Saturday, June 11, 2011

FRANK WILLIAMS (PIONEER STRATEGIES) IS THE GOP GURU WHO WILL DO YOUR POLITICAL WEBSITE RIGHT!

Verne Strickland Blogmaster: 
 
Frank Williams is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helplful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent. (The Boy Scout Law. Covers it all! I was an Eagle Scout, and Frank has all the qualities we most admire.)   June 11, 2011

Republican Campaign Websites

Frank Williams’ firm, Pioneer Strategies, is available to develop a campaign website and comprehensive online presence for your campaign.
The Internet Matters
The Internet has become an increasingly important campaign tool.  People of all ages now look to the Internet as their primary source of news and information, and social networking sites like Facebook have revolutionized political communication.  Facebook now has over 500,000,000 subscribers.  In fact, if Facebook were a country it would have the third largest population on the planet – larger than the United States.  According to a recent Pew Research report, people over the age of 50 now comprise the fastest growing group of Facebook users.  The message is clear:  ignore the Internet at your own peril.
Campaign Veterans
Pioneer Strategies was founded in 2001 by Frank Williams, a longtime Republican activist and 1993 graduate of the N.C. State University Department of Communication.  Frank has held leadership roles in numerous Republican campaigns, including serving as Central N.C. Field Director for Dole-Kemp ’96, Political Director for Fred Smith for N.C. Senate in 2002 and Campaign Manager for Les Merritt for State Auditor in 2004 and 2008.
Loyal Republicans
Pioneer Strategies’ founder, Frank Williams, has served the Republican Party at all levels, from volunteering on his first campaign in 1992 to serving as a precinct chair, Young Republican chair, congressional district chair and attending a Republican National Convention as an alternate delegate.  Frank’s experience as a campaign veteran and public relations professional has taught him that your online presence must be an integral part of your overall campaign strategy, not a mere afterthought.  His experience as a longtime conservative activist has shown him the importance and value of a strong online presence as part of your grassroots outreach effort.
Experienced Communication Professionals
Pioneer Strategies was founded in 2001, and we have worked with more than 90 clients throughout North Carolina.  We have designed websites and managed social media presences and private e-mail lists for a number of Republican campaigns, including Les Merritt for State Auditor, Grey Mills for N.C. House, Frank Iler for N.C. House and Beth Dawson for N.C. House.
From a Satisfied Client
“Pioneer Strategies has worked with me on several political endeavors and also on a professional basis as a business consultant. Frank Williams and his team always provide outstanding results with limited resources. They are one of those precious few who under-promise and then over-deliver.” 
- Former N.C. State Auditor Les Merritt

Get Started On Your New Website Today!

Call Karen Valiquett at 910-371-3408, ext. 5
or e-mail us using the contact form linked here to get started today.
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A GUEST POST FROM KENNETH GLENN KOONS: DESTRUCTION ON PURPOSE!

Verne Strickland Blogmaster
June 11, 2011

EVERY SO OFTEN I FEEL THE URGE TO PASS ALONG POSTS FROM TALENTED FRIENDS WHOSE WORK DESERVES A RE-ISSUE. WANT TO DO THAT TODAY. THIS IS FROM AN OLD BLOGGER FRIEND IN CALIFORNIA WHOSE INSIGHT I HAVE ADMIRED FOR A LONG TIME. HIS NAME IS KENNETH GLENN KOONS. IF YOU ENJOY THIS, PLEASE PAY HIM A VISIT AND RETURN OFTEN. THANKS, GLENN!



Destruction on Purpose

Can you imagine a President of the USA actually wanting to undermine our Republic , our free enterprise system , our heritage, history and values??? In a novel by Patterson or Griffin or Flynn?
Nope. This has been  going on  for many years via a Democrat Party of an ideology of tax and spend with no restraints, jurists who decide cases NOT ON THE CONSTITUTION  but on ideological twists and turns. Laws that deal with huge regulations on legal businesses, just see the Boeing escapade today in South Carolina. Or farms in Fresno,Ca., where farmers have lost nearly 40 thousand jobs because of EPA saving the Delta Smelt. And now just today, the legal Coal Industry has been attacked by the Obama regime to drive it out of business and even a WVA Dem .Senator is complaining.  All of this is being done on purpose. Look at the Dow collapsing. And over 52% of Americans invest. Obama says, forget the Dow. Fine for him but my wife and I depend on our IRA and investments for our old age not Social Security which hardly covers food bills which this CIC-CEO has also by his policies increased because he will not allow other area of our domestic energy policy to produce a legal product and hire workers. Joblessness increases and there is NO RECOVERY. Yet the media blathers on and so does Obama how the nation just has more work to do. Yikes. And what has his policies done to America? Step by step he is destroying America.  We also know that the public is waking up to the fact that Obamacare is killing our fine health system.. A jurist says it is unconstitutional and Obama ignores it.  Oh and a jurist says Obama's moratorium on Gulf oil drilling is also illegal and has caused thousands of people being unemployed.  He ignores that one too.  Now a 3 judge panel is looking into Obamacare. If they decide against it, my bet is, he will ignore it.  This is more like the government of Mussolini than any American presidency in history. Even in foreign policy, Obama has used Bush's view and he hates doing it. We will see how this goes as the Middle East explodes again. Oh and he does not like Britain or Israel or our so called allies. He praises our enemies and kow tows to Islamofascists even though he should know better. I have never seen anything like this and I am 72 and have taught history for decades.  The MSM media will hide much of this from the voters who still get their news from CBS-NBC-ABC.  One wonders as he just put out a Rural Office to bribe those voters for 2012, if he forgot how he dissed them as ' as religious nuts, owned trucks and had gun racks.?'  Frankly, I pray that every Christian comes out in 2012 en masse and vote out every socialist Dem in federal elections and state legislative elections. Unless this happens, and other types of voters like the Indies, Reagan Dems , Libertarians and TEAS  unite to defeat Obama and his Dem minions up for election, we actually could be near a tyranny which would change our economic realities, our views of values, and erase our heritage. 

