I’m headed to Vegas next month. Here’s why…

The event sponsored by Americans For Prosperity has already confirmed many of the speakers such as Michelle Malkin, Scott Rassmussen, Jonah Goldberg, Dana Loesch, and a host of others.

There is also another reason why you should go. Not only will you have the opportunity to hear some great speakers, but there will be all sorts of breakout sessions that will help you learn how to use the Internet to become a better conservative activist online.

Yet, that’s not all. You will also get a chance to see the premiere of the movie “Hating Breitbart.”

Join RightOnline for “Hating Breitbart” Exclusive Premiere

Misguided attacks, smears and accusations have often been directed toward conservative activists. But during the dawn of the tea-party movement, this hatred warped into attacks which became increasingly personal and hostile. No one knew this better than Andrew Breitbart, a nationally renowned conservative advocate and blogger who passed away suddenly earlier this year.

“Hating Breitbart” – two and a half years in the making – documents Breitbart’s rise in the media world, from the birth of the Tea Party in 2009 to early this year. The film shows behind the scenes footage of many of the explosive media controversies that Breitbart found himself at the center of, including the Congressman Weiner Twitter-scandal and the undercover recording of ACORN tapes. Learn more at www.hatingbreitbart.com.

We’re proud to announce that Americans for Prosperity Foundation and RightOnline will host a Hating Breitbart screening of select scenes on Friday, June 15th at the annual RightOnline Conference. RightOnline is the must-attend yearly conference for right-leaning media and bloggers to educate on and encourage online activism.

To be among the first in the world to get a sneak-peek at the new film, be sure to attend RightOnline! www.RightOnline.com

Join the conversation on Twitter! Visit: @rightonline and @hatingbreitbart

You should come too. For more info or to register CLICK HERE.

Tags: Americans+For+Prosperity

Tags: Democrats, Leftists, Corruption

Illinois House Rep Mike Bost (R, Murphysboro) came to his wits end over the last second introduction of a pension reform bill by House Speaker Michael Madigan (D). The bill was introduced only minutes before Madigan wanted to force the House to vote on the bill. As the bill was introduced, Bost went nuts on the floor screaming and throwing papers in a rage.

“These damn bills that come out here all the damn time, come out here at the last second!” Bost yelled. “I’ve got to figure out how to vote for my people!”

Bost’s biggest complaint is the fact that for years only one man has had total control over the entire state. That one person would be Democrat House Speaker Mike Madigan.

But he is also 100% right that the way this state runs (and is being run down the drain) is not the way democracy should work. How is it that Madigan and his Democrats have the gall to introduce an extensive “reform” bill one minute and then expects everyone to vote for it the next minute?

How is it that Democrats have the stones to constantly force elected officials to vote on bills that they have no way to have read and not enough time to understand? Rubber stamping bills by token votes made in fealty to an autocratic ruler is NOT democracy but that is how Illinois works.

It just shows how Illinois is the worst state in the country in nearly every category.

>For such a blue state, Illinois has some rather good Republicans in Congress, but on one issue many of them consistently fail. That is in their unfortunate support for Big Labor. The issue of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) is a perfect example of this penchant to support issues dear to the hearts of Big Labor.

Unions love PLAs because the rule forces government construction projects to be conducted under union rules, to pay union pay scales to workers as well as pension payments to the union plans, and requires all work to be controlled by union bosses even if the companies hired to do the work are non-union. With PLAs unions feel they have the best of both worlds because they can still benefit from free government money even when they aren’t hired to do the work. In short, PLAs are a sop to unions.

The main problem with PLAs is that they drive up the costs of government building contracts from word go. This costs us all money and in this era when we need to be cutting back the skyrocketing costs of government adding rules that drive up costs before the first foundation is dug is madness. Worse it is unfair to the largest number of construction companies that aren’t union members as they are forced as a condition of getting the work to pay unions thousands out of their pockets even as they’ll never benefit from union pensions or other programs.

