Conservatives Oppose Mass Criminal Release

With the presidential race the focus of most of the media attention, a major division among Senate Republicans over so-called “criminal justice reform” has gotten little attention. But the liberal media are now beginning to notice that conservatives are mounting a campaign to stop a piece of legislation that has been advertised as a major part of President Obama’s left-wing legacy.

Read more at Accuracy in Media
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

H-1B reform right on time

Last week, a bipartisan pair of senators, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), introduced a pro-American H-1B reform bill aimed at ending the chronic abuses of the long-compromised guest-worker program. The timing could not have been better. Not only has the New York Times just begun a new series of reports on H-1B abuse, but also just released is Michelle Malkin's latest tour de force Sold Out which skewers the program and looks to be one of the more important books this presidential cycle. Even traders on Wall Street think the Grassley-Durbin bill's serious. H-1B outsourcer Tata Consulting declined 3 percent last week after it was introduced.

Read more at The Hill
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

Taxpayers Fleeing Democrat-Run States for Republican Ones

In 2013, more than 200,000 people on net fled states with Democrat governors for ones run by Republicans, according to an analysis of newly released IRS data by Americans for Tax Reform. --"People move away from high tax states to low tax states. Every tax refugee is sending a powerful message to politicians," said ATR President Grover Norquist. "They are voting with their feet. Leaders in Texas and Florida are listening. New York and California are not."

Read more at American's for Tax Reform
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

US Chamber of Commerce Pres: Pass Amnesty Now Before it Gets Tougher

Saying the political landscape will not be more conducive to amnesty legislation in two or four years, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue wrote on Monday that immigration reform must happen now. ✧ Donohue has previously said that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would "pull out all the stops" to get immigration reform this year. The group reportedly plans to spend $50 million to blunt the influence of the Tea Party, largely because it opposes amnesty, and millions more to push for immigration reform legislation that the Congressional Budget Office has said would lower the wages of American workers.

Read more at Breitbart Read More......

The House’s Foolhardy Principles

National Review Online by Mark Krikorian
The Republican “Standards for Immigration Reform,” released today by the party at its congressional retreat, are pretty much what we’d been led to expect. They call for more enforcement, increasing legal immigration but orienting it away from family ties, and amnesty.

They’re really not that different from the Senate Gang of Eight’s original “Bipartisan Framework for Immigration Reform.” And look how that turned out.

Read more at National Review
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

NRO: House Republicans Unveil Immigration Reform Principles

National Review Online/THE CORNER by Andrew Stiles
House GOP leaders on Thursday [Jan. 30] released the following one-page document outlining their “standards for immigration reform”:

PREAMBLE

Our nation’s immigration system is broken and our laws are not being enforced. Washington’s failure to fix them is hurting our economy and jeopardizing our national security. The overriding purpose of our immigration system is to promote and further America’s national interests and that is not the case today. The serious problems in our immigration system must be solved, and we are committed to working in a bipartisan manner to solve them. But they cannot be solved with a single, massive piece of legislation that few have read and even fewer understand, and therefore, we will not go to a conference with the Senate’s immigration bill. The problems in our immigration system must be solved through a step-by-step, common-sense approach that starts with securing our country’s borders, enforcing our laws, and implementing robust enforcement measures. These are the principals guiding us in that effort.

Border Security and Interior Enforcement Must Come First

It is the fundamental duty of any government to secure its borders, and the United States is failing in this mission. We must secure our borders now and verify that they are secure. In addition, we must ensure now that when immigration reform is enacted, there will be a zero tolerance policy for those who cross the border illegally or overstay their visas in the future. Faced with a consistent pattern of administrations of both parties only selectively enforcing our nation’s immigration laws, we must enact reform that ensures that a President cannot unilaterally stop immigration enforcement.

Implement Entry-Exit Visa Tracking System

A fully functioning Entry-Exit system has been mandated by eight separate statutes over the last 17 years. At least three of these laws call for this system to be biometric, using technology to verify identity and prevent fraud. We must implement this system so we can identify and track down visitors who abuse our laws.

Employment Verification and Workplace Enforcement

In the 21st century it is unacceptable that the majority of employees have their work eligibility verified through a paper based system wrought with fraud. It is past time for this country to fully implement a workable electronic employment verification system.