Verne, please tell your friends to take a look at my new June 10 blog on Destruction on Purpose at http://FinalRacKoonsAgainBlog.blogtownhall.com/ Thanks Glenn
 

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Baldwin knows why Weiner wavered.
Verne Strickland Blogmaster
June 09, 2011

 


 (Photo Credit: AP)

Alec Baldwin has some thoughts on what happened to Anthony Weiner.

Here's the long and short of it:


“Like other politicians, he needs something to take the edge off,” Baldwin writes of Weiner. 

“For some people, regardless of occupation, that could mean booze, drugs, gambling, food or shopping. 

"For high functioning men like Weiner and other officials who have lived through such scandals, who are constantly on the go, that leaves one tried and true source of a reliable high -- the affirmation that comes when someone lets you know they want to sleep with you. Or even cyber-sleep with you.”

VS: So, maybe the moral is -- if you're a 'high-functioning man' like Weiner, and booze, drugs, gambling, food or shopping (or all of the aforementioned diversions) still leave you hunting for a 'reliable high', there's just one thing to do.


Take two aspirin and call Joy Behar in the morning.


I have no idea what this means. But I'm not taking it back.


http://www.politico.com/blogs/click/0611/Baldwin_Weiner_is_a_modern_human_being.html?showall

New abortion rules passed by NC House; Perdue criticizes GOP measure, could veto.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster   June 9, 2011

GOVERNOR SAYS MEASURE RESTRICTS WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS, BUT PERDUE WANTS TO SMOTHER VOICE OF UNBORN CHILD!


Modified: 06/09/11 05:28:08 AM


RALEIGH -- Women seeking an abortion would have to first wait 24 hours, get an ultrasound and hear about the risks under a bill passed Wednesday by the state House.

The "Woman's Right to Know Act" passed after a long and emotional debate. It now goes to the Senate and if passed there, to Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue.

The bill passed the House 71-48 largely along party lines. It fell one vote short of a veto-proof majority.
"This is about respecting women," said Rep. Ruth Samuelson, a Charlotte Republican who sponsored the bill. "This bill keeps abortion legal. It keeps abortion safe. And, by golly, we know it helps make it more rare. It is still her choice. It makes it her informed choice."

Opponents called it an unwarranted intrusion on a women's privacy.

"Today we decide we know better than every woman in North Carolina about her body, her mind and her soul," said Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat.

Perdue joined the criticism. "The legislature should be focused on what they said they would focus on: creating jobs and strengthening education," she said in a statement.

"Government has no role interfering in the relationship between a doctor and a patient. Legislative leaders who vow to make government less intrusive and to protect individual freedom are advancing a bill that does just the opposite," she continued

The bill is one of several efforts that abortion opponents, buoyed by GOP control of the General Assembly, hope will change North Carolina's abortion policies.

"Choose Life" Tag

 The House gave final approval Wednesday to a "Choose Life" license tag. The budget approved by both chambers would bar Planned Parenthood from getting federal grants that pass through the state for programs such as teen pregnancy prevention. It also would prevent the state employee health plan from paying for abortions.

But one lawmaker called the 24-hour waiting period "the most important bill on the pro-life agenda."

It would make North Carolina the 26th state to require a waiting period for an abortion. Legislative researchers estimate it would result in nearly 2,900 more births a year in a state where more than 27,000 abortions were performed in 2008.
Along with a 24-hour waiting period, it would require a woman to get an ultrasound and learn about the risks and options. A controversial provision requiring minors to get written consent of a parent or guardian was removed.

In a nearly two-hour debate, most comments came from opponents, who questioned its assumptions, its constitutionality and even its purpose.

"Don't lie to the public," said Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross of Raleigh. "This bill is about shutting down the ability of a woman to get an abortion in North Carolina."

Democratic Rep. Martha Alexander of Charlotte said the bill "does not trust women to make personal decisions."

One of the few supporters who spoke was Republican Rep. Pat McElraft of Carteret County.

In a choking voice, she told a story about a pregnant girl who, told her baby would be deformed, planned to get an abortion. But a last-minute ultrasound showed it wasn't. Now the girl is McElraft's daughter-in-law and the baby, her teenage grandson.

"This is not what woman should go through," McElraft said. "This is not about taking away a woman's right to have an abortion. It's about giving her the information she needs."









Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Voter ID advances 67-50 as NC House gives tentative approval to GOP bill.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster: 
 
HACKNEY SAYS GOP WANTS TO SUPRESS MINORITY VOTING. WE RECALL THAT HE BLOCKED USING JESUS' NAME IN NC HOUSE PRAYERS. SIMMER DOWN, JOSEPH!

newsobserver.com blogs
Submitted by cjarvis on 2011-06-08 23:57

The House gave tentative approval tonight to the bill requiring voters show a photo identification. The abrupt vote – at 11:50 p.m. with no debate allowed – passed on a vote of 67-50. Speaker Thom Tillis said a full debate would be permitted on final reading.

“You all know, as I do, there is a Republican effort from across the country to enact voter ID laws for the purpose of suppressing voting,” said Minority Leader Rep. Joe Hackney, a Chapel Hill Democrat.

“The purpose of this bill is to restore confidence of the people of this state that the people who present themselves to vote actually qualify and are actually only voting once,” said Majority Leader Paul “Skip” Stam, an Apex Republican.

http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/voter_id_advances

Democratic Gov. Bev Purdue's administration -- 'Rubble Without A Cause?'

If 2011 goes down in North Carolina’s history books for anything, it won’t be for its amount of civil discourse.

