Reform Immigration For America to March on DC (3/21/10)

Reform Immigration for America is another liberal outfit that is funded by the Tides Foundation/Advocacy Group much like ACORN.  They engage in community organizing, voter registration, and campaigning, among various other activities, and coming to a Capitol near you, they will be marching on DC for immigration ‘reform’ on March, 21, 2010.

The site makes no mention on undocumented immigrants until the 7th paragraph on their about page.  They prefer to call these undocumented workers immigrants because it sounds as though you are being racist or insensitive to say you are against ‘immigration.’ “How can you be against immigrants, your forefathers were immigrants?” Well, of course my forefathers were immigrants and I can even trace my roots back to the Mayflower, but that isn’t the point.  The point is not advocating amnesty for 12 million ILLEGAL aliens who came to this country without following our rules, our customs, and our laws.  I would think that if an individual wants to enter this country and truly wants to be American, he/she would enter the right way — believe me there are plenty of now legal immigrants who feel the very same way.

This organization would prefer to go after “rogue” immigration agents who “tear families apart.” I assume they mean ICE agents and others who work on behalf of the government finding illegals who decided they could cross a border, not be documented, get free health care, not pay taxes, and work  here without any repercussions.

Untargeted raids in workplaces and neighborhoods and rogue enforcement agents at all levels are terrorizing immigrant workers and dividing families without making us any safer and without fixing the real problems with our immigration system. Our out-of-date laws force many American families to remain separated for years – and in some cases, decades – because of backlogs and barriers to family unification in our immigration system.

RIA also goes after corporations who hire and exploit illegal immigrants for cheap labor.  I agree that these corporations need to be found and they need to be fined, however, you can’t have your cake and eat it too – both are doing things that are illegal and both need to be held accountable.  As I like to say, however, Illegal immigrants are really just undocumented Democrats to the liberals in our government and the other liberals in labor unions and elitist-run organizations.  The bigger question becomes: Who is really exploiting who?

Besides, my own personal feelings on the subject – it’s important to note that this rally is taking place and who knows maybe we will see some of our favorite Republicans attend; John McAmnesty and Lindsey Grahamnesty.

ACORN and SEIU are also in the thick of it.

On Saturday, over 400 community members, clergy, students and SEIU (Service Employees International Union) members crammed into Los Angeles offices of SEIU ULTCW (United Long Term Care Workers) for a Community Accountability and Planning Session on Immigration Reform.

Congressman Xavier Becerra and SEIU ULTCW Trustee Laphonza Butler were in attendance, hearing the stories, fears, and hopes of many in the crowd on why we need Immigration Reform.

And just to show how much a Democrat from California who attended an immigration reform meeting with SEIU loves this country – he laughs when the Pledge of Allegiance is suggested at the start of the meeting [from Gateway Pundit]:

We need to pay attention to the amnesty bill that has been brought up in Congress [watch both the Republicans and the Democrats] and make sure it doesn’t pass.  We need reform to make the system more efficient, but we don’t need amnesty and we certainly don’t need to continue making the problem worse.

The Obama Administration Continues To Play Favorites With Unions

We are all well aware that the Obama administration is beholden to the unions like SEIU and the UAW who gave millions to then Senator Obama during his campaign for the White House. However, what many may not know, or have forgotten is the fact that Barack Obama signed three executive orders that would make it easier to favor unions and unionized companies.

Here is the synopsis of the three pro-union executive orders signed early in 2009:

The first executive order requires employers with federal contracts above $100,000 in value to post a notice in the workplace informing their employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), including the right to join a union. This order also repeals Executive Order 13201, issued by President Bush in 2001, that required federal contractors and subcontractors to post so-called “Beck notices.” Such notices, named after the Supreme Court’s decision in Communication Workers v. Beck, 487 U.S. 735 (1988) informed employees covered under the NLRA that they could not be required to join a union or maintain union membership in order to retain their jobs and that employees who are subject to a union security clause and choose not to be union members may object to the purposes for which mandatory union dues are used.

The second order applies to federal contractors who provide services to government buildings. While there are several exemptions, under this new executive order, when a federal agency changes contractors, the new contractor will be required to offer jobs to the non-supervisory employees of its predecessor. This order is designed to try to ensure that when a unionized contractor is replaced, its successor will be obliged under existing labor laws to bargain with the original contractor’s labor union.

The third order prevents federal contractors from being reimbursed in federal funds for money spent to oppose (or support) union organizing efforts among their employees, which could violate first amendment rights if ever challenged in a court of law due to government interference and a company’s freedom of speech.

