I Was Right! Senator Mark Warner Is A Coward!

Yes! I said it! Mark Warner (D-VA) is a coward of the first order!

On May 24, 2010, I posted the following:

Letters To Webb And Warner Concerning The Applause Offered To Felipe Calderon By The Democrats
84rules
May 24, 2010

In my letter to Warner, I made the following points and mentioned that I did not expect him to have the courage or integrity to respond to any of them:

Why do you roll over like a submissive puppy when a foreign leader who has no integrity on the issue of illegal immigration maliciously insults the United States and you simply go along with your fellow Democrats because it somehow suits you to see the United States so wrongfully and viciously maligned? Why have you not called out your fellow Democrats and demanded to know why they rendered such honors to a man who oversees one of the worst human rights abuses in the Western Hemisphere while criticizing a much more humane and lenient U.S. system? Why have you not called out Attorney General Eric Holder for offering unjustified criticism on a bill that he hadn’t even read and which only mirrors Federal law which he, as “top cop,” is obligated to uphold? Why have you not demanded that the Obama administration enforce Federal law rather than unjustly criticize a U.S. State for daring to enforce a law which the Federal government has been overtly failing to enforce?

Well, here is Warner's response:

Thank you for contacting me regarding our nation's immigration system. I appreciate the benefit of your views on this important issue. Our current immigration system is broken, which is why I believe Congress should work to pass bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform. Comprehensive immigration reform should include policies to secure our nation's borders, curb future illegal immigration, establish an effective employer verification system and find a practical solution for the millions of illegal immigrants currently residing in the U.S. I do not believe that illegal immigrants should gain an unfair advantage from their actions. Any effort to earn legal status must include paying back taxes, a fine or penalty and taking steps to learn English. Reform should also not penalize those individuals who have followed the law and are here legally. On April 23, 2010, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law Arizona State Bill 1070, which grants broad powers to local law enforcement officials to determine and request proof of legal status of anyone suspected of violating federal immigration laws. The enactment of this new law is yet another sign that the federal government needs to act to fix our broken immigration system rather than allowing for a state-by-state patchwork of laws and ordinances. I also believe Arizona's law raises civil rights concerns, fails to recognize the economic contributions of legal immigrant workers, and harms our nation's ability to attract entrepreneurs from around the world who create jobs here in the United States. Our nation faces many tough challenges. Immigration reform is a complicated and difficult issue but the current system is not working. We must put our differences aside to create a better system. Again, thank you for writing. As we move forward in the 111th Congress, please continue to contact me with your opinions and concerns. Sincerely, MARK R. WARNER United States Senator

He did not address one single point of my original letter. Instead, like a scared dog, he tucked his tail between his legs and simply rattled off a bunch of meaningless talking points. In his criticism of Arizona law, he completely ignored how Title 8 of the United States Code makes Arizona's law completely Constitutional, which I also pointed out to him in my original letter.

Clearly, Mark Warner is a coward who cannot be trusted to answer straightforward questions nor can he be the least bit expected to stand up to the corruption and wrong-doing of his own party, even when his own party applauds a foreign leader who is viciously and hypocritically maligning the United States.

Any supporters of Warner or members of his staff are strongly encouraged to respond to this post as a public debate on this issue will certainly go a long way to allowing a greater understanding of Warner's detachment from reality regarding this issue.

Now, it remains to be seen if Mr. Webb's cowardice will be the equal of Mr. Warner's.

Letters To Jim Webb And Mark Warner Concerning Retroactive Taxing Of Bonuses

Here are copies of the letters I emailed to Senators Webb and Warner concerning the retroactive taxes Congress wants to impose on the bonuses to be paid to employees of AIG.

