Month: November 2015

So a little over a year ago I flew back to Washington DC for an awards ceremony for my cousin.  I was excited as it was my first time going back to see our nation’s Capital.  I sat next to a very nice lady who happened to have a dog on her lap.  The dog was quiet and was more interesting than an issue.  I had Ronald Reagan’s Autobiography on my iPod to keep me occupied.  So for most of the flight I listened to Ronald Reagan tell me about his life in broadcasting and politics.   About a half an hour before we landed, I put my headphones down and began to chat with my row mate and the lap dog.  (Forgive me as I cannot remember her or the dog’s name.)    She told me she lived in Virginia and worked at the Pentagon.  Her dog was companion dog to help with PTSD she dealt with.  She then introduced me to her husband who was sitting a few rows over.   He worked on Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base.  I was impressed.  I told her I had seen Ronald Reagan’s plane at his Library in Simi Valley, California with my good friend Kelly a year before,  but had never seen the 747 version that was originally George W Bush’s.  She lit up and smiled and said, “My husband and I have a lot of respect for President Bush.”  I asked if she also had respect for our current President.  She declined to answer.  I smiled and told her I completely agree.  She then shared with me a story about Christmas time while George W Bush was in office.  She said, “People don’t realize it, but it takes a lot of people to operate Air Force One.  Not only support staff for the President and Secret Service, but also the people who operate and work on the plane itself.”  She then looked at me and said, “Did you know President Bush never flew anywhere during Christmas?”  I said, “No, I was not aware.”  She said, “Because he wanted to make sure all of the people who work for him could spend Christmas with their families.  He always made his own plans for after the Holidays.”  Respect is a wonderful thing.  Many people believe respect comes from reaching a level of success.  Either in employment or wealth or some other serendipitous form.  But after hearing this story, I realized respect has nothing to do with any of those things.  It is earned and given by how we value others in relation to ourselves.   I think we all need to give a little more respect in our lives.  Maybe we would find we get even more in return.  My name is Brian Heinrich and I am running for the First Congressional District of Oregon and I appreciate your support.

Back when I went to Glencoe High School, we had a football coach that would say “Talk is cheap!”  He would say this in reference to things written in the local paper about upcoming games.  He would follow it up with. “You prove it on the field on Friday.”  It is amazing what little things in life help define our core beliefs as we get older.  As I heard about the tragedy of what happened in Paris on Friday and the French governments military response Sunday, I recalled those words by Coach.  And then I thought about our President.  We currently have a President who is quick to grab headlines on almost every social and political issue.  Sometimes by what he says, other times by what he fails to say.  The man has rarely acknowledged an act of terror during his Presidency.   He chose to blame a video for the attack on the US Embassy in Libya rather than on the Islamic extremists who murdered four Americans.  He has a strong aversion to using the term “Radical Islam”  in any statement even though the term “Right Wing Extremist” is  quick to roll off his tongue.  And then it occurred to me.  President Obama is the guy Coach was talking about in the paper.  This is the guy who spouts off to the newspapers about the game on Friday to grab the headline.  But while he is hitting his talking points, he fails to prove it on the field where it matters.  While I have not been a big supporter of the French government with its current social or economic policies, kudos to French President Francois Hollande for his military action on Sunday.  This man must have had a good high school coach as well, because he is “proving it on the field.”   My deepest sympathies to the French people and especially to those who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks.  And my sincerest respect and admiration to those in the French and US military who put themselves in harms way to protect all freedom loving peoples.  God Bless.

The union’s been on strike, he’s down on his luck…..it’s tough. So tough. That was a little Bon Jovi right there. You should hear me rock that one out in the shower. Shampoo pho-hawk and an air guitar….it is a cringe worthy sight I am sure. I am usually rocking out in the morning from my shower all the way until I hit the drive thru at the McDonald’s in Sherwood. Don’t judge, I have very few bad habits and I do enjoy my large Coke and sausage mcmuffin in the morning. But since we are talking about McDonalds, you ever wonder why there is this sudden demand for $15 minimum wage? Believe it or not….McDonald’s employees and other fast food workers are not organizing these “walk outs” we are hearing about on the news. That is being done by the big unions. The same unions that put Tommy out of work in Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer. You see, many unions have clauses in their contracts with employers that require mandatory wage hikes for their members if the minimum wage goes up. So why pay your employees strike wages when you can just bamboozle some fast food workers to walk off the job and demand the government to increase the minimum wage? I say bamboozle because many of these first time workers don’t realize they will lose their jobs once the wage increase takes effect. Automation is a much cheaper option than $15 per hour labor and McDonald’s business is based on selling inexpensive, albeit tasty food. Now I am for strong wages, but a minimum wage is a beginning wage, not a living wage. It is designed for people to enter the workforce to learn skills and increase their value. These improved skills will allow them to move up and out and increase their incomes as they find better employment opportunities. But by pricing many beginning workers out of the job market through too high of a base wage, we are making it very difficult for them to even find a job. If we continue to allow the unions to manipulate these workers, Tommy won’t need to go on strike, but Johnny in high school won’t be able to find a job.

