Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

In reading recent LTEs, there are many interesting conclusions that could be drawn.  First, there is no difference between legal and illegal immigration; they are moral equivalents.  Second, if you believe laws should be followed and borders should be secure, then you cannot be a Christian and are automatically a racist, even if you are a minority and a legal immigrant.  Third, it's fashionable to call Republicans in the House, cowards and do nothings, but it's perfectly okay for Harry Reid and his Senate to refuse to address the 352 bills the House passed and sent to him.  Fourth, despite the fact that national debt has increased from $10.6 trillion to over $17.5 trillion during the five plus years of the Obama Administration, it's still "Bush's Fault."  Fifth, Bowe Bergdahl served with "honor and distinction" but his fellow soldiers and the previous Army investigation that labeled him a deserter are the true villains.  Finally, 71% of Americans think the US is "on the wrong track" but the remainder must live in the Delta and wear rose colored glasses when it comes to Democrat scandals and policy failures.

Sincerely,
Bill Garvin 

Political Punts and Pratfalls

By William L. Garvin

“The only people who don’t want to disclose the truth are people with something to hide.”              President Barack H. Obama, August 21, 2011 

It seems that private citizens and organizations must initiate lawsuits as the only viable alternative to get necessary information from the “most transparent administration” in history.  The Fifth Amendment, continual stonewalling, “misspeaking” (which used to be knows as LYING!), crashing hard drives and continual interruptions and obfuscation from sympathetic legislators are tactics employed by Democrats to carry out their strategy of delay, delay, and delay some more.  It is their fondest hope that time and “scandal fatigue” will outlast the search for truth.  It is a war of attrition and a tactic to exhaust patience and memory in a short-term memory world.  As Eleanor Holmes Norton, the esteemed Democrat from D.C. proclaimed:  “You don’t have a right to know everything in a separation-of-powers government, my friend.”  At the time, she was talking to the House and Government Reform Committee that is supposed to insure our system of checks and balances!

Thankfully, a federal judge has ordered that all the “Fast and Furious” documents previously hidden behind “executive privilege” be produced.  Eric Holder was held in contempt by the court for his previous refusals.  Another has ruled that the Affordable Care Act means what it says and only those who enroll in state exchanges are eligible for federal subsidies.  Another has ordered all the emails in the IRS targeting of conservatives be delivered.  Not too surprisingly, as they trickle out we find that Lois “Latrine Lips” Lerner has referred to conservatives as “whackos,” “terrorists,” and (rhymes with) “glassbowls.”  Do you think the aforementioned Holder will ever appoint a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of this?  Of course not because his boss has already told him there’s not a “smidgeon of corruption.”  If you believe he will then you’ll also believe Harry Reid when he says “The border is secure.”

By the way, the IRS has also reached a secret agreement with the Freedom From Religion Foundation to monitor church sermons to see if preaching Biblical principles (such as opposition to gay marriage and abortion) violates their tax exempt status.  And who will do the monitoring and render the subsequent decision…why Lois Lerner’s old IRS unit of course!  It’s just another chink in our constitutional armor.

That goes along with CIA Director John Brennan and his months of angry denials that he had never spied on Senator Diane Feinstein or other members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.  Now he admits that in fact he did…but once again, it was a couple of low level employees.  Wasn’t it just a couple of “rogue agents” in the first of many IRS cover stories that emerged over the last year?  Hopefully everyone is now wise to that tired old playbook.  In the next chapter, we’ll hear about all the CIA hard drives crashing for everyone involved in the “investigation.”   No one actually believes that the Department of Justice will actually investigate AND PROSECUTE another member of the Obama administration.  It is also unlikely that Brennan will resign despite his constitutional crimes.

But what’s the Constitution even mean in this day and age?  To Steny Hoyer, the Number Two Democrat in the House, it means little.  “What the president can in fact do, however, is implement the laws as he believes they should be implemented,” said Hoyer.  Representative Luis Gutierrez from Illinois says the president has promised him that he will grant amnesty to five or six million illegal immigrants.  What Constitution?  What law?  What border?  If you voice any opposition, expect Rep. Gutierrez to channel his inner Al Sharpton and spout the same old tired racial polemics.  “They want to punish our community…” said Gutierrez.  “It is almost as if they despise and hate all our children.”  He was quickly joined by Nancy Pelosi who thought the unaccompanied minors (sic) are “just like Baby Jesus” who was also a “refugee from violence” and sending them back to their countries of origin is similar to “throwing them back into a burning building.”

