The Biggest Teaparty

On November 2nd, Nearly 237 years after the original Tea Party, Americans will be celebrating our biggest Tea Party ever. Not in Boston harbour, but in countless polling stations across the nation. The Tea Party in 1773 had 60 colonial celebrants ... the 2010 version will have millions. It's funny how anger over taxes was the fuel for both events, and unimaginable how both the British government and current Liberals wouldn't be able to fathom the concept that Americans would sheepishly continue to allow the government to take their hard-earned money and re-distribute it to those that are too lazy to work.

Hopefully, our modern-day Tea Party culminates in the same results as the original one did ... Independence Day!

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The Original Fall Guy

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Since moving to El Paso, TX 16 years ago, I have become interested in the rich history of this little corner of Texas. I recently visited the Fall House in the downtown historical area and wanted to do a little research on Albert Fall.

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Albert Fall was born in Kentucky in 1861. He became a lawyer and made his way out west. He became one of the first Senators when New Mexico became a state in 1912. He was later picked by his poker buddy, President Warren Harding to be Secretary of the Interior in 1921. Here is where it starts to get interesting.

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There were several tracks of government land that had been set aside as oil reserves, to ensure the Department of the Navy would have a source of oil if needed. One of these reserves was called "Teapot Dome". To make a long story short (many books have been written about this scandal ... so I will make it really short) ... Albert Fall secured a loan for $100,000.00 (which apparently didn't need to be paid back) in exchange for leasing this government land to Mammoth Oil and Pan American Petroleum Co.

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This would seem an open and shut bribery case ... except for one thing. President Harding defended Fall, saying that this leasing policy had been presented to him by the Navy and Interior Secretaries prior to the leases being executed, and that he had, as President, approved them.

Congress opened an investigation into this and both Fall and Naval Secretary Edwin Denby were forced to resign. Fall was later convicted of Fraud and Corruption and served 1 year in prison and paid a $100,000.00 fine. He later moved to El Paso and died here in 1944.

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Questions remain regarding President Harding's involvement with the scandal and whether Albert Fall took the blame to protect him. If so, Albert Fall was the first "Fall Guy".

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In this vitriolic election season, who will be the "Fall Guy" if the Republicans don't do as well as expected? And what if the Democrats lose both houses? Whatever happens, one thing can be assured, there will always be a "Fall Guy".

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Mexican Journalists Surrender

Luis Carlos Santiago Orozco, a photographer for "El Diario", the Juarez, Mexico daily newspaper became the 11th journalist murdered this year in the Mexican drug war. He was gunned down in his car on September 17th by cartel members that didn't like the stories he was writing. He was just one of over 2200 people murdered so far this year in Juarez, the murder capital of the world.

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But this is not a story about Mr. Orozco. Journalists have been putting themselves in harms way for decades. Some in search of the truth, some for self-aggrandizement, always to get the story to their readers. This is a story about the pusillanimous publication that employed him. El Diario is the major daily newspaper in Juarez, and is well circulated in El Paso, just across the border. This newspaper with a paid circulation of over 120,000 and a readership of over 600,000 is the major source of news for this war-torn city in Northern Mexico.

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The day after the shooting of Mr. Orozco, El Diario ran a front page headline story ... Was it a tribute to a brave journalist? ... Was it a scathing rebuke of the cartel's tactics? ... NO. The story was an open letter to the cartels, asking what they could do to avoid further attacks (Mr Orozco was the second reporter from the newspaper in the past 2 years). Translated, the letter stated, "We do not want more deaths. We do not want more injuries or even more intimidation. It is impossible to exercise our role in these conditions. Therefore, tell us what you expect of us as a medium." The letter also referred to the cartels as "the de facto authorities in this city".

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So I guess now the cartels are controlling the news in Juarez. The total capitulation by El Diario is indeed an ignominious eulogy for a brave man ... trying to bring the truth to the people of his beleaguered city. And the citizens of Juarez, are faced with yet another example of the establishment abandoning them. They no longer trust their government, police, army ... and now their news sources.

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The GOP Still Doesn't Get It

Whenever I start thinking that the Republican Party is going to take advantage of the discontent the American Public is feeling with the way things are going in this country ... they revert back to form.

I am of course referring to the win by Christine O'Donnell in the GOP primary for the Delaware Senate Seat once held by Joe Biden. Tea Party backed O'Donnell defeated GOP favorite Mike Castle ... and the sour grapes started almost immediately. Establishment Republicans, led by Karl Rove, slammed the candidate for having no shot at winning in the General Election. There were rumors that the NRSC would not be helping to fund her campaign. Mike Castle has refused to back her (or even call to congratulate her).

