Saturday, June 16, 2012

BLOG POST #10:                     HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a long time, but there has been so much going on lately that it has been impossible.  


I had a message prepared for Mother’s Day, but I am tweaking it and dedicating it instead to all mothers out there who have had to step and be like fathers in their absence for whatever reason.

Fathers are unsung heroes in any family. They pay bills. They keep a small space in a house usually. They tend to not get all the spoils of parenting, like major-league hugs, tears or super dramatic secrets. To keep the peace in the family they do not express opposing viewpoints. It often goes unnoticed. Every family is different, but that is how I grew up. My father was not a disciplinarian, but thats okay because I am a free spirit because of him. Both my parents knew what was right for me even though they had different ways to show the right path.

There is a point to mentioning my parents' relationship.  It was affected by politics.  Leaving Cuba separately was beyond a strain on their marriage. My father was a doctor. He had to stay behind because of government restrictions.  It was my father who encouraged my mother to come without him so we could be free.  My mother came with my brother and myself, four and three years old, and my grandparents. She did this alone, not knowing the language or the culture. It was the sixties and people walked barefoot on the street in cut-off shorts.  She missed her husband and her country but she put food on the table and kept us together until Dad joined us, two long years later.  They did this for me. 

I have little if any patience for people who think they know what sacrifice is. Please give me a break! As much as I love the United States, I cannot help but make observations based on my experiences and the pain that I have seen over the years, 53 to be exact. Totalitarianism destroys families, in endless ways. Where there is separation and division you can be sure a dark force is behind it. Trust me.

I hope no one gets offended when I say this as I have felt I have been on the “outside“ of the culture for too long. To me, America is full of whiny, spoiled cry babies who do not know how good they have had things here. I am not talking about the people who I have met in the last few years.   I am referring to people who make complaints yet offer no solutions, who want to express their opinions at all cost, yet cannot take the time to listen to someone else’s first. It is sacred for Americans to voice their opinion.  I understand that, but with that “right” should come a little burden, like, answering this question: “What are you doing about it?” or "Don't just tell me what the problem is, offer a solution while you're at it!"
 
For the first time in over 40 years of living here, I feel like I am finally a part of this country.  I feel that I have something unique to offer in this fight, my perspective. And that makes me feel good!  I wish it was under different circumstances, though. Our country is in a predicament and it is out of duty, not pleasure, that I am trying to do what is right. It is the ironic nature of socialism that it brings people who are against it together! 

Again, I see a lot of time wasted on superficial nonsense caused by the very thing that makes this country great.. Freedom. Freedom has spoiled people rotten. In life, if you do not act responsibly, you lose your freedom! Likewise, if people do not govern themselves accordingly like chickens without heads just saying but not doing, rules and regulations become more needed to control the masses. Progressivism is not just a political phenomenon it is a by-product of the very freedom that made this nation complacent while they were distracted. This is just my humble observation.

Americans are great. They are patient. They are giving, kind and God-fearing. But they have been immature in many ways. Until Obama came into the picture, many people did not know that communism had been here for a long time. Obama is not the only problem, though. He just woke a lot of people up! Yes, he is a totalitarian and No, Romney is not a Communist, but they are both Progressives.   It is my heartfelt opinion that unless we push back to keep our house clean first, it will be hard to fight against a radical leftist President who can be beat in 2012.  

Just because a candidate gets the nomination for our Party, does not mean we allow a Progressive message to take hold of it, which it has. We must continue to stand against that pernicious agenda as effectively as we can. Our resolve is being tested now more than ever.  Our voices must continue to be heard.  We have to continue to flex our debate muscles so we can improve our argument each time.  It takes practice.  It takes time. There is a lot to do, don't just sit there and complain.  Do something! 

If your argument is so weak or your evidence so lacking that you resort to name calling or smearing someone’s reputation when they disagree with you then you are part of the problem, and you should get out of the way!  Everyone has a “right” to their opinion, but no one is obligated to respect stupidity!  In fact, stupidity is nature’s way of weeding out the weakest among us. And we sure need strong soldiers to fight this battle on two fronts.  Time and energy well-spent is of the essence.

Just to remind you, Congress, the media and higher-learning institutions to name a few, are filled with people who have degrees that show they took the time to learn something. It has merit, but degrees do not mean you are intelligent.  Intelligence comes from wisdom, no matter who you are or where you come from. You don’t need a title to be smart or wise!  You just need to understand things or attempt to understand them by asking questions when you need to, listening to others and seeking help or information from people who know more than you. You really want to know when someone is really intelligent?  When they know enough to know they do not know something. 

For every person who makes me feel like giving up because they refuse to see the truth, I find ten or more who keep me going because they share in its knowledge.  I will speak the truth even if my voice shakes, and it has been shaking lately!