Then again, she thinks natural gas is a “…clean, cheap alternative (LOL!) to fossil fuels,” and accepts Qatar’s belief that Hamas is a “humanitarian organization.”  And Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee proclaims with a straight face that Democrats did not “seek an impeachment of President Bush” when she co-sponsored the bill!  Rep. Anna Eshoo calls those who lost their health care plans “whiners” and “untruthful”…at least she didn’t call them “liars” as did Harry Reid.

The only time this administration actually needs a cover-up is when Joe Biden goes skinny dipping!  Sometimes there’s just too much information!

Questions for the World

By William L. Garvin

There are three interrelated questions that need to be answered:  should Israel be allowed to exist, should Christianity be eradicated, and should countries have borders?  If you look at what’s in the news and what’s NOT in the news, you will see countless variations on these three questions, although they will not be laid out in such stark terms.  And if you look very closely, you will see a clear agenda in what they choose to print and what they choose NOT to print, what they choose to show and what they choose NOT to show.

As to the first question, according to the charter of Hamas (the “Islamic Resistance Movement” and an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood), "The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews [and kill them]; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!"  The co-founder of Hamas said he envisioned a huge map hanging on his wall where the nation of Israel would not be shown.  When Hamas speaks, it speaks of ceasefires but never peace.  They wage their holy war, their jihad, indiscriminately but mostly against civilians of any age.  They have fired over 2,400 rockets into Israel from schools, hospitals, and homes.  They surround their munitions with women and children so when retaliation comes, there will be maximum human suffering for the cameras to capture.  These murderous thugs prefer the psychological value of this tactic more than they value the lives of their own children and the media obliges.

Enter the United Nations Human Rights Council which creates an “independent international commission of inquiry to investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human-rights law” in the current war in Gaza.  Actually, they will only investigate Israel since the resolution reads: “The Council condemns in the strongest terms the widespread, systematic and gross violations of international human rights and fundamental freedoms arising from the Israeli military operations…since 13 June 2014.”  Cuba, Mexico, Algeria and Venezuela were among the 29 members voting yes as did China and the Russian Federation.  Firmly (sic) among the 17 abstentions were France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.  Only the United States voted no!

Simultaneously, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) continues its murderous campaign.  Chief among their victims are Christians.  Not only are their homes looted and destroyed but also their churches.  Even the centuries old tomb of Jonah was desecrated and then destroyed.  Crosses are being ripped off churches and Christians are told to convert to Islam, leave without their belongings, or die.  Some are not even being given a choice but are found murdered in mass graves, beheaded and even crucified.  Where is the United Nations?  Where is our president?  Where is the outrage?  Where is the media?  Remember they felt morally compelled to show every photo of abuse in Abu Ghraib that they could lay their hands on.  Where is a similar moral compunction to expose the bestial savagery against Christians on display throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa?  If they are indeed “good men,” they are standing by and doing nothing as evil triumphs!

Which brings us to the third question, should countries have borders.  Should Hamas be allowed to tunnel into Israel?  Should Russia be allowed to “annex” Crimea and the Ukraine?  Should the United States be allowed to close and enforce its southern border?  If the answers are yes, yes, and no, then prepare for a “new world order” in which the United States will be “leading from behind” not by choice, but by necessity.  With millions of illegal aliens already in the United States and thousands more pouring in, is it any wonder that “income inequality” is so disparate under this administration?  With 92 million Americans already out of work and 47 million receiving food stamps, when will we reach the tipping point?  Yet the New York Times reports that the Obama administration actually has plans to fly even more “refugees” from Central America into the US!

As income inequality exacerbates, as dependency increases, as the national debt skyrockets, as our military strength weakens, as our borders remain porous, as our leadership fails, as western democracy erodes, the world becomes much more unstable.  If the United Nations and the “world community” it represents is able to defeat the only stable democracy in the Middle East, expect the next target to be the USA.  If radical Islam is able to “cleanse” itself of Jews and Christians in current areas of conflict, look for the battlefield to expand.  Get ready.

