For those of you who have, like me, been in financial decline in the past 4 years, and also like me are STUBBORN, and refuse to accept defeat, here are some things I have done to save and earn extra money.

I disconnected my landline which costed $33/mo and hooked up my computer with a MajicJack which costs $20/yr. (all calls are free), no monthly charges.

My house is approaching 85 yrs old and although I have taken good care of the place in the last 33 years, I am literally holding it up with jacks and posts in many spots. Keep an eye on your window glazing and if it is loose or cracked, remove the glazing with a screwdriver and apply new Dap33 glazing compound to seal the glass in the frames. Its very in-expensive if you DIY. Also, seal up the inside of your old drafty windows with a 3M cellophane kit, also very inexpensive. Setting the thermostat as high as you can take it in summer and as low as you can (without allowing pipes to freeze) in winter helps a lot on reducing energy costs. I also found that by using one of those 1500watt electric utility heaters greatly reduces utility cost if your furnace uses natural gas. Adjust the amount you use the electric heater so that you equalize the electric cost and natural gas cost. Thats going to be the lowest you will be able to get it. I turn the thermostat off when I am gone, set it at 90 degrees in summer and around 68 in winter. If the humidity is real high in summer, I will set it a little lower but never lower than 85. Those settings might not work out well for people with respiratory ailments. In a given summer, where the humidity doesn’t get too high while the ambient temp doesn’t exceed 90 degrees or even a little higher, I might never run the A/C, but I do run an old box fan on the floor and blow it on me while I sleep.

I un-plug small appliances when not in use (unless it is a very old appliance with a fabric/varnish coated electric cord/plugset). There is a very small amount of current that is consumed by the appliance while the switch is turned off. Additionally, I disconnect the power to the entire garage when it is not in use (via a disconnect switch). If you dont have a disconnect switch, you can disconnect power at your fusebox. If you live in a modern home, you have a circuit breaker box instead of a fusebox. Doing these things will not amount to a substantial annual savings but it will save some money.

Of course the obvious utility savings methods like turning off the lights when you leave the room applies. At my house, I rarely turn on a medium-base incandescent bulb. Small 17watt strip flourescent fixtures in the kitchen and laundry room are adequate for ambient light without the need for the high wattage ceiling fixture. I often use miniature-base 7-watt lamps that plug into a wall socket at night during hours of low activity until I go to bed. I always un-plug the lamps before going to bed.

Keep a vegetable garden during the growing season and a compost pile all year long. I am fortunate to have an old roto-tiller, but my neighbor just uses a shovel to break the ground in his garden. Buy packs of seeds instead of the plants. The seeds are way cheaper than the potted plants. I do not use fertilizers nor pesticides as they are too expensive and you dont need fertilizer anyway if you are mixing your compost in the garden. Grow all your favorite veggies and reduce your grocery bill. It is hard work and time consuming to have a successful garden, but it is worth it when you look at produce prices at the grocery store. It need only cost a few bucks to have a garden if you can put in the labor. Some folks also can their vegetables in re-usable mason jars and they save money all year long on groceries. My Grandma was a wizard at canning vegetables. Having grown up around folks who went thru the great depression in the ’30′s, I am familiar with the canning process, but don’t have the mason jars and lids at this time. If you are interested in canning, there should be a lot of good info on the internet. It’s pretty simple, but labor consuming.

I love fish, but it is getting more and more expensive at the grocer. Here, the cost of fish has nearly doubled in the last 2 years. If you have more time than money, going fishing can be a great way to relax and unwind while at the same time putting food on the table. Depending upon where you live and how far it is to available lakes and the annual cost of the fishing license may help you determine if it’s going to be worth it. I’ve had great success digging up worms out of the garden and compost pile rather than spending money for bait.

I have relatives that spend precious little at the grocer for meat because they are hunters for deer, rabbit and squirrel. However there is a cost involved. Many privately owned areas near us charge a fee for hunting on their land and you need to add in the cost of the hunting license, ammunition and the cost of the trip to go there. In my case, I have deemed in recent years that it is not worth the expense, so my .50 calibur Hawkin black powder rifle hangs on the wall collecting dust and cobwebs.

