College Republicans

C-PAC: Global Warming Mourning

While at C-PAC, we sat in on a panel discussion regarding Global Warming and its portrayal in the media. This panel was made all the more relevant by the recent Academy Awards presentation, in which Hollywood fell head-over-heels for Al Gore and the "we're all gonna die" hysteria.

The first panelist was Chris Horner, author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming." He spent most of his time talking about the Kyoto Treaty, which would force the United States to spend hundreds of billions annually to reduce its emissions.

Just before Horner spoke, Senator Inhofe stated that agreeing to Kyoto would cost the United States "$300 billion annually... and a family of four $2,700 per year." It would become the largest tax increase in the history of the United States, and yet would do little to save the environment.

Horner tied these remarks into his own presentation, where he states that America had actually already signed the Kyoto Treaty. I actually didn't know this--and really, you would never know this if you listened to what people in the entertainment and media industries were saying. The treaty was actually signed by Vice President Al Gore back in 1998, despite a vote in the Senate 95-0 against signing Kyoto. So, if we have already signed the Kyoto Treaty, why are people blaming Bush for not signing it? Horner is as baffled as I am.

"America only signs treaties once," he said. This is very true. Horner said that attacking Bush for not signing Kyoto is like attacking him for not signing the Treaty of Versailles. We don't need to keep signing these things... especially when they are as ineffective as the Kyoto Treaty.

Horner made sure to point out that America isn't "going it alone" on this one, either, despite what the Left may say. Yes, we signed it, but only symbolicly. We haven't actually ratified it--but we surely aren't the only ones. He said that there are 155 other countries that have also not ratified or signed the treaty. And to think, I was being misled by believing what "Futurama" and the Beastie Boys were telling me about America's involvement with Kyoto... for shame!

Dan Gainor, of the Media Research Center, followed Horner. His presentation was more of an examination on the mainstream media's portrayal of global warming. He made sure to include a healthy amount of video clips of news anchors and weathermen telling us that "something is terribly wrong" with the weather.

"Good weather isn't the end of the world," Gainor said, "It's just the end to good journalism."

C-PAC: Swag Heaven!

One of the best parts of going to C-PAC, aside from seeing great speakers, is the swag. The Urban Dictionary defines swag as booty, or loot. C-PAC, anticipating this extreme amount of free stuff, gives everyone a free tote bag to put everything in. Like children on Halloween, we ran from booth to booth in the hotel exhibit hall, taking anything we could stuff into our bags. C-PAC is fantastic for this sort of stuff. I found an extremely wide variety of things, from public policy booklets and magazines, to candidate buttons and DVDs.

The hall was filled with exhibitors from all over the conservative spectrum. There were presidential hopefuls, newspapers, blog sites, and non-profit groups. After surveying everyone, I must say that the non-profit issue-oriented organizations, as well as non-profit conservative think tanks, really had the best swag. Maybe it's because they thrive in the private sector, sucking in money from donors and patrons. They have the resources to make the sweetest swag, and C-PAC really gave them a venue to shine.

After I made my way through half of the exhibit hall, my Young America's Foundation tote bag was filled. Thankfully, there was a well-positioned organization handing out second tote bags. I guess they realized that people would be in dire need of a second bag. The group was called Muslims for America, and their main focus is to elect Newt Gingrich. Yea, it sounds a little strange, but I talked to their spokesperson and he told me that was their main mission. Apparently they really love Newt (I mean, who doesn't) and they find his plan for the war against Islamic fascism to be the best. They seemed like a cool group of people--I just wanted the bag.

There were varying degrees of swag in the hall... but there were three tables that really offered up some unique, and awesome stuff.

The first was the ESA/ESRB, the video game ratings board. Over the last decade, this self-regulating non-profit group has become increasingly active the in the political scene. They are constantly defending the art of video games against folks like Joe Lieberman and Hillary Clinton, who aim to censor video games and add government regulation to their sales. They have actually spent more than the RIAA and MPAA combined, and it was a very smart move for them to appear at this conference.

The workers for the ESRB were extremely friendly, and they made sure to ask me what kinds of video games that I played. In return, they gave me a sweet "Rated M" keychain! They had keychains displaying all the degrees of ratings, but obviously the "M for Mature" rating was the coolest. In the space next to the table, they had big flat screen televisions with Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero II setups. They also gave away soundtracks for all the DDR games and pins for Guitar Hero II! The ESA also had important pamphlets about gamer demographics and legislation about game ratings. An excellent table, for sure!

The second table that I really enjoyed was the Fair Tax table. These folks are die hard advocates for a national Fair Tax, which would eliminate the income tax and create a less complex tax system. They have the support of some big Libertarian commentators like Neal Bortz, but there hasn't been a whole lot of talk about it on a legislative level. So the mission of this table is to arm every passerby with enough info to make him or her fall in love with the idea.

They didn't have to convince me about the Fair Tax. I've been excited about it ever since I first read about the idea in 2004. That wasn't going to stop me from taking every awesome piece of swag they had to offer. This included a cool DVD called "Fair Tax: It's Time"--I haven't watched it yet, but I'm sure it's going to be sweet; a mouse pad that says "Make April 15th Just Another Day"; a folder filled with charts and graphs about how successful the tax would be; and, finally, Fair Tax Lip Balm! So now, my lips will be moist and happy thanks to solid tax reform legislation.

The final table was the Sam Adams Alliance. They basically are a group of people that want to return more rights to the states, and make sure that the states are held accountable for their decisions. I didn't really care what they had to say, because their piece of swag far overshadowed their message. They were handing out a Sam Adams bobble head!

Word of a table actually giving out a Sam Adams bobble head spread like wildfire through the conference. There were actually flyers in our conference bags promoting the bobble head. It was surprising that all they were asking for was an e-mail address and the statue was yours. This group just formed in October, and I say that if they keep doing great things like handing out bobble heads for free, then they deserve a place in my heart.

The swag at this conference was impeccable, at least if you fancy yourself a conservative. Next time I go, I'll make sure to bring an empty backpack just for swag.

