From politics (moderates who lean to the right) to Pogo (drools during poker stare) to rants (Whatcha expect from savvy, sassy sexagenarians?) to raves (Have you had your kudo today?) -- we never take ourselves too seriously.
We do, however, reserve the right to slaughter an occasional sacred cow. And in case we fail to mention it -- we will never forget....
Pass a law granting amnesty to all illegals and create a celebratory bonfire with the backlog of applications, FBI search requests, security reports, etc. to celebrate the travesty and injustice to Americans.
I wouldn't presume to speak for the millions of Americans who oppose this bill, but it's because I'm an immigrant myself that I object to the most patent absurdity peddled by the pro-amnesty crowd. The bill is fundamentally a fraud. Its ''comprehensive solution'' to illegal immigration is simply to flip all the illegals overnight into the legal category. Voila! Problem solved! There can be no more illegal immigrants because the Senate has simply abolished the category. Ingenious! For their next bipartisan trick, Congress will reduce the murder rate by recategorizing murderers as jaywalkers.
First, the reaction to the amnesty bill debacle is not to retreat. On the contrary, we must become especially politically aggressive. Yes, the politicians in office now have mostly failed us but that does not mean that there aren't good men and women out there who can and want to serve this nation with honor. LOCATE YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPS
Track down your senators and representatives. Check their local office and local newspapers. The best scenario is to meet them in person and tell them what you think--face to face. The next best thing is to contact them at their office. Any time you are communicating, remember to be firm but polite. Decide what you will say ahead of time and while it may not come out exactly as you planned, it'll be close. Make notes about the elements of the amnesty plan that you especially do not like, making it clear you know what you're talking about. Be specific. TELL THEM EXACTLY WHAT YOU WILL DO IF THEY VOTE FOR THE AMNESTY BILL
1) You will not vote for them. 2) You will be active in helping to recruit someone to run against them. 3) You will give money to that candidate.
Once you have confronted your House and Senate Monkeys, call the National Republican Congressional Committeeand tell them what you told your representative, and stress the fact that you will no longer give money to the NRCC, and instead will put all your support behind a specific candidate to defeat the sitting Republican congressional and senate representative. These people understand one thing and one thing only--money. Make sure they know you will hurt them where it counts.
National Republican Congressional Committee
Phone Numbers
NRCC Main Number - (202) 479-7000 News Media Inquiries - (202) 479-7000 Information on Contributing - (202) 479-7000 To contact us by email, please send a message to website@nrcc.org.
Whomever you call, make sure they understand you're reasonable, informed and this is war. Your future and the future of your children is at stake.
The Weak Links:
The list below are Republicans who are considered "weak" in their stance against the bill. Contact them. Those with an * will be up for relection in 2008:
UPDATE: Paul Potts second performance is linked at the bottom of post.
Thanks to the Anchoress .... If you can listen to this humble young man's voice without goose bumps or eyes welling, you're a stronger person than I.
And he is humble -- don't believe the rumors about his studying with professionals. The talented young man sings in a community opera company and paid to attend a lecture by Pavarotti.
Remember his name. Paul Potts. He reminds me of another young talent who sang for Simon ... Dolittle was her name and she should have won the recent American Idol competition ....
But I digress.
Let Paul get you into the mood for a relaxing weekend.
By the way, the winner of this UK competition will sing for the Queen of England. What an honor it would be for the Queen to host this talented young man's first concert ....
I was just surfing blogs for updates on the status of the blogosphere and happened across this link to a new Romney site .... Ultimitt.org. It's full of resources, info, groups and Romney videos.
Here's one video to clarify (again) why Mitt Romney is experiencing his due-surge in popularity:
Check out Ultimitt.org. If you can't find a group that "fits," start one!
For all the money available to our Congressional leaders from office budgets -- not to mention the money from pacts and special interest groups -- they (according to a recent national poll) are more interested in their own drumbeat than in the public they serve.
Therein may lie the rub.
Our leaders are more attuned to the highest bidder than to constituents -- they care more about feathering their own careers than the welfare of America. And this is a reality shared by democrats, republicans and independents across the board.
If our Congressional leaders were truly concerned about the issue of immigration, they would be cognizant of the realities (sans the political agendas promoted by Roy Beck and Gaylord Nelson) presented in this video: Immigration Gumball.
Where are our leaders? Feathering their own nests .... betraying the nation and the very people they were elected to represent.
How else can you explain their failure to recognize that approx. 75% of Americans objected to the immigration bill that they tried -- and almost succeeded in -- forcing upon us?
Since our elected officials don't want to listen to 75% of us -- who are they listening to? They are listening to big business lobbyists, PACs and corporations who thrive on labor -- cheap labor. They are listening to the bleeding heart activists who are represented by the likes of Teddy Kennedy.
And if our legislators have budgets for polling and access to government studies -- how did they miss this set of statistics?
