Just a few thoughts from the past couple of weeks…trying to make sense of what passes for wisdom on the political front in Washington DC.

WHAT CONSTITUTES “TORTURE”?

Should we use torture to extract information from terrorists?

This past weekend on the news talk shows…a liberal guest in supporting the idea espoused by the President that torture in not part of our national character said, “We don’t support pulling out teeth or plucking out eyes…”

The comment went unchallenged…here’s the problem…none of us support that type of physical torture…and, that type of abuse has never been alleged in the liberal’s battle against “enhanced interrogation techniques.”

Sleep deprivation, humiliation, threats of physical abuse…oh, and water boarding are all enhanced techniques that have been used by our interrogators, but actual physical abuse…never even alleged…we have consistently drawn the line at inflicting physical pain that could cause any long term damage.

So, why do the liberals include eye gouging and teeth pulling to strengthen their argument against enhanced interrogation?

Perhaps because their case against the type of interrogation used by the CIA and Military cannot stand scrutiny if the discussion is limited to the actual facts.

WHAT IS IT THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND?

What was the November election about? Government spending…voters clearly wanted smaller government. But the conservatives in Congress are on the verge of folding.

It now looks doubtful that we’ll get any meaningful entitlement reform, so everything else they offer up is only playing in the margins and not solving our real problems.

Their excuse…political reality…meaning they can’t get reform passed in the Senate or signed by the President…and they are plain afraid of standing for the truth for fear of losing an election. Their thought process seems to be, “The voters sent us here to get things done”.

Yes…and No…we didn’t mean, “Do something…even if its wrong.”

We prefer gridlock to more debt. We prefer not raising the debt ceiling if it means more taxes. I’m not sure I know what the short term pain would be if we fail to raise the debt ceiling…but it is certain that the long term pain of unbridled borrowing and spending will destroy America.

WHY IS HE TALKING ABOUT IMMIGRATION?

Have you asked yourself why the president chose last week to address border security and amnesty for illegal immigrants?

It would seem to most Americans that we ought to be hearing his plan on reducing the deficit…or on entitlement reform…or creating jobs…or his plan to reduce gas prices…or a coherent energy policy…or plans to deal with the looming inflation. You think there might be some other things that need more immediate attention?

But think about it…he’s worn out the Osama Bin Laden story…or at least doesn’t like the questions surfacing about the morality of assassinations versus water-boarding. He is bankrupt of any ideas on how to fix what’s broken. His idea of leadership is to call for another commission…so what’s he got to say?

He’s using a tactic we’ve all employed…when you don’t like the current conversation…change the subject. Have you noticed how often this President changes the subject? And, by the way it wouldn’t hurt to buy a few Hispanics votes given his unpopularity with other large voting blocks.

UNDERSTANDING POLLS

What do you make of recent polls showing strong support for a third party?

A majority of Americans support the idea of a viable third party while only 32% believe the current two party system is adequate.

Conventional wisdom completely misreads these poll numbers by focusing on a third party presidential candidate.

The great discontent…and support for a third party rises from the fact that most Americans feel betrayed by Congress. Bickering, posturing, compromise and deceit are the hallmarks of both parties and Congress today.

A third party electing 35 Congressmen would be able to name the Speaker and committee chairs and with that, greatly influence the budget…and the size of the federal government. A parliamentary House would change DC.

A friend, Tim Cox has a plan take over the House in one election cycle…though he is unwilling to call his plan a third party…it truly is an unconventional third party focused solely on the House of Representatives. For more on this potential 2012 third party go to Tim’s website: www.goooh.com.

If you have not yet checked out Tim’s site, put it on your “to-do” list. Mr. Cox, an ordinary man with an extraordinary passion for America may just have the solution. In the past we’ve said, we can’t vote for a third party conservative because that will simply drain votes from the Republican and let the Democrat win the election…

ASK YOURSELF THIS…given that neither party is willing to take our deficits and national debt seriously…does either party really offer a solution to our crisis?

IF YOUR ANSWER IS NO…then ultimately our only hope may be a viable third party representation in the House of Representatives…

COULD IT BE ANY WORSE???
Check out our site as well. www.inspireandignite.com. We post a fresh political blog on the site daily.

Part three in the series of video fisks of President Obama’s “immigration speech.” Lots of squirrels and straw men. Few (if any) substantive policy proposals or solutions to problems.

