The photo was taken at Palin Plaza, 6 Branch Street.
The women in front, in the red coat, is our Lieutenant Governor Karen Polito, who is running for re-election.
The blond, directly behind her, next to Cory, is Ms Helen Brady, running for State Auditor.
The person doing the Selfie thing is Econ Secretary Jay Ash.
That is me, in the back, hat and sun glasses, standing behind Yul Brynner.
Regards — Cliff
I think Mr Cohen's OpEd is kind of flat. It ignores that Mr Trump is a Progressive. That Republicans across the nation are embracing and supporting "minorities". I give you Kamara Kay, here in Lowell, who we supported for State Rep in the 18th Middlesex District. Kam is an active member of the Lowell Republican City Committee.
And they came upon the breadth of the earth, and encompassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city.
An interesting book, which looks at the impact on France, in 1973, of a massive migration of Indian Hindus, on ships, down the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope and up the West Coast of Africa, entering the Mediterranean via the Straits of Gibraltar and then falling on the South Coast of France. Much of the discussion is about how France, anticipating the arrival of a million migrants, sees itself responding to this influx into a nation of 52.6 million people.
For context, this is five years after the May 1968 uprisings in France. The events were severe enough to lead to President Charles de Gaulle fleeing the country and the 1968 college students becoming known as the 68ers.
One famous participant and leader was then college student Daniel Cohn-Bendit (aka Danny the Red), who later was found to be an advocate for pedophilia.
So, it was a strange time.
When the book came out in 1973 there were claims of racism, but I think race is a cover for the question of what is Western Civilization and is it worth saving. The author is obviously disappointed in the Catholic Church and its clergy. That said, there is symbolism from the Book of Revelation. And, he is down on the Secular Humanists. He alludes to the question of if a brave new world without western capitalism and its sinews can work, but doesn't develop that theme in detail. This book keeps popping up, due to the refugee crisis in Europe, with its spillover in the US and Canada. For instance, Naval War College Professor Mackubin Thomas Owens talks about it in National Review, "Camp of the Saints, 2014 Style?". The sub-headline from the 2014 article is "A 1973 French novel eerily prefigures our current immigration mess."
The theme of the book is based on a moral quandary: What steps will a liberal society take to preserve its way of life? Is liberal society too humane and compassionate to protect itself from those who would undermine and destroy it?
Collin, thanks for the support. If I were a European, I'd be truly worried about the number of Muslims entering the Continent. As some point, ISIS will infiltrate this group after they feel it's reached critical mass, then begin their fun and games. I believe a major crisis is on the horizon, and I don't know how we'll cope with it. But it's coming, regardless. On the other hand, we seem to have enough non-Muslim madness to keep us focused in the meantime. CharlesHat tip to the InstaPundit.
Regards — Cliff
It is TOMORROW.
Saturday, a Nine AM Show for a Ten AM Meeting.
Regards — Cliff
And, there will be a meeting of the Lowell Republican City Committee on this Thursday, Seven PM, at the VFW. Mr Joe Mendonça will be in the Chair. Please join us.
Regards — Cliff
On the other hand, reliable sources have told me that, last week, Ms Burns called into WCAP and said that indeed there was two wings to the Lowell Republican City Committee, something she confirmed to me at the Party on Thursday for Candidate Jordan Gys (Wicked Irish Pub).
I think that this goes to a much deeper issue. That is the question of the difference between the Down Town [Boston] Republicans and the Grass Roots Republicans. The question of who the Governor is supporting for State Committee positions and who are being supported by the folks out in the hinterland.
For some in the hinterland there is the concern that the direction in which the Downtown Republicans are leading the party is toward a more "moderate" brand of Conservatism. For instance, rolling off the Pro-Life plank in the party platform. Of course, the proof will be in the pudding and we are a couple of years off from the next State Party Convention. Between now and then there will the Presidential elections and we will see how the nation and the Party goes.
Monday will be interesting. And, Ms Mary Burns will be elected to the Ward 3 Committee and I will be elected, I hope, to the Ward 1 Committee. Then the position of City Chairman will be up for voting some 35 days down the road.
Regards — Cliff
LOWELL -- The Lowell City Republican Committee will meet Thursday at the VFW on Plain Street, beginning at 7 p.m. The public is invited to attend. Plenty of political discussions will take place, said Cliff Krieger, the organization's chairman. He said all are invited to participate. "We welcome converts, not heretics," he said.Well, that last quote was close, but not exactly perfectly on target. It should read:
We are looking for converts, not heretics.Feel free to drop by. Seven o'clock. Regards — Cliff
The problem is, the article is about Republicans in the State House (of course, it IS the State House News Service). Well, they did mention National Committeewoman Chanel Prunier, who backs Senator Rand Paul.
