The more things change the more they stay the same!

Friday– July 30, 2010

The more things change the more they stay the same!

The cartoon that is posted on today’s Blog was published during The New Deal. It ran in the Chicago Tribune in 1934. Look closely at the characters and the type in the cartoon body.

Some of these people, such as Ickes have descendants. Harold Ickes was a Clinton confidant, friend and orchestrator of that administration’s attempted take over of the nation’s economy through the Clinton healthcare plan then.

The caption reads: “Planned Economy or planned Destruction.” The cartoonists name was Orr, the caption says it all. Someone could publish this political cartoon today and change the names in the cartoon to Geithner, Pelosi, Reid and Obama. Of course, the wagon would change to an SUV with solar batteries attached. The rest of the captions would, of course stay the same.

The people in this administration have waited for over 60 years to perform their method of change and their method of government expansion, which leads to government take over.

I was stunned when a friend of mine sent me this cartoon over six months ago. I was waiting for the appropriate moment to include this in my FORUM.

Look closely at the character in front of the wagon, holding a bottle of what I presume to be whiskey. The label on the bottle spells out “power.” This particular group of politicians was drunk with power, because they were a part of the Roosevelt Administration. The politicians today are also drunk with power, because they are part of the Obama Administration. Like the Roosevelt Administration, a tremendous amount of public funds were spent. The difference of then, versus now, is that we were a manufacturing based economy. The difference of then, versus now, is that 60 years of progressive politics have made it possible for the government to pass laws against the will of the people.

The other part of the cartoon is the guy on the ground. His sign starts with Spend, Spend, Spend.

Under the guise of recovery, bust the government, blame the capatalist, for the failure, junk the constitution and declare a dictatorship. The Character today that sits on the ground would be Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, and Glen Beck. I think you get the picture.

What got me most is the character on the right side of the graphic. It is Stalin. I have written about Norman Mantoon Thomas before. He was running for President of the United States in 1944, under the American Socialist Party. He said, “The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But under the name of Liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened? He went on to say, “I no longer need to run as a presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democratic Party has adopted our platform!”

The most telling aspect of this cartoon is in the copy of the character on the ground. His sign says, “Junk the Constitution and declare a dictatorship.” This is what I mean by: “The more the things change, the more they stay the same.”

Conservatism won the day, after those dark days, because people became involved. They took charge and organized in neighborhoods in the towns they lived. They supported candidates that would lower taxes and shrink the government. These people waved the flag, instead of desecrating the flag. American soldiers won the war, despite what their government and the liberals were doing then.

Understand one thing, the government then was using the term “recovery”. Today, the term recovery is also being used. What are the results? No jobs and a bigger bill. In January 2011, your taxes will go up to pay for the guy who is shoveling out the money. Notice the necklace around the neck of the guy holding the shovel. The pork was around then and still is today!

It takes hard work and it takes you to overcome the threat that is depicted in this cartoon. It takes your patriotism and the support you give to each other. It remained so then and remains so today.


Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: There are 95 days and counting until the midterms. Let’s change this cartoon in the way it needs to be changed.

What I couldn't do yesterday!

Thursday – July 29, 2010

What I couldn’t do yesterday!

You might have noticed that I didn’t send a FORUM yesterday. I had everything planned for a big bang, before I sign off for a week. I‘ll have more on that, Friday. All of this modern technology didn’t work, because I could not do a simple cut and paste to publish on the yahoo FORUM page.

I came across a political cartoon that was published in the Chicago Tribune in 1934. I found it about six months ago and I was waiting for the appropriate time to work it into my dialog and format it into my upcoming story lines. The title of my FORUM yesterday would have been – The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I hope to be able to work out the issues of formatting so that I can publish it tomorrow to end the week.

The cartoon depicted the motley crew who helped create Roosevelt’s New Deal. I wanted to make a comparison of what the politics were 60 years ago and how similar they still are today. Quite simply, all you could have done was change the names in the cartoon and update the graphic and it would have been current with today’s story line of Conservatism versus Liberalism. This is not new to the country. But what is new and was not depicted in the cartoon is the brand of Liberalism that we are being confronted with today.

