Peggy Knutson is Breitbart.
Peggy wrote an extremely hilarious parody of an Obama Diary told by "Obama" and his alias "Harrison J Bounel" it's called
"The Many Lies Of Harrison J Bounel" and it's available for Kindle for 1.99. - I read it, loved it, recommend it! She is also the author of 3 fiction books. Peggy is a Veteran - and I asked her if she would answer some questions for the "Team Breitbart Profile."
I'd like to say, thanks for serving our Country Peggy (both you and your husband!). I loved your answers! Keep on Being Breitbart!!!!
“When did you become politically aware?”
Hmmm. My husband would probably tell you I’ve always been an opinionated pain in the ass when it comes to politics.
But my political ”AHA!” moment was TARP. TARP? Yes, TARP. The moment I, as a Conservative-Independent slash Libertarian slash Deep-in-My-Soul-Patriot, realized “We are totally SCREWED!” I never had that jarring awakening from liberal/progressive brain-dead slumber to conservative common-sense awareness. No. I had the jarring awakening that I could no longer stand by the sidelines cloaked in my “But I’m a Libertarian” smugness and watch as the Republicans and Democrats presided over the destruction of MY Country when Congress passed TARP. It doesn’t seem like an event which could trigger an epiphany so I must explain my evolution.
I have considered myself more “Patriotic” than “Political” most of my adult life. I was raised by a staunch Republican in a predominately Republican community (my high school English teacher went on to become Reagan’s Secretary of Labor). When I reached majority age, I dutifully voted Republican, but, like so many young people, I really didn’t pay much attention to the issues.
And then a strange thing happened on my way to a GOP-straight-ticket life. I enlisted in the United States Navy and was struck profoundly patriotic.Whatever reasons moved me to enlist became secondary to the sense of patriotism instilled in my heart. Right now I am trying to find the words that might convey the soul-deep, heart-and-mind gripping love of country which I felt, and still feel. The one moment that captured that overwhelming mixture of love and duty occurred at the start of the very first Blue Angels Marathon in Pensacola. I stood in the middle of the broad runways of the Naval Air Station, next to my husband and among a small group of Sailors and Marines. We faced the flag, every hand over every heart, as the National Anthem was played. I was overcome with a suffocating, heart-stopping, lump-in-my-throat love. Everything I truly loved, and that made up the fiber of my life, was represented in that moment. My family, my country, my service, my life.
Life in the military, however, is a double-edged sword. I was transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 25 square miles of land and 20 square miles of water surrounded by fences, land mines, and sea. Life in Gitmo was contained and controlled. There was one grocery store; the produce plane arrived on Thursdays and everyone lined up to buy their food on Fridays. The were two stores, the Marine Corps Exchange and the Navy Exchange; but you needed nothing beyond your uniform. Housing is allotted according to need and paygrade. Single persons live in barracks, married persons are assigned housing units. Officers’ quarters are bigger and nicer than enlisted quarters. In my first weeks, waiting for married housing, I lived in a room in the barracks. As an E5, I was assigned a two-person room. An E6 would qualify for a single room. When my name came up on the married housing list, I was allotted a small one-bedroom unit in one of the enlisted housing areas, and my husband was allowed to join me. A friend, also an E5, with a spouse and two children, was allotted a three-bedroom house. My friend was a cook in the chow hall. I was an electronics technician maintaining the surveillance radar guarding the mouth of the bay. For the first time in my life I truly understood “From each according to their abilities; to each according to their needs.” This was life in a totalitarian system (but with free movies on the weekends).
And thus my life in the military created a schizophrenic juxtaposition of love of country and fear of government and liberated my Libertarian self from my former Republican self. (In the interest of full disclosure here, having been trained as a surveillance radar technician, I became an FAA technician when I left the military. I used to reconcile my anti-big-government views with my career, telling myself the regulation of the National Airspace System is a federal function, much like National Defense. I’m not so sure I haven’t been lying to myself.) Over the years, I would vote for Libertarians, if there were any who made their way onto the ballot. If not, I would vote for the lesser of the two evils, the Republican candidate. But I was never politically vocal.
Until the Troubled Asset Relief Program - TARP!