Leading up to a budget balancing finale, this legislative session has been pockmarked by a variety of jousting and posturing episodes between the GOP-controlled legislature and Democratic Governor Beverly Perdue, with the media greedily cashing in on every political standoff.

And as far as the public relations war is concerned, the victor has yet to be determined. With Republicans in the General Assembly tasked with the unenviable challenge of reconciling a $2.4 billion budget hole, it was Perdue’s war to lose—and surprisingly, she just might have.

Starting this year with declining approval ratings and the first GOP takeover of the General Assembly in over a century, it was clear that now was the time for Perdue to play hardball. After shedding the perfunctory mantras of cooperation and bipartisanship early in the legislative session, the governor leaped headfirst into the partisan fray.
Early on, she vetoed five GOP-crafted bills, including a bill directing North Carolina to engage in the national lawsuit against Obamacare. It was in the budget, however, that Perdue saw a chance to distinguish herself from the GOP and bolster her numbers against the ominous indicators of a possible rematch against Pat McCrory in 2012.

Perdue recognized in the impending budget cuts that the classroom would be her golden goose – the situation perhaps even lending itself for her to join the ranks of Jim Hunt and Charles Aycock as yet another “Education Governor” of North Carolina.

With her budget’s inclusion of an extension of a ¾ of a cent temporary sales tax, Perdue’s budget was able to provide more education funding than the GOP, who were meanwhile bound by campaign promises of no new taxes.

Perdue intended to launch a media campaign on protecting education and plant her flag on any classroom funding discrepancies between the GOP budget and her own. Her problem was, rather ironically, she won.

The year 2011 was a different game for the GOP altogether. While the budget provided an opportunity for Perdue to wage a war of grandstanding, the GOP treated budget balancing more as an exercise in damage control.

With repeated disclaimers made by Republicans directing the blame towards the minority party for the state’s current fiscal woes, Republican legislators put forth a budget that mitigated the impact on government services, especially those pertaining to education. Seasoned Republicans like Senator Richard Stevens (Wake) lamented the burden of balancing such a budget, claiming this budget was the most challenging in his 30 years in government.
Perhaps detecting early on that a fight with the governor was imminent, the GOP did back flips to ensure that they protected public education funding. They went  so far as to spend more on funding teachers to reduce class sizes and restoring funding for Teaching Assistants that was previously cut out of the House budget.

The GOP’s budget’s total amount spent on public schools ended up differing by half of one percent from Perdue’s proposal, leaving a negligible difference of impact on education.

As legislative Republicans increased funding for public education, the crucial hour arrived for Perdue to take credit for their decision to increase previously proposed funding levels by $300 million. Instead, as the GOP shifted towards the center, Perdue’s rhetoric remained extreme, characterizing Republican efforts to reduce classroom sizes as a 'charade.' “Don’t let them fool you, they are not protecting the classroom,” Perdue told reporters.

Meanwhile, the lack of substance in Perdue’s arguments was causing her own party to crack under her feet. With the increase of education funding and several other bits of horse trading, Republican legislators shored up the support of five House Democrats who voted to pass the final budget and pledged their support to overturn Perdue’s veto.

Perdue’s last ditch effort to win popular support came Friday afternoon as the General Assembly prepared to pass their budget, including the extension of unemployment benefits for 47,000 North Carolinians that have been held up for the past seven weeks due to a political impasse between Perdue and Republican legislators.

She used the occasion to preemptively issue an Executive Order reinstating the exact same unemployment benefits, taking full credit for actions simultaneously proceeding through the legislature. In doing so, she rewrote the law, forcing Republicans  to choose between fighting  her  overreach of power in making a popular decision—or letting the governor take credit for restoring unemployment benefits. Republican leadership indicated that they would not fight Perdue’s action.

Perdue had a clear window to agree with GOP lawmakers when they supported education funding at levels resembling her proposed budget. However, in the process of her political theatrics, her party gave up on her—leaving her searching for some semblance of political victory to rally around.
In one final push, the governor pursued potentially extralegal means by rewriting a funding formula for unemployment benefits to boost public opinion, and attempt to ensnare Republicans in an unpopular battle to uphold the law.

While Republicans have balked at the political trap Perdue created, it remains to be seen whether she can take credit for restoring unemployment benefits. Even if this occurs, Perdue will continue to be dogged by a broken Democratic Party and an embarrassing amount of irrelevance in the budget writing process which doesn’t bode well for the approval ratings she so desperately wanted.

This article was posted in Legislative Activity by Andrew Henson on June 7, 2011 at 4:08 pm.

http://www.nccivitas.org/2011/governor-perdue-a-rebel-without-a-cause/

Together again -- my wife and I finally agree on politics too. Thanks, Mr. President!

By Verne Strickland  /  June 8, 2011

Dear Mr. President:

My wife and I have endured a long separation. In politics, and politics only.

From the time you declared for the presidency, she supported you. She saw a new birth of American idealism. Someone in Washington she could trust. Change she could believe in.

I didn’t. I saw an opportunist, someone who was somehow a bit too glib and ingratiating. I saw a left-leaning politician with an underlying contempt for America.
 
We battled, Durrene and I. She stood me down that you were sincere, honest and able. She told me I was quick to criticize, even unfeeling and unappreciative. Excessively conservative, hidebound in my philosophy.
I didn’t yield. And she, in turn, remained unswerving in her loyalty.

Durrene is an intelligent woman. Patriotic. Idealistic. Informed on the issues. She charts her own course. I have always respected that and am proud of her. Still, we have had some very spirited partisan disagreements over you, your political gamesmanship, your claims that you have worked hard for the people of America.

There is no doubt you have worked hard. But my impression has been that much of this effort has gone to bend the core principles of the nation to your own designs. I have not subscribed to those objectives.

