Blog For Freedom

Senate Amnesty Excuses & GOP Damage Control Begin

I just received this excuse letter from Senator Jon Kyl.  Read it carefully...it seems he gets what Americans want, yet voted for the opposite.  My message to Senator Kyl and every Senator that voted for cloture today: You're right about one thing.  This amnesty bill was definitely a compromise...a compromise of our national security, not to mention our core values.  UNACCEPTABLE.

The Senate voted this morning against invoking cloture on the immigration reform bill, taking the issue off of the Senate’s calendar for the time being. While there is still a chance that a reform bill could be resurrected, the legislative schedule for the remainder of the year is such that significant immigration reform is unlikely to be considered again in the near future.

The result of the cloture vote demonstrates just how difficult it is to achieve the consensus necessary to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws. The bill before the Senate had something for everyone to love, and hate. For conservatives, the bill included unprecedented additional resources to help secure the border (including the dollars upfront to pay for them), an end to chain migration, an effective employee verification system to prevent illegal immigrants from gaining employment, and a temporary worker program that is truly temporary. For liberals, it offered a way to deal with illegal immigrants who are already here, though the automatic pathway to citizenship they wanted was eliminated.

To get something done, both sides had to make concessions. Considering that Republicans are in the minority, I believe we won far more than we gave up. I’ve linked to an editorial from the Washington Post that illustrates how the liberal media and Democrat politicians scorn the bill’s strong enforcement bent and the common-sense amendments some of us offered. Nevertheless, Senators from both the right and the left ends of each party united to block the bill’s further consideration. It was a case of letting the pursuit of the perfect become the enemy of the good.

Many people have rightfully criticized the federal government for failing in the past to enforce the law and deal effectively with the problem of illegal immigration. I agree with them. And they understandably look skeptically on our current efforts to strengthen the law, even while they demand that Congress act. But we will never be able to solve the problem by saying “no” to new legislation because of past failures. And we cannot simply say “enforce the law.” As I’ve said before, much of the current law is unenforceable. The Senate’s vote today regrettably means the status quo will continue, with thousands of illegal immigrants continuing to pour across our borders every day and millions who are already here continuing to receive silent amnesty.

Senators have been listening to their constituents around the country – the number of calls, letters, faxes, and emails has been unprecedented, even jamming phone lines into the Senate earlier today. I, for one, have tried to turn constructive suggestions into meaningful amendments to enhance the enforcement provisions of the bill. Though the current legislation has been defeated, I’ll keep fighting for additional resources in upcoming appropriations bills for more Border Patrol agents, the construction of border fencing and other barriers, and improved technology along the border. I will urge the Bush administration to enforce those parts of the law that are enforceable in order to demonstrate to a skeptical public that our government is indeed committed to enforcing the law. I also intend to introduce legislation that will focus on enforcing immigration laws at the workplace and securing the border. Clearly, the American people want more enforcement before doing anything else.

I’ll continue to listen, and I invite your comments, suggestions, and criticisms. Thank you.

Sincerely,

JON KYL

So, he realizes the American people want enforcement first, AND he understands we want enforcement first because we don't trust the government to do any enforcement otherwise (like in the past)...yet he voted against what he knows his constituents want.  He says much of the current law is unenforceable.  So we do NO ENFORCEMENT?  Hey Senator Kyl, guess what?  Many parts of the current law ARE enforceable - so let's start enforcing.  And how about that fence that was already approved - where is it?  SHOW ME THE FENCE!  Senator Kyl says, "we can't simply say 'enforce the law'."  Why not Senator?  Aren't laws intended to be enforced?  I'm so sick of hearing "we can't" and "it's the best we can do".  Then move aside and make room for someone who CAN and WILL get the job done.

Senator Kyl says, "It was a case of letting the pursuit of the perfect become the enemy of the good."  Is he smoking crack?  They weren't pursuing anything close to perfection and passage of this bill, not defeat, would have been the "enemy of the good".

This Senator aknowledges "the number of calls, letters, faxes, and emails has been unprecedented, even jamming phone lines into the Senate...", yet he refused to listen to the messages being sent by his constituents.  Either he's deaf, hard-headed or just plain doesn't care what his constituents want.

Senator Kyl says, "we will never be able to solve the problem by saying “no” to new legislation because of past failures."  Well we'll never solve any probelms by REPEATING past failures either.  Are our elected officials really too stupid to learn from past mistakes?

The Washington Post editorial referenced is such B.S. that I excluded the link.  This Senator is just truly clueless.  Apparently, Washington will do that to you after awhile.  Perhaps it's time to re-examine term limits?

