Pistol Packing Patriots Posted by Annie Jeffries on June 20, 2011 at original NVP site

Geneva and Kent Brett, members of the California Gunslingers Association, invited TEA Party Patriots to their quick draw shooting range for a morning and afternoon of firing wax bullets from a couple of six shooters.

Pictured here is Tawohi and The Undertaker




Saturday morning the 18th, Don Jeffries and I drove south to Los Banos and ended up in the backside of beyond on Sunset Road. Yes, readers, we drove into the Sunset in the morning.

We met up with Sondra and Les Palocsay and several other folks - some newbies like us and some very experienced. The first thing we had to do was sign in. This involved signing in with a nickname. I was clueless so I handed the clipboard to Don and told him maybe he would like to call himself The Pirate (which is one of my nicknames for him anyway). That naturally led me to MY nickname - The Parrot. So now the team of Don and Annie Jeffries are affectionately known as Pirate and the Parrot!!

It was all about gun safety from start to finish. We learned to load the pistol, spin the cylinder the set the bullet, how to hold the gun and cock it and fire. Later, some girlfriends asked me if I felt a strong sense of power firing the gun. Oddly, I didn't feel that way at all. I was so busy concentrating on learning the routine, being safe, and trying for a bulls eye (yay, I got one), that I really wasn't feeling much of anything at all. Except a LOT of fun!!

Oh, and I beat Don on our times. :-)

Apricot Festival Posted by Annie Jeffries on June 8, 2011 at original NVP site

The Apricot Festival in Patterson, despite the rain, was a great success. We didn't get a lot of sign-ups but several Spanish speaking families visited us and took information. Manuel, the Patterson TEA Party coordinator, was able to speak to them in Spanish and English, whichever they chose. Based on the interest, selected handouts including the Patterson tri-fold brochure, will be translated into Spanish. Many thanks to all how helped us this weekend.

Arkady Faktorovich and Russian History Posted by Annie Jeffries on May 14, 2011 at original NVP site

Arkady Faktorovich of Los Banos, CA via a circuitous route that started from the Ukraine 30 plus years ago, visited us again for the May 12th general meeting. This time he spoke to us of Russian history. It was the first presentation ever he did on this particular topic and included information that up until 3 years ago, had not be declassified by the Russian government.

Arkady's presentation was sequential, starting from Alexander II and continued to the current time of Vladimir Putin. His purpose tonight was to illustrate how the Russian people, through their history, had never had a hunger for freedom fostered by their leadership. Alexander II was assassinated two days before he would have signed a democratic constitution so, in light of their history from 1881 onward, it would be an interesting "what-if" question to speculate upon of what the history of Russia might have evolved into had he NOT been assassinated. But, he was so it's only speculation.

Arkady has the basis for a good and very readable book on Russian history. I see it as shaping into four parts - 1.) the time of Alexander II through Nicholas II and the destruction of the Romanov family; 2.) the Middle Era of the early days of the revolution; 3.) the Modern Era from the Cold War to the early days of perestroika, and; 4.) the present day. Broken into distinct parts, it is clear where the commonalities lie in the thoughts and actions of the major players involved in each era. The differences, though also distinctive, were over-ridden in the quest for power and dominance. As each period broken down, it was the quest for power at the expense of the country itself, that moved each period to a fall and the building of the next. At no time were the Russian people filled with the hunger for freedom. Why? Because they didn't know what it felt like. It was not in their national psyche nor in their gut. Interestingly, because of the over 200 ethnic groups in the old USSR, the changes were more one of a move towards nationalism and the retreat from the centralized rulership of Russia.

Arkady Faktorovch sees many similarities between 20th century Russian history and the the political direction our country is taking in the 21st century. He will return on May 26th to speak about the Federal Reserve and money in this country. And, as anyone will understand, where you have the quest for control of money, you have the quest for power.

Denham and Berryhill Posted by Annie Jeffries on April 29, 2011 at original NVP site

Thursday was a very satisfying day. A small group from Turlock met up with a couple of Modesto patriot members to rally outside of Congressman Jeff Denham's office for an hour. This was no ordinary rally. This was a THANK YOU rally. For an hour, we waved signs to the traffic as it passed by - signs that read thank you to Denham for supporting his constituents. Just as we have a duty to rally in protest, we also have a duty to rally when our representatives do something right.

The group was very small which was really disappointing. I regret that Modesto did not get the word that we were rallying to support Mr. Denham. A larger grouip would have had more impact on people driving by. Too much, our representatives hear only the complaints, the problems. We need to say thank you. We need to let them know that we are not only watching, but, that we are grateful.

**************************************************************************

Later in the evening, Turlock's general meeting met at the Pizza Factory. Assemblyman Bill Berryhill was our guest speaker. While reflecting on the experience of his first term and the changes he is experiencing in his second term, he spoke to issues that are of great concern to many of us - issues such as voter fraud, water rights, loss of businesses large and small in California because of over-regulation, and of course, the budget - just to name a few.

