Democrats Define Bigotry as "A Secure Border"

Local and national Democrats love to play the race card.

It is irrational, causes confusion and frustration for targeted parties, and forced opponents to play defense: the essence of the Saul Alinsky play book.



The Latest Racist Smear

The latest attack, both slamming Rubio, the Republican Party, and the (conservative) GOP platform of secure borders and legal immigration, suggesting an innate animus against people of color or diverse ethnic background.

In short, only bigots want a secure border.

This is not just an outrageous sentiment, offensive and officious, but completely unsubstantiated, if not false.

Consider the United States of Mexico, predominantly Hispanic country, with one of the securest (Southern) borders in the world. Mexican National Guardsmen shoot anyone who tries to sneak into their country illegally. Yet the previous President had the audacity to shame the United States Congress for securing their border, in a far less lethal fashion.

Who is the bigot in the scenario above?

US Senator Ted Cruz, also of Cuban descent, supports a secure border. Is he a bigot, too?

In full understanding, the only bigots are those who attack others as such because they support the commonsense, moral, and legally imperative that the United States federal government secure the borders against rampant, illegal immigration.

On September 30th, 2014, Breitbart Texas published a poll which revealed that a majority of Hispanics did indeed support a secure border. Contrary to the left-wing argument to the contrary, a desire for national security transcends colors and ethnic backgrounds. Immigrants around the world seek to live in this country precisely because they want to live securely in a country, and rest safe in their homes.

A year before that, another poll had contended that a majority of Hispanics, regardless of their party affiliation or ethnic status, or even geographical location, favored secure borders before any discussion about legalization (if any).

What about African-Americans? How do they feel about border security and immigration issues? 71%,  a stunning majority, support stronger border security measures. One of the most liberal Democrats in Congress, deceased Congresswoman Barbara Jordan of Texas, held the staunchest line against illegal immigration, demanding that only those who should come in, be let in.

Would liberals today contend that Jordan was a bigot? She was the face of the Civil Rights Movement in her day, including her well-publicized comments during the Nixon Impeachment hearings.

If not bigotry, the Democratic false narrative against Republicans is blatant hypocrisy, especially in line with recent advocates of controlled, legal immigration not just from prior Congressional representatives, but even present-day Democratic groups and unaffiliated liberals fed up with their party claiming the mantle of working-class Americans, yet at the same time pandering to Big Business.

The Democratic Party: Weekend at Bernie's

Not a golden oldie, but a cult classic in its own right, “Weekend at Bernie’s” is making a comeback. A strange modern-day slapstick escapade with little critical success, this box office smash from the late 1980’s not only enjoyed three re-releases, but its latest upload on YouTube.

The unlikely story featured two young insurance associates, Larry Wilson and Richard Parker, who discover a massive accounting error ($2 million) and report the mistake to their boss, Bernie Lomax. In reality, the mistake was an attempted embezzlement by the same employer, knee-deep in mob connections and all attending troubles. In order to correct the correction, Lomax orders hitmen to take out the associates Wilson and Parker, and he invites them to his weekend retreat under the guise of rewarding them.

As for the assassins, fearing Lomax’s slip-ups and dalliances with a mob boss’ flame, the mobsters decide to take out Bernie, too. When two associates show up to Bernie’s place, they find not only their purported benefactor dead, but also discover (through a message left on an answering machine) about his attempt to kill them, too.

So, as long as Wilson and Parker can play up the façade of Lomax Living, then Wilson and Parker know that the assassins won’t kill them, but keep trying to kill Bernie. Before they can leave the island, however, all of Bernie’s weekend party friends arrive, and so the two associates are stuck keeping their dead boss alive, where he inadvertently gropes some of the women, tosses around food, knocks into people, and frightens one of the assassins, who to the very end still believes that Bernie is alive, even as the mental hospital hauls him away in a straitjacket.

This cult classic the now bears its mark on another re-release, the Clinton Dynasty, which is taking over Democratic Party politics.

First, conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt wittingly noted on Meet the Press:

. . .[O] of course she [Hillary] hadn't been thoroughly vetted. Brent Budowsky calling her the new Nixon, reminded me this is like a New Coke moment as well. . . .It's actually like a Weekend At Bernie's moment. I think that they're afraid that they have a candidate that they have to prop up from now until November of '16. There isn't any substance, there isn't any charisma, and most of all she's not trustworthy. And that's what those polls you showed, the Quinnipiac. She fails on the trustworthy question again and again.

Pundits on “Meet the Press” have officially declared Hillary Clinton dead on arrival. No spirit, no flare, just a plastic stare, and handlers holding her through the entire campaign process.

Democrats to her left are demanding a real primary, and even Democratic who want to like Hillary and plan on voting for her, at least want her to fight for the nomination, properly vetted and ready to win in 2016. Perhaps they should rent “Mannequin” or its insipid sequel? Sadly, not medieval charms can bring Hillary to Life.

One of those challengers is. . .Bernie Sanders, the Independent Socialist US Senator from Vermont.

Yes, the Democratic Party will have their own Bernie in the race. After months of fretting and fussing about, Sanders is betraying his illiberal independence to run as a Democrat, although he had discussed doing as much last November.

Instead of trying to prop up Hillary, however, Democrats now have to explain the unseemly left-wing bent of their party, so out of the mainstream, even for a country where established institutions (academia, courts of law) are forcing recognition of same-sex marriage, government-run healthcare, and gender confusion as the norm.

Sanders is an unapologetic (yet sad and sorry) socialist, who has fraudulently mocked US Senator Rand Paul for defending the individual liberties of medical practitioners against government mandate.  He has routinely blamed the ills of the world on the Koch Brothers, all while turning a blind eye to MoveOn.org’s own George Soros.

