Carolina Politics Online

Rose Curto, Mexican Consulate consular in charge, said the consulate was doing nothing illegal. It only provided Mexican citizens with passports and other documents and providing services, she said. “We were asked to come here, because a lot of people would like to have the services we offer in Raleigh, but they can’t travel the four or five hours” Curto said. She said the consulate does not check the residency status of people visiting the consulate. “We only certify their nationality and their identity,” Curto said. Mumpower said the visit by the consulate only exacerbates the problem of illegal immigration in the United States. “The two biggest exports from Mexico are people and drugs,” Mumpower said. “These consulate representatives are only here to support one or both of those business enterprises.”

Times-News

Now really, who does Curto think is coming to see them?  My bets are on the majority of those having an illegal presence here.  And Mumpowers is right.  Mexico is not a friend of the United States.  They have been exporting their problems to our country for decades and our own Federal government is a player in it.  It is foolish what we allow to go on in this nation.  This is just another example of how the Feds are going to have been dragged kicking and screaming by the people to step up and stop this once and for all.

Call Senator DeMint and let him know you support his efforts on this issue!

The housing lobby is frustrated by the delay in passing the Mortgage Bailout Bill and has decided to target Senators Jim DeMint (R-SC) and John Ensign (R-NV).  Recently, lobbyists representing housing industry have started putting pressure on these two Senators whom they view to be the source of the delay.

The motive of the housing lobby should be obvious - if the $300 billion bailout is passed, then they will stand to benefit greatly from not having to take responsibility for their bad loans.  However, Senators DeMint and Ensign have been on the right side of this issue from day one and are leading the fight to expose the bill for what it is: an irresponsible bailout for house flippers and their banks.

Please take a few minutes to call 1-866-928-3035 to express your support for Senators DeMint and Ensign and encourage them to continue to stand firm for limited, responsible government.

Andrew Brown
Federal and State Campaigns
FreedomWorks
601 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
North Building, Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20004-2601
(202) 783-3870 phone
(214) 336-5273 cell
(202) 942-7649 fax
www.FreedomWorks.org

Dole said in an interview Thursday that when she first supported the moratorium on drilling in 2002 that gas was $1.40 per gallon, and now it’s more than $4.

“People’s opinions have evolved based on their circumstances,” she said. “Folks are really hurting, there’s no question about it.”

The campaign of Dole’s election challenger, state Sen. Kay Hagan, D-Guilford, labeled Dole as a flip-flopper.

The News & Observer

Yes, Dole has changed her position on this, though I don’t know that this really qualifies as a true “flip-flop.”  I think the current circumstances of energy prices allow members of Congress to modify their position on this issue without being accused of pandering or flip-flopping.  Undoubtedly, many Americans who may have opposed this at one point are changing their tune.

“The plan to drill off North Carolina’s coast is just another in a long line of bright ideas concocted and supported by the Bush-Dole team to pad the profits and the pockets of their oil-producing friends,” said Hagan’s spokeswoman, Colleen Flanagan.

I think this is a very foolish statement by Flanagan.  People aren’t happy about paying $4.00 a gallon per gas.  It may very well be $5 by November.  They are going to want Congress to act and resisting the push to drill offshore is going to cost Hagan votes, not win her any.

Others are also reconsidering. Last week, Rep. Mike McIntyre, a Democrat from Lumberton who represents the southern end of the N.C. coast, said skyrocketing gas prices are driving folks like him to take a second look at oil exploration if there can be enough assurances that it won’t harm the environment.

Will Hagan now accuse McIntyre of flip-flopping?  I wouldn’t bet on it.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., on Wednesday spearheaded opposition to a $50 billion expansion of President Bush’s signature program to combat AIDS in Africa and elsewhere overseas.

DeMint, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and five other Republican senators blocked Senate consideration of a bill that would more than triple U.S. aid to nations most stricken by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and to international relief groups helping them.

Charlotte Observer

With the country headed towards a recession, inflation up, energy costs up, and unemployment rising, what in the hell is George Bush thinking sending $50 billion of our money out of this economy and over to a foreign nation?  Not to the mention the fact that all of this foreign aid giving is unconstitutional anyway.  Cut that money out of the budget altogether and lower the deficit.  Praises to DeMint and Burr for watching out for the American taxpayer, on this bill anyway.  (I’m still pissed at Burr for voting for the mortgage bailout)

With an unemployment office as a backdrop, Democrat Harry Taylor Thursday ripped Republican U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick for voting this month against extending jobless benefits by three months.