I cancelled my trash pickup and my recycling pickup. Combined those are a savings of about $55/mo. I drop off my recyclables at a recycling dumpster which is on my way to work, so it does not cost me any extra money to make a special trip. You can’t burn trash in my municipality, so I take trash with me when I go to the lake and burn it there. I accumulate 13 gallons of trash = one small trashbag per 3 week interval. This may not work out well for you if you accumulate a lot more trash. I am single and alone, so I don’t accumulate much.

Run as many errands as you can on the way to or from work and map out your route prior to the trip so that you don’t backtrack. This saves gas and time. And with all the extra work you are doing now, those extra minutes saved by combining errand trips is really essential.

I do use online billpay to pay for some utility bills. I bought a huge stack of liberty stamps years ago (at the time they costed 41 cents per stamp). Liberty stamps can be used no matter how much postage costs increase. It has been a minor savings, but I still have enough Liberty stamps that I may never need to pay for postage again, due to the reduced usage of stamps, thanks to online bill pay.

Shop around for home and car insurance at an agency that sells all brands and checks for the lowest rates for you. You might be surprized how much money you can save.

Not everyone can do this, but I always keep above the minimum balance in my checking account so that I don’t have to pay the bank a monthly service fee. I have saved a substantial sum of money prior to the great recession, and I can tell you that I haven’t paid a bank service fee for several decades. I have an interest bearing checking account, but as it is now, the bank only gives a poultry 1 % interest.

I shop at a discount grocer. Their prices are so cheap, they don’t even accept coupons. But I don’t buy meat at the discount store. I buy my meat at a chain grocery store and get the best at sale prices and bring coupons with me to get a better value on other items I might otherwise have gotten at the discount grocer. Now, this is just me, but there is nothing more I hate than to set with a bunch of mailbox flyers to get coupons and look for sale items I want. But the values and the savings are substantial enough, that I can’t pass it up.

My late father said “there’s no prestige in owning an old car”. I have a 2007 model F150 pickup that sets at the curb day after day. The only time it ever moves is when someone comes to borrow it. I drive my old ’55 Ford Fairlane sedan everyday. It is more comfortable, rides nicer, cheaper on gas and has a powerful V8 engine (original), while the truck has a 6-cylinder engine (EFI). The truck is no match for the car in accelleration. Yes, I am patching holes in the bottom of the car 2 or 3 times a year, but any and all maintenance and repairs the car needs are fast and easy here at home. That might not be the case if the truck had a problem. I realize not everyone keeps the same car for 40 years, but at the very least, I would suggest doing your own oil changes at home rather than those chain oil change shops. Those guys are NOT cheap and they cut corners to make a bigger profit. You can save a HUGE amount of money on car maintenance and repairs by doing it yourself (if you know what you’re doing). If you are not particularly mechanically inclined, this might be best left to the professionals.

I have never owned a credit card nor a cellphone. I really need a cellphone for my jobs. My work hours are reduced to an as-need basis, so I also work “odd-jobs”. That can lead to a conflict in scheduling particularly without being able to communicate with boss #1 while working for boss #2 where there is no telephone. Pay phones are essentially extinct now, since so many cellphones are in use. But for the money I can earn with boss #2, I wouldn’t be able to pay the monthly bill for the cellphone, so, I ain’t going for it. Just have to make due the way it is. Besides, I ain’t stupid enough to bust my ass with a second job just to pay for a cellphone. Forget both and break even.

Some folks might like bundling their internet, phone and TV to save money. I went a different direction. I kept only my internet service and hooked up MajicJack to the computer. For television reception, I had to buy a digital converter and rabbit ears to pick up local stations over the free air-waves. You get all the mainstream media which ain’t worth listening to, so I get most of my news from conservative blogs on the internet. This probably wouldn’t go over big if you have a family, but I am alone, so I can get away with this stuff.

Don’t laugh at this. To reduce my water bill, I stop the washing machine at the end of the wash cycle and bail out the soapy water into a large pail and use that to clean windows, sinks and the floors. I also bail out the rinse water before the spin cycle into a second pail so I can use that water to rinse all those things and often use it to clean kitchen utensils and dishes.
I keep a 2 quart pitcher of the soapy water separate for washing the car, (not recommended if you have a nice car, but mine is old anyway).