Bordering on Insanity

By William L. Garvin
“…It is no doubt very desirable that we should hold out as many inducements as possible for the worthy part of mankind to come and settle amongst us, and throw their fortunes into a common lot with ours. But why is this desirable? Not merely to swell the catalogue of people. No, sir, it is to increase the wealth and strength of the community; and those who acquire the rights of citizenship, without adding to the strength or wealth of the community are not the people we are in want of. And what is proposed by the amendment is, that they shall take nothing more than an oath of fidelity, and declare their intention to reside in the United States. Under such terms, it was well observed by my colleague, aliens might acquire the right of citizenship, and return to the country from which they came, and evade the laws intended to encourage the commerce and industry of the real citizens and inhabitants of America, enjoying at the same time all the advantages of citizens and aliens.”
James Madison

It is amazing to me to see the  lockstep sheeple of the main stream media shift so quickly from the economic ills of America to the contrived “humanitarian crisis “ of our southern borders  The hue and cry amongst popular pundits of all political persuasions  is preoccupied with  “is this Obama’s Katrina?”  The answer is “No, it’s not!” and it should be obvious for a number of reasons.  First of all, President Bush, for all his failings, did not cause Hurricane Katrina.  There is no question that President Obama’s deferred deportation executive order advertised to the entire world that if you made it into the formerly sovereign United States of America you would not be deported.

Furthermore, Homeland Security advertised on their website back in January of this year for “escorts” for up to 65,000 unaccompanied minors who would be arriving in this country.  All rational people should be able to distinguish between a natural disaster and a contrived “humanitarian crisis.” 
Also remember that this is the administration that almost instantaneously prepared and broadcast television messages throughout the Arab world after Benghazi that clearly decried any relationship with or support of a video blaspheming Allah.  No such video clarification of American policies regarding legal immigration has been shown in Central America or Mexico.  Why is that?  New estimates are that upward of 150,000 will pour through our “secure” border unless the tide is quickly stemmed.

It is also important to remember that every facet of the Katrina disaster was immediately and continually shown on virtually every television channel.  Currently, it is next to impossible to get any first hand information on the surge of “unaccompanied minor children” from the first responders.  There are numerous reports that nurses and doctors are prohibited from speaking to the media much like the Benghazi survivors.  Cell phones are not permitted on site.  Border Patrol agents speak out only on conditions of anonymity.  The lockdown on information has even extended to congressmen visiting military bases in their own district!  There are continuous clandestine plane flights and busloads of “refugees” being shipped to all parts of the United States without any coordination with state or local officials.  There are numerous reports of communicable diseases and gang members among the newly arrived but again, because of the lack of access to medical or law enforcement personnel, this is hard to confirm or deny. 

Also understand that it makes only symbolic sense for President Obama to actually visit the Texas border, wherever it might be.  All the security measures that necessarily accompany a sitting president interfere with the vital operations of the local, state, and federal agency officials.  Then again, leftists should not have criticized President Bush’s aerial observation of the Katrina devastation for exactly the same reason.

Now that these new arrivals are being relocated throughout the United States, the only requirement is that they show up for their immigration hearing.  Unfortunately, it has been estimated that nearly half will not show up.  Those that do show up will be provided legal counsel at taxpayer expense.  Since it is nearly impossible to document the abuse the refugees allegedly had to endure in their own country, it is unlikely that actual deportation will ever occur.  They are here to stay and there is no end in sight.  

  

Feminist Rhetoric is Hysterical Hyperbole

By William L. Garvin

In war, the first casualty is truth.  In the so called “war on women,” the radical left and extreme feminists have combined to make certain this is true.  Their blatant disregard for the truth and in some cases, absolute ignorance of the facts in the Supreme Court Hobby Lobby decision is at best, appalling, and at worst, despicable and reprehensible.  Strong, independent women everywhere must be cringing at the hysterical hyperbole and ignorant assertions being made by those currently in the spotlight purporting to be feminist standard bearers.

 For those who choose not to be “informationally-challenged,” a little history is in order.  The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was passed in the House by a unanimous voice vote and in the Senate by a vote of 97-3.  It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in November, 1993.  Basically, RFRA prevents the federal government from imposing laws that substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion.

