Sammies

-By Warner Todd Huston

A wrap up…

We conservatives have two major problems. I’ve said it dozens of times before but one of those problems is that we don’t do “join” well. The left, on the other hand, does “join” exceedingly well. They gather together, share resources, and help each other very, very well. The other problem we have is cash.

Again, the left funds as well as it joins. The left supports its side very handsomely with generous and constant donations. The left also has a bevy of deep pocketed supporters that target the new media with their money. Media Matters, George Soros, DailyKos, MoveOn.org, these people and entities flood the left-O-sphere with much need cash to further their message. Their tendrils reach far and wide and they control the message well with their cash.

Unfortunately, on the right we neither “join” well in coordinated efforts, nor do we have very many people or entities that help fund us directly. Nor do we even see organizations on the right that try to engage in efforts to help train and organize the conservative new media to disseminate the conservative, free market message via the New Media.

But the Sam Adams Alliance has stepped up to the plate to do just that and this is why the Second Annual Sammies, has come about. The Second Annual Award ceremony was held on April 18, 2009 in Northbrook, Illinois, just north of Chicago, at the Renaissance Chicago North Shore Hotel. So, with the cash prizes awarded to worthy bloggers at the Sammies, we find the Sam Adams Alliance fulfilling at least in some ways the effort to encourage conservative voices in the New Media as well as vote fraud watchdogs and good government activists. Money is always in short supply on the right, for sure, so this is a help. But even more importantly are the things that Sam Adams does behind the scenes to help coordinate bloggers, train them, and offer resources to further the message.

So, along with the big names — Michelle Malkin, Joe the Plumber, John Fund, et al — are the hard working bloggers and those new media worker bees that are bringing the conservative message to a country so inundated with leftist trope and propaganda.
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Blogging The 2nd Annual Sammies”

-By Warner Todd Huston

Paul Jacob, known most for having fought unfair ballot initiative laws in Oklahoma, presented the Modern-Day Sam Adams award to Ari Armstrong publisher of freecolorado.com.

Jacobs was threatened with 10 years in prison because he forced the Oklahoma legislature to face its illicit ballot initiative rules in 2005. He was finally exonerated in 2008. Since then the Oklahoma legislature has begun the long road to changing its overly restrictive ballot laws.

Thus ended the awards. I will have some final thoughts a little later when I get back home and have time to put some thoughts down.

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-By Warner Todd Huston

The Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore took the podium to give out the Sunshine Award to William Carlin Walker.

Moore reports to us all that as of 2009 we will borrow more money than from 1776 until today. He says that Obama is spending one billion dollars an hour with this budget.

William Carlin Walker is a whistleblower on his local school system.

Some people call William Carlin Walker a whistleblower; some call him a watchdog or a little bulldog. Some in Liberty school district educational circles likely have other names for his relentless quest for accountability and persistent demands for public records, not always willingly turned over by reluctant administrators.

Walker led the fight to perform an audit of his County in Liberty Missouri budget and forced sunshine onto the overspending there.

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-By Warner Todd Huston

Next up, Michelle Malking to give the Blogger of the Year award to Chad Everson of the GrizzlyGroundswell.com.

Malkin praises bloggers for standing up to the “violent and bitter slimeing” that the Old Media have handed to them. Malkin reviewed some of the worst slimes handed down from the nose-in-air media and suggested that the Old Media is on the way out and bloggers are on the way up.

Next up was Mary Katherine Ham of The Blog from the Weekly Standard.

Ham presented the Best Video award to Caleb Brown and Austin Bragg from the CATO Institute for the video posted earlier.

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-By Warner Tod Huston

One of the winning videos here tonight is from the CATO Institute. It’s titled “The ABC’s of Virginia Alcohol Law.”

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-By Warner Tod Huston

Milwaukee talk show host Vicki McKenna was next to give awards to those involved in wiki efforts. Winners were Seth Cooper for Ballotpedia, Fred Baldwin for Judgepedia, and John Wynne for the Sunshine Review.

Wikis are, of course, a similar sort of effort like Wikipedia. But these gather policy information, judges, and ballot initiatives. This is a new sort of internet effort that helps citizens learn about their local issues.

The room is quite full, I’d estimate that at least 300 some guests in attendance.

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-By Warner Tod HustonOur first award went to Melissa Coulthier as Microblogger of the year. Presented by Sam Adams COO John Tsarpalas.

John Fund presenting the Voter Watchdog Award to Ruth Bendl.

In his remarks, John says he is encouraged about the conservative message today. After all, during the Carter and Clinton years we felt we were in the wilderness but we soon found success again at the polls.

Fund recalls that Reagan was sure that Carter would lead from the far left even as he ran as a moderate. Fund says that Reagan was right, Carter made a hash of things and that left the door open for Reagan to sweep into office.

As Clinton was coming to office, Fund says that Reagan repeated his observation, and “sure enough we had the biggest tax increase in history.” And Clinton’s leftism led to the 1994 Republican revolution. “Stick to conservatism and you will win again,” said Reagan then.

Fund told us that we have the power to reverse Obama’s current power.

Ruth Bendl accepted the award for Voter Watchdog. A world traveler, Bendl is a tireless activist against vote fraud. Ruth says they discovered that 80,000 illegal immigrants came to the state of Oregon to get IDs because of the lax ID laws in that state.

Ruth said that her state officers aren’t too fond of her because she has found that quite a few energetic corpses are still voting there. Ruth is an acticist for proper ID requirements to be included on the voter roles. Ruth also is adamant that lax voter roles is a homeland security issue. The easy by which illegals get IDs is criminal.

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-By Warner Tod Huston

Tonight, April 18, I am sitting on blogger’s row for the 2nd Annual Sammies sponsored by the Sam Adam’s Alliance.

Held north of Chicago in Northbrook, Illinois at the beautiful Renaissance Chicago North Shore Hotel, the 2nd Annual Sammies looks to be a fun event. Speakers include Michelle Malkin, Joe the Plumber, “the capitalist pig” Jonathan Hoenig, Mary Katherine Ham, The Wall Street Journal’s John Fund, Stephen Moore, and others all hosted by Radio host Guy Benson.

The festivities kick off at 7PM Central time.

Our host for the evening is local talk show host Guy Benson. Benson has a weekend show on WIND in Chicago and also appears weekly on the Hugh Hewitt show during the “young guns” segment with Mary Catherine Ham.

… and now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to get a cocktail before it’s too late!