The courts and the legislative body in the House and Senate are all poised to take the country that we all love and change it into something that we will all hate. That was the case then and it still is the threat today. The cartoon that was published in 1934 should be a warning and it should call into focus what our mission is.

Some of us are doing something in our own way to change the political landscape and some still ask what more can be done. What we do not need are people saying they are doing something, only to find out they haven’t been.

My promise to all that have taken the time to read the FORUM and who have joined the group is to have a site where you can organize and where you can exchange ideas and stories. As I have promised, some of the changes that are needed on the web site will be done.

One of those changes will be to make the revised Guide to Conservative Organizing available on the web page for all to read or download. There will also be a few more surprises that will make the site more interactive.

I want to become one of those people who say I have done something, what more can I do. I want to become one of those people who have made a change and who can one day tell a great story of change. If we all make this a goal, we can all be proud of the story of great change that I believe is now being written by us conservatives.

We did, at one point, start to change what Roosevelt had enacted with the election of some great Presidents in our lifetime. This will also be a goal because part of the mission is to organize for conservative thought and action.

I hope to be able to publish the cartoon on tomorrow’s FORUM. If not, I will describe it in detail and make my commentary as planned.

I am taking next week off. My daughter, Catherine, is getting married. I am the proud father of the bride. I was also the proud father when she was born.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

The President and his Country!

Tuesday – July 27, 2010

The President and his Country!

On today’s date, in 1789, the Congress of the United States established the Department of Foreign Affairs or, as we know it today, the State Department.

The President has mingled only a few short years in the world of diplomacy and foreign relations. As North Korea ratchets up its opposition for the war games, that occur every year with South Korea, this is the first time that North Korea has mentioned using nuclear weapons. I don’t think a nuclear confrontation is likely, but the mere notion that it has been said should alert us.

We are finding out how the release of the Lockerbie Terrorists was orchestrated. We are finding out more about how the State Department is conducting the Affairs of State under the Obama Administration. We will find out more about how the war in Afghanistan is being fought. Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, is spilling the beans. The question is: can he be trusted?

Then there is the mosque that is being proposed at the site of the 9/11 terrorist attack. The Imam that is pushing for the construction has ties to terrorists abroad. What has the State Department or the DOJ or even the Administration done about it? That is the question and the answer is nothing.

When we organize for Conservative thought and action remember a few points in the argument.

If a conservative doesn’t like guns, he or she doesn’t buy one. If a Liberal doesn’t like guns, he or she wants all guns outlawed.

If a Conservative is a vegetarian, he or she doesn’t eat meat. If a liberal is a vegetarian, he or she wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative is down – and – out, he or she thinks about how to better their situation. A liberal wonders about who is going to take care of them.

If a Conservative doesn’t like a talk show host, he or she will switch channels. Liberals demand that those shows they don’t like be shut down.

If a Conservative is a non believer, he or she doesn’t go to church. A liberal non – believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced, especially if it is about Christianity or Judaism.

If a Conservative decides he needs healthcare, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it. A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for their insurance.
A Conservative wants a free press to perform the art of journalism. A liberal needs a complicit partisan press to move their agenda for them.

When a conservative votes they expect one vote for one person. When a liberal votes they expect anyone can vote, even the dead!

When a Conservative speaks, they speak about shrinking government. When a liberal speaks, they speak about expanding government against the will of the people.

When a Conservative views history, our forefathers and the Constitution, they respect what that represents. When a liberal views history, our forefathers and the Constitution, they have contempt for it.

When we review this list, what part of it isn’t true?

When we organize, this list is part of the truth that we want to communicate!

If the President had his way, the liberal side of the list would be his version of the country.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: In 99 days we will be truthful with the opposition when our votes are tabulated.

The President - without a Country!

Monday - July 26, 2010

The President – without a Country!

On today’s date, in 1788, New York became the 11th state to ratify the Constitution.

In June, of 2009, Barack Obama said “we’re no longer a Christian nation.” He has also said, “America has been arrogant.” President Obama continued to say that, “After 9/11, America didn’t live up to her ideals.” In 2009, President Obama said, in Egypt, “You might say that America is a Muslim nation.”

In his book, Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama wrote: “I will stand with the Muslims, should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

Is the President without a country?

