Kristen Hawley's blog

A Place for Conservative Woman: Smart Girl Politics

Posted Thu, 05/13/2010 - 1:59pm by Kristen Hawley

I've always been interested in politics. However, October of 2008 I decided to start a blog. After the election I knew that I need more… I started searching for somewhere to belong. A group of like-thinking people that I could relate and express me feelings with.

Little did I know I would find Smart Girl Politics, a grass roots organization that promotes the opinions and principles of conservative women. How Perfect… February 19, 2009 I joined! I am now the Director of Operations and am loving the new relationships I form daily.

The best part – I don’t feel alone anymore.
I was worried that conservative politics was dead…. but I was so wrong. We are thriving.

Smart Girl Politics has started many programs to help achieve their goals.  Engage. Educate. Empower. We have tried to reach as many members as possible using all the different media types we have available.

SGP101 is our way to provide education on everything from social networking to campaign tactics. We have trained over a 1,000 members and are working toward reaching many more.

Smart Girl Nation is an online magazine/blog that has many topics but my favorite is the Profiles in Conservatism. This section is used as a Member Spotlight and  The Next Generation, where we highlight young conservative women making a difference in their communities.

Smart Girl Summit 2009 was held in Tennessee and featured speakers Liz Cheney, Michelle Malkin, and Congressman Marsha Blackburn. The sold out event was a hit! This years summit will be a two-day event with a reception, banquet and awards dinner, and TONS more training and speakers. Some of the speakers include Rachel Campos-Duffy, Liz Cheney, S.E. Cupp, Leslie Sanchez, Pamela Geller, Tammy Bruce, and so many more.

Smart Girl Nation Radio is played on From The Right  Radio at 10pm on Wednesdays or you can find the podcast on iTunes. Teri Christoph, Kathleen McKinley, and Molly Teichman discuss issues conservative women care about. They also have great interviews and analyze the latest news.

Smart Girl Politics has completed so much in the little time they have been around (November 10, 2008). 

We would love to have you as a member – join us. You won’t regret it.

At this time we are a completely volunteer grassroots organization and complete all of our task on a very small budget. 
All donations are always welcomed.

Class III Senators: Barbara Boxer

Posted Mon, 05/03/2010 - 2:50pm by Kristen Hawley

Another Class III Senator up for election is Barbara Boxer.

My opinion on Senator Boxer is not very good… obviously.

So who should you choose if you live in California?

One of my favorite choices...

Chuck DeVore:

 

Check him out – Chuck Devore is a pretty good conservative choice.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/chuckdevore

Website: http://www.chuckdevore.com/

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An ongoing edition to the blog, Class III Senators, will highlight the senators up for election and the candidaarBoxer, Barbara (D-CA)tes running against them.
Please refer to this post for the entire list of candidates up for election in 2010.

Sunday Non-Political Edition: Photography

Posted Sun, 04/25/2010 - 1:45pm by Kristen Hawley

Tony and I work quite well together – He likes to take photos and I like to Photoshop.

Neither one of us are pros in anyway – just self taught.

Our Tools

Tony
– Nikon D80
- Nikkor 18-135mm (This is the lens we purchased with the camera)
- Nikkor 50mm (He is not quite used to this lens yet - but starting to play with it more)

Kristen
-Adobe® Photoshop® CS3

When we go on vacation or just a good long road trip Tony will take the photos (he has the steadier hand), but I normally choose what's in the photo. After we get home and I have time (very rare) I Photoshop them.

Photoshop is definitely a great application but the in the beginning it can be overwhelming.   The neat thing about the Adobe suite is you can change the way it looks – meaning you can change the icons to fit your needs.   Pretty much anything you want to learn can be found with a quick search through a Google search engine. One of my favorite places to go is The Pioneer Woman, she is amazing and so helpful. Check out site for some great tutorials.

Before & After

Sometimes I go a little crazy –LOL

We always keep both because sometimes the original is better. I always like the Photoshop look better but some like it like plain. =)

 

Another way to edit your photos is through Picnik, a free application that you can use through Flickr. Tony has been using Picnik on a lot of his photos because its easier (and lets face it I just edited photos from a year ago).

You can see more photos at our Flickr accounts – I just changed mine from a different Flickr account so I am missing quite a few.

Kristen’s Flickr

Tony’s Flickr 

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Everyone needs at least one day of no politics…  I am making that Sunday.

I will be posting other things that interest me on Sundays.

Class III Senators: Jim DeMint

Posted Tue, 04/20/2010 - 9:26pm by Kristen Hawley

Senator Jim DeMint

Republican – South Carolina

 

Sen. DeMint one of most conservative senators in office today was elected in 2004, when he beat Inez Tenenbaum (D) by about 9%. He will be running for his second term in 2010.  He voted against the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, and many other  government controlling bills.  His voting record is strong in conservative principles and is truly what we need to secure freedom and uphold our Constitution please check it out yourself.   

Senator DeMint also understands that to reduce the size of government,  fix the economy, and restore the Constitution we must get new people to Washington. And not just a Republican majority but a Conservative majority therefore, he has endorsed many candidates away from the “norm” in DC.

Sen. Marlin Stutzman in Indiana's Senate race, Weld County prosecutor Ken Buck (R) in the Colorado Senate race, Conservative state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore in California, former state House Speaker Marco Rubio in Florida and former Rep. Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania.

"The Fix" by Chris Cillizza

Senator Jim DeMint is part of four committees in the current congress; Banking Housing and Urban Affairs, Commerce Science and Transportation, Foreign Relations, and Joint Economic Committee.

I got to see Senator Jim DeMint for the first time at CPAC 2010 where he spoke to an energized crowd. This was my favorite part of his speech.

My fellow conservatives, our mission is to preserve and promote the values and beliefs that benefit our people and our nation. We believe that individualism, capitalism and volunteerism have proven to work better than any government program. Our policies must be focused on promoting these core values and allowing them to work in every area of our society. Our policies are like pieces of the jigsaw puzzle with many people putting them in place. We must keep the box top – our vision – front and center for everyone to see.

I feel with all my heart that Sen. DeMint is the type of candidate we need in Washington. If you're in South Carolina make sure to send him back for a second term.

If you would like to find out more about Senator Jim Demint use the contact information below

Website: demint.senate.gov
Facebook: senatordemint
Twitter ID:  JIMDemint

Voting record
JimDeMint.com

Washington, D.C.

340 Russell
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-6121
Fax: 202-228-5143
Office Hours:
9am - 6pm (M-F)

Charleston

112 Custom House
200 East Bay St
Charleston, SC 29401
Phone: 843-727-4525
Fax: 843-722-4923
Office Hours:
8:30am - 5:30pm (M-F)

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An ongoing edition to the blog, Class III Senators, will highlight the senators up for election and the candidates running against them.

Please refer to this post for the entire list of candidates up for election in 2010.

 

Kristen Hawley,

Kristen hawley

recently graduated from the University of Michigan, earning her BS with a concentration in Ecology and a double minor in Field Biology & Geography. Despite her scientific background, politics is her true passion. Kristen has always been on the conservative end of the political spectrum – a rarity among college-aged Michiganders – but has never felt the pull of liberalism. To the great relief of her boyfriend and others subjected to her ranting, she developed Angry Female Elephant in October of 2008 as a forum for her political frustration.

On November 5th, 2009, a day when conservatives around the country were still in mourning, she found a new motivation to change the direction of her country and threw herself into online activism. Several months later she discovered Smart Girl Politics, and knew she’d found an organization that would connect her with other conservative women who were as ready for action as she was. She dove in feet first and volunteered wherever she could. Kristen is currently acting as the Director of Operations.