Meckler, Wildman Highlight Boca Chapter Meeting
The Palm Beach County Tea Party group kicked off September in grand style with it’s monthly dinner/speaker event on Monday, September 12th. While many people were still absorbing the impact in the wake of yesterday’s media blitz of the 10-year anniversary of 9-11-2001, many of our attendees were still contemplating the significance on just what it means to be an American in this day and age. There is nothing like being reminded of the sorrow of fallen heroes and their families to readjust your idea of what it means to be patriotic.
On a night when we had a major televised debate for the Republican candidates, as well as a torrential downpour that lasted about an hour before we opened for the evening, we still had about 70 patriots who braved the weather and showed up, so that our voices can be heard in force. As the rain began to subside, many familiar faces trickled in for a night of true education and encouragement. As usual, we had about one-third of our crowd who had never been to a Tea Party event before!
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After all enjoyed a delicious dinner at Boca Greens Country Club, Alex Berry, the Boca Chapter Coordinator of the Palm Beach County Tea Party, took the podium as the evening’s MC. A brief welcome was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, and a review of the three tenets of the Tea Party was presented. Our founder and County Coordinator, Pam Wolschlegel was then introduced to update the attendees on the latest PBCTP news and events. Pam also started a tradition of providing the “Quotes of the Month”—typically statements made by liberal politicians (but others as well) who wish to vilify the Tea Party movement, and to characterize us all as cartoonish malcontents. There was lots of laughter and guffaws at these statements, but was illustrative of how the Left is desperate to discredit our movement.
Alex then introduced Bruce Besser, a loyal member of the Boca Chapter, who encouraged attendees to get involved LOCALLY, and specifically in our Boca Chapter, which needs more patriots to get involved with us. Terry Brady, a co-founder, followed to inform the attendees about the various fundraising activities that he is conducting, encouraging those who are passionate about our cause to give in a sacrificial way, or at least give of your time to help raise the money needed to continue to educate about our great cause.
Alex then introduced the speakers for the evening: Dawn Wildman, a state coordinator of Tea Party Patriots from San Diego, CA, and Mark Meckler, the Co-founder and National Coordinator of Tea Party Patriots. Dawn took the podium first, and recounted her journey in the movement. As only Dawn can do, she used her wit and intelligence and wry humor to address what life is like in a liberal bastion like California. Her presentation brought both nods of understanding and laughter. Who says great patriots can’t be funny and encouraging?!?!
Mark Meckler then took the podium, after Dawn’s introduction. Mark told us the story of what the Tea Party movement is like nationwide. His incredible message resonated strongly with our boisterous and lively audience, because it was so entertaining and encouraging—he said that this movement has it’s hallmark in meetings like ours—mobilizing local people to get involved! Mark then regaled the crowd with stories of his experiences with the national media- like the Chris Matthews story—as well as dealing directly on Capitol Hill with elected politicians who benefited from the Tea Party vote. One thing is clear: not much has changed in the Big Political Machine in Washington. This means that the Tea Party still has a lot of work to do. A natural speaker, Mark truly captured the essence of what true patriotism really means on a local level—whether it means making a financial contribution, getting involved in events with your local group, or just having a bumper sticker to help our cause. The point he made is: “There is a Role For You”.
The “Q&A” portion was equally entertaining, and Mark Meckler handled all the questions with grace, aplomb, and a direct honesty that was appreciated and respected by all. After about 6 questions were asked and answered, the raffle prize was drawn and won by none other than the Boca Chapter’s own Howard Dekkers– who promptly returned the $100 prize back to the Tea Party. Thanks, Howard!
One of the best parts of meetings like ours is the fellowship that occurs afterwards. Not only do like-minded patriots get to meet each other and exchange ideas, but the speakers always make themselves accessible to answer any additional questions, as well. Several people stayed to chat and enjoy the evening, and many stayed till well after 9:00pm. Media present at our event included Michele Kirk, Associate Editor of BizPac Review, and Heather Gustafson, a student at nearby Lynn University, whose senior project in Journalism School is her report on local Tea Party activities.
