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Today I received a mailer from Take Action Minnesota on behalf of Shelley Madore, who is running for State Representative in District 37A. The flyer derides Republican lawmakers for having time to designate a “state fruit” but not having time to address a whole slew of other important issues.

The bill designating a state fruit was SF 2302. That right there should tell you something. The bill originated in the Minnesota Senate, where it is the Democrats who have the majority, by a 38-29 margin. If Democrats really considered this such a waste of time, they could have killed it there and moved on with issues they deemed more important. Which considering the Democrats probably included raising our taxes again, so it’s probably better they were talking about fruit instead.

Even forgetting that it was the Democratically controlled Senate that initiated the bill, you still can’t give the Democrats a free pass on this one. While Republicans do have a majority in the House it is an extremely slim one. Republicans have a 68-66 majority. The Democrats aren’t exactly helpless.

So if Shelley Madore thinks that appointing a state fruit is really that much more important than raising our taxes for the umpteenth time, perhaps she should talk to her fellow Democrats.

A few days back I put up a post about why the issue of immigration is so important. One could argue that even if the issue is so important, why do bloggers like myself, as well as many many more, feel the need to continuously pound the issue. Well, unfortunately it’s basically because the politicians have shown they won’t deal with the issue unless we do keep pestering them and keeping the issue at the forefront of politics.

Recently, we’ve had another perfect example of why this is the case involving the Secure Fence Act. Now I’ll be the first to admit that this piece of legislation was mainly for political points and basically all it accomplishes is authorizing (not funding) roughly 700 miles of fence on our southern border.

It was a cheap political move, but it was also an important first step. It’s just one part of the overall solution and on this matter I’m willing to take a Machiavellian approach. A fence is an absolutely critical part of the overall solution and it’s one of the first pieces that has to fall into place.

Plus it’s widely popular with the public. For those of you that still believe the idea that the public wants a comprehensive immigration plan (read : amnesty) you need to wake up. It’s worth noting that in competitive races, BOTH candidates are trying to demonstrate that they are the toughest one on immigration. Being tough on illegal immigration is an very easy way to score political points. And with the environment of this next election you can’t blame the Republicans for wanting to latch onto anything that can generate support for them. All the more reason to wave this bill from the highest point you can.

Which is why the past few weeks have been so frustrating. The Constitution states that once a bill has been sent to the President, he has to sign it within 10 days. Congressional leaders have withheld sending the bill to the President, and rightfully so in my opinion. They preferred to hold off until closer to the election so that it can be signed in a nice public ceremony with lots of fanfare so they can use the issue to show the public they are “serious” about immigration. Makes sense right?? At least from a political standpoint.

Meanwhile, the White House has been pleading with Congressional leaders to send the bill over so they can sign it in a nice quiet private setting where it’ll get minimal coverage. This effectively kills any political advantage to the bill and it shows the the mindset of the White House on immigration. Basically they would prefer to keep the status quo. The current situation of massive number of immigrants flooding over our border, committing crimes, gang problems and over $45.3 billion a year being sent back to Mexico. If they can’t have their amnesty for those very immigrants, they are taking their ball and going home.

It’s a sad situation and it’s why so many bloggers feel it necessary to keep hitting this issue. If the media actually gets it right for once and Republicans actually do lose control of one or both houses of Congress it will only get worse. Finally, the White House will have an ally (the Democrats) for amnesty.

Fortunately, in this case Congressional Republican leaders prevailed and just sent the Secure Fence Act of 2006 to the President to be signed. You can find the press release here. And according to Captain Ed, another blogger who has been hitting this issue, the signing will be a very public one.

As I wrote yesterday, lawnsigns for Republican candidates were widely vandalized throughout my area. However, by Sunday most of the signs had been replaced. Unfortunately, by the time I went for a walk with my dog Monday night, supporters of the party of tolerance, diversity and peace cheaters (Democrats) had already vandalized all of them along my route. I wanted to take pictures of all of them, except most of them were just plain missing, although they were kind enough to leave behind the carnage of this one cut off a private fence.

Apparently this is what liberals are talking about when they speak of fair elections. And for the record I have been on the lookout for vandalized or missing DFL signs. So far I am not aware of a single one that has touched. Feel free to contact Cybarts opponent or Gerlachs opponent to ask them why they seem to attract the type of sub-humans who believe this is appropriate behavior. Don't hold your breath for a response though.

You can pretty much ignore this post as it’s mostly for the benefit of the Google Parser. For a more complete explanation just read this.
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Lately I’ve noticed that in blog circles, when meeting new people I get introduced as “The Immigration Guy”. Not that I really mind, it’s an important issue that I take seriously. I know there are some that think I obsess over the issue or perhaps take it more seriously than it really warrants. For those I would suggest that perhaps you’re not understanding the full gravity of the problem. Towards that end I was delighted when I found this video “Immigration: By The Numbers” put together by Numbers USA, who have been an indispensable resource for myself and others. I would highly suggest watching it as you’ll find some alarming numbers.

I’d like to go one step beyond this video. Above he highlights the numbers from LEGAL immigration. This is the future given the immigration we control, now consider that there are lots more coming in whose flow we won’t control. We could, we just have chosen not to. All of which is worth keeping in mind next time you hear amnesty-supporters talk about how we “need” a guest worker program and increased levels of visas.

It’s getting down to the wire here. We are 16 days out and desperation starts to sneak into alot of people. Desperation can cause some people to do some pretty nasty things as we saw out of the Democrats last time around. For example, slashing the tires of your opponents vehicles which were to be used for Get Out The Vote efforts.

So it’s not like this doesn’t have precedent but it’s pretty sad to see that recently 45 Cybart (R), Gerlach (R) and Kline (R) lawn signs were torn and slashed….two nights in a row. In the same areas NONE of the Democrats lawn signs were touched.

You see Republicans don’t need to cheat to win.

Bring on fair elections. We’ll win the honorable way.

UPDATE : Minnesota Democrats Exposed posts on this as well, complete with pictures. He writes on Judy Johnson signs that have been vandalized with spray paint. And of course only high-brow arguments have been spray painted on the signs. Still waiting to see any actual proof of Democratic signs being vandalized other than just hearing the usual response “Well both sides do this”.

UPDATE : More GOP lawn signs vandalized. For a prty that thinks they are on the verge of a major win, the Democrats sure are fighting dirty.

Regarding all your criticism of Iraq….

Remember that guy with the funny mark on his head that was our opponent in the Cold War?? You know…the one that tried to reform his country to keep up with ours, but ended up losing control, suffering through a coup and allowing his country to fall into ruin. Yeah, that guy…that Gorbachev guy. Apparently he’s still alive and thinking people care what he thinks.

And get this….the man who didn’t want to tear down the Berlin wall, thinks the US building a wall on it’s border is like the Berlin wall. Ok look here Mikey, the two are vastly different, but I don’t expect your alcohol soaked brain to understand so I’ll explain. In your shithole country, people were trying to get OUT. In our “shining city on a hill” people are trying to get IN. You were depriving your citizens of freedom, we are trying to preserve ours. Subtle difference.

Finally…

A verdict against Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants charged with crimes against humanity in connection with an anti-Shiite crackdown in the 1980s will be announced Nov. 5, a senior court official said on Monday.

Sentences for those found guilty will be issued the same day, chief investigating judge Raid Juhi told The Associated Press.

The former Iraqi leader could be hanged if convicted.

In the event of a guilty verdice, Saddam will be hanged the next day. In the event of a not guilty verdice, the judge will be hanged in Saddam’s place.