Hey All,

I just wanted to let you know that I’m taking a break this week and may or may not post here on a daily basis. It all depends on how the Spirit moves me. I’m supposed to build a walkway and rebuild the grill area of our patio area, but I’m holding off on that until later this week, when the temperatures ease up. 93 degrees and high humidity is not good conditions for digging and hauling and placing pavers!

Manana…

RV

Today is Veterans Day, which honors those who have served our country in military service. Today is also the 2nd anniversary of the launch of RochesterConservative.com, which is made up of Veterans and Patriots, who continue to honor our oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America and the Republic, for which our Flag stands.

Much has happened over the past year, most notably the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. A good orator, especially with the aid of a teleprompter, he ran the better campaign than his Republican (some say, RINO) opponent, John McCain. Obama benefited from “Bush fatigue”, support from George Soros, ACORN, the unions, American socialists (aka “progressives”) and 95% of black voters. It was never about race here at RochesterConservative.com, we recognized Obama early on as a radical socialist, with the most “liberal” voting record in the U.S. Senate, who’s had a long history of friendships and associations with radicals of the socialist/communist bent. I won’t belabor the point, as RochesterConservative.com is on record in opposition of Obama’s policies and agenda. It’s painfully obvious that he’s a typical leftist who loathes our country and American exceptionalism. Most Amercans who are paying critical attention to the goings on of the Obama Administration are seeing who “the man behind the curtain” is. Starting on the day of the launch of RochesterConservative.com, we have reported on this and will continue to do so!

Charlie Eames posted a wonderful essay, arguing the cause of Upstate New York Secession in the Christmas Eve 2008 post, Upstate Ultimatum. Here’s an excerpt:

It is true that history repeats itself. Over two hundred years ago our Founding Fathers were ruled by a distant and detached government. This government was run by people that cared nothing about the colonies or her citizens. They passed oppressive laws and levied burdensome taxes upon the people.

As the American Philosopher and Poet, George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The citizens of Upstate are now enduring these exact same conditions. We have no representation and no power. Albany in general and the Assembly in particular are controlled by New York City. The Speaker of the Assembly has proven time and time again that he has no regards for the needs or the will of the people of Upstate New York. Over the years the Speaker has refused to allow the General Assembly to vote or even discuss Initiative and Referendum. I&R is only one example of the cold callousness of the State Government. More recent events show the attitudes of Albany and the treatment of Upstate will only get worse.

My blogging partner, phantomlord predicted, the election of a far left President, along with the take-over of the Senate and Congress by the “progressives”, would ignite grassroots conservatives, and the Tea Party Movement was founded in early 2009. We of RochesterConservative.com were in on the ground floor of the Tea Party Movement and joined forces with other bloggers and stepped away from our computers and put “boots on the ground” at The “Commando” Rochester Tea Party.

On a cold and very blustery day, approximately 40 concerned citizens met at a downtown Rochester, NY park on Wednesday, March 11, 2009, to participate in our local version of the Tea Parties that have been sweeping the nation! NY Governor Paterson was here for a “town hall” meeting at the Rochester Convention Center and the decision was made nine days prior that with the Governor in town, March 11 would be present a great opportunity to not only protest the Porkulus Package, but also the crushing tax burden that New York State inflicts on its citizens.

Charlie Eames was one of the first to speak:

phantomlord and Mike also spoke and Rev. Dr. Tommy Davis delivered the keynote address:

We never meant for the “Commando” Rochester Tea Party to be a big event. We were taking the opportunity with Gov. Paterson being in Rochester, to stage a rally and demonstration, directly across the Genesee River from the Convention Center, where his “town hall” meeting was being held, to protest against State and Federal government expansion. There were only 9 days to plan and get the word out. We garnered the coverage of all of the local TV stations, not bad for a small gathering. Of course, we were mocked by the local lefty blog and a few national lefty blogs. We expected that would happen, as we have read Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals” as well, but the “ridicule” only strengthened our resolve!