He also spoke to the reality of the difficulties of working with any success as a member of the minority party. He cautioned us that no matter how difficult we imagine that it is, it is truly much worse. But he also underscored the importance of not giving up, to continuing efforts to form bi-partisan bridges, and not lossing sight of our goals.

Information from CatholicVote.org re: yesterday's vote on funding Planned Parenthood Posted by Annie Jeffries on April 15, 2011 at original NVP site

The votes are in.

Yesterday afternoon the House of Representatives overwhelming re-approved a ban on taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood.

Unfortunately, as predicted, the Senate rejected the bill 58-42, effectively preserving taxpayer support for America's largest abortion provider for the next 5 months.

You can click here to see how each Senator voted.

More importantly, the following Senators deserve extra scrutiny as each of them have claimed in the past to be "pro-life" or at least to be against forcing taxpayers to fund abortion providers. The following Senators voted IN FAVOR of giving millions of taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood:

Senator Robert Casey (D-PA)*
Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE)*
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV)*

The following Senators claim to be good custodians of taxpayer money also voted IN FAVOR of federal funding of Planned Parenthood:

Senator Scott Brown (R-MA)*
Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL)

*denotes running for re-election in 2012.

Planned Parenthood has been posturing over the past 24 hours in an attempt to demoralize our side. Their leaders are acting as if the debate is over for good. They want you and me to throw our hands up in frustration and give up.

No way.

We are obviously extremely disappointed by this vote. But we are hardly giving up.

The fact is Planned Parenthood was frantic and spent millions of dollars to beat us back. For the first time in the history of this debate, the House of Representatives overwhelming approved a bill denying them taxpayer funds. And the debate helped expose Planned Parenthood for what they really are -- an abortion-centered, scandal-ridden, billion-dollar organization that does not need, nor deserve taxpayer support.

This fight is far from over and Planned Parenthood knows it.

The budget bill approved yesterday barely gets us through the summer. An even bigger fight is ahead, not to mention the 2012 election where analysts believe the Senate could undergo a dramatic change.

The Senators mentioned above who voted IN FAVOR of Planned Parenthood will be forced to defend their vote in states where polls show overwhelming opposition to this misuse of our money. Rest assured -- they will be hearing from CatholicVote.org.

Don't be discouraged. Remember, we are fighting for what is right, and therefore always on the winning side.

Thankfully we live in a country where there is always hope... and change.

Sincerely,

Brian Burch, President
CatholicVote.org

Useful Links Posted by Annie Jeffries on March 27, 2011 at original NVP site

This is a list of links that I have found useful. Please let me know of any that you think are good to add.

Tea Party Patriots National Tea Party Website

Capitol Resouce Institute Christian and family values

The Blaze Glenn Beck's website

Cal Channel Live and archived videos from the California Legislature & Governor's office

http://www.flashreport.org/ Great blog site for California Conservatives

The Drudge Report The Drudge Report

The Daily Caller Conservative Website

Gun Owners of California Gun Owners of California

Tea Party Training Tea Party Training Videos

True The Vote Voter Fraud info

NorCal Tea Party Sacramento Area Tea Party

Central Valley Tea Party Fresno Area Tea Party

2nd p.m. Saturday session Posted by Annie Jeffries on March 10, 2011 at original NVP site

Blog Watch – Citizen blog watch program – Phil and Shelby Dennis, moderator

Note to self – become secure with knowing who my representatives are, what my district is. In my blog, report on actions of my representatives

Note to self – get a smart phone

Phil and Shelby have been invited by the National Tea Part Patriot leadership to start the Citizen Watch Project.

They are seeking 2 bloggers per representative, nationwide. Objective is to build a relationship with their chief of staff, press secretary, etc. Provide micro-coverage. Let them know you are a writer.

Watch officials from the local through state through federal. Watch and report at all levels. Blog Watch ideally wants 1100 watchers. In time there will be training documents, option for becoming a journalist through them, and write reports of 500 words or less.

Track committee work of your chosen representative/senator. C-Span online has all the information for tracking committee work as well.

Things to check and study –
• Liberty Institute out of Plano, TX
• Teapartytraining.org
• Drudge Report
• Leadership Institute

Things to think about
• $14.1 Trillion debt not going away
• This amount does not include our off book debt.
• Study what off book debt is (which amounts to $10-$100 T.

Read The Creature From Jekyl Island. It will open your eyes – big time.

Here’s the ideal. Achieving the Clinton budget would be a good thing. When he left office, the budget WAS balanced.

Consider this
Don’t just look for good Republicans. As non-partisans, we need to find good conservative Democrats too. There are a lot of districts that are purely, dominantly, aggressively Democrat. Any Republican who runs will in all likelihood lose so work to find better Democrats to support.