That’s why the latest news coming from the Obama administration is very disconcerting since they are planning on supporting proposals that will favor unions and unionized companies bidding on federal contracts, which will only increase the size of the government, the amount of bureaucracy, and the cost of contracts.  However, it’s not anything we don’t already know since Obama’s philosophy seems more like “Go big, or go… you know something? just go big because you won’t have a home by the time our administration is through.”

Here’s more information regarding the proposal via the Daily Caller:

The proposals, collectively known as “High Road Contracting Policy,” were first reported earlier this month. The basic elements of the policy would give preference to companies bidding on federal contracts that pay their hourly workers a “living wage” and provide health insurance, employer-funded pension plans and paid sick days.

Following the report Republicans slammed the proposal, with Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma referring to it as “backdoor card check.” Other critics, led by Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, worry the new rules would increase the cost of government contracting by as much as 20 percent, or more than $100 billion annually, while further slowing the procurement process.

Proponents of the proposals, including the Center for American Progress and the Economic Policy Institute, argue government contracting should be used as a vehicle for expanding the middle class and many of the workers that would be impacted by the changes end up costing the government more through public assistance programs such as Medicaid and food stamps. David Madland of CAP also pointed to studies on the state and local level that show no cost increase following the implementation of similar policies.

However, the White House did admit that contracting costs would increase if this proposal went through.  Pardon me if I’m a little skeptical and a little tired of unions being used as the end-all-be-all of the middle class.  Most of the middle class are professional workers or even blue collared workers who don’t belong to unions.  Take for example my father – he’s a mechanic but doesn’t belong to the UAW, much like many of his co-workers.  Does he make a ton of money? No, he’s just simply middle class and thus it is completely disingenuous for anybody to equate unions with the middle class at all times.  It seems as if the current crop of bureaucrats would love nothing more than for the true middle class to be unionized and therefore controlled and dependent upon the federal government.

And lest we forget some of the eye-opening clips of Obama speaking with organizations like SEIU:

{My favorite part is Obama telling SEIU that they should want a leader who can tell the truth… Interesting that he’s now been caught in many lies, most recently ACORN}

Big Labor = Big Corruption; Jimmy Hoffa Would Be So Proud

It’s time to clean house!  I’d like to see a sweeping investigation into any and all big labor unions, “non-partisan” taxpayer funded groups, lobbyists, and major corporations that donate to politicians. 

Union bosses are still acting much like mafia characters, and some would argue that’s what they in fact are.  A union boss is admitting to using/exploiting his union members as political activists.   

An interesting admission by James A. Williams, president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades in Philadelphia, can be seen in an interview he did with the Philly Inquirer. It is an admission that confirms one of the things that anti-union folks have been saying for years, but one union officials are loath to admit.

While discussing the hard economic times, the Philly Inquirer asked how the recession was affecting the union. In his answer President Wilson admitted that his union uses out-of-work members for “political events.” Wilson mentioned that they lower dues to $1 a month after a member has been out of work for more than six months, but that isn’t just the kind hearted union looking out for its members. No, the union expects something in return for that lowering of dues. 

Would exploitation and quid pro quo be considered commendable by the bleeding heart liberals?  Union leadership has always been in the business of lining their own pockets and achieving their own objectives, no matter who gets stepped on along the way, including their own members.

Obama has long been a union advocate, as are many other Democrats.  Unions became part of the Democrat voting block after FDR focused his efforts on creating certain groups that could be used for votes.  Big labor, since that time, has been a large contributor to the DNC.  Obama has spoken at the UAW, SEIU, and AFL-CIO conventions numerous times and most recently this past week.  The latest push for union control of ports and the fact that Obama supports easing the rules of union organizing should give anyone pause. 

President Obama gave a corker of a campaign speech yesterday at the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh, promising to deliver on his promise to ease the rules for union organizing. If you want to know what this means in action, consider the current Teamsters play to control California ports. 

[…]

The American Trucking Association sued to block the rule, and with good cause. Federal law has long pre-empted state and local regulation of interstate trucking “prices, routes and services,” for the reason that international and interstate trade depend on uniform regulation. The courts have recognized this, and even the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the new port rule had likely violated the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, which led to a court injunction earlier this year. Trial on the merits of the rule has been set for next year. 

[…] 

Unionization would give the Teamsters enormous bargaining leverage over work rules and pay, sharply raising the cost of moving goods, as well the power to shut down ports in a strike. Some 32 trade groups, from farm organizations to the National Retail Federation, signed a recent letter to Mr. Oberstar opposing the legislation. The response of shippers would be to divert cargo to Mexico or Canada, or pass through an expanding Panama Canal for ports on the Gulf or East Coasts. California doesn’t need more reasons for business to flee the state. 

