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Citizens in California and New York are pushing for constitutional conventions.Frustrated with steep budget deficits, unprecedented spending, and chronic government dysfunction, citizens in a growing number of states are calling for constitutional conventions. In recent weeks, both former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and former New York governor Mario Cuomo have authored op-eds in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, respectively, arguing that the political circus in Albany compels a constitutional convention. Such efforts are already well underway in California, alongside burgeoning drives in Alabama, Arizona, and Michigan. Altogether, 25 percent of the U.S. population lives in...

Just throwing out a handful of ideas for discussion: How to develop local chapters/conservative grassroots groups. Develop a conservative platform and a plan for recruiting, training, supporting and electing conservative candidates. Develop ideas for building an effective nationwide conservative grassroots network. How to combat the Fairness Doctrine? Install offshore servers? Private BBS? Email/Phone/Fax lists? Shortwave radio? Local/personal networking? Working with other conservative groups, political parties? Would a FReeper PAC be feasible? Practical? Effective? Would a FReeper 527 organization be feasible? Practical? Effective? How to infiltrate/influence local political organizations? Select and fund delegates for a national convention should our membership decide...

Gaming revenue fell for the 12th month in a row in December and last year's overall drop is historic. Some locals who depend on conventions to survive say they can't afford the war of words going on between President Obama and Mayor Oscar Goodman. Last week, both Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs canceled corporate junkets scheduled to take place here in Las Vegas. They were trying to get away from the perception that they are taking the money given to them in these bailout packages and using it to treat their CEO's to lavish vacations. The comment President Obama made...

The transcripts of the candidates' acceptance speeches are provided along with topic headings to facilitate navigation thereof.

The back-to-back Democratic and Republican extragavanzas gave both parties a chance to put their best foot forward as the general election campaign gets underway. If their competing efforts are a wash, the advantage will remains with the Democrats as far as the push to expand their congressional majorities. The Democrats used their convention in Denver to define their presidential ticket of Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr, with Obama responding to calls for him to make more specific what he envisions when he talks about the change he says the nation needs. The Republicans — struggling in public opinion...

There was a time, not all that long ago, when the conventions of the two major political parties were more than carefully orchestrated photo opportunities and pep rallies. The television networks have long since acceded to their audiences' wishes and ended the tradition of "gavel-to-gavel" coverage of these political jamborees. They are right to do so. Once the conventions stopped being news events and became endless partisan infomercials, there was no reason to treat them as being any different from any other garden-variety political rally. But that hasn't stopped the parties from continuing some of the time-honored traditions of the...

What must Barack Obama and John McCain achieve at their conventions? Conventions are the best, most controlled opportunities left for the candidates. Only the debates come close in impact, but they are unpredictable and not susceptible to the choreography available at the conventions. Mr. McCain's handlers must achieve three things. First is a greater public awareness of the character that makes him worthy of the Oval Office. Mr. McCain's warrior ethic makes it difficult for him to share his interior life, though his conversation with Rick Warren did provide moving glimpses into it. To win, Mr. McCain will need to...

Twin Cities bartenders working when the GOP holds its national convention in St. Paul next month should listen up: Republicans like their drinks straight up, and they arrive early for happy hour. A survey of Washington, D.C., bartenders commissioned by a leading liquor company broke down Democrats and Republicans when it comes to their drink selection and bar behavior. Here's what it found: Who's a better tipper? Democrats 60 percent, Republicans 38 percent. Who is more likely to order a drink straight up? Republicans 82 percent; Democrats 14 percent. Who is more likely to order a fruity (pink) drink? Democrats...

Most Memorable Conventions ... Here you'll find the 11 most important convention highlights in modern U.S. political history, a list that will be revealed one by one through Aug. 25. The list is based on our interviews with a dozen political experts. But now it's your job to sample each moment and rate them based on their dramatic value.

WASHINGTON - Five years ago this week, a federal election regulator predicted that corporate sponsorship of political conventions would eventually be as common as it is for football bowl games. "I look forward to the day, by 2008, when Americans can turn on their TVs and watch the Nokia Democratic Convention, or the AT&T Republican National Convention," joked Bradley Smith, then a Republican member of the Federal Election Commission. That day has pretty much arrived. The Democratic and Republican conclaves this summer in Denver and St. Paul, Minn., will be financed overwhelmingly by private money from some of the nation's...