Yet Bernie is ironically the core of the Democratic Party, having veered so far to the left, and may in fact become the death of it, just as the left-flank ruined Democratic chances in in 1972, 1980, 1984, and 1988.  Himself propping up a desiccated, mortified ideology which vanished in the dustbin of history over two decades ago, Sanders is convinced, and wants to convict the rest of Americans, that the way to wealth is government stealth, taking from those who have and give to those who have not.

What happens when you run out of other people’s money? Free Market Conservative Margaret Thatcher answered that question in 1979, sweeping out left-leaning Labour in British Elections. Her ideology is still the life of Great Britain, where her somewhat successor David Cameron forced disability recipients to submit for interviews to prove their need. Half dropped off the welfare rolls, and another quarter were deemed ineligible. Eastern European states long ago gave up socialism, and now stand as the only viable member-states in the EU. Socialist countries (even if democratic) are moribund economies as the norm, not the exception.

Is there anything left that the Democratic Party can dress up Bernie and His Socialist presidential aspirations? Democratic handlers could glue Mickey Mouse ears to his head to induce the youth vote, the same way that Wilson and Parker stapled their dead boss’ toupee to his undead head.

With Bernie running to Hillary’s Left, exposing her crony coziness with Wall Street, she will struggle to prop up socialism while trying to kill Bernie’s chances. What youth vote does pay attention, will not vote when Bernie loses the nomination. Should Bernie win, middle-of-the-road Democrats, i.e. anyone who owns a home, a business, or earns a paycheck, will see how far the party has left them, and vote GOP.

Weekend at Bernie’s will be one hell of a party, with a Republican President in 2017.

Real Boy, Not Good Boy

"Now, I'm a real boy!" -- Pinocchio

Too many of us in the Body of Christ are still trying to be good boys and good girls.

No one seems to be willing to accept that there is nothing good in ourselves.

Do we really accept this truth, as presented by Paul the Apostle?

"18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." (Romans 7: 18-20)

There is nothing good in us, in and of ourselves.

You and I -- we need a new life:

"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;" (Ephesians 2: 1)

and

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;" (Colossians 2:13)

The moment that man ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he died.

No matter how well-dressed or beautifully adorned, dead is dead.

Pastor Tullian Tchividjian brought up another worthy point in his latest sermon. Just because we do something, even if we do not want to do it, we cannot then assume that we are good, that we are righteous.

In fact, the fact that we are doing good things, even though we do not want to, precisely demonstrates how fallen we are, and that we are in need of a new heart:

David prayed for a new heart:

"10Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalm 51: 10)

God promised all of us a new heart through His New Covenant:

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36: 26)

This New Covenant has been fulfilled at the Cross:

"For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26: 28)

and

"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." (John 19: 30)

and finally

"But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." (Hebrews 12: 22-24)

So, we have a New Covenant, where He is our God, where He now works within us both to will and to do for His good pleasure:

"12Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2: 12-13)

Now, what does this have to do with giving up on being a good boy, and now being a real boy?

A good boy keeps trying to make himself into something alive, the same way that Pinocchio kept trying to make himself real by going to faraway places, and getting tangled up.

Instead of trying to make ourselves feel good, instead of trying to fix our insides as well as outsides, let us rather accept that in ourselves, there is nothing good.

Let us see ourselves in Christ, for today we are as He is (1 John 4: 17)

"11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Romans 6: 11-14)

 

and

 

"1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3: 1-3)

 

It's time to give up the notion that we can be good boys or good girls. There is nothing good in and of ourselves. Let us rather be real about who we are in Christ today, and allow Him to transform us from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3: 18)

Maine Dems Cave to LePage on Welfare Reform

Governor Paul LePage (R-ME)

This week, Maine NPR reports that Democrats in the Pine State are feeling the heat from Mainers, fed up with welfare abuse and fraud in their state. The rampant wrong usage with public assistance is not a new topic, as the current governor, conservative Republican Paul LePage, himself born in poverty, a victim of childhood abuse and neglect, yet went from street urchin to businessman, mayor, and Governor, has routinely exposed this problem in his home state.

Before taking into account the implications of these welfare reforms, readers should know a little more about Governor LePage.

One of the most plainspoken executives in the country, LePage the gubernatorial candidate signaled to voters his disgust for President Obama, declaring that he would tell President Obama “To go to hell”, and if he met the President, he would respond: “Get out of my state!”

His first election victory in 2010, LePage garnered a plurality of the vote in a five-way race, which increased in 2014 following a tough challenge from a well-known independent and an incumbent Democratic Congressman, Michael Michaud.

Throughout his tenure, however, LePage has pushed for welfare reform, repeatedly exposing abuse connected with the program.

In a press release outlining reform goals for his 2012-2013 budget, LePage declared:

Welfare reform was a large part of the 2012-2013 budget, which emphasized Maine will no longer be considered a welfare destination state. A new 5 year limit on welfare benefits, which aligns Maine with other states, and conforms to federal law has gone into effect. The limit does allow for certain exemptions for hardship cases - including those involving the elderly and disabled.

Drug testing has also been implemented for welfare recipients convicted of drug crimes and those who violate welfare rules now face stricter sanctions. A first offense will result in the loss of adult benefits and a second offense may lead to termination of full family benefits.

Welfare abuse features highly in some states, like Rhode Island, where recipients can step off the government dole for a month, then return to the welfare rolls for another five years. In California, Democratic legislators have discussed expanding public assistance to all residents, regardless of legal status, including Medicaid, as well as instituting a new “Office for New Americans” i.e. illegal aliens. LePage joins other Republican governors in cutting public assistance, or requiring work requirements.

