Scott Baugh, Chairman of the Orange County Republican party shared his vision for revitalizing the party in Orange County.

I don’t just want “Republicans” back in power. I want Republicans who are reformers in power. Having Republicans back in power simply because Democrats have failed in their social experiments is not good enough.

Your call to action is to challenge your representatives when they stray from the path of limited government. Your call to action, quite simply, is to hold them accountable to the limited government platforms that they campaigned on.

His words are something everyone should read. Be sure to read the complete speech.

To the Editor:

Some of you, and I hope only a very few, pushed real hard in November, 2007 to get terrorist prisoners released from Guantanamo. You wanted Bush out of office and what better way than to show that this country stands for abuse of human beings as symbolized by GITMO. It worked. You fooled some of the people. You got Obama.

Some said it was unfair to detain GITMO terrorist without trial. Others that they might be innocent and it was wrong for Americans to keep terrorists locked up.

Well you were wrong.

Because of your calls for pris- oner release, prisoner No. 333, Muhammad Attik al-Harbi, and prisoner No. 372, Said Ali Shari, got sent to Saudi Arabi where the government put them into an art therapy class . (ABC news Dec. 28)

Leaving their crayons and pas- tels behind, Mohamed and Ali somehow skipped town for Yemen where they became Al Qaeda ring leaders.

Their art was now applied. They sculpted plastic explosives into a jock strap bomb. Art thera- py had gone hog wild.

Some 300 passengers almost lost their lives as a result of these men being freed from GITMO. Your good intentions at getting them and many others out may yet result in a deadly tragedy.

Obama ran on the closing of GITMO. Many, including me, called the goal stupid, something that would come back to bite him.

The news that these GITMO terrorist are behind the jockey strap bomb should give every American pause. We are still at war. There are bad people who can inflict massive harm on us. Our actions have consequences. And one of the first consequences should be to send a message to Obama that GITMO should stay open for business and no more prisoners should be released until we have won a victory in the war on terror. The trial of the 911 ter- rorists in NYC should be post- poned indefinetly. When someone tells us terrorist have rights, we should laugh them out of the room or off the airwaves. Until each of us gathers the will to put down ridiculous notions, we are not going to win this war.

Alan Stein
Mendocino

Does President Obama have a clue as to what he wants to do?

In his Afghanistan speech he tells the military, “… I owe you a mission that is clearly defined…” but not once in 4582 words does he use the word “victory”. To the military he’s saying, “I’m going to send 30,000 of your comrades to get their butts shot up but I don’t want you to win.” and to the Taliban, “Go to Pakistan and come back in 18 to 24 months.”

Later in his speech President Obama acknowledges, “… the American people are understandably focused on rebuilding our economy and putting people to work here at home.” But instead he is urging Congress to pass a monstrosity Healthcare bill that the majority of Americans don’t want.

Later in the week President Obama held a “Jobs Summit”. The Small Business Administration says that companies with fewer than 500 employees created 64% or 14.5 million of the 22.5 million jobs created between 1993 and Q3 of 2008. Yet among the dozens of participants invited to the Jobs Summit, specifically excluded were the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business and the National Association of Manufacturers whose combined membership provides 140 million jobs in the country; 96% of the Chamber members are companies with less than 100 employees! What kind of jobs program will result if the organizations that represent small businesses that create the jobs aren’t even invited to the party?

Stan Anderson
Fort Bragg

BigGovernment.com carried this opinion piece by Representative John Boehner (R-OH) where he described our nations rapidly increasing deficit. The following graphic, which speaks for itself, accompanied the story.

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has a nice document outlining the top 10 facts about the healthcare reform legislation being discussed. You can find it here.

The Wall Street Journal published this opinion piece by House Member Paul D. Ryan. The short version of the GOP plan is:

While our approach ensures a sturdy safety net for those facing chronic or temporary difficulties, it understands that the reliability of this protection and the other functions of government depend on a vibrant, free and growing private sector to generate the resources necessary for it.

Here's an outline of what we propose:

The American energy policy:

ANWR Exploration
House Republicans:91% Supported
House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Coal-to-Liquid
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 78% Opposed

Oil Shale Exploration
House Republicans: 90% Supported
House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Exploration
House Republicans: 81% Supported
House Democrats: 83% Opposed

Refinery Increased Capacity
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 96% Opposed

SUMMARY

91% of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the
production of American-made oil and gas.

86% of House Democrats have historically voted against increasing the
production of American-made oil and gas.

How much did you pay for gas TODAY??

Why are you blaming President Bush??