Liberals who know that I do these things say that I am living in the stone age, but they know nothing. In 1968 we moved my Grandma and Grandpa into a house where they had for the first time in their lives; running water, indoor plumbing, telephone and television. For many years prior to this when we visited them at the old house, I thought nothing of fetching water from the open well for drinking, cooking and bathing. I thought nothing of having to go to the outhouse at 3 AM in the freezing cold. Back in those days, when you were a kid, it was nothing to not have a phone. Now, they are like toys. And being a kid, we never sat in front of the TV anyway. We were always outside provoking the bulls, runnin through the creek, gathering un-broken clay pidgeons and cashing them in for coins, or helpin grandma with household chores. Never gave any of it a second thought. Liberals think that Republicans want to send us all back there (to the so-called “stone-age”). In realality, I enjoyed the highest economic growth, freedom and least amount of economic worry during the Reagan-Bush era in the ’80′s.

But there is another way we can restore our voting rights. The illinois election code contains a provision which allows a majority vote of the state Convention delegates in favor of a return of the election of the State Central Committee by the primary voters.

Illinois holds its Republican State convention once every four years. This will be our last chance to do this for the next four years.

If you live in Cook county, you can become a delegate by contacting your precinct committeeman and ask him to appoint you as a delegate to the convention. Find your precinct committeeman by going here: http://cookrepublicanparty.com/leadership.aspx

In all other illinois counties, you can contact your county GOP chairman and ask him to appoint you as a delegate to the convention. Find your GOP county chairman by going here: http://republicannewswatch.com/wp/?p=755. scroll down the page and pick the county you are in. pick that like and it will take you to a new webpage that has your GOP county chairman’s contact info.

All you need to do is provide proof of your residence and voter registration, submit the fee (I think it is $50.00) to attend the convention (registration to attend must be completed by May 18th). Then attend the convention Friday, June 8, 2012 at 9:00 AM – Saturday, June 9, 2012 at 3:00 PM (CT)
When the vote to restore direct elections is called, VOTE YES. From what I can tell. That vote will take place on Friday, June 8th. Here is the convention agenda and timetable:

Friday, June 8
9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. Registration

9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Vendor Hall

10:00 a.m. – 12:00 Noon Training Sessions

12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Tinley Park Tours & Activities

1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Convention Committee Meetings

The Convention Committee on Platform and Resolutions

The Convention Committee on Arrangements

The Convention Committee on At-Large Delegates and Alternates

The Convention Committee on Presidential Electors

The Convention Committee to Nominate National Committeeman and National Committeewoman

3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Illinois Republican County Chairman’s Association Meeting

3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Illinois Republican State Central Committee Meeting

4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Welcome Reception
Hosted by the Illinois State House Republican Organization and the Illinois State Senate Republican Campaign Committee

6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Illinois Republican Party Reception Special Guest Speaker – Republican National Chairman Reince Preibus

9:00 p.m. – Midnight Hospitality Rooms

Saturday, June 9

7:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Registration

8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Breakfast

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Vendor Hall

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. The Convention Committee on Credentials

11:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. General Session

3:30 p.m. National Convention Organization Meeting National Delegates & National Alternate Delegates Only

The convention will be held at:

Tinley Park Convention Center
18451 Convention Center Drive
Tinley Park, IL 60477
　

IL establishment GOP doesn’t want us to know that our county conventions are being held this Wednesday. The only reason I know about it, is because I have our Republican county chairmans website in my browser favorites. I tend to pick the link once or twice a week to see if theres anything new. At this late date, they have not even listed the time when the meeting is to be held and give no other details, except that it is held at the county courthouse.

Doug Ibendahl explains why in his blog which I have quoted here below, (sorry, the blockquote feature does not seem to work).

<blockquote>This Wednesday night all 102 counties in Illinois will hold Party conventions, where elected committeemen will elect a new county chairman and other county party officials. This takes place every two years.

And on June 8th and 9th, Illinois Republicans will converge on Tinley Park for the Illinois Republican State Convention, an event which only happens every four years.

