Don't Stand with Rand!

Don’t Stand with Rand!

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

March 19, 2013

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has proven himself a hypocrite by not supporting the rule of law or the Constitution in his support of granting citizenship to the 12 million-plus illegals who have invaded our borders.

A hypocrite, as I lauded Paul for his Mr. Smith Goes to Washington-style filibuster condemning the Obama administration’s use of drones to kill American citizens on American soil.

Other so-called GOP leaders to stand with Rand include, but sadly are not limited to: Gov. Chris Christie (NJ), Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), and Cong. Paul Ryan (WI). These Republicans are not leaders but capitulators willing to sell their souls to save the party and their own cushy-tushy jobs. And worse yet, all four are early leading contenders for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

The Paul support for citizenship varies somewhat from Rubio’s support for citizenship in some of the details, but let’s not get mired in the muck. Bottom line, granting 12 million illegals citizenship will never stem the tide of illegals swarming our borders, but instead encourage even more to invade the United States.

The plan by which Rubio has signed on as part of the Gang of Eight calls for increased border security and a strengthened E-Verify system for employers to confirm potential hires bona fides. Paul’s plan actually eliminates the E-Verify system as a part of his Libertarian belief system, making it an even weaker plan. Paul’s plan does include shoring up border security, but calls his plan “trust but verify,” which may have worked for President Ronald Reagan with the Russians, but hasn’t a snowball’s chance in Guam of working with illegals.

In fact, the Supreme Court will decide an Arizona voter law this spring that tightens the requirement for potential voters by having to prove American citizenship versus simply signing a form saying they are citizens.

Arizona Attorney General Thomas Horne referred to the current system as “essentially an honor system. It does not do the job.”

“People who want to vote illegally may think nothing of committing perjury by declaring themselves citizens on a piece of paper.” (“Justices Dubious of Arizona Voter Law,” USA Today, 03/19/13)

Regardless of how one slices it, de facto amnesty or official amnesty, 12 million invaders rewarded for illegal behavior is a slap in the face to those future Americans who have “stood in line” and followed the law to become legal residents and citizens the proper and legal way.

Sen. Paul said he believes his plan will be embraced by conservatives and his TEA Party followers and that only with conservatives on board could such a plan succeed. Paul is wrong to think that true conservatives – Constitutional conservatives – would ever support such a plan.

Short of deporting illegals, which even I recognize would be tremendously challenging, the only way to shrink those numbers is via self-deportation. The problem with self-deportation is that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans want to actually do their jobs and make this happen for fear of alienating voters and again, losing their cushy-tushy jobs.

Self-deportation can occur when federal and state governments shut off the spigot of “free stuff” for illegals – seats in public schools, medical care, food stamps, welfare, and drivers’ licenses. The flip side of government is the public sector – employers – who should be fined for every illegal they hire, the equivalent of a minimum wage salary for a year. The illegal worker should also be fined and deported.

For the GOP and RNC chief Reince Priebus to suggest that supporting a path to citizenship for 12 million illegals will move the party in the right direction is terribly disingenuous. If anything, it declares that the party of Lincoln, Coolidge, Eisenhower, and Reagan is on its knees begging for Democrat scraps at the voting polls.

It also runs counter to the $10 million Priebus announced the RNC will spend to conduct community outreach amongst blacks and Hispanics. Hispanic-American citizens should be insulted by the notion that 12 million illegals, a majority of whom are Hispanic, will be rewarded for their illegal behavior, when so many others became citizens by following the law.

Blacks, many of whom are at the lower end of the income ledger, should not applaud the legalization of the 12 million as competition for jobs will become even more challenging in an already fledgling economy.

If the GOP is to make inroads in the black and Hispanic communities, it needs to appeal to the conservative sides of those populations. Not that they are any more monolithic than any other community, but many blacks and Hispanics are pro-life, church attending folks who prefer that less money be sent overseas to countries that don’t like the United States and that illegals not be allowed to steal potential jobs form their constituencies.

Until Congress – from both sides of the aisle – is willing to do their job – create disincentives for illegals – even at the risk of losing their precious seats; and until employers are willing to put greed on the back burner, illegal immigration and invasion of our borders will remain a paramount issue.

We the people need to demand politicians not support amnesty or a path to citizenship for illegals and demand they seal the borders or they will find themselves unemployed come next Election Day. It’s our country. Let’s stop surrendering it before there is nothing left to surrender.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

Favoring Illegals over Veterans

Favoring Illegals over Veterans

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

March 15, 2013

In the topsy-turvy world of what passes for right in Obama-land more and more states are allowing illegal aliens to pay in-state tuition while veterans of the United States Armed Forces are being denied that same right.

If you are not as apoplectic as I am, read it again. If you’re still not fully disgusted you have neither a soul nor a brain and you are beyond redemption.

Let’s start with the illegals and remind people, once again, as I have done so often, that those who are here in the United States illegally have broken the law and should neither be in this country, nor in a college classroom.

The federal government should deny all funding to any state institution of higher learning if said schools admit illegals in the first place, let alone at in-state tuition rates. In order to receive in-state tuition privileges, prospective students must prove they are legal residents of a given state. How can they do that if they are in the country illegally? They can’t, unless they have forged documentation, another crime.

On the disgraceful flip side of this myopic coin is the unconscionable disrespectful behavior with which American veterans are being treated. And for the veterans it is a double dose of disrespect.