Getting back to Father’s Day. My father passed down his love for freedom to me, my mother's life is a daily reminder that freedom is not free.  Sometimes we have to do things we do not want to, but for the greater good we must sacrifice and put what we want aside to make room for what we need: a sane, healthy conversation. Let’s listen to one another. Let’s assess our situation as honestly as we can. And let’s solve our problems!  I hope everyone enjoys this weekend and reflects on what really matters.
 
Happy Father’s Day, Mom & DAD!

Thank you for all the sacrifices you made on my behalf.

I love you!

Isabel Matos

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

BLOG POST #9    IF YOU CHOOSE TO BELIEVE IN RUMORS THEN YOU ARE A FOOL

This is MY STATEMENT following accusations that I do NOT allow Sarah Palin posts on my wall.

I just want to say that everything that I have done on behalf of my first choice for president has been my choice. No one else's. NO one has asked me or paid me to do anything that I have done on my own since I started defending Sarah Palin last summer. Sarah Palin has never sent me any emails, messages or requests for favors of any kind. I never expected anything in return because we are all fighting for something that cannot be paid for: a good cause! Ethics and reform in politics, restoration of America's founding principles. Doing what is right should be enough reward for anyone! It is my duty as a citizen, no matter the sacrifice, to do what is right for my country in its greatest time of need. This is bigger than just one person and Sarah Palin must know that. Why would she feel indebted to anyone for an effort we all must undertake individually?

My involvement since last summer has taken a lot of time away from my family. It has been a nuisance, but fighting for freedom always is. It is a continuous struggle. It will never be easy. Keeping our leaders honest is dirty work but someone has to do it!

I was disappointed on October 5th when Sarah announced she was not running because I believed in my heart she wanted to, but for whatever reason, certain circumstances prevented her from doing so. I chose to pressure the GOP instead of her, but I was always all-of-the-above where others' efforts were concerned. The GOP, in my opinion, derailed her chances to win the nomination she deserved. I have found much evidence to support this but it is still my opinion.

I have spent many hours a day dedicated to fortifying a wall where people can vent their frustrations on those who deserve our scrutiny and even wrath. To be called a quitter for having accepted the reality that Mitt Romney is the GOP nominee is ridiculous. To spread lies that I do not allow people to post about Sarah Palin is childish and hurtful.

Sarah Palin was the catalyst and first true leader at the heart of the TEA PARTY when it wasn't even a movement. The movement has always been greater than one person as it represents US, We-the-People. We must stay focused on the task at hand: to keep government in check so that it can do the work on behalf of We-the-People. WE must take charge of our daily lives, and push back by not allowing government (including the Progressive Republican kind) to take over our lives. The leaders we elect must answer to us, and represent our beliefs. Reform is not easy. It does not happen overnight.  Some people think sudden and relentless reform meant just that. Again, very puerile thinking. This can take years!

I have witnessed people turning on me lately for saying that I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that she is NOT running for President in 2012. I could not help but wonder how she must have felt when she kept asking for her decision to be respected. It's one thing to believe she will and another to impose your beliefs on others, like so many have shown lately (specifically to me). Being intolerant contradicts precisely what they claim Sarah is all about - the truth! She has never lied.

I also find it interesting that if they turn on me, after witnessing my efforts to find answers over a period of 7 months, then they would turn on her for endorsing Romney (which she might). Sarah is our most valuable player and we must support her 1000%. That is my goal. She has never deceived any of us.

As leader of my group it is my burden live by the TRUTH once I know it. I am happy and at peace with my decisions as I have put much thought and work into arriving at them. It is not healthy to run on the fumes of hope alone. Yes, I am disappointed, yes there is so much work to do, but I am up for the task until I am no longer.  Spending more time on wishful thinking or what could have been robs us of valuable time that we need to stir things up. 

I am glad that people who do not want to live in the "real" world found it necessary to leave my group. They can play in a sandbox and whine about the adults in the room who supervise and warn them, but at least now that the issue and disruptions have been addressed, we can spend time helping one another forge ahead.

Marching on,


Isabel Matos
Creator of GOPAYL
(acronym for GOP are you listening?)



Tuesday, June 12, 2012

BLOG POST #8  RON PAUL MOVEMENT STRIKE THREE! ONE OUT

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012.
 

Welcome, Readers!

This is the follow-up on blogs 2 and 3. Ron Paul's movement is a train wreck about to happen as the Truth comes out.


Does anyone remember the movie "Good Morning, Vietnam" with Robin Williams? He plays a talk-show host during the Vietnam War. It starts out very comically. He apparently improvised the long monologues in the show, which shows his remarkable genius! We get sucked in right away with the laughter.  We feel comfortable. Then, as the layers peel off, we get closer to the truth and tragedy that is war.  WE end up leaving the theater with a deep sense of sadness but transformation. I did.