For a group who continues to point their finger at George Bush and the Republicans for the current state of the economy, it sure seems as though they would prefer the economy to stay stagnant and hand it over to big labor and government, two of the causes for our hardships now. 

An example of the sheer lack of morals and utter corruption that has corroded big labor for quite some time is the recent conviction of Jaime Enrique Feliciano, a 50 yr. old man sentenced to 25 years in prison for child molestation, possession of child pornography and the intent to manufacture child pornography.  So who is Feliciano?  He was the former district president of the California SEIU, a proud partner of ACORN.

It’s time to wake up and take control of our country again.  These big labor organizations and large non-profits that are acting as arms to the government, doing their bidding, need to be disbanded and swept clean.  People on both sides should be sick and tired of the corruption, the ponzi schemes, the pay-to-play politics, and the lack of consideration for the people of America.

Nuts For The Nutty: The Squirrels Have Come Home To Roost!

Yesterday, the Senate voted to defund ACORN after the unbelievable footage of tax fraud, human trafficking, prostitution, and underage sex surfaced.  The footage proved that the acceptance of such illegal activity is not just one isolated incident, but rather a nationwide, culture of corruption for this organization.  The Senate voted 83-7 in favor of defunding the group from any other housing grants.  The next requirement from Congress will be a vote on the investigation of ACORN’s books, practices, and its management. The disturbing part of the 83-7 vote is that 7 senators actually believed ACORN should still be in business after this scandal broke!  Those Senators are the following: 

Whitehouse (D-RI)

Burris (D-IL)

Durbin (D-MI)

Sanders (D-VT)

Leahy (D-VT)

Casey (D-PA)

Gillibrand (D-NY)

These senators need to be driven out on a rail in 2010 if their seats are up – how morally bankrupt must one be to continue to back another morally bankrupt organization? 

Many of us knew that something fishy was going on with this group back during the election of 2008.  It’s too bad that we were not made privy of this behavior prior to the election, because ACORN has apparently been working in this manner for years.  Simple curiosity and a desire to actually investigate has brought citizen reporters/activists out of the woodwork since the big named journalists refuse to do their jobs any longer.  Charlie Gibson, who was so pompous and egotistical during the Palin interview, appears to have as much credibility as Alex Trebek who is spoon-fed the answers on note cards.  Gibson was recently on the Don & Roma radio show where he was asked what he thought about the current events regarding ACORN – he had no clue! 

“I don’t even know about it,” Gibson said, laughing. “So you’ve got me at a loss. … But my goodness, if it’s got everything, including sleaziness in it, we should talk about it in the morning.”

 When one of the radio show’s hosts described it as a “huge issue,” Gibson said ABC had “done some stories about ACORN before, but this one I don’t know about.” 

Elitist media snobs like Katie Couric, Gibson, Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer, Chris Matthews, etc. do not have the intellect to truly understand the issues of the day, just a false sense of self based on their ‘reporting’ position to feel as though they are worldly.  Each one of those “reporters” likes to throw out gotcha questions, which were most likely written by some aide or intern working in a cubicle.  The elitist mentality has sure done our media in, especially now that the public trust of their profession is at an all time low of 29%. 

In this year’s survey, 63 percent of respondents said news articles were often inaccurate and only 29 percent said the media generally “get the facts straight” — the worst marks Pew has recorded — compared with 53 percent and 39 percent in 2007. 

How sheltered must our media elite be to not report on a huge criminal racket like ACORN?  ACORN is not a partisan issue, anybody concerned with corruption and cleaning house in this country should want organizations like ACORN shut down and barred from receiving anymore taxpayer money.  

The prostitution scandal is not the only illegal activity that Americans should be concerned with.  ACORN has also been involved with partisan politics.  One of the reasons ACORN was able to receive grants and taxpayer funds was due to it’s supposed “non-partisan” status.  Most of us who have seen old video footage from ACORN conferences realize that the group was never in fact non-partisan, but as of a few days ago, the group has been even more outward in its ideological bias.  ACORN has inserted itself into a 2^nd Amendment case in the state of New Jersey, and they are attempting to help ban that constitutional right from the public.  I ask why on earth does ACORN think it has any clue about fire arms? Why, if they purport to be neutral, do they get involved in an obvious partisan debate? 

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — a publicly funded national organization linked to voter fraud in several states, is now actively interfering with the exercise of firearm civil rights in New Jersey, and the Second Amendment Foundation is calling for an immediate federal investigation.