This is all because the GOP elite felt that Castle, who is a liberal Republican had a better chance to defeat Democrat Chris Coons in the General Election of this very blue state.

What the GOP fails to realize is that the tea party movement does not care about whether a candidate has a R or a D after their name. This movement wants to elect people that will go to Washington and fight for them. The American Public is disgusted with business as usual in DC. Karl Rove is also wrong in assuming that O'Donnell can't beat Coons. Though Delaware leans left ... the people aren't stupid. None but the die-hard liberals would vote for Coons, a self-described Marxist.

For what it's worth, I would like to do something that the GOP should have done from the start and offer my congratulations to Christine O'Donnell on a well run campaign, and a well deserved victory.

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Will The President Sue California Next?

It seems that the Obama Justice Department had no problem suing Arizona when they passed SB 1070, getting tough on illegal immigration. Now they are faced with a bit of a quandary. The Justice Department sued to uphold the Supremacy Clause … which simply put, says that if State Law and Federal Law are in conflict, Federal Law wins. I am by no means agreeing with the Obama Administration that a law that mirrors the Federal Immigration Statute is actually in conflict with Federal Law. Rather, I am wondering if the Administration will continue to defend Federal Supremacy … even when it is not in their political interests.

I am talking about the upcoming ballot initiative in California, making it legal for adults to possess up to one ounce of marijuana. If passed, this new law will most definitely be in conflict with Federal Statutes. Yet I do not hear a peep coming out of Eric Holder or the Justice Department. So, if Californians pass Prop 19 this November, I fully expect the Obama Administration to sue California under the Supremacy Clause.

After all … What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

Unless of course, Democrats feel that stoned citizens are a protected minority (and likely to be Obama voters)

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9 Years Later

On this the 9th anniversary of the horrific attacks on our nation by Islamic extremists, I am sad, concerned, resigned, appalled and a plethora of other verbs.

Right after the attacks, I felt that this country had finally come together with a singularity of purpose and a unity that I had never felt before. When President Bush gave his "bull-horn" speech from the ruins of the Trade Center ... I could feel the entire Nation join with him and his vow to bring the terrorists to justice.

9 years later, where are we? There is still a hole at ground zero ... Osama Bin Laden is still hiding in a cave somewhere ... Our politicians are more concerned with re-election than with the American public ... Our economy is teetering on ruin ... and our President is dividing the nation, pitting us in socio-economic class warfare.

As I watched the 9-11 remembrances on TV this morning ... and yes, the tears were flowing ... I felt despair at the loss of our resolve. There is no HOPE left in the American people's hearts ... there is no resolve. As I watched the horrendous video of people jumping off the twin towers to avoid being burned to death ... I realized that this was a perfect representation of the loss of hope. And I cried.

America, can we regain our hope?

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OBAMA'S $33 BILLION TAX CREDIT

During his State of the Union speech on Wednesday, President Obama brought up one point that really interested me. I guess the reason that it made me wake up from the mind-numbing stupor that the rest of the speech had put me in is because ... I had advocated it from the time of the first stimulus program.

The tax credit for businesses that hire new employees should have been part of the stimulus program from the beginning. Not that I don't think that building tunnels under roadways in New England so that frogs can safely cross the road was not a good use of my tax dollars (NOT!), but encouraging companies to hire workers ... Now there is an idea that will improve the employment situation in the United States.

Of course, besides being late, there are several other things the President has gotten wrong on this idea. Feel free to add others if I miss anything.

1. The money should be taken out of the unspent portion of the pork-laden stimulus package ... not the TARP money that has been paid back. Use the TARP money to pay down our national debt.
2. A company can hire a worker that makes $7000.00 a year and get the entire $5000.00 tax credit ... Why would we want to do that? We need full-time job creation, not part-time jobs.
3. Companies would be capped at $500 million dollars in tax credits so that big businesses would not be getting the lions' share of this money ... If I'm an unemployed worker ... I don't care if my paycheck comes from IBM or Moe's bar and grill, a job is a job. Don't cap a large company ... if it wants to hire, let it.
4. The current proposal has provisions for tax incentives to companies that increase pay ... this is estimated to account for more than half of the $33 billion. Drop this provision and use it all for the creation of full-time jobs. At $5000.00 per job, this translates into 6.5 million jobs ... Voila, back to 5% unemployment.

As usual, the Democrats can screw-up even a great idea. Don't let them. Call your representatives and offer your support for this idea ... but ask them to make some changes.

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