EckerNet.Com

There has been a sentiment amongst some conservatives that I’ve profoundly disagreed with but it’s there. For the most part, I’ve ignored it. However, I finally got a chance to listen to last weekends podcasts of the NARN show, and heard Captain Ed argue somewhat the same idea, and it bothered me enough that I need to address this. Basically the argument goes like this….

We had the votes two, four, six years ago, but we didn’t do anything about immigration. Now we don’t have the votes anymore so this is likely the best we’re gonna be able to come up with. This affects our national security, so we gotta get something done. This bill isn’t perfect but it at least gets us part way towards securing the border.

Ok let me be blunt, this viewpoint is outdated and naive.

Now before some of you fill your keyboard with spittle let me explain.

If the basis of your argument is that we need to settle for this amnesty and the guest worker program to get a fence built and border patrol in place, you perhaps might be surprised to know we already have those things. There are already laws on the books to build over 800 miles of fence and ramp up our Border Patrol. That is already supposed to happen….well, assuming the White House gives a shit about laws.

By accepting amnesty and increased Border Patrol for increased border security, you’re allowing Ted Kennedy to play a hand he doesn’t even have.

This is NOT our last best chance for border security, however, this IS the last best chance for amnesty (or whatever the White House is calling it this week).

As the fence gets built and Border Patrol agents get trained, this is removed as a bargaining chip for amnesty. And since amnesty is wildly unpopular with the public, you’re gonna see fewer and fewer politicians willing to sign on for amnesty unless there is something good to go with it. As a result any future attempt at it will have to move even farther to the enforcement side of the scale in order to gain enough for anti-amnesty folks to sign onto it.

As far as political climate goes, what’s your worry?? Even if a Democratic President is voted in, how is that different than President Bush on this issue?? Actually even a Democratic President would be better, because they still have to at least care about their poll numbers. And as far as Congress goes, if Republicans lose seats so what?? It’s already Republican leadership that is pushing for this. To be perfectly honest, the Democratic leadership has been harder on this bill than Republicans have. And with the sentiments this has raised in the American public any new legislators is going to have to run on a platform of no amnesty.

If you are truly of the opinion that this bill is not perfect, then this is the time to fight against it. Because after this point, the bill will only get better, regardless of the political climate ahead.

Basically the debate comes down to one word….amnesty. One side says it’s not, and the other side says it is. Obviously I think it is and I’ve wondered how the hell people can say, with a straight face, that it’s not.

Well it’s apparently because some people are really stupid….for example, Sen. Arlen Specter….

“It’s not amnesty. Amnesty is getting something for nothing. These workers have to pay a $5,000 fine. That’s a pretty substantial amount for many of them.”

Wow….and this guy is in the Senate.  Let’s edumacate the poor guy….according to Law.Com’s online dictionary, the legal definition of “amnesty” is as follows:

amnesty
n. a blanket abolition of an offense by the government, with the legal result that those charged or convicted have the charge or conviction wiped out. Examples: a) the amnesty given to Confederate officials and soldiers after the Civil War, or b) President Jimmy Carter’s granting amnesty (under certain conditions) to those who violated the Selective Service Act in evading the draft during the Vietnam War. The basis for amnesty is generally because the war or other conditions that made the acts criminal no longer exist or have faded in importance. Amnesty is not a pardon as some believe, since a pardon implies forgiveness, and amnesty indicates a reason to overlook or forget the offenses.
See also: pardon

Amnesty is not getting something for nothing.  Amnesty is forgiving past crimes.  Which is exactly what this bill does.  Illegal immigration is called that because…well, it’s illegal.  Psst, that means it’s against the law Senator.

And you’ll notice some of the lines I put in bold above.  It’s necessary when we no longer consider their offense a crime, or at the very least don’t consider it important enough to deal with.  And that is exactly what we have here.  Politicians who don’t consider it a big deal when millions of people flaunt our laws, overwhelm our justice system, depress our wages and drain our economy.

And that is the fundamental disconnect between the people of the United States and Washington.  Citizens of this country DO think that is a big deal and dammit someone should do something about it!

There is no fundamental reason for us to overlook these crimes.  Certainly their impact has not diminished in importance, why should the crime diminish?

Volume?? I think many people who argue for amnesty are overwhelmed by the numbers.  Well let’s share a little knowledge with you here, and I’m going to shamelessly paraphrase a wonderful editorial by one of my favorite writers to help illustrate my point.

