By Richard Larsen

How do the mainstream media sources decide what to report and what not to? How do they decide how to cover the stories they do report? How do they deal with undesirable stories that are just so big they can’t be ignored? This past week we were given a glimpse into how the oligopoly of mainstream media outlets function, and it includes print, electronic media, and internet news sources. And it’s not pretty.

Many of us have long been aware of the biases of the mainstream media. The way they cover certain issues, politicians, and events reveals much of the writer’s prejudices. You don’t have to look far for examples. They frequently take a story, and then interweave their biases throughout their recapitulation of the event by using certain sources, certain quotes and excluding other sources, and by inserting subjective assumptions and conclusions into everyday events and stories.

Recently it was revealed that Ezra Klein of the Washington Post and Newsweek, for the past few years has been maintaining an exclusive online group he identified as JournoList, which was comprised of about 400 writers, reporters, bloggers, media representatives, academics, and political activists. Not surprisingly, the participants in his exclusive cadre of media hounds did not represent the full political spectrum, but only the left side of it.

The closed and controlled nature of the group facilitated an open exchange of ideas between these media gurus on how to deal with stories that potentially were damaging to their causes and candidates, and how to shape reporting in their favor. The group was in full swing throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, and was influential in shaping and controlling mainstream media reporting about the Obama campaign.

For example, when the Reverend Jeremiah Wright started to become a problem for the Obama campaign, Chris Hayes of the Nation, told the group to bury the Wright scandal. “What I’m saying is that there is no earthly reason to use our various platforms to discuss what about Wright we find objectionable,” Hayes said. And it was obvious from media coverage on the issue that Hayes’ counsel was heeded, as it was hard to find any serious reporting on the issue from the news networks and primary print media sources.

Dealing with the same issue, Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent urged his colleagues to deflect attention from Obama’s relationship with Wright by changing the subject. Pick one of Obama’s conservative critics, Ackerman wrote, “Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists.” Ackerman may not be a household name for media prowess, but he should be now. His suggested tactic has been adopted as universal strategy to deflect all critics of the current administration’s policies. By ascribing critics as racists, the issue is deflected, and the debate is no longer about the legitimacy of a policy or a candidate.

I remember when Mark Balzer, a Journal columnist, wrote back during the presidential primary that anyone who was critical of then-candidate Obama would be accused of being a racist. As prescient as he was, little did any of us know that there was collusion at the highest levels of political reporting that assured fulfillment of his prediction.

This certainly explains why all the major media sound the same when reporting political issues. As Fred Barnes quoted in the Wall Street Journal, they’re very much like a flock of birds resting on telephone lines. One decides to fly to a different line, and they all follow.

It’s no wonder then that Fox News is so despised and reviled by the mainstream media. They were one of few media outlets not implicated in the JournoList collusion. One member of the group, a UCLA law professor, went so far as suggesting that Fox News had to be shut down, one way or another. This should not surprise us, since those who are most ideologically driven despise dissent and alternative perspectives, and do all within their power to curtail serious debate.

Once heralded as the Fourth Estate, mainstream journalism has become little more than a propaganda machine for political activists who clandestinely collude and conspire on how to stymie debate and dissent. But this whole affair should pique our inquisitive natures as human beings, and make us much less like sheep thinking the way a select few conspire to make us think, and to actually act like the sentient beings we are and question sources, especially those of the herd mentality. With media consumption, as with retail purchases, the rule of caveat emptor applies even more significant: “buyer beware.”

Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth…” The JournoList scandal illustrates how far journalism has willfully digressed from the objective dissemination of information that it should be engaged in.

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In today’s Halli & Friends radio program, Halli outlines the upcoming tax increases resulting from the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, and Obamacare. Are you ready for this?

Plus, the numbers are in and Governor Butch Otter and the Idaho Legislature were right when they cut spending in both the 2010 and 2011 budgets. Halli discusses the details.

And finally, the Idaho Republican party has come under fire for a new plank in their platform calling for candidates in the Republican Primary to reveal whether or not they agree with the platform. The mainstream media call this a “loyalty oath”. Learn the truth in today’s program.

Listen on this website, or at BlogTalkRadio.com/IdahoTalk.

9th July 9, 2010

To: Senators Risch and Crapo

Representatives Simpson and Minnick

Governor Jan Brewer

Re: Three items

Dear Sirs/Ma’am:

First, I would like to invite you to our Idaho Falls Tea Party event on 29 July at 6pm at the Broadway Bridge. We’ll be holding a SUPPORT ARIZONA RALLY as this is the day that their new illegal immigration law takes affect. It is their response to the failure of the federal government to protect our country. Governor Jan Brewer will also be issued an invitation. Her willingness to stand against a government is to be commended.