C-PAC: I'm Leaving On (A Parkway)

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go... Yes, the trip is over and the SHUCRs have finally made it back home. Several days spent in the capital city of the country we all love has left us weary and exhausted. But that's not all it left us. The trip has given us (especially me, who is still forming the basis of my political identity) a time to reflect on what we believe and gain the knowledge to express those beliefs. And we got to voice our opinion, some in interviews by local papers, and all of us in the Straw Poll. In the blog posting below you can find the outcome of that specific poll. It was not the outcome of that poll that surprised me, but the press that it got. The headline from CNN said, " Romney favored among conservatives in straw poll.", and all had the theme that we, the Conservative Base, have picked our man of the future.

Although Romney won just outside of the margin of error, that does not make him the choice of the conservative base. For those of you not versed in the art that is polling, here's a little lesson for you. A straw poll is called such because it is the most basic and UNOFFICIAL poll you can take. These types of polls were taken in the early days of politics in America, and were often inaccurate. Today we do a polling with a sample of the population (usually anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 responses) in which everyone has an equal chance to answer. Even then it is not a guarantee that the poll is predicting the future and that candidate is going to win, especially when variables like voter turnout, grassroots campaigns, and even the impact of the poll affect the outcome. This poll was a bad sample because it consisted of mostly conservative college students (who will be working the phones on election day no matter who the nominee is), and does not reflect the view of the whole conservative base. While this is often viewed as an important poll, one has to remember that it is still 2 years away from the election, and most of us didn't know everything about all the candidates. Romney had the most advertisement there and in the media, making him the likely conservative candidate to vote for in the poll. Giuliani being within four points of Romney shows how popular he really is in the electorate.

During the conference, several panelists and speakers voiced how important it was to make the right decision this election. We conservatives are in a unique situation to voice who we think should be the next nominee, and should take the time to do so. Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma argued that the polls are paper thin at this time and the unknowns can move the debate and position themselves for nomination. Kellyanne Conway (no relation) said that when we are asked we should not say who we support but what we support. She said we should, "want it to be a contest of ideals," and to think of this campaign as a long application process in which we are the bosses, and the candidates are the applicants.
So each of us has to decide for ourselves, what is important to us, and who fits the job description.

For me, I went in thinking the only man who can get elected was Giuliani, and to win he had to pick a powerful conservative, the best choice being Romney. That was my first and second in the straw poll. Now, after seeing some of the speeches, I'm not so sure. Right now, after seeing them speak, my dream ticket is Giuliani/ Huckabee. Giuliani delivered in his speech, and I have retained my respect and believe that he can get the job done in my top issues of National Security, the Border, Taxes, and Education, and even can clean up on the welfare debacle, and help reduce crime. Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee seemed just another conservative candidate as he waled up to the podium, but soon separated himself from the pack. When he spoke, he was captivating, honest, and insightful. He was more than just another conservative candidate, he was a man with a plan. That's what these men shared. They were men who came from two different worlds and yet had the same story, local boy pulls himself up from his bootstraps and becomes a leading player in professional politics. These men aren't the rich aristocrats that other campaigns have to offer. These men are us, and as of right now, they are my ticket for the highest office in the land. But I'm still keeping watch, and keeping an open mind, and will choose the best man for the job, no matter who he, or she, is.

C-PAC: Candidates Galore

C-PAC was a den of presidential candidates, all hoping to connect with their core conservative voters. Some were fairly popular, like Giuliani and Romney, and others were obscure, like Tancredo and Gilmore. The Republican primaries are going to be a real contest to watch, it seems, as conservatives will really have a number of excellent candidates to choose from. While the Democratic primaries look to be between Hillary Clinton and Obama, the Republican ticket has at least four or five viable candidates.

Walking around C-PAC would lead you to believe that Romney and Brownback were the two most popular candidates. Rather, these two were just fueling their grassroots efforts by hiring tons of workers to hand out stickers and literature to passersby. The New York Times reported that "...the Romney campaign planned to have at least 225 student volunteers at the event, with 90 percent of them living close enough to eliminate the need for housing or transportation." [These 225 volunteers certainly explain how Romney received 21% of the straw poll vote, or roughly 385 votes].

Other candidates didn't need to have folks handing out campaign lit at every intersection. Giuliani, who spoke Friday afternoon to a standing-room-only crowd, didn't have any representation at the conference at all. I would say this is because he is still forming the infrastructure of his campaign (he doesn't even have a logo or print material yet), but perhaps it was because he realizes how early everything still is. There will be another C-PAC before the we have to choose a candidate. Another popular candidate was former-speaker Newt Gingrich, who received 14% of the straw poll and he hasn't made a decision about running yet.

One candidate that wasn't even mentioned, or talked about positively, was Sen. John McCain. By our arrival Thursday, newspapers were already reporting that he was the only Republican presidential candidate that turned down an invitation to C-PAC that year. Handouts were circulating pointing out that McCain skipped three different invitations to conservative events in Feb., but made time to announce his candidacy on Letterman. If you ask me, he doesn't stand a chance with conservatives.

So who will we choose? Newspapers are reporting that C-PAC was filled with grumblers and mopers--conservatives who are angry at the Republican party for putting up such moderate and liberal candidates. The truly "conservative" candidates are trailing big-time with the general public; people like Brownback and Huckabee haven't even been mentioned in many of the primary news features. Perhaps its because people are thinking about beating the competitor (which we all assume, perhaps wrongly, will be Hillary). Almost everyone at C-PAC would agree that they would rather have a Giuliani than a Clinton, but that won't say much for advancing the conservative movement.

So do we sit back and really make this a popularity contest? I think it has to be a combination of "yes" and "no." On FOX News this evening, Bill Kristol said that Republicans may be looking to make a deal with our more moderate frontrunners. I certainly support a Giuliani campaign, but it would be cool to see him with a more conservative candidate, like Newt Gingrich or Mike Huckabee. Kristol also mentioned that these candidates may be trying to move more to the Right, just as Hillary Clinton moved more to the Right to become "moderate." We have a long way to go, and if frontrunners see that the conservative base is yearning for certain ideas, they may be able to shift their policy to actually listen to their constituents.

This really is a battle of ideas. Out of the candidates I heard speak at C-PAC, I have to pick Giuliani hands-down. His speech was excellent, optimistic, and specific. He gave concrete examples about reforming the education system and defending America. He cleaned up New York City and accomplished a feat that was never thought possible... and I believe he could really transform America in a similar fashion.