If the fact that we’re dealing with 12 million illegals is the reason for amnesty, let me remind you that back in 1986, people were overwhelmed by the idea of 3 million illegals, so they passed an “amnesty” bill, and they actually were honest enough to call it that.  Which is of course why we have 12 million now….you rewarded the behavior by forgiving it.  So if you are overwhelmed by 12 million now, perhaps you would care to explain how you plan to handle 20, 30 or even 50 million illegals in the future??

And to further point out the absurdity of this viewpoint, there are millions of unsolved crimes out there.  But surely we are not calling for a mass amnesty of purse-snatching, having them pay a fine and trying to get them all on a path to legalization.  And certainly granting them amnesty will not make them more upstanding members of society.  In fact by legalizing it you remove the greatest deterrent from doing it in the first place, it’s illegal.  Just because we don’t catch every one that breaks it doesn’t make the law any less valid….and certainly not unimportant enough to be repealed.

This bill is amnesty, and that’s not okay.  Trying to claim otherwise discredits you and proves your insincerity to deal with us in an intellectually honest fashion.

Sometimes the irony of life makes me laugh.  For example, today I came across one of the better examples of how shitty this immigration bill is and it came from a lefty pro-amnesty blogger.

The folks I talked to believe this is the year. Two years from now isn’t an option. The particular political circumstances we’re in are nearly unique: Bush has nothing left to lose but his involvement still provides cover for Republicans, Democrats can get an immigration bill without full ownership over it, the space is open for the subject because the President won’t allow action on other liberal priorities and the Congress won’t countenance any conservative agenda items, and so on. You have the RNC defending a bill that, were it offered under a Democratic president, they’d be tearing apart. Meanwhile, this just won’t be a priority for the next president: President Democrat will want to do health care, not amnesty, and President Republican will want to get reelected someday. So this is the shot.

Get that?  This is such a bad bill that nobody wants responsibility for it, but the planets have aligned where we can get it through and everyone can’t legitimately point fingers at the other guy when the public cries foul.

Wow this must be a pretty neat bill if everyone is so willing to take credit for it.

[H/T to RWN for the link]

Last night was a bloggers conference call regarding the Senate Amnesty Bill, hosted by Conservatives with Attitude! Attending the conference call were Michael “A.J. Sparxx” Illions of Polipundit.com, John Hawkins of RightWingNews.com, Kevin Ecker of Eckernet.com, Techography.com, Keith Thompson of SFGate.com, Denny Wilson of GrouchyOldCripple.com & Slobo of Slobokan.com

The blogs mentioned above are working in unison to make sure the Illegal Immigration in the Senate gets defeated.

We are hoping that all of you, as you read this, contact the names listed below and voice your opposition to this disastrous amnesty bill that will reward illegal immigrants. Please remember to be polite at all times while making your point.

NumbersUSA has a system in place for free that will create and then fax a letter on your behalf to your representatives based on your zip code. You can find that at: <http://www.numbersusa.com/faxcenter>

Contacting the RNC, (Republican National Committee), & the NRSC, (National Republican Senatorial Committee): Let these organizations know that you oppose the Senate Immigration Bill and that you will not be supporting the reelection of any republican candidate who votes for the amnesty bill. Furthermore, you will also be withholding monetary support to both the RNC and the NRSC.

Republican National Committee: (202) 863-8500 (option 1)
National Republican Senatorial Committee: (202) 675-6000

Contacting GOP Leadership in the Senate: Regardless of what State you live in, please call GOP Leadership in the Senate and let Mitch McConnell know that you expect him to resign as Senate Minority Leader if this bill passes. Call Trent Lott know that you expect him to resign as Minority Whip if this bill passes.

Senator Mitch McConnell: (202) 224-2541
Senator Trent Lott: (202) 224-6253

Contacting YOUR Senators: We will be working on a bigger list as we move forward, but for now, in addition to contacting all of the above, if anyone listed below is from your state, please add them to your list of calls to make. Let them know that a YES vote from them for the Senate Amnesty Bill is a NO vote from you on their reelection/future support.