Reforms to the Legal Immigration System

For far too long, the United States has emphasized extended family members and pure luck over employment-based immigration. This is inconsistent with nearly every other developed country. Every year thousands of foreign nationals pursue degrees at America’s colleges and universities, particularly in high skilled fields. Many of them want to use their expertise in U.S. industries that will spur economic growth and create jobs for Americans. When visas aren’t available, we end up exporting this labor and ingenuity to other countries. Visa and green card allocations need to reflect the needs of employers and the desire for these exceptional individuals to help grow our economy.

The goal of any temporary worker program should be to address the economic needs of the country and to strengthen our national security by allowing for realistic, enforceable, usable, legal paths for entry into the United States. Of particular concern are the needs of the agricultural industry, among others. It is imperative that these temporary workers are able to meet the economic needs of the country and do not displace or disadvantage American workers.

Youth

One of the great founding principles of our country was that children would not be punished for the mistakes of their parents. It is time to provide an opportunity for legal residence and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children through no fault of their own, those who know no other place as home. For those who meet certain eligibility standards, and serve honorably in our military or attain a college degree, we will do just that.

Individuals Living Outside the Rule of Law

Our national and economic security depend on requiring people who are living and working here illegally to come forward and get right with the law. There will be no special path to citizenship for individuals who broke our nation’s immigration laws – that would be unfair to those immigrants who have played by the rules and harmful to promoting the rule of law. Rather, these persons could live legally and without fear in the U.S., but only if they were willing to admit their culpability, pass rigorous background checks, pay significant fines and back taxes, develop proficiency in English and American civics, and be able to support themselves and their families (without access to public benefits). Criminal aliens, gang members, and sex offenders and those who do not meet the above requirements will not be eligible for this program. Finally, none of this can happen before specific enforcement triggers have been implemented to fulfill our promise to the American people that from here on, our immigration laws will indeed be enforced.

Read More......

After Repeal of Obamacare: Moving to Patient-Centered, Market-Based Health Care

HERITAGE FOUNDATION RESEARCH
Abstract: Obamacare moves American health care in the wrong direction by eroding the doctor–patient relationship, centralizing control, and increasing health costs. True health care reform would empower individuals, with their doctors, to make their own health care decisions free from government interference. Therefore, Obamacare should be stopped and fully repealed. Then Congress and the states should enact patient-centered, market-based reforms that better serve Americans.

Read more at Heritage.org

Note: Many of the solutions this Heritage paper presents are solutions Republicans have submitted in various bills since the healthcare debate began. Harry Reid and Senate Democrats have refused to consider free-market solutions, while the president deceitfully claims that Republicans have not offered any solutions for greater coverage and health care reform. --bc Read More......

RS: An Open Letter to Senator Marco Rubio

RED STATE, By Daniel Horowitz (Diary), April 24, 2013

Dear Senator Rubio,
As the public finally gets an opportunity to read and analyze the bipartisan gang of 8 immigration bill, it is clear that there will be some irreconcilable differences between your vision of immigration reform and that of many conservatives across the country. However, we should all agree that this is an extremely consequential bill and must go through a long process – one which will allow all points of view to be heard.

Several months ago, you promised Rush Limbaugh that you would never be part of a process “that comes up with some bill in secret and brings it to the floor and gives people a take it or leave it.” Unfortunately, the process that has commenced thus far is ostensibly a ‘take it or leave it’ approach. Read more at Red State... Read More......

Morning Bell: The End of Welfare Reform As We Know It

The Obama Administration made yet another end run around Congress last week—this time, to gut the successful welfare reform law of 1996. If this is allowed to stand, it will mean rewinding years of progress that lifted millions out of poverty. Read more by Amy Payne at Morning Bell... Read More......

CPI: Opposing More Top-Down Control of Oregon Education

Steve Buckstein of Cascade Policy Institute testified before the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee on Wednesday, February 8th.