First, back in January, the Associated Press reported that because oft-moving military members rarely have permanent roots, proving residency has become increasingly difficult and schools are denying them in-state tuition benefits. This has unfortunately led to several lawsuits, taking time and money from veterans who can ill afford either, to be declared in-state residents of states where they are seeking their degrees.

“It’s been paid for – with blood and sweat and tears and deployments,” said former Army Sergeant Hayleigh Lynn Perez in filing a $10 million lawsuit against the University of North Carolina Board of Governors after being denied North Carolina state residency. (AP, 01/06/13)

“For the first time since the inception of the GI Bill, residency for tuition purposes is now an issue for thousands of veterans,” said Jason Thigpen, founder and president of the Student Veterans Advocacy Group. (AP, 01/06/13)

These are veterans of the United States Armed Forces being screwed over. They have made the sacrifices few ever deign to make. They are not asking for free tuition, just to be recognized as residents of a state for tuition purposes. The veterans are not looking for handouts, but instead, a hand up in an effort to better themselves to make themselves more marketable to avoid being dependent upon the government, something that ought be encouraged, not made more challenging.

Adding insult to injury is Obama for cutting the Tuition Assistance Program and having the audacity to blame the sequestration. This is the same sequestration Obama himself proposed and has used to its maximum public punishing effect. (See http://sanfordspeaksout.blogspot.com/2013/03/open-peoples-house-and-take.html)

This country is bending over backwards to placate illegals while it is treating its veterans with such utter disdain and disrespect. For those who are alumni of state universities, call them, e-mail them, send a smoke signal, and inform them, should they grant illegals in-state tuition privileges, you will cease all financial contributions.

Additionally, the money that state schools are using to give illegals tuition discounts should go to veterans for their in-state tuition – they earned it. The money we the people don’t give our alma maters should go to in-state tuition funds for the veterans. Let’s afford veterans the education they have earned. After all, they put their lives on the line while we enjoyed campus life, now it’s payback time.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

Open the People's House and Take Responsibility

Open the People’s House and Take Responsibility

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

March 14, 2013

The subjugator in chief, Barack Obama, is fond of making a public stink out of any uncomfortable situation in an effort to get the biggest bang out of the people’s bucks.

Ceasing tours of the White House and disappointing thousands of school children will certainly vault the issue of sequestration to the rank and file and place it squarely in the living rooms of the American people for maximum effect. So too will closing national parks, removing border agents from their posts, and releasing thousands of illegal aliens from prison have a similar negative “photo-op” effect.

Yet in each of those cases, Obama, the man with whom the buck should stop, has wiped his hands and taken no responsibility. Instead Obama placed it anywhere but upon his own narrow shoulders and pointed one finger at the Republicans in blame and the middle finger at the American people.

Fellow Democrat and former President Harry Truman is no doubt rolling over in his grave in shame.

For years the so-called mainstream media was enamored with referring to President Ronald Reagan as the “Teflon president,” as supposedly nothing stuck to him. Yet in reality, it is Obama who has managed to dodge more blame and responsibility than an A-plus student of Patches O’ Houlihan. (“If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.”)

Not limited to the following, but Obama pushed the blame of Benghazi on to a video hardly anyone saw, deprived an American due process for it, and then hung Susan Rice out to dry. Obama can be blamed for costing Rice the Secretary of State post more than Rice herself, although she was the wrong choice in the first place.

Obama ordered the release of thousands of illegal aliens even before sequestration kicked in and yet, blamed the very program he himself initiated. And then sprung said release on Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) at the last minute. With the rocky relationship Obama has had with Brewer, is anyone convinced this wasn’t retaliatory for the way she showed him up in the past? Yes, Obama is just that petty.

Yes, Obama is petty enough to place even more American citizens at risk by allowing the already porous borders to become even more sieve-like by having Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ratchet up the fear-mongering by threatening the layoff of border agents because of sequestration – Obama’s baby.

And yes, Obama is petty enough to throw thousands of children under the bus – the very busses they would be riding to the White House for their tours only to find the doors locked, again due to Obama’s sequestration. Yet, this time, Obama places blame on the Secret Service for making such a decision. This was Obama’s decision, claiming the $70,000 a week cost for operating the tours of the people’s house was a victim of sequestration, something he also blames on the GOP. However, when Fox News personalities Eric Bolling and Sean Hannity offered to pick up the tab for one week apiece out of their own pockets, the response from White House spokesman Jay Carney was nothing short of the sound of crickets.

While school children are denied access to the people’s house, three White House calligraphers are being paid a collective $270,000 and the Obama’s dog walker rakes in an additional $100,000 per annum. With the advances in technology, isn’t there a font that can simulate calligraphy for a hell of a lot less? After all, Obama hardly signs anything himself any more. As for the dog, why aren’t Sasha and Malia handling that responsibility?

For those who will sneer at the questioning of a “mere” $370,000, remember, that is the people’s money paid for via tax dollars, and it could pay for five weeks of White House tours with 20 grand left over, if my public school math serves me well.

Like his old dog, Obama cannot be taught new tricks. Instead, his is a two trick repertoire – fear monger and blame anyone else in an effort to keep his own hands clean. Mr. Obama, not only are your hands not clean, they have salt water on them – the tears of the children who have been denied a visit to the people’s house.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.