“Either she doesn’t know what’s going on or she doesn’t care,” Taylor said at news conference at a south Charlotte unemployment office.

Myrick was among 137 members, all Republican, who voted against the Democratic-sponsored bill.

Charlotte Observer

Myrick made the right vote.  Taylor evidently would have voted for bigger government.  The government isn’t there to take care of you and shouldn’t pay you because you lose your job.  Our entitlement spending is already way out of control.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Aaron Groen

June 26, 2008
202-225-2071

Foxx praises Supreme Court’s Second Amendment ruling

High Court strikes down D.C.’s longstanding ban on gun ownership

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Virginia Foxx made the following statement today after the Supreme Court ruled that Washington, D.C.’s gun ownership ban was unconstitutional and in violation of the Second
Amendment:

“The Supreme Court’s decision today restores the constitutional rights of the thousands of law-abiding citizens in Washington, D.C. who for decades have seen their second amendment rights stripped away by an unconstitutional gun ban,” Foxx said.

“Law-abiding Americans have the constitutional right to own guns and it is high time that D.C. residents are given the right to purchase legal guns for legitimate purposes like sport shooting or self-defense. Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a victory for individual rights and for the fundamental personal liberties every American enjoys each day.”

Note: Last year Rep Foxx signed an amicus brief that was submitted to the Supreme Court urging the Court to overturn the District of Columbia’s unconstitutional gun ban.  Rep. Foxx is also a member of the Congressional Second Amendment Caucus, a group of Members of Congress dedicated to protecting the right of law-abiding individuals to own firearms as granted by the Constitution’s Second Amendment.  Foxx has co-sponsored H.R. 1399, a bipartisan bill to repeal the District of Columbia’s gun ban.

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WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday outlawed executions of people convicted of raping a child.

In a 5-4 vote, the court said the Louisiana law allowing the death penalty to be imposed in such cases violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

“The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion. His four liberal colleagues joined him, while the four more conservative justices dissented.

There has not been an execution in the United States for a crime that did not also involve the death of the victim in 44 years.

Patrick Kennedy, 43, was sentenced to death for the rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter in Louisiana. He is one of two people in the United States, both in Louisiana, who have been condemned to death for a rape that was not also accompanied by a killing.

The AP

I think I’ve made my opposition to the death penalty pretty clear. However, the death penalty doesn’t bother me early as much as this block of five constitutionally illiterate Supreme Court justices who’ve apparently never heard of a little something called the 10th Amendment.

For those of you who need a refresher-

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

-The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

You may find it odd that I’m using a state political website to discuss a national issue, but this brainless decision has statewide implications as well. Once again, the imperial federal nanny-state has decided that all us little children dwelling in our respective home-states are too stupid to decide these things on our own. We need “smart people” like Anthony Kennedy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg to decide these things for us.

I disagree with Louisiana’s death penalty law. But Louisiana, by powers granted to it through the 10th Amendment, has a right to that law. It’s up to the people of Louisiana to approve or repeal that law- not Anthony freakin’ Kennedy! If the people of North Carolina decide they want to repeal its death penalty, or make it more encompassing, that’s up to the people of this state, not 5 dudes in robes in Washington, DC!

Some of you may wonder how the 8th Amendment figures into this, as that was the justification these five judges used to repeal Louisiana’s law.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

-The 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Sorry, but a quick needle in the arm as punishment for ripping the soul out of some innocent young child, as is the case in Louisiana, is not cruel and unusual. If Louisiana had put child rapists to death using the iron maiden or drawing and quartering, then you’d have a case to make under the 8th Amendment. But I recently had to put my dog to sleep and it was almost the exact same thing as what Louisiana planned to do. Are you telling me that’s somehow cruel and unusual? C’mon!

This is yet more more right taken away from states (and by extension the people) by the imperial federal nanny-state. To make it worse- it wasn’t even legislative, it’s some damn judicial fiat decision that probably can never be overturned.

