Current Executive Director for the American Majority of Texas and Oklahoma (www.AmericanMajority.org), Drew Ryun recently served as Director of Government Affairs for the American Center for Law and Justice in Washington, DC as well as Main Representative for the European Center for Law and Justice at the United Nations in New York City.
A twice-published author, Drew has appeared frequently as host and co-host of Jay Sekulow Live, a nationally syndicated radio show with 2 million listeners. A former Deputy Director in the political division at the Republican National Committee during the 2004 election cycle, Drew has played a key role in organizing grassroots activities for House, Senate and Presidential campaigns.
Currently residing in San Antonio, TX, Drew and his wife Becca direct the Jim Ryun Running Camps every summer (www.ryunrunning.com) and are the parents of two daughters, Skye and Lily.
A former scholarship runner at the University of Kansas, Drew graduated cum laude with majors in History and English in May of 2000.
The views expressed on this blog are solely those held by Drew Ryun and do not necessarily represent the views of his current or previous employers.
Archive for January, 2009
01 30th, 2009
Michael Steele won in the 6th round of voting for RNC chair with 91 votes (needed 85). This is a big win for conservatives.
01 29th, 2009
Not only did Barack Obama fail get bipartisan support for his debacle of a “stimulus” bill, the opposition to it was bipartisan. 177 Republicans and 11 Democrats did the right thing and voted against it last night in the House.
Here are the Democrats that voted no:
Allen Boyd (FL),
Bobby Bright (Ala.)
Jim Cooper (Tenn),
Brad Ellsworth (Ind.)
Parker Griffith (Ala.)
Paul Kanjorski (Pa)
Frank Kratovil (Md)
Walt Minnick (Idaho)
Collin Peterson (Minn.)
Heath Shuler (N.C.)
Gene Taylor (Miss,)
01 29th, 2009
I thought this blurb was too good not to post. Congratulations to Congressman John Carter of Texas for this appropriate piece of legislation.
“All U.S. taxpayers would enjoy the same immunity from IRS penalties and interest as House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Obama Administration Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, if a bill introduced today by Congressman John Carter (R-TX) becomes law.
Carter, a former longtime Texas judge, today introduced the Rangel Rule Act of 2009, HR 735, which would prohibit the Internal Revenue Service from charging penalties and interest on back taxes against U.S. citizens. Under the proposed law, any taxpayer who wrote “Rangel Rule” on their return when paying back taxes would be immune from penalties and interest.”
01 28th, 2009
01 28th, 2009
Keep an eye on the stimulus package-the House votes on it tonight. It is becoming more ridiculous by the moment. When groups like ACORN (they of the fraudulent voter registration schemes) are getting upwards of $1 billion, it’s very apparent that Obama (a former community organizer with strong ties to ACORN-his campaign gave ACORN $800,000 in 2008 for voter registration purposes) and the Democrats are using this bill as a vehicle to pay off their allies on the outside.
01 28th, 2009
It’s a new website started by Catholic and Evangelical intellectuals. Some of the most recognizable names that are part of the project are Robbie George, Michael Paulsen and Teresa Collett.
In short, they are throwing the gauntlet down to TD Jakes, Doug Kmiec and others who are still trying to make the case that Barack Obama is pro-life.
Here is the full text of their opening salvo.
“Moral Accountability: An Open Letter
In the course of the 2008 presidential campaign, a small group of Catholic and Evangelical Protestant intellectuals and activists, while saying that they personally support legal protection for the unborn and oppose the redefinition of marriage, promoted the candidacy of Barack Obama, who made no secret of his intention to eliminate the entire range of laws restricting or discouraging abortion and embryo-destructive research, or of his opposition to all state and federal initiatives (such as California Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act) to preserve marriage as the union of a man and a woman. These men and women assured their fellow pro-life citizens and other social conservatives that Obama’s economic policies would reduce the incidence of abortion, and they promised that Obama was being honest when he said that he was opposed to “same-sex marriage.”
Despite these assurances, we fear that the Obama administration will swiftly begin an assault on pro-life laws and pro-marriage policies. During his campaign for the presidency, Obama promised that his very first presidential act would be to push through the so-called Freedom of Choice Act, which would require federal and state funding for abortion and, in the gleeful words of the National Organization for Women, “wipe out hundreds of anti-abortion laws” across the United States. Even if he and his allies in Congress are unable to win sufficient support for this extreme measure to enact it as a package, they will no doubt seek to push through its various elements one by one. Bills will be introduced, for example, to override laws requiring parental consent or at least notification for abortions performed on minor girls—laws that demonstrably save thousands of lives every year—and laws mandating the provision of factual information about fetal development and the risks of abortion to women contemplating the procedure.
Barack Obama has also promised to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act which protects states from being forced to recognize out-of-state marriages that are contrary to their public policy of treating marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife. Despite his statement to voters that he favors preserving the definition of marriage as a male-female union, Obama actively opposed California’s Proposition 8, a measure—passed despite his opposition by the people of California—that preserves the traditional definition of marriage.