The owners of Hobby Lobby, a closely held corporation, did not want to provide four types of contraceptives that could cause abortions of fertilized eggs.  Their sincerely held religious belief is that life begins at conception.  Fines for not providing these abortifacients under the Affordable Care Act could be as much as $475 million dollars per year.  If they dropped health care entirely, the fines would still be $25 million dollars per year.  The Greens, the principal owners of Hobby Lobby feel a moral compunction to provide their employees with health insurance so the latter was not an option.  They also feel a moral compunction to treat their employees as family and pay their full-time employees a minimum of $14.50 per hour and their part-time employees $9.50 per hour.  Lost to reason in leftist minds is the fact that they have no objection to contraception per se and in fact willingly provide for 16 out of the 20 ACA contraceptives.

Let the contrived “war on women” begin.  While Patricia Ireland, the former president of NOW, was roundly condemning the Hobby Lobby decision, she was asked if she knew how many forms of contraception Hobby Lobby provided.  She had to admit that she didn’t know that basic fact.  Again, it is 16 out of 20.  Amanda Marcotte, feminist writer and leader of the cyber-lynch mob in the Duke lacrosse case, posted that the Supreme Court decision could cost a woman as much as $22,000.  Given that most women can get birth control pills for $9 per month or $108 per year and given a generous 50-year fertility cycle, that would be more like $5,400 unless you have been raised on Common Core math.  Hillary Clinton chimed in with “It’s very troubling that a sales clerk at Hobby Lobby who needs contraception, which is pretty expensive, is not going to get that service through her employer’s health care plan because her employer doesn’t believe she should use birth control.”  As wrong as videos in Benghazi!

The hopefully soon-to-be-irrelevant yet perpetually clueless Sandra Fluke saw it as a “limit to women’s access to reproductive health care.”  Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted “Can’t believe we live in a world where we’d even consider letting big corps deny women access to basic care based on vague moral objections.”  Upping the ante to her potential challenger, Secretary Clinton then voiced a rather unsettling analogy:  “It is a disturbing trend that you see in a lot of societies that are very unstable, anti-democratic, and frankly prone to extremism where women and women’s bodies are used as the defining and unifying issue…because of their religion, their sect, their tribe, whatever.”  Yes indeed, whatever!  Naturally her acolytes trumpeted her theme:  “the HL decision is like ISIS imposing Sharia law”; “Scalia law is like Sharia law”; and then called for burning down Hobby Lobby stores and raping conservative women who upheld the HL decision.  Whatever, indeed.

Lost on the leftist leaders and their masses was the egregious error in their simplistic notions that the HL decision applied to contraceptive coverage in general and that HL saw all birth control as not appropriate.  Look at their printed slogans:  “Bosses don’t belong in the bedroom.”  “Keep the Board Room out of the Bed Room.”  “My bedroom is not my boss’s business.”  “If I wanted government in my bedroom, I’d (have sex with) a senator.”  Meanwhile, they are totally oblivious to the irony that they are asking the courts to force the government to force their employers to pay for avoiding consequences of their bedroom activities by destroying life.  Where’s Helen Reddy when we need her!  

Half Cocked Potshots from Crackpots

By William L. Garvin

If Hillary’s current book tour is a kickoff for a presidential campaign, she needs to hit the reset button…and try to spell it correctly this time!  Her opening salvo not only missed the American bullseye, it missed the entire target.  The reputed “world’s smartest woman” committed such a fusillade of gaffes with such annoying regularity that Joe Biden now looks like Mensa material!  Steve Martin should sue for copyright infringement as she continues her “I was born a poor black child motif.”  Someone who is “dead broke” might think about selling at least one of their million dollar plus homes or leveraging the multi-million dollar book deal coming right down the pike.  Someone whose net worth is now over fifty million dollars might want to stop whining that “we’re not well off.”  It appears even low information voters are tiring of her faux struggles.  If things were really that tough, I’m sure she could float a loan from Chelsea who is making $600,000 per year from NBC television.  Not bad for someone who has no broadcast experience and such minimal actual work product.

I would expect that Hillary’s publisher is also considering asking for some of the advance money back.  Despite massive free publicity from her simpering media sycophants, her book with the “borrowed” title only sold 100,000 in its initial week and then immediately dropped out of Amazon’s top ten.  Sales since have fallen faster than President Obama’s poll numbers.  By way of comparison, Sarah Palin sold 496,000 copies of her book “Going Rogue” in its first week.  That is nearly pure profit since the Governor still lives totally rent free in liberal heads!