This is Part 2 of a video fisking I did on President Obama’s “Immigration Speech” given at American University on July 1.  Nearly every sentence uttered by President Obama required some response or retort.  More demagoguery, straw men, and half-truths.

“We are three counties deep. How is it that you see pictures like these, not American with semi and fully automatic rifles. How is that okay?” asked Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.  Babeu said he no longer has control over parts of his county.

“We are outgunned, we are out manned and we don’t have the resources here locally to fight this,” he said at a Friday news conference.  Five weeks ago Deputy Louie Puroll was ambushed and shot as he tracked six drug smugglers.  Sheriff Babeu said the ambush mirrored military tactics.

Read more

Medved is most likely referring to the political fallout surrounding SB1070, Arizona’s Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act that goes into effect in a few weeks.

Most Americans support the law. A search for “Arizona” on the polling site rasmussen.com yielded the following results:

Click to view

Clearly, there is widespread public support for the Arizona law.

But that doesn’t mean that Medved is wrong. A few days ago, Harold Meyerson wrote an Op-Ed in the Washington Post in which he credited Latino political advocacy groups for their “get out the vote” efforts over the years, and this probably accounts for the dramatic shift away from the GOP in California. The political Left, always on the look for the next cudgel with which to pummel conservatives, was handed the Holy Grail of political truncheons by the citizens of Arizona – SB1070.

Opposition to the law was swift and decidely left-of-center. The velocity and sheer volume of intentional misrepresentations, unabashed demagoguery, and outright lies concocted by New Media Propogandists on the Left is mind boggling. It is the willful self-propogandization of a huge proportion of the American electorate. We are, in effect, brainwashing ourselves.

People today have easy, instant access to news and information, but many either cannot or will not analyze it critically. Information is useless, even dangerous, in the absence of meaningful context. The reason why so many people are unfazed by President Obama’s manic lurch toward socialism is because they have no frame of reference. As a result, seemingly rational people decry the enforcement of federal immigration law in Arizona as “racist,” “anti-immigrant,” and even “fascist.”

Since many do not have a historical perspective that is fact-based and ideologically-neutral, the Left is free to frame the narrative thus: You are either a bigoted fascist who supports the racist anti-immigrant law in Arizona, or you are an enlightened humanitarian who fights against the racist anti-immigrant law in Arizona.

Facts and figures illustrating the negative effects of illegal immigration are BORING. Accusations of racism, however, elicit a raw and visceral reaction. Conservatives can drone on about the violent crimes committed by illegals; the moral abyss of human trafficking; the huge burden to taxpayers associated with caring for and educating the children of illegals; the threat to life and property posed by the endless stream of illegals – many armed, dangerous, and desperate; the gaming of the welfare system; and so on, but all of it is drowned out by the Left’s debate-ending charge of “RACISM!”

Conservatives should therefore focus on securing the border. Regularization of illegals can be discussed later, but right now the border needs to be secured. Texas Congressman John Carter wrote an article for the Texas Insider recently that explains how the border could be secured immediately and references several times in the past when our southern border was secured to prove his point. So it’s not about how to secure the border, but rather whether we should. Conservatives can easily win that argument, and should not allow themselves to be drawn into a discussion about “comprehensive immigration reform” until after the border is secure.

Standing Firm is a video series created by Jeffrey LaPorte.  The videos are available on YouTube and are reposted here. The purpose of the series is to help inform and motivate Americans about issues by taking important news events and breaking them down into videos that are short but informative. 

Jeffrey served in the United States Army for 8 years. He is an Operation Iraqi Freedom war veteran who was deployed from January 2004 until January 2005. In his military career he attained the rank of Staff Sergeant and was awarded numerous medals for excellence and leadership. Jeffrey was recently elected Selectman of his hometown and also serves as Chairman of the Central Massachusetts Young Republicans.

The inspiration for Standing Firm comes from a quote by Abraham Lincoln, who said “Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”  This means that one must maintain a position of principles and values consistent with the Constitution and never allow others to move you from it. 

Jeffrey describes himself as Fiscally Conservative and Socially Constitutional.

Support Jeffrey LaPorte on Facebook – http://tinyurl.com/q29qru

Join the Standing Firm Group on Facebook – http://bit.ly/82rybg

Follow Jeffrey on Twitter – http://tinyurl.com/lrxrnk

Website – http://www.IamStandingFirm.com

But illegal immigration? Really?