Number of Illegal Aliens in the Country
20,807,645
Money Wired to Mexico City since January, 2006
$22,213,001,672.00
Cost of Social Security Services for Illegal Aliens since 1996
$397,450,739,563.00
Number of Children of Illegal Aliens in Public Schools
3,958,789
Cost of Illegal Aliens in K-12 Since 1996:
$13, 965,063,431.00
Number of Illegal Aliens Incarcerated
332,594
Cost of Incarcerations Since 2001
$1,398,127,42900
Number of Illegal Aliens Fugitives
642,799
Skilled Jobs Taken by Illegal Aliens
9,872,838
NOTE: the above data is updated continuously at the ImmigrationCounter site. Check it out. You might also watch the videos that MSM won't be sharing. (Note again -- this is NOT an endorsement of the politcal agendas promoted by the site affiliates such as Roy Beck and Gaylord Nelson.)
Continue to keep the pressure on our Congressional leaders to focus on what WE (not big business or special interest groups) want and need.
In that environment, the only way for political leaders to prove they are serious about enforcing the border and reducing illegal immigration will be to do it. That's the next logical step in the immigration debate.
There are plenty of steps that could be taken quickly with solid voter support. Some may require new laws while others may simply require enforcement of the existing laws. But, voters aren't concerned about the specifics—they'll support serious efforts to reduce illegal immigration. This could include imposing employer sanctions, building a barrier, adding more border patrol agents, supporting local law enforcement efforts, and more.
The United States is a nation of immigrants. It is also a nation of laws. Voters want to honor both aspects of the national heritage. And, like good parents trying to instill values in their children, voters want their elected representatives to do the same.
Keep up the pressure. Write and call your representatives until they realize their responsibilities to the people who elected them. And if they don't -- tell them that you will meet them at the ballot box.
Rudy and John joined nemisis Hillary in dropping out of the Iowa straw ballot race today. Commonality between the three doesn't stop there, however. All three are trailing in Iowa and would likely not win.
Declaring it a "non-traditional" campaign move and that "it [the Iowa caucus] is not a serious event" may well prove to be a dangerous decision for both Rudy and John.
.... Almost forgot to mention the candidate identified as currently leading the Iowa polls .... It's Mitt Romney.
Mitt may be a primary reason Rudy and John decided to go "non-traditional."
Don't let up, Mitt.
Fred isn't officially running yet; he's just actively campaigning. Just because John and Rudy say they're not doesn't mean they won't ....
One of the most gripping dipictions of war I've seen on film was the beach assault in Saving Private Ryan. D-Day occurred 63 years ago ....
It's the anniversary of the biggest military invasion in history, D-Day, (1944). It's when the Allied armies launched the invasion of Normandy. Dwight D. Eisenhower had planned the invasion, and had been arguing for it ever since America got into the war after Pearl Harbor. Most British military commanders thought it was too risky. Winston Churchill was particularly nervous about the idea of invading France.
But Eisenhower finally won the argument, and the Allies built dozens or airfields in Great Britain, stockpiled millions of tons of weapons and supplies, built tent cities along the ports of the English Channel where tens of thousands of soldiers would live.
The German commanders knew an invasion was coming. They'd spent weeks fortifying their positions, but the Allies had deceived the Nazis into thinking the invasion would come in near the French-Belgian border. They had a number of battle ships across from that point in the channel, and the Nazis took the bait and concentrated a good deal of their defensive forces in the wrong place.
June 6, 1944, was a foggy morning. Sometime after dawn, the English Channel was full of ships—a huge armada—1,200 fighting ships, 10,000 planes, more than 150,000 troops, a little more than half of them American. The plan was to bomb the beach to create craters in the sand for foxholes, and then send the ground troops up the beach.
When the troops reached the shore, they saw that the bombers had missed all of their targets. There was no protection on the beach. The landing craft were hit by a barrage of bullets. In less than a half an hour, more than two-thirds of the first company to reach the shore was killed. At first, the American commanders thought that the invasion had failed, but the first troops made some progress, and the second wave came in and slowly took over the fortified positions above the beach. By nightfall, more than 150,000 Allied troops had landed in France.
The Germans had tank divisions that could have driven the Allies back into the sea, but they got conflicting orders from the high command and didn't start to attack until late in the afternoon, almost ten hours after the invasion had started. The German commander said at the time, "If we don't succeed in throwing the Allies into the sea, we will have lost the war." The German tanks got to within three miles of the shore and then were driven back by Allied tanks and anti-tank guns, and no German unit ever again got so close to the beaches. Many historians saw that as the turning point of the war.
I can't remember if the impact of watching the "movie" attack can be compared with the utter fear I experienced forty years ago while huddled in a bunker at Tay Ninh. Probably not, though some of the sounds were similar .... But I wasn't a soldier. I was a civilian, walking home one star-bright night after closing the club when the rockets and mortars began to rain from the sky .... The thud of a mortar, the whooosh of a rocket, the whiz of bullets are sounds that will forever remain.
