“First, people get it. The mainstream media can deny and minimize the liberty movement that has been ignited across America — but the facts say differently. Five hundred thousand people lined the Washington Mall to hear about faith, hope and charity. Over seven hundred delegates crowded into a church in Holt, Michigan Friday night to hear from candidates aggressively courting the support of the tea party vote. The people of this country have had enough. They are asking bold questions, learning their history, and standing tall for liberty.

If the establishment isn’t scared, they should be. For political insiders like the Yobs this year meant a challenge to their traditional convention dominance. One of their candidates came in last place when the votes were tallied, and other races were very close.”

Then McHugh of the Mackinac Center speculates about the bigger picture nationally.  Questioning if Republicans will “wham bam thank you maam” (sorry – my own creative license) the tea party movement, if a home run by Republicans is hit?  Will the Tea Party activity fade through a seduction of power through the Republican machine itself?

“Republican members and caucuses inevitably will do some foolish, cynical and faithless things that will let President Obama make them the issue in 2012, just as President Clinton did in 1996.

Among other things, this creates the potential for a Perot-type third candidate in 2012 – and an Obama second term.

Republicans may try to ride the tiger of Tea Party anger against the generic, bipartisan political class, betting that Obama and the Democrats get the brunt of it. Will the Tea Party movement be so inflamed by the passion of current battles as to forget that their real beef is with the bipartisan political careerist class as a whole?”

In fact the Capitol Confidential cited a survey saying the bonds were already weakened:

“The Republican Party is losing its foothold in the tea party movement, according to a recent survey done about the national movement. The survey was done by the Sam Adams Alliance, a free-market nonprofit research group based in Chicago.

It found that 81 percent of the early tea party members identified themselves as Republicans before joining the tea party movement, but that dropped to 51 percent afterward. And 74 percent of the newer tea party members said they were affiliated with the GOP before tea partying and that dropped to 50 percent after joining the movement.”

I am not yet sure what to make of the numbers, but I would say that the GOP needs the “tea movement” as much or more than the “tea movement ” needs it.  Make no mistake however, The Republican party offers the best chance of a structure capable of holding free market, and other liberty minded types.

I only hope the leaders of this movement understand their limitations outside of an established party structure.  Reinventing the wheel ought not be an objective for those who must remain focused on taking government back under the control of the people in a constitutional manner.

Keep informed, and keep up on what all the pundits this side of the other are saying, and be involved so you will know the truth.

From the article:

Lawyers for product manufacturers now fear clients are liable for up to $500 for every tube of mascara or box of garbage bags marked with an expired patent—an error that turns out to be quite common.

In recent months, would-be plaintiffs have been fanning out across retail stores and the Internet searching for expired patent numbers on everything from toothpaste to toilet plungers.

Now that’s classy. Of course the reasoning?

The people behind the suits say they see themselves as consumer advocates, helping to protect legitimate inventors from giant corporations who are pretending to have patents to keep competitors from stepping on their turf.

“It chills competition, it misleads the public and takes away from the credit patent holders deserve,” says Daniel Ravicher, founder and executive director of New York nonprofit Public Patent Foundation, which has filed numerous suits.

Consumer advocates? Chills competition?

Let me give some insight: Joe Public isn’t going to care about a patent. It means essentially nothing to them. The only people that would care about it are entities looking to produce an identical or similar product. At that point in time, all the said entity has to do is do a quick search to see if the patent is expired or not. You can even type a patent number into google and it will pull it up.

This has absolutely nothing to do with “consumer advocacy” or false advertising, but rather, it has everything to do with attorneys who probably don’t have clients because they’re shitty at their profession so they need to make money in unscrupulous ways.

Section 2 – Trial by Jury, Original Jurisdiction, Jury Trials

(The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; to Controversies between two or more States; between a State and Citizens of another State; between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.) (This section in parentheses is modified by the 11th Amendment.)

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

And where might those exceptions be?

H/T to the Examiner. Note the additional clause they mention Article 1 Sec 10 while you are at it.

Unacceptable.

Signs were up along the pathways leading up to the building, and some campaigns were preparing for their floor marches in support of their candidates.

Which brings me to pause for a second, on how much effort is put forward by these candidates to secure the opportunity to serve Michigan’s citizenry.

To be sure, the efforts should not go un-noticed.

The inside of the Breslin Center was adorned with even more signs and political paraphernalia, and the halls filled with campaign tables and supporters milling about.  Before most of the attendees even had a chance to sit down, the seats looked like they had been occupied for hours already!

Indeed, the preparations for the affair included a double and triple dose of literature designed as a last minute pitch to encourage voting by the delegates in one way or another.

Chair spam…

As the convention start time neared, it seemed strange that the seats were remaining curiously empty.  Apparently, there was a line of folks who arrived  at what might normally be an appropriate time, but found the credentials windows were too slow to handle the large influx.

To get the convention rolling, an “honor system” was instituted, and delegates were asked to seat themselves without credentials, and that they would be processed as the convention went on.  The seats then began to fill.

It didn’t take long..  This photo (on the right)  is of ONE side from my perch.  It was not hard to see that the interest in the political process has been renewed.

The process however, had its interesting moments.  There were challenges, unexpected nominations, and results that surprised a few.

I will go into some of those things a little more in depth either here or at RightMichigan.com later, but the encouraging things to take away from the convention are that some factions had wins, and some had losses.  The Republican party had a good influx of tea party enthusiasts, and their voice was heard.  The dialogue is changing, and the direction is moving back towards truer Republican ideals.   Some folks might get frustrated that all they wanted wasn’t achieved, but that is politics in a nutshell.

Politics that will always have someone not on the happy side of the fence.

I will leave you with this last picture of what we want as a message going forward. (ignore the funny looking guy on the left.  Its the thumbs up thing I am trying to put out there… )  Michigan has a new revitalized Republican Party.  It will stay so only as long as we encourage more participation, openness, and deliver a good message of true conservative underpinnings.

The party itself is not what brings positive change, but the people who are willing to work within the party to make it happen.  Being a part of it is just the start of it.

God bless them and their dedication to the greatness our nation possesses.