Bush - Kennedy Amnesty Bill Defeated

The best news I've received all week:  The traitors were defeated!  However, I must also say that I'm especially ashamed today, since both of my Arizona Senators betrayed their constituents by voting for amnesty.  But no worries, we'll be sure to remind them of their betrayal when they're up for re-relection.  I predict both Senator McCain and Senator Kyl are serving their LAST term as an Arizona Senator.

Here's a list of all 18 Senators who changed their amnesty vote from 'YES' to 'NO', along with a list of all 53 Senators who voted 'NO' on amnesty today.  I guess all those faxes, emails and phone calls I made weren't a waste of time afterall!  Kudos to EVERY AMERICAN who voiced their opinion and defeated this bill.

Dear President Bush & Congress: It's the Border, STUPID!

The past few weeks has been an enormous wake up call to Americans everywhere.  As a result of the immigration amnesty battle in Washington, Americans now realize that politicians cannot be trusted...PERIOD.  If we take our eyes off them even for a second, the Kennedy crowd starts looking for ways to screw hard-working Americans.  And even more disturbing, our so-called "Conservative" Senators jumped right on the immigration bandwagon along with the Dumbocrats.

Here's a link to the names, addresses, phone numbers and fax numbers of several US Senators.  These Senators NEED to hear from you - tell them what you think about their 'Shamnesty' bill.

Below is the letter I faxed to most of them (I also faxed a second page containing only a huge "A" for Amnesty!)  I feel so much better now...you should try it!

Dear Senator [insert your traitor Senator's name here],

If you support the current immigration bill:

1.  You are voting for Amnesty.  Spin it anyway you wish, but the American people are not stupid and Americans, more than two-thirds of whom oppose amnesty, will remember you as part of the A-gang. (“A” is for Amnesty)

2.  While even legalized ‘illegals’ will NOT be eligible to vote for many years, angry Americans WILL BE VOTING AGAINST Amnesty supporters in huge numbers.  All those Americans who called, emailed and faxed your office will be voicing their discontent in the form of a vote for many elections to come.

3.  Ask Senator Kennedy how many FAILED AMNESTY bills he’s helped author to date.  With his track record on amnesty, he shouldn’t even be allowed in the room while an immigration bill is being written. 

4.  Also please ask Senator Kennedy how much our taxes will have to go up to pay for this and how much social security and medicare benefits will have to decrease.  Certainly a responsible politician would NOT propose a bill that will cost Americans TRILLIONS of dollars without first knowing where the money’s coming from.  But wait, nobody thought of that...of course, why worry about how much of OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY YOU’RE SPENDING?  Americans struggling to make ends meet can’t go shopping without making sure we have money in the bank first.  Yet Congress wants to import tens of millions of welfare recipients without giving any thought to how they will pay for it because it’s NOT THEIR MONEY.
 
5.  WHERE’S THE FENCE that was already approved?  There isn’t one yet - that’s exactly  why Americans do NOT believe you will secure the border even with amnesty.  We are tired of being LIED TO...PROVE YOU CAN & WILL SECURE THE BORDER, and maybe Americans will be willing to swallow the amnesty pill.  But NOT until AFTER the border is PROVEN to be secured because we’ve been tricked into amnesty before.

6.  If you’re lucky enough to be one of the very few who supports amnesty and doesn’t get voted out of office next time you’re up for re-election, have you thought about what you’ll tell your constituents NEXT time the government considers amnesty for the millions of illegals who are encouraged by the passage of this Amnesty bill to illegally cross our still unsecured border in the future?

7.  Time will prove this amnesty bill to be a lie.  Time will prove that the government still has no intention of securing the border.  All who support this bill will be considered liars and traitors by their constituents...actually, I think sell-out is the most common term I’ve heard used.  Perhaps you too will feel betrayed by your colleagues who convinced you that the border REALLY will be secured this time if you just give amnesty first.  Yet still, you’ll be looking for a new job.

But you still have a chance to do the right thing... Don’t be naive - OPPOSE AMNESTY or look for a new job.  SECURE OUR BORDERS NOW, then we’ll talk about amnesty.

Senate Immigration Bill 1639 - List of Amnesty & Cloture Voting Traitors

A vote for cloture is a vote for amnesty.

Here's a list of Senators (Republican & Dumbocrat) who betrayed their constituents by voting for cloture amnesty.