Durrene stuck with you, undaunted, faithful to you and your administration. But slowly, surely, your ultra-thin veneer of respectability, patriotism, honesty and integrity has worn off, so that we can see who and what you really are. I never bought the pose. And now, after many troubled months, your true colors have come into focus for her as well.

You are guilty of blind-siding the American people with political double-talk, obscured motives, questionable international alliances, furtive back-room deals, and surrogates sent forth like stunt doubles hired to do your dirty work.

And all the while, you shirked your responsibilities as the gatekeeper of the national economy, until now we find ourselves essentially broke as a nation, borrowing madly from the Chinese, while you plead that you need a debt hike and higher taxes, but duck into the tall grass at any suggestion of cutting federal spending.

Then there is the Obamacare debacle, which fooled no one except the liberal poobahs who crafted this ponderous horror -- in secret, no less -- a budget-busting, unworkable, misguided and totally incomprehensible behemoth.


And lest we forget, there is the matter of our porous borders, illegal immigration, miscues on our military commitments, plus crime, crime, crime, abortions, embarrassing education failures, record high fuel prices, billions in foreign aid to "nations" that take the cash with one hand and slam the door in our face with the other.

As this dirty game has only gotten dirtier, you turned your hounds loose on us -- Joe Biden, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Eric Holder, Lady Ga Ga.

Well, it couldn't go on forever, and it hasn't. Your approval ratings have tanked, save for a bonus bounce for killing Osama bin Laden. If you can't gin up another bin Laden, you're kind of stuck with the status quo.

So now the winds that have blown at your back are coming in from the other direction. You have to squint now to make your way, as the dust from your deeds swirls up in your face. Your loyal supporters, including my wife, are leaving you in droves. They’re not naïve. They have just been gathering their courage to break ranks and desert a cause that has let them down hard.

The genie came out of the bottle in the 2010 off-year elections, and you will have a devil of a time getting it back in. You better hope it's not too late. I hope it is.

You campaigned as the Champion of Change. Are the changes we now demand too much to ask? Honesty. Openness. Honor. Character. We all know the answer.   

Mr. President, political reconciliation with my wife came not because of anything I did. I couldn’t convince her that you were not deserving of her trust and enthusiasm. You accomplished that yourself. You seem embarrassed by your own country. America is discovering that it should likewise be embarrassed by you.

I'm delighted and grateful to have my wife back. Now we have to finish the job of reclaiming our country.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

“I love jihad,” he said in the recording. “I love to stand there and fight for the sake of Allah!"

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / June 7, 2011 

ARE THEY NEAR? ARE THEY HERE? THERE'S NO DOUBT AS TERROR SUSPECT ENTERS GUILTY PLEA IN NORTH CAROLINA! WHO ARE YOUR NEIGHBORS?


Updated at 6 p.m.

RALEIGH — A North Carolina man who was accused of supporting jihad along with his father and brother pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of conspiring to aid a terrorist conspiracy abroad.

Zakariya “Zak” Boyd, 22, pleaded to a single count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Boyd faces up to 15 years in prison.

Boyd's father, Daniel, pleaded guilty in February. Daniel Boyd was described by prosecutors as the ringleader of a conspiracy aimed at supporting and participating in violent actions abroad on behalf of a radical jihadist political agenda. 

The indictment alleged the men raised money to buy assault weapons and conduct training exercises, and that they arranged overseas travel and contacts to help others carry out violent acts.

“This case shows extremists in this country are just as willing to do us harm as those overseas,” FBI Special-Agent-in-Charge Chris Briese said in a statement.

The half-dozen other defendants remaining in the case, including Zakariya Boyd's brother, Dylan, are scheduled to go on trial in September.

Daniel Boyd grew up in the Washington, D.C., area and converted to Islam as a teenager. He was a drywall contractor living in an unassuming home south of Raleigh when he was indicted in July 2009 along with the other men, including his sons.

During a court hearing in 2009, federal investigators played a recording of Daniel Boyd describing his disgust with the U.S. military and the honor of violent martyrdom.

“I love jihad,” he said in the recording. “I love to stand there and fight for the sake of Allah.”

The FBI has said agents seized some two dozen guns and more than 27,000 rounds of ammunition from Daniel Boyd's home. Authorities have previously said the men went on training expeditions in the weeks leading up to their arrest, practicing military tactics with armor-piercing bullets on a property in rural North Carolina.

The arrests shocked family members, neighbors and some members of the Triangle-area Muslim community. Boyd's wife, Sabrina, has denied that her husband or sons were involved in any terrorist activity.

http://www.jdnews.com/news/-91869--.html

Brunswick County GOP setting goals, building precinct strength, focusing on 2012 challenges.



 BRUNSWICK COUNTY GOP LEADER IN USA DOT COM SPOTLIGHT

Verne Strickland Blogmaster /  Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The 2011 North Carolina Republican Party State Convention this past week-end in the Wilmington Convention Center was, by every measure, a glowing success.

 An all-time record attendance of over 1,650 GOP faithful turned out in a forceful show of enthusiasm and unity.



During the event, we sat ringside at official delegate sessions, and canvassed the hallways gathering exclusive interviews with over 20 patriotic attendees from national to precinct leaders. 

We will be presenting these interviews on USA DOT COM over the next two weeks to share the flavor of this historic meeting, and the thoughts of North Carolina Republicans.


Today we feature our convention interview with Joe Agovino, 70, of Southport NC, a veteran conservative activitist with the Brunswick County GOP:


This was one of the best-organized Republican functions I’ve seen in a long time. Tremendous amount of enthusiasm, great participation, and what’s really exciting is that everyone seems to be focused on the goal – to elect Republican candidates in 2012. 

But beyond that we have a  broader goal – a return to the positive value system that made this country great. I think everybody’s committed to that. 