But unless you’re a reader of Republican News Watch or an elected committeeman, you likely have no clue about these big events. Cook, the Illinois county with the most Republicans by far, doesn’t have a peep about its convention on its website. Same is true with the GOP’s website for DuPage, the county with the second most Republicans.

Even the State GOP’s homepage is silent about these big events. Yes, if you search and dig around a few clicks to the events calendar, you can eventually find a listing for the state convention. It gets the same attention as a local coffee klatch.

Our Illinois GOP’s website is perhaps best known for being the state party site that doesn’t use “Republican” or “GOP” in the domain name. The powers-that-be went with “WeAreIllinois.org” instead – or as wags call it, “Weary Illinois.”

Now compare just a few of the State GOP sites from places where Republican officials are serious and note how their upcoming conventions get major promotion:

Republican Party of Iowa, Republican Party of Texas, Republican Party of Wisconsin, and Georgia Republican Party.

Meanwhile, as POLITICO reported last week, Illinois represents one of a small handful of states where the GOP is so weak and in such disarray, the National Party is being forced to intervene out of fear that ineptitude at the state level might jeopardize Republican control of Congress.

National GOP officials are right to be extremely worried about Illinois. While the Illinois GOP heads for disaster, last month State GOP Chairman Pat Brady was injecting himself into a relatively insignificant 3-way race for Chicago ward committeeman – even going so far as doing State Party funded robocalls for

Brady’s 23-year-old frat boy candidate. (Brady’s candidate lost by 10 points.) And in the contested Republican Primary for Kane County Board Chairman, Pat Brady didn’t just endorse, he served as campaign chairman for his guy. (Brady’s guy lost that one by 40 points.)

House Minority Leader Tom Cross had a similar problem convincing Republican voters to listen to him. At least two incumbent members of Cross’ State House caucus lost to Republican challengers. Up north David McSweeney beat incumbent Kent Gaffney and downstate, newcomer Charlie Meier defeated incumbant Paul Evans. Well as the Good Book says, “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”

Pat Brady and Tom Cross have spent most of their time, years in fact, trying to PREVENT Republicans from voting – i.e. lying and cheating in opposition to the direct election reform SB-35

When two of your top party officials think the biggest problem with the Republican Party is that Republicans are participating too much – yes, you can probably expect big problems.

The State GOP couldn’t close the deal in 2010 – the most pro-GOP year nationally in our lifetime – even with the Democratic ticket headed by Rod Blagojevich’s old running mate running on a promise to massively raise the state income tax. Republicans secured no seats at the map drawing table, and now the GOP is saddled with a bad map and an impending election where Barack Obama will head the Democratic ticket in his home state.

Refusing to publicize upcoming conventions doesn’t seem like the right response. But closing people out is what insecure officials do. Guys like Brady and Cross know that an energized party would demand something better.

National GOP leaders get it. They’re recognizing that unless something is done, seats lost in Illinois could make the difference in control of Congress. So they’re sending in the cavalry from out of state.

That may help with a few of the congressional races, but unless Republicans here at home get serious, the Democrats have a good chance of securing veto-proof majorities in both the State House and Senate come November. Although many would say Cross’ State House GOP caucus can’t get more pointless than it is now.

I’m critical here of Pat Brady and Tom Cross, but really the blame rests with all Republicans. The GOP in Illinois only stays in disarray because too many Republicans lack the courage to fight for something better.</blockquote>

BTW, election reform bill SB-35 that Doug refers to would have given the voters the right to determine their own State committee members. Establishment Republicans here prefer cronyism and smoke-filled back-room deals so they can internally select members. This seems to go hand-in-hand with Dougs point, that the IL GOP would prefer to keep us in the dark about the county conventions!

Heres that link http://theteapartynetwork.org/2012/04/alert-spanish-company-set-to-count-our-ballots-no-oversight/

I couldn’t believe it, so I tried to do more research to find out if the people in Spain who acquired the election software company had monetary ties to President 0bama. I found the following info in an article posted on 4-11-12 at dancingczars.wordpress.com.