The population of the United States is made up of

1. Citizens, and
2. Non-citizens

…and that’s about it. Nothing complicated so far.

It is relatively easy to prove one’s citizenship status. A current driver’s license is sufficient in most cases. A birth certificate will do in a pinch. Nothing complicated here, either.

The reason illegal immigration is a complicated issue is because

1. There is a lot of money involved, and
2. City officials cannot resist pandering for votes

Greedy businessmen want the cheap labor, but even the lowliest of jobs here pays far more than what a similar job in Mexico pays. Unscrupulous city officials ask local law enforcement to look the other way with regard to illegals working and living here because it is bad for business. And whatever is bad for business is ultimately bad for local politicians who depend on those “contributions” for their political survival.

It’s not complicated. It’s all about money and political power. The rest is just fluff, smoke and mirrors.

-Chris

Texas State Representative Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) found herself in the middle of a firestorm the other day after she gave an interview to an obscure left wing talk show host in Houston.  An attorney named Geoff Berg hosts a weekly talk show called Partisan Gridlock on station KFPT which, just like Berg’s politics, is on the far left end of the FM dial.  KFPT is affiliated with the notoriously radical Radio Pacifica network.  For an idea of where Berg and KFPT are coming from, just look at a few of the programs on the station’s schedule:   Queer Voices, Proyecto Latino Americano, Uprising, Arab Voices,  Nuestra Palabra and Voz de la Tierra.

Berg was interviewing Rep. Riddle about her call for a crackdown on illegal immigration.  Rep. Riddle has promised to introduce legislation this year that will be very similar to the recent bill passed in Arizona; in other words, she wants a law on illegal immigration that will actually be effective.  During the interview, Berg employed a typical left wing tactic – he prefaced his question with “Without making it a racial issue…”, and then proceeded to bluntly make opposition to illegal immigration into a racial issue.

Berg said that the vote on the tough illegal immigration bill in Arizona broke down along racial lines – with almost all of the white legislators voting for it, and almost all of the non-white legislators opposing it.  He then asked Rep. Riddle how she planned to generate support for her bill from “people of color.”  That’s how liberals talk when they supposedly want to avoid “making it a racial issue.”  They love to play the race card themselves, and then turn around and accuse their conservative opponents of injecting race into the discussion.  Clearly, Berg was being disingenuous; he was hoping to goad Rep. Riddle into either making a verbal “gaffe” that could be twisted and denounced as “racist” by leftists, or shaming her into backing off of her tough stance on immigration by playing the race card.

This time, though, it didn’t work.  Debbie Riddle simply stated things matter-of-factly.  She told Berg that it would be hard to generate equal support for action on illegal immigration from every group:

 ”When you have people that are used to entitlements, then they like the entitlements and they want the entitlements to keep coming.” 

That may not be politically correct, but it’s true that illegal aliens do get entitlements and they want to continue to get them.  Of course, there are many conservative Hispanic Americans who are strongly opposed to both illegal immigration and free handouts from the government, but, if voting patterns are any guide, then they are unfortunately in the minority, and pretending otherwise is nothing but intellectual dishonesty.  In 2008, Hispanics voted 2-1 for Obama, even after John McCain shamelessly pandered to them.  They didn’t vote overwhelmingly for Obama and the Democrats because they want to see a reduction in entitlement spending.

It’s even more dishonest to pretend that entitlements aren’t one of the main reasons illegals are coming here by the millions.  In just one city in America, Los Angeles, the local government is spending nearly fifty million dollars per month on welfare and food stamps for the children of illegals.  Educating them may be even more costly – the Supreme Court ruled decades ago that it’s somehow unconstitutional to deny free public schooling to the children of illegals.  For all the problems facing our schools, they are far superior to the average school in Mexico and we spend billions of dollars a year on educating the children of illegals.  The same goes for health care – politicians in Washington have ruled that hospitals must treat illegal aliens in emergency rooms, and they take advantage of this entitlement to the tune of billions more each year.  In California alone, over eighty hospitals have closed down because they went bankrupt treating illegal aliens who don’t pay.  In Houston, illegals constitute nearly twenty percent of patients in the Harris County Hospital District, and officials there are warning that the county hospital system may not have a viable future if they don’t attract more paying customers to cover the costs of treating illegals. 