The Rasmussen Poll reports that the daily Presidential tracking poll for Sunday, July 25, 2010, shows that twenty – five percent (25%) of the nation’s voters approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing in his role as President. Forty – five percent (45%) strongly disapprove. This gives Obama a presidential approval index of negative 20. Two weeks ago, it was at negative 14. Seventy – five percent (75%) of those polled prefer free markets over a government managed economy.

49% of voters in Minnesota favor an investigation of alleged voting by felons. A new documentary has been released. I wrote about it not too long ago. It is called “We Will Not Be Silenced 2008.”
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGZFgMNM-UU)

This week, Representative Charlie Rangle (D-New York) will be a subject of great review when his ethics hearing starts. The last time a major Democrat went down was James Trafficant (D-Ohio). He was charged, he was tried and he was sentenced before the House did anything. In this case, The New York Prosecutors have not done a thing with the alleged ethics violations. There are over 12,000 documents and the goods on Rangle have been known for over two years. If this were a Republican office holder,the prosecutors would be stumbling over each other to take credit for the trial.

With the voter fraud stories, and now Rangle having to go before the ethics committee you would think this would be big news. The major media have been reluctant to discuss these stories and have been reluctant to ask the question of today’s FORUM.

Today’s title was meant to provoke a thought. With the words that the President has been quoted as saying, with the voter fraud stories of 2008 now coming to light and the ethics violations of the most powerful committee chair in Congress, we must ask the question: Who’s country is Obama governing?

The answer might be within the negative rating of the President and because of the “We Will Not be Silenced 2008” video that is now out, produced and directed by the Democrats, who are now asking the question that we have been asking for two years. This President and some members of his party are now finding themselves in a position of having no country!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: There are now 100 days until the midterms. In a few short weeks the changes on the website will be complete. In a few short weeks my revised Guide for Organizing will be on the website and in a few short weeks we will begin to organize around the topics I wrote about today.

Sometimes we must fail in order to succeed!

Friday – July 23, 2010

Sometimes we must fail in order to succeed!

All of us, at one time or another, must fail so that we learn how to succeed. In political thought and action, we sometimes get consumed and we lose sight of the goal. I have been attempting to start an organization and for the most part I have succeeded. However, I can do better.

The website, www.pineconeconservatives.org, will under go needed changes for the 2010 midterm campaign. However, I am not just thinking about the fall campaign, I am thinking about the 2012 campaign and beyond.

When we organize for conservative thought and action, we must consider two things. One, there is the how and two, there is the who. My (revised) guide for Conservative Organizing will soon be made available on the website. This guide that will help you become more confident and able to conduct the conversation’s that we are all trying to initiate with our family and friends.

Websites have to have content to be successful. I will make every attempt to provide more content as the organization grows. Your help and participation is wanted and is greatly appreciated. I am making plans to have local chapters and regional chapters. Through the organizing map, each member of Pinecone Conservatives will be able to access the map and find out what conservative events are occurring in your state and town beginning this fall. This is an aggressive approach, but it is the only approach that will help organize us as an organization.

This all takes time, but we will succeed. It takes time to build and time to communicate any idea. As I am writing this FORUM, contacts are being initiated with press outlets and others that are leaders in the political world. I will continue to write and you will continue to see the changes that I have been working towards.

Sometimes, some of us will fail, but failing should become a motivation for success. My goal for the near future is to discuss the issues and to bring thought to the discussion. I am establishing my relationship with others so that we can have the leverage to become successful. My desire is to create an organization that preserves liberty. I hope that we all have a chance to get involved and become a part of history.

Jefferson wrote to Edward Dowse in 1803: "We are bound, you, I, and every one to make common cause even with error itself, to maintain the common right of freedom of conscience,"

My conscience drives me and my conscience tells me to do a better job!



Gregory C. Dildilan
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

Who's on first?

Thursday-July 22, 2010

Who’s on first?

The Financial Reform Bill was passed yesterday. The President was out making hoopla out of the big deal. He commended Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, along with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. With his commendations the President said that this bill could not have been passed without their help. What help is he referring to, the Democrats own Congress and Washington D.C., if it didn’t pass then that would be news.