<blockquote>When the Spanish online voting company SKYTL bought the largest vote processing corporation in the United States, it also acquired the means of manufacturing the outcome of the 2012 election. For SOE, the Tampa based corporation purchased by SKYTL in January, supplies the election software which records, counts, and reports the votes of Americans in 26 states–900 total jurisdictions–across the nation. And although the votes will be cast in hometown, American precincts on Election Day, with the Barcelona-based SKYTL taking charge of the process, they will be routed and counted overseas. The CEO of SKYTL, AKA Scytl, Pere Valles, a socialist who donated heavily to the 2008 Obama campaign and lived in Chicago during Obama’s time as Illinois State Senator, will be counting our ballots. He used to be VP and Chief Financial officer of GlobalNET, a NASDAQ publicly traded telecommunications company headquartered in Chicago.</blockquote>

The author, Jim Campbell, also indicated that the software is easily hackable, but i am not sure if I should be more worried that a foriegn entity (who may be in 0bama’s pocket) will be counting (or NOT counting) our votes in the general election.

 If you ask me, voting results in my county are incoherent. The majority of folks in my County joined me in voting for Republican positions beating the Democrats by around 1.7:1 ratio in most cases. But for the two most important positions; 0bama beat Santorum 8576/7896 and the 3rd circuit Judges seat was also won by the democrat incumbant Napp due to two Republicans running for the seat, splitting the vote. Yet the people joined me in voting NO on local tax increases.

 My pick for POTUS, Newt Gingrich did not fare well in the election results and neither did my pick for 3rd circuit Judge.

 This leads me to believe that voter turnout for the 2012 primary among democrats was very low, and that the democats who did vote, did not make many selections for the bulk of their local officials (expaining why 0bama beat Santorum by a small margin). There were a total of 18,596 ballots counted (reportedly).

 Apparently, that figure must be only the paper ballots (not counting early/out of town voters, since the sum of votes/office exceeds that number. ????

 I am seeing around 21,000 total votes cast for county board chairman, auditor, recorder and circuit clerk each.

 I dont know what the ratio of democrats to Republicans was. I am hoping the Republican County Chairman will post this data on RepublicanNewsWatch.

 During the course of the campaign (though you’d never know there was a campaign around here) there was not one person going door-to-door. The only candidate who tried to reach out to the public was Jason Plummer for 12th Congressional district. He sent four large postcards in the bulk mail (and that may only be because I personally signed his petition to run for the position at a local GOP meeting last year). Had it not been for that, one might not have ever known there was an election going on here. BTW, you’d also never know there was a Republican County Chairman here until a few days before the election (and that is probably only because I badgered their office with e-mails, thus getting on their e-mail list). But now, I have the RCC’s phone number (because they made the mistake of including it on their robo-e-mails).

 In illinois, voting is open ballot. voters are not bound by registration to vote democrat or Republican, but they always ask which way you are going to vote before they hand you the ballot. I believe that is improper.

 Also, in illinois, voters get to select the delegates to the Presidential nominating convention. Each voter is allowed to select 3 delegates from the (12th congressional district) for the national convention and alternates.

 I prefer Freedomworks to Heritage Action, Freedomworks has an “Action” webpage and a spin-off site called Freedomconnector that allows people to join local conservative groups and contact members, share information and petitions, meeting schedules, etc. There are several Tea-Party type groups in neighboring towns who have accounts on Freedomconnector.

I must have at least a dozen e-mails in my hotmail inbox every night from:

 NumbersUSA

 PatriotUpdate

 ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice)

 ConservativeByte

 Wakeupamerica

 Newts campaign staff

 our County Republican Chairman

 ILGOP.org and various sister sites

 I have RepublicanNewsWatch, both my Senators and Representative parked in my web-browser favorites for quick access to their websites and e-mail so I can send them petitions and letters opposing liberal legislation. Beyond that, I also use petitionthegovernment.com and send letters to my congressman making him aware of my petitions. The site also shows the congressman the total percentages of petitioners for and against each petition.

 I probably fax or e-mail a half dozen e-mails or petitions each week to lawmakers or groups collecting them regarding some current legislation, both local and national. BTW, petitionthegovernment provides members with boilerplate petitions that every member can agree or oppose. The website keeps track of the totals for each. It provides a letter that you can copy/paste to an e-mail to send to your congressmen.