GA - Senator Saxby Chambliss - (202) 224-3521 Fax - (202) 224-0103
GA - Senator Johnny Isakson - (202) 224-3643 Fax - (202) 228-0724
MN - Senator Norm Coleman - (202) 224-5641 Fax - (202) 224-1152
KS - Senator Sam Brownback - (202) 224-6521 Fax - (202) 228-1265
NC - Senator Elizabeth Dole - (202) 224-6342 Fax - (202) 224-1100
NC - Senator Richard Burr - (202) 224-3154 Fax - (202) 228-2981
TN - Senator Lamar Alexander - (202) 224-4944 Fax - (202) 228-3398

Note: Coleman, Alexander, Dole & Chambliss are up for reelection in 2008

Ok I’ve had a chance to digest what’s happened today on the immigration issue and also partake in a conference call with a number of other activists from around the country with varying resources.  So I think I have a fairly accurate/complete view of today’s events

Now obviously there is good news, good news, and bad news.

The bad news is that the Senate voted to skip the committee process by voting for Cloture, which means they’ll go right to debate and amendments.

One of the pieces of good news is that 23 Senators voted against cloture, which means there is significant resistance in the Senate.  And while it would have been nice to stop this right now, I do recognize that many of the ones that voted for cloture, were either honoring their party leaderships request not to fight it, or were at least wanting to allow it the light of day for debate.  Although how they can justify beginning debate on a bill that isn’t even on paper yet (it’s still in draft form) is beyond me.

Another piece of good news is that due to extreme public pressure, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid admitted that the final vote on the bill would not happen this week, but would instead happen sometime in June.  This allows us more time to contact our Senators and explain why they are flushing their political futures if they vote for this bill.

So what next?

Well we have to keep up the pressure…we’ve been granted this grace period and we need to use it.  We need to make sure

Us in Minnesota can be especially effective as Norm Coleman is not only one of the supporters of the bill, but he’s also up a tough election in 2008.  Which means he SHOULD be especially receptive to public opinion…if he’s smart…which I admit is still up for debate.

You can contact both our Senators at:

Sen. Klobuchar        (202) 224-3244
Sen. Coleman          (202) 224-5641

Some other key members to contact would be:

McConnell (KY): 202-224-2541
Lott (MS): 202-224-6253
Bennett (UT): 202-224-5444
Collins (ME): 202-224-2523
Craig (ID): 202-224-2752
Domenici (NM): 202-224-6621
Brownback (KS): 202-224-6521
McCain (AZ): 202-224-2235
Warner (VA): 202-224-2023
Kyl (AZ): 202-224-4521

Talking points:

• I am a concerned citizen of this state (if calling your senators)
• Does the Senator plan on supporting the new immigration bill?
• I oppose the Bush-Kennedy amnesty bill.
• This bill gives amnesty to illegal aliens and is wrong.
• I urge the Senator to vote NO on the bill and NO on the “cloture” vote to end debate on the bill.

Also worth trying:

National Republican Senatorial Committee     (202) 675-6000
Republican National Committee                        (202) 863-8500 (option 1)

Talking points:

• I am a concerned citizen of this country
• I oppose the Bush-Kennedy amnesty bill
• This bill gives amnesty to illegal aliens and is wrong.
• I will not be supporting any Senator for re-election that votes for the amnesty bill

So what the hell happened today…

Well it’s was a very interesting day, to say the least.

Public outcry must have been overwhelming, I know several of the voicemails I tried to leave messages at were full.  From what I’ve heard from others, my experience has not been unique.

And that is partially the reason for the delay in the final vote.  Which gives us more time, and also highlights one important point.  The Senate has done nothing on immigration for decades, and yet now all the sudden we have to do something so fast we don’t even have time to read it?? Remember that this is the same Senate that still has the US military waiting on funding.  That open-close issue can be endlessly debated but this very complex and important legislation is so time-critical you can’t even read what they want you to vote for.

Opposition is so strong on the right, that Republicans are meeting the wrath of their supporters.  In Georgia, Senator Chambliss, one of the secret negotiators, was BOOED at his state’s Republican convention.  In a South Carolina Republican convention, Sen. Graham, an amnesty supporter, was BOOED by Republicans, while Mitt Romney, a newly converted amnesty opposer, was cheered.

This topic has intruded into presidential politics as well.  John “Amnesty” McCain has made a serious blunder with this bill and it’s gonna cost him.  He’s now polling down by Ron Paul in the polls, you’d feel bad for him if it weren’t his own damn arrogant fault.  Meanwhile, Romney has taken advantage of the issue by very publicly coming out against it.  This is forcing each of the Republican candidates to take sides on the issue.  Meanwhile, in the Democratic side, in an effort to prevent the same thing from happening, all the Democratic candidates did not vote at all in the cloture vote.

