Patriot Manifesto

It is way past time that we recognize the dangers the radical left poses to our continued viability as a nation. If we are to have any chance of saving this country, we must confront and tackle the difficult issues immediately at hand. The first step of course is to replace Congress with substantial majorities of dedicated conservative patriots this fall.

It is not enough however, to merely “throw the bums out.” We must recognize that radical leftist politicians are but the tip of the iceberg and represent a domestic political movement deeply entrenched throughout our institutions that is dedicated to the destruction of our country. This movement, this ideology and its practitioners must be identified, confronted and stopped in their tracks.

This is a matter for both the law and the political system. But the law is impotent without political support, and that support can only be obtained from brave, principled and dedicated public servants who both understand the magnitude of the problem and are willing to deal with it directly. With this in mind, we present the Patriot Manifesto.

Signers of the manifesto, hopefully millions of Republicans, Independents, and maybe even some Democrats, would take a pledge to support only candidates and organizations who agree to make at least some of the following issues their national priorities. Such agreement would have to be verifiable, either by public statements of support, or by signing the Manifesto. This Manifesto will apply to candidates running at all levels of government. Following are the necessary actions:

FEDERAL

1. Repeal all onerous legislation Obama has signed, starting with Obamacare, but all the other legislation as well, such as the Kennedy Serve America Act, hate crimes legislation, and Cap and Trade, should that pass.

2. Repeal all bailout legislation signed by this president and rescind all monies not yet spent. Release banks, automobile manufacturers and other industries from all restrictions imposed by Obama and Congress. Revoke lucrative deals with unions made by Obama.

3. Repeal all laws, including those contained in the 2010 Appropriations bill that provide funding for radical organizations like ACORN, the ACLU, the National Council of La Raza, CAIR and other radical groups.

4. Issue immediate call to investigate these organizations under the auspices of the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes or other applicable federal law.

5. Repeal the Community Reinvestment Act and all supporting legislation. This destructive law was designed to undermine our financial system by forcing financial institutions to abandon sound lending practices in the interest of wealth redistribution.

6. Repeal any tax increases enacted under Obama. Enact immediate broad-based tax relief; including making all Bush tax cuts permanent. Support immediate 3 – 6 month tax holiday.

7. Immediately open all domestic oil and gas sources to exploration/drilling. Immediately abolish restrictions against development of nuclear power and construction of new power plants. Support defendants in legal challenges brought by environmental groups with full force of Justice Department.

8. Return subsequent years' appropriations to pre-2010 levels.

9. Support increased military funding. Reauthorize funds for continued development and fielding of nationwide missile defense shield. Support funds for revitalizing aging ballistic missile systems. Support increase in fleet size, air force size and especially, the standing army. Loosen restrictions on rules of engagement. Demand investigation of those government officials, newspapers and private individuals whose treasonous activities – such as revelations about the terrorist wiretapping program – damaged national security.

10. Launch investigations into alleged massive vote fraud conducted in 2008 elections and demand responses to critical unanswered questions:

• Investigate alleged illegal collusion between ACORN, Obama campaign, labor and other organizations.
• Investigate activities of convicted insider trader George Soros and his philanthropic organizations regarding their current activities and their inordinate influence in the 2008 and prior elections.
• Demand immediate release of all records pertaining to questionable overseas contributions and domestic bundling operations conducted by the Obama Campaign.
• Demand immediate release of birth certificate, college and health records for President Obama. We want to know what his qualifications are.

11. Demand GENUINE comprehensive immigration reform, including:

• Repeal Motor Voter Law.
• Demand release of funds appropriated for border fence and support immediate construction. Pen legislation to extend and strengthen fence for entire border.
• Repatriate all illegal foreign nationals in the U.S. that have been identified, including those currently in U.S. jails.
• Draft legislation outlawing anchor babies and repeal all federal laws that support the illegal immigrant community in any way - repeal funding the National Council of La Raza and similar organizations that serve specifically immigrant communities.
• Take aggressive efforts against asylum states: deny block grants and other federal funding unless and until they begin enforcing the law.
• Investigate, arrest and punish state/local officials who willfully promote illegal immigrant asylum within their states in defiance of federal and state law.
• Advocate for legislation codifying English as the official language of the United States.

12. Sign a statement of philosophy that recognizes the superiority of a free, minimally taxed and regulated market and limited government as delineated by the U.S. Constitution. Take a pledge to work towards restoring America to that ideal, including support of judicial nominees who believe in Judicial restraint. That the Judiciary's role is to interpret the Constitution not rewrite it.