Please let me know whether you will be able to attend. It should only be an hour at most and we’d certainly appreciate your show of support.

Idaho is considering similar legislation and we MUST show a united front.

Secondly, congratulations to Senator Risch for his reversal of support in regards to Idaho land. Though I consider myself an environmentalist, I am also a Constitutionalist. First I wonder where in the Constitution do you find Constitutional support for your proposal? I am looking forward to your response on this matter.

Lastly, within the last two weeks, as the Tea Party Patriots Idaho State Coordinator, I contacted your offices (with the exception of Rep Minnick) and asked for some information about a vote that was soon to come up. Telling your staff that I needed it for dissemination around the Idaho Tea Party groups, they requested my email address for a speedy reply. To this date, I have not heard one word from any of your offices. How disappointing. Americans are weary of having our representatives ignore us.

Thank you for your time,

Andi Elliott

2498E 2100

Hamer, ID 83425

straighttalkidaho@yahoo.com

Andi Elliott
Patriotic Resistance Idaho State Coordinator
Tea Party Patriots Idaho State Coordinator
Idaho District 2 Coordinator Anystreet.Org
Member of the American Grand Jury

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By Robert L. Webster

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for the people of a nation to demand a return to the fundamental principles of liberty which were established by their founding fathers, and to eliminate the changes which have weakened and deformed it from the intent of the original charter, a decent respect to the opinions of its citizens, civilized nations and of all mankind, requires that they should declare the causes which compel them to this action.

We, the people of the United States of America, hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are born free, in that they are endowed at birth by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are the right to life, liberty, property and the freedom of choice – that to secure these rights, men may institute a government, delegating to it those specifically enumerated and limited powers necessary to the security and felicity of the governed, and that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right and duty of the people to alter or abolish it, and in its place to either restore the original, or institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as shall seem to them most likely to secure their national safety and happiness.

Prudence dictates that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes, and history has shown that men are naturally inclined to suffer abuses of government, while abuses are tolerable, than to correct them by abolishing the traditional form of government to which they are accustomed. But when a long and significant string of abuses has been experienced, and appears to be designed to destroy the Constitutional form and revert back to the despotic forms of history, this people reasserts its God-given right and duty to throw off such abuses, and to restore again the principles and safeguards provided by the Founders in the inspired original system, the Constitution of the United States of America.

The citizens of this Democratic Republic have suffered enough abuses of government power over its brief bi-centennial existence. The history of the second century in particular is replete with injuries and usurpations, in an apparent design to convert and subjugate this land of abundant resources, industrious people and “common-law” liberty back under the control of the ancient systems of “rulers law.” As testimony, let the sobering facts be submitted openly before God, and to a candid world of witnesses:

Religious persecution has been allowed to persist without just redress or protection by the national or State governments, at times occurring even under government orders.

The issue of “separation of church and state” has been grossly distorted to the point of separation of religion from government and from everyday life. This is a national disgrace, and a reversal of the wholesome relationship intended by the Founders as essential to national well being.

The sixteenth amendment of 1913 has violated the Founder’s principles by authorizing the federal government to collect direct income taxes from the people. It has been a primary cause of centralization of power to the central government, and must be repealed.

The seventeenth amendment of 1913 has helped to destroy States’ rights and the delicate checks and balances system by making the election of US Senators by popular vote, instead of by the State Legislatures, thus increasing the influence of

The twenty third amendment attempts to create a State out of a city – Washinton DC – in violation of the Founders wisdom. It must be repealed, allowing the residents to vote as citizens of the State of Maryland.

The twenty fifth amendment violates the Founders’ principles by allowing a President to appoint a Vice President, which, under manipulated conditions of sedition and murder could result in a president never elected to office; it must be repealed.

The twenty sixth amendment dangerously advanced “democracy” beyond a healthy balance by allowing eighteen-year-olds to vote. They lack maturity; it should be repealed.

MONEY IS POWER, and the enemies of America have taken control of America’s wealth. The Federal Reserve System of 1913 is unconstitutional and must be replaced immediately by the Constitutional Monetary System as prescribed by the Founders – the economic system of prosperity which has never yet been instituted!