We look forward to another great meeting in October for our Boca Chapter—please stay tuned into this site for more information, and INVITE YOUR FRIENDS!!! See you next month!
Florida Tea Party Convention: Victory in 2012 Begins with You!
You know the problems, now lets talk about solutions! If not us, who?
Mark your calendars for the Florida Tea Party Convention at Daytona Beach on November 4-6, 2011. Join many of us from the Palm Beach County Tea Party as we travel to Daytona for an exciting three days of speakers and events that will motivate us to work hard for success in 2012.
Here are the highlights:
- More than two dozen featured speakers including Gov. Rick Scott, Senator Marco Rubio, and Congressman Allen West
- Several presidential and senatorial debaters
- Entertainers including Lloyd Marcus
- Breakfast and dinner events with speakers
- Opportunities to share best practices among tea party groups
- Social events
- AssembliesVideos
And the price is right! Convention attendees can stay at Daytona’s finest oceanfront resort, the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort – Ocean Walk Village, for the low price of $99 per night. Make your reservations early so that you can take advantage of the special block of rooms!
For more information and to register, check out their website at http://www.ttpnc.com/ – 3
Here is a video from the lead sponsor the Tri County Villages Tea Party: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec1CgC5nGhc
If you are interested in going, please let us know so that we can arrange for you to meet with other Palm Beach County Tea Party Members. Just email us at info@palmbeachcountyteaparty.org.
Solyndra – a perfect example of “Crony Capitalism”
The events surrounding the bankruptcy of Solyndra, Barack Obama’s favorite solar energy company, should remind us again why the federal government should not play venture capitalist with our money. You’ll recall that Soylyndra was given a loan guarantee of $535 Billion dollars by the administration. It appears to me that this waste of our money was prompted by 2 goals – 1) payback for generous campaign donations, and 2) an obsession with destroying the existing energy industry.
This ‘investment’ would not have been made by anyone with a basic understanding of economics. As recently as early 2010, an audit by Price Waterhouse concluded that Solyndra, which lost over $500M in its first 5 years of operation, “has suffered recurring losses from operations, negative cash flows since inception and has a net stockholders’ deficit that, among other factors, raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.” Despite this, Solyndra’s loan guarantees were fast-tracked, while an established solar company, Evergreen Solar in Massachusetts, was struggling, and in that same year moved to China (along with 800 jobs). Interestingly, Solyndra spent a half million dollars in 2010 lobbying Washington. And, curiously, as part of the deal the taxpayers interests were subordinated to those of George Kaiser, a wealthy billionaire and large contributer to Obama’s campaign. Guess he had his vision of “Hope and Change” fulfilled.
An FBI investigation has begun, but I don’t expect it to go anywhere with the current Justice Department. This is a prime example of the “crony capitalism” that Sarah Palin is always railing about.
PBCTP’s Read & Share Program Launched
Hello all,
I want to thank Esther Ansell for suggesting and implementing the Read & Share Program, an ongoing used book sale for the Palm Beach County Tea Party. This program gives our members a means to share books inexpensively while providing some needed proceeds to our new organization.
Launching the Read & Share Program at the Labor Day BBQ in Palm Beach Gardens, Esther set up a table with a display of several gently-used books donated by our members. She sold the hardback books and large paperback books for $5 and the average size paperbacks for $2. Esther encouraged our “buyers” to return the books after they have read them for “resale” at a future meeting.
I want to extend a warm thank you to our initial book donors: Mr. & Mrs. Jim Hunter, Ms. Beth Russell, Mr. & Mrs. John Brooks, and Ms. Esther Ansell.
The Read & Share Program brokers any gently-used book in one of these categories: History, Economics, Government, Political Theory, Biography, and Historical Novels. The books must also be focused on one or more of our three tea party tenets of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets.
The success of the sale table at the BBQ has encouraged Esther to propose that each chapter consider using this program as a method for fundraising. If you are interested in facilitating the Read & Share Program in the Boca Raton or Wellington Chapters, please call the Hotline.
If you come to the Jupiter/PBG meetings and have books to donate, please call the Palm Beach County Tea Party Hotline at (561) 444-8086 and the operator will route you to Esther.