The Moral Accountability Project trusts that those self-identified pro-life and pro-marriage Catholics and Evangelicals who helped to put Barack Obama into a position to accomplish his goals were sincere in their admiration for him. We are willing to believe that they genuinely hope that he will go back on his pledges to attack pro-life laws and repeal pro-marriage policies. Still, actions have consequences, and the actions of these intellectuals and activists will have consequences that are all too easy to predict. With each assault bythe Obama administration on laws and policies upholding the sanctity of human life and the dignity of marriage, we will ask all Catholics and Evangelicals, including those who supported Obama, to join us in resisting these assaults. That is our mission at www.moralaccountability.com.
Our project is offered in a constructive spirit, not one of vilification. Our goal is to help ensure that never again will good intentions conspire with shoddy reasoning and wishful thinking to compromise the rights of the weakest and most vulnerable members of our community and to undermine the institution of marriage. And so in a sincere spirit of friendship, we invite those Catholics and Evangelicals who joined with Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights Action League, and similar organizations in supporting Obama to join us now in repelling the attacks that will be launched against life and marriage by this administration.
With the revocation of the Mexico City Policy forbidding the use of U.S. taxpayer funds to promote abortion abroad, with the repeal of the Hyde Amendment protecting U.S. taxpayers from being forced to pay for abortions, with the demolition of laws requiring parental involvement and informed consent, with the promotion of “therapeutic” cloning and the expansion of embryo-destructive research, with the abolition of conscience and religious liberty protections for pro-life physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, and with the fulfillment of Obama’s other promises to the abortion and embryo-research industries, the death toll is sure to mount. In solidarity with the victims, we will document it as best we can, and we will demand moral accountability.
Faithfully,
Robert P. George, Princeton University
Hadley Arkes, Amherst College
Francis Beckwith, Baylor University
Gerard V. Bradley, University of Notre Dame
Robert Lowry Clinton, Southern Illinois University
Teresa Collett, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Anthony Esolen, Providence College
Matthew Franck, Radford University
John Breen, Loyola University of Chicago
Patrick Lee, Franciscan University of Steubenville
Michael New, University of Alabama
Michael Paulsen, University of St. Thomas
Peter Ryan, S.J., Mount Saint Mary’s College
Ronald Rychlak, University of Mississippi
Colleen Sheehan, Villanova University
Gregory Sisk, University of St. Thomas School of Law
James Stoner, Louisiana State University
Christopher Tollefsen, University of South Carolina
Micah Watson, Union University
John Wauck, University of the Holy Cross”
01 28th, 2009
At least they had the courage to vote against a terrorist pardoner (Eric Holder) in committee a short while ago. What in the world were Jon Kyl, Jeff Sessions and others thinking? We already have a tax evader as Secretary of the Treasury. Now we are looking at a man who has pardoned unrepentant terrorists as our next Attorney General-not to mention a host of other things that Holder has been involved in, like the Gore fundraising scandal. And let’s be honest-Geithner got a lot of Republican votes and if the committee vote today for Holder is any indicator, he’s going to get a lot of Republican votes on the floor as well.
Looking ahead to 2010 and 2012, Republicans need to create clear cut lines between themselves and Team Obama. If they do not, they are part of the problem in voters’ minds who will be more than content to stick with the status quo if there is no difference between the two parties.
01 27th, 2009
There are very few of the “good guys” in the United States Senate-principled, articulate, genuinely nice and willing to fight. Jim DeMint of South Carolina is one of those good guys. I feel like he is one of those guys I can vouch for as I have known him personally for years. He and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma are willing to take on both sides of the aisle no matter what the odds and that is not an easy thing to do.
I found the story on DeMint in the Politico today interesting. I know from various staffers how vicious the November 18th meeting among Republican Senators was. DeMint was doing the right thing and making the right stand-Ted Stevens should have been booted from the conference and chairmanships and leadership spots should be term limited. There were other issues that DeMint proposed and all were defeated.
Is there any easy way to buck the system and call fellow Senators, even fellow Republicans, to account? Nope. Three cheers for Jim DeMint and here’s to getting 10 more like he and Coburn elected in cycles to come.
01 26th, 2009
I always laugh when I hear Democrats in Washington, DC talk about bipartisanship. They speak of it in glowing terms, as if it is the elixir that will “make politics work.”
The only thing is, they demand it of Republicans yet refuse to play by the same rules. The best at this game of hypocrisy, in my mind, is Senator Chuck Schumer of New York.
The same can be said of civility in the political arena. Obama talked a lot about “changing the tone” in Washington, DC during the campaign. As this article so appropriately points out, civility begins at home.
01 23rd, 2009
With another Executive Order, Obama will close Gitmo by the end of this year. Again, as President, it is his prerogative to do so and fulfill a campaign pledge.
But more and more proof is being released that, contrary to the mythology of the Left, the detainees at Gitmo are. . .wait for it. . .actually terrorists!! They are released, they go back to their terrorist cells and the vicious cycle starts again.
So Step 1 for Obama is to close Gitmo. What are Steps 2 and 3? What is his plan?