VS: I’m proud of this Republican Party, Joe. As you say, it is evident that we are beginning to get our act together and moving forward with a united front.

That’s definitely true. You know, my background is as a psychologist, and one of the things I’m seeing is more cohesiveness in the organization, and more motivation. I’ve been involved in politics for many years, and this is the earliest I’ve seen our Republican Party become involved in statewide or presidential elections in an off-election year. That’s a tremendous plus. Our leadership is proactive and aggressive. 

Robin Hayes mentioned here several times that ours is an ‘inclusion party’. And he’s out there welcoming not only GOP faithful, but Independents, unaffiliated voters and conservative Democrats as well. We are reaching new people because of the wonderful value systems that our Republican platform is built upon. 

VS: I’m made aware of the strength of the Party in Brunswick County, where you and your GOP loyalists are really organizing and making waves.

Yes, and that has transpired mainly over the last couple of years. The Brunswick County Republican Party started its renaissance when Frank Iler was the chairperson. Frank is now District 17 representative in the North Carolina House of Representatives. When Frank moved on the greater things, George Bell was tapped to head up our Brunswick organization, and has shown himself to be an exceptional leader.

I was asked to be finance chair, and we’ve set a goal to raise $75,000 before the election in 2012. That’s an unheard of goal here. We’re seeing growth and strength at the precinct levels. That will be vital as Obama’s paid volunteers flood into North Carolina with their liberal agenda. We intend to be ready. 

Brunswick County Republican Party
PO Box 2105
Leland, NC 28451

910-754-4011
brunswickgop@gmail.com

Website Contact
Bob Heinz
bheinz@aspecialgift.com





Monday, June 6, 2011

Complete text of Pat McCrory's landmark speech at 2011 N.C. Republican Convention in Port City

Verne Strickland Blogmaster  /  June 7, 2011


 When former Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory took the podium this past week-end at the North Carolina GOP convention, he was ready to do business.

McCrory, who is expected to be in the 2012 gubernatorial race challenging incumbent Democrat Beverly Perdue, got it all said in a rousing oratory gem that had delegates on their feet cheering repeatedly during the Saturday afternoon program. 

I was as impressed as everyone else, and mentioned in an earlier post that I would pass along the complete text of McCrory's stem-winder of a talk, which has all the makings of a superb stump speech for his anticipated campaign. 


Here it is: 

In 1998 when I was 32 years old, my boss came into my office at Duke Power and handed me a “package”. The package meant my job position no longer existed along with 1,000 other layoffs that same day. It was a punch straight in the gut. The pain of that day for me will never be forgotten.

In North Carolina since 2008 over 300,000 thousand jobs have been lost ALL in the private sector. Your friends, neighbors, colleagues, relatives, and even many of you also had the same gut punch of losing a job.

We now have NC college graduates returning to their parents' home with no job prospects in sight. We have small business men and women barely hanging onto keep their doors open.

And yet what is our Governor doing . . ? Attending Kentucky horse races, a fund raiser in New York and Chicago. . . raising money from unions and trial lawyers against tort reform, and money from the gaming industry.

What is our Governor doing? Saying she won’t raise taxes and then raising your sales tax, your income tax, and business and corporate tax . . . forcing small business to either leave our state or shut down.

What is our Governor doing? Joining the team of Easley, and Edwards by having to raise and use campaign funds to hire high-priced lawyers because of FBI investigations.

        
It must be hard to find a good defense lawyer in Raleigh today. They are all taken by our ex and current governor and senator. What a shame and embarrassment!   

 What is our Governor doing? Implementing a psuedo “Government job freeze”, hiring defeated U.S. Congressman Bob Etheridge, hiring a new executive chef,  and hiring Obama Chicago political consultants on the state payroll .This is her jobs program.

Perdue is growing government positions faster than 47 other states!

 It is time for you, and for me, to call our Governor out for her absolute lack of leadership. We have had enough, Governor, while you have used Tax Resources to go on political "job and education" tours, while you demagogue and mislead, create Executive orders out of thin air, while you lose your temper, stomp your feet and become spitting mad, while others in our state capital are making the tough decisions and leading.

        
Governor – YOU have made yourself irrelevant -- at a time when our state desperately needed your leadership.

        
Now I will tell you who has NOT become irrelevant. Those state Republicans who the people in this audience helped get elected in 2010. Tom Tillis and Phil Berger are leaders who did not stay on the sidelines! They formed a bipartisan coalition. They trimmed the fat of the bureaucracy. They cut taxes as promised.

They have begun reform of education, and NOT accepted the status quo – not accepting being ranked 43rd in the nation for high school graduation rates. They have helped small business.

Now let me warn each of you here today -- Perdue and President Obama will not go away quietly. They want to hold on to their political power at any cost. In 2012 - MILLIONS of dollars will pour into our state from Big Labor Unions. Thousands of ACORN-style of workers will move to North Carolina. They will fight voter ID. They will try to change our “right-to-work” laws. They will bring “Wisconsin” style political behavior as we saw in our own state legislative chambers this past week.

Ladies and gentlemen these are not conservative Democrats coming to North Carolina. These are the radicals… in fact they are bringing the National Democratic Convention to our doorstep.

Now, I am pleased to report that Chairman Hayes is instituting a grassroots program. We will knock on doors, we will Tweet, Facebook, and Text. We will reach out to Independents and Democrats who want to change the status quo. In 1988, after I lost my job, I thankfully landed back on myfeet and got a new job in the private sector.

That is our goal for everyone.. – to rebuild our economy through the private sector –  quit living on personal credit cards and a government credit card. We will not accept Governor Perdue's so-called  "New Normal".

We will make the tough decisions, so the next generation can continue the great quality of life in North Carolina. It is time for “Serious and Strong Leadership”.