Sadly, too many Illinois Republican Congressmen have been consistently in favor of allowing unions this free government handout. It is probably not a huge surprise that even Republicans in deep blue Illinois might end up bowing to the needs of greedy Big Labor initiatives. But it is not a healthy support regardless.

Not all Illinois Republicans have been swayed by Big Labor, mind you, but most of them have repeatedly voted in favor of PLAs. Only three of the Illinois GOP delegation, for instance, voted PLAs down in the last round of votes for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) held on May 17.

During that last vote on NDAA amendments, an amendment sponsored by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R, Md.) passed by a slim 211 to 209 margin. This amendment would torpedo any requirements that PLAs be forced on qualified contractors by federal agencies. (Roll call vote results).

Unfortunately, only Representatives Randy Hultgren (14th District), Don Manzullo (16th District), and Bobby Schilling (17th District) voted in favor of free and open competition in government contracts with their NDAA votes. As for the rest, Congressman Adam Kinzinger (11th District) switched his vote at the last minute joining all the other GOP Congressmen in voting for Big Labor’s interests. Even Congressman Joe Walsh (8th District), ordinarily one of Congresses most consistently conservative members, voted in Big Labor’s favor last week.

Just as unfortunate, Congressman Manzullo, a staunch anti-Union voice, lost his primary and will not be returning to Washington for the 113th Session. Interestingly, two Big Labor Super PACs contributed heavily — well over $200 K total — to have Manzullo beaten in the Illinois Primary.

The two groups, the pro-Big Labor group calling itself Lunch Pail Republicans, and the Campaign for Primary Accountability, together donated $324,529 in the successful effort to defeat Manzullo. So, one good, pro-fairness voice will be missing starting with the next Congress and this means we need to impress on those remaining that they should drop their support for Big Labor and step up to the plate to support fairness in government contracts.

Certainly, Illinois is not the only state with too many Republicans voting against free, open and fair practices. It is an issue that must be brought to the attention of our Congressmen everywhere. (For several other PLA related amendment votes see: Roll Call 126, Roll Call 369, Roll Call 413)

To prove that it isn’t just Illinois Republicans that are a problem, here is another twist. Just because the Bartlett amendment was adopted in NDAA and the NDAA passed the House, remember one thing: this is Congress. Nothing is ever settled with these people. Word is that a new amendment to the MilCon/VA FY 2013 appropriations bill (H.R. 5854) will be introduced to strip language in Section 517 of H.R. 5854. Section 517 is very similar to the pro-fair and open competition language of the Bartlett amendment to the NDAA. It is going to be offered by another wayward Republican, Rep. Grimm (R-NY). They never give up trying to give payoffs to unions, folks.

PLAs must be defeated when they come to a vote. PLAs are bad for business and bad for the taxpayers. PLAs are just more union coercion that is at its core un-American. I hope the Illinois GOP delegation — and the rest of Congress for that matter — change direction and stop giving unions free money.

The effort to get the McHenry GOP to give its stamp of approval to Tonya Franklin who has volunteered to run against Democrat House Member “Chainsaw” Jack Franks, as Call Skinner calls him, has taken an ugly turn as the McHenry GOP chairman is now trying to work against the expressed will of a portion of his own committeemen who have called a meeting to discuss the matter.

McHenry County GOP Chairman Mike Tyron is sending emails attempting to convince his committeemen not to attend a meeting that has been called by 25% of his committeemen to discuss Franklin’s candidacy.

Tyron, you see, convened a four-member committee to consider Franklin’s candidacy after the party itself failed to bother putting up a candidate of its own to face Democrat Franks. Mrs. Franklin volunteered to run against Franks and sought the party bigwig’s approval. But with Tyron’s guidance, the committee decided to thank Franklin for her interest but let her know in no uncertain terms that she was not wanted as a candidate.

Like too many other Illinois GOP county organizations, having no candidate facing the local Democrat is better than having one… well, it’s just inexplicable to me.

As it happened, though, at least 25% of McHenry’s GOP committeemen disagreed with Tyron’s little candidate panel and they called for a meeting to talk more openly about Franklin’s offer to run against Franks.