In 2013, the governor announced increased investigations into SNAP/TANF abuse. In January, 2014, LePage outlined the outrageous spending at strip clubs and bars. Even though the article contended that the usage was “a tiny fraction” of uses, the fact that they are occurring alarmed the governor and reform advocates to correct the problem.

After the 2014 mid-term elections, Maine Republicans not only took over the state senate, but gained significant numbers in the state assembly. A Republican also represents Maine in the US Congress (replacing Michaud) for the first time in nearly two decades.

Instead of resting on his prior victories, LePage has ramped up his programs for welfare as well as tax reforms

Earlier this year, Maine Republicans reinstated the work requirements for receiving welfare. The renewed qualifications would require recipients to work a combined twenty-four hours a month, yet even then the number of enrollees plunged considerably, from 12,000 to 2,500.

Now, Democrats are paying attention, and following LePage’s lead.

 

About the Democratic shift in welfare abuse policy, Maine NPR writes:

Gov. Paul LePage's campaign against welfare abuse has been commonly derided by his opponents as a "war on the poor."  But Democrats have discovered that the governor's message resonates with voters.

Never straying from his principles or goals, LePage maintained the message, and opened voters’ eyes to the real and growing problem of welfare abuse. It worked.

While conservatives lament federal officials who refuse to heed a national electorate fed up with special interest pandering and Establishment machinations (i.e. the Confirmation of Loretta Lynch), at least in the states, including a moderate-liberal New England bastion like  Maine, Republican reform governors are cracking down on profligate spending and helping Americans get off their feet and work again.

If anyone has a problem with that, let me quote another fine line from Governor LePage:

“Tell them to kiss my butt!”

 

State of the Union: April 23, 2015

On the April 23 episode of State of the Union, we talked about:

1. The shocking and invigorating success of Maryland Republican Governor Larry Hogan, whose grassroots coalition of frustrated taxpayers and citizen activists called "Change Maryland" changed Maryland.

What Hogan did in the Old Line State, no doubt can be accomplished in the Ocean State, and especially in the Golden State, where law-abiding residents are getting tired of a state legislature and county governments paying attention to the needs of Big Government special interests at the expense of everyone else -- especially the businesses, entrepreneurs, and hard working middle and working-class Californians who had moved here or were born here.

2. Marco Rubio, US Senator from Florida, announces his bid for US President in 2016.

US Senator Marco Rubio

Showing real promise in 2010, when elected to the Senate, he began to waffle then pander on key issues, particularly immigration, taxes, and now marriage. Rubio was never on my first or even second list for presidential contenders. His lack of integrity and leadership have all but disqualified him from consideration for me.

3. The Pawtucket Red Sox, otherwise known as the PaxSox, what a taxpayer-backed loan from the state of Rhode Island to fund a new stadium in Providence.

Mark Zaccaria

Guest Mark Zaccaria, former RI GOP Chairman, Congressional and US Senate candidates, called this attempted deal "the rape of the taxpayers".



David Clyde

David Clyde of 990WBOB added that the PawSox' new owners are only interested in pushing the state into a corner and putting the blame on Rhode Island, because secretly the franchise wants to move out of state.

Luis Vargas

Luis Vargas, political candidate and correspondent, shared his interest in Rubio's campaign, while Zaccaria and Clyde discussed the need for secure borders and pro-American worker policies, before anyone discusses what to do with the illegal aliens in the shadows.

All in all, it was a great show.

Loretta Lynch Confirmation Consolations

Yes, the Republican US Senate majority just confirmed the racist, gun-grabbing Loretta Lynch.

Yes, Ted Cruz voted against cloture, then departed from the US Senate to attend another fundraiser.

Once again, a little perspective in the face of this setback.

More Republicans are voting against the leadership and paying attention to the will of the voters.

Forty-three senators voted against Lynch. Half that number had rejected Holder six years ago.

The Constitution addresses "We the People" not "We the Republicans" or "We the Elected Officials". No matter what losses or discouragement conservatives endure from the current Congress, it is ultimately their job, and their glory, to demand limited, responsible government. No longer giving up or running away, now more than ever constitutional conservatives must fight on, fight back, demand leadership and remonstrance for presidential overreach, for executive abuses and criminal waste, fraud, and spendthrift agendas.

The bigger question arises: how do voters keep US Senators accountable? They run for reelection every six years, removed from the immediate awareness and outrage of the voter electorate.

Arizona's John McCain promised "Build the dang fence!" in 2010, yet the US Senate did not build the fence, and he signed onto the 2013 Obamacare of Immigration Bills. Fellow Arizona lawmaker Jeff Flake has sided with the Democrats and the Big Government agenda on a number of occasions, along with South Carolina's Lindsey Graham. It cannot be the status of the Senate alone, since Graham's fellow legislator Tim Scott has been more conservative, and has voted in line with the constitution and the concerns of his constituents. One thing is certain: Scott is less of a Washington creature than Graham. Same with McCain, who has operated in Washington since the early 1980s.

What is the solution, where is the consolation?

The younger Republican US Senators, like Tom Cotton, Benjamin Saase, and the recently primary-challenged re-elected Pat Roberts, all voted "No!" to cloture, and "No!"  to confirmation. Joni Ernst is making the Establishment squeal. The key difference this year?

The New Media, relentlessly holding the feet of Washington DC to the fire.

