Archive for October 2nd, 2010

Would it be comical if your daughter or your son or your niece or nephew was lying in the street dead?

October 2, 2010

The travesty of the Obama Administration ahd the Federal Government in their persistent failure to enforce U.S. law on illegal aliens has resulted in more American deaths near the southern border.

This time, the Mexican drug cartels have illegally invaded certain areas of the American southwest (with absolutely no action by the federal government) set up shop to engage in drug running and weapons trafficking, the murder of U.S. citizens, and in some areas human smuggling.. .
According to the El Paso (Texas) Times:
“Authorities confirmed Wednesday that two Mexican drug cartels have made their way into southern Doña Ana County.
“An ongoing investigation into Mexican drug- and weapons-trafficking organizations has resulted in four seizures totaling more than $400,000, authorities said.
“The investigation is “absolutely … related to two drug cartels operating out of Juárez,” Doña Ana County sheriff’s investigator Bo Nevarez said.
“Most recently, $40,000 in U.S. currency was seized in an overnight operation targeting a Mexico-bound car the night of Sept. 23.”
In another major development, the increasing deadly violence against Americans on our own soil is of great concern to residents in our border states.  Michelle Malkin reports that as TV personality Stephen Colbert appeared before the Democrat-controlled Congress to make a mockery of the push to stop illegal immigration, the citizens who actually live in the area are dead-serious about the problem.  The reason?  Their lives are at stake.
Malkin posts a letter to Colbert written by the aunt of a young U.S. citizen who was gunned down by an illegal alien:
“Dear Stephen Colbert,
“In preparing this open letter to you, I am literally fighting back the tears! It truly breaks my heart that so many people in positions of power and authority continue to make light of illegal immigration!
“Are you aware of, and/or concerned with the fact, that American citizens and legal immigrants are murdered everyday by illegal aliens? Have you ever spent one second thinking about that?
“In speaking to Congress today, do you think you would have prepared anything different if one of your love ones was murdered by an illegal alien? You think you would make fun of this illegal alien invasion if you lost a loved one to this crime?
“What if your mother was shot in the head by an illegal alien? Do you think you could make that funny? What about your children? Would it be comical if your daughter or your son or your niece or nephew was lying in the street dead, shot in the head, by someone living in this country illegally?”  (Excerpt).
Add this to what we already know about the federal government essentially turning over U.S. land to illegal alien Mexicans near the southern border, the order from the White House for the military not to apprehend or detain illegals, and the continued deadly attacks on Americans, and it is clear that the U.S., under this Democrat/Marxist controlled regime, is turing the country into an unmitigated disaster.
Be sure to catch my blog at The Liberty Sphere.

It’s just too bad that Anthony and Fred can’t make up. They would be a team to be reckoned with…

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Hoplophobia, Immigration, Law, Men's Issues, Military Science, mysandry, News, Non Compos Mentis, Politics, States Rights, War, Warfare, Wordpress Political Blogs | 8 Comments »

Mayor Bloomberg blasts Tea Party, describes it as often irrational, ‘not a political movement’

October 2, 2010

Mayor Bloomberg blasts Tea Party, describes it as often irrational, ‘not a political movement’.

Posted in Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Hoplophobia, Immigration, Law, Men's Issues, Military Science, mysandry, News, Non Compos Mentis, Politics, States Rights, Stupid is as Stupid Does, Uncategorized, Wordpress Political Blogs | 1 Comment »

Mayor Bloomberg blasts Tea Party, describes it as often irrational, ‘not a political movement’

October 2, 2010

The straw purchase felon is back at it mischaracterizing people that he disagrees with. Nothing really new there, however, it is disturbing that the people of New York City actually put up with it.

As my good friend and fellow Blogger Texas Fred posted:

These are the Core Values of the TEA Party:

*Uphold the U.S. Constitution*
*Limited Government*
*Fiscal Responsibility*
*Free Markets*

Try as I might, I can’t find anything in the Core Values of the TEA Party that mentions abortion, guns or homosexuality. I have looked, diligently!

Read this great piece in it’s entirety HERE.