Now, Cal Skinner reports that Tyron is trying to squelch the meeting properly called under the party rules by sending out threatening emails to his committeemen. Tyron hopes to prevent the needed 40% quorum at the meeting that will give standing to any decisions made there.

Personally I have no opinion about Mrs. Franklin. Tyron says she was not informed on the issues and further claimed she refused to get involved with the McHenry GOP. I have no idea if this is a correct reading of Franklin’s attitude and knowledge or not. In fact, if Tyron is correct in his assessment, I agree with him that Franklin may not be a good candidate anyway.

But, I have two major problems with Tyron, here. First is his total failure to put up a party-approved candidate in the first place (isn’t that his JOB?) and second is his late heavy handed effort to thwart the will of a large segment of his own committeemen.

Instead of denouncing this upcoming meeting, instead of trying to threaten his own people for attending, and instead of failing at his first job — that of slating candidates in the first place — Tyron should welcome this meeting. He should attend and explain why Franklin is unsuitable and then explain why he failed to put up a candidate at all himself.

Personally, I think this whole episode might tend to show that Tyron is the unsuitable one here.

• Tyron failed to slate candidates to run for office
• Tyron didn’t ask his committeemen what they thought about Franklin before summarily rejecting her
• Tyron seems to have no control over his own people
• Tyron resorts to bullying tactics and boycotting of his own people to win the day

These are not the marks of a leader. These are the attributes of someone that feels entitled to his position and one that acts impulsively and petulantly when his position is questioned.

On the other hand, he may have been totally sideswiped by this whole situation. From here it is hard for me to tell, but things are not looking good, for sure.

All you in McHenry County should be closely watching this matter. The meeting will be held at d’Andrea’s restaurant on June 2 at 9:30 AM. The establishment is located at the corner of Routes 14 and 31 in Crystal Lake.

Tags: Republicans, GOP, Elections, McHenry+County

HB 5007 – sponsored by State Senator Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) and Jeffrey Schoenberg (D-Evanston) passed in a 35 to 22 vote, with no questions or discussion on the Senate floor. And despite the fact that its passage did not require Republican votes, Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno permitted (or urged), five lame duck GOP Senators to cross over and vote with the Democrats…

Read the rest at IllinoisReview.com.

Tags: Patrick+Fitzgerald

Cal Skinner over at the McHenry County Blog has been following the failure of the County GOP to bother finding and slating candidates to run against Democrats in the county — specifically House Rep Jack Franks. The McHenry County GOP’s utter failure to even bother putting up candidates for office is not unusual in the Land of Lincoln.

Democrat Franks is a typical left-wing, insider, that deals for himself, not the people as Skinner has it. His district, according to Skinner is vulnerable this year yet the McHenry GOP hasn’t bothered to even slate a candidate to face him in November.

Worse, a new candidate volunteered to run against Franks and the McHenry GOP just ignored her.

This is typical of the GOP in Illinois. Instead of even trying, the state party seems to have decided that only a sure bet GOP win is worthy of their support. And they won’t even accept a volunteer to run. Hence in many sections of the state there are no candidates for office. For that matter the GOP doesn’t even have any committeemen in many areas.

Cook County is a particular example. About half the offices for the State House in Cook went without a GOP challenger and in some of the Congressional Districts the state party didn’t bother much even when there was a GOP challenger.

One would think that a state party’s job was to at least offer candidates for office, right? I mean, what is a party for if not to at least slate a candidate!?

One of George W. Bush’s real achievements in Afghanistan was his push for civil rights for Afghani women. Real successes were had as girls were at last allowed to go to school and women began to enter the realm of Afghan politics. Bush made equal rights for Afghan women a priority. Not so with his successor, Barack Obama, and his speech at the opening of the NATO meeting on Afghanistan was yet another missed opportunity to reassert that drive for civil rights in Afghanistan.

The address before NATO during the opening minutes of the first ISAF meeting on Afghanistan — one with Afghan President Hamid Karzai right there in attendance — was the perfect time to at least mention the ongoing quest for equal rights for women in that region. Sadly, even as these rights have slipped backwards in some areas of Afghanistan in the last few years, Obama eschewed any reference to the subject.

