory and frivolous resolutions. Every vote is taken on behalf of the people, and every vote affects the public. That means every vote should be on the record so citizens can hold their legislators directly accountable. South Carolina's long-held weak voting accountability rules are responsible for its archaic form of government and last-in-the-nation status in many areas. The best way to expose the nation's most-secretive legislature is to implement the nation's strongest recorded voting standards. Tough new recorded voting measures that apply to all legislation would restore power to the people as the ultimate check on government, and establish South Carolina as the national model for government transparency."
Am I reading this right y'all? - - - if so, this is pathetic.
SC Legislature: As GOP bickers, little gets passed http://www.goupstate.com/article/20090524/ARTICLES/905241177/1083/ARTICLES?Title=SC-Legislature-As-GOP-bickers-little-gets-passed
Call it the state Legislature's lost year.
While lawmakers wrestled with budget woes and jousted with Gov. Mark Sanford over his refusal to accept $700 million in federal stimulus funds, many big-ticket items were pushed aside. Among the issues left on the table were proposals for spending limits, a cigarette tax increase, voter ID, a 24-hour waiting period for a woman to receive an abortion, point-of-sale legislation aimed at spurring the real estate market and government restructuring.
"Our year-end report might fit on an index card," said Rep. Harold Mitchell, D-Spartanburg. "My first year we got more done in one month than we did this entire session, and we did it with heavy debates."
There was plenty of finger-pointing for the lack of progress. Mitchell gave most of the blame to a rift between members of the Republican Party.
"People are finally realizing that the Club for Growth people are wanting to go way, way to the right," Mitchell said.
Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, said a split in the Republican caucus made a difficult year even more challenging.
"Half of the caucus loves Mark Sanford and half does not," Peeler said. "I'm going to stop short of saying the governor is a toxic asset to the Republican Party, but for somebody to be so skinny, he sure is a heavy load to carry."
Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the Republican senators who vote with the Democrats are the real "toxic asset."
"There are so-called Republicans in our state Senate who could make Arlen Specter blush," Sawyer said.
Peeler said the back-and-forth over the stimulus money prevented the Legislature from focusing on more important issues - such as attacking the state's unemployment rate. A bill he sponsored to give tax credits to companies that hired unemployed workers cleared the Senate, but stalled in the House.
"There was some concern about the fiscal impact," Peeler said. "But you can't put a price tag on getting people off the unemployment rolls."
Peeler said the Senate also spent too much time debating a joint resolution reaffirming the state's rights under the 10th Amendment. Sen. Lee Bright, R-Roebuck, was the primary sponsor, although Peeler signed on as a co-sponsor.
"If you want to point at one legislative issue that gummed up the works, that was it," Peeler said. "It's discouraging that Sen. Bright insisted on that. We attempted some amendments that would have made it more palatable to the body, but it was all or nothing with him."
Bright said the proposed changes, however, made the resolution unpalatable to him - including one, he said, that would have given the state the "right" to accept the stimulus funds. He said some senators wanted to "pass a watered-down bill and declare victory."
"Senator Peeler is the majority leader, and nothing was accomplished," Bright said. "If he wants to blame the failure to move one bill that was introduced Feb. 12 on a freshman senator, that's his prerogative."
While Peeler and others contended the 10th Amendment resolution carried little weight, Bright said it was crucial.
"States have the power to come together and suspend the federal government, and I think they need to know that we know we have that right. Power is taken if it's not asserted," he said.....Continue article here
Senators Lieberman & Graham Move To Block Release Of Detainee Abuse Photos For 5 Years!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH8-LSF94YU
This whole speech by both these snakes is pretty revealing. Around 10:00.....am I hearing it right or did Graham slip and say "Dispose of prisoners" (To eliminate or to get rid of something) instead of depose (To give evidence or testimony, especially in response to interrogation during a deposition) ????
This is a great opportunity to celebrate our nation's birthday and continue the Tea Party Movement. Ingram was the first staff director of the Republican Caucus, an 80's invention to provide some conservative leadership. It was replaced, ideologically, by the liberty caucus started by Ron Paul but in the recent past, neither was faithfully conservative. Ron needs real liberty-loving reinforcements in the Congress.
Governors are important and the states are making progress with soveriegnty bills and the like. GM, Bank of America, and California are serving as good examples for why it is foolish to count on the federal government for bail outs. But to really check the executive branch, we need a loyal and vigilant legislature. God knows, the courts, as presently constituted, cannot and will not do it. Obviously, the only branch of government that can really check our hurtling progress down the "Road to Serfdom" is the Congress. But we need lots more constitutionalists, more absolute numbers, and at least one real leader.
2010 has got to be the year when we take back the Congress and begin to take back our country. In 1966, 47 non-Dems were elected in the reaction to LBJ, who, like BO, was a power-seeking, fast-driving, change-agent. One has only to read the Robert A. Caro series on LBJ's life to see that he had no fixed moral compass. BO is similar. People like that need to be checked, and firmly.
We believe in individual initiative so I am doing what I think is best, to wit, taking out Bob Inglis. I am confidant that he will lose, I just need to be the one who beats him.
Ours is a 70% district with a primary composed of businessmen who Bob wants to hurt with increased taxes on Carbon, Christian Conservatives who love Israel (Bob thinks the sides are morally equal), and Ron Paul libertarians--people he calls "table thumpers". I think he's going to lose, as would Lindsey Graham if an election were held today.
Louis Ingram will get us fired up for the fight. Please come to our Freedom Day Tea Party and then stick around for a campaign rally for my campaign event at the American Legion Post in Duncan Park, Spartanburg, SC. Details TBA.
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