Let us consider the two key votes in connection with the Lynch confirmation:

First, the cloture vote, which would prevent further delays on the vote:

Grouped By Vote Position

YEAs ---66
Alexander (R-TN) Ayotte (R-NH) Baldwin (D-WI) Bennet (D-CO) Blumenthal (D-CT) Booker (D-NJ) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Burr (R-NC) Cantwell (D-WA) Capito (R-WV) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Cochran (R-MS) Collins (R-ME) Coons (D-DE) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Donnelly (D-IN) Durbin (D-IL) Feinstein (D-CA)	Flake (R-AZ) Franken (D-MN) Gardner (R-CO) Gillibrand (D-NY) Graham (R-SC) Hatch (R-UT) Heinrich (D-NM) Heitkamp (D-ND) Hirono (D-HI) Johnson (R-WI) Kaine (D-VA) King (I-ME) Kirk (R-IL) Klobuchar (D-MN) Leahy (D-VT) Manchin (D-WV) Markey (D-MA) McCaskill (D-MO) McConnell (R-KY) Menendez (D-NJ) Merkley (D-OR) Mikulski (D-MD)	Murphy (D-CT) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Peters (D-MI) Portman (R-OH) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Roberts (R-KS) Rounds (R-SD) Sanders (I-VT) Schatz (D-HI) Schumer (D-NY) Shaheen (D-NH) Stabenow (D-MI) Tester (D-MT) Thune (R-SD) Tillis (R-NC) Udall (D-NM) Warner (D-VA) Warren (D-MA) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs ---34
Barrasso (R-WY) Blunt (R-MO) Boozman (R-AR) Cassidy (R-LA) Coats (R-IN) Cotton (R-AR) Crapo (R-ID) Cruz (R-TX) Daines (R-MT) Enzi (R-WY) Ernst (R-IA) Fischer (R-NE)	Grassley (R-IA) Heller (R-NV) Hoeven (R-ND) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Lankford (R-OK) Lee (R-UT) McCain (R-AZ) Moran (R-KS) Murkowski (R-AK) Paul (R-KY) Perdue (R-GA)	Risch (R-ID) Rubio (R-FL) Sasse (R-NE) Scott (R-SC) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Sullivan (R-AK) Toomey (R-PA) Vitter (R-LA) Wicker (R-MS)

All the Democrats voted to end debate, as did twenty other Republicans.

Why end debate? Why allow another illiberal attorney general who gave no answers? It is not enough to move a procedure along. Too many US Senators are hiding behind the second "No" in a vote, but the cloture vote is a telling outcome.

Still, consider the final tally to confirm Lynch:

Ayotte (R-NH) Baldwin (D-WI) Bennet (D-CO) Blumenthal (D-CT) Booker (D-NJ) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Cochran (R-MS) Collins (R-ME) Coons (D-DE) Donnelly (D-IN) Durbin (D-IL) Feinstein (D-CA) Flake (R-AZ) Franken (D-MN)

Gillibrand (D-NY) Graham (R-SC) Hatch (R-UT) Heinrich (D-NM) Heitkamp (D-ND) Hirono (D-HI) Johnson (R-WI) Kaine (D-VA) King (I-ME) Kirk (R-IL) Klobuchar (D-MN) Leahy (D-VT) Manchin (D-WV) Markey (D-MA) McCaskill (D-MO) McConnell (R-KY) Menendez (D-NJ) Merkley (D-OR) Mikulski (D-MD)

Murphy (D-CT) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Peters (D-MI) Portman (R-OH) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Sanders (I-VT) Schatz (D-HI) Schumer (D-NY) Shaheen (D-NH) Stabenow (D-MI) Tester (D-MT) Udall (D-NM) Warner (D-VA) Warren (D-MA) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs ---43
Alexander (R-TN) Barrasso (R-WY) Blunt (R-MO) Boozman (R-AR) Burr (R-NC) Capito (R-WV) Cassidy (R-LA) Coats (R-IN) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Cotton (R-AR) Crapo (R-ID) Daines (R-MT) Enzi (R-WY) Ernst (R-IA)	Fischer (R-NE) Gardner (R-CO) Grassley (R-IA) Heller (R-NV) Hoeven (R-ND) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Lankford (R-OK) Lee (R-UT) McCain (R-AZ) Moran (R-KS) Murkowski (R-AK) Paul (R-KY) Perdue (R-GA) Risch (R-ID)	Roberts (R-KS) Rounds (R-SD) Rubio (R-FL) Sasse (R-NE) Scott (R-SC) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Sullivan (R-AK) Thune (R-SD) Tillis (R-NC) Toomey (R-PA) Vitter (R-LA) Wicker (R-MS)

Not Voting - 1

Cruz (R-TX)

Conservatives were alarmed, even outraged, at US Senator and Presidential candidate Cruz not voting. He did arrive in the chamber to rally votes against the confirmation. Who else did? I have no qualms with Cruz choosing to attend another event back in Texas. If it was a fundraiser, fine. We need leadership like Ted Cruz, which talks tough and demands a stern, strong stance against reckless, immoral federal personnel.

Who were the Republicans who voted against cloture and confirmation?

Barrasso (R-WY) Blunt (R-MO) Boozman (R-AR) Cassidy (R-LA) Coats (R-IN) Cotton (R-AR) Crapo (R-ID) Cruz (R-TX) Daines (R-MT) Enzi (R-WY) Ernst (R-IA) Fischer (R-NE)

Grassley (R-IA) Heller (R-NV) Hoeven (R-ND) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Lankford (R-OK) Lee (R-UT) McCain (R-AZ) Moran (R-KS) Murkowski (R-AK) Paul (R-KY) Perdue (R-GA)

Risch (R-ID) Rubio (R-FL) Sasse (R-NE) Scott (R-SC) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Sullivan (R-AK) Toomey (R-PA) Vitter (R-LA) Wicker (R-MS)

How many of these US Senators were elected in 2014?