America’s Constitutionally prescribed gold and silver money standard has been unconstitutionally removed, and must be restored, under Congressional control. With the value of the dollar and the money supply tied to within 5% of the measured Gross National Product, and limiting all interest rates to a maximum of 10%, for no longer than ten years credit; prosperity would be unprecedented and secured.

The Congress has consistently spent beyond its budget; a balanced biennial budget must be required, under penalty of automatic dismissal from office for all who vote to cause budget excesses.

The Congress has voted to increase its pay while still in its current term of office; these current increases must be repealed and all future increases outlawed; each one voting for it should be recalled by their respective States. The States alone must decide Congressional salaries.

The Congressional seniority system has stagnated progress and corrupted the legislature. Amend the constitution to limit all federal elected legislative, executive and judicial terms to a lifetime total of twelve years in any one office or position.

The total tax burden of the people, including federal, State, local, sales and hidden taxes, is now 50% or more of the average individual wage earner’s income, a level so oppressive that it approaches complete subjugation. It is destroying the lives of America’s people! Not even Almighty God taxes beyond 10%! Amend the Constitution to limit the TOTAL maximum individual taxable burden to 10%, with the States to collect it and apportion revenues to various levels of government – State, Local, and Federal – for only constitutionally authorized activities. Exclude all churches, inheritances and all people under age 21 from any form of taxation. The people must be free to profit and prosper from their own enterprise and initiative, and free to keep and use their earnings as they choose. The result will be a more prosperous nation and government.

Property ownership has been eliminated unconstitutionally by property taxation. Reestablish property ownership to include all surface and subsurface rights, and never may be forfeited or lost due to failure to pay taxes of any kind, and that property may be inherited or granted free from any inheritance tax.

The Congress has violated the individual freedom and income of the people with the oppressive and ineffective Social Security System. Phase it out in ten years and replace it with voluntary, private, annuity-type savings and investment programs for retirement. Leave welfare to the generosity of the local people, who (when not over-taxed by government) will provide for the needy directly.

There is no Constitutional authority for federal involvement to be in business enterprises of any kind. Liquidate all federal businesses and properties into private enterprise hands in ten years.

There is no Constitutional authority for federal ownership or management of lands and resources beyond the constitutional prescription, viz. Washington DC, ports and arsenals, needful government buildings and legitimate US territories; yet the federal has withheld lands and resources within state boundaries, rightfully belonging to those States created out of public domain. Restore all lands and resources immediately to the respective States.

There is no Constitutional authority for federal involvement in education, except to encourage it within the States, as explained in the Northwest Ordinance of 1897, viz. the teaching of religion, morality and knowledge. Promote education of the Constitution in the tradition of the Founders, but cease all direct involvement in education. It is exclusively a State issue.

There is no Constitutional authority for any level of government to give away (grant) any of the people’s property (money) as AID to anyone for any purpose; this includes aid to education, welfare and foreign banks or interests. Cease all grants. Leave the solution of all such matters to the States and the people. Experience has clearly demonstrated that such aid does not buy friends, but is counterproductive. Export American constitutional freedom and prosperity by example, not by financial grants.

The Supreme Court has usurped legislative power: Congress must strike out all decisions which conflict with the Founders’ intent. Limit federal court jurisdiction to matters of life, liberty and national citizenship. No person born in the USA of non-citizen parents has a right to US citizenship. No foreigner or criminal has US citizen rights beyond liberty and life, while staying here.

The court system has obstructed justice and has not provided the right to a speedy and just trial. Eliminate plea bargaining. Require capital punishment within six months for capital crimes.

Inadequate checks exist to prevent or correct constitutional abuses of power by the Supreme Court. Authorize by amendment an elected Regional Court of Constitutional Appeal, which can judge and overturn or reverse any decisions of the Supreme Court which may be judged by the elected Regional Court of Constitutional Appeal to be unconstitutional.

The federal government has entangled America in foreign alliances contrary to the Founders’ intent. Through NATO, the UN, Nafta, Gatt and other “alliances,” the federal has combined with other unelected entities to subject America to jurisdictions foreign to our Constitution and not acknowledged by our laws, giving unauthorized consent to their acts of pretended legislation and concepts of so-called “international law.” No unelected body has power to make any law binding on any people! Cancel US involvement in the United Nations Charter; we are not bound by it. Cancel US funding of the UN, and restrict UN activity to a discussion forum of only those nations operating as constitutional republics.

There is no constitutional authority for the Executive branch to create law, yet the President issues Executive Orders having the effect and force of law, and the executive branches issue regulations which have the force of law but not passed by the legislature. Repeal all such, and establish a paid ten-member Federal/ State/ Citizen Checks and Balances Committee to watchdog all Federal and State branches for usurpations of power.