The financial mess was caused, in part, by Dodd and Frank. Chris Dodd, last week, said we will not know how this bill will work until we have another crisis. Again, a bill is passed without knowing the implications.

There is a new report that says the government did not have to close the auto dealers when they took over the automobile industry. The 45 page report can be read at www.MichelleMalkin.com. It is stunning to know that the leftists in this administration are getting away with everything. It is stunning to know that the right in this country is being blamed for not wanting to get things done. When these types of things get done, such as healthcare, the financial reform bill and now this report that says auto dealers did not have to be closed, one has to wonder: who’s on first?

Unfortunately, this is not an Abbot and Costello movie.

Ah…. but the plot thickens in this comedy of errors this week. The affair over Shirley Sherrod took yet another turn. Tom Vilsack, the Secretary of Agriculture, will take the hit and will be made out as the villain in this affair. Don’t be surprised if he is labeled a racist for making a snap decision to fire Ms. Sherrod. With all the talk of racism, in the past two weeks, someone had to be the fall guy and unfortunately, a fine man of character will now be labeled.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Vilsack).

When we speak about plots, one only needs to read the headlines. When we speak about plots, one only needs to watch the president give praise to four elected officials that just should not be in office any longer. Fortunately, Senator Chris Dodd is hanging it up and will retire after this session of Congress, but his legacy will live on and we will pay the price. I explained to someone, just this past week, that these people, who serve, are nothing short of statists. They pass the bills that we all, but them, are forced to live with. Members of Congress have their own benefits and are not subject to the laws they pass. This is what has to change.

If I were running for office, I would be out there saying that, if you are a life long bureaucrat, you better start packing your bag. If I were running for office, I would be campaigning on a platform of equality in Washington with the citizen. If I were running for office, I would be out there with a balanced budget and with a list of obsolete programs that get funding and that do nothing for the citizen. If I were running for office, I would be hated by the establishment and hated more by the elitists, statists and the progressives. If I were running for office, I would be out there with the 45 page government report that I referenced earlier in this FORUM. I would be making a campaign issue out the conclusions. If I were running for office, I would be naming names and asking the voter if this is what they really want. If I were running for office I would declare a tax free year. If I were running for office I would insist that no new laws be passed but that a review of old laws such as healthcare be repelled. But then that’s just me!

Jefferson said: “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”

What politician is being vocal and who is remaining silent this is the question of liberty. This is also the mark of true leadership. The politicians we need to be vocal are silent and this is why soft tyranny exists today.

Jefferson wrote in his Notes on Virginia in 1782: It is true, we are as yet secured against [tyrannical laws] by the spirit of the times… But is the spirit of the people an infallible, a permanent reliance? Is it government? Is this the kind of protection we receive in return for the rights we give up? Besides, the spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless.”
The more I read about history, the more our current events mirror the times we were in 235 years ago. Most voters are careless and our rulers, well, lets just be polite and say they are corrupt. If I were running for office, this is what I would be talking about. But then that’s just me!
There is one more thing. Jefferson said:” The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.” This is the other component of being a good politician. If I were running, you could depend on honesty.
On this date, in 1775, George Washington took command of U.S. Troops. What do we think of when we think of George? We think of bravery, we think of a man that is beyond every man and we think of him and his honesty. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: A104 days remain until we vote. And then we will answer the question of who’s on first.

I told you so!

Wednesday - July 21, 2010

I told you so!

I hate to start out the day by saying I told you so, but I did. This week, I started out relating a report that, if true, was scary. The report was sent to me and it was authored by stratfor.com. The report suggested that the Russians developed an ingenious plan to develop people to rise to the top echelons of our government. These people were not soviet spies but people that would be sensitive to policy development and policy shifts that would favor Russia.

Yesterday’s FORUM suggested that we should not only be concerned about office holders and their agenda, but that we should also be concerned about the underlings of office holders and or people who work in our government. I wrote: ‘We don’t know about any of the underling’s education and we don’t know if that underling will have the politics of party in check when that underling needs to make a decision.’

My FORUMS are written the night before publication. This gives me time to research and to develop my thoughts. I usually have them proof read and I might tweak it the morning that I publish them electronically. After I published yesterdays FORUM, I came across a news story that supported exactly what I was afraid of and thought would be a problem for free people who live with a government that is taking liberty and freedom away from its citizens on a daily basis.