The “pioneers” at the “Commando” Rochester Tea Party exchanged contact info and plans were immediately set for the Tax Day Rochester Tea Party. Erik Anderson obtained the permit and we formed an alliance with “We Surround Rochester” for the planning and support of the Tax Day Rochester Tea Party. It was truly a grassroots effort with everyone pitching in to make it the largest and most successful rally and march that Rochester has ever seen! 1500 working class citizens showed up at Genesee Crossroads Park to protest the “Porkulus Package” and the huge expansion of government that it brought.

Again, RochesterConservative.com played a central role, with many of our members speaking and participating! This video shows me leading the Rochester Veterans and Patriots Color Guard, Charlie, phantomlord and Rev. Dr. Tommy Davis speaking and a12iggymom and NoSocialism rallying and acting as event volunteers.

That video still touches me, as it captures the spirit of that day! All I can say is that you had to be there.

Here’s another moment, when Laura Jean led us in singing “God Bless America”. Everybody sang, whether we could or not! It brought a tear to my eye…

The first three Rochester Tea Parties came about as a result of our discussions on RochesterConservative.com, both the blog and the RC Pirate Forums and our collaboration with RochesterWatch, North Shore Journal, the Campaign for Liberty and We Surround Rochester.

Charlie and I joined up with Mark and company from RochesterWatch and We Surround Rochester on the March on Albany on June 16, 2009. Tea Party activists from across New York State converged at the steps of our Capital to protest corruption and malfeasance in state government:

The Rochester Contingent gathered beneath the horse’s posterior…

The momentum of our movement kept rolling with the Rochester Independence Day Tea Party that was held at Charlotte, aka Ontario Beach Park, on July 3, 2009. Again, RochesterConservative.com folks were front and center.

RochesterConservative.com contributing writer, Deneen Borelli, was a featured speaker at the March on Washington on 9/12/2009. Here’s the video of her speech.

Seth Swirsky contributed some good commentaries:

It’s No Wonder People Are Angry!

When In Doubt, Blame Bush

Why Should Obama’s Poor Cabinet Choices Surprise Anyone?

We also got to hook up with Debra J.M. Smith and her crusade to hold Louise Slaughter accountable to her constituents.

Louise had posted on her site that she would be having meetings. I called almost daily for a while wanting the dates and times. To my surprise, when the answer came, it was that Louise would only conduct telephone meetings with people like me, also known as, her constituents.

I was one of the first to sign up for the phone meeting that took place this past Thursday night. All of the people that signed up were to be called for the phone meeting. They did not call me.

If you want to see Louise unseated in the NY 28th, contact Debra J.M. Smith at http://www.debrajmsmith.com.

Although I couldn’t participate in the March on Washington DC on 9/12/2009, a12iggymom and four busloads of Rochester area patriots did join the million plus participants. Here’s a12iggymom’s eye witness account:

There was not less than the 1 million first estimated. Col. Riley from PoA was told by the head of the Park Police late last night that there were, by Park Police estimates, over two million people at the March on DC. I got to the park about 9:30am, for HOURS the street entering the mall was packed and they continued to March until after 11:30am.

It was a breath-taking sight! It was so packed, body to body that the grassy area needed to be opened up.

9/12 is a historic day and We Will Be Silent No More!

Of course, the State Sponsored Media either low-balled or ignored this historic event, it was reported on the free press of conservative blogs.

“Operation Can You Hear Us Now?” was held back on October 17, 2009, a protest of the MSM and their blowing off a movement that represents millions of working class American citizens, many of us are veterans.

This past November 1, 2009, we lost our buddy, Charlie Eames. If you noticed in my post here, I tried to feature photos, writings and videos of him. We’re hurting from the sudden loss of Charlie, but we are heartened by his spirit of friendship and freedom and will keep those fires burning!

In Memory of Charlie Eames

If there was one thing you could say about Charlie, other than the love he had for his family, it was that he truly believed we could make things better for our fellow man through the expansion, the recapturing, of our liberties. I couldn’t even guess how many different forums he participated in across the state, not only on the internet, but also in person as part of the Independence Party, in his quest to reform the state.