Here is a sample from the fairly long article (1760 Words):
Gov. Charlie Baker, in a radio interview on Thursday, criticized Trump, who has been in the news for days after initiating a spat with Fox News host Megyn Kelly over her pointed questioning during the debate. In the aftermath, Trump has made several comments considered to be disparaging toward women.In reading this offering we should keep in mind "the latest figures put together by political scientists at Georgetown and Princeton universities", as reported in The Boston Globe (9 August 2015):Though Baker has been reluctant to share his opinions on national politics in great detail, and is unlikely to endorse before the general election, he served up a pointed admonishment of Trump on Boston Public Radio.
"I was raised by my parents, you know, in a certain way and I find a lot of those comments to be reprehensible, outrageous and ridiculous, and I wish he would take them back," Baker said.
House Minority Leader Brad Jones is equally unimpressed with his party's surging frontrunner at the moment.
"To me, Donald Trump is the letter to the editor you write late at night and hopefully put in your top drawer and never send," said Jones, who called himself "not the biggest Trump fan."
It’s not that Massachusetts Democrats are particularly left wing. Relative to legislators in a number of other states, they’re fairly moderate. In New York and Vermont, the Democratic caucuses lean further left, and the same is true in a handful of redder states, like Arizona and Wisconsin.That should tell you something right there. And, you should ask, what are the real Republicans thinking? What we are seeing is the views of the "down town [Boston]" Republicans, who hope the "grass roots" Republicans will just fall into line. The problem is, those of us out in the sticks may not be like those on Beacon Hill. If you are looking for a watchword, it might be that Mr Donald Trump is the replacement for Andrew Breitbart, mining the seam of unhappiness that is out there. The unhappiness with Social Justice Warriors (SJWs) and with the PC Police.The reason Massachusetts ranks so high on the list of liberal legislatures is that there are almost no conservative members. Not only do Democrats control about 80 percent of both houses, but the few Republicans who do hold seats are pretty centrist. They have roughly the same political preferences as Democrats in Oklahoma, and they’re actually further left than Democrats in Arkansas.
As you read the article, ask yourself where were the comments from the Chairpersons of Town and City Committees? Where were the comments from the Greater Lowell Tea Party? Where were comments from MARA, the Massachusetts Republican Assembly?
Will there be companion pieces talking to what local Republicans think? I would hope so. When you look at the article you note that not even Lowell's surrogate Republican Legislator, David Nangle, was mentioned.
Actually, it is worse. When the folks from Beacon Hill come to Lowell they don't bother to meet with the folks in the trenches, the folks who are part of the official Lowell Republican City Committee. It is truly the "down town" Republicans vs the "grass roots" Republicans.
As a side note, I am not for Mr Trump. I am for Governor Scott Walker.♠ Just saying. And, back on 5 March of this year I picked Governor Walker for the Republican nominee.
Not everyone sees it that way—Talking to you, Rick.
Regards — Cliff
♠ If you read The New York Times, that would be "Governor Scott".
On City Life is morning prominent Lowell Area Democrats Marie Sweeney and Dick Howe offered perennial Democrat candidate Ms Mirisa DeFranco to the Republicans.
Seems the Democrats are doing some house cleaning. Maybe Rep David Nangle will be facing a show trial in December, per Ms Sweeney.
One wonders if and when Rep Colleen Garry will be questioned about her Democratness, based upon her self-proclaimed very conservative voting record.
In the mean time, the Lowell Republican City Committee works to live the theory that we are looking for converts, not heretics.
It would be nice if Ms DeFranco lived in our area and could become part of the Republican Party.
Regards — Cliff
Some join parties in order to win control of the levers of government and some join in order to push their own views of how governing should be done. The best combine a desire to win elections with a sense of what government should be doing, which they can and have articulated to the voters.
Out there for Republicans there is the Republican Party, in its local, state and national versions. There are the various Tea Parties, such as the Greater Lowell Tea Party. Then there is the Republican Assembly, lead at the national level by Ms Sharron Angle, there is the Massachusetts Republican Assembly (MARA) and there is the local 3rd [Congressional] District of MARA, headed by local Conservative Ms Georjann McGaha. Once upon a time there was a Massachusetts Conservative Party, and it may be rebounding.
This article says that within the Republican Party a number of people have coalesced around the idea that the Republican Party must drop certain issues and pull together. The last paragraph of the article sums up the history presented and an idea of where things are possibly going.
The GOP brand remains terrible, and the party still faces huge challenges in winning the younger, Hispanic and female voters it needs to reclaim the White House. But if Republicans remain in a political hole, tonight’s midterms suggest that they have at least stopped digging. That’s 2014’s most important lesson for the presidential race that’s about to begin.Maybe.