Senators McCain & Kyl - Shame on You for Betraying Arizonans

Although I've voted for both Senator John McCain and Senator Jon Kyl more than once, I no longer consider either of them to be my representatives. The recent immigration fiasco clearly shows they both went to Washington to represent their own agendas, and have no interest in what their constituents want.  As a result, the AZ GOP has been in pure damage control mode for several weeks, trying to defend Jon Kyl's unexpected and unjustifiable betrayal. The AZ GOP obviously realizes that John McCain's political career is over, as they haven't even tried to stick up for him.  Since he has exactly ZERO chance at the Presidential nomination, why doesn't he just go back to Washington and do the job he was elected to do. Over the past 6 months or so, he hasn't even bothered to show up for many important Senate votes, yet he's asking us for a promotion to President? He won't even be re-elected to his Senate seat now.  Arizona has had enough of John McCain.  In fact, America is pretty much fed up with Washington...period.  Our politicians are soooooooooo out of touch with American values it's truly shameful.  Maybe it's something in the D.C. water?

Anyway, up until a couple months ago, I supported Jon Kyl.  I truly believed he was better than most of the other talking heads in Washington.  But I thought wrong...he's clearly ONE OF THEM.  Now that I've realized that, I removed his sticker from my car and mailed it back to him with the short note below (click image below to enlarge)...

Secure Our Border, Enforce Current Law & Where's the Fence?

Why doesn't one of our Republican Congressmen initiate a bill that would require current immigration law to be enforced and penalize those cities and entities that choose to ignore the problem?  Just that simple - no amnesty, no comprehensive reform, let's just prove we know how to enforce the laws we already have. In addition to that, Republicans should be pushing to BUILD THE FENCE we were already promised. Show Americans that our federal government is actually capable of securing the border and taking illegal immigration seriously. Perhaps then, people like myself who are vehemently opposed to amnesty would be willing to swallow the amnesty pill. It's not that I believe we could, or even should actually deport 12-20 million illegals, it's that I'm scared to death we're going to get amnesty without real border enforcement AGAIN. 20+ years of looking the other way is a hard habit to break, and my elected officials need to prove to me that the attitude towards illegal immigration and border security has really changed. Americans no longer believe the lip service we get from our politicians - we need to see it to believe it. Not only would that give most Americans a warm, fuzzy feeling about giving amnesty, but truly cracking down on illegals NOW would cause some to self-deport while deterring many more from coming here illegally. If municipalities verified the legal status of all people arrested and turned illegals over to ICE, we could easily identify the criminal illegals and deport those who are harmful, not helpful to our nation.  Of course then ICE would actually have to do its job, and that would require a total change of culture.

Hopefully, Republicans realize that opposing amnesty and preventing comprehensive immigration reform is the best way for Republicans to win big in '08. If comprehensive immigration reform (amnesty) gets passed, the Democrats will get credit from their left wing base while telling moderate America it was Bush's bill (Harry Reid has already used those exact words). Republicans will be so angry at their elected officials that Democrats will re-take the white house and win even bigger than in '06. And beyond 2008 as more and more illegals become legal citizens, the majority will vote Democrat and eventually, our 2-party system will go away altogether.

Republicans must stand firm against amnesty. Let the Democrats keep trying to pass amnesty - it's great for Republicans if it remains in the news, but the Republicans have to keep opposing it. If it's still an issue in '08, the millions of anti-amnesty voices that spoke up by calling, emailing and faxing their elected officials these past few weeks will all show up to the polls and vote for the anti-amnesty candidate.  It's a win-win... Republicans win in the election and the American people get what they want and deserve from their government.

President Bush, Please Take Your Prozac... Amnesty by Any Other Name is Still Amnesty

Has the President completely lost his mind?  Did aliens abduct the real President Bush and replace him with this suddenly liberal dufus?  And why hasn't Vice President Cheney had anything to say about the immigration bill?  I'd be willing to bet it's because he disagrees with President Bush's craziness.  I truly cannot believe the President is even considering this immigration amnesty bill.  It's the dumbest thing President Bush has done since the Dubai ports idea.  And I actually voted for President Bush, not once, but twice.

I don’t understand why President Bush and so many Republicans are betraying not only their so-called core values, but also their constituents by supporting amnesty.  The President is willing to ‘pardon’ millions of illegals - meanwhile Border Patrol Agents who nobly defended our nation sit in prison, apparently not worthy of the same compassion.  I sincerely hope Senator McCain, Senator Kyl and the rest of Congress remember where their loyalty is supposed to be and whose interests they are paid to represent.  The reason nothing gets done in Washington is because everybody there is looking out for their own interests, and nobody’s representing America’s interests anymore.  It’s time our politicians set aside party affiliation and personal career ambition to do what’s best for America.