Eight. As the Republican Party takes on a more conservative core as well as hue, the growing class of elected officials are reflecting that character, no longer going along with the tradition and precedent of staid comity

How many are up for reelection in 2016?

One stands out -- Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. His odds of winning in Pennsylvania have improved and he is voting in line with this stronger upper hand. Chuck Grassley of Iowa commands more respect than ever, despite his lengthy tenure in the US Senate. Character counts a great deal in representatives. Do they stand their ground in the face of extensive attacks? What drives them into office determines what will drive their values and votes. Grassley has not wavered from GOP views, and should be commended for his stance. Isakson replaced a Democrat in 2004, and has stayed true to his conservative roots.

Then there's John McCain. He is resisting Lynch because he has a tough reelection on his hands, just as he faced a primary challenge in 2016. If only these US Senators were prompted by principle rather than the threat of an election loss. This very cynical motive frustrates popular opinion and populist influence, granted, but also hinders accountability and transparency for the voting public in relation to their US Senators.

Matthew Boyle's latest column on Breitbart exposes the undue influence of Minority Leader Harry Reid, and the untenable lack of leadership from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell:

What’s perhaps most interesting about all this data is that there are 54—a majority—Republicans in the U.S. Senate and just 46 Democrats. The GOP majority is because of the midterm elections last November, which saw a nine-seat swing in favor of Republicans—one of the biggest in history. But it’s quite clear from the empirical data that nothing has changed, and Reid’s office is clearly quite happy about it. It’s as if he’s still the Senate Majority Leader.

McConnell on the other hand is getting beat all over the place. Whether it’s by choice or by accident, either way he currently has no defense for his failures as a leader. Offered the opportunity to comment on this story before publication, McConnell’s office did not respond by press time.

What can one conclude, and what consolations can one find from this observation?

Washington creatures like McConnell, and moderates like Kirk and Collins, are still interested in following perception rather than shaping it. Media assaults and influence still alter their motivations, even those US Senators with otherwise conservative mandates from their respective states.

The answer to this disappointing outcome? Keep fighting, keep demanding the right votes, the proper vision, the full respect for the Constitution. A New Media has arisen to ensure just that.

Benjamin Franklin did not sum up the results of the Constitutional Convention with: "A Republic, if the government agrees to it." He told his supporters and all American posterity:

"A republic, if you can keep it."

Not the US Senators, but you and I. Therefore, let us not stop #MakingDCListen

Eureka, California

California State Seal
 

The California State Seal can be a guide for bringing back the glister to the Golden State.

In the 1840s, California was brimming with opportunity. Gold fever and gold rushes, combined with the transfer of state authority from a tyrannical Spanish Empire then a corrupt and dysfunction Mexican government, to the United States of America signaled the progress of any terroritory under differing political cultures. California, a backwater abandoned by imperial interests, neglected by an upstart former colonial power, has become one of the wealthiest countries (if it were independent from the United States).

Yet for all its grandeur, from a mining outpost filled with natural potential to a tech-savvy mecca riddled, a disparate underclass of illegal aliens and desperate working poor trying to make a living, have tarnished the Golden State's former reputation. A well-connected political elite and business class determine policy,  unharmed by its consequences,  harming individual taxpayers, small businesses and local entrepreneurs, and frustrating young people's opportunities.

Government overreach, combined with progressive idealism divorced from reality, have turned a haven of travel, entertainment, and investment into a limited Proustian paradise, where one can only dream the California Dream, reduced to a nightmare for those born and raised in this once great state. A media class has protected the Democratic dominance in the state of decades, even when previous Republicans governors  put forth the best efforts (movie stars excepted) to stop the spending and demand restrained and responsible governance. Californians have experienced runaway liberal, public sector union, special interest, and extreme left-wing lobby pandering for the last four years.

Is there any hope for change in deep blue California?

The Great Seal of California

Click here for larger version.

Eureka!

Perhaps the state's seal and motto, proposed and adopted one year before statehood? The website "netstate.com" may grant us insight to restoring the fortunes of the largest state (per population) in the country. 

Under the gaze of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, a miner works near the Sacramento River. A grizzly bear rests at her feet and ships ply the river. The Sierra Nevada mountains rise in the background. Wildlife, agriculture, natural beauty, commerce, and opportunity are all represented on California's Great Seal.

Everything in a government seal testifies to deeper meanings, greater hopes, aspirations to be realized. The flora and fauna, the trade and culture, testify to a state with latent greatness.

The state motto, Eureka, sits over the mountains. A Greek word that means "I have found it," Eureka refers the discovery of gold in California.

Eureka, more than the spontaneous declaration from a scientist/inventor, or a Nor Cal municipality, Eureka signifies adventure, the assumption of risk with the certain of accomplishment. "Eureka!" means whatever anyone was seeking, he has found. The truths of the Declaration of Independence find their affirmation.

 The miner, working with a pick, is another reference to the gold that was found in California. A pan and a rocker are also depicted on the seal near the miner. The pan was used to separate the gold from the dirt; just add water. The rocker is a larger and more sophisticated "pan." It allowed miners to process more dirt and sand faster. At the time the seal was designed, people were coming from all over the world looking to "strike it rich" in the gold fields. 