One example of ACORN’s gun control activism is when its officials intervened in an unsuccessful attempt to defend Jersey City, New Jersey’s local gun control ordinance, which was struck down by the New Jersey state court as a violation of state law preempting stronger local gun ordinances. 

“ACORN has, since 1998, received an estimated $31 million in government funding,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. “Now they have intervened in a New Jersey gun rights case in defense of an illegal Jersey City one-gun-a-month ordinance that violates the state preemption statute.” 

There are also the arguments from the higher-ups in ACORN who exclaim that they only have a few rogue employees and cannot be held accountable for the actions of those who are working on their behalf.  I call shenanigans on that one.  Anybody who has gone through orientation at a company or has taken any type of corporate compliance training knows exactly who is liable for the actions of employees: management!  To further drive the nail into the coffin, it was recently discovered that Maryland had issues with ACORN back in 2006, when ACORN, Inc., forfeited their corporate charter.  The ACORN Housing sector of ACORN, Inc. also let their charter lapse in 2008, therefore any ACORN field offices working on behalf of the organization in the state of Maryland would be conducting business illegally.  Please explain to me how this is not a management issue?  That’s what I thought!  

Update: The House has also voted to defund ACORN; 345-75 – I never thought I would see the day!  

75 Democrats voted to continue support of ACORN here’s the roll call vote: 

The Holy New York Empire

The State of New York was on the cutting edge several years ago when it became one of, if not the, first state to ban smoking from public places, i.e., bars and restaurants.  Many are satisfied with the fact that they no longer have to worry about coming home, smelling like an ashtray, however, one starts to encroach on some very basic civil liberties when deciding what somebody can ingest, inhale, or imbibe.  A basic human right is the freedom to eat, smoke and drink whatever it is a person chooses, even if it is harmful to that individual.  The essence of free will and free choice is being able to freely make those decisions and not be forced by a centralized entity to restrict them.  There will always be those who abuse substances, but America was never founded on utilitarian ideals where everything is for the greater good, or punished everyone due to a few. 

 New York is considering a ban on smoking outdoors now.  The outdoors, as is my understanding, is not regulated and never has been controlled by a government entity, at least when it was your own backyard and not some natural wildlife preserve.  New York has already banned indoor smoking and transfats from the state.  They have one of the highest taxes on alcohol, and to be honest, some of the highest taxes in general nationwide.  Back in early 2009, New York was also considering a tax on sodas and other sugary or “unhealthy” food items.  Rather than be a state it seems like New York is becoming its own dictatorship. 

Smokers in the “land of the free” are finding themselves increasingly less free to pursue their habit. 

New York City officials are the latest to consider banning smoking in their parks and outside spaces – and where the US leads, the UK often follows. 

Having driven smokers outside their workplaces and enclosed public places, city authorities are considering limiting the options for a quick puff. 

The possibility of extending smoke-free legislation was outlined in a public health policy document (pdf). However the mayor, Michael Bloomberg – who has championed anti-smoking programmes but is up for re-election – appeared to qualify the extent of the restrictions. He wanted “to see if smoking in parks has a negative impact on people’s health”, the New York Times reported today, suggesting it “might not be logistically possible to enforce a ban across thousands of acres”.

Banning items didn’t work so well back in the 1920s so I’m not so sure this will pan out real well for New Yorkers or any other states that begins controlling peoples’ lives.  We may even begin to see underground smoking parlors – who knows!? 

On a side note, I must admit New York has at least one thing going for it, as opposed to Maryland, it is willing to freeze funding for the corrupt entity called ACORN and conduct a state-wide investigation!

ACORN & Balti-Morons

It comes as no surprise that Baltimore is one of the more corrupt cities in America.  It also maintains one of the highest crimes rates in the nation, my personal favorite, however, is the title of Heroine Capital of the United States, but who’s keeping track? Barring all of that, there was a recent scandal that hit regarding ACORN and its associates.  A woman and a man, who went undercover disclosed to the world, the vile nature of this organization.  She masked herself as a prostitute who wanted to start a business with her pimp boyfriend.  The two were trying to figure out how they could purchase a home and start an illegal prostitution business in that home. 