A woman by the name of Shirley Sherrod, an employee of the Department of Agriculture ,was forced to resign after she said she discriminated against a farmer who was loosing his farm in 1986. This farmer applied for aid, through Ms. Sherrod. In her capacity, she said she did not offer him the full force of help from the government and that other applicants were given favorability and more aid. Oh, did I say Ms. Sherrod was black and the farmer was white? And did I say the others that were bailed out or given preference were also black? When I wrote about keeping politics of party in check, this is exactly what I was referring to.

This story is not over, it is just beginning. It broke on FOX News, no surprise. But, another woman, by the name of Cheryl Cook, was pressured by the White House to force Ms. Sherrod to resign. Ms. Sherrod said that the White House was afraid that this story would be all over FOX News and they could not afford the fallout. I am giving Ms. Sherrod all due credit and the benefit of the doubt. She has said that she learned about her discrimination by relating this story recently by giving a lecture. It is a great thing that people admit their prejudices and want to reform themselves.

But, what about the farmer or the other white farmers that might have been put into jeopardy by the actions of Ms. Sherrod and others who felt the same way. It is ideology and party that corrupts. I believe we will be hearing more and more about incidents like this, as we move toward the end of President Obama’s 2nd year in office.

The problem I have is that this story has not hit the major networks and that a woman who has said she has learned by the error of her way was hung out to dry. Isn’t it always the liberal that says we have to give people a second chance, especially when race is involved?

The other side of the story is that the major media has buried this story. The major media buried the Reverend Wright saga and they bought into the claim by the Obama’s that they had never heard the Rev. Wright spew the words of hate in the 20 years they attended service in his church. We have all seen and heard these words, so someone is not being truthful. I know I am, because I never attended his church, but I heard and saw the Rev. Wright use his brand of hate.

What also bothers me about this cover up is that in recent weeks there have been stories about black on white discrimination. The Department of Justice has been put in a position, by a whistle blower that has claimed the DOJ will not pursue any case of discrimination that involve blacks who have been accused of these crimes. Recently, the New Black Panther case was turned down by the Attorney General. Again, there was a tape, many witnesses and FOX News.

Another racial event occurred early on in the President’s term, on July 16, 2009. Remember the Cambridge Beer Summit? A black professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr., was stopped by a white police Sgt., James Crowley, as the professor was attempting to enter his own home. The police officer followed the rules of engagement. He was merely making an attempt to get identification from the professor, because of recent break-ins in the neighborhood. The President said the police were acting stupidly. This was not white on black discrimination, it was just a police officer doing his job. I might add, there was also a 911 call from a neighbor who said she saw someone lurking around the house. The President came to the defense of the Professor, an acquaintance, and made an issue of the case.

Let’s not forget the NAACP’s resolution this month that called for the TEA PARTY to be considered racist. This, along with the Sherrod incident, is a tipping point that we all now must be cognizant of. When underlings, policy makers and politicians have an agenda we cannot afford to be silent. When the major media does not do its job and instead blurs the story and diffuses the story we cannot be silent.

These stories all have an impact on us. These stories all have common elements. These stories all involve the highest levels of government. These stories all favor or give favor to a group or to individuals that are part of the group. Isn’t it the liberals who complain about this kind of behavior? Wasn’t it the liberals who sought justice?

These stories remind me of a few things Jefferson wrote:

In a letter to John Tyler in 1804 he wrote: “No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that governed by reason and truth. Our first object should to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.”

In a letter to John Wayles Eppes in 1814 he wrote: “No government can be maintained without the principle of fear as well as duty. Good men will obey the last, but bad ones the former only. If our government ever fails, it will be from this weakness.”
In a letter to Jedidiah Morse in 1822 he wrote: We are to guard against ourselves; not against ourselves as we are, but as we may be; for who can imagine what we may become under circumstances not now imaginable?”

The circumstances of fact will be the deciding factor over these incidents that involve one ideology, a group of people and people who just shouldn’t be there to begin with!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: In 105 days an election will be held. Some politicians will go and some new politicians will come with enlightened eyes. Let’s keep the new eyes enlightened by demanding the truth and not fiction.