Feel free to copy and paste this message and send it to your own Senators:

[Senator], I am writing you to ask you to vote "Nay" on the upcoming bill that would impose retroactive taxes on bonuses paid out to AIG employees. Whether those bonuses are right or wrong, good or bad, is immaterial to my concern here. I am concerned about the integrity of the Constitution of the United States of America. Specifically, Article I, Section 9, Clause 3 which clearly and unambiguously states: "No Bill of Attander or Ex Post Facto law shall be passed." HR1586 which passed the House yesterday falls, by definition, under that clause in two ways. First, a Bill of Attainder, in the context of the Constitution, means a bill that has a negative effect on a single person or group. A punitive tax that specifically targets a certain group (e.g. those who were to receive these bonuses) certainly falls under the definition here. That makes this tax unconstitutional. Second, when Congress passed the stimulus package and Barack Obama put the Presidential signature on that bill, it became the law of the land. Part of that law is an amendment put in by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) that specifically exempted these bonuses from any regulation. Now, Congress is seeking to implement a law that puts such regulation in place and they want to enforce this law retroactively. That is known as an Ex Post Facto law. This too makes this legislation unconstitutional. Either way you look at it, this 90% tax Congress wants to retroactively impose on bonus payments that had previously been made perfectly legal by Congress and the President, is wholly, completely and absolutely unconstitutional. Anyone who would willingly violate a single provision of the Constitution would most certainly be willing to violate any other provision. Please do not be such a person. Please vote "Nay" on the Senate version of HR1586 and preserve the integrity of the Constitution. Thank you.

As I wrote earlier, if this becomes law and is not struck down by the Supreme Court, the Republic will be in grave danger.

Letters to Senators Web And Warner About The Porkulus/Spendulus Spending Bill

Here is the text of a letter that I will be faxing/emailing this morning to Senators Webb and Warner, both liberal Democrats from Virginia. Feel free to copy/paste the letter and fax or email it in yourself. Contact information is provided below.

Dear [Senator], I am writing this letter to ask you to vote “Nay” on S. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This bill was a bad idea from the beginning. It will cost $1.3 trillion that we do not have, and $1.3 trillion that our children and grandchildren will have to work to pay off. And, given the new revelations of health care provisions (which have nothing to do with stimulating the economy) that were stealthily inserted into this bill, it is even more imperative that you vote against it. In particular, I am referring to Title VII, the subsection titled “Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality.” It states: "That the funding appropriated in this paragraph shall be used to accelerate the development and dissemination of research assessing the comparative clinical effectiveness of health care treatments and strategies, including through efforts that: (1) conduct, support, or synthesize research that compares the clinical outcomes, effectiveness, and appropriateness of items, services, and procedures that are used to prevent, diagnose, or treat diseases, disorders, and other health conditions and (2) encourage the development and use of clinical registries, clinical data networks, and other forms of electronic health data that can be used to generate or obtain outcomes data: Provided further, That the Secretary shall enter into a contract with the Institute of Medicine, for which no more than $1,500,000 shall be made available from funds provided in this paragraph, to produce and submit a report to the Congress and the Secretary by not later than June 30, 2009 that includes recommendations on the national priorities for comparative clinical effectiveness research to be conducted or supported with the funds provided in this paragraph and that considers input from stakeholders: Provided further, That the Secretary shall consider any recommendations of the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research established by section 802 of this Act" This is very dangerous wording and will lead us to the socialized health care systems that have wreaked havoc on the people of Canada and Europe. Essentially, it allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a standard of who and what can be treated by doctors and hospitals and who and what cannot. In other words, it will permit the Federal Government to approve or disapprove of a doctor’s recommended treatment of a patient. It will effectively allow the Federal Government to over-ride a doctor’s decision. Given the fact that these bureaucrats will have little to no medical training themselves, that alone is reason enough to oppose this bill. Further, this provision was hidden in this bill for a specific reason. Tom Daschle, the tax-evading former HHS appointee, wrote in his 2008 book, Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis, that he supported the failed socialized medicine plan of the Clintons in 1994 and said that its failure was due to delay. (In actuality, the American people do not want the government making medical decisions for them.) Hence, Daschle wrote “If that means attaching a health-care plan to the federal budget, so be it. The issue is too important to be stalled by Senate protocol.” Thus, this socialized medicine provision was written in to the bill during some late-night session when the cameras were not rolling and the Republicans had been locked out of the proceedings. Please vote “Nay.” On this bill and help to preserve quality health care for Virginia and America and to protect our children and grandchildren from a debt that they had no hand in creating. Thank you.