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Hoplophobia, Immigration, Law, Men's Issues, mysandry, News, Non Compos Mentis, Politics, Wordpress Political Blogs | 4 Comments »

Epic fail obamacare: Sebelius Expounds on Her Recent Threat to Health Industry

October 2, 2010

Shortly after declaring that “there will be zero tolerance” for health insurers spreading “misinformation” about ObamaCare causing rate increases, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius wrote an op-ed claiming that health insurers “ran wild with no accountability” and previously had “free rein” for conducting business — all while under the regulation of 50 state insurance departments. In a bit of cosmic irony that managed to elude her keen wit, this alleged insurer rampage somehow didn’t occur on her watch as the Kansas Insurance Commissioner, a position that had the power to disapprove proposed health insurance rate increases since 1965.

Not satisfied with her Orwellian mischaracterization of the truth, Sebelius also misdiagnosed an insurer’s recent premium refund in North Carolina. She claimed that the refund was the result of regulatory powers under ObamaCare when, in reality, the insurer had determined that ObamaCare had so badly damaged the state’s individual health market that pulling out of that market was its only option. The refund was simply a return of the unused portions of subscribers’ premiums.

As the Democrats are about to discover, the health “reform” that they designed to transfer health insurance regulatory power from the states to the national government may be a Pyrrhic victory come Election Day. Instead of being a Democrat electoral lifeline, ObamaCare is actually the anchor around their necks.

SOURCE

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Law, News, Non Compos Mentis, Politics, Wordpress Political Blogs | 1 Comment »

Corruption endemic in the Mexican government: The Mexican Wall

October 2, 2010

Under cover of media darkness, Mexico has been building a wall on its southern border with Guatemala, ostensibly to stop the flow of drugs. Yet Mexican Superintendent of Tax Administration Raul Diaz admits the wall will also prevent the free passage of illegal aliens.

Some 500,000 illegals sneak into Mexico annually. Compared to all Mexicans currently living illegally in American cities, taking full advantage of the benefits stubbornly preserved for them by bankrupt city, state and governments, Mexico’s illegal influx is a mere pittance, but it’s enough to anger opponents. Still, Guatemala doesn’t want its escape hatch closed. As Vice President Rafael Espada opined, “The walls are not the solution to the problems.”

The Catholic Church entered the fray quickly in the person of Fr. Francisco Pellizari, an Italian working in Mexico with illegals. In an interesting, if somewhat daft, line of reasoning, Pellizari claims, “The dramatic increase in the cost of ‘polleros’ (human traffickers) and the corruption of the authorities is the result of the walls the United States plans to build and has built along the border. [The] results will be the same” in Guatemala. More to the point is the mordida, Mexican slang for “bribe”: in the “small” sense, the bribe given a Mexican official to look the other way; but in the larger sense, it’s the corruption endemic in the Mexican government.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon as yet hasn’t commented. However, when Arizona’s SB 1070 passed, Calderon blew a gasket, denouncing the law as an invitation “to intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law enforcement” — each one an attribute that Mexico’s immigration laws exhibit. Calderon’s own government will bar outsiders “found to be physically or mentally unhealthy … economic burdens on society” or anyone who shows contempt for national sovereignty. Being in Mexico illegally is punishable by two years in a Mexican prison.

As we’ve seen time and time again, the guiltiest are always the first to point fingers. Oh, Mexico! Thy name is Hypocrisy!

SOURCE

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Immigration, Law, News, Politics, Wordpress Political Blogs | Comments Off on Corruption endemic in the Mexican government: The Mexican Wall

Too busy waging class warfare to care

October 2, 2010

Desperate Democrats Head for Home

Pelosi can see the election from her House

Amid the mortifying prospect of having to face the voters in one month, congressional Democrats voted to abandon ship and head for home. They hope to boost their poll numbers and stem the Republican tide, but their odds aren’t good. The unfinished business they left won’t help, either.

The House vote to adjourn was 210-209, a cynically calculated margin that gave House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) the deciding vote. Vulnerable Democrats staged a minor revolt as 39 of them voted to stay in session in order to extend the Bush tax cuts, which are an issue, of course, because Democrats forced a sunset provision on them in 2001 and 2003. Democrats are willing to “sunset” tax cuts but not spending tax dollars on unconstitutional boondoggles.