STATE

1. Support across the board tax cuts.

2. Sign resolution taking back states' rights under the 10th Amendment.

3. Cut wasteful spending and remove onerous regulations.

4. Aggressively enforce laws on illegal immigration.

5. Repeal any state laws that provide assistance to illegal immigrants.

LOCAL

1. Support across the board tax cuts.

2. Support smaller government, less regulation.

3. Support federal, state and local efforts against illegal immigration.

3. Take pledge to cut essential services (fire and police) last, not first.

Signatories of this manifesto would agree not to contribute to any political candidate or organization that does not express unequivocal support for this manifesto. For example, should the RNC decide not to make these items priorities, we tell the RNC that they don’t get any of our money. If they agree however, we in turn must honor our side of the bargain by contributing as generously as we can afford.

A printable version of this manifesto can be found HERE.

Blatant Media Dishonesty From AP: What else is new?

The Associated Press headline screams: Lawmaker Won’t Press Charges in Spitting Incident,” and the headline is being reprinted everywhere on the Leftist blogosphere as well as in the mass media. But read past the headline. The very first sentence of the story says: “A congressman who was spat on by a protestor on Capitol Hill says he is declining to press charges, but turns out the Capitol Police say they made no arrests.” (Emphasis mine.)

The Capitol Police “made no arrests.” The article goes on to quote the Police spokesman: “Sgt. Kimberly Schneider of the U.S. Capitol Police said in an e-mail later: ‘We did not make any arrests today.’” So did the incident even occur?

From the very beginning, this story has stunk. Anyone who has ever attended Tea Party rallies knows that this is a decent bunch of folks - ordinary, decent, hardworking Americans taking time away from work and families to come to Washington in the firm belief that we are being betrayed by our lawmakers. Just compare pictures of the aftermath of the 9-12 march with the aftermath of any other large Mall gathering. 9-12 protesters left the place spotless. These people would condemn on the spot anyone spitting or engaging in any other untoward behavior.

But nevermind, despite no evidence provided that the spitting incident even happened, the article repeats without question this same Congressman’s claim that racial epithets were shouted at him as he made his way to the Capitol:

Missouri Democrat Emanuel Cleaver was making his way through a group of angry protestors when the incident occurred. It was one of several ugly incidents in a day of protests against President Barack Obama's health care overhaul measure, which faces a House vote on Sunday. Cleaver, who is black, was also one of several lawmakers who faced racial epithets as they walked to the Capitol to vote.

“Racial epithets.” We all know what that means. Except that didn’t happen either. How do we know? From the following video, posted at Biggovernment.com by Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit:

As is readily apparent from the clip, protesters are shouting "kill the bill!" and simply shouting "boo!"

And for those who think this may have happened at some time before or after this clip, here's another, with an accompanying article by Rick Moran:

There is a good piece over at the American Thinker blog that evaluates the likelihood of Cleaver's charge:

When I heard the accounts of Cleaver, Congressman Lewis and others, I did not necessarily disbelieve them, but I decided to check the source, a piece in the notoriously liberal McClatchy papers by one William Douglas, and I began to see how the record was being twisted. Douglas reported, "said he was a few yards behind Lewis and distinctly heard ‘nigger.' ‘It was a chorus,' Cleaver said."

"It was a chorus." Where? Where is the chorus? Furthermore, this would have been picked up in multiple places and plastered far and wide in the Leftist media if there were a shred of evidence. There is not. This is out-and-out media fraud. Can the AP ever be trusted to report the news anymore?

Who's on First

A great metaphor for the healthcare game Pelosi and the Democrats are playing.

Veterans for Congress

“I will go to Washington to do battle against Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Steny Hoyer and the rest of them. They have never seen anything like the Southern fried butt whipping that’s coming at them!” Lt. Col. Allen West (Ret.)

A common complaint we hear about members of Congress is that they have never served in the military. A total of 95 veterans of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and the National Guard are current House members (the 96th, John Murtha just died). This represents a mere 20 percent of sitting Members of Congress and is a record low. We can chalk this up as one good reason for Congress’s stunning ignorance regarding military matters.

Among the many encouraging signs for the nation as we head into the 2010 midterm elections is the number of first-time Republican candidates for Congress who are recent military veterans. There is even an organization supporting them: Iraq Veterans for Congress (IVC).