The road to the White House is quite a ways away, and a lot could change. But C-PAC offered us a look at the ground level, the earliest days of a presidential candidacy. It will be fun to see it grow from there.

C-PAC: Straw Poll Results Released

This evening, the results of the C-PAC straw poll were released. According to an article on Yahoo News, Mitt Romney won the straw poll with 21% of the vote. He was followed by Rudy Giuliani with 17%, Brownback with 15%, and Gingrich with 14%.

I, quite frankly, found these results to be a tad surprising. There were 1,705 votes cast over the three-day period, and I have to wonder how many of these voters were members of the Romney squad. I'm not bashing Mitt, or his campaigners, but it's an undeniable fact that they were the most visible campaigners there. Perhaps that means that they swayed a lot of minds by pushing their Mitt stickers on everyone who walked by. According to Yahoo!, last year's C-PAC had Senator George Allen in the lead for president with 22% of the vote, followed by McCain at 20% (his decision to not attend C-PAC this year hurt him big time, as he only received 12% of the vote this year).

The Giuliani campaign had absolutely no promotion at C-PAC. This also says something for the candidate. Sure he didn't get number one, but he also didn't have to work for it like Mitt apparently did. The Romney campaigners were at every intersection in the hotel with large signs, big-lettered shirts, and tons of oval stickers. You couldn't avoid them, and they only thing they talked about was the straw poll and the Romney speech (which occurred Friday afternoon). Giuliani didn't have any campaigners, signs, stickers or even pictures of himself anywhere at the event.

The Romney win in the straw poll, while not necessarily front-page news, is a tad surprising considering that he has been behind Giuliani, McCain, and Gingrich in almost every poll I've seen in the past few weeks. Are Republicans at C-PAC trying to send a message to Giuliani that his liberal stances on social issues don't line up with the party's brand of conservatism? Or were enough people swayed to the side of Mitt?

The race for president has started so extremely early that much happening right now truly matters. I find it impressive that Newt got such a high vote while being one of the few on the list to not announce his candidacy (Yahoo! reports that Newt has said that he won't announce any decisions until the fall).

The full straw poll results can be downloaded from the C-PAC website.

C-PAC Day 3: A Relaxing End

The last day of C-PAC was a very laid back experience. Half of the group went to early to see Sean Hannity speak while we arrived a little after to stop at the Newt Gingrich book signing. Unfortunately, they had unexpectedly cancelled this morning's signing (they moved it to the previous Friday without really telling anyone... thanks). I was really looking forward to getting my picture taken with Newt, but I would have to settle for another spin through Swag Alley.

Karissa and I did attend the ISI sponsored "Conservatism 101" lecture featuring Mark Henry. The lecture was excellent; it traced the beginnings of the modern conservative movement and it's various sects (Libertarianism, Anti-Communism, and Traditionalism). ISI did a great job offering attendees a look at the intellectual and philosophical writings of conservatism (rather than its application in Republican politics).

After we rejoined the CRs, we hit up lunch with our friend Francisco (from ISI) at Chapotle (basically a Mexican Subway). Then we hopped back on the Metro and rode it to the Capitol Building for some excellent photo ops.

We spent a good bit of time just walking around the Capitol, and visiting the near by Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Then we hopped on the Metro to make our way back to PA.

[Over the next few days, while we're all on spring break, check back here for more post-C-PAC blogging. We all attended various panel discussions and speeches, and there will be plenty of coverage, commentary, and photos!]

C-PAC Day 2: Chance Encounters

Friday's visit to C-PAC was fantastic-- maybe because we actually had a full-night's sleep. We woke up early and made our way, via the Metro, over to the hotel early to make sure we caught the global warming panel discussion.

The majority of the speakers and panels were featured in the Regency Ballroom. The trick to this room, which was filled with hundreds of chairs and television cameras, was to grab some seats and stay in them for as long as possible. You could conceivably stay in these chairs for the entire day and enjoy a rapid-fire line-up of speakers. We got there in time for the global warming discussion and stayed to see presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, a discussion about the 08 election featuring Michael Barone, and, of course, a fantastic speech from Rudy Giuliani.

But it was after Rudy that we had our chance encounters. We left the hotel to get some grub across the street when suddenly all traffic was halted by a police officer on a motorcycle. Everyone had to stand on the street corners, and we began to wonder if there was some sort of emergency. A fleet of police sirens came screaming down the street and they were followed by, none other than, the presidential motorcade!

It was an incredible coincidence that the presidential motorcade was suddenly two feet from us, screaming by the Omni Shoreham. Riding in the motorcade, and clearly visible by us stuck on the curb, was Vice President Dick Cheney! There is also debate as to whether or not we saw President Bush in the car following Cheney (he was seen on the news landing in Air Force One about an hour afterwards in Kansas). Vice President Cheney spoke later that evening at C-PAC.

After lunch, our group split up so that some of the CRs could visit museums while others stayed at C-PAC for panel discussions. That afternoon, Ann Coulter was speaking to a packed house in the Regency Room-- we weren't about to stand in line all afternoon to see her. But, Karissa and I did have the chance to bump into her after she was finished speaking to the Young America's Foundation. Ann popped out of the small conference room to shake hands with some important people, and there we were! It was cool to just sort of run in to her, and see how she acts when she isn't in front of thousands of supporters-- I can report that she acts the same.

These sorts of conferences are great for just running into people that you may know or admire. I had the great opportunity to also run into Dinesh D'Souza, author of "Letters to a Young Conservative," while he was hanging out at his publisher's booth in the Exhibit Hall.

C-PAC Day 1: Getting There was Half the Battle

Getting to D.C. wasn't too bad-- considering that you only really need to take a few highways to get there, we didn't have a lot of problems. Finding the Motel 6 was another story. Thanks to awkward directions from MapQuest, we ended up giving ourselves a "nickel and dime" tour of the historic D.C. area, including a double visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

Driving around D.C. is like driving a car down the street in "Paperboy." Things are jumping out between cars, dogs are running everywhere, people are changing lanes, and there may be a mummy here or there. Megan informed us that this was normal for drivers in Maryland... it was rough for us Pennsylvanians, that's for sure. After circling through D.C. for an hour, looking frantically for a place to park, we wound up at the Washington Mall. For about twenty minutes, our cars were separated and we actually passed each other going opposite directions.