The federal has involved the nation in undeclared “no win” wars in violation of the constitution, transporting large armies to many foreign places in defense of international power schemes aimed at one-world government dominion. Amend the constitution to provide that 2/3 of the States legislatures may override any Congressional declaration of war. No so-called “police action” or international “peacekeeping” military force will be permitted. Any deployment of US military forces must be committed to protect America’s constitutional values, and to WIN – to end the conflict and restore peace as quickly as possible.

National leaders often have had no constitutional training prior to office; require all elected and appointed officials to pass a national constitutional examination in the intent of the Founders, based on the Constitution itself and the Federalist Papers, as a pre-requisite for federal elective offices and judgeships. Publish a semi-annual constitutional voting and decisionmaking index for all such federal officers.

The executive branch has created a multitude of new offices, and has sent forth a swarm of agents who harass the people. Not the least of these is the IRS, which has been unconstitutionally empowered to function as all three branches of government combined – creating laws, administering them, judging their compliance, prescribing the penalties and enforcing them, often unjustly. This is tyranny!

Repeated petitions for redress of grievances have been ignored or become cause for REPEATED INJURIES TO THE PEACE AND CONFIDENCE OF THE PEOPLE. The federal seems deaf to the voice of constitutional principles, continually seeking to expand its jurisdiction and power, increasing it’s inequitable system of taxes, increasing its spending without prudent budget limitations, seeking primarily for re-election and party status, while subjugating the States, local governments and the people.

The Founders’ worst fears of concentration of power into political parties (Faction) have become realized. The system of political parties has entrenched itself by gradual tradition into the very fabric of all levels of government to control legislation, positions of power, and even provide government-financed primary elections of private political parties, which exclude independents and new parties. Require that no person may be a candidate for or hold any public office, federal or state, who is sponsored by any political party, and that no position in any level of government may be held by anyone who is a member of a political party.

Therefore, WE THE PEOPLE have determined that we as citizens, deprived of our liberties under our current government, much as were our Founders under the hands of an oppressive king, unitedly denounce the above-noted offending actions of our government as being UNCONSTITUTIONAL, employing first those constitutional means at our disposal to remove the offenders and the offences, restoring the Constitution to the original intent of the Framers. In those cases when peaceful means have proven inadequate, we reserve the right of liberty under God, as stated in the original Declaration of Independence, to effect the necessary restorations by force – political, economic or military.

It is left to us of this generation of Americans to preserve, defend and restore the greatest charter of human liberty in history, for ourselves and for all mankind, the original Constitution of the United States of America.

With a firm reliance on the guidance and protection of the Almighty, who inspired our Founders to create the establishment of the original Constitution, we the undersigned herein do mutually pledge to God, to each other and to our posterity, our fortunes, our sacred honor and even our very lives if necessary, to the restoration of the Constitution of The United States of America.

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By Richard Larsen

No country in modern history has been founded on principles of individual freedom, and the preservation of life, liberty, and property, as was the United States of America. No nation has provided a beacon of hope and freedom, as has this country, because of that unique and auspicious beginning. No country has been a beacon of hope, even a Mecca to all in the world seeking freedom and liberty, as has America. Recognition of these verities constitute the foundation for American exceptionalism.

So for our own president to say in Europe last year that, “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism, and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism,” is a denial of the historicity that made this country what it was designed to be. The “fundamental transformation” of our country that we have witnessed over the past couple of years leaves many freedom-loving citizens wondering what will be left of American exceptionalism after the radicals in Washington have completed their transformation of the country.

Even the presidents’ own history, and his acknowledgement of that history, attest to the uniqueness of America. As he has said many times his story would only be possible in America. Why is that, if we’re no different than any other country?

The president’s statement about American exceptionalism might be “politically correct,” but it’s factually, historically, and ideologically erroneous. His is the same mentality that maintains that every kid should win at dodge ball. Or better yet, no one should play dodge ball because someone’s feelings might get hurt. It’s the same mentality that grades shouldn’t be posted, or scores shouldn’t be kept, or that everyone who participates should get a trophy, rather than just the winners. And even more seriously, that all nations deserve to have a nuclear bomb regardless of disposition or intention of use. Sorry, Mr. President, just as there are winners in sports, there are “winners” in freedom and liberty, and America was founded to be that winner.