Giving legal status to illegals doesn’t solve anything.  Approving this recently reached immigration ‘deal’ would be the equivalent of making all drugs legal to get rid of the illegal drug problem.  That’s ridiculous.  Calling ‘illegals’ legal doesn’t solve anything.  But if you buy into that logic, perhaps we could solve the nation’s DUI problem by making it legal to drive drunk.  And while we’re at it, we can win the War on Terror too - we’ll just make it legal to blow stuff up and fly planes into buildings.  And to solve the problem of identity theft, we’ll just legalize stealing social security numbers and using fraudulent documents.  Hell, we can pretty much solve all our problems this way...but is that really a world you’d want to live in?

The first step in solving any problem is CORRECTLY identifying the problem.  Our problem with immigration is that there are too many illegals getting into the country.  But in their infinite wisdom, our Washington politicians are trying to change the fact that these immigrants are illegal instead of addressing the real problem, which is that THEY’RE HERE! 

After you’ve correctly identified what the problem is, you must determine the real cause of the problem in order to solve it.  The primary cause of our illegal immigration problem is the fact that Mexico is a severely impoverished country.  There's no reason it has to be poor - it has great natural resources and a great location for commerce right next to America.  We give Mexico a great deal of foreign aid and trade opportunities, yet many Mexicans feel they cannot provide for their families by staying in Mexico.  Why?  The reason for its poverty and lack of jobs is due to Mexico’s incompetent, corrupt government - the same corrupt government that endorses illegal immigration to the US and  helps Mexican drug dealers get their poison to our children.  If we as a nation permit these people (even the good, hard-working illegal immigrants) to bring their values of lawlessness and lack of respect for government, they will not assimilate and become Americans.  We will become like Mexico.  After recently visiting Mexico (legally and with respect for their laws, I might add), I have no desire to live in such a place.  Therefore, we MUST insist that those who come here get the message loud and clear as soon as they set foot on US soil: America welcomes you but WE HAVE LAWS.  We expect them to be obeyed, and there will be consequences if they are disobeyed.  This is a concept we teach our children from birth - why shouldn’t we expect the same from grown adults?

Since we don’t have direct control over the primary cause of our immigration problem (Mexico’s economy), we must look to other (secondary) causes - primarily our wide open border.  Like Mexico’s poverty, there’s simply no excuse for our nations’ unsecured borders.  There’s plenty we can do about it - we can SECURE THE BORDERS for starters.  In fact, even without the immigration bill passing, we’ve already been promised 700 miles of fence we’re not getting - SO WHERE’S THE FENCE?  It’s not being built, because regardless of what they say, Washington is simply not interested in securing our borders.  It's all just lip service because our politicians think Americans are too stupid to know what's good for them.  And once Washington finishes giving away the farm to the 12-20 million+ illegals, they still won’t be interested in securing our borders.  They’re just saying what they think we want to hear so we’ll agree to this amnesty sham that’s being shoved down the throats of hard-working American taxpayers.

No matter what you call it, the immigration deal recently reached is amnesty, and will no doubt end up just like the 1980's 'deal' that gave amnesty to millions but never seriously secured the border or enforced immigration law.  The so called safeguards that are supposed to ensure enforcement are NOT real (the fence is already NOT really being built).  And in addition to no border security plus a bunch of new uneducated citizens, Americans will also get an increased flow of illegals (hoping to cash in on future amnesty, and certainly not fearing enforcement).  This deal also spells the end of the Republican party within the next few decades, and it'll also be the beginning of the end of America as a world Superpower.  With 60% of those receiving 'amnesty' being dropouts, the burden on American taxpayer will be enormous (and by the way, these uneducated people will soon be voting and thus controlling our country - how many more BAD decisions can the US take?).  How long does Washington think hard working Americans will foot the bill for this "immigration deal"?  And how does Washington possibly expect the hard-working Americans who will pay for this deal in so many ways to NOT be resentful of these new ‘citizens’?  Assimilation would be difficult enough if these people all wanted to assimilate, but they don't all want to assimilate.  From the marches I've been to, it seems that many of these people want Americans to change to accommodate them - beginning with our laws.

How could Congress be so far away from what Americans really want?  The last election was not a mandate on Iraq - it was a message from the American people that we are tired of being ignored by our elected officials.  Washington politicians are representing their own interests instead of the interests of their constituents.  We are tired of the sleazy political games, corruption, and yes, the last election was a message that we are tired of losing a war we should be winning.  Securing the border should’ve been the first thing we did when this 'war on terror' began.  Americans don't understand why our soldiers have to die in Iraq to make our country safer when we haven't even secured the homeland (border).  Doesn't our Commander-in-Chief know the first thing you do when you're at war is secure your perimeter (border)?  The President messed up SO BAD after 9/11 by not securing the border.  He had great reason to secure it, and even Democrats would not have criticized him for doing so then.  A huge missed opportunity.