Mining was a dirty, difficult, and demanding chore, one where the prospector faced limited prospects of striking it rich. Yet the chances of failure never deterred fortune hunters from migrating to California. Today, a work ethic should encounter many chances for striking it rich, yet the state leadership makes it harder to prosper, easier to depend. Where's the glory in getting anything?
 
Virtually all of the products coming in and out of California were carried over water routes at the time the seal was designed. Mining supplies, letters from home, luxuries, household items, and gold were all carried on ships. From the eastern United States, ships sailed south around Cape Horn and north to California. The ships, on a representation of the Sacramento River, symbolize the commercial greatness of California.

The commercial greatness is stifled by labor unions, bent on doing nothing more (or better), yet getting higher wages and more generous benefits. Who will pay for these lavish expenses, if the businesses, entrepreneurs, and individual taxpayers flee the once great Golden state?

A sheaf of grain in the foreground represents California's agricultural wealth. In fact, many who came looking for gold found farming more profitable. Today, California is an agricultural giant among the states.

Today, this wealth is severed from all sides not just from a severe drought, but the man-made dereliction of the state legislature to build desalination plants, to invest in proper storage facilities, to regulate the power of labor unions in water distribution, or temper the environmental regulations with protect fish and plants instead of farmers and people in general.

At the feet of Minerva, stands the California grizzly bear. A symbol of strength and independence, the grizzly bear is the Official State Animal and is the prominent feature on the California State Flag. Grizzly bears were, at one time, common in the state but the mass movement of people into California during the gold rush strained their habitat and caused their numbers to decline sharply. Today there are no wild grizzly bears left in California.

There are no wild grizzly bears left, and there is very little fight left in Californians fed up with a distant, unaccountable government, which in turn turns over power to unelected boards, bureaucrats, and brigades of regulators detached from evidence or enforcement.

Click here for larger version of 1849 seal.

The seal was designed by Major R. S. Garnett of the U.S. Army, and adopted at the Constitutional Convention of 1849 before California became a state in June 1850. At the time of the seal's adoption, thirty states comprised the United States. Near the upper edge of the seal are 31 stars, anticipating California's admission. The original 1849 design is depicted to the right.
In 1937 minor changes were made to the seal.


Now that we have got a better picture of what the seal designers imagined, intended for the Golden State, what can We the People do to restore the grandeur, the glister, the glory of California?

There is a way to restore California, a land named after an island paradise, where opportunities can abound again, where leaders, movers, and hopeful seekers can find what they are looking for. The natural resources remain, the people have the skills and the strengths. Now they need to work together to establish the rule of the law, individual liberty, limited government, and respect and submission to the United States Constitution.

Just like Maryland Governor Larry Hogan's "Change Maryland", or Assemblyman David Hadley's (R-Torrance) "South Bay One Hundred", it's time for a Coalition of Concerned California Citizens to rise up and get back this state.

It's time for "Eureka, California"!




PawSox to Providence (Paws on Taxpayer Dollars)

Pawtucket PawSox (International League Logo)

The Pawtucket Red Sox, with their cuddly white bears and brimming mitts, bring some fun and frolic to an otherwise depressed and unhappy state.  A good friend of mine texted to me some full-on photos of the Boston Bruins, front row and center, but  A ball game is a ball of fun, if you like that sort of thing. I am not a baseball fan, myself (football first, then basketball, if the Celtics are playing), but any sport that makes the residents happy, or at least helps them take their mind off their troubles: that cannot be a bad thing.

The Red Sox got a new owner, too, and he has some welcome ideas to bring the AAA franchise, a second-string for the Boston Red Sox when they need a hitter in a pinch.

He wants to move the Sox (and Paws, the male mascot, plus Sox, the female) to Providence.

Why? So that Buddy can try for a home run, since he couldn’t win the mayor’s seat in his adopted home town? No: the franchise owners want to set up a new stadium, like McCoy field, a popular forum for  watching or playing. Sounds like a winning idea, since any business, including a sports franchise, would bring some welcome economic development and relief from Rhode Islanders’ tough times.

However, there’s a catch:

Team owners are seeking a state lease to pay for the cost of the stadium, with the state of Rhode Island paying $4 million annually to club over a 30-year period, according to the Boston Globe. An economic impact study estimated that visitors to the ballpark would contribute $12.5 million to the local economy each year.

The stadium would cost $85 million to build, yet the owners want the state to pay $120 million over thirty years.

They can count nine innings, they can tally the number of parking spots:

On Wednesday the group officially unveiled plans to build an $85 million, 10,000-seat multipurpose stadium in downtown Providence. The proposed park, situated on the banks of the Providence River, would feature a 750-car parking garage and a Riverwalk area outside the stadium.

One comment, from Jeff Fowler on the article deserves a second glance:

If there was any good reason to move the PawSox out of Pawtucket, which there is not, I would want a Green Monster in Left field as the trademark of Red Sox fields in Boston and Winter Haven. Tell me how this 750 car parking garage will accommodated the fans that will sit in 10,000 seats again? Then the tax payer money is another downer. Are your taxes tooo low in Providence?

Strike One: There is little evidence, or hope for that matter, that any state or municipal governments will have that kind of money. Now  the planning is already in question. The architectural minds behind this project apparently failed to consider the long-term consequences of New England’s frequent, heavy, and damaging snow storms, or population for that matter.

 

38 Studios went bust. Does Providence want another failed game franchise?

 

Strike Two: Rhode Islanders have been played time and again by outside interests looking for inside help. Not just the black market or the Mafia, but even decent, honest investment pitches. Remember 38 Studios? The video game company, the brainchild of Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Shilling was supposed to bring in the business and promote a tech base for future economic development. After the state floated a $75 million loan, which every ray of the ideological spectrum opposed during Election 2010, the company would falter on its payments, later default, then fall into bankruptcy. The loan remains a moral obligation on the state, and the current chief executive, Gina Raimondo, decided to keep paying, even though the majority of residents rejected the company’s failure.