Hat tip to the Instapundit.
Regards — Cliff
LRCC Presents
Downtime: Groovin’ on a Sunday in June
Featuring Sierra, w/Ernie Woessner on keyboard
Fletcher Club
11 Brookside Rd, Westford, MA
Buffet, Cash Bar, Door Prizes
Regards — Cliff
The article has a picture of Mr Gomez and his wife, Sarah.
I assume this is just a trial balloon, but the future of Gabriel Gomez as a Republican Candidate is an interesting one. There are two issues here, in my mind.
The first issue is mentioned in the article. Mr David Paleologos, a pollster with Suffolk University, was quoted as saying:
We noticed in one of the last polls that [are] people getting uneasy about the Obama administration.♠I have to admit that I sense a certain loss of faith in the current administration. If not corrected, this slide could be reflected in the elections in 2014.
The second issue is how we, as Republicans, understand Mr Gomez. Being frank and up front about it, many Republicans, Libertarians and Conservative leaning independents have doubts about Mr Gomez. People I know handed in blank ballots rather than vote for Mr Gomez. This is a legitimate act of voting. The question is, was the act of sending a message to the Mass GOP more responsible than voting in a way to avoid the election of Senator Ed Markey.
It is my opinion that across the spectrum of candidates, Mr Gomez, while not my model candidate, is much to be preferred to Mr Markey. By submitting a conscience vote of "not Mr Gomez" we therefore increase the likelihood of Mr Markey being elected, a profoundly bad outcome of and in itself. Your mileage may differ.
The other thing to consider, however, is that often what is missing in elections is the proper articulation of Republican positions by those in the campaign. This is a little different from the position articulated by our esteemed former City Manager, Mr Bill Taupier. The Taupier model is to knock the door, shake the hand, pass the literature and move on. The approach recently tried in California's Central Valley shows that Republicans who articulate a clear message can gain Hispanic votes, and thus the votes of other groups who Democrats believe are in their pocket.
Regards — Cliff
♠ I went to the Suffolk University web site and failed to find a recent national level poll, so one assumes Mr Paleologos was looking at polls being conducted by others.
However, today some letter writer responded, saying that (a) it is about winning legislative seats, not Constitutional Offices, and (b) the GOP State Committee is disconnected from the local Republican City and Town Committees. To cartoon it, "Downtown Republicans" (downtown Boston) as opposed to the "Grass Roots Republicans".
If you wish for change you should consider supporting your local Republican organization. Here in Lowell, the LRCC, the Lowell Republican City Committee.
Regards — Cliff
Yesterday the Editor of The [Lowell] Sun, Mr Jim Campanini, editorialized that the Massachusetts Republican Party should just sit out the Special Election to fill Secretary of State John Kerry's now vacant Senate seat.
I tried to rebut that argument here. In doing so, I paraphrased a speech by Demosthenes, or what Thucydides (History of the Peloponnesian War) said he said. My on-line source is Wikisource, at this URL, paragraph 10.
Soldiers and comrades in this adventure, I hope that none of you in our present strait will think to show his wit by exactly calculating all the perils that encompass us, but that you will rather hasten to close with the enemy, without staying to count the odds, seeing in this your best chance of safety. In emergencies like ours calculation is out of place; the sooner the danger is faced the better. To my mind also most of the chances are for us, if we will only stand fast and not throw away our advantages, overawed by the numbers of the enemy.The version I read, long ago, said:
Soldiers, all of us together are in this, and I do not want any of you in our present awkward position to try to show off his intelligence by making a precise calculation of the dangers which surround us...I liked the part about not trying to show off your intelliegence.
Or, as a former Governor of Massachusetts put it:
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.So, there will be no backing down. We just need to find our Demosthenes, or Calvin Coolidge.
Regards — Cliff
The Lowell Republican City Committee Web Site has a blog post noting that IBD sees Asian-Americans slipping onto the Democratic Party side of the ledger.
This is not a good thing for the Republican Party. If the approach is to hunker down and look for heretics, then it will become the Party the pundits describe—the Party of old Caucasian males. Well, the pundocracy tends to say old white guys, but that is just another slur at Republicans.
If you are an Asian-American and you think that the Republicans have a real message; a message of individual freedom and initiative, a message of the protection of individual rights and the principle of one level of government not doing what can and should be done by a lower level of government,then you should check them out.
Regards — Cliff
The Lowell Republican City Committee has a new web site and a new blog. At the blog I have posted a link to a previous post here at Right Side of Lowell, in which I muse on the relationship of the Party, the Candidates and the Grass Roots.
Please consider book marking the LRCC Blog and visiting it from time to time.
Regards — Cliff