America needs to do everything within its power to secure our borders NOW.  We need to enforce existing laws and we need to encourage Mexico to help secure the border - but we cannot trust the Mexican government to truly work with us since their interests are different from ours.  Therefore we need make it in their best interest to help us stop illegal immigration - perhaps tie their foreign aid dollars to border security and reduce the amount of money they get by a certain amount for unacceptable illegal immigration levels?  I don’t have all the answers, but I do know that helping Mexico and Mexicans should NOT have to ruin America and hurt Americans.

Washington needs to GET REAL on immigration.  Mr. Bush and those elected officials who support mass amnesty will go down in history as the people who could have saved our country's future, but didn't.  Mexico will go down in history as the crappy little country that destroyed the big powerful US without ever firing a shot.

U.S. Border Patrol Agents Go to Prison for Apprehending Illegal Alien Drug Smuggler at Border

The email below is definitely the most important email I received all week.  It may seem like this couldn't possibly happen in America, but it's true and it did happen.  Please visit the link at the bottom and help these two agents who I consider to be heroes.

Two U.S. Border Patrol Agents have been sentenced to decade long prison terms for apprehending an illegal alien at our border!

Almost as outrageous is that the illegal alien drug smuggler, who was given immunity for testifying against the agents is now suing the U.S. for $5 million, claiming he was permanently injured!

I have just signed a petition calling for the President to pardon these two Border Agents and I’m asking you to join with me by clicking below for the full story and the petition:

U.S. Border Patrol Agents Go to Prison for Apprehending Illegal Alien Drug Smuggler at Border - FULL STORY

Thanks!

Join the 'Blog For Freedom' BlogRoll!

Okay, I finally got motivated enough to set up a BlogRoll for this blog (thanks to Jonathan over at Crush Liberalism - thanks Jonathan!).  I already added many of the blogs I read regularly, but I know I also missed several great blogs, so please don't be offended if I missed yours!

If you'd like to be added to the Blog For Freedom BlogRoll:

1.  Add this code to your blog:

<center><b>BLOG FOR FREEDOM!</b><br><a href="http://www.blogforfreedom.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.blogforfreedom.com/files/usa.gif" border="0" title="Join the Blog For Freedom BlogRoll!" alt="I Blog For Freedom - God Bless the USA!" width="68" height="50"></a><br><b><a href="http://www.blogforfreedom.com/2006/09/join_the_blog_f.html" target="_blank">Join This BlogRoll!</b><div style="overflow : auto 2px #ff0000; background : #ffffff; color : #ffffff; padding : 4px; width : 185px; height : 225px; overflow : auto; "> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display.php?r=3f822ed4a63092b4c551980f6844ee0d"></script></a></center></div>

2.  Email me the following info (be sure you have added the code above FIRST!):

• Your Name
• Your Email Address
• Blog Name
• Blog URL
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Please use "BLOGROLL" as the subject of your email, so it doesn't accidentally get deleted!

I'll add you as soon as I can... sometimes I'm slow but I'll try to hurry!

ABC's 'Path to 9/11' Movie Sucked

Okay, so I didn't see the first part of the movie on Sunday night, but I was okay with missing the Clinton years (I already lived through them once, and once is MORE than enough!).  But I did watch during the Bush years last night and I don't see what all the fuss was about.  To me, the right should have been more bothered by this movie than the Democrats.  Like anything else on ABC, I thought the always present liberal bias was definitely there.

I didn't like the fact that this movie portrayed Dick Cheney as a wrinkly old angry man.  Okay, we know the guy's old but come on!  I was also bothered by the little poke the movie made at Bush's war on terrorist financing.  I think stopping terrorist financing is extremely important and has probably been a huge part of the reason we haven't been attacked again since 9/11.  But then, I already agreed with him and didn't need convincing...so I'm sure most liberals who watched missed the boat on that subject as usual.

Overall, I thought the movie pretty much sucked.  I almost fell asleep several times.  I will say I think the movie definitely made the case for President Bush's so-called 'eavesdropping programs' as well as the need to secure our border.   I just hope that the people who watched can see the connection between 9/11 and illegal immigration.  If immigration laws were enforced, perhaps the World Trade Center would still be standing and thousands of Americans would still be alive.

I'm no movie critic, but I give both ABC and their 9/11 movie a big "L" for "LOSER"!