By all means, he should have been on the ballot this week, but that same Independence Party that he once believed wanted reform, stabbed him in the back despite his years of service, including service on their nominating committee, and endorsed a major party candidate instead of one of their own. I’d like to say he was furious, but I think it’s more appropriate to say he was disappointed. He even asked me if I knew any ways to make his former party members squirm without being a vindictive instigator. That was Charlie, he couldn’t even bring harm against those who harmed him.

Over the last couple years, Charlie, others from our group, and I would occasionally meet up, sometimes privately, sometimes in front of thousands of people, like at the tea parties. I’m actually a pretty bashful guy, but Charlie was like a battle standard, flying out in front to give the men something to rally behind. He said what he meant and he meant what he said. Most importantly, he believed in us and what we were fighting for and that we could achieve it, if only we could spread the word.

The man who carries the standard has typically been one of the greatest targets of his foes on the battlefield because how strong the rallying cry is that he represents. Tradition says that the man closest to him should bear his flag and continue the charge if he falls. I can’t say that I will ever be able to be the crusader that Charlie was, but I can say that I’m willing to help lead the charge for the cause that we both believed in. Just because Charlie’s body is gone doesn’t mean his spirit has failed to live on.

To you Charlie, a husband, a father, a brother, a veteran, a patriot, my friend and a champion of all of our freedoms: May you continue to touch the hearts of all you befriended. You’ll be sorely missed. Rest in peace, but know that you will always be a part of us as we carry on.

PL <phantomlord@rochesterconservative.com>

Today we observe another Veterans Day, a day to pay respect and gratitude for our nations Veterans, both living and deceased. This day is also the first anniversary of the launch of RochesterConservative.com by Freedom Fighter, phantomlord and I, as a grassroots effort to spread the word that smaller government is good government and self reliance and love of God and Country is still considered a virtue in our great country. We support the troops as well and it’s perfectly OK to express your patriotism here as well as witnessing your faith. This past year has been interesting, to say the least, and I’d like to celebrate our first anniversary by summarizing the issues that we covered and supported.

The second article that was posted here, after the introduction article that’s also used on our “About” page, was a moving tribute to our nation’s veterans, Veteran’s Day Dedication by Dave Jeffers, which started out with the following quote from General Nathaniel Greene:

Permit me, then, to recommend from the sincerity of my heart, ready at all times to bleed in my country’s cause, a declaration of independence; and call upon the world, and the great God who governs it, to witness the necessity, propriety and rectitude thereof…Let us, therefore, act like men inspired with a resolution that nothing but the frowns of Heaven shall conquer us.”

Dave was still in the process of grieving from the loss of his son, Sgt. Eddie Jeffers, who gave his life for us in Iraq in September 2007. It was a12iggymom, who originally posted Eddie’s essay “Hope Rides Alone” on the Democrat and Chronicle Forum. I emailed Dave about the essay and we’ve been friends and brothers in Christ ever since. A few days later, I posted an article on the Veterans Outreach Center and their 35 year selfless legacy of helping veterans and their families. phantomlord wrote a great article on A statistical breakdown of our Presidents, where he wrote “only 3 Presidents out of 42 served no executive role prior to taking office”… Later in November 2007, we wrote about Freedom *of* Religion or Freedom *from* Religion, of the controversy over the prayer offered before the Greece, NY town board meeting. We were then introduced to Seth Swirsky, a successful songwriter, musician and author, with his article, While Bush Fights for America, Democrats Fight Bush a cutting commentary on the bad behavior of certain Democrats in effort to undermine the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan.

