JEFF VATH CLAIMS GHOST WROTE POST, NOT HIM

Politico Mafioso bloger Jeff Vath, who on Wednesday, May 20, published a long rant attacking Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen, accusing him of creative accounting and insinuating racism, now claims he didn't write the post, Ghost did - unlike Vath, we can't make this stuff up.


Vath, a die-hard McCain supporter and operative, who is notorious for throwing dirt and running vicious smear campaigns against conservative Republicans, which are rarely supported by facts, found himself mentioned in the Capitol Times' Yellow Sheet, "Jeff Vath, an LD-6 Republican, put out a hit on Pullen today on Political Mafioso, accusing him of creative accounting with the state party's books to include illegal "earmarking and spending" to fund a TV ad."

On Friday, Vath responded to the Capitol Times' Yellow Sheet report with a post titled, "Hey Phil....Reading is Fundamental!!!" The title was followed by an attack on Phil Risk, "We are going to send the 'READING IS FUNDAMENTAL' Learn to Read Program to award winning AZ Capitol Times reporter PHIL RISKE since he seems to be have a 'reading comprehension' problem."

Vath then claims that he didn't write the post that was published in his blog, the Ghost wrote it.

Vath, or whomever is writing his blog said,
"The Ghost" is one of the 'premiere' Investigative Bloggers in Arizona. Everything posted in the article is backed up with links. I stand with "The Ghost" as I do all the Politico Mafioso Team! After nearly 4 years & 4,023 posts (including this one), our readers know I am NOT a writer. I started this Blog to protect my friends from the 'Evil Ones' that infest the local Republican Party. I enjoy finding funny photos to post rather than writing articles."

The words "Evil Ones," Vath referred to were hyper-linked to the "Gila Courier" and "Seeing Red Arizona," two well respected political blogs. Mr. Vath may enjoy posting funny photo's rather then writing articles, his "Ghost" however, seems to take great delight in destroying the good name of conservative Republicans, especially those who are not hard core McCain supporters or who support employer sanctions.

The American Conservative Republican, (ACR), would like to contact Mr. or Ms. Ghost for a comment, but his/her number seems to be unlisted.

Vath or Ghost or whoever wrote the post published in his blog, then claimed that he didn't post some funny photo's of the Arizona Republican Party Executive Director, Brett Mecum, having fun at a Halloween party, he just linked to them. All hair-splitting aside, the photo's were merely an oblique attempt to further smear the Arizona GOP chairman by attacking the party executive director.

A statement by Vath was then directed at the state party chairman, "If Mr. Pullen doesn't like what was posted, we will give him the opportunity to answer in his own words, ------- NO Editing or DELETING like some of the other blogs." The words NO and DELETING were hyper-linked to the Sonoran Alliance and Seeing Red blogs.

I would advise our party chairman not to reply to Vath's invitation, he asked me to write an endorsement once of Arizona House candidate Carl Seel during the primary. Vath didn't edit or delete what I wrote, he just posted it under a photo taken of me having some fun at a New Year's Eve party and under the title, "Far Right Wacko Racist McCain Hater Bob Haran Endorsed Con-Man Carl Seel." For the record, I'm not a racist or McCain hater, however, far right and wacko are open to interpretation.

After attacking; The Arizona Capitol Times, Phil Riske, The Gila Courier, Seeing Red Arizona, Randy Pullen, Brett Mecum, the Arizona Republican Party and, the Sonoran Alliance, Vath again attempts to smear me with the following,

"In a related story, we received a story from another Blogger by the name of BOB HARAN, who is also the 2nd Vice-Chairman of LD-6.
Haran, who we have profiled before, has made a career of bashing political folks who don't agree with him, including Congressman John Shadegg, who just 6 short months ago endorsed him for the 2nd Vice position. But Haran now wrote a 'scathing' article chastizing Shadegg called:

SHADEGG DECLARES WAR ON ARIZONA GOP
By Bob Haran, American Conservative Republican (great way to thank the Congressman Mr. Haran)"

The misspelling of the word "chastising" above is by Vath and his "Politico Mafioso" and not the ACR and the words "profiled before" are hyper-linked to a photo of Dustin Hoffman from the movie, "Rain Man," under the caption, "this is Bob Haran," the other photo is the aforementioned one taken of me during a New Years Eve party.

The scathing article "chastizing" Congressman John Shadegg that Vath mentioned can be easily accessed by going to the ACR archive for April 17, 2009, I stand by the accuracy of the article, it was written by me and not a "ghost writer."

