December 1, 2011: Rotary Log (Ron Paul)

Rotary Log, December 1, 2011: Congressman Ron Paul

By Ann Kelly

God Bless America was an appropriate song to open up the politically-themed and patriotic December 1, 2011 “Political Candidate Series” meeting of the Portsmouth Rotary Club that featured guest speaker, Congressman and presidential hopeful, Ron Paul.

Justin Finn fired up the gang in song, greeter Andy Chace led us in the Four-Way Test, and Reverend Gordon Allen delivered the invocation in his usual soothing manner.

In the interest of staying on schedule and maximizing our political guest speaker’s time, President Tony extended an encompassing Club welcome to all visiting guests. Given the unfurling laundry list of names on the guest sign-up sheet, this was probably a wise decision. A quick scan showed upwards of 20 guests on the sheet… and no, that did not include the back of the room that was stacked with reporters and photographers!

Announcements
President Tony asked Rotarians to thank the Portsmouth Country Club waitstaff, cooks and management this holiday season by donating to collection baskets, set on each table. There are still two more meetings in December in which to show your support for the great service we receive every week. Thanks in advance for your generosity!

Reminder: Next week’s meeting coincides with the Senior Christmas Luncheon. The locale and time remains the same (Portsmouth Country Club, Thursday, December 8, 12:15 pm). Important: Please RSVP to Assistant Club Secretary, Deb Grabowski (dgrabowski@communitycampus.org), to help ensure headcount accuracy. Roast turkey “and all the fixin’s” along with tossed salad, apple crisp, and coffee or tea will be served. The Portsmouth High School Instrumental Ensemble will provide music, and Santa will pop in for a visit.

Betsy Scott thanked Rotarians for their support of our club’s 40^th annual Thanksgiving Dinner that was held on Thursday, November 24, at Saint Nicholas’ Greek Church in Portsmouth. Eighty-nine (89) meals were served to community members at the church, with dozens of additional meals boxed and sent out into the community. Sincere thanks to all the volunteers who pulled together to share food and fellowship over the holiday.

Our club’s annual Christmas Tree Sales extravaganza is in full swing. This is our club’s largest fundraiser of the year, and the goal is to haul in $30,000. Nancy Notis noted (hey, that rhymes; I’m feeling all Dr. Seuss here) that sales of table-top trees and Fraser firs are going strong. She reminded the crowd that garland can also be purchased, two ropes for $50. So come on, people — encourage everyone you know to pick up some garland and start festooning any and all doorways, stair banisters, and lamp posts in sight. Festooning isn’t confined to Portsmouth city limits, by the way. We can drape our garland throughout all of the Seacoast’s towns and hamlets. Let’s do it!

It’s also last call (but you know we’ll remind you again… and again… until December 20) to sign up for your three mandatory shifts at our “Tree Central” location in Lafayette Plaza. Sign-up sheets are available at our weekly meeting, and updated to the website regularly. Special thanks to Dave Underhill and Marie Brownell for all their help with herding cats (ummm, we mean scheduling shifts).

Not to be left out of the spirit of the season (and with a healthy dose of competition against Christmas Tree sales), Moe Sullivan and Basil Richardson cheer-leaded the sale of poinsettias and cyclamens. Red and white poinsettias, and white, pink and lavender cyclamens are available for $25 each. Sales sheets were circulated at each table. This is your last week to get one, so hurry!

Janice Cassidy pitched our club’s 2011 Christmas ornament, which features the picturesque colonial buildings along Bow Street. Ornaments are $15, and are available for purchase at our Tree Central in Lafayette Plaza, as well as in area banks. They make great stocking stuffers… so be sure to stock a lot in your socks! (More Dr. Seuss inspiration. I’m on a roll this week.)

Mark Sullivan ended our Announcements section with a reminder of the “Pease ‘n Carrots” Food Drive. Now in its fourth year, the Food Drive is collecting non-perishable food items through New Year’s Eve. Carts are stationed at several locations throughout Portsmouth, and will benefit the Seacoast Family Food Pantry and Crossroads House. Please contact Mark for more information.

Program Highlights
Programs Committee Chair, Norm Olsen, introduced Congressman and presidential hopeful, Ron Paul, as our guest speaker. Norm observed that Congressman Paul is changing the national conversation regarding our debt and spending practices.

Congressman Paul opened his presentation by stating: “People often ask me, am I an optimist or a pessimist? I answer them, Yes!”

The Congressman stressed the critical need for our nation to balance the budget once and for all, and return to good, common, practical fiscal sense — or risk wiping out the middle class altogether.

“We can’t just keep printing money,” he said. “Americans finally realized in 2008 that prosperity cannot be built and maintained through wild spending, followed by bail-outs after the crashes that will always come from this behavior. The Federal Reserve continues to print dollars indiscriminately to make up for these mistakes, which devalues the dollar and is devastating our economy.”

He continued, “It’s a failed system, and our government is putting the burden of all this on the average American’s shoulders. The middle class is, and will continue, disappearing with this currency crisis. Banks are winning — but people are losing.”

Congressman Paul said our government must liquidate national debt to spur economic recovery and growth.

His biggest change he would make as President to get the country back on course would be to cut $1 trillion from the budget in his first year, primarily from defense spending on overseas conflicts.

“Our foreign policy needs an overhaul. We have no business being over in those areas of the world. We’re not going to win or effect positive changes in places where we are not even wanted. It’s a losing battle to be the world’s cop, and it’s a drain on our country financially and emotionally. Let’s bring our troops back, and restore goodwill both at home and around the world.”

Bill Hurley once again collected a list of questions from the crowd to ask Congressman Paul.

The youngest attendee at our meeting asked, “What are your views on education?”

Congressman Paul answered that he advocates getting rid of the Department of Education. “Management of education should be left to state and local officials. It should not be mandated from the federal level, with a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington setting universal testing and standards. Give the control back to the people on the front lines — the teachers, principals, superintendents, and the school boards who are involved with students and their parents.”

Another question: “Why did the Super Committee fail?”

“We shouldn't have dumped our responsibility on a Super Committee in the first place,” he said. “It’s just one more indicator of the huge disconnect between our government and the people. We have an overwhelming debt crisis. Our country is bankrupt. And yet our government is unable or unwilling to admit this truth. If they realized this, they would make budget cuts. Congress failed by giving this problem to 12 individuals to try to solve.”

Another question: “If you become President, could or would you change the law that any person born on U.S. soil is an American citizen, when born to an illegal immigrant(s)?”

Congressman Paul answered, “As long as illegal immigrants know that their children born here will be granted U.S. citizenship, we’ll never be able to control our immigration problem. It’s not practical or economically sound to take on the cost of these babies, when the U.S. must support them through age 18. When I practiced as an OBGYN, I saw hundreds of these cases. It’s a tax on our hospitals and our schools. Automatic American citizenship must be stopped because they are flooding our southern state borders.”

The crowd surely had more questions for our guest, but we ran out of time.

The meeting ended with Moe Sullivan winning the weekly drawing for the Portsmouth Country Club gift certificate.  Jim Rini won $86 in the raffle.

See you next week!