Senator Webb's contact information:

Fax: 202-228-6363
On-line contact: Contact Senator Webb

Senator Warner's contact information:

Fax: 202-224-6295
On-line contact: Contact Senator Warner

Democrats Force Higher Energy Costs On America: Ban Exploration Of Oil Rich Lands

Get ready for higher energy costs courtesy of the Democrat-controlled Congress. The Senate voted 66-12 to ensure that we Americans remain dependent on foreign oil to satisfy the needs of our economy. What is even worse is that now, we will be at the mercy of OPEC more than ever before in our history.

For those of you from Virginia, you'll note that the very first legislative action of Senator Mark Warner was to ensure that we Virginians are paying higher prices for our energy needs. You'll also noted that Jim Webb voted that way as well.

Writing for Town Hall, Amanda Carpenter has this to say:

The 1200-page, pork-laden, $10 billion proposal locks up millions of acres of energy-rich property by designating it as environmentalist-friendly “federal wilderness” area where not even as much as a bicycle would be permitted to travel across the land. Many of these areas recently became available when the ban on domestic drilling in Western states expired last fall and the liberal left couldn’t muster the courage to keep it in place due to rising energy prices. Now Democratic leaders are using different legislative strategies to put a new kind of ban in place.

The Dems have deluded themsleves into believing that some form of alternative energy is going to come to our rescue within the next four years. Don't hold your breath over it. Oil is still the most economical energy source we have and no matter how much money we put into solar or wind or pixie dust, alternative energy sources will not be able to make up for the amount of energy we will be losing because of this land grab.

More:

For example, one piece of the bill that has drawn the ire of the Wall Street Journal is a provision sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D.-Mass.). He’d like to make a robust, container shipping port located in his district’s Taunton River into a scenic tourist destination. This would have the liberally convenient side effect of killing a proposal to create a terminal to import liquefied natural gas.

Again, this will have the effect of forcing energy prices higher. But will Barney Frank, Jim Webb and Mark Warner care? No! They have all the perks they need as members of Congress and no reason to care about the needs of Joe and Jane Average American.

And no bill shoved through Congress using the new Democrat rules that bar Republicans from offering alternative legislation or bringing in testimony from opposing viewpoints would be complete without loads of pork.

Read on:

Then, as to be expected in an omnibus bill, there’s the pork. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D.) is requesting $461 million to legally settle a dispute over the San Joaquin River with the environmentalist group Natural Resources Defense Council. The money would be used for a water project that has the “minimum goal” of restoring 500 salmon to the river. (That’s nearly $1 million per fish!) Montana Sen. Jon Tester (D.) wants $5 million to fund a “Wolf Compensation and Prevention Program” to assist property owners use “non-lethal” measures to prohibit wolves from killing their livestock.

Didn't Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid promise fiscal responsibility when they took over in 2006? Weren't they complaining that the Republicans were waiting resources and pushing energy prices higher?

The Dems lied to us back in 2006 and again in 2008. We are in for some very long years ahead, possibly even a new Great Depression and the Democrats will only have themselves to blame for it.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Harry Reid’s Land Grab
Amanda Carpenter
TownHall.com
January 10, 2009

To see how they voted, click here:

How They Voted On S. 22
United States Senate
January 11, 2008

Mark Warner's Macaca Moment: Calls Christians, NRA Members And Home-Schoolers A 'Threat To America'

You know, I believe in the right to keep and bears arms just as the Supreme Court ruled the Second Amendment says. I believe the Judeo-Christian Faith is what allowed America to grow into the nation it is today. I believe people should have the right to educate their own children when public schools fail due to teachers indoctrinating rather than educating students.