Sadely enough, we were shown up by FRANCE today.  How pathetic is that?? On the same day we begin debating whether we should legalize millions of illegals, France decided they will NOT legalize theirs en masse. Instead they will proceed with deportations.

The White House has clearly decided to “go to the mattresses” on this issue and it’s already costing them quite a bit…4 percentage points in the polls for one.  Plus when they start calling their supporter bigots and racists….well, it’s not gonna be pretty.  Bush trotted out his favorite immigration lapdog, Chertoff, who was quoted…

You know, Wolf, first, I understand there’s some people who expect anything other than capital punishment is an amnesty.

Really?? Show me ONE!!  No you’re wrong, as usual, Chertoff.  Republicans would be satisfied with “punishment” for illegal aliens.  And last I checked the punishment for breaking immigration law was deportation…not a silly little fine that will get waived anyway.

Also it was reported today that originally this amnesty bill required illegal aliens to pay back taxes.  You know so they are slightly less of a drain on our system than they are now.  But it was removed at the request of President Bush.  Wow.  You know I keep hearing that this bill will create a permanant underclass in our society.  At this point I’m wondering which of us it is, after all, I’m the one paying thousands in taxes.

Speaking of the White House, they are trotting out the same old talking points about how it’s not amnesty and all that bullshit.  Conveniently at about the same time, RedState published a post completely decimating the White House’s talking points….Myth vs Fact.  Bush 0 RedState 10

Speaking of talking points…remember those jobs that Americans just won’t do???  Well turns out we will!!!  Remember those Swift raids we all heard about??  Where they removed roughly 1300 illegals in raids on the meatpacking plants in Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Texas and Utah??  Well turns out the positions are all filled again….with Americans.  And apparently they had no problems finding Americans willing to do the jobs…..you know, those jobs that Americans won’t do.

That’s all for today….I’ll keep you updated, but you keep making those calls!!

Amnesty has been averted….for now.  I don’t have time to say much right now, but I will tell you this.

Due to a great deal of public opposition, the Senate has decided to hold off any immigration bills until June.  This was clearly the only option for the pro-amnesty side.  If they had tried to go forward they would have lost entirely.  Only 17 senators publicly supported amnesty, another 17 publicly opposed, 22 had significant problems with it and the rest were waffling on the fence.

As a result both sides would have tried to add in amendments to appease their supporters which would have derailed the whole thing entirely.  So they postponed it….and they’ll probably try to cram it down our throats later.

Later tonite, I’ll be taking part in a teleconference with other activists around the country and hopefully by then I’ll have the time and the information to offer something approaching thoughtful analysis.

But for now you can breath a little better.  But remember, the reason the Senate even tried this is they thought we weren’t paying attention.  We will need to do a better job of keeping sustained pressure on them.  I’ll talk more about that later.

For most of my life I’ve always claimed I’m not a Republican, I’m a conservative. It’s been pointed out to me by several individuals I can no longer make that claim given the level of involvement I’ve gotten to within the Republican Party. So let me refine that….I’m an American first, a conservative second, and a Republican a distant third.

So I have no problems saying the Republican Party is gonna have to take one to the chin on this immigration issue. And take it to the chin they will. Senators offices have started turning off their phones, voicemail mailboxes have filled up, and the issue has been at the forefront of virtually every talk show in existance. And Republicans have only themselves to blame. They brought this upon themselves by being goaded into drafting a horrible bill in secret against the wishes of their supporters and then trying to ram it down our throats before we so much as had a chance to open our mouths.

Someone asked me this weekend how I thought things were going to play out on the vote. Well, I’m cautiously optimistic. I’ve never seen the Republican base this united since the SCOTUS picks. And while it’s unfortunate that they are united AGAINST the Republicans, at least they are united and making themselves heard. Senate offices have been literally overwhelmed by public comments. Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich have all come out against the bill. I’m really hoping that it makes the difference.

This is not the time to slack off!!! We must keep up the pressure.

I’ve listed relevant phone numbers to call here. And call you should. Even if it’s just to leave a voicemail. And call NOW! Debate begins at 1 pm EST, and the cloture vote happens at 5:30 pm EST, so your calls will be very timely if they receive them before debate starts. Call now!! Call the Capital Switchboard at 202-224-3121

Be POLITE, but firm. Tell them that they should NOT support the immigration bill and that you will not support them if they do. They clearly do not care that they are destroying American’s future, but I guarantee that they do care about their political futures. Make it clear that is in jeopardy if they vote for the immigration bill.