Three Senators, belonging to the “party of personal responsibility”, the “party of small government”, and the “party of individual accountability” voted to throw away $300 billion of your tax dollars.  Lindsey Graham, Elizabeth Dole, and Richard Burr apparently think that it’s their job to hand your money over to irresponsible home owners, real estate speculators, and big companies like Countrywide Mortgage because they got in over their head.  Wasn’t that nice of them?

Stop paying your mortgage.  You don’t have to.  If you default the nannies in Washington will bail you out.  That’s the message that was sent by every Democrat present for this vote in the Senate and all but nine Republicans who were present in the Senate.  Jim DeMint was the only one of our Senators who voted against this feckless piece of legislation.

Dole is up for reelection in November, which I am sure plaid a role in her decision.  Now she can run around the state, when she actually comes here, and shamelessly pander to all the voters.  Look!  I voted to take other people’s money and give it to you so you can pay for that house you bought that you couldn’t afford in the first place!  Vote for me in November!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Aaron Groen

June 19, 2008
202-225-2071

Foxx votes for troop funding, veterans’ education benefits

Legislation funds troops through June 2009, extends education benefits

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Virginia Foxx today praised the
passage of a long-delayed troop funding bill (H.R. 2642
<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.02642:> ).  Foxx voted in favor of the troop funding legislation last night, which includes approximately $165 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through June 2009 and also includes $52 billion for veterans’ education benefits.

“After months of negotiations we finally have a bill that funds the troops without billions in wasteful Washington pork and political strings attached,” Foxx said.  “Commonsense prevailed and our men and women in uniform will have the funding they need for the next year.”

The final compromise version of the troop funding bill cut more than $8 billion in wasteful, unrelated Washington spending inserted by Senate Democrats and did not include tax increases sought by House Democrats.

“Not only does this legislation get our troops the funding they need when they need it, but our military commanders will be free to make strategic decisions without unnecessary and politically motivated
meddling,” Foxx said.

The provisions of the compromise version of H.R. 2642, the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008 are:

*        Provides Troop Funding for fiscal year 2008-2009.  H.R. 2642 ensures that American troops have the resources they need, rejecting demands from Democrats to stop funding our troops as they make significant progress in Iraq and Afghanistan.

*        Eliminates ALL War Restrictions.  This bill gets our troops the funding they need for success without any politically-motivated restrictions.

*        Includes NO Tax Increases.  The legislation includes no tax increases of any kind sought by House Democrats.

*        Provides New Education Resources for American Veterans.  This new education program will help our veterans (or their families) get a better education after they return from Iraq and Afghanistan.

*        Maintains Work Requirements for Unemployment Insurance.  At GOP insistence, H.R. 2642 protects taxpayers by maintaining the 20-week work requirement in order for a worker to receive extended unemployment benefits.  The agreement also limits the extension of benefits to 13 additional weeks.

*        Cuts Wasteful Pork.  The compromise bill cuts $8 billion in wasteful Washington spending added by Senate Democrats.

*        Rejects Funding for Planned Parenthood.  The legislation eliminates funding sought by Democrats for Planned Parenthood.

###

If I may indulge you with a quick detour into national politics for a sec…

Democrat Barack Obama on Friday rejected Republican rival John McCain’s proposal for 10 joint town hall appearances, offering instead to have just one on July 4.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said he offered to meet McCain in five joint appearances between now and the election Nov. 4, but only one of those was a town hall meeting, plus three traditional debates and an in-depth debate on foreign policy.

The McCain campaign said Obama’s offer was to hold the single town hall meeting on Independence Day, which likely would have resulted in less attention while Americans are on holiday. McCain told reporters traveling with him in New Jersey that was “a very disappointing response.”

The N&O

Yeah…hope and change. Sure. Keep telling us that, Barack. Looks like Barack the Magnificent isn’t that much different from most other political hacks. It’s real easy pontificating off a teleprompter, but actually going one-on-one with McCain and defending his extreme views is just a little bit too much change for him, I guess.

What a fraud.

WASHINGTON – Rep. Heath Shuler’s immigration bill got another hearing Tuesday, but time is running out on his plan to require employers to use a government database to screen out unauthorized workers.

Lawmakers acknowledged they needed to do something about the millions of illegal immigrants working in the U.S. But many at a House immigration subcommittee hearing cited numerous problems with mandating that employers use E-Verify, the Department of Homeland Security’s screening database, which currently is voluntary.