And Mark Warner has the unmitigated gall to call me a "threat to America?"

Does he not see his own presidential candidate, the one he has pictures of in his own ads, palling around with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and not see that as a threat? Does he not see Obama's thugs trying to silence criticism through the use prosecutors and law-enforcement officials and not see that as a threat?

No, he sees people like me, people who believe in the rights guaranteed under the first ten amendments, as a threat to America.

He might as well have just called me and millions like me a "macaca."

You can access the audio of him saying these things here:



Or you can access it on-line here:

Warner Attacks The NRA And Other Groups
YouTube.com
July 22, 2008

Dealing With Illegals In Virginia

Illegal immigration may not be that big an issue within the GOP anymore. Look at the impending nomination of John McCain. If conventional wisdom held true, Senator McCain would not be the party's presumptive nominee. Apparently, all those Republicans who claim that illegal immigration was tops on their priority lists either didn't bother to campaign or to vote in the primaries, or if they did, a hefty share of them voted for John McCain.

Here in Virginia, we have been trying to hit the illegal alien problem head-on and the nation is beginning to take notice. So much so that Cal Thomas made it the central theme of his latest essay.

Check it out:

Virginia's Republican Attorney General, Robert McDonnell, is beginning the deportation process with a class of people not even the most vehemently pro-immigrant activist should defend. They are sex offenders and McDonnell, working in cooperation with the Virginia State Police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, has identified 171 people who have been convicted of sex crimes. Some are illegal aliens, others have legal status, but their convictions violate the conditional terms of their residency and make them subject to deportation.

That's a good start and it should be repeated in every state in the Union. If we can't deport them all at once (I actually think a mass deportation can be done) let's get rid of the most vile of them first.

Cal goes on:

Asked whether the targeting of illegal alien sex offenders is the first step toward going after other criminal aliens, McDonnell said, "We're planning to do all of them. My position is that criminal illegal aliens or criminal aliens have forfeited their right to be in the country. There is broad agreement, regardless of which side people are on in the illegal immigration debate, that the criminal alien should be detained and deported." ... One northern Virginia jurisdiction with a high illegal alien population is the city of Manassas. In response to intense citizen complaints, the Manassas City Council has authorized local police to begin checking the immigration status of people they arrest for any crime. If they find the suspects are in the country illegally, they are now authorized to begin deportation proceedings. On March 3, neighboring Prince William County will begin implementing a similar program to crackdown on illegals. These two jurisdictions are in sync with what McDonnell is now doing statewide. Immigrant rights leader Ricardo Juarez of Mexicans Without Borders (a name that tells you something about his goal) is quoted in The Washington Examiner newspaper as saying, "This policy will only make the situation worse and will drive people out." Precisely. That is the intent of the program; to drive criminal illegal aliens out, preferably back to where they came from and especially if they have twice violated our laws.

How unbelievable is it that Ricardo Juarez would come to the defence of criminals, including sex offenders and pedophiles? Is the entire pro-amnesty/open-boarders movement also on the pro-criminal bandwagon? If not, they better start writing press releases stating so.

More:

Not all of the Virginia sex offenders fit the demographic stereotype. Yes, most are from Mexico, or Central and South American countries, but quite a few are from other nations, including Ethiopia, India, Iran, Thailand, even Scotland. So this is not about ethnicity. It is about breaking the law. The issue of illegal immigration and most especially that of criminal aliens should be a major issue in the presidential campaign. It is bad enough when immigration activists countenance the breaking of our laws and defend people who do it; it is something else when they attempt to defend sex offenders and others who have broken other laws while here.