LOS ANGELES - Want a skybox perch to see John McCain speak at the Republican National Convention, passes to hot GOP parties that week, pampering from the concierge and private wheels to tool around town? Want a chance to mingle with celebrities like Warren Beatty and Al Franken at the Democratic National Convention, and maybe even get face time with Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton? It's yours, for a price. Committees raising money for California delegations to the national conventions are asking wealthy donors to make six-figure donations in exchange for VIP-level treatment and seats to witness history. The...

BLAINE, Minn. – Ron Paul supporters shook things up in at least three of Minnesota's congressional district conventions yesterday when they captured nearly all of the national delegates and alternates for the Republican National Convention this fall. There was controversy at Minnesota's 6th Congressional District Convention. The district covers part of the Twin Cities metro area and extends to the west and into nearby St. Cloud, Minn. Paul supporters were accused of dirty tricks. "They hijacked the convention," said Jeff Johnson who serves as Minnesota's Senate District 15 co-chairman. Two out of three national delegates elected were Ron Paul supporters...

Never before have I had to stop and think during voting! But today some of the delegates I would have voted for belonged to McCain, so I had to stand there and think if this could become a brokered convention, what difference could all of this play out to for the chance of getting someone else elected. PLEASE THINK TODAY during your voting for delegates and alternate delegates how this could make a difference in your CONSERVATIVE future.

In last week's column I highlighted comments made to the Financial Times of London by U.S. Comptroller General David Walker in which he compared the current political, social, and economic situation in the United States to that of the Roman Empire shortly before its collapse. I heard from a number of readers in response to the column… Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians. While a couple of folks used the opportunity to plug a particular presidential candidate or legislative issue, almost all were in agreement that things in our nation must change drastically and quickly. Despite a booming economy, low unemployment, and...

Is Ted Kennedy going to hold the entire city of Fallujah accountable for violating the Geneva Conventions when they killed four non-military American contractors, burnt and beat their bodies and hung them from a bridge? How are democrats going prosecute the masked terrorists when they beheaded Nick Berg, Paul Johnson and others? Will the democrats voting Geneva Convention and Habeas Corpus rights to terrorists stipulate that when video taping a beheading, terrorists not wear masks, clearly identify themselves and where they can be reached? How would we process Osama Bin Laden if we caught him alive? Would we treat...

The Pledge I’d Like to See Every Political Candidate Take I, ________________________________________, upon signing this document, do hereby swear and affirm under penalty of forfeiture of office and wages, that I shall: 1.) Make no public statement which demeans, denigrates, or defames any active member, unit, or branch of the U.S. armed services, or the military as a whole, except in cases where an individual soldier or group of soldiers has been tried and convicted of committing a criminal offense or offenses.

The recent Supreme Court decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, in a feat of tortuous logic and ignoring the Political Question Doctrine, has created Geneva Convention protections for international terrorists, something few students of international humanitarian law anticipated, certainly few in uniform ever contemplated. This has detrimental and broad implication for the specific applicability of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the two “Protocols Additional of 1977” as they relate not only to the protection of combatants and terrorists, as appears to be the focus of current national debate, but more importantly to the protection and safeguarding of civilians, indeed to the...

Texas FReepers, the purpose of this thread is to inform you how to get involved and influence the Texas Republican Party Rules and Platform(and to meet other FReepers in San Antonio in June) On the night of March 7th, you will have the opportunity to attend your precinct meeting which takes place sometime after the polls close and usually at your polling place. In my area, the meeting is set by the county party for 8PM. You're mileage may differ, so call the county party or look for a sign at your polling place, March 7th. Make sure you vote...

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 16 - Last year a Chinese mathematician, Xiaoyun Wang, shook up the insular world of code breakers by exposing a new vulnerability in a crucial American standard for data encryption. On Monday, she was scheduled to explain her discovery in a keynote address to an international group of researchers meeting in California. But a stand-in had to take her place, because she was not able to enter the country. Indeed, only one of nine Chinese researchers who sought to enter the country for the conference received a visa in time to attend. Although none of the scientists...

Whenever a crowd gathers, the entrepreneurs shift gears and set up to sell their wares to the rubes. The early birds in Columbus, Ohio are even now rehearsing their pitch, "Clues! Getcher clues here. Fresh clues, buy one, get one free...Get -em while yer clueless..." We expect business to be brisk. You see, the Democrats are coming to Columbus. We will hide from the national press cameras so that no one knows that we live in this...mecca of the gentler party. But first, get to know Columbus. We have a Democratic city council, and a Democratic Mayor, Michael Coleman, who...