One imperiled Democrat, Rep. Zack Space (D-OH), said, “I think that small business, big business, individuals, have a right to expect some certainty. The longer we keep this [tax issue] open, the more uncertainty there is. Our economy is such that I don’t think we can afford that. I just think we need to deal with this. That’d be the responsible thing.” Forty-seven House Democrats signed on to a letter to Pelosi urging the extension of all the Bush tax cuts, and yet only 39 saw fit to vote against adjournment, thereby possibly letting them expire. Hmm.

Of course, Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and other Democrats are too busy waging class warfare to care. As White House adviser David Axelrod spins it, Republicans are “going to have to explain to their constituents why they’re holding up tax cuts for the middle class. And I think it’s an untenable position to say, ‘We’re going to allow your taxes to go up on January 1st unless the president agrees to give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires.'” In truth, Democrats would rather taxes go up on everybody than to suffer the “rich” (i.e., small business owners) to keep what’s theirs.

Instead of addressing taxes and taking that back to their constituents, the Senate likewise voted to adjourn, and Congress will hold a two-week lame-duck session beginning Nov. 15. Before they fled the swamp, both chambers passed a stopgap measure to fund the government until Dec. 3. After all, with the fiscal year having started today, this fear-stricken Congress has yet to pass any of the 13 appropriations bills for 2011. Apparently, voter anger over skyrocketing deficits hasn’t fallen on completely deaf ears.

Democrats are prioritizing a series of leftist wish-list items they want to ram through in that lame-duck session, including repealing Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell, providing citizenry for American-born children of illegal immigrants, extending unemployment benefits (already at 99 weeks), continuing a freeze of cuts for doctors’ Medicare reimbursement payments, etc. However, there’s little chance that many of these items will see the light of the debate floor, considering that all of them failed at some stage already. Still, Democrats seem determined to go out in a blaze of glory.

SOURCE

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Law, News, Politics, States Rights, Wordpress Political Blogs | 2 Comments »

Non compos mentos, or stupid is as stupid does? Mexico Mayors “Blame America First”

October 2, 2010

Well, just when you think you have heard just about everything, Fox News reports that “A coalition of Mexican mayors has asked the United States to stop deporting illegal immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes in the U.S. to Mexican border cities, saying the deportations are contributing to Mexican border violence.”

Apparently, the mayor of Juarez — the world’s most murder-plagued city, across the border from low-crime El Paso where Americans are able to buy and carry guns for protection — said “that of the 80,000 people deported to Juarez in the past three years, 28,000 had U.S. criminal records — including 7,000 convicted rapists and 2,000 convicted murderers.”

This, on the heels of a CNN story noting that Mexico’s foreign minister, Patricia Espinosa, has claimed that violence in the United States is not related to illegal Mexican immigrants, but that Mexico’s violence is caused by guns smuggled into Mexico from the United States.

Predisposed to spinning the news in favor of gun control, CNN attempted to bolster Espinosa’s claim by quoting a former Carter Administration staffer to the effect that, as CNN put it, “more than 90 percent of weapons in Mexico come from the United States.”

SOURCE

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Hoplophobia, Immigration, Law, News, Politics, Wordpress Political Blogs | Comments Off on Non compos mentos, or stupid is as stupid does? Mexico Mayors “Blame America First”

MAIG Mimics Brady Campaign’s Misuse Of Tracing Data

October 2, 2010

This week, Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) released a report, similar to earlier efforts by the Brady Campaign, claiming that guns originally sold in states that don’t have the gun control laws that MAIG likes are more likely to end up “recovered in out-of-state crimes.”

As you probably have already deduced, MAIG’s conclusions, like Brady’s, are based entirely upon BATFE firearm tracing statistics, which BATFE and the Congressional Research Service have repeatedly said should not be used to reach broad conclusions about criminal activity with guns.

BATFE says, for example, “Not all firearms used in crimes are traced and not all firearms traced are used in crime. Firearms selected for tracing aren’t chosen for purposes of determining which types, makes or models of firearms are used for illicit purposes. The firearms selected don’t constitute a random sample and should not be considered representative of the larger universe of all firearms used by criminals, or any subset of that universe. . . .[S]ources reported for firearms traced do not necessarily represent the sources or methods by which firearms in general are acquired for use in crime.”