Many of us will celebrate this Independence Day revering what the founders created, and what our nation has been and represented before the current cadre of narcissists and statists began their transformation. We will sorrowfully acknowledge that an era has passed, that the nation which stood for freedom throughout the world has now temporarily joined with the socialist states of the world in promoting governmental control over individual lives rather than individual liberty. We will lament the transformation of this bastion of liberty, as we fly our flags celebrating the ideals she was founded on.

We will still celebrate Independence Day with patriotic fervor, for such patriotism acknowledges the uniqueness of our humble national beginnings, based on eternal principles, inalienable rights granted by God, and not on the whims of monarchs, tyrants, or a government “grant” of rights and privileges. But our patriotic zeal is more subdued as we witness the current departure from those precepts.

We recognize that for the first time in history, a nation was created by “we the people,” for we the people, based on a series of principles and tenets recognized to be God-given, not government bestowed. As James Madison said regarding the patriots who fought for freedom, “Happily for America, happily, we trust, for the whole human race, they pursued a new and more noble course. They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society.”

Our national uniqueness makes the celebration of our nation’s birth a most consequential event. Attempts at imitation of American governance have and will be made, but nothing approximates the uniqueness of the establishment of these United States of America because of those founding principles.

The Pope acknowledged this American exceptionalism two years ago when he visited Washington, DC. The Holy See stated, “From the dawn of the Republic, America’s quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator. The framers of this nation’s founding documents drew upon this conviction when they proclaimed the self-evident truth that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights grounded in the laws of nature and of nature’s God.”

May we be filled with a resolve, while celebrating this Independence Day, to return to our ideological roots based on individual freedom, and commit to support only statesmen who support those ideals, rather than politicians seeking statist governmental control who do not embrace and champion those inalienable rights. Such determination will make this Independence Day a very personal and memorable one.

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I’m flummoxed when people tell me that when voting for Obama, they wanted change but not this kind of change. My response is, “Why didn’t you know how he planned to change America? He told us exactly what he was going to do. Even the most cursory glance at his speeches or books would have made that apparent…but you didn’t want to hear the truth. To Obama, you were/are a “useful idiot”.

So, we have a president who has demonstrated time and again his racism, his dislike for America, his contempt for our Constitution, his disdain for our staunch allies, and his subservience to our sworn enemies. We have a president who has removed hundreds of pictures of our Founders and previous presidents from the White House and replaced them with over 300 pictures of himself; a president who has spent nearly 2 million dollars (according to the DNC) hiding his personal records from his employer…We The People!

This past Christmas, Obama celebrated Ramadan in the White House. Are there still those of you who don’t know that America is the next target of the radical Muslims?

Face it, 30% of the US population (the undereducated, ultra liberals who can afford to isolate themselves from the masses, those in the middle class who want something for nothing, the miseducated, and Communists/Socialists among us) support the Obama agenda and are controlling 70% of Americans. This president is intent on bringing America to her knees. Are YOU going to stand up for her?

Andi Elliott
Idaho State Coordinator
Tea Party Patriots

By Richard Larsen

Memorial Day, that “holy day” when we commemorate the ultimate sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform for our liberty, is so much more than a picnic, or a weekend getaway. It is a day of reflection for those sacrifices made by so many, that hundreds of millions may enjoy even a modicum of freedom and liberty today.

It is a day to pause from the daily grind and celebrate the lives, and even the deaths, of those who have perpetuated this Republic, this One Nation Under God. It is a day to reassess our own convictions to the principles that those who have worn the uniform of our young nation were willing to sacrifice their own lives in order to preserve the legacy of liberty from one generation to another. The torch of Madam Liberty has been successfully passed from the earliest generations of Americans to those who yet wear the uniform. And to them we owe our all.

There is nothing we can do which can repay those who have so sacrificed that we might be free, but everything we do does count in some small way. Abraham Lincoln put into proper perspective what we do to celebrate the lives of those who have been willing to pay the uttermost farthing for our freedom. “In a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

The Civil War has long since ended, yet the veracity of Lincoln’s statement rings equally true today as it did 150 years ago. We cannot hallow the ground where our brave have fallen. They consecrated it with their blood and their lives. And not only the ground fought over during our Civil War, but around the globe where we have fought to prevent expansion of Godless, liberty destroying communism, the fiendish tyranny of dictators and freedom-trampling totalitarians around the world.

Regardless of the circumstances and the politics involved in their deployment, our service men and women have answered the call for the preservation and expansion of liberty. Regardless of the illogical orders of engagement often negotiated by civilian leaders, the uniformed have answered the call and done so with courage, honor, and humanity.