CASCADE POLICY INSTITUTE, 2/8/2012, Testimony of Steve Buckstein - [Excerpt:] "I’m here to oppose SB 1581 because I believe that the legislature is continuing to fall into the “bigger is better” trap. The goal of unifying everything from early childhood through graduate school education can’t be accomplished without pushing power and control even farther away from the people who should matter most—parents and students. This bill, by giving even partial control over a number of positions in Oregon’s public education system to the new Chief Education Officer, simply continues movement into that trap. Read full testimony at CPI...

Related: Oregon Catalyst, 2/13/2012 - Whose education testimony are the Senators afraid of? by Steve Buckstein Read More......

CPI: Thousands of Oregon Kids Waiting – Literally – for Education Package

CASCADE POLICY INSTITUTE, 6/16/2011 by Christina Martin - This week, legislators and lobbyists are working frantically behind the scenes on an education package that could help transform educational opportunities for students across Oregon. The package features reforms that will shape the state’s oversight of education as well as parents’ ability to choose a public school based on a school’s merits rather than its address. Read more at CPI... Read More......

TA: Why Hasn't Anyone Signed Up For the High-Risk Health Insurance Pools?

THE ATLANTIC, 6/2/2011 by Megan McArdle - I've predicted that lots of parts of Obamacare will not work the way they're expected to. But here's one I wouldn't have predicted: the high-risk pools, which were meant to tide people over until 2013, have signed up just 18,000 people as of March. ∴ There were supposed to be millions of people who were uninsurable because of pre-existing conditions. We heard lengthy testimony about their terrible plight. I don't think it's too strong to say that this fear--that you could get sick and no one would insure you, that's right, you, Mr. & Mrs. Middle-Class Voter--was one of the main reasons offered for the health care overhaul. It was estimated by Medicare's Chief Actuary that around 400,000 would sign up (the CBO estimated 200,000, but only because they assumed that HHS would use its authority to limit enrollment in order to stay within the $5 billion budgeted for the program). So where are all the uninsurable people? [Emphasis added] Read more at The Atlantic... Read More......

Fri., March 11: Rally & hearings on Oregon single payer health care

Supporters of the Oregon Single Payer Campaign (a single payer health care system) will hold a Legislative Action Day rally on Friday, March 11th at Noon on the Capitol steps (Salem) in support of HB 3510 and SB 888, bills to establish the Affordable Health Care for All Oregon Plan, a single payer plan.

Hearings on HB 3510 start at 3:00 p.m.

Endorsers of HB 3510 – Affordable Health Care for All Oregon

1. AFL-CIO Oregon
   
2. Alliance for Democracy
   
3. Alliance for Retired Americans – Oregon
   
4. American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2157
   
5. American Federation of Musicians (AFM), Local 99
   
6. American Federation of Teachers Oregon
   
7. American Association of University Professors – PSU
   
8. American Medical Student Association – OHSU
   
9. Central Oregon Jobs with Justice
   
10. Community Alliance of Tenants
    
11. CWA 7901 (Communication Workers of America)
    
12. Eastside Democratic Club
    
13. Elders in Action
    
14. Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network/Jobs with Justice
    
15. First Unitarian Church of Portland
    
16. Health Care for All Oregon
    
17. IBEW 48 (Electricians)
    
18. ILWU Local 5
    
19. ILWU 8 (Longshore and Warehouse)
    
20. Interfaith Health Care Network
    
21. IUOE 701 (Operating Engineers)
    
22. Mad as Hell Doctors
    
23. Mid-Willamette Valley Jobs with Justice
    
24. National Association of Social Workers, Oregon Chapter
    
25. Nurses for Single Payer Health Care (Portland)
    
26. Oregon Consumer League
    
27. Oregon Education Association
    
28. Oregon Nurses Association
    
29. Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
    
30. Oregon State Council for Retired Citizens
    
31. Pacific Green Party, Portland Metro Chapter
    
32. Portland Alliance
    
33. Portland Jobs with Justice
    
34. Physicians for a National Health Program - Corvallis
    
35. Physicians for a National Health Program – OHSU
    
36. Physicians for a National Health Program – Portland
    
37. Rural Organizing Project
    
38. Sisters of the Road
    
39. Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice
    
40. United Seniors of Oregon
    
41. Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

Read More......