I am a fan of MrL's as you know. He makes the "creep” factor in his commentaries about the movement entertaining and informative, but in the clip I'm posting below he shows a real woman with real pain in a real situation where she realizes she has been betrayed. It is not funny. It brings things home. This is the kind of reporting I want to see more of: sensible, intelligent and sensitive.

Herman Cain and Rick Santorum were frauds for using the good faith of their loyal supporters for personal gain or self-promotion, but Ron Paul has been the most callous and despicably deceitful of all the presidential candidates this year.  I'm not saying his supporters aren't "out there", but they really were convinced they were fighting a good cause.  I have said before that when they realize they have been used and lied to, it will not be pretty! Congressman Paul never discouraged inappropriate behavior. He is to blame even more for that! No one should be responsible for other people’s actions, but at some point you should separate yourself from it to show you do not endorse it.

I wish more people realized there has been a lot of brainwashing going on in this campaign, not the first time I am sure, and that each one of is brainwashed to some extent as well, especially if we have been supporting one candidate alone for many months.  Things get a little skewed over time and you lose sight of what is going on in other circles. If you surround yourself with people who think exactly like you all the time, you are closing yourself off to the rest of the world. Being isolated does not help get your message across to the other side which is the goal, isn't it? It also forces you to flex your debate muscles!  If we put ourselves in the other person's shoes us we sure could make a difference. 

You don't have to be disagreeable to disagree with someone.  I can only speak for myself, but I consider a true fight a form of intimate communication between two parties. It takes a lot to fight with someone well:  personal knowledge of the person, their point of view, the facts and a great sense of comfort. You can be decent and respectful even if you spar. It takes practice, but in the end it is far more rewarding and productive than name-calling or childish accusations! 

To fight the good fight we must have good, healthy minds and sincere hearts. That is not always what campaigning is about, but improving ourselves benefits everyone, including the cause you represent.
 
Thank you for reading.


Isabel MATOS
Creator of GOPAYL

(acronym for “GOP are you listening?“ on Facebook)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcxLvVI5Vb8&feature=youtu.be



 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, June 2, 2012

BLOG POST # 7:      THERE IS NO OPEN CONVENTION!

Saturday, June 2nd, 2012.

Dear Wonderful Readers,

I am voting my conscience on November 6th as every voter should.  The answers below are all from RON DEVITO, member of GOPAYL, and Editor of US4Palin (as you may well know).  The information provided is greatly appreciated but is useless if it is not read!! For those who thought there might be an open convention, it is abundantly CLEAR to Mr. Devito: THERE IS NO OPEN CONVENTION 2012. NO last-minute miracle is expected either.  You can say SANTA CLAUS IS NOT COMING TO TOWN.  ELVIS IS NOT ALIVE. THE BEATLES ARE NOT GETTING BACK TOGETHER AND PIGS DONT FLY..get the drift? There is no easy way to tell the Truth sometimes, but it must be done. For me, getting good information is like nourishing my body with a healthy meal.  It must be done!  Please enjoy the Q&A.. You may leave your comments below the post.

                                 ****              MAY 29th, 2012.         *****

Q:     Is the 1144 floor count a conclusive number of DELEGATES Romney has?

A:     Tonight's numbers are soft-counted numbers and include an estimate, but 1144 hard will hit next Tuesday. 2286 delegates are in the pool. 1143 is half. 1144 is what wins the nomination. One person more than half. I have him hitting 1147 tonight based on simple average of soft-count. He gets 1293 hard counted by June 5....winner take alls in that bunch he'll get 100% of those delegates. That's the math. You know how I feel about Romney, but we can't pretend it's not happening.

Q:      Soft v. hard delegates: Are "hard" delegates legally bound to ROmney and "soft" ones not?

A:     There are two ways to count delegates. "Hard" count means only those delegates who are bound or committed by the laws of their respective states. The RNC itself does not bind delegates, but states do. "Soft" count adds to the hard numbers an estimate of how delegates are likely to vote. Different media outlets and organizations use varying algorithms and methods to determine soft counts. When you see something like the Wall Street Journal Delegate tracker, or CNN's numbers, those are soft numbers. Soft are used, because it's easier for the average voter to understand. Romney achieved 1012 hard-counted delegates as of last night. He will achieve 1294 hard counted delegates when you apply the current average delegate take which is 67.6% to the proportional states and 100% to the winner take-alls next week. His soft-counted delegates as of last night are 1148. I use The Green Papers for my numbers. They're most reliable.

Some 88%+ of Texans stayed home yesterday. Cruz should not be going to a recall. He should have won outright. Where were all the conservatives who hate Romney? If you don't get off your butts and vote, that's what you get. You put nothing in, you get nothing out. Of the 11% who did bother to vote, Romney won their votes by 71% and whether you like the guy or hate him, he won those votes fair and square. No one is alleging voter fraud. So, what delegate is going to disenfranchise those who did bother to vote?