Going Postal Profitable (for the employees – for a while)
The Postal Service is running out of money. The anticipated shortfall for 2011 is
$6.4 billion.
The conventional wisdom that the Postal Service is the victim of the rise of email is only part of the story.
Another large part of the problem is the workers’ extricating themselves from Civil Service constraints to increase their pay and benefits. This is another example of public employees bargaining collectively with government entities to increase pay and benefits. This has made the Postal Service more constrained and less able to adapt to the changing environment and the challenge of email.
The postal operation is very labor intensive, so any increase in labor costs has a large impact on profitability.
Postal workers were able to significantly increase their pay because Postal pay exceeds Civil Service pay.
A college graduate with a B.S. degree and little experience starts in the Civil Service as a GS-5 at $29,656 per year. The median Civil Service salary is about $52,000 per year.
By contrast, starting Postal Service pay is $39,520 per year, for part time flexible mail carriers. The average pay of a postal worker in 2007 was 63,771 per year .
Postal workers were able to significantly increase their health benefit because they pay less for health insurance.
The Postal worker and the Civil Service worker both have the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program for their health insurance. The worker pays part of the insurance premium and the government pays the balance. Since the Postal worker pays a lot less for health insurance, the Postal insurance costs the government more.
For a typical health plan (Blue Cross self and family coverage), a Civil Service employee pays $431.60 per month. The balance of the insurance premium is paid by the U.S. Government as an employee benefit.
By contrast, a postal worker pays $322.18 per month. The Postal Service therefore pays over $109 per month extra as an employee benefit.
The Postal Service employs over 574,000 people. If Postal Service pay is $12,000 per year per person higher, that represents an added annual payroll cost of nearly $7 billion. The extra health insurance cost adds a burden to the Postal Service of over $750 million.
If it was not for these higher costs, not only would there not be a deficit this year but there would have been an accumulation of surpluses in previous years and the Postal Service would be on better financial footing today.
HISTORY.
An important part of the present financial problem began in 1970 when the U. S. Post Office left the Civil Service system and morphed into the Postal Service.
After years of mismanagement and attendant labor unrest, President Nixon signed into law the Postal Reorganization Act on August 12, 1970. The Post Office Department was transformed into the United States Postal Service, an independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States. The act provided significant wage increases for postal workers.
The new Postal Service officially began operations on July 1, 1971. At that time, the Postmaster General left the Cabinet, and the Postal Service received:
1. Operational authority vested in a Board of Governors and Postal Service executive management, rather than in Congress.
2. Authority to issue public bonds to finance postal buildings and mechanization.
3. Direct collective bargaining between representatives of management and the unions.
4. A new rate-setting procedure, built around an independent Postal Rate Commission.
The Postal Reorganization Act established a postal career service, a framework that permits terms and conditions of employment to be set through collective bargaining. The Civil Service retirement program was retained.
What is happening to the postal service has often occurred in industry. The unions negotiate increasingly generous pay and benefits until the enterprise becomes too constrained to adapt to a changing environment, costs become uncompetitive and unsustainable, the enterprise collapses and the jobs vanish.
The Postal Service says they want to solve their problem by eliminating Saturday delivery. They do not seem to understand that by eliminating the service their customers cherish they are hastening the day when they become irrelevant.
Pending Florida Legislation
Members of the Florida legislature are beginning to offer bills for consideration during the next legislative session.
You can view these bills and their details on the internet.
The bills are listed separately for the House and Senate.
Call to Action – County Budget Meeting, 9/13
This is a call to action for next week’s county budget hearing, Tuesday evening, 9/13/11 at 6:00pm. The meeting is in the county government center, 301 North Olive in West Palm Beach. Come early as the meeting is expected to be crowded.
As you prepare for the meeting, here are some resources that may be useful:
- September Talking Points
- Sample email and 3 minute remarks
- The 2012 TAB Proposal – September Update
- September Budget Hearings – Some Background
Also check the “News Articles” tab on the TAB website for the latest budget stories from the Palm Beach Post, Sun Sentinel, and others.