We found parking spaces right along the Washington Mall. It was the perfect place to get out, stretch, and give the Atlas a once-over. Thankfully, luck was on our side, and we were actually on the road that would lead directly to Motel 6 (7th St.). Of course, we were at the near-bottom of the D.C. triangle, and the motel was at the very top-- we had a bit more driving to do.

All in all, the supposed 4-hour trip turned into a 7-hour adventure. But we got to see some cool monuments and have some laughs (and scares).

C-PAC Day 1: Getting There (Pics)

The CR's lost on the Washington Mall!

The CR's eating their only meal of the day at Murphy's!

The CR's walking into the Omni Shoreham Hotel!

Off to C-PAC

We'll be waking up in the middle of the night to begin our trek. The SHU CR's are making their first (hopefully of many) trip to C-PAC tomorrow. It's a big step for us that certainly required more fund raising and planning than our trip to the state CR convention last Spring. But it will be worth it.

C-PAC stands for "Conservative Political Action Conference," the largest gathering of conservative minds in the country. Sponsored by the American Conservative Union, it's a three-day conference featuring panel discussions, training demonstrations, and speeches. The keynote speaker of the event will be Vice President Cheney, and almost every Republican '08 presidential candidate will be making an appearance at the event.

The event offers a great opportunity for us to advance in our conservative thought. It's not sponsored by the Republican party, but rather by conservatives and libertarians--organizations like the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, The Leadership Institute, and the Heritage Foundation will be there alongside a ton of other exhibitors. They will be holding training seminars and running a conservative job fair.

It's going to be a fantastic trip, and you can check back here for lots of blogging from the event. I can't speak for the rest of the kids coming, but I can assure you that I'll have my laptop on me everywhere I go.

To check out the agenda for the three-day conference, click here!

Merry Christmas from the College Republicans

On this finals week, as we all prepare for tests or finish papers, take time to enjoy the Christmas season. It always seems to pass by so quickly, especially while living here at Seton Hill. I hope that everyone in the club, and on campus, has a wonderful Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome our new board members, who were elected to positions at our year-end meeting last week. Megan Ritter has been elected the new chairperson, Shawn Conway has been elected the new vice chair, Amanda Manley has been elected the new secretary, and J.T. White has been elected the new treasurer. This brand new board will be taking over at the start of next semester, as the current board will adopt "senior advisor" positions in order to help the new leaders get acclimated with their new positions. Our club continues to grow, both in numbers and in conservative spirit, and I look forward to the good things to come.

But for now, enjoy the Christmas holiday. Have a safe trip back to your families, and give them the best wishes of the Seton Hill College Republicans.

Success with Make-a-Wish

Helping to raise money for the Make-a-Wish charity is great, but being able to have fun and watch children have fun while doing it is even better. This evening's "House on Haunted Hill," with a Wizard of Oz theme, was fulfilling in more ways than one.

The game sponsored by the SHU CRs was called "Toss it!" and was a major success. I'm pretty proud of the artwork, since I did the painting myself :)

Kids just stood on a tape line and tossed the bean bags through the elephant nose. (We have a "big kids" line and a "little kids" line, just to make things fair.) We had a couple repeat customers, so I really think kids liked it!

Really, though, it was fun to be there with Sue, Josh, Paul, and Harmon to watch these little kids have such a great time. We had a good view of the whole "carnival" room, so it was entertaining to see kids play other games and have a balloon animal made, or eat some cotton candy. Some children had costumes on, which was even more adorable. But seeing and hearing their joy when they scored bean bag through the elephant nose--you just can't help but smile and cheer along with them.

The game will run another night at tomorrow's "House on Haunted Hill," and I'm really looking forward to seeing more kids. Best of all, though, is that when there are a lot of kids playing the games at the carnival, I know that the money their parents spent on the tickets to play is going to a great cause. Make-a-Wish is a great organization, and I'm glad that the College Republicans can be a part of this event.

**Update**

Here are our Saturday night volunteers! Sue (our two-night worker!), Pam, and Amanda helped our club tonight at the carnival. Thanks to everyone who helped out!

Visit us at Make-a-Wish!

For those of you on campus this weekend, make sure you stop by the Make-a-Wish Foundations charity carnival in the basement of Sullivan! The annual event features a haunted house and carnival games for children. This year, the Seton Hill University College Republicans will have a booth there, doing their part to help this excellent charity!

The event is both Friday and Saturday (Oct 20-21st) from 6:00pm- 9:00pm.

RSite Launched

Saturday night there was a party for Rick Santorum at the campaign HQ in Greentree (which is where I worked for my internship). The point was to gather College Republicans and Young Republicans so the audience was right for the launch of the latest website--RSite.

RSite is a collection of short videos that address issues pertaining to the upcoming 2006 election. The videos are hosted by either Mike Rubino or me, Karissa Kilgore. We were asked to do this by some folks in the campaign, and we were overjoyed to be able to be so involved in the campaign.

It's a relief! I can finally talk about one of the most exciting things that I got to do this summer... It was SO hard not to blog or talk about this just because it was so great! Mike and I had so much fun. RSite was a really fun project to work on, and the people we worked with were fabulous. We filmed the first few episodes in June. It was my first time in front of a real camera, so it was thrilling and sort of frightening all at the same time.

Throughout the rest of the summer, however, Mike and I attended a number of campaign events and interviewed people for other segments.

One day Mike and I got to follow the bus tour around to Johnstown, to the DelGrosso Amusement Park near Altoona, and to a VA hospital. We also attended a number of picnics and "town hall" events to talk with people about the issues.

We've waited patiently, and (finally!) the site is up!

The party for the launch on Saturday was a total success. Supporters filled the room, and I could just feel the energy. When Rick showed up and talked to us, we were not just supporters listening to a politician, but we were like family supporting someone we believe in. Rick rallied us for support in these last five weeks of the campaign, fielded some questions, and then we all dug into the pizzas.

Once everyone was seated with food, it was time to unveil the site. I was excited and didn't know what to say, but when Mindy introduced Mike and I, somehow I just knew that telling the other CRs about what I really did and really felt was good enough. Mike mentioned MTV and other media and how they all purvey young voters and college students as liberals. We're not all liberals, though, and we have minds of our own. Now is the time for us to prove that: this November at the polls.