Chafee called the company “Junk”, and the investors have pulled the plug. The adults in the room (the two Republicans running for Governor last year) said “Don’t pay”. Now, the PawSox have the sand to ask Rhode Island to do the same for their stadium? Why not invest in a baseball video game, and make the whole crony capitalist trifecta complete?

Rep. Doreen Costa

 

Before Rep. Doreen Costa (R-Kingston) could call foul, she got a series of calls herself:

After the proposal was announced, it was met with immediate backlash from some lawmakers, including state Rep. Doreen Costa, R-North Kingstown.

“Just yesterday when this hit the news, I got 14 calls within five minutes of this breaking from taxpayers. Not only in my district, from the entire state. From Pawtucket to Woonsocket to Westerly that are saying ‘Rep. Costa, we cannot do this,'” she said.

Does Costa want to play umpire on this bad idea? How about throwing the whole crowd out of the park before a brawl starts. Someone must have bean-balled the investors to think that taxpayers will let a group of private interests put their paws on taxpayer dollars. Then again, recent reports suggest that PawSox affiliates have been corking their bats, donating to elected officials. Money: the steroids of state politics.

Raimondo bunted:

I’d certainly like to keep the PawSox in Rhode Island, it’s an important part of Rhode Island culture. Money is tight, so I look forward to getting into the details of the proposal and making sure we do the right thing.

Jim Skeffington, the new owner, played coy:

“We’ve had overtures from four other cities, and I tell them we only have plan A, which is to stay in Rhode Island. Yes, there are other opportunities, but we’re going to do what we can to reach common accord with our citizens of Rhode Island and stay here.

Another sources suggested that the PawSox want to leave, but do so graciously, making it seem as though they wanted to stay, but couldn’t for lack of funding. “Cheap Smith Hill legislators!” The owners are playing Pickle, looking to slide into home for the best deal, letting the state pay the bill.

My call on this whole debacle? Let’s call the whole thing off!

Strike Three: You’re Out!

Maryland's Larry Hogan: Unsung Republican Hero

Maryland, the Old Line State, the frequent battleground for the Civil War, has become the tipping point for Democratic dominance along the Eastern Seaboard.

Where New Jersey Governor Chris Christie failed, where Charlie Baker of Massachusetts may stumble, Republican Governor of Maryland Larry Hogan is winning, taking the conservative message of fiscal prudence, limited government, and individual liberty and prosperity to a poverty-stricken, tax-weary Commonwealth overwhelmed by public sector union greed and progressive political pandering.

The last governor, Democratic two-termer Martin O’Malley, checked off every left-wing policy talking point: driver’s licenses for illegal aliens (and granting the illegal alien youth crowding the border places to leave), gay marriage, and even took a shot at gun control. Like Obama, O’Malley shot himself in the foot tangling with the Second Amendment, and widespread advocates stormed Annapolis.  So frustrated were law-abiding, taxpaying citizens, Western Maryland petitioned to secede from the state and set up their own Commonwealth. Who could blame them? The state government became so onerous, that allowing kids to play by themselves is now a crime, as well as chewing a pop tart to look like a pistol!

Maryland, the not-so-Merryland where unfettered Democratic dominance has turned the religious haven of persecuted Catholics (Lord Baltimore) into a haven of special interests persecuting businesses, taxpayers, and all citizens who believe that the government should protect the rights of the people, rather than the people securing the interests of the state. Did I neglect to mention that the state’s Obamacare health insurance exchange failed, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars? So badly, that Marylanders looked to equally unequal and illiberal Connecticut for leadership. Ouch!

 

Governor Larry Hogan (R-Maryland)

Enter Larry Hogan, the Hero of the Maryland and the National GOP. Who is Larry Hogan, and why should Republicans across the country care? This former son of a Congressman took Obama’s mantra of Hope and Change, and established an interest group for all working Marylanders: Change Maryland.

Getting more “likes” the Governor O’Malley’s Community Facebook page, Hogan’s private associate railed against Annapolis’ tax-and-spendthrift profligate policies. According to Politico, “Change Maryland” turned into a public clearing house blasting Maryland’s bad policies without relenting.  Hogan’s new media and bipartisan outreach created a consensus of disconnected taxpayers and local residents Taxed Enough Already.

In 2014, Hogan launched his campaign for Governor against Democrat Anthony Brown, the hand-picked successor who would continue the same profligate, elitist policies of his Democratic predecessor. Brown talked up environmentalism and gun-control. Hogan listened and learned from the frustrated and angry Maryland electorate, fed up with the outrageous tax hikes, spending increases, public sector union grubby grabbing, and the flight of businesses and economic growth out of the state. O’Malley and the Annapolis legislature were so tone deaf to the needs of their constituents, they enacted a rain tax on three counties to deal with the bad roads and polluted Chesapeake Bay. A rain tax? Are you kidding me?!

Granted, Election 2014 was destined to be a bad year for Democrats, with the six year itch dragging down the incumbent President’s party. However, let no one forget that Republicans controlling Congress lost seats in 1998 to “Slick Willy” Clinton, a reminder that political cycles provide no guarantees.

Hogan got busy, and so do his massive team of volunteers. Not waiting for inner city residents to “Get the message”, the Maryland Republican Party took their message to urban Baltimore County, and upset the political (read, “liberal Democratic”) establishment. Election Night, two surprises shook the GOP from their dogmatic doldrums: Ed Gillespie of Virginia was within striking distance of unseating Democratic incumbent US Senator Mark Warner, and Larry Hogan won a decisive victory in deep blue Maryland.

