First Day at CPAC

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My first day at CPAC 2010 began with opening remarks by U.S. Senate hopeful Marco Rubio of Florida. He spoke about his background as being the son of exiles from Cuba. He talked about the need to save the free enterprise system in America.



The next person that spoke was South Carolina senator Jim Demint. He currently heads a Political Action Committee called the Senate Conservatives Fund who is endorsing Marco Rubio of Florida, Chuck Devore of California, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, and Michael Williams of Texas. He talked about the fact that the Constitution as it originally was intended did not specify an income tax or any of the plethora of taxes we have in place today.






A great speker on the first day of the confrence was Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. She had the best quote of the first day of the confrence when she said "Stop apoligizing about America and start defending this country." A special surprise was that she brought out her father Dick Cheney who spoke at the confrence.





The next speaker was former Massachusetts Governor and 2008 Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney who was introduced by the newly elected Republican Senator form the state of Massachusetts Scott Brown. In my mind, Mitt Romney is too moderate to carry the mantle of conservative leadership and Scott Brown will almost have to vote moderate with Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe to get reelected but I could be proven wrong.



Our next speaker at CPAC was House minority leader John Boehner of the state of Ohio. One of the plans he laid out when the Republicans take control of the House is to bar Members of Congress from having projects named in their honor.




Our last speaker of the first day of the confrence was Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association. He quickly dispelled the myth that American made assault weapons and rifles were making their way into Mexican and Latin American gangs. He let people know that the 2nd Ammendment was not to allow people to just go hunting but to protect themselves against government if the need arose.

Russell Haggard

First Day in Washington D.C.

After Arriving in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 and dropping our bags off in the hotel, we headed to Ollie's Trolly that serves burgers and sandwiches. While we were on the Metro, we saw this interesting character rant about being an injustice to his race and other crazy stuff. After eating at Ollie's Trolly, we went on a tour of the United States Capitol. where we saw the office of Congressman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky's 2nd Congressional District. We got a chance to see the House Chamber from the House Galleries. After our tour of the Capitol, we went over to Union Station where we did some shopping and where I bought some cufflinks with the presidential seal on them. After we went to Union Station, we ate dinner at the Italian Pizza Kitchen on Connecticut Avenue near the Days Inn.

P.S. : For those of you that I recommended Dehli Dhaba to I have some sad news that it is out of business.

Russell Haggard

So far so good... already tired

We made it after a series of comedic events while traveling. the highlight of the day was going to Congressman Guthrie's office and getting a tour of the US Capitol building. though I have spent a lot of time in the complex, it is always a pleasure to get to go there on occasion. Also good to see old friends in the Guthrie office. Here are some photographs I would like to share from our day.

SAN

CPAC Reflections

After getting back into Nashville and to Bowling Green, I began to think about the good time I had at CPAC and in Washington D.C. I think the Republican Party has gotten away from its small government roots and has bought into the entitlement mentality of the Democrats and liberals. I am glad that we as the conservative movement are thinking about economics. We need to get the Fairtax legislation implemented as soon as possible because that piece of legislation would be the biggest economic stimulus that any generation would see in their lifetime. We need to stop giving industries and financial institutions bailout money because that bailout money fosters a cycle of dependency and make the government the ultimate codependent. I think the Republicans need to stand for traditional values and the strength of marriage as the union of one man and one woman for life. We need to stand for the value of every human life and we need to make sure that a fetus in the womb is classified as a human being. I think that the Republican Party and the Conservative movement needs to stand for national security and national defense. We need the best military in the world and we need a military that is second to none as we had in the 1980s when we were facing the Soviet Union as two rival superpowers. Now we are facing radical Islamic Extremists who have every intention of wiping out America as we know it and our entire way of life. We need to be wary of Russia’s emerging dominance as a world power and we need to use missile defense to repel a nuclear or hydrogen bomb. I enjoyed having the opportunity to hear these important people speak in Washington D.C and I look forward to going back next time.

Arrival and First Day in Washington D.C.

After our flight out of Nashville, meeting a Fox News Channel personality, and getting our luggage, we arrived in Washington D.C. and our hotel for the duration of our CPAC Confrence. Our group then proceeded to buy Metro passes to get around the city where afterwards people in our group split and my group along with Dr. Turner, Shane,Jeremy,and Laura among others that I may have forgotten about went to eat lunch at McDonalds near Judiciary Square. Then we went on to the Newseum where we looked at stuff that has to do with the different events that have shaped our public perception and have shaped our history. I saw some of the Berlin Wall and a watchtower that was near Checkpoint Charlie that was near the American Sector of Berlin. I also saw a piece of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. I also saw some Pulitzer Prize winning photography on exhibit. After the Newseum, we went to the United States Naval Memorial and we stopped at Ford's Theater where President Lincoln was assassinated. We did not go in because the theater was closed for maintenance until spring of 2009. After we saw the sights we went back onto the Metro to register for the Conservative Political Action Confrence at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Tonight, we went out to eat at a steakhouse called The Front Page. I look forward to my first day at CPAC and I will post more in the days to come.

Looks like we made it!!!

We left Bowling Green at 5:30 am, Nashville at 8:30 am, and Baltimore at noon. We are now in the mystical DC. We are here to study the Conservative movement and Republican Principles at the Conservative Political Action Conference. 

After arriving and grabbing lunch, we split the group of 16!!! up to attend culturally relevant places in the city. I went with a small group to the Newseum. The Newseum is a museum dedicated to the first amendment and the media. The Newseum  has state of the art technology and communication tools. In there we saw several meters of the Berlin wall, and a guard tower from the wall. We also saw part of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In the basement they had the shack that the Unabomber lived in. One of the neatest things I saw was the DC Snipers car with hole in the trunk.

Dr. Joel Turner with his 4 D glasses on
Taking pictures of the capitol
The Newseum
True story
9/11 rubble 
Berlin wall and watch tower in the Newseum
Unabomber's shack
Alex Gerard and Dr. Joel Turner in the DC Metro
DC Metro
Lincoln Exhibit at the Newseum. Dr. Joel Turner, Laura Green, Russell Haggard
DC Metro
Billy Bishop and Jeremy Roe on the Southwest flight