December 2007 started out with an alliance with the website, stopthe aclu.com when Lobo emailed me and asked me to post their blogroll and I replied back with the article, stoptheaclu.com, Companions of the Journey!. Seth Swisky contributed his thoughts on the best qualified Democrat for the Presidency at that time, “And Then, There’s Al Gore“. Little did we know back in December 2007 how things would eventually shake out! The Rev. Dr. Tommy Davis accepted my invitation to post to RochesterConservative.com and contributed his first article, “Affirmative Action That We Need“, about his stand against affirmative action programs and his work as a chaplain that responds to homicide scenes on behalf of local law enforcement agencies and responsibility and accountability for ones own actions as being the key for success in overcoming adversity. The Rev. Davis also penned another great article on the rehabilitation of troubled young people in “Broken Windows and Broken Lives Can be Repaired“. Good friend of RochesterConservative.com, ronbohmw, gave me the heads-up on “One Finger Salute“, about Gunnery Sgt Michael Burghardt’s defiance and “salute” to the terrorists in Iraq. phantomlord had a great commentary about “Diversity” and how “Diversity of meaningless minutia is failure.” phantomlord also penned an article that was prophetic, whether he meant it or not, titled “Democrats, welcome to power“. I posted an article that promoted a William Kristol article about a hero of mine, “Gen. David Petraeus, Man of the Year” and how he should have received the “Time” magazine man of the year award over Vladimir Putin (no sh!t sherlock! ) .

I posted the first article from my good friend, Colonel Harry Riley, titled “Love, Courage, Resolve!” about standing for America, this from a man who’s dedicated his life to serving America, whose message that inspired me to later join with him and Eagles Up in Washington DC in March 2008. Colonel Riley put the call to action out a few days later to counter the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) Winter Soldier 2 in his article, “Gathering of Eagles, Washington D.C. March 15, 2008” which was later to be renamed, Eagles Muster. Dan Maloney, the NY coordinator of Gathering of Eagles (GOE) contacted me about NY GOE and about all that they’re involved with and also about organizing for the trip to DC on March 15, 2008. Dave Jeffer then wrote about his daughter Tiffany’s tribute to her brother, Eddie Jeffers, with the song “For Freedom” dedicated to Eddie and our other fallen heroes in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in the video, “Tiffany’s Tribute“. Make sure you have a tissue handy when viewing Tiffany’s moving video. phantomlord ended up the year with some great posts on issues that had been discussed in the Democrat and Chronicle editorial page and on their old Forum, “Time for secession?“, about Upstate and Western New York State seceding from Albany and NYC. PL also had a great post on the D&C Forum that I took the liberty of reposting to RochesterConservative.com and titled, “Phantomlord’s Wisdom, a commentary on conservatism and traditional values, a must read.

The optimism of New Year 2008 started out setting the tone of what was to come for the rest of the year. I posted a David Limbaugh article, “Time to Step Up, Fred. David Limbaugh urges that, “Conservatives need a leader about whom we have no major reservations. The only one looming out there about you is your failure, so far, to persuade voters you want the job.” We then became acquainted with Duane Lester and Andrew Riley of AllAmericanBlogger.com in Duane’s series on the “human induced” global warming hoax, “10 Reasons to Doubt Global Warming is Man-Made (Part 1)” and 10 Reasons to Doubt Global Warming is Man-Made (Part 2)” which made a great case that human induced global warming is in reality, a global socialist movement wealth distribution scheme based on junk science. Then came the cancellation of the major leftist political protest groups to cancel their protests in March, Colonel Riley reporting, “Huge Victories and Colonel Riley’s follow-up article, “A Message from Colonel Riley” to gather a muster of veterans and patriots to stand against IVAW’s Winter Soldier 2 and rally for America!

I reposted phantomlord’s post to the D&C Forum commenting on, “Student poverty up in the suburbs”, a great commentary on the “entitlement” attitude that’s starting to prevail in our society. Our native Rochesterian, Arizona transplant, ronbohmw, contributed an article, “What if 20 Million Illegal Aliens Vacated America?“. Ron experiences our illegal alien problem up close and personal. From Jan. 12, 2008, we have “Fred Won the Debate…But Who Came Out Ahead?“… hindsight is 20/20 folks and the Republicans screwed up by not sticking with Fred! A moment of pride for all of us at RochesterConservative.com came when phantomlord was published by AllAmericanBlogger, “All American Blogger Publishes phantomlord!!!“. I posted an article entitled “Why We Fight” a repost of a Michael Yon article about the little girl that was killed by terrorist insurgents in Iraq. Let’s not forget the video “A Short Course in Brain Surgery” about the failings of socialized medicine in Canada. We then welcomed D&C Forum poster, leavingroch, to RochesterConservative.com, “RochesterConservative.com Welcomes leavingroch!!! and she’s still with us to this day!