Those on the “receiving” side of the budget will be out in force. Those of us on the “paying” side must also have their voices heard. If you can’t attend, send an email. Addresses for the commissioners and administrator can be found on right side of the TAB website, or you can email all at once at: BCC-AllCommissioners@pbcgov.org.
For some specific details about this meeting, see the 9/9 TAB email.
How Long Will It Last?
How long will it last?
We are all watching the videos and listening to the speeches as we remember that awful day on September 11, 2001. We can all remember the feelings we had and the despair as we sat glued to the TV and cried for days on end. I remember calling a friend and saying that I have to get away from this TV because I can’t take the desperate feelings that I am having watching the destruction and loss of life. It seemed that they would never again be able to clean up NY , DC or PA .
Oh how quickly we forget those feelings and go about our lives as if nothing ever happened. Just a few weeks ago, we witnessed the Media, our Congressmen and Women, the Black Caucus, our labor leaders and yes even our Vice President crying out viscious names against the Tea Party and other people who don’t agree with their ideology.
Next week after the speeches have been spoken and the TV has moved on the politicians will go back to being the same as they have been for the past century and do things the same as always. I guess what we should all “pray for”. Oops did I say pray, sorry. I know that isn’t politically correct but, oh well , I do pray that we see the real light and start to do what is right for our country and not the political futures of individuals.
If we learned nothing more from 9-11,we learned that America is still the best country to live in. Let’s keep it that way for our grandchildren and their grandchildren.
Terry Gallagher
Artist Rendering of August Meeting
Created by James Burge. For more of James’ work, Click Here.
Labor Day ‘BBQ’ and the Rooneys Pack the House
The Jupiter/PBG Chapter of PBCTP went indoors for our BBQ, since we were expecting hot outdoor temperatures. Good thing, as an early evening downpour would surely have made for uncomfortable conditions. Over 200 patriots turned out – roughly a quarter of whom were new to the Tea Party. A lot of volunteers helped with check-in and registration, raffle and t-shirt donations and keeping things running smoothly – thanks to all!
Mark Wohlschlegel and his band performed during the buffet dinner. Anita Carbone, Chapter Director, kicked off the meeting and then had Representative Pat Rooney do the invocation, after which Congressman Tom Rooney led the crowd in the Pledge, and the National Anthem. Anita described the agenda and upcoming meetings and introduced Pam Wohlschlegel, PBCTP Chair. Pam recounted some nasty quotes of the day – describing Tea Party members as something other than ‘workers’, SOB’s who should be taken out (by Jimmy Hoffa), and Barbarians (by Vice-President Biden). Pam introduced Fred Scheibl, who described the CC3 project, the upcoming PBC Budget Hearings, and future calls to action. Anita then kicked off the keynote speakers – Representative Pat Rooney (FL District 83) who then introduced his brother, Congressman Tom Rooney (16th Congressional District, FL).
Pat spoke about redistricting and the upcoming legislative session. Tom addressed what he felt were critical issues facing the country, including foreign policy and the middle east and the impact on Homeland Security. He spent quite awhile describing the Debt Limit vote and the failure of the US Senate and Majority Leader Reid (D – Nevada) to bring any bills to the floor. The impasse on progress in Congress will remain, unless the Senate acts, or until the 2012 elections when it is vital to elect someone other than President Obama and to take control of the Senate.
After both gentlemen spoke, Anita introduced elected and former elected officials in the room – Hal Valeche (former PBG City Councilman), Bill Diamond (Palm Beach Town Councilman) and David Levy (Mayor, Palm Beach Gardens). The mics were then turned to the audience, which had a lot of good questions spanning topics of Immigration, spending, military bases, Libya, unacceptable numeric nutrient water quality EPA actions, taxation, etc). Anita concluded the meeting by having candidates stand up and introduce themselves. We had: Mike Lamayer, running for FL Senate and Hal Valeche, Albert Key, Laura Hanley and David Levy – all running for Palm Beach County Commission District 1. There is at least one other candidate for this position – so it should be an interesting race!
Join us for upcoming meetings – the next Jupiter/PBG meeting will be on October 3rd featuring “The Devil at My Doorstep” author David Bego.
Photos from Ed and Fred
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