IVC was created in the 2008 election cycle to assist Marine Corps veteran Kieran Lalor in his bid to win New York’s 19th congressional district. While Kieran lost that year, the organization assisted the successful candidacies of Duncan Hunter, Jr. (CA-52) and Mike Coffman (CO-6).

This year, IVC is supporting 36 vets. 33 are running for U.S. House seats, one is running for governor, another for lt. governor, and one for U.S. Senate. There are also a number of others running independently. If just those 33 House candidates won, it would increase veterans’ representation in the House by over 30 percent.

Such a win could provide a backstop against the lunatic, anti-military policies of Congressional Democrats and the White House, and may add some much-needed spine to the House Republican caucus. A list of those running is provided at the end of this article.

These people are exemplary models of the best America can produce, but space considerations prevent me from describing them all in detail. There are a few among them however, whose stories are a bit “more equal,” so I am going to pick out one or two for special focus in the next few columns. Here’s the first:

Nick Popaditch – Cigar Marine

“Gunny Pop” Nick Popaditch, enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps 1986, a year after graduating high school. He served as a tank commander during the first Gulf War and was honorably discharged in 1992. He re-enlisted in 1995, and from 1998 – 2002, served as a Drill Instructor at MCRD San Diego. In 2003, Nick shipped off to the Gulf to participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) again as tank commander. Upon entering Baghdad, his unit became famous the world over for helping to topple Saddam’s statue. The picture of him above, smoking a cigar with Saddam’s statue in the background, earned him the moniker “Cigar Marine.”

Gunnery Sergeant Popaditch returned to Iraq for a second tour in 2004, and participated in the first assault on Fallujah in April. During that battle, Nick was hit in the head by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG). This was actually caught on camera by nearby news crews. Nick was blinded by the wound, but due to the tireless efforts of medical staff and his indomitable spirit, his left eye was saved. Nick wrote a book, with co-author Mike Steere, about his experiences, Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander’s Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage, and Recovery. The book made the Commandant of the Marine Corps recommended professional reading list for all ranks, won The Military-Writers Book of the Year for 2009, and was a national book club selection. Nick’s unique command tactics and leadership in Iraq earned him the Silver Star.

Nick is running for a seat in the 51st Congressional District of California, a seat currently held by Bob Filner, one of the most liberal Democrats in the House and a founding member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (read socialist). The choice couldn’t be clearer: a patriotic American versus a radical leftist who has been wreaking havoc in Washington, DC since 1992.

Time for regime change once again! And Gunny Pop is the one to topple this slug. Future issues will examine the testimonials of Allen West, Dan Gilyeat, Katherine Jenerette and others. With folks like these on board there may yet be hope for our teetering Republic.

Here is a list of all IVC candidates. Check them out! U.S. House: Justin Bernier (CT-5th) USN, Will Breazeale (NC-7th) USA, Diggs Brown (CO-4th) USA, Kevin Calvey (OK-5th) USA, Dan Gilyeat (KS-3rd) USMC, Tim Griffin (AR-2nd) USA, Wayne Harmon (IN-7th) USMC, Dr. Joe Heck (NV-3rd) USA, Jesse Kelly (AZ-8th) USMC, Adam Kinzinger (IL-11th) USAF, Todd Lally (KY-3rd) USAF, Patrick Murray (VA-8th) USA, Andrew “Rocky” Raczkowski (MI-9th) USA, Brian Rooney (MI-7th) USMC, William Russell (PA-12th) USA, Steve Stivers (OH-15th) USA, Scott Taylor (VA-2nd) USN, Vaughn Ward (ID-1st) USMC, Allen West (FL-22nd) USA, Michael Crimmins (CA-53rd) USMC, Dave Evans (TN-6th) USA, Mike Grimm (NY-13th) USMC, Katherine Jenerette (SC-1st) USA, Quang Pham (CA-47th) USMC, Les Phillip (AL-5th) USN, Lang Sias (CO-7th) USN, Rick Barber (AL-2nd) USMC, Rick Crawford (AR-1st) USA, Steve Pearce (NM-2nd) USAF, Mike Pompeo (KS-4th) USA, John Loughlin (RI-1st) USA, Willie Vaden (TX-27th) USMC. U.S. Senate: Conrad Reynolds (AR) USA. Candidates for governor/lt. governor: Allen Weh (NM) USMC, Bill Connor (Lt Gov-SC) USA.

This article appeared originally at DC Independent Examiner.