This has been a perfectly conventional process. A group of candidates ran. All except one were weak. A front-runner emerged. The front-runner hit his numbers. The failed candidates are rallying behind the front-runner who will be nominated in a highly stage-managed choreographed event. That's it. That's how it's been done for over 200 years. There won't be miracles, cavalries, or white horses at the convention. 

The bottom line is when you vote for a candidate, you're actually voting for the underlying slate of delegates, not the candidate. Delegates commit to a candidate prior to trying to become a delegate and spend $3K to $5K of their own money to sit at the convention. They're not going to alter their commitment on someone who chose not to run, and not when the states have already voted. Some 88%+ of Texans stayed home yesterday. Cruz should not be going to a recall. He should have won outright.


Where were all the conservatives who hate Romney? If you don't get off your butts and vote, that's what you get. You put nothing in, you get nothing out. Of the 11% who did bother to vote, Romney won their votes by 71% and whether you like the guy or hate him, he won those votes fair and square. No one is alleging voter fraud. So, what delegate is going to disenfranchise those who did bother to vote? This has been a perfectly conventional process. A group of candidates ran. All except one were weak. A front-runner emerged. The front-runner hit his numbers. The failed candidates are rallying behind the front-runner who will be nominated in a highly stage-managed choreographed event. That's it. That's how it's been done for over 200 years. There won't be miracles, cavalries, or white horses at the convention.

Q:    What about RULE 38?

A:     The GOP Chair has already flouted the rules by "merging with the Romney campaign" and putting the full weight of the RNC behind said campaign while primaries are still ongoing. He did this after 4/24. I'm very familiar with Rule 38. ...The Ron Paul people are doing that with stealth delegates. But they have nowhere near the numbers they need. They're over 500 short. Furthermore, both the Democrat and Republican parties follow Parliamentary Procedures. This means, a candidate can be nominated by acclimation without a full vote of the delegates. This is in fact how the Democrats nominated Obama. If the GOP chair sees that delegates are abstaining, etc. the proceedings get stopped, the motion is made to nominate by acclimation, and it's over with.

Q:    Can we nominate Sarah Palin by acclimation without a full count of the delegates?

A:    Nomination by acclimation won't end the GOP. It's a standard parliamentary procedure. Both parties use it and as noted there is already precedent. Obama was nominated by acclimation. It was actually Hillary Clinton who orchestrated it,... so as to expedite "healing" and "party unity."

Governor Palin made clear multiple times and in multiple ways what her role is going to be. It's rebuilding the party at the Senate and House - creating a new establishment. Look at all the crap the existing establishment hurled at her that we've been fighting these last five months - and she's not even running. Why do you think Game Change was made? The makers were afraid she was going to run. You cannot win a nomination when you are at war with the very people you need to help you win said nomination. She wants the freedom to do this on her terms and doing it from the outside is how she chose to do it. We can speculate about what would have happened had she run, but we know what happened with her not running. The party is afflicted with a political form of cancer. The cancer needs to be removed before she can run and win.

You (that's everyone reading this - in the group or out) can respect her decision, resent her decision, or pretend she is running. No skin off my back either way and I'm not going to debate anyone on it. That's up to each person's conscience to proceed accordingly. I'm just giving my analysis based on the data I have available to me.

Sarah 2012 is OUR narrative as Palinistas, not hers. We're the ones pushing the issue. Not her. I've pushed the narrative myself since the night Obama got re-elected. I was one of 20 people who paid for a full-page ad on her birthday in '09 in the Frontiersman asking her to run, when doing so was "not cool."

I know this is hurtful to some, but that's where we are and we need to come to grips with it. Furthermore, she has said repeatedly she will support the GOP nominee - even if it's Romney - and that is on tape. So, what are going to do when that day comes? Turn our hate on her? Form our own PUMA movement which will only help Obama win?

We all thought she was running on 10/5 and she chose not to, so we were blind-sided - it was like a baseball bat to the solar plexus for us. I suffered - and still do - over it. It hurts. But that was her decision.

Romney hitting the soft numbers as a result of a perfectly conventional process should not be a surprise to us. We're not noobs here. We knew this was coming.

Yes, Romney is a RINO. Yes he lacks courage and integrity. But, he is unofficially the nominee and by hard numbers will be next week and it will be made official at the convention. To expect otherwise is to set yourself up for a major heartbreak.

Q:     What do we do then?

A:     GOTV - GET OUT THE VOTE!!!! This is going to be won or lost on GOTV and right now we - that is conservatives as a whole - are doing a miserable job of GOTV.


                                    ~  A very special thank you to Ron Devito   ~