Dave Jeffers had a couple of great articles in January 2008, that in retrospect, were about something all of us conservatives struggled with the remaining of the 2008 Presidential election, “Voting on Principle” and “My Dilema about Fred Thompson’s being passed over by the Republican Party for the Presidential nomination. phantomlord had a good historical article on “The leadup to the Vietnam War. leavingroch posted a great analogy on socialism, “How to catch wild pigs. Ricky Bryant Jr., a Gates-Chili graduate, law enforcement officer and veteran was gunned down in cold blood in the line of duty, “In Memory of Ricky Bryant Jr.. I posted an article written by William Greene, “The Lesser of Two Evils” that covered the political issue of, “if my choice for dinner is between a poison that will kill me quickly or a poison that will kill me slowly, “I’ll starve, thank you very much.”! Some regular posters to RochesterConservative.com chose to vote for the lesser of two evils, while other voted with their conscience… we all lost. phantomlord finished off the month of January with the article, “Economics 101, or why socialism is bad, offering some great advice on why we should avoid socialism.

Things got tough for me personally in February 2008 due to the loss of my Dad. I laid low for quite a while and during that time. I did make a commitment to go down to Washington DC and join Colonel Riley, Eagles Up, the DC Chapter of Free Repblic and Gathering of Eagles for Eagles Muster 2008. Here’s a link to my Eagles Muster! RV’s After Action Report. It was a great rally for our brave men and women in the Armed Forces and I even got to march up Constitution Ave! I met many great people, including, Colonel Riley, concretebob, Carter, Mr. and Mrs. Trooprally, Mike Connelly, Kristinn Taylor, Pitbull, Melanie Morgan, Cat Moy, Mary Pearson, Debbie Lee, Skye, Beverly Perlson, Patrick McCarthy, Gunny Hoffa and his wife, and many other great, patriotic folks. I even got to visit the WWII Memorial. My Dad never got a chance to see it before he passed away and I thought of him the whole time I was there.

In March 2008, the Democrat and Chronicle converted their website to the Pluck software package and that included their internet Forum as well. As far as the Forum software, it was a huge step down and limiting to their users. That’s when phantomlord and I decided to provide an alternative to the new “Dark Cide” Forum, by establishing the RC Pirate Forums, that utilized the same phpBB software that the old D&C Forum used, but an updated version that was full-featured, allowing users to post images and videos. Many people came over and joined in on the RC Pirate Forums including, MugsysMom, Charlie, a12iggymom, Annoyed, leavingroch, tired_of_it, cmprostreet, Informed_Roch, creativeogre, SpaceMonkeyZero, Melino, HowardRoarke, rdebose, Spcwright, homesick, HowardRoarke, Crash, rfm and some others. The emphasis shifted to the RC Pirate Forums and it really does offer folks a place to discuss politics, religion, community affairs and just plain old joking around with each other. We’ve had two get togethers and many of us have met in person and established friendships. We also were contacted by Nan Swift of Freedom Works, an organization that advocates for lower taxes, less government and more freedom, who’s chairman is former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey. We also formed an alliance with Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions and are a part of the “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” initiative and blogroll.

A presidential campaign has come and gone. Most of us who are conservatives weren’t happy with the choices for president, but the addition of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin rallied most of us to support her and John McCain, but it was not enough and we now have Barack Obama as President-elect. I personally researched Obama on the net and I didn’t like what I found out about the guy. I have great concerns for our country with President Obama at the helm as his upbringing, mentors, supporters and friends are steeped in radicalism, socialism and communism. I can assure you, unless we’re shutdown by Obama’s digital brownshirts, we will be on Obama like a cheap suit! We at RochesterConservative.com will stick to our principles and we promise you that we will continue to spread the word that smaller government is good government and self reliance and love of God and Country is still considered a virtue in our great country. It’s perfectly OK to express your patriotism here as well as witnessing your faith.

PL <phantomlord@rochesterconsevative.com>