At the end of his brief and perfunctory comments, Obama spoke of the “opportunity to ensure our [that] hard-won progress is preserved” and this would have been the perfect chance to at least mention civil rights for women. Instead, President Obama hewed close to the US support for Afghan security forces. “(A)s Afghans stand up they will not stand alone,” the president said as he hailed the “long-term relationship with Afghanistan beyond 2014″ that was being cultivated.

Granted the main discussion here was about arriving at an end to the ISAF combat mission, but there is no reason that Obama couldn’t take just a few words to impress upon Nato, Karzai and the world that the United States is reaffirming it’s role as protector of Afghani women. Unfortunately, even as President Obama has earned a reputation for soaring rhetoric, he’s rarely expended much energy on the issue of civil rights in those areas of the world that are in most need of American support for the same.

As for ex-President Bush and wife Laura, congratulations to them as they continue to pursue their goal of civil rights for the women of Afghanistan. Recently the former First Lady took to the op ed pages of the Washington Post with an impassioned plea for the cause.

Obama looks the lesser man by comparison. Obamaa’s failure to lead is all too typical of his foreign policy.

The meeting room awaits its delegates

German Chancellor Angela Merkel mingles

President Obama enjoys some banter with British PM David Cameron

Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen opens the meeting as Afghan President Hamid Karzai listens

U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, British PM David Cameron and President Obama listen as NATO’s Sec. Gen speaks

Obama as he was being introduced by Sec. Gen. Rasmussen

Obama delivering his remarks

Obama’s remarks more or less as given:

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT ISAF MEETING ON AFGHANISTAN

McCormick Place
Chicago, Illinois
9:24 A.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: Well, good morning, everyone. And for those who are joining us for the first time, welcome to Chicago. I was just hearing from a few folks who are not NATO members that they had fun on the town last night. Hopefully, no stories in the press. (Laughter.)

We come together as 50 nations — NATO allies and partners — that make up the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. I want to welcome the presence of President Karzai, as well as officials from central Asia and Russia — nations that have an important perspective and that continue to provide critical transit for ISAF supplies.

The presence of so many leaders and nations illustrates once again that this is a truly international mission, and that’s because the region and the world have a profound interest in an Afghanistan that is stable, that is secure, and that is not a source of attacks on other nations. And today, as always, our thoughts are with our brave forces who are serving in this vital mission.

Two years ago, in Lisbon, our nations agreed on a framework for transition in Afghanistan that would allow us to responsibly wind down the war. We agreed that this transition to Afghan lead for security would begin in 2011 and that it would conclude in 2014. At the same time, we said that we would seek a long-term partnership with Afghanistan and the Afghan people.

Over the past two years, we’ve made important progress. Our forces broke the Taliban’s momentum. More Afghans are reclaiming their communities. Afghan security forces have grown stronger. And the transition that we agreed to in Lisbon is well underway.

This past week we saw more progress. We very much welcomed President Karzai’s announcement to the third group of areas to begin transition. This means that 75 percent of the Afghan people live in areas where Afghan forces will be moving into the lead.

Today, we’ll decide the next phase of the transition — the next milestone. We’ll set a goal for Afghan forces to take the lead for combat operations across the country in 2013 — next year — so that ISAF can move to a supporting role. This will be another step toward Afghans taking full lead for their security as agreed to by 2014 when the ISAF combat mission will end.

Today is also an opportunity to ensure our hard-won progress is preserved. The Strategic Partnership Agreement that President Karzai and I signed in Kabul ensures that as Afghans stand up they will not stand alone. Today, we can agree on NATO’s long-term relationship with Afghanistan beyond 2014, including our support of Afghan security forces.

So we have a lot of work to do. Again, I want to thank all of my fellow leaders and our partners for being here. Our nations and the world have a vital interest in the success of this mission. And I am confident, because of the leadership represented here as well as the leadership of our outstanding armed forces, that we can advance that goal today and responsibly bring this war to an end.