What excited me most about the site being up is that I know Rick is someone I truly support. It feels good to see a project that I think will make a difference come together. Rick stands for so much that our generation needs to get behind, and I've only learned more that I like about him by being a part of the campaign. My internship was originally just web design and blogging, but I wouldn't trade the experience of helping to create RSite for anything. I love knowing that what I'm doing is furthering the "Keep Up the Fight" campaign, and maybe opening some eyes to what good Rick Santorum is doing for Pennsylvania and beyond.

This entry is also posted on the ricksantorum.com blog.

The Unveiling of "RSite"

Saturday evening, I had the pleasure of attending a special party at the Santorum headquarters for Young and College Republicans. It was an honor to help launch a brand new extension of the Santorum campaign right alongside Senator Santorum, Karissa Kilgore, and the Students for Santorum chairman, Aaron Marks. It�s called RSite, a cool youth-oriented web video series that I spent my summer working on. This new series is going to be our way to reach out to young voters and let them know how Senator Santorum is working for them!

Working on this video series has been one of the most fun and interesting projects I�ve ever been a part of. It�s something that, to my knowledge, has never really been done on a campaign before. Over the summer, Karissa and I traveled with the Senator on his bus tour, attended special events with him, and went into the studio to record special two-minute webisodes. It was great being behind the scenes of the campaign, working hand in hand with his awesome staff, and really feel like I was helping the campaign in a new and exciting way.

Saturday, the Senator spoke to a large crowd consisting almost entirely of College Republicans from all over Southwestern Pennsylvania. He made it clear how important CR�s are going to be in this upcoming election, referring to these students as the fuel to the grassroots engine. The Senator was state chairman of the College Republicans during the first Reagan campaign back in 1980. It was great to meet fellow CR�s and see such strong, young support for the Senator.

For too long media outlets like MTV have been labeling young voters as Democrats and liberals. It�s time now that we use outlets like RSite, as well as blogs, Facebook, YouTube, and other New Media tools to spread the word that it�s okay if you are a young conservative or a Young Republican. In fact, it makes sense to be a Young Republican, because people like Senator Santorum are out there every day fighting for our future: whether its Social Security reform or the War on Terror, the Senator is on our side! I hope that you will share these videos with your friends, hold CR parties in a media classroom with a projector, and spread the word about RSite.

It�s great to finally be able to talk about RSite, a project that I�ve been excited about for some time now. We have all put a lot of time and effort into these shows, and it has been a real pleasure working with everyone every step of the way. As I said while introducing the episodes Saturday evening, the Santorum campaign staff is one of the friendliest, most passionate groups of people I have ever worked for. They are always a pleasure to be around, which made this whole experience never feel like �work.�

With RSite ready to roll with a month before the election� I�m ready to keep up the fight!

CR's Attend GOP Dinner

Thursday evening members of the Seton Hill College Republicans attended the Fall Westmoreland GOP banquet at the Mountain View Inn. The dinner featured speeches from Diana Irey, Representative Tim Murphy, GOP chairman Rob Gleason, and a keynote address by FreeMarkets founder Glen Meakem.

Meakem's speech, titled "The five ways to make Pennsylvania great again," was excellent. His plan for revitalizing PA had alot to do with taking government jobs and services and transferring them over to the private sector, which is a long-held belief by economic conservatives and Libertarians. Meakem compared Pennsylvania to America in Ayn Rand's "Atlus Shrugged:" a state that is becoming so overrun with government jobs, socialist welfare, and bureaucratic red tape is forcing the "Atluses" (AKA the investors who start big businesses and keep the economy rolling) out of the state. It was a very intriguing premise that really seemed to apply to the Commonwealth.

Mr. Meakem didn't pull any political punches either. He kept reminding the audience that he could really say whatever he wanted because he wasn't a politician. His assessment of the Commonwealth's current economy was at times a little harsh, but rightfully so. Meakem called for the state government to privatize the PA Turnpike system; cut down on public transportation, especially in upper class areas; and take control of police and firemen contracts.

The other interesting argument he brought up was our state's pitiful public school's system, which has been scoring below the national average. The problem with our school system, Meakem says, is that our teacher's union is out of control. Students aren't getting the education they need because the teachers are too concerned with striking. Don't believe him? Meakem said that in the past year, Pennsylvania had 12 teachers strikes across the state; over the entire rest of the country there were only 8!

Meakem's ideas for reform in Pennsylvania were practical, if somewhat idealistic (knowing how our legislative body works, doing things like privatizing the turnpike may be impossible).

The College Republicans would like to thank PA GOP chairman Rob Gleason for purchasing our tickets for the event, and Westmoreland GOP chairman Perry Christopher for inviting us! It was, once again, great to be a part of the strong Republican community in Westmoreland County!

CR's Counter "Inconvenient Truth"

College Republicans across the country are making the news with some great tactics for countering Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth." The CR's at Oklahoma University staged a "Global Cooling" snow cone stand, where they not only handed out over 1,000 snow cones/day, but also promoted the true facts about global warming. The Wall Street Journal also reported that some College Republican organizations are hosting "Global Warming Beach Parties."

The idea that global warming is being sensationalized and exaggerated is nothing new, and a number of studies and rebuttals by prominent scientific organizations are beginning to make their rounds. The Heartland Institute published a rebuttal in 2004 refuting extreme claims about global warming made in National Geographic (which came out around the release of the film "The Day After Tomorrow"). Most recently, they published an article titled "Global Warming: Perfect Storm of Media Sensationalism" which addresses the need for hyping the "end of the world":

Environmentalism is a cause that collects money and power only if there is a sense of impending disaster. Too many environmental groups don't seem to be averse to altering or exaggerating data to create that sense of doom. Activists cite the frequent and devastating hurricanes that hit the United States last year. A scientist will point out that hurricanes, worldwide, have decreased, not increased.

The idea that global warming isn't the threat that Gore and his enviro-friends make it out to be has been around for some time now. The National Center for Policy Analysis published a briefing in 1997 debunking four of the major global warming claims: 1) scientists agree on global warming; 2) humans are causing global warming; 3) the government must act now to stop global warming; 4) human-caused global warming will cause cataclysmic environmental problems.

