CPAC 2010 Sumo Championship

Sixty-Four contestants 'Belly'd up to Big Government' and took part in YAL's CPAC Sumo Wrestling Tournament on Friday, February 19th at the Marriott Wardman Hotel in Washington, D.C.   It was an incredibly fun and popular event and literally hundreds of people participated in open wrestling throughout the weekend against "Big Government", portrayed by 'Big Sis' Janet Napolitano.  

The event was covered by many major media outlets, and even made it live on Fox News:

Here's footage of the Championship Match between Ralph (in Red) and our Tournament Champ Mitch (sporting Blue)!  Congratulations to all who participated!  

A Poem for Members of YAL

Reprinted in whole from LewRockwell.com, which cites Jack Kerouac as the author.

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine.
They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.

California YAF Chairman Ryan Sorba Attacks YAL at CPAC

During the students activist forum at CPAC, Students for Liberty's Alexander McCobin openly thanked CPAC for inviting GOProud, a statement which recieved mixed reactions from the audience and boos from another speaker on McCobin's panel, Ryan Sorba.  Sorba, who helped co-found Young Conservatives of California and recently became the California YAF Chairman, used his own opportunity to speak to condemn CPAC for including GOProud.  He went on to taunt those booing him, attack YAL, and announce that YAL's executive director, Jeff Frazee, was now his enemy.

The source of his anger at YAL and Frazee is unclear:  The topic was brought up by Students for Liberty, not anyone associated with YAL.  Moreover, Frazee was entirely uninvolved in the situation (neither booing, taking sides, nor at all involved in gay rights activism) until Sorba out of the blue mentioned him on stage.

The "I Pledge" Video Transcript

Here is the list of pledges from the YAL "I Pledge" video.  According to the way I typed the speech from the video, I ended up with a list of 95 pledges.  It is only slightly ironic that the Protestant Reformation began with the publication of Martin Luther's The Ninety-Five Theses.

The text version below was transcribed directly from the "I Pledge" video:

1. Every generation needs a new revolution. –Thomas Jefferson
2. I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. –Barry Goldwater
   
   ::Start individual pledges::
3. I pledge, I pledge, I pledge…
4. To form my own opinions.
5. To not rely on pundits, politicians, or celebrities.
6. I pledge to think for myself.
7. To not rely on the media for facts.
8. I pledge to respect life.
9. To respect liberty.