1. There is no easier, faster, more reliable, or lower cost way to keep up with important political news, commentary, and events of interest to Illinois Republicans. The more than 800 GOPUSA ILLINOIS subscribers include many Illinois Republican elected officials, candidates, party leaders, and activists. The emails are sent out each and every morning and copies of them are posted and archived each and every morning on the GOPUSA ILLINOIS website at www.gopillinois.com. If for any reason on a particular day the email does not appear in your inbox, you can view it there.
2. The emails bring to your attention relevant news and commentary articles posted on websites during the previous 24 hours. The emails include the name of the website that the article is posted on and its title, author, and direct hyperlink. Some of the many websites that the articles are drawn from include the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Daily Herald, Southtown Star, Naperville Sun, Beacon News, ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Crain's Chicago Business, Springfield State Journal Register, Illinois Review, Champion News, and Capitolfax. Recently, typical emails include from 30 to 60 articles. The August 7, 2008 email included 73 articles from 42 different websites. The emails included 5,624 articles during 2005, 9,667 articles during 2006, 9,207 articles during 2007, and 14,974 articles during 2008. The emails open quickly and take up less space because they contain text only. They contain no advertising, no graphics, no pictures, and no photos.
3. You can count on the emails to include ALL relevant articles, including articles that relate to important planks in the Republican Party platform; articles that are critical of Republican elected officials, candidates, party leaders, and organizations; and articles posted by individuals and organizations that have been "blacklisted." You can count on me to deal with the punishment that I receive from those who outrageously want to a) control which articles I include or not include in the emails and b) control comments that I make on those articles. My including or not including an article does not necessarily mean that I agree with that article, disagree with it, approve of it, disapprove of it, or that it is accurate, fair, balanced, or complete.
4. Subscriptions are completely free. No elected official, no candidate, no party leader, and no individual or organization controls my decisions on which articles to include in the emails or what comments I might make on those articles. I do not ask for or accept any compensation for subscriptions because maintaining independence is extremely important to me -- "he who pays the piper calls the tune."
5. Subscribing and unsubscribing is easy. Just send an email to diersen@aol.com with "Subscribe" in the subject line and assure that your email account is set to accept emails from diersen@aol.com. Constant Contact at www.constantantcontact.com sends the emails for GOPUSA ILLINOIS. Your email address is kept confidential and not shared with anyone.
6. The comments (like "VERY SAD" or "OUTRAGEOUS" or "OUTSTANDING" or "DIERSEN HEADLINE:") that I occasionally make on the articles give you the perspective of someone who:
-- is a lifelong Republican, a contributing member of the party since 1976, a "Platform Republican" otherwise know as a "conservative Republican," a very active DuPage County Milton Township Precinct Committeeman since 1999, the GOPUSA Illinois Editor since 2000, an Illinois Center Right Coalition Steering Committee member 2003-2007, the TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois Chairman since 2005, a voting delegate at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Illinois Republican (IRP) state conventions, a member of the IRP 2008 Platform and Resolutions Committee, and a regular attendee at DuPage County and Chicago area political events and IRP State Central Committee meetings. I know many Illinois elected officials, candidates, party leaders, and activists, especially those in DuPage County. I have been a member of the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) since 2001 and I served as a founding director of AAPC's Midwest Chapter;
-- is involved in politics to advance the Republican Party platform, and a) not to get, keep, or improve a job, a contract, other type of income, or favorable action from an organization or individual that is involved in government or politics and b) not to increase government or political preferences for any race, gender, national origin, religion, or age group;
-- has been, is, and will continue to be critical of individuals and organizations that state that they are Republican, but a) bring disgrace the Republican Party, b) help elect Democrats, c) work against Republican primary winners, d) fail to advance the Republican Party platform, or e) take actions against the Republican Party platform;
-- has lived in Illinois his entire life; whose ancestors immigrated from what is now Germany during the 1840s and 1850s; whose hometown is Crete; who was baptized in 1948 and confirmed in 1962 as Missouri Synod Lutheran; who lived in Crete through 1972, in University Park 1972-1974, in Chicago 1974-1978; and who married Karen Gassner in 1978 and lived with her in Wheaton since then;
-- has four university degrees and six professional certifications. I am the first of my ancestors to attend college. I attended the University of Illinois in Chicago 1966-1968, earned a bachelors degree from NIU in management in 1970, an MBA from Loyola University in 1976, a masters degree in accounting from DePaul University in 1980, and a masters degree in finance from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1997. I passed the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979 and I passed the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt in 1981. I became a licensed CPA in 1982, a Certified Fraud Examiner in 1990, a Certified Government Financial Manager in 1994, a Certified Financial Services Auditor in 1996, and a Forensic Accountant in 1997;
-- has worked for the federal government for almost 29 years -- the Park Forest Post Office 1966-1969, IRS 1971-1980, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) 1980-1997. I worked for Firestone Stores 1970-1972 and as a consultant and arbitrator since my liberal Democrat GAO superiors forced me to take early retirement in 1997;
-- has always opposed race and gender based preference giving; who had his career wasted by his liberal Democrat superiors because they had to give preference to minorities, to females, to younger employees, and to veterans; who who has been a participant in a class action lawsuit against GAO since 1988 that claims such preference giving resulted in age discrimination; and who filed a lawsuit against GAO in 1998 that claimed age discrimination, reverse discrimination, and retaliation for complaining about such discrimination. I have been the Treasurer and a Director of Adversity.Net, a nonprofit foundation that fights reverse discrimination, since 1999;
-- is a strong critic of liberal bias in the media; and
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-- is a strong "be American, buy American" advocate. I have never owned a foreign nameplate vehicle and I currently own a 1990 Ford Thunderbird, a 1996 Ford Thunderbird, a 1972 Chevrolet Corvette, and a 2005 Chevrolet Corvette.
7. Subscribing does not mean that you necessarily agree or disagree with the articles, with my decisions on which articles to include, or with any comment I might make on the articles.