Of course, for many years on many issues — “assault weapons,” “Saturday Night Specials,” lawsuits against gun manufacturers and dealers, and the list goes on — anti-gun groups have resorted to tracing data because crime and other reliable data have not supported their arguments. In this instance, for example, MAIG contends that illegal acquisition of firearms is associated with 10 specific state-level gun laws. But, the 10 laws — some of which are already in effect at the federal level — don’t correlate to state total violent crime rates. And, the 10 states with the highest violent crime rates, and the 10 states with the lowest rates, both have an average of two of the 10 gun laws.

Nor is there a correlation between the states’ violent crime and murder rates, and what MAIG calls their “export-import ratios” — the relationships between the numbers of traced guns that come into the states from other states, and the number of traced guns that eventually go from the states to other states. In fact, each of the 10 states that MAIG singles out for derision, for not having the 10 laws it favors, has a lower percentage of guns sold in the state later traced by BATFE, as compared to national figures.

A number of other factors underscore the limitations inherent in using tracing data in the first place. For example, while BATFE takes the position that illegal trafficking is more likely indicated when firearms are traced within two years of their original sale, the average interim period on traced guns nationally is 11 years. BATFE often does not even attempt traces on older guns, believing they would be unsuccessful or fail to reveal evidence of illegal trafficking. As MAIG pointed out, BATFE was not able to complete traces on 61 percent of the guns for which traces were submitted by law enforcement agencies.

Furthermore, while MAIG’s whole premise concerns interstate trafficking of guns, 70 percent of guns that BATFE traces were recovered by the police in the same state in which they were originally sold.

Of course, no comment on the lack of correlation between tracing and violent crime would be complete without mentioning that the vast majority of traced guns have not been used to commit violent crimes, but were rather taken into custody by police for possession and other less serious offenses.

Finally, when guns do cross state lines, it is not necessarily because they were illegally trafficked. People move across state lines for a variety of reasons, such as to take a new job, to be nearer family members, or to be in an area with warmer weather and/or a lower cost of living. And, a gun owner may sell a firearm to any dealer anywhere in the country, because the prohibition on interstate sales of firearms only applies to sales between two non-licensed individuals.

Thus, not by coincidence, guns that are recovered in one state, but originally sold in other states, typically come from neighboring states. For example, “out-of-state” guns recovered in Kentucky most commonly come from Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee. Those recovered in Ohio typically come from Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana. And so on.

MAIG’s new “trafficking” report breaks no new ground. And, coming on the heels of FBI data showing violent crime at a 35-year low, it fails to make even a superficial case for gun control. But, considering MAIG’s support of microstamping and restrictions on concealed carry, its efforts to push Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s horrendous “terror watchlist” and “gun show” bills, and its penchant for blaming U.S. gun laws for Mexico’s ongoing war with drug cartels, the new report makes clear that the group’s leader, Michael Bloomberg, intends for it to remain the most aggressive and highly visible threat to the Second Amendment in the near term.

SOURCE

Tags:, , , , , , , ,
Posted in Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Hoplophobia, Immigration, Law, News, Politics, Wordpress Political Blogs | Comments Off on MAIG Mimics Brady Campaign’s Misuse Of Tracing Data

The opposition to our Health Care Choice Amendment – Amendment 63?

October 2, 2010

What follows was edited do to late posting, and a misspell! Sorry Jon!~ 🙂

Strange Anti-Health Care Choice Bedfellows: Who’s been funding the opposition to our Health Care Choice Amendment – Amendment 63? 90% of their funding comes from Washington, DC and most of that from the unions. The SEIU, the government workers union, the NEA, and the AFL-CIO are the biggest contributors by far. Good to know that the national teachers union realizes fighting Health Care Choice in Colorado is good for, um, education? I guess if educational choice is bad for kids, health care choice would be too.

Watch my latest health care debate on TV tonight! I will be on Colorado Public Television channel 12 right after my own show Devils Advocate ends to debate our right to health care choice initiative – Amendment 63. The debate is airing on “Colorado Decides 2010” at 9pm. I will be debating Edie Sonn, Director of the Colorado Medical Society who happens to oppose the repeal of Obama Care. (Spoiler alert: the bald guy wins).

