The Long Version

Retired broadcast journalist. Blogging helps scratch the itch. Recovering exRepublican – Sober and still Conservative.

Archive for June 2013

Why the Immigration Bill is a Slap in the Face to Equal Rights

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Eric Holder on Immigration ReformIt’s hard to hold back the feelings of revulsion as I watch the US Attorney General, Eric Holder, talk about equal rights and civil rights in conjunction with the immigration bill being crafted on Capital Hill.

He hits on all the key “buzz phrase talking points” like; mechanism to earn citizenship, coming out of the shadows, a matter of civil and human rights, equal opportunity…

Sounds reasonable until you realize this man has no clue what the definition of civil rights or human rights even is let alone equal opportunity. But it sounds so reasonable…

No matter what kind of reasonable vocabulary they attach to the immigration bill, as it stands today, it is nothing more than amnesty for 11 to 20 million illegal aliens. Depending on whose numbers you agree with.

How can amnesty from justice for those who willingly and knowingly broke the law be equated with civil rights?

I guess first you have to understand what civil rights do? Civil rights insure protection from discrimination so all of us can have an equal chance to make the most of our lives. Civil rights however, DO NOT insure protection FROM the law.

When have we as Americans ever in our history sought to reward those who break our laws? How does earning citizenship in any form begin by sneaking across the border and living off the books? That, in my understanding of principle and what’s right, is simply stealing from those who abide by the laws.

And what about those who are currently in line to become citizens of this nation, who have done it the right way? What about those who have spent thousands even tens of thousands of dollars to gain entrance into this country as a legal US citizen? HOw can they possibly see this bill as an “equal rights” issue? What’s equal about one person paying their way and another getting a freebie? This is nothing but a slap in their face and a mockery of the process they so patiently went through.

While I can sympathize with the plight of the person or family who illegally entered the United States because they realized the system in their own country simply did not work and they desired something more. But disregard for the law by those who would break it and those who are supposed to uphold it creates a level of disrespect for law altogether. Until our own government respects the laws that are on the books, how can we really expect anyone else to respect them?

We don’t respect our own law. We haven’t placed a value on citizenship. We haven’t placed a value on being here in this country and being a citizen. The people crossing the borders illegally are not people coming here because they want to be Americans or because they want to assimilate. Nobody’s talking about teaching them the principles of being an American and from what we are seeing in their actions and words they don’t want that.
There was a time when the majority of immigrants to this country came here for the principles of freedom and liberty and the desire to become Americans not hyphenated-Americans.

Joe Kerry is an example of that type of immigrant. Joe’s family came to the US from North Korea. They loved the American principles they had heard about and longed for. Joe doesn’t speak Korean. He can understand it but he can’t speak it because his parents would not teach it to him. They said, “you’re going to speak English and you’re going to be an American and you’re going to make something of yourself.”

What has happened to that culture? No one is holding up our melting pot culture.

You are being misled by many of your elected representatives about this immigration bill. If you want to know why you’ll need to go no further than the end of the money trail. It leads to big business who is in bed with this big government and want to continue the flow of cheap labor that comes with immigrants who can’t speak the language but are willing to do whatever they can to feed their families. This goes to the heart of many of our political problems today. Big money is being dangled like a carrot and Republicans and Democrats alike are so addicted to the big business bucks that they are willing to toss principle aside and make believe no one will get hurt.

But they are lying to themselves just as surely as they are lying to the people of this country. This bill as written by the gang of 8, will hurt not only every law-abiding citizen, but it will eventually hurt those who are at the crux of the legislation. The immigrants. If amnesty is not written out of this bill this country will change in a way no one is prepared for or would wish for.

Mark my words.

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Written by DCL

June 17, 2013 at 10:04 pm

Red Skelton With a Message for Our Day

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Red Skelton was the funny man of my childhood.  I remember seeing him often on TV programs like Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson, and of course his own TV show, The Red Skelton Hour.

But on the occasion represented by this video, Mr. Skelton took a moment to teach a valuable lesson on what it means to be an American citizen and the solemn words of our pledge of allegiance.

This is a message for our day perhaps more so than in 1969 when it was recorded.  It is a great reminder of who we were as a nation and people not so long ago and where we must return if our nation is to remain whole and strong.

Written by DCL

June 8, 2013 at 10:39 pm

Another Case for Term Limits?

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As testimony from individuals and organizations claiming to be harassed by the IRS during their application process for tax exempt status continues on Capital Hill continues Congressmen Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) made a statement that proves a person CAN be in Washington DC too long.  To the point where political loyalties acquired over time belie common sense and common justice.

Roll Tape

Representative McDermott’s partisan and accusatory remarks do little more than label him a hardcore political hack. One the citizens of Washington would do well to assess closely come time for his reelection.  Representative Paul Ryan then followed McDermott by figuratively stamping the words Political Hack on the forehead of the Congressman from Washington.

Shame on Jim McDermott (D).  Shame on the “Old Guard” mentality of incumbents of both parties.  I was once an opponent of term limits.  My opposition faded long ago due to examples just like this one…

Written by DCL

June 5, 2013 at 8:47 pm

The Violation of Constitutional Rights is Becoming Commonplace

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While browsing many of the news and information sites I visit each day the headline of an article grabbed my attention; Handing Out Fliers Gets Couple Arrested.