Even though she spoke the truth, and didn’t come close to committing a “gaffe”, liberals immediately denounced Debbie Riddle as a “racist.”  Of course, it’s becoming clearer every day that anyone who opposes illegal immigration is a “racist” in the eyes of liberals.  It’s been said that a racist is simply a conservative who’s winning an argument with a liberal.  If left-wingers can’t refute someone, they simply resort to calling them vicious names.  It didn’t stop with “racist”, either – she’s been called “an idiot” and “a Nazi”, and many other names too crude to repeat here.   Thankfully, Rep. Riddle not only has the courage to speak the truth, she also refuses to be intimidated.  Most politicians would have backed off and groveled an apology in the face of this onslaught, but not Debbie Riddle.  She’s standing firm, and issued a statement defending her remarks about why race based groups like the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus oppose enforcing our immigration laws:

“…I gave my honest answer: I think that those lawmakers believe that illegal immigrants are entitled to services that we reserve for our citizens, services that must be paid for by the tax dollars of our citizens, and are too often given to illegal immigrants instead of our citizens. I think this is not just wrong, not just unjust, but truly and utterly immoral in every sense of the word. 

As our state deals with the largest financial crisis we’ve seen in recent memory, lawmakers have unpleasant and unpopular decisions that must be made. We must choose to provide for the safety and security of our citizens before we make concessions to those who do not have a legal right to be here in the first place.

I will not send our citizens to the back of the line in order to appease the politically-correct left.”

It’s extremely heartening to see a politician speak the truth and let the chips fall where they may.  Not to mention Rick Perry’s name, but unfortunately, some of our politicians have “concerns” about an illegal immigration bill that would enforce our laws and say that it “would not be the right direction for Texas.”  

Meanwhile, Debbie Riddle simply pointed out the obvious – it’s the organized liberal Hispanic groups that openly base their policies on race when it comes to illegal immigration, not conservatives.  Politicians like her are a rare specimen these days, and she is to be commended for putting American citizens first, and for having the courage to speak the truth and not back down when liberals go on the war path.

-Chris

Subject: ORANGE COUNTY ( CALIFORNIA ) NEWS PAPER – NEW IMMIGRANTS LETTER

For some reason, people have difficulty structuring their arguments when arguing against supporting the currently proposed immigration revisions. This lady made the argument pretty simple. NOT printed in the Orange County Paper.

From: “David LaBonte”

My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to “print” it myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined. Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:

Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants.  Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren’t being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today’s American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer.  Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground.  They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times.  They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.  Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them.  All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out.  My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France, and Japan .  None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from.  They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan.  They were defending the United States of America as one people.

When we liberated France , no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American.  The people of France saw only Americans.  And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country’s flag and waving it to represent who they were.  It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here.  These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges.  Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country.   I’m sorry, that’s not what being an American is all about.  I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900′s deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life.  I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill.  I wouldn’t start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed) Rosemary LaBonte

Then it follows by saying Obama isn’t doing his job because prosecutions rose in the last 16 months. Did the governor just make the argument that President Obama is doing his job along the border? You be the judge. (Via Hot Air)

-Chris

“Where we now stand is stolen, occupied Mexico…”

From the La Raza rally at UCLA.  More gems:

‘Communist Revolution’  
‘Frail, racist white people’
‘La Raza’ (the Race)
Fidel Castro
‘Northern Front of Latin Revolution’
“40 million…revolutionaries…in the belly of the beast”
“Our enemy is Capitalism and Imperialism”.

Sedition anyone?  – http://StandWithArizona.com

Sanchee H.S. history teacher Ron Gochez, La Raza Rally at UCLA

We are revolutionary Mexican organization here. We understand that this is not just about Mexico. Its about a global struggle against imperialism and capitalism At the forefront of this revolutionary movement is La Raza. We will no longer fall for these lies called borders. We see America as a northern front of a revolutionary movement.  Our enemy is capitalism and imperialism.

Ron Gochez is NOT a professor at UCLA. Gochez is currently a HISTORY teacher (yikes) at Santee H.S. in Los Angeles.

Here is his H.S.:
http://www.santeefalcons.org/
Phone: (213) 763-1000
Los Angeles Unified School District
Tel: 213-241-7000
superintendent@lausd.net
Los Angeles Board of Education:
Tel: 213-241-6389
Email: steve.zimmer@lausd.net