In related news, they still haven’t finalized the bill yet, however, they did finally issue a DRAFT to all Senate offices. Get that? A draft. And they are voting on Monday for something that isn’t even written yet. And word is the bill won’t even be released to the public until AFTER the vote. Is this still a Democracy?? What happened to representation??

Regardless, we do have a draft, and the invaluable NZ Bear has put up a link friendly version of it here. I’m still dissecting it, but briefly skimming through it, it looks to contain all the bullshit we’ve been worried about.

UPDATE : For those of you not thrilled with the idea of sifting through 300+ pages of legal/political mumbo-jumbo, Hugh Hewitt has put together an 8 part dissection of it. And for those of you worried about “spin”…I’d like to remind you Hugh has been a very loyal cheerleader of this administration, siding with them even on the Harriet Miers fiasco. So if Hugh says it stinks….you can interpret that as rotting fish guts stink.

UPDATE : John Hawkins has a warning to all Republicans who would support this piece of filth.  It’s worth the full read to see what he’s planning, but generally the warning boils down to this

You know, I hope it doesn’t come to this, I really do. But, there comes a point where conservatives have got to say enough is enough and take our party back from these arrogant, unprincipled, elitist, Country Club Republicans who dominate the Senate who think that they no longer have to pay attention to their constituents, their base, or the American people.

This time, they’re either going to pay attention, or we’re going to take 2 or 3 of their scalps and hang them on the wall come election time. I don’t want it to come to that, it shouldn’t have to come to that, but either they’re going to start listening or we’re going to get rid of them and find some Senators who are willing to listen to the people who got them elected.

Republicans would do well to pay attention.  The base is pissed, and they aren’t gonna take it anymore.  Like I said before, they gave you a warning in 2006, think they’ll be any happier in 2008?

Well at least one Senator has a couple synapses still firing…

“I hope we don’t take a thousand page bill written in secret and try to ram it through the Senate in a few days. This is a very important issue for America and we need time to debate it.”

“But the little we do know about the bill is troubling. According to reports, the bill contains a new ‘Z Visa’ that allows those who entered our country illegally to stay here permanently without ever returning home. This rewards people who broke the law with permanent legal status, and puts them ahead of millions of law-abiding immigrants waiting to come to America. I don’t care how you try to spin it, this is amnesty.”

Of course don’t tell that to McCain….he still claims it’s not amnesty.  However, even by his own definition of amnesty it is.  Sounds like two Republican Presidential candidates have removed themselves from contention in one week.

The amnesty deal has been reached. The White House, Ted Kennedy and John Kyl are prepared to sell us out for….well, Kennedy is looking to secure a permanent majority for Democrats, no idea what the other two useful idiots are thinking.

From what I’ve gathered so far the deal is just as bad as thought. Here’s the basics

• Immediate amnesty for 12-20 million illegals…senators will use circular logic to try to claim it’s not amnesty, but it is.
• Very minor enforcement measures…which will be implement last…if at all. As proof I offer EVERY past immigration plan
• Chain migration (bringing in their entire family) triples….goes from 250,000 a year to 750,000 a year
• Adding to all the illegals already here, we also get 400,000 “guest workers” a year, who can come here, have their anchor babies and then stay forever.

Here’s what you can do…

Call the Capital Switchboard at 202-224-3121

You can ask for the office of any senator from there.

In particular we need to work on our own Senators, especially Coleman who is up for election and vunerable. Their numbers are below:

Coleman DC - 202-224-5641
Coleman Local - 651-645-0323
Klobuchar DC - 202-224-3244
Klobuchar Local - 612-727-5220

Also worth calling because they are the one pushing this thing is the following senators:

Senator Jon Kyl 202-224-4521
Senator Lindsey Graham 202-224-5972
Senator Harry Reid 202-224-3542
Senator McConnell 202-224-2541
Senator Ted Kennedy 202-224-4543
Senator Arlen Specter 202-224-4254

What To Say

If you’ve never called before, no worries.  I’ll tell you the points you need to cover.

At a minimum, you should say “Vote NO on cloture on Rule 14 on S 1348” and “Vote NO for cloture on ANY bills that rewards illegal aliens with legal residence or jobs“.