Now that means there is ONE person who must lose their job, and she lives in a Mansion in Raleigh.



Fort Bragg is birthplace of storied 82nd Airborne Division, which led 1944 Allied air assault at Normandy.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster:  June 6, 2011


I was seven years of age in 1944 when the Miracle of D-Day unfolded. I didn't understand then what was happening, but I knew it was something big. Our little community of Battleboro was affected like every other village, city and rural crossroads by the war. But when the Germans surrendered, I found my Mother crying tears of relief and prayerful gratitude in our living room. I will never forget that. So it gives me chills each time the D-Day Observance comes. Ike was the Commander, but the Lord was the Master, and without His sustaining grace and guidance, we might be speaking German today. We are so blessed. I have several of Ernie Pyle's books. This dispatch from his wartime correspondence is especially appropriate today.


***********

North Carolina's Training Camps
John S. Duvall 
http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/workshops/wwii/Session2.htm

I want to tell you what the opening of the second front entailed, so that you can know and appreciate and forever be humbly grateful to those both dead and alive who did it for you.
 
–From war correspondent Ernie Pyle’s lead news story on the Normandy Invasion, June 12, 1944
In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the Allies launched a vast invasion force against the Normandy coast of France. The long-awaited “second front” was opened against German forces in the west. A month earlier Governor J. Melville Broughton issued a call to the people of North Carolina to be ready to observe, with prayer and public tribute, the impending attack against the Nazis in Europe.
According to all indications, we are approaching one of the most momentous events in all history. Invasion Day, or D-Day, as it is referred to, will be more than a dramatic incident; it will be the all-out effort of the armed forces representing the cause of democracy, decency, freedom, and righteousness in the world. Furthermore, in this effort will be involved the lives of thousands of young men from our own state who are a part of the great armed force now poised for action . . . Nearly 300,000 of our North Carolina sons are in the armed services, a large part of whom are in combat areas. In this approaching hour of grave danger, they should be sustained by the earnest prayers of all our people.
Sergeant Elmo Jones of North Carolina was one of the very first Allied soldiers to land on French soil on D-Day. Jones, a member of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment [PIR], 82D Airborne Division, was assigned to lead a Pathfinder team into Normandy in preparation for a massive air assault by more than 20,000 paratroopers who would land before dawn on D-Day. Heavily laden with equipment, Sergeant Jones jumped from his C-47 aircraft at an altitude of 300 feet, his parachute blossomed over his head in the night sky and, almost at once, he was on the ground in enemy territory. . . . Sergeant Jones’ seven-man team waited for the main body of the 505th PIR to arrive overhead. Their team was one of the few in the correct location.

By daylight on D-Day, some 13,400 U.S. paratroopers of the 82D and 101st Airborne Divisions, both trained at Fort Bragg, were fighting German troops over a wide area of Normandy’s Cotentin Peninsula.
For the Americans, the airborne drops had been anything but a success. Heavy German antiaircraft fire and clouds disoriented the aircraft crews; paratroopers were scattered everywhere, often far from their objectives. Only a few units, like the 505th PIR, got down on the correct drop zone in fair order. Providentially, the 505th PIR captured its key objective, Ste. Mere Eglise, the first French town to be liberated from the Germans, by dawn. .
. .
Although the airborne assault was not a “textbook” drop, the troopers of the 82D and 101st still accomplished their mission of disrupting and confusing the Germans, preventing counterattacks against “Utah Beach” where the American 4th Division began landing at first light. Reinforced by glider-borne infantry and artillery, the two divisions fought in Normandy for over a month, sustaining a casualty rate of nearly fifty
percent.

At first surrounded by German infantry, tanks, and artillery, the Airborne units, joined by seaborne forces, pushed the enemy back, seizing bridges, crossroads, and other key objectives as they helped enlarge the allied lodgement in Europe. In Normandy, the 82D and 101st proved the worth of parachute and glider forces beyond all doubt. Moreover, these North Carolina trained troopers had led the strategic assault which would end the Nazi occupation of Europe.

Lee
William C. Lee
In November 1942, Governor Broughton noted that the man most responsible for the development of airborne forces in the United States Army was Major General William C. Lee of Harnett County.

Born and raised in Dunn, Bill Lee graduated from North Carolina State College and saw service with the 81st Division in World War I. After the war, Lee decided to make the army a career. He served in the Tank Corps and worked with French and British tank units during 1933–35. It was while he was in Europe in the mid-1930s that he became aware that the Germans were training parachute and glider units.

The idea of airborne [troops] became a passion for Lee.
It was none other than President Roosevelt who stirred up interest in the airborne in 1940. Alarmed by newsreels showing the German airborne units in action in Europe, FDR asked the Army to study the idea which led to Major Bill Lee’s assignment to the project on June 25, 1940.

Through his efforts the Army staged successful experiments with a parachute test platoon at Fort Benning in the summer of 1940, set up the first tactical parachute battalion, the 501st, and activated, early in 1941, the Provisional Parachute Group—with Lieutenant Colonel Bill Lee at its head.

In March 1942, the Army created Airborne Command at Fort Bragg with Lee as commanding general. Based on his recommendations, the army decided to create Airborne divisions, units of over 10,000 soldiers, complete with artillery, engineers, and support elements. Fort Bragg would be the training center. . . . Lee was promoted to Major General in August 1942 and given command of the 101st Airborne Division. The 82D and the 101st Airborne Divisions moved to Fort Bragg in the fall of 1942 to begin training for overseas deployment.

Airborne Command transformed the skies over Fort Bragg and the North Carolina Sandhills region in the period 1942–45, with parachutes, troop transports, and gliders a common sight. To augment Fort Bragg, the Army developed Camp Mackall at Hoffman, North Carolina, to be a key airborne training center. Construction began in the spring of 1942 and by early 1943 an airfield was complete, along with 1,750 buildings. . . .