And so as Al Gore tours the country, promoting his side of the global warming issue, we should do our best to learn the other side as well. But in the meantime, as College Republicans, we should all be having fun with it. So get outside and enjoy the nice weather, and make sure you put on extra sun block!

Students Stand Up to Murtha

The College Republicans would like to congratulate those who stood up to John Murtha's liberal rant of a commencement speech on Saturday. While we had all hoped that he would keep his speech non-partisan, taking the time to advise students on their future, Murtha instead dipped into his stock "pull out the troops" message. Parents and students alike booed the Congressman, the Trib reported.

Seton Hill's insistence on bringing liberal speakers to campus (without any representation from the conservative side) met with deserved resistance at the commencement speech. The Trib's report that Murtha failed to capture the hearts of everyone attending, as only roughly more than half of the graduates stood to applaud the Congressman.

Special congratulations to Geoff Monsour, a Marine and a graduate from Seton Hill's business program, who went out of his way to inform Murtha of his inappropriate choice of politicizing a commencement speech. Mike Whiteman, another graduate, also spoke out, telling the Trib, "I don't think it was appropriate. This is about graduation, not agenda-setting." Anyone who decided to stand up against the liberal propaganda being pushed at this year's commencement is a crusader for academic freedom and student rights.

The role of the commencement speaker is to offer inspiration and advice to graduating seniors, not promote a political message (whether conservative or liberal, it doesn't belong). However, Seton Hill's insistence on embracing such liberal speakers doesn't seem to be stopping. The Trib article closes with President JoAnne Boyle welcoming Murtha back anytime. Let's hope that whenever he does return, we have people like Geoff around!

SHU CR Party on Santorum Blog

I just wanted to thank everyone who attended our year end party last Monday. It was quite successful, and we were very excited to celebrate just a great semester. We were also very happy to finally report the findings of our campus polling (which was performed last February).

Special thanks to Elizabeth and friends for attending the party, and for helping us out with our endeavors this semester!

Some of the people that attended the party are now featured in a blog entry I wrote for the Rick Santorum website! The entry summarizes our activities for the year and stresses the need for campaign volunteers over the summer.

Student Leadership Recognition Dinner

The College Republicans were one of the many clubs in attendance at Seton Hill University's Student Leader Recognition Dinner Tuesday evening. The event was created to honor students and advisors in both clubs and student government for their leadership roles on campus. The dinner featured guest speaker Ruth Tobin, President of the Westmoreland County NAACP.

The CR's would like to also congratulate the Make-a-Wish Foundation for winning Outstanding Organization of the Year. The club has done great things on campus, including the Haunted Hill fundraiser every October.

SHU CR's in Santorum Photo Gallery

The SHU College Republicans have been doing a lot for the Santorum re-election campaign, and our efforts are starting to become more evident on the Santorum's official website! Over the past semester, the club has worked phone banks for the Senator, attended various fundraisers, and signed up countless "Running Mates" at various events. And that's just the beginning! The CR's are committing themselves to helping the campaign for the long haul, and ensuring Rick's victory next November.

Now, if you visit the Westmoreland County page on Santorum's campaign site, our pictures fill the gallery. Most notable are the images of us working the phone banks and meeting Ken Mehlman, chairman of the RNC. Also, members of the CR's are featured on the What They're Saying testimonial page. There, CR's have made brief statements as to why we are so dedicated in supporting Rick.

It's another great example of the work the Seton Hill U. College Republicans are doing for conservative politicians.

The "Voices" Have Been Heard

I would just like to thank everyone who came out to our showing of "Voices of Iraq" last night. We had an excellent turnout, and I was glad to see that people were interested in hearing the "other side" of the War in Iraq.

The College Republicans presented the film in a non-partisan apolitical environment, inviting people with all stances on the war to attend. The purpose was to hear the thoughts and hopes of the Iraqi people straight from their own mouths. This movie has no spin, it has no political leaning, and it has no outside influence. What it does have are messages from over 100 Iraqis, telling the world who they really are, and what they think of the war they live in the middle of. Some Iraqis are happy to be liberated and free, while others wish for the days when Saddam was back in power. "Voices of Iraq" gave everyone in attendance a clear look at the lifestyle and culture of today's Iraqi citizens, and we were proud to show it.

The discussion about the film only started last night... it will continue here on the blog. If you would like to see the film, "Voices of Iraq" has an exclusive partnership with Netflix. You can order it through the website, and obtaining the rights to show the movie is free. You just have to e-mail the producers and agree to not charge money for it.

Thanks again!

Two College Republicans Listed on RickSantorum.com

Rick Santorum's campaign web page contains a wealth of new media technology and information. Aside from having one of the most active campaign blogs I've ever seen, he also has a page of testimonials. The testimonials let his supports tell eveyrone why Rick is so great, instead of the Senator or interest groups doing the talking.

Just recently, he has added the testimonials of two Seton Hill U. College Republicans: myself (the chairman) and Karissa Kilgore (club secretary). We were each asked why we support Rick Santorum... to find out what we said, click here!

Breakfast with Sean Hannity and Rick Santorum

Last Saturday, the Seton Hill College Republicans were invited to a fundraiser/breakfast event in Johnstown. The purpose of the event was to raise money and sign up volunteers for Rick Santorum's 2006 re-election campaign. To help that along a bit, the Senator brought with him FOX News commentator, and the second most popular talk-radio host in the country: Sean Hannity. Eight of the SHU chapter of College Republicans were able to attend, and we were met with a warm welcome from the state committee and Rick Santorum.

The event consisted of breakfast, followed by speeches from Eileen Melvin, the chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Committee; local congressmen; Paul Gourley, the chairman of the National College Republicans; Senator Rick Santorum; and finally Sean Hannity.

Gourley, who had spoken to our group briefly during the breakfast, called us "Seton Hall" during his speech. Of course, our club members weren't very happy about that (it's a mistake that happens to Seton Hill quite often, actually)... but we felt better when Santorum told us personally afterwards that he knew Gourley meant "Seton Hill." Paul Gourley is up for re-election in 2007.

We were also able to shake hands and speak briefly to Sean Hannity before he left for Pittsburgh. Hannity was stopping in Pittsburgh later that afternoon as part of his national Hannity 2006 tour. Three of the SHU CR's were invited to the event to work at the Santorum campaign booth. The Pittsburgh event featured local talk show hosts Quinn and Rose, as well as Lynn Swann and Rick Santorum.