The few historical examples of impropriety by a few within those noble ranks do not tarnish the sacrifice and service of the many, but rather provide testament to the noble character of those who serve. That over so many years, there would be so few exceptions, validates the service and sacrifice of those millions who have worn the uniform with dignity, respect, and honor.

Unlike great nations in the past who have expanded their borders and their domain by unrighteous wielding of their military might, this nation seeks only enough ground to bury those who have fallen in battle for the liberty of those nations. We are not an imperial power, but a power which seeks to neutralize the nefarious forces which seek conquest and subjugation for aggrandizing purposes.

Ronald Reagan declared, “Let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their valor, and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.” As a reminder of liberty’s fragility, he also said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”

May we as Americans collectively rise up in valor equal to the conviction of those who have hallowed many lands with their blood, and stand against foes, foreign and domestic, who seek to curtail and abridge our freedom. May we adopt as our personal motto that of the Marines, “Semper Fidelis,” and be likewise ever faithful to those Constitutional principles that so many have given the ultimate sacrifice to preserve.

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By Richard Larsen

It is nothing short of astounding that Federal government officials including the president and the Speaker of the House would call Arizona’s efforts at border control “misguided” and “irresponsible.” After all, Arizona’s new law, which allows state and local law enforcement to request documentation of possible illegal aliens, is very similar to federal law already on the books. Control of a nation’s borders is an essential attribute of national sovereignty.

It’s clear that Border States have to do something since much of the expense burden in health-care and education is borne by the states. The federal government is AWOL on border security, and has been for years, which has facilitated illegal breaching of our border. The feds have acted with willful indifference in regard to border security, but now they’ve gone further. For them to now object to Arizona’s attempt to curtail the problem amounts to obstruction of justice (since Federal law also declares being in the country illegally is a crime) and outright aiding and abetting since the nation’s top law enforcement officer, Attorney General Eric Holder, has said they may sue Arizona for attempting to do what they themselves refuse to do.

I’m constantly amazed at those who side with law-breakers, whether it’s being in the country illegally or any other crime. “They’re just trying to improve their lives,” they might argue in defense of illegal aliens. Well, so are burglars, drug dealers, and most other criminals. Should burglars not be prevented from entering your home illegally since they’re trying to improve their station in life? To all such, the same counsel could be proffered, “Do it legally!”

Since we are a nation comprised of immigrants, we can hardly be accused of being “anti-immigrant.” What we are, however, is “anti-illegal-immigrant.” After all, we are a nation at least ostensibly based on the rule of law and we’re all engaged in our own pursuit of happiness. That’s not in exclusion to the laws that may stand in our way, but rather it’s based on those legalities.

The mainstream media takes great pleasure in isolating and commentating on some of the signs wielded at the Tea Party rallies. For some reason, they don’t seem to take note of those wielded at pro-illegal immigration rallies, such as the one held in Phoenix a couple weeks ago. One protestor’s sign read, “Give us free health care, jobs, no taxes, house, food. YOU OWE US AMERICA! We will shoot more Arizona police until we get free!” Since when do we “owe” it to the world to become a free-lunch provider?

Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen explained the need for Arizona to take matters into their own hands. “The border patrol is not on the border. They have set up 60 miles away with checkpoints that do nothing to stop the invasion. They are not allowed to use force in stopping anyone who is entering. They run around chasing them, if they get their hands on them then they can take them back across the border. Federal prisons have over 35% illegal’s and 20% of Arizona prisons are filled with illegal’s. In the last few years 80% of our law enforcement that have been killed or wounded have been by an illegal. The majority of people coming now are people we need to be worried about. The ranchers told us that they have seen a change in the people coming they are not just those who are looking for work and a better life.

“The Federal Government has refused for years to do anything to help the border states. We have been over run and once they are here we have the burden of funding state services that they use. Education cost have been over a billion dollars. The healthcare cost billions of dollars. Our State is broke, $3.5 billion deficit and we have many serious decisions to make. One is that we do not have the money to care for any who are not here legally. It has to stop.”

She also refuted those who claim Arizona’s new law is “Nazi-like.” She explained, “Federal law is very clear if you are here on a visa you must have your papers on you at all times. That is the law. In Arizona all you need to show you are a legal citizen is a driver license, MVD identification card, Native American Card, or a Military ID. This is what you need to vote, get a hunting license, etc. So nothing new has been added to this law. No one is going to be stopped walking down the street.”

