The Trashing of a Great Public Servant: Ray Samson Deserves Our Support

When a politician in urban areas gets elected, he or she is sought after by numerous corporations and organizations. This is especially true when said politician is appointed to a leadership position. All want to appoint this new leader to one of their boards and such positions are almost always ones that pay well.

The above is all the more true if the appointment comes from an organization that the politician in question has a history of actively supporting. The matter is simply viewed as a way of bringing strong talent and leadership to the appointing organization.

The process routine and no one questions it. Elected officials are viewed as being among the best briefed on civic affairs and local economic conditions and the most in touch with diverse issues facing their communities just by virtue of their research staff and constant contact with community leaders.

The routine nature of these appointments makes it shocking, never mind hypocritical, for large metropolitan newspapers to harpoon former Speaker Ray Samson over his appointment to the board of a local college. This is especially true given the fact the by and large, such appointments are made to corporate boards at a far higher salary, not to a local non-profit college that also services the Air Force.

Ray Samson is one of the most dedicated and noble public servants in the nation. He is a strong supporter of military training programs and supports educational programs for our troops. His community affiliations include the University of West Florida, the Fort Walton Beach Medical Center, the American Heart Association and the YMCA Corporate Board. I can see why liberals have a problem with him, as ACORN is noticeably missing from this list. But to all thoughtful people, his broad affiliations are a reflection of his high level of community involvement.

His dedication to education is well known to all who’ve come across him in any professional capacity. As Northwest Florida State College is his local college, he dedicated himself to furthering its programs. And yes, given his strong belief in education, he allocated funding to that college, as he did with every other major college or university throughout the state. Furthermore, Northwest Florida State College operates full time educational centers at two Air Force bases in the region.

The papers that maliciously harpooned him wrote that had the college instead pretended to open the job to everyone and then rig the process for Samson, they would have seen nothing wrong with that. They fault Samson and the college for having been open and transparent throughout the process. Their arguments against him are as ridiculous as they are vindictive.

The fact that Samson allocated the funds well before he was appointed Speaker and well before such an appointment seemed to be in the cards for him, should prove that there was no malfeasance on his part. But leave it to the media to twist the story and try to destroy a man who has worked tirelessly in support of our military and for the benefit of his community.

Ray Samson believes strongly in education. Already affiliated with another university board and those of other non-profits, a local college appointed him to an advisory position. Liberal newspapers have harpooned a long time supporter of military education. We do not need to follow suit. In fact, we as citizens should be outraged by the ridiculous double standard that they have shown.

Urge the White House To Not Lift the Travel Ban to Cuba

The Castro regime is one of the most brutal, ruthless and amoral regimes of our time. While little mention of it is offered by the world media, due to their soft spot for murderers and thugs everywhere, the cruelty it embodies is no less true. After all, the only time the media sees fit to heap scorn on anyone is when conservatives enact policies that defend innocents against terror or brutality.

As far as most reporters are concerned, brutal regimes on the left are to be coddled and justified, not resisted or opposed. That’s why little mention was ever given by the media to the millions slaughtered by communist Russia and China during the mid-1900s. Why worry about them when conservatives like Ronald Reagan were posing a true threat to the lofty goals of increased taxation and to the glorification of abortion?

The media’s distorted priorities do not make the murderous acts of the Castro regime any less heinous. They simply show the world press to be morally bankrupt, oblivious to the true nature of evil (if not embracing of it) and document exactly why the talking heads on TV should have no influence on the policy making of nations.

With regard to Cuba, the facts are as plain and simple as they are shocking. The Castro regime murdered a larger percentage of their own people than the Nazis did of theirs. The Castro brothers have also propped up other dictatorial governments in South American nations, not the least of which being the tyrannical regime of Chile’s Salvador Allende, a tyranny that was backed by thousands of that nation’s university professors as it went about trying to seize control of the military, seizing factories, eliminating the free press and working to establish a dictatorship, while its policies caused social unrest and even death among the populace.

Raul Castro, who the media looks to for any sign of moderation, was the far more vicious of the brothers. Raul was the man who carried out many of the murders ordered by his older brother. In moving the center of power, Castro’s Cuba has replaced a wolf with a wolverine and anyone who thinks otherwise is oblivious to 50 years of that nation’s history. In fact, just last month Raul purged the party leadership of some who were more open to reform in favor of his hard line cronies.

What is good news is that Raul is far less telegenic and enjoys far less support than his brother ever did. This is what opens the door to the possibility of Cuba’s recovery, in the form of a Castro overthrow. But this possibility is being quashed by a weakening of the travel embargo by America.

Sure, even with the travel relaxations, the economic embargo will still exist. But lifting travel restrictions will allow more money to be transferred to Cuba, money that would quickly find itself in the hands of Castro’s government. The regime has the means to exact money brought over by relatives from abroad and there’s little doubt that they would do so. In the end, any additional money sent to Cuba would be used to prop up a tyranny that is otherwise rapidly falling apart.

If the Castro regime were still in its glory days, lifting any part of the embargo would still be ill advised and an act of acquiescence to evil. But doing so now, and thereby propping up a brutal regime that’s in its last throws of dictatorship, is nothing short of a humanitarian travesty.

It’s a travesty that we must stop. And we must do so now.

Write the White House and demand that the administration not lift the travel embargo while the Castro regime is in its last throws of power. Contact your representative and senators as well.

For contact information please see http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml. For maximum effectiveness, be respectful, but show resolve.

Sheridan Folger – the Best Example of a Conservative Activist

Last week some insane blog attacked Sheridan Folger for a comment that someone else posted on one of his websites. I’d like to use this opportunity to do something that should have been done sooner, to write about the true work of Sheridan Folger. While I won’t mention the offending blog by name (so as not to give further voice to their insanity), I do hope that someone links this post to their comment section.

Sheridan Folger is a true conservative and one who works tirelessly for the cause. He is a strategic activist and one of the smartest and most on message that conservatives have. Whether his activities involve mobilizing activists, motivating others to do the same or simply reaching out to the undecided, Folger goes above and beyond. His record of success and that of Brad Marston, his co-director of Conservative Solutions, attest to this.

Folger embodies Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision of judging by the content of one’s character. Folger and Conservative Solutions have taken the lead in endorsing minority GOP candidates who are true voices of conservatism. When war hero Allen West was abandoned by the national committees, the RNC and the NRCC both having been more interested in a game of pure defense at the time, it was Sheridan Folger and Brad Marston who brought prominence to that race and to others as well.

The GOP needs to be careful not to eat its own. And people who don’t know the difference between someone’s own comments and those of a poster on one of their websites have no business commenting in the first place.