Oregon's Obamacare -- hearing Friday

VICTORIA TAFT, 3/8/2011 - "OregonObamaCare Coming. Unless YOU Stop It! Hearing Friday. After rearranging the construct of DHS and health care delivery in the last legislature (elections have consequences) here, Democrats have set the table for ObamaCare to come to Oregon. This is an unaffordable blank check to establish OregonObamaCare (This isn't what they're calling it. I just thought it looked snappy all mashed up). This bill establish a health care welfare plan, begin the process of taking control of HMO's, rationing care (of course) and, among other things, set up a huge bureaucracy without increasing the number of doctors. ∴ This, of course, will bankrupt the state..." Read more at Victoria Taft... Read More......

Act for America: A Muslim shatters political correctness

ACT FOR AMERICA, 10/8/2010 via email - "What Muslims in America can do" by Dr. M Zuhdi Jasser - You may get a hundred different answers from a hundred American Muslims about what it means to be an American Muslim. The controversial Islamic center near ground zero, while pouring salt in a yet widely open national wound, did begin to awaken us to the yet unfought war of ideas within the "House of Islam." Many of us reform-minded Muslims have been waging that war of ideas for most of our adult life, long before 9/11. But time has shown that we cannot wage this battle alone.

It may not seem to matter much for a faith community that is barely 1 percent of the population, but American Muslims carry an invaluable ability to influence the ideologies of over 1.5 billion Muslims - over a fifth of the world's population. Until middle America realizes how our national security hangs in the balance of that intellectual war within Islam, our security will never improve.

The last 12 months have seen the most arrests and attacks of radical Islamists on Americans since 9/11. This was confirmed to Congress last month by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who also finally acknowledged the growing homegrown threat of radical Muslims.

Sadly, many of my co-religionists called on by media to speak for American Muslims too often wallow in denial simply deflecting any responsibility by distancing themselves from radicals or myopically equating Muslim radicals to those of other faiths. They willfully ignore the main ideological conveyor belt towards radicalism - political Islam.

Most Americans no longer accept these detached irresponsible dismissals from leading American Muslims. They see so many examples of American Muslim clerics who condemn terror out of one side of their mouth while deceptively amplifying victimology, Islamophobia, anti-Americanism and morally vacant justifications from the other.

Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki, for example, condemned 9/11 in the national media and was hailed as a moderate Muslim while at the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque of Northern Virginia in 2001. Most, however, refused to look with any critique at his theo-political ideas - a political Islam with high risk of radicalization. Today, he is one of the greatest threats to America creating such violent traitors as Nidal Hasan. His sermons and teachings are a clinic on homegrown radicalization and yet they still fill some Islamic bookstores with no hint of any counter-ideological movement from leading American Muslim organizations. Since so many leading well-financed American Muslim groups are sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood's ideas, they are certainly not going to lead a movement against political Islam and for the separation of mosque and state.

In our conversation at Drake University this week, I hope we focus on the fact that at the center of the growing threat to our national security is this battle within the House of Islam. American Muslims need to accept and spread the meme that it is time to get shariah (Islamic law) out of government and bring the ideas of modernity and Enlightenment to the Islamic faith we love.

We need to take the offense in ending the ideas of jihad, the "ummah" as nation, and the "salafi" dream of returning everything to the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Until we Muslims take on the responsibility of separating history from religion and mosque from state, the threat will not dissipate.

Dr. Jasser is the president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, based in Phoenix, Ariz. Contact: info@airdemocracy.org, October 6, 2010

THE OTHER SIDE
[Fox News Channel's video excerpt: Imam Anjem Choudary - "We do believe as Muslims the East and the West will one day be governed by Sharia. Indeed we believe that one day the flag of Islam will fly over the Whitehouse."]

Read More......

CRNC Presents "Don't Put It On Our Tab: Not Too Big To Fail"

College Republican National Committee (CRNC)

www.crnc.org/petition SIGN NOW!!!

The College Republican National Committee is thrilled to announce the "Don't Put It On Our Tab" debt-awareness initiative! The national debt poses a lethal threat to our economic future, and we're not about to let the Democrats think we are ignorant to that fact. Help the CRNC stand up and speak out for our generation by signing the petition today!