So my nephew Payton asked me to sponsor him for a Jogathon to support the school’s PTA a few weeks back. He is an 8th grader down in Corvallis. I never turn my nephews down for any request. So I asked him how many laps he planned on doing and he said, “Probably eight.” Well, I believe in making sure my nephews push themselves a little harder, so I told him I would pay $5 per lap as long as he did ten. If he did less, I would not pay. He understood and agreed. Well over dinner a week ago he tells me that he was not able to do the ten laps and that is why he did not request the check from me. I asked, “How many laps did you do?” He said, “Nine and a half.” “Why did you not do ten?” “I ran out of time.” “They timed you? And they wouldn’t even let you finish the lap?” He said “No, we had to stop.” I was shocked as I never thought the event would be timed. Now think about this for a moment. This is a charitable event. Jogging really isn’t anything worth paying for. But it teaches these young children the importance of working for a reward. Things must be earned and should not just be given. Now I understand somethings need rules, but at the same time, people are choosing to support the PTA. That being said, why would they have a time limit? Or why not at least let them finish the final lap they were on? I mean think of how many dollars were not paid because the racers had to stop mid lap. The primary goal is to raise money and that should be the focus of this event. I was dumbfounded. I told Payton I would be happy to write him the check for fifty dollars and that I could not believe how short sighted his school was for this event. He said, “Thanks Beej (he calls me Beej), but they stopped taking money on Friday.” I told him, “Gooch (I call him Gooch), you give them the check on Monday. If the school refuses to take the check, then evidently they do not want it nor deserve it.” So I texted Payton a few days after to see if he was able to give them the check. The school refused it. The school refused to take a donation to support the PTA. Well I refuse to work with any charity that turns down donations. So I told Gooch we need to pick out a charity that appreciates our donation. He suggested “Make a Wish.” So this week we will be making a $50 donation so a family can do something magical with a very ill child. And while we are doing this, he will be learning the importance of hard work. The need to be giving and charitable to others. And most importantly, understand the value of money and that people who cannot appreciate it, do not deserve it. We have a choice in charities. It is a shame we don’t have a choice in schools.
Please share my page and support me for your representative of the First Congressional District of Oregon. http://www.heinrichfororegon.org

Have you ever seen the movie Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgundy?  There is a line in the movie where Paul Rudd’s character says, “60% of the time…it works everytime.”  Will Ferrell’s character replies, “That doesn’t make sense.”  I love statistics….especially ones that make sense.  So that brings me to the claim that 97% of scientists agree that Global Warming exists and humans are a significant cause of it.   This 97% claim is used by liberal politicians as a talking point to promote their climate agenda.   They also use it to silence the opposition since you cannot argue “with science.”  But like all statistics, the claim needs to be verified.   This claim in particular is based on an article written by Maggie Kendall Zimmerman, a student at the University of Illinois in 2009.  Her claim of “97 percent of climate scientists agree….” is from on an online survey she did for her master’s thesis.  The two question survey was “Are global temperatures rising?’ and “Are humans a significant contributing factor?”  The survey was not sent to solar scientists, space scientists, meteorologists and others who might be more aware of other natural forces of climate change.  It was only sent to 77 “selected” climatologists.  The lucky 77 who answered the ambiguous questions had to have at least 50% of their peer reviewed papers published within the last five years.  This means climatologist who had been studying the science for a majority of their lives were not included in the study since it would be rare for them to have 50% of their work done in the last five years.  A serious flaw.  Not to mention that the word “significant” was not defined.   Zimmerman’s introduction was also incredibly biased and the scientific aspect of the paper was mediocre at best.  Essentially it has been proven the thesis is more propaganda than science.  But this 97% is the extent of the detail shared by politicians and the media to influence public opinion. I don’t know about you, but I think we deserve more than propaganda from our leaders before we commit our our wealth and resources to “the green agenda.”  My name is Brian Heinrich and I am running for the 1st Congressional District of Oregon and I appreciate your support.

Disney announced plans this last summer about its first Star Wars anthology movie entitled, “Rogue One.”  This movie is rumored to be the backstory of the Rebellion’s successful attempt to steal the plans for the Death Star from the Empire.  The story is briefly mentioned in Episode 4, A New Hope right before Luke takes off in his X Wing to save the galaxy.  A very interesting word, Rogue is.  By definition it means dishonest or unprincipled man  or a person whose behavior one disapproves of but who is nonetheless likeable.   I believe my congressional effort is very much rogue, except for the dishonest part.  I am not following the rules of running a campaign and therefore a little unprincipled and I am sure some people disapprove of my efforts.  By this time in a campaign, most people would be working on getting donations, working with Party leaders, hob nobbing at events, and creating a support staff with a few paid employees.  Well, I have no donations.  Nor do I want them.  I have not met with any one from the Republican Party of Oregon.  They did ask me to drive four hours to Bend, OR on the 23rd and 24th to give a 3-5 minute speech.  I thought that was a bit wasteful, so I declined.  It was also during a OSU Beaver home game, which I thought was a great oversight on their part.  I have three people who I have asked to assist me in my campaign.  They are not paid and they give me their honest opinions and don’t sugar coat anything.  Sugar coating is for Frosted Flakes.  I am a Republican/Conservative by ideology.  I believe hard work, faith, financial responsibility, and a little luck go a long way in this world.   Like Thomas Jefferson once said, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”  Have a great week and please promote my campaign to your friends and family.  I truly appreciate your support.  www.heinrichfororegon.org