The day after Hogan’s historic win, Bloomberg News pundits shook their heads, scrambling to understand: “How did Larry do it?” They inadvertently answered their own question, outlining Maryland residents’ heavy taxation and weariness of Democratic machine-chicanery, and Hogan’s better campaign to correct those problems.

Governor Hogan got to work quickly, expanding school choice (and charter schools), making state government efficient and accountable, with good customer service, and tackling the state’s heroin epidemic. Most importantly, he pressed for fiscal restraint, the end of government waste, and the repeal of high taxes and fees. In his first year, Hogan fulfilled his campaign promise, and repealed the dreaded, hated rain tax. The otherwise Democratic legislature eased regulations to improve the economic climate in the state. The part-time legislature also cut off expensive, worthless state contracts.

Last week, Hogan declared before the state capitol: “It’s a great time to be a Maryland Republican, isn’t it?” Thinking ahead for his party and the state, the Governor is targeting key counties, seeking to engage then expand Republican registration. At the Maryland GOP convention, Hogan declared: “We’re back!” National Republicans needs to pay attention to this unlikely hero, who helped revive a brand once badly defeated and declared all but dead. If the GOP can bounce back in this one-party Democratic mid-Atlantic state, there is no stopping a Republican resurgence in moribund Rhode Island, desperately dry California, or in many other otherwise intimidating inner city communities.

The Truth Matters

In one of my latest Twitter wars, a liberal progressive charged me with fear, bigotry, and bullying in response to repeated assertions on a number of culture issues.

His last tweet, however, gave me pause, and respectably so:

So can I ask you a question? Why is this an issue for you?

What were we debating on Twitter at the time? The status, the definition of marriage, and why there can be no other construct for marital unity besides one man and one woman.

The reason is that the true – yes, true – definition of marriage is between one man and one woman.

Truth matters. We cannot discuss anything unless we are discussing something, and for something to be there, it has to be true.

When writing the above sentence, I recall another heated discussion with a California Conservative, more intent and intense than myself, and as we bantered back and forth not just about marriage, but the origins and etiology of homosexual conduct, he uttered:

You have this stake on the truth, and the other person does not. How you define truth is different from how other people see the issue.

What my good conservative friend basically said was: “Everyone has their own truth.” Excuse me?! I nearly jumped out of my seat, hearing such pandering, nearly accomodationist rhetoric.

That statement has no truth to it. “Everyone is right” is basically wrong, because there are not only a multiplicity of views, but their diversity gives way to inexorable contraction. Muslims believe that anyone adhering to another faith does not deserve to live. Someone who believes in the sanctity of life will not only disagree, but cannot compromise on the issue. Either you believe that 2 + 2 =4 or you do not. There is no room for “We are both right”. Anyone who believes differently can review the final ledgers and accounts, then tell me which one balances.


David Hume



This nonsensical notion, that different people can define the truth in different ways, yet both be valid and commendable, has made the rounds in elite universities since the early 1800s, and perhaps a little further back when secular, humanistic thinkers like David Hume posited: “No is implies an ought.”

Without the “is”, there would no “ought.”

Even when deranged atheistic humanist Friedrich Nietzsche posited that “God is dead”, he was talking about God, and death, both of which he could not have invented, nor could he have escaped. A bitter Sunday school boy frustrated with Big Government involved in religion, as well as a frantic fascination with Greco-Roman pagan traditions, Nietzsche was rebelling, but with nothing to fight for, he had only himself to defeat, down to sobbing on a horse then ebbing away from his mentally paralyzing syphilis, another inconvenient truth which upholds the necessity of fidelity for life and peace.

Out of this haze of philosophic malaise, today we witness a world which has lost its footing, unable to stand for anything or withstand against anything. The force of tradition is now replaced by force.

The truth matters. Matter itself, a physical property, is a reality. When defying those who claimed that action and motion do not exist, the philosopher Zeno stood up and moved around the room. His actions made the case for action despite all the talk.

When the patient goes into surgery, he believes that the doctor is professional who will do good, not harm. The most post-modern of philosophers, the now deceased Jacques Derrida, affirmed that we speak to each other out of necessity that the other person is speaking the truth to us. Contrary to fellow French philosophe Michel Foucault (who perished from venereal disease resulting from unsafe, homosexual promiscuity), truth is not a mere “thing” manipulated by power.

Truth is everything, and we have no power to change that truth. Not might makes right, but right makes might, for power has none without legitimacy. Why else did the Soviet Union collapse? Why now do we see the Islamic world in violent turmoil, and Muslims embrace the Christian faith, where Truth is personified?

And how does this ideological ideation tie into my idiosyncratic twitter debate?

The marriage thing. Why does anyone believe that the state, the academics, or leading politicians of our time can redefine an institution which predates the state and outlasts all time? Those gay marriage advocates are stepping off from marriage, the union of one man and one woman. They have nothing to argue about except what has been in place since, well, forever.

Before the state, the government, or even the tribe, there was the God who created all things, including man, and from the man came woman. There was marriage, the family, then community. To this day, there is nothing in science, history, or legacy to dispute otherwise. The research, the science, the history, the legacies affirm marriage as one man and one woman.

Truth Revolt:  Ben Shapiro's project
to reinvigorate truth into the press

And that’s the truth, and the need for truth agitates every mind, from the Ancient Greek to Modern America.

Truth matters. Either it is, or it is not. Either you believe it, or you do not.