Other points you can touch on if you are comfortable doing so

• Voting for S1348 will hurt those unskilled Americans that are already out of work, by forcing them to compete with millions more workers
• This bill doesn’t even meet the recommendations of the bi-partisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform
• This bill will add 400,000 new unemployed “guest workers” every year.  How many more people do we need to compete with the 23 million Americans that already don’t have a job??
• If this senator is up for re-election, point out that voters are unlikely to vote for someone that voted for amnesty and hurt them economically.
• The 2.7 million members of the American Legion have asked congress to reject any “comprehensive” immigration reform and instead concentrate on enforcing the law.
• According the Heritage Foundation, households headed by illegals are a net drain of $18,000 per year.  If that illegal leaves, not only do we benefit $18,000, but a previously unemployed American gets a job and begins to pay taxes

Do it quick!!  According to reports Republicans are willing to go along with this because they haven’t received that many CALLS, so they feel it’s politically safe to just roll over on this one.

Text of the bill can be found here.

I meant to write about this last night but since my debate roundup was longer than the debate itself I demurred to today….but put off the actual writing of it. Which turned out to be fortunate as the story has literally changed every hour.

Basically here’s the deal. Right now S 1348 is on the books, however, there are backroom negotiations between the White House, Ted Kennedy and the odd Republican (Sen. Kyl) to come up with a Comprehensive Immigration Plan. Then they’ll replace the current text of S1348 with this new “compromise” and force it to a vote…bypassing the committee process. From the sounds of it Ted Kennedy has made the White House and Senator Kyl his personal bitch, by getting them to bend over on damn near every issue of importance. But somewhere negotiations hit a snag (ran out of K-Y?) and Reid had to push off the vote for cloture until May 21st. Which is fortunate because we have a little more time to verbally chew out our legislators.

Here’s why you should be concerned. They are basically trying to ramrod this bill through quickly so nobody really has a chance to read it. In politics, when they try to do something like that you damn well know there is something in there we aren’t gonna like.

Ted Kennedy and his Republican bitches colleagues are going to talk a good game about this bill. For example, reportedly as a “concession” to conservatives, Teddy is allowing us to build half of the fence that was passed into law last year. Hell of a concession isn’t it??

“Oh I’ll be nice to you, I’ll only steal half as much as I was planning to from you.”

Only Ted Kennedy would consider that a concession. And only this clueless White House and our spineless Republican Senators would believe him.

Republicans are making noise that they are demanding enforcement, but so far none of that is happening and Republicans appear to be happy with it. So basically they are just making noise in hopes that it placates you long enough that you stop calling and bitching at them.

Alot of the bill focuses around so called “Z Visas”. Basically if you were here (illegally) before January 1st, 2007, then you get to stay, no problem. That is Amnesty by ANY definition. And as a reward for coming here illegally your parents and spouses get to come and/or stay as well. Oh and any children you have get to stay.

Let’s do the math….

1 illegal immigrant + his wife + his parents(2) + his wifes parents (2) + kids (2+). Basically one will get you eight. And in the catholic countries of Latin America I think two kids is a VERY conservative estimate. So you see how that estimate of 12 million illegals in this country could EXPLODE exponentially.

Now I am rather young, so I may not quite grasp the idea of governance and how to run a law-abiding society. So perhaps someone can explain to me how it benefits us to reward lawbreakers? I guess I had thought that the rule of law was sorta the foundation of a orderly society? And that before the law we are equal, and we must all abide by the law. So when we start making concessions for certain groups of people, what does that make the law??

Worthless.

What Republicans are thinking here I have no idea. Why they are bending over for this when their base is absolutely pissed is beyond me. What’s more is they appear to be blissfully happy at handing the Democrats a permanent majority. How many of those newly illegal immigrants from very liberal countries are going to vote Republican? Not f-ing likely. Remember, these are the same people that scream for more benefits every May Day.

And when this bill passes you can kiss conservatism goodbye. Let’s face it, it only exists in America anymore, and once Republicans become a permanent minority, it may as well be dead.

You know I have lots of friends who are conservative minded as I am. And many of them have remained very uninvolved in the political process, sometimes not even voting. I used to shake my head and think it rather silly, and maybe even stupid, not to stand up and work for something you believe in. Now I’m wondering if maybe I’m not the stupid one??

It’s hard not to think that when we are repeatedly faced with spineless Republicans who are willing to sell out their principles just to keep Ted Kennedy happy. Or a Republican President whom, except for his SCOTUS picks, has become a one-man GOP wrecking crew.

I’m starting to think 2008 is going to be a breeze for Democrats. Once again Republicans have sold out their supporters and bent over for the liberals. Once again conservatives have been manipulated and lied to. They gave Republicans a warning in 2006. Anyone want to bet they’re gonna be any happier in 2008??