Our Statue of Liberty proclaims to the world that we hold the doors open for those who seek liberty and freedom and wish to immigrate to America. “Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” states the inscription. But let them come legally!

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Richard Larsen

Tens of thousands of protestors looting, pillaging, wantonly destroying property, chanting anti-government slogans, and cursing the president. The images are not pretty, as even the mainstream media are finally covering the monumental story. With obvious regret that it isn’t the Tea Partiers being covered, international media are reporting the meltdown of a socialistic economic system.

The president of Greece has warned that his country stands on the “brink of the abyss” as anti-government mobs protest government efforts to reduce government spending, entitlements, and wealth redistribution. The mob is comprised of employees of the government they’re protesting. Civil servants and public employee unions have mobilized in opposition to governmental efforts at curtailing spending.

Even though Greece is relatively small on the global economic scale, it figures prominently as the portent of eventual European Union dissolution. The nation has only 11.3 million people, and its GDP is estimated at roughly $333 billion. Thanks to EU and U.S. taxpayers, Greece is in the process of being bailed out. First indicated at $60 billion, then $100 billion, then $120 billion, and finally $150 billion is now being promised by the U.S. funded International Monetary Fund and EU member nations to bail out the nation.

It’s impossible to know where this will all end. Portugal, Spain, and Italy are in nearly as bad of shape, as their appetite for spending has also far exceeded their ability to generate the revenue to finance it all.

Some states in the U.S. are in just about as serious of financial disorder. California, New Jersey, and New York are not in much better shape than Greece, and will undoubtedly be beating a path to Capital Hill to panhandle Congress on behalf of their debt-laden state coffers. Taxpayers will be hit up yet again to bail out those who have no logical grasp of reality or comprehension of simple laws of economics who have sought to create dependency on the government at the expense of those who really produce.

One of the most pathetic aspects of this mess is the fact that even the United State of America is rapidly approaching that same break-point. The Social Democrats in the European countries most in trouble have not only spent their nations to the brink of bankruptcy, but their promises for entitlements and continued wealth redistribution ensure financial instability and sovereign insolvency at some point in the future.

Our Social Democrats in Washington have proven as adept at illogical financial excess and fuzzy math as their European counterparts. Not surprisingly, since they took control of Congress in 2006, the nation has lurched into a left wing nose-dive. If not corrected by a more reasoned and logical congress in November, the U.S. will be facing the same prospects as Greece, yet with much more catastrophic consequences. A report issued in March by the Congressional Budget Office indicates that Obama’s 2011 budget will generate nearly $10 trillion in cumulative budget deficits over the next 10 years, $1.2 trillion more than the administration projected!

Over a third of Greeks work for their government, a figure not that far out of the realm of possibility for the U.S. The “stimulus” from last year has proven to be stimulative only to government growth. And like their Greek counterparts, American civil servants are the most represented segment of the workforce organized into unions. And as economic historian John Steele Gordon points out, “Federal workers now earn, in wages and benefits, about twice what their private-sector equivalents get paid. Government workers often have Cadillac health plans and retirement benefits far above the private sector average: 80 percent of public-sector workers have pension benefits, only 50 percent in the private sector. Many can retire at age 50.” While private employers were shedding jobs during the recession, state and local governments hired 110,000 new workers.

Mona Charen, in a Wall Street Journal column noted last week, “And in a corrupt feedback loop that may not be so very different after all from the Greek practice, public employee unions give generously to Democratic candidates, both in cash contributions and by manning phone banks, getting out the vote, and so on. It’s no coincidence that the states with the most powerful public sector unions — New Jersey, California, and New York — are facing the most severe budget crises.”

The nations’ politicians have got to get a grasp of reality, shake off the imprudent and fallacious Keynesian notion of a nation spending itself out of a recession. And unlike the anti-government demonstrators in Greece, who are employees of the state and are fighting for continued excess, American Tea Party demonstrators are speaking out in opposition to the kind of spending that is giving new meaning to “Greek ruins,” in hopes of staving off the same fate in our country. The Social Democrats in our Congress, of both parties, must be removed from office and replaced with people who know how to balance a checkbook.

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By Richard Larsen

We are now more vulnerable as a nation due to an inscrutable Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) last week from the administration. President Obama’s NPR pledged that the U.S. “will not conduct nuclear testing, and will seek ratification and entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,” “will not develop new nuclear warheads,” and “will not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states that are party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and in compliance with their nuclear nonproliferation obligations.”