Asheville Citizen-Times

No surprise there.  The Federal Government has no interest in actually solving this problem.  If they did they would have done it years ago.  The only reason it is even being discussed is because the American people have forced their hand on it.  All those years of Republican control didn’t get the issue resolved and there is no way in Hell the Pelosi Congress will pay the needed attention to it.

Oil hedge funds and oil speculators are in part largely responsible for the high prices at the pump. We should not go after the oil companies at this time because taxing them will be simply passed on to the consumers.

The hedge funds and oil speculators do give in a 2 to 1 margin donations to Democrats over Republicans. The far left of the Democratic party is also responsible for preventing the exploration and aquisition of vast amounts of natural resources here in the United States.

The solution is to go after the speculators and oil hedge funds that are artificially inflating the costs to our citizens. While I do appreciate Rep. Kucinich’s efforts, he needs to concentrate on the speculators now and then reevaluate the US economy before going after Oil companies. Cutting subsidies and encouraging oil companies to invest in alternative enegies is needed. It is time to be concerned but not punitive.

06/10/08

My “esteemed” Congressman Jack Spratt (D-SC-05) who most certainly has had his share of fat, is running around bragging about the record $3.1 trillion budget that the Democrat Controlled Congress has passed in Washington. This is a reckless and irresponsible budget for a great many reasons.

One, it eliminates cuts to Medicare and Medicaid which are both a huge drain on our tax dollars and becoming more of a financial burden on the Federal government with each passing year. These entitlement programs need to be drastically cut back or they are going to consume a piece of the pie far too large for us to sustain in the not so distant future. The budget also expands SCHIP, another Socialist entitlement program that addicts our newborn citizens to the government nanny state the moment they exit the womb.

Spratt claims that we will have a balanced budget by 2012 with a large surplus, but that is also a flawed assessment. This balance will only be achieved if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire which will result in the largest tax increase in American history, heavily hitting the middle class and if the are no further military expenses regarding operations in Iraq and Afghanistan after 2009. If John McCain becomes President that is out the window and if Barack Obama becomes President it’s not likely to happen despite what he says.

This is a feckless spending plan that throws the baby out with the bath water.

Hampered by an unpopular president, record gas prices and a sour economy, Republicans across the country are bracing for a tough election year, particularly for Congress.

“I don’t want to say it’s a train wreck, but it’s an uphill climb,” U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, a Greensboro Republican, said Saturday.

But Coble and other Republicans who gathered for their state convention this weekend say they’re optimistic about the party’s chances in North Carolina.

Convention chairman Billy Miller of Charlotte called gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory and lieutenant governor hopeful Robert Pittenger the strongest GOP ticket since Jim Martin and Jim Gardner in 1988 became the last Republicans to win the seats. Republicans also like the chances of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

The N&O

Running as a Republican right now is like running a race with a rucksack on your back- a rucksack with George W. Bush actually inside of it.

But Republicans have lost three special House elections this year in conservative districts in Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi. President Bush’s approval rating, below 25 percent nationally, is about 40 percent in North Carolina, a state he carried by wide margins in 2000 and 2004.

The Republican Party’s own arrogance and incompetence caused this, and now all of us are gonna reap the consequences. This isn’t just going to be a bad year for Republicans; it’s going to be a bad year for freedom, individualism, personal liberty, and constitutionalism. A federal government dominated by Democrats is going to push through the most freedom killing, big government, collectivist programs you can possibly imagine. Not a single Democrat is going to stop and consider if any of those programs are constitutionally feasible. The Democrats either think of the Constitution as a “living document” or don’t think of it at all.

Meanwhile, a growing segment of Americans are being taught that sucking off the government teat their entire lives is just a dandy way to live. The collective masses, accustomed to the idea that “Mommy Government” is there to fix all their boo-boos, will cry “gimme, gimme, gimme!” The Dems will gladly satiate them with even more responsibility-absolving government programs. It’ll be just like a mother bird returning to a nest full of petulant crying babies- their mouths gaping as they expect to be fed. 

This is the future of America. Or it will be unless we work to change it. We can start with a good housecleaning in the Republican Party.