The first part of their conversation included tax evasion, aiding and abetting illegal activity, and fraud.  The two women working at this ACORN facility seemed to have no problem that a 19 year-old female and her pimp were trying to start a business that would obviously expose the neighborhood to inappropriate activity.  The worst part of all of this, if complicity and ambivalence for the sake of money wasn’t enough, the fact that the couple wanted to traffic underage illegal aliens to perform sexual activities should be.  How void of morals/principles must one be to condone such acts? This would be incomprehensible to most people and in most areas, but not in Baltimore, no siree! – Balti-morons have had a long history of corruption and scandal.  One only has to look as far as the city council to be aware of how political and deep this runs.  The poor communities of Baltimore have stayed poor.  Other areas have been refurbished, but there is still crime, especially an up-tick in murders at places like the Inner Harbor and the ‘touristy’ sections: The “safe havens” of the city aren’t really all that safe.  If a person wants to ever see what really takes place on the streets of Baltimore they should actually watch The Wire, which is not far fetched; in all actuality the episodes that are depicted stem from true stories written in the Baltimore Sun or some other city paper.  The papers in Baltimore are just as politicized as they are in any other city, but the cronyism and cover-ups of murder statistics and money laundering go above and beyond.  There is no such thing as objective reporting in the likes of Baltimore, but then again, is there really such a thing in America anymore? 

The city has been rocked by recent scandal with its Democrat Mayor Sheila Dixon as well as several Democrat city council members who were all being investigated for fraud and bribery, but even in the local realm of politics that still isn’t enough to send these cockroaches packing.  They infiltrate large community organizations that shake down businesses in the name of social justice and ‘change.’ Nothing has changed in Baltimore, especially not within the areas that have been destitute and crime ridden for decades.  It’s a wonder why they continue to vote for the same party who has been in power since 1967, yet continue to blame Republicans for their strife.  Republicans cannot be let off the hook that easily though, because the biggest mistake they make is staying away from the cities.  Too many have just given up on inner cities and won’t even try to communicate a different message or a conservative cause.  Without that one-on-one face-time it’s almost impossible to prove, through action, not words, that the change that might be needed is an entirely different train of thought.  

Democrats have been running Baltimore since the age of Abe Lincoln.  One interesting historical story was a man by the name of George Proctor Kane.  After the party of the Whigs disappeared he joined the Democrats and became a member of the Confederacy.  He was the police chief during Lincoln’s train ride through the East to his eventual destination of Washington, D.C.  He was later arrested and sent to Canada after it was discovered he was plotting to help assassinate Lincoln on his way through Baltimore.  Lincoln caught wind of this and did not disclose to the mayor or to Mr. Kane that he would be leaving Harrisburg early and would travel through Baltimore 3 hours in advance of when he was originally expected.  Although that’s a bit of history, the crazy thing was that this man was elected mayor of the city after the Civil War.  He only served one year from 1877-1878 because he died while in office.

My other favorite piece of Baltimore history involves Nancy Pelosi, yes that’s right, Nancy Pelosi hailed from Baltimore not the Bay Area.  She actually came from a family that ran the city, and by ran, I mean Mafia, which not only loves “doing business,” it also loves politics.  Both her father and her brother have been mayor of Baltimore: Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr. 1947-1959, Thomas L. J. D’Alesandro, III 1967-1971.  Both brother and father were indicted for bribery, conspiracy, and her father was also indicted for a scandal involving a garage operator.  The family’s last name has a variant spelling: D’Alessandro, which is what was originally used when they immigrated from Italy to the Port of Baltimore.  (More mafia/Baltimore related stories can be found under the variant name).  The D’Alesandro’s were THE FAMILY of Baltimore and ran the Democrat Political Machine in Maryland for decades… I hear Little Italy on Eastern Ave. loves them!   

The list of Republican mayors is short-lived so here it is:  

Alcaeus Hooper 1895-1897

William T. Malster 1897-1899

E. Clay Timanus 1904-1907

William Broening 1919-1923 & 1927-1931

Theodore McKeldin 1943-1947 & 1963-1967

There you have it – the only Republicans to ever run the city of Baltimore, a total of 23 years.  Can one of the progressives please tell me again why they continue to blame conservatives for all their problems and the conditions of inner cities?  We are seeing that Democrats continue to be the party of oppression, the party of those who exploit and use others in order to gain power and votes.  Plantation politics, the politics of slavery, have been shifted from the old Democratic days of the Confederacy and the KKK to entitlements (enabling), welfare (carrot and stick philosophy), community organizing, the exacerbation of the victim mentality, and the exploitation of demographic groups, labor groups, class, religion, and gender.

The two women who were videotaped advocating on behalf of the prostitute and the pimp, were fired.  ACORN, to this day exclaims that it is not responsible for the actions of its employees, but try that excuse at any big company and see how the liberals wail.  Management, in any form of business, for profit or not, is incredibly responsible for the actions of those working on behalf of the company name and their mission.  It’s amusing to see that the people running these “social justice” groups are white liberal elitists while the worker bees are people of color.  I just hope that one day soon, people begin to wake up!