Not just in the Presidential campaign, but also in local Congressional elections. If Jim Gilmore hasn't already jumped on this issue in support of the City of Manassas then he should do so immediately and begin contrasting himself with Mark Warner. It would go a long way to making sure Virginia doesn't put another tax-and-spend, pro-amnesty, give-benefits-to-illegals liberal in the Senate.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Hit The Road Jack
Cal Thomas
TownHall.com
February 28, 2008

A Brokered Convention? Stupid Idea!

J.B. Williams and Frank Salvato published a column today in which they proposed a plan by which the conservative base of the GOP can derail a John McCain nomination in St. Paul. I have two words: Stupid idea. In fact, it would have been more appropriate if these two had waited and published this column on April 1st.

If Republicans Really Want Their Party Back ...
J.B. Williams and Frank Salvato
GOPUSA.com
February 14, 2008

And what's worse is that Williams and Salvato give the very reasons why it would be a stupid idea right in their own column:

If 62.4% of Republicans really do oppose McCain becoming the Party nominee, then they need to do something more than whine and complain about it. If their best plan is to stay home in protest come November, or buy into some insane third party fantasy, they will be sadly disappointed with the outcome of their plan. Further, the idea of getting involved in the RNC or Republican Party organizational process -- becoming a committeeman or precinct captain -- and effecting meaningful change is a genuine solution-based thought to consider for the future, but incredibly late for 2008 and a patently unrealistic method of dealing with the current McCain crisis.

Ever hear the old saying: "You snooze, you lose?" Well, look in that second paragraph above and you will see another poetic tag-line: "Incredibly late for 2008."

The vaunted "Conservative base" of the GOP was conspicuously missing from the voting booths on Super Tuesday and conspicuously missing from the campaigns of candidates like Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter and Tommy Thompson. The Conservatives jumped into the fray way too late to make a difference.

And now, after surrendering their chance to be heard the first time around, they are demanding a second chance? Here is what Williams and Salvato are proposing:

Mike Huckabee is still in the race with 240 delegates. Romney is sitting on another 285 delegates with his campaign in a "suspended" state. Both can still collect delegates. Even though neither can actually win the nomination before the convention, the two combined have the power to stop a McCain nomination and force him into an open convention where the delegates are all in play. Simply put, what has to happen between now and July 12th is this. Huckabee and Romney have to continue amassing delegates, denying those delegates to McCain and forcing an open convention. ... The goal of affecting an open convention achieved the process of selecting the legitimate Republican nominee will be rightfully back in the hands of the Republican electorate.

Yes, that same electorate that failed to show up on Super Tuesday or in any of the campaigns before that.

The only goal this ridiculous proposal will accomplish is the disenfranchisement of those GOP voters who got up off of their rear-ends and went out to campaign and vote! Not only would it have a seriously negative effect on the GOP Presidential campaign (two months is not long enough to mount an effective national campaign), it would also lead to disastrous results for local campaigns and elections.

Consider my home state of Virginia. Here in the Commonwealth, John McCain won by a 2-digit margin. What would happen if Williams and Salvato's scheme actually worked and the delegates that we pledged to John McCain were suddenly taken away and forced to vote otherwise? It would mean a huge loss of confidence in the GOP as a whole which would mean a lower voter turnout. After all, why vote if your voice has been deliberately silenced?

Well, we have several key Congressional races going here in Virginia, not the least of which is a Senatorial race for the seat being vacated by John Warner. The GOP candidate, Jim Gilmore has a serious uphill bettle ahead of him to defeat the Dem candidate Mark Warner. If the collective voice of the Virginia voters is silenced in St. Paul, the effect will be a smaller GOP voter turnout for the local races. That would mean a larger Dem majority in both houses of Congress.

This same thing would happen in every other state the John McCain won.

No, a brokered convention will only mean a broken and fractured GOP that won't recover from 2008 for at least six to ten years during which the Dem Socialists would run wild over the U.S. We cannot let this happen.

Williams and Salvato should be encouraged to take their brokered convention plan over to the Dems.