President Bush will be coming to Raleigh next month to raise money for GOP gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory and the state Republican Party.

Bush is scheduled to attend a high-dollar fundraiser on July 20 at the home of John Kane, the chairman of Kane Realty Corp., who is redeveloping the North Hills area, Rob Christensen reports.

The N&O

Bush is still a good fundraiser, but he’s absolutely radioactive everywhere else. The McCrory campaign had better keep him well hidden throughout this trip.

Harry Taylor, Sue Myrick’s Democratic Congressional opponent has come out criticizing Myrick’s offshore drilling bill as being ineffective.

Taylor, responding to Thursday’s proposal by the GOP congresswoman, said the problem is U.S. consumption. To offset that, he proposed:

A $2,000 tax cut to help “working families” pay for gas or switch to more economical cars.

A $4,000 tax credit for the purchase of hybrid vehicles that get more than 30 miles per gallon.

A requirement that in four years, every car sold in America be a hybrid.

A national pledge to cut gas consumption 10 percent within 30 days.

Charlotte Observer

I’m not opposed to Taylor’s idea of giving tax cuts for buying hybrid cars or for gasoline, but I’d sure like to know who “working families” are. I mean, if you have a job, you’re working, right? A CEO works for a living, doesn’t he?

The rest of his ideas are just a bunch of fluff. You can’t require every car sold four years from now to be a hybrid unless you really want to stick it to the poor and lower income Americans. Hybrid cars are expensive because they are expensive to manufacture. As far as the national pledge he refers to, that will be about as useless and naive as high schools that do the “Prom Promise” to not drink on prom night.

Taylor is in error to say that Myrick’s plan won’t be effective. American consumption of gasoline has already dropped over the past year and gasoline prices have skyrocketed. It’s not just our consumption that is the problem; it’s also the rest of the world, primarily developing nations like China and India that are using more oil. You need to increase the supply to be greater than the demand to bring down the prices and that is what Myrick’s plan helps do.

In Congress, there is a tiny glimmer of hope on the horizon. Representative Sue Myrick-R, NC, 9th District has introduced legislation called the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act, or DOER Act, which aims to lift the federal ban on offshore drilling on the states, and put the decision in each individual states’ hands. However, any profits produced will have to be shared with bordering states if the drilling site is within a certain distance of the neighboring state. Another contingency protects the first 50 miles of offshore area from drilling (to appease environmentalists) should the individual states choose to do so. This would ultimately leave the decision to drill for oil, with the allure of producing profits and helping the struggling economy or the side effect of “destroying” the natural environment to the states, as it should be per the Constitution.

Political Lore

That last part about the Constitution is key.  Drilling anywhere should be a state decision, not the Federal Government.  There is no reason why Alaskans should not be able to drill in ANWR on their own accord, nor any reason for North or South Carolina to not be able to drill off our own shores.

With the price of gas skyrocketing I think the push from Republicans in Congress to start drilling domestically is going to being gaining momentum unlike in the past.  With $4 per gallon gas, the angry cries of the American people will begin to overshadow the hold environmental extremists have on many of the D.C. politicians.

Congressman Robin Hayes has introduced the House version of legislation calling for improved barracks conditions on Fort Bragg, according to a press release.

Hayes, a Democrat from North Carolina, introduced the measure Thursday, the release said.

Hayes’ bill is a companion to legislation introduced in the Senate by Sen. Elizabeth Dole, a Republican from North Carolina, the release said.

The Fayetteville Observer

These standards need to extend to all U.S. army barracks within our borders and outside our borders where doable. Hayes’ bill is supposed to address that need.

Also, the Observer has a mistake in their article. Robin Hayes is a Republican, not a Democrat.

Sen. Richard Burr is trying to persuade leadership to allow a debate on his and Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bill as well. Their proposal, about $38 billion over 10 years, would raise the monthly stipend for veterans.

To address concerns from the Pentagon about troop retention, their bill also allows the full education benefit to be transferred to military members after 12 years of service. It also is authored by Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

The News & Observer

It would seem that Jim Webb has the better bill of the two.  Webb’s bill allows military members to go to any university they want in their home states, compared to serving 12 years to receive the full benefit as in Burr’s bill.  As far as troop retention goes, it would be a concern if we weren’t war mongering in Iraq.