Did you know that the a child born into this world today owes over $117,000 to the DEBT alone? With unemployment rising, 'entitlement' programs collapsing, and debt skyrocketing how are we ever going to pay that back? The answer is through conservative reform. Join our facebook group ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dont-Pu... ) to stay informed 24/7 about the debt, what we are doing to combat it, and to examine potential solutions to it! Read More......

Republicans Offered Better Solution to Hold Wall Street Accountable

PRESS RELEASE - Washington (Jul 15) House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement after the Senate passed the Democrats’ job-killing Wall Street bailout bill: “The American people want reform, not more bailouts from Washington Democrats for their Wall Street allies. The Democrats’ bill makes bailouts permanent, enshrines ‘too big to fail’ into law, and fails to reform the government mortgage companies that sparked the meltdown by giving high-risk loans to people who couldn’t afford it, and it needs to be fixed. House Republicans offered a better solution to stop the Democrats’ permanent bailouts, reform Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, and protect taxpayers and help small businesses create jobs. Our plan holds Wall Street accountable; the Democrats’ plan lets them off the hook. It’s time to start listening to the American people and work together on common-sense solutions to end the bailouts, reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and make Wall Street responsible for its actions.”

NOTE: Republicans offered comprehensive financial regulatory reform legislation – the Consumer Protection and Regulatory Enhancement Act (H.R. 3310) – designed to (1) stop the Democrats’ permanent bailouts for their Wall Street allies; (2) protect taxpayers and create jobs; (3) address Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac reform, the root causes of the housing meltdown & financial crisis; and (4) rein in the out of control Federal Reserve & end “too big to fail.”

HR3310 was introduced in the House on 7/23/2009. --bc Read More......

Tea Party protesters refused entry into congressional buildings

WASHINGTON EXAMINER, 3/20/2010 by Mark Hemingway - Capitol Police stopped letting peaceful protesters into the capitol to air their concerns with their representatives. Read more and see photos of the protest over the Democrats health care plan...

Vote scheduled for Sunday.

Comment from Tea Party Express, 3/20 (Hat tip: Stella Guenther) - druebeall said... I want to thank those who attended this event. I wished that I could have done so. however I am doing what I can on the other coast. Calling my elected officials and sending emails as well as bogging and sending letters to the editors of local news papers. The reason that America is in such dire striates[sic] is not the corrupt politicians fault, but rather ours, the American people, for not participating in our government as we were afforded by our founding fathers. By taking freedom and the American way for granted and not understanding that it is our duty to make our voices heard and our wishes known. So America, today, not tomorrow we must all get off our duffs and become active in our future because if we do not utilize the rights that we have, as the saying goes. . . you either use it or lose it! Read More......

Keep Medicare in Congress's hands (Bipartisan Op-Ed)

POLITICO, 3/19/2010 by Bill Frist and John Breaux - [Excerpt] While the new entity, an “Independent Payment Advisory Board,” addresses a growing problem, its structure in the current legislation raises serious constitutional and process questions that Congress must confront. ∴ The board, intended to help control Medicare costs — which, all agree, are rising at a concerning rate — would possess nearly total power over the federal health care program for the elderly and disabled.

[...] Ultimately, however, we would be better off looking to established congressional oversight rather than implementing heavy-handed regulation to make significant — and potentially unconstitutional — changes to a program essential to the successful delivery of health care to America’s seniors.

Bill Frist is a former Republican senator from Tennessee who served as majority leader. John Breaux is a former Democratic senator from Louisiana and served as co-chairman of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. Read more at Politico... Read More......

DeFazio Switches 'Yes' Vote to 'No' on Health Care Bill (unless...)

UPDATE: DeFazio voted "Yes."

FOXNews.com, 3/19/2010 - The vote tally on health care reform is starting to look like the Dow. ∴ Just when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seemed to be one vote shy of the 216 she needs for health care reform to pass, a Democrat [DeFazio] who voted for the bill last year says he's switching his vote to no. ∴ [...] But he indicated he could still change his mind again.

"I'm a no unless they fix this," he said, referring to what he sees as insufficient Medicare spending in rural areas."

Read more at FOX...

Note: Rep. Boccieri (D-OH) switched his vote from no to yes. Try to keep up with the health care vote switching at National Journal's Hotline On Call. Read More......