Blue, yellow, and white patch; text reads

Jack H. Highsmith of Wilmington wore this army air corps patch on his uniform while serving overseas. The Airborne Troop Command consisted of aircrews that delivered paratroopers and gliders to prearranged landing zones. Highsmith participated in several combat operations in the European theater.

Named for the first U.S. paratrooper to die in combat, . . . Camp Mackall was soon joined by another key airborne establishment, Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base. Home of the First Troop Carrier Command, Laurinburg-Maxton was activated August 28, 1942.

The new base, another extraordinary construction effort, was assigned the mission of providing intensive training for troop carrier and glider groups and for coordinating the training with “airborne units of infantry, artillery, paratroopers, engineers, and medical components of the Army.” Thus the vision of General Bill Lee had created a vast training establishment for the Army’s new Airborne arm, complete with large airfields at Pope, Mackall, and Laurinburg-Maxton. . . .


Before the war’s end, Airborne Command would train five airborne divisions and a host of independent units, including the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, the army’s first black parachute unit.

Airborne training was only one aspect of the sprawling Fort Bragg complex, whose population exceeded one hundred thousand personnel by mid-1943. New inductees were received by the thousands throughout the war years and tens of thousands of artillerymen were trained on the post’s extensive ranges. In addition to the five airborne divisions, the 9th and 100th Infantry Divisions trained at Fort Bragg, as did the famous 2nd Armor Division.

VS:  God bless America!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

82nd Airborne paratrooper will help head observance of D-Day in France.



Verne Strickland Blogmaster

Story Photo
Staff photo by Marcus Castro
Staff Sgt. Jonathan Hercik will be with a select group of 82nd Airborne Division soldiers who will take part in a jump as part of observances of the 67th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Hercik is the division's Jumpmaster of the Year.
Story Photo
AP file photo
U.S. troops come ashore at Omaha Beach during the June 6, 1944, invasion of the Normandy coast.

Sometime today, Staff Sgt. Jonathan Hercik will be flying over northern France in the belly of a Lockheed C-130 Hercules loaded with a group of paratroopers representing Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division.

Their mission: parachute over La Fiere Drop Zone in commemoration of Operation Neptune, the initial airborne assault phase of the storied Normandy landings of World War II.

Monday marks the 67th anniversary of D-Day, which ranks among World War II's defining moments. A weeklong crusade of remembrance, complete with a return to the beaches and battlefields of Normandy, is planned through Tuesday.

As primary jumpmaster on the 82nd Airborne drop, Hercik will be in charge of the 20 to 30 troopers in the aircraft. A lanky 27-year-old infantryman from Wadsworth, Ohio, Hercik is assigned to Fort Bragg's Company B, 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment.

He called this, his 48th jump, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"I'm really excited about the airborne operation portion of it," Hercik said. "It bears a lot of responsibility. It's an honor to be the primary jumpmaster on this."

In 1944, Operation Neptune took place on the night of June 5 and the following morning of June 6. The air assault, a mass operation of troops from the 82nd, Fort Campbell's 101st Airborne Division and Great Britain's forces, allowed the Allies to place soldiers on the ground behind enemy lines.
"They opened up a lot of bridges that would be needed for armor. ... They assaulted several German strongholds, such as St. Mere Eglise, which is close to where we will be jumping. They pretty much prepared the way for the mainland assault," said Hercik.

Jimmie Hallis, the curator for the 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum on Fort Bragg, said the airborne phase of the Allies' Normandy invasion was designed to bring mass destruction and confusion to the German army.

"The Germans were already suspect of where the invasion was coming," Hallis said. "Deception on the Allies' part caused them to stumble and stall. When the paratroopers hit the ground, it caused the Germans a lot of problems, and then the seaborne invasion pretty much sealed the fate for the Germans in Europe and, especially, in France."

Nearly seven decades later, D-Day - the Allies' amphibious invasion of northern France on June 6, 1944 - remains the largest seaborne invasion in recorded history. Troops from the United States, Britain, Canada and France stormed ashore over a 60-mile front.
"It was the main foothold on the continent for the Allies. It's the foothold in the European theater and the beginning of the end for the Germans," Hallis said.

Allied forces charged the shores of five beaches on France's northern coast, facing heavy artillery, machine guns and German land mines. The cost was high: About 215,000 Allied soldiers and about as many Germans were killed or wounded during D-Day and the ensuing three months before the Allies captured Normandy.
That stronghold opened a path toward Paris, eventually leading them to Germany and victory over Hitler's Nazi regime.

When Hercik was told he had been selected to represent the 82nd during the 67th anniversary ceremonies, he went back and reviewed the importance of the D-Day invasion. "Just the scope of this airborne operation and the mainland assault to Normandy, France, was huge," he said.

Hercik didn't just receive this honor: He earned it. Hercik won the 2011 Division Jumpmaster of the Year competition in April, bettering 2,300 jumpmasters on Fort Bragg along the way.

Some of the other troopers selected for the D-Day jump team also won competitions. Sgt. Maximo Miranda, who is with Hercik's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, was chosen after taking first place in the Brigade Noncommissioned Officer of the Year competition.

A couple of paratroopers will represent each brigade combat team on post. Some of the support units also are sending paratroopers to the international observance.

Maj. Gen. Jim Huggins, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, and Command Sgt. Maj. Bryant Lambert will head the command team.

Along with today's scheduled jump, Hercik expects to be involved in an itinerary of ceremonies and dinners that the French locals are hosting. While there, he hopes to visit war museums around Normandy, such as those at St. Mere Eglise, Carentan and Cherbourg.