By so doing, it also eliminates the protection to the country afforded by what Defense Secretary Robert Gates calls “calculated ambiguity.” Attempting to explain the move, Gates said, “If a non-nuclear-weapon state is in compliance with the nonproliferation treaty and its obligations, the U.S. pledges not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against it.” Instead, such an enemy “would face the prospect of a devastating conventional military response”—even if that enemy “were to use chemical or biological weapons against the United States or its allies or partners.”

To put the new NPR in perspective in simple terms, it’s like George Washington admitting that he would not use cannons against any foe who claimed they didn’t have cannons, (whether they really had them or not, as long as they said they didn’t have any), in retaliation for an attack on colonial America.

Proclaiming to the world, our enemies and our allies, when we will and won’t use our nuclear arsenal, is a seriously flawed policy that places the country more at risk. Secretary Gates alluded to that, even as he attempted to explain away the NPR as cited above.
Ronald Reagan understood the importance of ambiguity regarding nuclear deployment, and the imperative of the U.S. maintaining peace through strength. He said in 1983, “Since the dawn of the atomic age, we’ve sought to reduce the risk of war by maintaining a strong deterrent and by seeking genuine arms control. Deterrence means simply this: Making sure any adversary who thinks about attacking the United States or our allies or our vital interests concludes that the risks to him outweigh any potential gains. Once he understands that, he won’t attack. We maintain the peace through our strength. Weakness only invites aggression. This strategy of deterrence has not changed. It still works.”

The NPR coincided with President Obama’s agreement with Russia to reduce nuclear arsenals by 30%, which is a step toward his promise in 2008 to “rid the world of nuclear weapons.” Since that will never happen, it’s tantamount to domestic gun control efforts to make guns illegal so that after law-abiding citizens are disarmed, the only guns remaining are in the hands of criminals and thugs. If we disarm, you can bet Iran and North Korea will not.

Of course all this plays very well with the “blame America first” crowd. Those who, apparently like Obama, think America is to blame for if not all, at least most, of the problems of the world. Those who think if we dismantled our arsenal, every other country would follow our “moral” lead, are delusional. Rogue nations like North Korea (which already has them, confirmed through seismological and spectral analysis) and Iran (which is on the verge of having them) would be undeterred and unfettered in their misuse.

Which brings us to the Presidents’ summit at the White House this week where he said, “The prospect of nuclear terrorism is the single biggest threat to U.S. security, both short-term, medium-term and long-term.” If he truly felt that way, he wouldn’t be telegraphing to the world, especially our avowed enemies, our nuclear deterrence strategy, reducing our deterrence stockpiles, refusing to fund development of advanced deterrence technology, eliminating funding for a missile defense shield, and allowing the terrorist states of North Korea and Iran to continue unabated in developing their nuclear programs.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was obviously not impressed and mocked the new policy. He declared, “American materialist politicians, whenever they are beaten by logic, immediately resort to their weapons like cowboys. Mr. Obama, you are a newcomer. Wait until your sweat dries and get some experience. Be careful not to read just any paper put in front of you or repeat any statement recommended.” It appears he was not motivated to abandon his nuclear ambitions by Obama’s idealism. The miscreants of the world never are.

According to the Center for Defense Studies, “The message being sent to the rest of the world is that the United States finds nuclear deterrence distasteful and wants to get out of the nuclear weapons business….The result may be a more volatile and dangerous world.”

Columnist and former Carter administration official Charles Krauthammer explains, “Nuclear doctrine consists of thinking the unthinkable. It involves making threats and promising retaliation that is cruel and destructive beyond imagining. But it has its purpose: to prevent war in the first place…A nuclear posture is just that – a declaratory policy designed to make the other guy think twice. Our policies did. The result was called deterrence.”

Referring to the new Obama policy, Krauthammer continues “This is quite insane. It’s like saying that if a terrorist deliberately uses his car to mow down a hundred people waiting at a bus stop, the decision as to whether he gets (a) hanged or (b) 100 hours of community service hinges entirely on whether his car had passed emissions inspections. Apart from being morally bizarre, the Obama policy is strategically loopy. Does anyone believe that North Korea or Iran will be more persuaded to abjure nuclear weapons because they could then carry out a biological or chemical attack on the U.S. without fear of nuclear retaliation?”

You don’t have to be a foreign or military policy expert to see the flaws in this nuclear posturing. Common sense would lead anyone to realize that America is weakened when we promulgate our weapons usage policy, and inflict self-imposed limitations with our deterrent system. We are now more at risk now than we were a week ago, to the very thing Obama said constitutes our greatest threat.

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