Thanks to all members of the club who were able to attend the two Hannity events last Saturday.

[Edited 3/5/06: Fixed the clerical error about when Paul Gourley was up for re-election.]

CR Table/Polling a Great Success!

The College Republican table outside of the cafeteria yesterday was a huge success! I would just like to thank all of the volunteers who gave their lunch-hour (and some, much more than an hour) to help make our club so visible on campus. The purpose of the table was three-fold: to make the club visible to the student body, to sign up new members, and to poll students, faculty and staff on a variety of political issues. We successfully did all three of those things yesterday.

The club would also like to thank everyone who took our poll. It was a way for the club to sort of test the political waters here on campus and see where the students, staff and faculty stand in their beliefs. All of the surveys are confidential, so we have no way of telling who did what... they have only been marked "Student," "Faculty," and "Staff" so we can divide the results. All of the results from the polls will be made public as the semester goes on through the publication of our upcoming newsletter!

Once again, we were happy to see that people of all political stances were kind enough to take our poll. We're sure that we have were able to get a good cross-section of the students and staff here on campus, and we're looking forward to finding out the results. Thanks again!

Monday's Meeting Review

Thanks for the wonderful turnout at our last meeting!

At the meeting, the club discussed the major projects we will be tackling this semester, as well as any concerns or questions about the candidates for the 2006 election.

Some of the events discussed included a CR table outside of the cafeteria next week, as well as our club attending the CR State Convention. The CR table will either be held Wednesday or Thursday next week, and will allow the club to sign up new members, promote our upcoming newsletter, and conduct polling of the SHU student body.

The State Convention is being held on March 17-18 at Millersville U. As of right now, the club is planning on attending, providing we can obtain the funds necessary.

We are currently looking for volunteers to write for our newsletter as well as folks who would like to help put together a presentation for some time in March. For more information, please contact one of the board members.

PA College Republican Convention

The Pennsylvania College Republicans (of which we are a recognized member) have just announced this year's state convention. It will be held March 17th and 18th at Millersville University.

Each year, the state committee invited the CR's to come together to attend workshops, listen to speakers, and share ideas. This year's list of invited speakers includes Senator Rick Santorum, Congressman Phil English, Congresswoman Melissa Hart, and the State Chairwoman Eileen Melvin!

If anyone is interested in attending on behalf of the Seton Hill University chapter, the club needs to know by February 17th.

Meeting Summary

Thanks to everyone who made it to the meeting... we talked this evening about two basic things to accomplish over the next few weeks.

First off, I need to amass a list of volunteers who want to work on the Rick Santorum campaign. I would just hand over my entire list of members, but I don't want to give them false hopes and have them waste their time calling everyone when I know not everyone can/will do it. So instead, I would like to amass a nice list of reliable folks who would be willing to help out when asked. Possible duties may include doing door to door stuff, working the phones, registering votes, or helping out down at the Victory Center. Those who worked with us on the Bush/Cheney campaign two years ago know that your hard work does pay off, so if you are interested please contact me or Josh Knopp.

Also, we are entering the planning stages of our "Liberal Arts vs Liberalism" presentation. So if anyone is interested in helping piece together this massive presentation, or wants to aid us in promoting it, let me know.

CR's on Facebook

Seton Hill has recently been added to Facebook.com, a student communication service allowing people to make friends, announce parties, and connect with folks from other schools. One of the other great features of this service is the ability to create groups and clubs...

Always enjoying a chance to extend our membership and communication, I've started a Seton Hill College Republican group on Facebook. We already have a handful of members, and as word gets around, more folks will be signing up. Aside from posters and this blog, I'll be using the Facebook group to announce club parties and meetings.

We will, by the way, be having a meeting next Wednesday at 9PM.

Social Security Reformation - May 6th

Social Security Reformation with Congressman Tim Murphy (Press Release)

Official Press Release

Seton Hill University College Republicans present �Social Security Reformation� with Congressman Tim Murphy.

Friday, May 6th at 2:30PM in room 308 of the Administration Building.

Congressman Tim Murphy will be leading a discussion on the current problems with the Social Security System and its outlook for the future. During the event he will lay out the facts about the systems solvency and lifespan, and then lead a discussion with students, faculty, and guests about how to fix the problems.

This is an issue that is going to directly affect the current, and future, students of Seton Hill University and has been the focus of the SHU College Republicans for the Spring 2005 semester. Everyone is welcome to attend and there will be a specific portion of the event devoted specifically to discussion and Q&A.

We are honored to have Congressman Tim Murphy appear on behalf of the SHU College Republicans and help raise awareness of the growing Social Security problem with today�s college students.

For more information about the event, please contact Mike Rubino, Chairman of the SHU College Republicans, at (724) 462-4651 or e-mail him at michael.rubino@gmail.com

Sincerely,
Mike Rubino
Chairman

Club Meeting- THURSDAY, APRIL 21 at 9:00

The College Republicans will be having a club meeting this Thursday, April 21st at 9:00PM in A403. At the meeting we will be discussing fundraising and planning for our Social Security event with Congressman Tim Murphy on May 6th.

All are asked to attend so that we can create groups to carry out fundraising projects as well as planning committees to help organize this fairly large event that we are planning for the end of the semester.

Food and drinks will be provided. Once again, this will be in room 403 of the Administration building.

edited- the correct meeting time is 9:00pm

Senator Santorum's State Director Visits SHU

Tonight Seton Hill's College Republicans got our first (and certainly not our last) big visitor on campus. Since we've chosen to focus this semester on promoting Social Security Reform, me and my colleagues have been working hard to get events and speakers on campus. Keith Schmidt, the state director for the Rick Santorum House, came to SHU last night to lead a talk on Social Sec. Reform and the problems behind the current system.

Keith Schmidt, ladies and gentlemen.

When he first arrived on campus at 6:00PM, the CR Board were waiting to greet him in front of Lynch auditorium. (For the uninformed, the board consists of me, Josh Knopp, Bryan Harmon, Emily Kasky, and Dr. Josh Sasmor). We then all ate dinner in the Greensburg room. Unfortunately it wasn't a very good meal in the dining hall last night, but Keith and his assistant Jason seemed to enjoy their pork and chili... Keith spoke to the board about how to fundraise on campus, and how important it is for us to provide the conservative voice for those on campus.