"I'll be able to see the drop zones they dropped on and get a feeling for that history," he said. "Even more so than I can sitting here at Fort Bragg. And to meet the French people - the locals there - it's all special."

Staff writer Michael Futch can be reached at futchm@fayobserver.com or 486-3529.
 

Frank Williams announces he will not seek re-election as NC7th District GOP Chairman

Verne Strickland Blogmaster: PERSONAL THOUGHTS

Frank: You may be succeeded -- but not replaced! During the years that you have been at the helm of the Seventh District GOP, you have been a beacon of superb leadership and dedicated loyalty. You are inspiring, always cheerful, and a blessing to all GOP faithful in the Seventh District. (And the Democrats' worst nightmare!) Please know that I will count on being in close touch with you, and will actively seek to assist you in your future endeavors. God bless you richly, my friend. You have done noble work. Verne.
   June 5, 2011

http://srv.ezinedirector.net/?n=4754461&s=86678423

June 5, 2011

It has been an honor and privilege to serve as 7th District GOP Chairman for the past two years.  Together we have achieved a number of important things, including:

  • Bringing the N.C. Republican Party Convention to Wilmington (I was proud to make the motion at the NCGOP Central Committee meeting to bring the convention to our area);
  • Conducting numerous trainings to equip our members to be more effective activists;
  • Giving Congressman Mike McIntyre the fight of his political life (so far) in a district that has not been represented by a Republican in well over a century (but we’re not done yet…);
  • Electing four Republican State Senators (Thom Goolsby, Bill Rabon, Brent Jackson, Wesley Meredith) in districts previously held by Democrats;
  • Electing Republican House members in Robeson County (G.L. Pridgen) and Duplin County (Jimmy Dixon);
  • Electing Robeson County’s first Republican County Commissioner since the Civil War (David Edge); and
  • Electing Jon David as the District Attorney in Brunswick, Columbus and Bladen Counties. 
We have accomplished a great deal over the past two years, and I have enjoyed working with dedicated activists and conservative leaders from all across the district.  By far, the most rewarding part of this job has been getting to know so many of you.

With that said, after a great deal of reflection over the past two months I have decided not to seek re-election as chairman of whatever congressional district I am in after the legislature completes the redistricting process.  

Moving Forward
Over the next few months I plan to dedicate additional time to building my business, which will be 10 years old in a couple of months.  Additionally, I will be installed as President of the Leland Area Rotary Club on June 30 -- a responsibility I take very seriously. 

The fact that I have chosen not to seek re-election as district chair does not mean that I am going away.  I absolutely plan to remain engaged in the political process, the Republican Party and the conservative movement.  Over the next few months I will prayerfully consider how I can most effectively participate and contribute to the conservative movement going forward. 

Transition
It is my plan to complete my term, provided that the redistricting process allows district conventions to be held within the reasonably near future.  I will also work with the new district leadership (in both districts, if the district is split as some maps have indicated) to ensure a smooth transition. 

Keeping In Touch
As I said earlier, the most rewarding part of this job has been getting to know so many of you.  I would like to keep in touch with as many of you as possible, and technology provides a tremendous means of doing so.  If you would like to keep in touch with me, there are a couple of ways you can do so:
Again, it has been an honor and privilege to serve as your 7th District Chairman for the past two years.  We have accomplished a great deal, and I look forward to working with you regardless of what position (if any) I hold.

Sincerely,
Frank Williams



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Palin could beat Obama in 2012 / NCGOP yields bumper crop of USA DOT COM interviews.

Also: GOP visits Port City for 2011 State Convention. USA DOT COM is there!


HOWARD DEAN: SARAH PALIN HAS GOOD CHANCE TO WIN IN 2012!

NEWSMAX  /  Saturday, 04 Jun 2011 05:09 PM

.Howard Dean, the liberal former Democratic National Committee chairman, believes that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could defeat President Obama in 2012.

Dean says his fellow Democrats should beware of inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom that Obama would crush Palin in a general-election contest next year, The Hill reported Saturday.

“I think she could win,” Dean told The Hill in an interview Friday. “She wouldn’t be my first choice if I were a Republican but I think she could win.”

Dean says the horrible economy seriously hurt Obama. He told The Hill it could have more of a political impact than many Washington strategists and pundits assume.

“Any time you have a contest — particularly when unemployment is as high as it is — nobody gets a walkover,” Dean said. “Whoever the Republicans nominate, including people like Sarah Palin, whom the inside-the-Beltway crowd dismisses — my view is if you get the nomination of a major party, you can win the presidency, I don’t care what people write about you inside the Beltway,” Dean said.
 Dean warned it is dangerous for Democrats to dismiss Palin.

“Anybody who gets the nomination could win the presidency,” he said. “Do I think she’s going to get the nomination? No. But that process is so difficult and really tests candidates in ways that no other process can."


NCGOP yields bumper crop of key interviews! Watch for them.

Over 1,650 North Carolina Republican faithful turned in in the Port City this past week-end for the first State GOP convention here in over twenty years.

We took our USA DOT COM microphones into the hallways of the Wilmington Convention Center, and onto the convention floor to talk one-on-one with as many GOP leaders as we could muster.

Here is a partial list of the Republican leaders who shared their opinions with us:


Ilario Pantano
Dale R. Folwell
Dr. Philip Stephens
Pat McCrory
Cameron Spencer
Jim Bergman
Mr. and Ms. Joe Agadino 
Bert Marske
Bob Cooley
Franklin Rouse, Jr.
Ballard Everett   Raleigh (?)
Wayne King
George Bell
Wallace Vanhoy
Tony Gurley 
Frank Williams
Jb Pope
Allen West
Robin Hayes
Chris Blankenship
Brian Berger
Tommy Cotses

These interviews will be presented over the next few weeks to tap into conservative thought at local, State and national levels. Don't miss these exclusive stories!