CPAC - Friday afternoon

Wish I could be in several places at once down here. Just came back to the main ballroom while Congresswoman Michelle Bachman was speaking and it was standing room only. She was reciting passages from the Declaration of Independence: ...deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" and people were following along. I walked through the room and up to the bloggers' lounge to set up my work station again. Dang. Sorry I missed her.

John Ashcroft is at the podium now. Can't help but think about what a contrast he is with our present Attorney General, Eric Holder. Colonel Alan West
My mind is reeling, however, because from 10:00 AM until 12:30 PM, I attended Pam Geller's and Richard Spencer's "Freedom Defense Initiative." Colonel Alan West, Major Stephen Coughlin, Wafa Sultan, Simon Deng, and others.The room
It was the most powerful presentation of the conference so far as I suspected it would be.
Pam Geller
There's just too much to write about here. I'm going to need time to collect my thoughts and write a few columns on what I learned, and it's disturbing. Simon Deng is a human rights activist living in New York City right now, but...
Simon Deng
Congressman Dan Lundgren of California is speaking now in the Maine hall. We get video/audio feeds here in the bloggers' lounge. He's the former Atty General there - a measured speaker and he's talking about the Islamist threat. He's somber and the audience is too. So am I, after the Geller presentation.
Simon and me
... I went back to my room after that presentation which involved a circuitous walk through this huge hotel and, it turned out, Simon Deng's room is in the same tower and on the same floor as mine. We rode up together in the elevator, but we were talking so intently in the back that we rode it up and down several times while others came in and went out. Then we went out into the little lobby and talked some more. I have most of it recorded on my digital audio device and I'll be quoting from him in future pieces, but I'm going to have to do some more research on the history of Christians in southern Sudan where Simon grew up. His accent is still pretty thick and it was hard sometimes to follow all he was telling me.

Simon was kidnapped and sold into slavery for three-and-a-half years to Arab Muslim masters in the north...

Ovide Lamontagne just walked over and we talked about his race for the US Senate in New Hampshire. Seems like a good man. I recorded our interview. More later...

Now I just have to venture out and find a men's room. Back later...