I had already realized what Obama was - farther left than Senator Bernie Sanders, an avowed Socialist, and arising from the murky sewage of Chicago politics. When the sub-prime mortgage “crisis” hit in September 2008 and McCain suspended his campaign to rush back to Washington, I had welcomed the opportunity for him to show some leadership. I expected him to argue against dumping 700 billion taxpayer dollars into an unallocated slush fund. Instead he not only voted for TARP, but lobbied other Republicans to vote for it. 700 billion was an unfathomable amount of money and here they were, Republicans right along with Democrats, blindly throwing it away. I believe the day George W. Bush said “I had to abandon the free market system in order to save the free market system” was the day the TEA Party was conceived, although it would not be born until the following spring. It was also the day many people like me found their political voice. It came out as a scream.
"What does it mean to you to be a Breitbart?"
To be a Breitbart means to be bold and loud and courageous, to shout The Truth. I don’t possess the brashness, the combativeness, or the quick wit of an Andrew Breitbart. But each of us can, in some way, spread The Truth. As my Harrison J. Bounel persona (a purported Obama alias) on Facebook, I attempt to use humor and satire to lampoon Obama. I try to stay current and topical, although I am not a journalist or a reporter. Most importantly, the page also offers a forum for any of the 4,000+ friends to post articles, converse, and meet like-minded people. Plus, Harrison offers everyone an opportunity to ridicule ‘The One’.
“Is the USA half empty or half full and how can we make it better?”
The country has been barreling down the Big Government Road for a century and it will be extremely hard to put on the brakes, let alone turn around. The first step has to be to elect a new government. We need conservatives, real conservatives, to control both houses of Congress as well as the presidency. I am afraid it won’t happen because the Obama voter-fraud-and-intimidation system won’t allow it it to happen. That’s my “half-empty” view.
On the “half-full” side, there has been a huge increase in political awareness. Average Americans are becoming more involved in the political process as evidenced by the spontaneous formation of the TEA Party and by the active, questioning, challenging participation in town hall meetings with their representatives. But we can’t get discouraged now. I say that as much to myself as to others. I, myself, am easily discouraged. I get discouraged with boiler plate responses to my letters to Congress. I get discouraged with Congress for ignoring the blatant usurpation of power that has been ongoing since this administration took office. I get discouraged with the media, even the conservative media, for shying away from controversial topics like Obama’s hidden records and forged birth certificate. What begins as outrage is beaten into disheartenment. We need to keep that outrage cranked up! That means we need to stay informed, stay involved, and stay connected to each other.
“What is the one issue that is most important to you right now?”
The overriding issue of immediate importance is to make sure Obama is not reelected. Period. If we can’t stop that, nothing else will matter.
“What is your favorite food?”
I want to say “lightly steamed fresh baby asparagus” or “Chilean sea bass served with risotto”. But, sadly, the truth is “cheese”. It must be the Wisconsin blood on my maternal side. (Hmmm. I bet I’ll have a better chance of getting served cheese in the FEMA reeducation camps than lightly steamed fresh baby asparagus.)
“What is your favorite music?”
I usually love contemporary jazz or mellow R&B. Some of my favorite artists are Chris Botti, Dave Koz, Michael Bublé, Anita Baker, and Al Jarreau. Recently, I was turned on to Joe Bonamassa, a fabulous young Blues guitarist. My Facebook persona, Harrison J. Bounel, has a “Saturday Night Music Night” and I have been introduced to so many artists and styles I would never have discovered on my own. I guess it’s one of the really positive side effects of “Being Harrison”.
“What is your favorite movie?”
I have to admit to not being a movie buff. My husband is a Vietnam vet who suffers from PTSD and cannot stand to be in a movie theater. We haven’t even tried to go to one for about 15 years. Therefore, I choose instead to answer the question “What are your favorite books?” I usually love character-driven novels and authors who can transform relatively normal everyday experiences by beautifully constructing sentences that cause the reader to stop and turn the words over and over again. John Irving, Ann Tyler, and Jonathan Franzen are always on the top of my reading list. Lately, however, that reading list has included Andrew Breitbart’s “Righteous Indignation”, Laura Freed’s “We Are Breitbart”, and George Orwell’s “1984”. At this moment, M. Stanton Evan’s “Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies” is on my Kindle.
Breitbart is NO FEAR. Breitbart is unity through individuality. Breitbart in no rules.