At 7:00PM we walked over to Lynch, a new venue for the College Republicans. We had arranged for a nice spread of cheese, crackers, fruit and cookies (with a little punch on the side.) As the folks filed in and filled up the bottom rows of the auditorium, it was apparent to me that we would have more than the usual number of CR loyals.

Keith began his presentation with saying a few words about the recently deceased Pope John Paul II (he was connected to the Pope through a doctor that once treated him.) He then delved in to his resume, and his experience working with long-time senator, Rick Santorum. Keith originally got in to politics as an intern with the Reagan/Bush campaign in 1980. He joined with Santorum in the early 1990's. It was in 1994 when Rick Santorum began talking about social security reform.

Here are some of the facts and issues he threw out to the audience:
� There are many ways to fix Soc. Sec., including raising taxes or cutting benefits. But logically, if you raise taxes you are in theory cutting benefits no matter what.
� Just merely tweaking the system isn't going to make it solvent forever, changing benefits or payout programs will fix things for five or ten or even twenty years, but we'll still be dealing with the issue again soon.
� The Soc. Sec. payroll tax has been raised 49 times since its conception in 1937. When founded it was a 2% payroll tax. Today it is 12.4% up to $90,000 earned.
� In 1945 there were 45 workers putting in to the system for every one retired person. Today it's 3 workers to one retiree, and by the time I retire it will be under 2 workers.
� Just 15% of wages in America are untaxed. Taxing this 15% will add just 3-5 years of solvency. But for anyone making upwards of $40,000 a year, you actually lose money in the system.
� When it was first instilled by FDR, life expectancy was 63 and the age for Soc. Sec. was still 65. It was never supposed to be for every retiree, but just for those who managed to live past their expected years. Because of this, savings in America has gone down.
� In 1983, savings in America was 10.8%. Today it is merely 1.4%. This means that more people will be dependent on Soc Security, rather than providing for themselves.
� If America chooses Personal Savings Accounts (which certainly have my endorsement!) then just 4% of the 12.4% of payroll tax will go into a personal account. The other 8.4% will go into the normal Soc. Sec. system.
� The system will be insolvent (aka completely out of money) by 2041. Each year we choose not to fix the system, it will cost $600 Billion dollars more to fix it when we finally get around to it.

Scary stats, for sure. All of his stats were provided by non-partisan research groups, this isn't spin. And it is for those reasons that the College Republicans are focusing on this for the Spring semester. I am happy to announce that this isn't the end of our efforts. A national politician has been confirmed to be coming to SHU on behalf of the CRs to lead a discussion on the topic... but more on this later...

The March for Life

This past Monday, the 24th, was the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. For those who aren�t familiar with this event, it�s a huge gathering of pro-lifers from all across the U.S. each year to protest the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortion. Generally the March is held on the 22nd, which is the actual date of Roe v. Wade, but since Congress is not in session over the weekend, the March was moved to Monday.

Five of us SHU students went on the March: Chelsie Betz, Emily Ciak, John Clatty, Carmen Marotta, and myself, plus twenty-two from Saint Vincent�s. We embarked on our almost five-hour bus ride down to D.C. at around 5:45 A.M. We arrived at D.C. at about 11:30 and reached the lawn (the one across the street from the White House) at noon. There was a big stage with a podium set up on the lawn for speakers. Behind the podium was a large group of women (who have had abortions) from the Silent No More campaign. President Bush phoned and voiced his support for the cause, and several pro-life politicians gave short, encouraging speeches. The crowd represented many cities and states, and there were even handfuls of protesters from other countries (the ones I saw were Austria, Brazil, Italy, and France).

Once the March started, the crowd moved slowly like a giant, unstable amoeba. People were constantly shifting around, or making their way along the sidewalks. It was hard to see your own group members, even if they were only ten feet away from you! On the sidewalks, people watched, or held up their pro-life signs, as we prodded along.

I was absolutely amazed at the ENORMOUS number of people there. Near the end of the March, we were going up a hill and I chanced to quickly look behind me. The street was filled with people as far as I could see. Wow. I was also especially impressed at the number of Catholic parishes/schools/organizations that participated. It was comforting to, every so often, hear people reciting the Rosary behind me. I also saw people carrying images of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Patroness of the Unborn) throughout the March. It made me proud to be a part of the Catholic faith, which consistently speaks out against the atrocity of abortion.

I only saw four pro-abortion protesters during the entire March (they were all women), in front of the Supreme Court building. (I could tell they were pro-aborts because they had those blue �Keep Abortion Legal� signs). One was alone, but the other three were huddled together. Right next to one of the pro-abort women was a middle-aged woman who was holding a sign that read �I Regret My Abortion.� (The pro-abort woman was very uncomfortable � It�s hard to preach that women are grateful for their �right to choose� when you have one who regrets her decision to choose that �right� next to you.) The March dissipated outside the Supreme Court building. We stayed there for a little while to pray, before heading back to the metro (at around 4:15) to find shelter, warmth, and potential sleeping time in our bus.
Overall, it was an interesting experience and I would recommend everyone to go. The March was very peaceful � People obey the law and don�t do stupid, radical things and get themselves (and others) arrested. You can even go into the Capital building that day to lobby for pro-life issues if you want to � Organizations affiliated with the March send out bus packets prior to the March that contain handouts with current legislation and issues to lobby for in Congress. The March is very important because Congressmen need to have this visual reminder each year that says we haven�t forgotten about this issue, and we want legislation that will choke Roe v. Wade. However, the March is not an excuse to speak out against the evils of abortion ONLY on ONE day out of the year. We have to keep praying, and nagging our politicians and wear them down so they can�t ignore the issue. I eagerly pray and wait for the January 22nd we won�t have to march against abortion because it will be illegal once more.

Post written by Emily Kasky, College Republican Secretary

Have a Good Break

I would like to thank everyone for coming to our first movie night during finals week! It was a complete success! Hopefully we can continue this and maybe have more movie nights in the spring.

I would like to wish everyone, CR members and non-members, a merry Christmas. Have a great break from Seton Hill and relax.

In the next semester we're going to have a bunch of events going on, kicking things off with the March for Life at the end of January! Until then, keep checking back here for excellent information.