 I am fully aware of the requirements and process to run for precinct committeeman. We had NO precinct committeman in my precinct this year. I told my County Republican Chairman that I would run for precinct committeeman here if I could get complete and un-censored voting records from the County Clerk. So far I havent talked to but a few people in my voting precinct due to the problem with the voting record, but have met with many people outside of my precinct, including actual candidates. The farther you get away from my town, the more Republican the districts are. I did actually find and speak to someone who was a precinct committeeman here years ago. He was “inactive” unfortunately, during his time in office, so I was unable to get any expectations from him.

 So, at this point, American Majority is a little out of my league. I’m probably infinitely more politically active than anyone in my precinct, though. Down here, the public thinks politics begins the day before elections and ends when they exit the polls. But, here, most are pro-union liberals and self-proclaimed socialists. Remember, they dont need to lift a finger to get what they want. The unions and the government provide everything for them (at someone elses expense). The are very happy with that.

 So, while I should be thankfull that we did select local republicans in the primary, I am dissappointed that the two most important positions (POTUS and Judge) fell to the democrats. And this was only the primary. If more dem voters turn out to vote in the general, the end results might not look as good as they do now.

 Since my pick for POTUS is not doing well halfway thru the primary elections, theres not much to look forward to in the general election.

 Many folks at RS are calling for an end to the primaries and chanting that everyone should consolidate around the Massachussetts “seriously” liberal, crony-capitalist.

 The reason why I do what I do and cast my ballot is to attempt to obtain officials who will represent my conservative values in government. I had absolute confidence in Teri Newman to do just that. But since she was thrown out, I cast my vote for Plummer, because I would also rate him as a conservative.

 For me to vote for Romney in the general election would be very difficult. It would be like me voting for 0bama with an (R). Romney = 0bama in my view, thus Romney is ROBAMA. He comes nowhere near close to representing anything I would call conservative.

 I wanted someone who would lead the fight to balance the budget, bring jobs back, end the war on domestic energy, end the war on Christianity, start paying off the debt, start protecting our borders and do major entitlement reforms as well as repealing the all the 0bama administrations 0bominations, and other atrocities of the past which advanced wealth redistribution. The only person running who I have confidence in to do these things is Newt Gingrich.

 If the only way we can get a conservative in the WH is via a brokered convention, then that is what I am hoping for now.

 King has been staunchly opposed to 0bamacare since the day it was crammed down our throats, and he specifically stated in the speech that he had been in contact with ALL the Republican candidates to get their pledge to sign his repeal of 0bamacare if they were to be elected President. King stated that he had gained the pledges from all the candidates EXCEPT FOR ONE.

 Hmmmm, wonder who that could be.

 As expected, King also called for the repeal of the Dodd/Frank financial Deform bill (and other related financial system bills). Bravo!

 I believe that it would be highly insufficient to do anything about the banking system without FIRST repealing the CRA entirely. It was the CRA that got all this started in the first place, what with the govt forcing the community banking system to loan money to minorities regardless of their ability to pay off the loan.

 Once we get CRA repealed, the community banking system stranglehold will be released to re-gain sound lending practices again. In Tues nights general speech on the House floor, King only mentioned repealling the CRA in passing with only two sentences. I believe there should be much more outrage, but it is at leat good to hear that someone is speaking out. I hope he will WORK to gain consensus among his colleages and prepare a bill to be signed by our new Republican President in 2013.

 It is a rare occurrence these days to see Rep Steve King speak anywhere without hearing a call to repeal 0bamacare in its entirety. If I happen to catch him on C-Span, I expect to hear him mention it, and I gain a smile before he even says anything, because I know it is coming ! Kings dogged rebuke of 0bamacare has become my comical relief these days and I always look forward to hearing him again and again. It is important to note that King warned, during the speech Tues night, that although we had been able to get a few bits and peices of the bill thrown out, that this should in no uncertain terms relieve congress of its responsibility to continue to press forward with the full repeal of 0bamacare.