I clicked on the link and read the first hand experience of Mark Passio and a friend, who were in Philadelphia at the Liberty Bell location voicing their concerns and handing out fliers about the Federal Reserve.  What happened next is chilling and should concern every American citizen with any understanding of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Rather than retell the story I’ll post it directly from Mark’s blog and include video of the incident and the Park Officers who made the arrest.  As I look at these officers, I see young men who I doubt ever took a school course on the constitution or bill of rights.  I don’t blame the officers for their ignorance, because they were indeed acting in ignorance, but I blame those who have written and passed unconstitutional laws that extinguish liberty and the right to free speech and free press supposedly guaranteed under the first amendment.  They were doing their jobs as they understood them, but at the same time were whittling away at the foundation of this once great nation.

From the blog What On Earth is Happening?

flierscoupleOn Saturday, May 18th at 3:00 pm, I was walking with my wife Barb in Philadelphia from Market Street to Chestnut Street between 5th and 6th Streets, and handed out a few fliers about how the Federal Reserve Bank is de-valuing our nation’s currency to people standing in the line at the Liberty Bell location (something I have done almost 20 times in the past). I briefly spoke to a couple of them who asked me for more information. We then proceeded to continue to walk to Chestnut Street when we were stopped by two Park Police who said that I could not hand out fliers without a permit (I had already finished handing them out actually; I had a few left in my hand, and was in the process of leaving the area).

They began citing some obscure federal regulation that I had never heard of. I calmly told them that I was peacefully exercising the Rights of Free Speech and Free Press as I was walking through the area, which are Natural Rights which can not be granted by man, nor alienated from man, and which they do not have the “right,” regardless of what the terms of their “job” may tell them, to usurp from me or to stop me from exercising. I informed them that the unalienable Rights to Free Speech and Free Press were also guaranteed and protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, which, as the highest legal document of American law, certainly trumps and negates any un-Constitutional federal regulation which they were quoting to me, even under their own legal system. I calmly informed them that they were violating those Natural Human Rights by even attempting to stop people from exercising them and claiming that our Free Speech Rights can be invalidated by an obscure regulation, and by making the claim that I now need to PAY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOR PERMISSION to exercise a Natural Human Right. I then proceeded to attempt to walk away toward Fifth Street on Chestnut Street, when these Park Police told me that I was NOT FREE to walk away from them, even though I had long since finished handing anyone any fliers and had done absolutely nothing to harm anyone or violate anyone else’s rights.

They appeared to be viciously angered at my declaration that I had engaged in a peaceful activity that was a Natural Right, and that they had no right to attempt to stop me from exercising it. Along with many other Park Police who had gathered while I was speaking to the original two officers, they followed me and Barb onto Chestnut Street, violently stopped us from proceeding on our way, put handcuffs on both of us (mine were applied so tightly that I have lost feeling in a large portion of the top of my left hand and will need to see a doctor about possible permanent nerve damage), unlawfully arrested our freedom of movement for over 20 minutes, unlawfully searched my person when I told them that I did not consent to any searches, stole my property in the form of the remaining fliers which I had paid to print, and, adding insult to injury, also stole a $20 bill from my wallet, which I discovered was missing when they returned it to me, after releasing us. They attempted to give me a citation for exercising Free Speech, which I refused to take from them, because I will not admit that I did anything morally wrong or have my time wasted to “defend” myself, as my actions harmed no other being, and I was doing my duty to warn people about the de-valuation of their earnings and savings, and in doing so exercising a Natural Right which is “allegedly” Constitutionally protected in America. They told me that a warrant will be issued for my arrest if I did not take the citation from them, and I still refused.

Free Speech is being shut down in America. America is actively, right before our eyes, being turned into a Police State such as Hitler’s Nazi Germany or Stalin’s Soviet Russia, and if you do not agree with that statement after reading the above, you either think that “keeping your head in the sand” will make the increasing problem go away, or you are a coward who will not speak up for Human Rights, or both. The Rights and Freedom of your children and their children are at stake. When people say they don’t care because it happened to someone else and not to them, they should seriously keep in mind that it could very easily be them next, or their children. Americans need to WAKE UP, take their eyes off the television for a few minutes, and start to inform themselves about just how far into tyranny this once-great nation is slipping, and then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, by speaking out to everyone around them, and taking action to show so-called “public servants” that their immoral and CRIMINAL activities will not stand in our supposedly “free” land.

Interestingly after Mark and Barb were released they were both sent letters from the Department of the Interior stating that all the citations the park police issued would be voided.

Here is a copy of the letter he received and the flier he was handing out.  Whether you agree or disagree with his take on the Federal Reserve, his politics, or his pony tail, you must stand for his right to exercise his freedom to speak out in a peaceful and lawful way against perceived injustices by our government.

Department-of-Interior-Letter-MarkETF-2013

Understanding Liberty, Freedom, and Government’s Place

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Becky Gerritson of the Wetumpka Tea Party testified before the House Ways and Means committee regarding her group’s treatment by the IRS with an emotional plea to her government to rein in its overreach and at times tearfully explaining the experience she and her husband had personally with IRS representatives.

Mrs. Gerritson eloquently and forcefully expresses her concern of what is being lost in this country and how our elected representatives are chipping away at the liberties the constitution was created to provide and protect.

If her response does not stir something inside the people of this nation, they have lost their understanding of why this country was founded, the principles upon which it was founded, and the uniqueness of this great experiment.