Then there’s good old Harry Reid who finally came up for air in his incessant sliming of the Koch brothers to lash out at the Washington Redskins.  Maybe he should make a personal visit to Red Mesa High School on the Navajo reservation in Red Mesa, Arizona where he can see “Red Mesa Redskins” proudly emblazoned on the running track surrounding their football field.  He could also read about Redskins Sports and Redskins News on their website.  Apparently Harry gets to decide what is politically correct and what is offensive for “everyone.”  He’d get along fine with the cash strapped liberals at Brooklyn College in New York who refused a $10 million gift from those evil philanthropists, the aforementioned Koch brothers, and the frothing lunatics who are ranting that the United Negro College Fund should return the $25 million grant from the Koch’s, or the $100 million hospital gift they just made should be verboten! They just keep getting nastier and nastier.

We also see that President Obama has “promised” (spoiler alert!) that there will be no boots on the ground in Iraq but has dispatched 300 advisors to that country.  Apparently our special forces are so special that they can now hover somewhere above terra firma indefinitely.  Some may remember the “advisors” that were sent to Viet Nam as the Military Assistance Advisory Group in 1950.  How did that play out in history?  As the hard won stability in the Middle East disintegrates under this administration, it proves that a flaccid foreign policy results in premature evacuation that ultimately satisfies no one.

On top of that, the Border Patrol has now morphed into “Baby Sitters R Us.”  Somehow, despite assurances that the border is now more secure than ever, thousands upon thousands of unaccompanied children are able to cross with no difficulty.  If you expect that they will ever be returned to their home countries, then you probably also believe that Lois Lerner’s emails were accidentally lost, there’s not a “smidgeon” of corruption in the IRS, Obamacare is a fabulous success, and the Supreme Court’s 9-0 smack down of the president’s unconstitutional overreach is a gross miscarriage of justice!

 

Caveat Emptor

Dear Editor;

 

If you are looking for reliable information in Letters to the Editor, then caveat emptor, buyer beware.  It would be a full time job to correct all the "mistakes" and a lifetime endeavor to follow all the rabbit trails the writers throw up to obfuscate their errors in fact.  For instance, in response to the claim that Toyota left California for Texas because they wanted a more favorable business climate, one writer's "rebuttal" spends a lot of time talking about Fox News and "tin foil hat kooks."  Obviously he's unaware of the maxim that you only resort to name calling when you've lost the argument and have nothing else to offer.

 

What he finally did get around to is that Toyota will realize "massive cost savings" by "consolidation" in Texas.  These same savings from consolidation would also be realized if they had moved everything to California wouldn't they?  They didn't choose California; they chose Texas.  Why?  Maybe it's because California charges high taxes, imposes significant regulations, makes it hard to start a new business and has billions of dollars in debt for pensions owed to retired public employees.  Texas has more limited regulations, charges NO state income tax, reduces barriers to entry and creates a more dynamic business climate.  The business climate in Texas is usually rated in the top 5 while California is usually in the bottom 10 (and dead last in some!).  Texas has four times the job growth of California over the last 20 years and unemployment is 50% less than California's.  Put all that in your "tin foil hat kook" pipe and smoke it!

 

Another writer on the same subject claimed that Tesla was building a $5 billion plant in Lathrop, California and would employ 6,500 people which more than make up for the loss of Toyota employees.  That couldn't be more wrong.  Tesla does plan to build a "gigafactory" but Tesla CEO Elon Musk says it is "improbable" that it will be built anywhere in California.  Please review the previous paragraph if you are still wondering why.  To be sure, Tesla has begun modifying an empty plant in Lathrop that will be involved in manufacturing parts.  Initial plans call for them to employ 125 people and their website currently shows 17 job openings.  All the other "pie in the sky" conclusions that the writer makes are economic sophistry and purely delusional.

 

Don't expect them to admit to these mistakes as they have never admitted to any of their other errors.  Do expect them to change the subject, challenge on matters irrelevant to the discussion at hand, and continue to support a Big Government agenda at the expense of the Constitution and individual liberty.  I expect they will continue to call people names, misstate opposing positions, and knock down straw men that they have concocted.  If I err in fact, I expect to be called on it.  If you want to crawl around in the inner workings of my psyche, my heart, and my motivations, don't bother.

 

Take everything you read with a grain of salt and do your own research.  As Reagan was fond of saying "trust but verify."

 

Sincerely,

Bill Garvin