Last week’s health care choice debate here: Rocky Mountain PBS (channel 6) aired a debate I had with T.R. Reid about Amendment 63 – Colorado’s Right to Health Care Choice last week. Did I mention my opponent T.R. is a Princeton-educated sycophant of collective health care? He was the “reporter” who did that completely unbiased PBS Frontline report on how every other country is the world has a better health care system than the US. Yeah… so check out the debate online here.

Great New Education Movie! Great New Education Movie! The school system is failing our kids on a massive scale, that much is evident. But are enough people motivated to take the right kind of action and fix it? The new movie “Waiting for Superman” should open many eyes with the story of five inner-city kids whose lives hang in the balance of a charter school lottery. Perhaps that’s why the unions and status quo interest groups have attacked the movie. Waiting for Superman opened nationally this past Friday, but mark your calendars for the October 15 Colorado premiere. Until then, check out little Eddie’s post for more information and a look at the theatrical trailer.

How to Save a Billion Dollars: Colorado taxpayers are on the hook for more than $1 billion in unfunded liabilities incurred in the defined benefit retiree health plan administered by the Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA). An additional $79 million in unfunded liabilities was incurred in 2008. These are just some of the findings by Independence Institute Senior Fellow Barry Poulson in his potent new issue paper, “How to Save a Billion Dollars in Other Post Employment Benenfit Costs.” In it, Barry lays out the looming fiscal crisis driven by, among other things, flawed actuarial assumptions by PERA, and outrageously optimistic assumptions (which have failed to be realized) about the rate of return on assets held in the Health Care Trust Fund. If saving a billion dollars seems like pie in the sky to you now, give Barry’s paper a shot and find out how it can be done.

PJ O’Rourke Book Signing Event! Because PJ was so much fun last year for our annual Founders Night, we decided to bring him back for an event at Jackson’s Bar and Grill in LoDo on Monday, October 4th from 6 to 8pm. He will be signing copies of his book “Don’t Vote, It Just Encourages the Bastards.” If you’d like to join us, RSVP to Mary MacFarlane by calling us at 303.279.6536 or emailing Mary at mary@i2i.org.

The Right to Earn a Living Event: The Independence Institute, Liberty on the Rocks, and the CATO Institute invite you to join us for an evening with Timothy Sandefur, Adjunct Scholar at the CATO Institute and Principal Attorney – Pacific Research Institute for a book signing of “The Right to Earn a Living.” We’ll be having the event at our Independence Institute offices in Golden on Thursday, October 7th at 5:30pm. If you’d like to join us, RSVP to Mary MacFarlane by calling us at 303.279.6536 or emailing Mary at mary@i2i.org.

Must see TV: What’s it like for Republicans running for Congress against incumbent Democrats in the age of Obama and a Democratic majority? To find out, tune in to Devil’s Advocate this Friday as I am joined by Colorado Republican candidates for Congress Ryan Frazier, Cory Gardner, Mike Fallon and Stephen Bailey. That’s TONIGHT, October 1st at 8:30 PM on Colorado Public Television 12. Re-broadcast the following Monday at 1:30 PM. And remember to stay tuned right after Devil’s Advocate for my debate over the Health Care Choice Amendment.

Must hear podcast: Education policy analyst Ben DeGrow deconstructs the $10 billion Edujobs bailout passed by Congress in August, noting that the policy not only seriously overestimated the need to curb teacher layoffs and ignored other available solutions but also discriminated against charter schools. It remains unclear exactly when and how Colorado school districts will use the funds to hire and rehire employees. Listen to this podcast on iVoices.org.

Perspective: In this week’s op-ed, Linda Gorman stresses the importance of Amendment 63 – the Right to Health Care Choice – ability to protect Colorado citizens from the mandates found in Obama Care. Colorado citizens already face dozens of mandates imposed by our state, the last thing we need is the grandaddy of all mandates to buy a health insurance, whether we like it or not, coming down from the federal government. Read here as Linda Gorman explains how Amendment 63 will stop DC.

Until next week…

Straight on

Jon Caldara

Tags:, , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Hoplophobia, Immigration, Law, Local Politics Colorado, News, Politics, States Rights, Wordpress Political Blogs | 2 Comments »