 BTW. I am not a banker or affiliated in any way to banking. I just love freedom and the capitalist, free-market system. AND. I absolutely despise any form of govt wealth re-distribution. The CRA is the biggest offender of them all.

The REAL State of the Union address was given by Governor Mitch Daniels (R) Indiana, immediately following 0bamas speech. Daniels, who dissapointed me by deciding not to run for president this term would have been a vast improvement over Newt Gingrich and certainly Romney or Santorum.

Here the full text of Daniels speech

<blockquote>”The status of ‘loyal opposition’ imposes on those out of power some serious responsibilities: to show respect for the Presidency and its occupant, to express agreement where it exists. Republicans tonight salute our President, for instance, for his aggressive pursuit of the murderers of 9/11, and for bravely backing long overdue changes in public education. I personally would add to that list admiration for the strong family commitment that he and the First Lady have displayed to a nation sorely needing such examples.”

“On these evenings, Presidents naturally seek to find the sunny side of our national condition. But when President 0bama claims that the state of our union is anything but grave, he must know in his heart that this is not true.

The President did not cause the economic and fiscal crises that continue in America tonight. But he was elected on a promise to fix them, and he cannot claim that the last three years have made things anything but worse: the percentage of Americans with a job is at the lowest in decades. One in five men of prime working age, and nearly half of all persons under 30, did not go to work today.

“In three short years, an unprecedented explosion of spending, with borrowed money, has added trillions to an already unaffordable national debt. And yet, the President has put us on a course to make it radically worse in the years ahead. The federal government now spends one of every four dollars in the entire economy; it borrows one of every three dollars it spends. No nation, no entity, large or small, public or private, can thrive, or survive intact, with debts as huge as ours.

New years resolution for Harry Reid: Resign your post immediately so the congress can start cutting spending and passing pro-growth economic policies.

New years resolution for Mitch McConnell: Start talking to your colleagues in the House of Representatives and stand by their initiatives. Rally your Senate colleages around their conservative principles and join them in the fight to destroy the socialist behemoth in the Senate.

New Years resolution for John Boehner: Stand firmly behind any legislation to cut spending and improve the economy offered by your caucuses and DO NOT ever back down off of them no matter what. Call the democruds bluff for a change and see if they got the guts to shut the govt down or TAKE your bill. DO NOT cave-in to the socialist democruds under any circumstances. NO COMPROMISE. Compromise is what got us HERE !

New Years resolution for ALL Republicans in congress; DO NOT pay any attention to the mainstream media and the demogoguery by democruds and do not allow their lies, propaganda and scare tactics to sway your PRINCIPLES. Stand firm for your principles and do NOT back down under any circumstances. Do what is right for the American people, regardless of how you THINK your position might cause your re-election to be compromised.

I received a robo-email from Newt.org offering a copy of the New Contract with America for $19.95. The text appears just like the script of an old “RONCO” style TV infomercial. Notice the repetition. I can easily hear the emphasis he places on “you will have the chance to be the first”, and there is even a contest. Sorry, I didn’t see any “bonus” packages offered though! Below is part of the text from the e-mail:

[You have a chance to be the first person to see a copy of this new, 21st Century Contract with America.

Between now and September 27th, if you donate $19.94 or more at Newt.org, you will be entered into a contest to get a first glimpse at the new 21st Century Contract with America before we officially unveil it in Iowa. The winner will also receive an autographed copy of the original Contract with America and a call from me.

Our presidential campaign today reminds me of our congressional campaign in 1994, when we set out to regain control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. All the pundits said it was impossible. But we proved them wrong.

Let's do it again, this time with the presidency. Donate $19.94 at Newt.org between now and September 27th and you will have a chance to be the first to see the new, 21st Century Contract with America.]

I thought it was a little CHEESY. Newt must be hurtin for campaign funds. I always liked Newt Gingrich. He is smart. He can out-debate anyone and the perfect words roll off his tongue without hesitation when he answers the questions. But he is not conservative enough for me. And I used to think he was a champion of conservatism. I can’t tell if his meandering toward the middle is only a tactic to gain moderates and independents or if he really has become a moderate. I wont take any chances. I would rather hear the plain truth so I know exactly what I am getting.