It is true that Congressmen Shadegg endorsed me for Republican Second Vice Chairman of Legislative District 6, an endorsement however does not exempt any public official from criticism or restrain me from exercising my First Amendment Rights under the United States Constitution. Mr. Vath may disagree, but I believe my congressmen works for me and not the other way around.

Vath ends his post by giving me an award, (which I have displayed at the top of this page), "The First Annual Moran Award," for being the most popular student in the sixth grade.... for five straight years!

I'm deeply honored with receiving the award from "Politico Mafioso," I don't appreciate Vath "chastizing" me however for telling the truth on him and his ghost writer.

For the record, The American Conservative Republican believes in God and country, but we don't believe in Ghost.

For the good of the party,

Bob Haran,
American Conservative Republican

McCain Hit Man Targets Pullen

Jeff Vath (the one in the picture with breasts), AKA "Fat Boy", has viciously attacked Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen in his blog, Political Mafioso.
In a multi-colored, garish post, the McCain sycophant, who has obviously overindulged in the McCain Kool-Aid, goes on a long rant against the Arizona GOP chairman with multi, unfounded accusations and lies.

Vath is a Republican Precinct Committeemen and die hard John McCain worshipper who counts among his friends two time loser for state chairman, Lisa James, and her husband, Wake Up Arizona Coalition member and employer sanctions opponent, Gordon James.

The Wake Up Arizona Coalition is a group that has taken the extreme vow to defeat any legislator or candidate who supports sanctions against employers who illegally hire undocumented workers. Randy Pullen is one of those who supports enforcement of our immigration laws, including employer sanctions.

He also counts among his Republican friends on Facebook, Arizona Corporation Commissioner and former campaign aid and staff member to Democrat Governor Janet Napolitano, Kris Mayes. In addition, the notorious Nathan Spruol, who was the director of a vicious character assassination campaign against Arizona Senator Russell Pearce, the author of Arizona's Employer Sanctions Law is a friend of Vath.

Also listed as a friend of Vath are professional illegal immigrant advocate and hater of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Daniel Ortega.

Vath also lists among his friends, Democratic-Socialist and self proclaimed bi-sexual, Arizona Representative Kyrstin Sinema, along with Democrats Terry Goddard and Paul Newman, (not the actor - the Arizona politician).

Obviously Jeff Vath is far from being a loyal Republican, in fact, becoming a RINO would be a step up for him.

I don't know where Vath gets his information, the word attribution seems to have no meaning to the overindulgent author of the McCain followers', Political Mafioso.

I don't know why, maybe it's because he's such a blind follower of McCain, but Vath has extreme hostility toward anyone who ever dared to disagree with Arizona's senior senator. It seems as thou Vath would prefer that everyone in the GOP act like sheep and blindly fellow, as he does.

Thankfully, Arizona Republicans are not followers and don't like Kola-Aid, they twice went against McCain and certain members of the GOP congressional delegation and defeated, Ms. James, and elected Randy Pullen as their state chairman.

Unfortunately for the Arizona Republican party, some members of the delegation are like children and when they don't get their way they throw a tantrum. McCain, and therefore his followers, didn't want Pullen and they didn't care what the grassroots of the party wanted, they wanted Pullen out and James in. They didn't get who they wanted as chairman and therefore went to war against the Arizona Republican Party.

This disrespect for the will of the majority of the Republican grassroots in Arizona by McCain and his gang has caused a great deal of friction between the Arizona Republican congressional delegation, with the exception of Trent Franks, and the Arizona Republican Party.

Congressman John Shadegg recently went so far as to first advise people not to get involved with the party because of what he described as poor leadership at the state and county level and then reversed himself and asked that people get involved to turn out the current leadership.

The disagreement between the grassroots, who Pullen represents, and the delegation is centered on the illegal immigration issue. A disconnect has developed between the grassroots of the party and those who have been in Washington too long. The grassroots of the party, and the majority of the people of Arizona, demanded that illegal immigration be controlled and the enforcement of all our immigration laws. Our Washington politicians came back and told us the solution to illegal immigration was a guest worker program and making those here illegally, legally here, but don't call it an amnesty, call it a path to citizenship.

They obviously were more concerned with providing cheap labor for their big dollar campaign contributors and pandering to the growing Hispanic vote, than defending American sovereignty. Our cheap, pandering, Washington politicians put party before country and politics before principle and instead of listening to the people, they told us that we were all racist for opposing illegal immigration.

Interestingly, McCain, members of the Arizona delegation, and many of the elected officials who supported Lisa James for state chairman had also received campaign contributions from members of the anti - employer sanctions group, the Wake Up Arizona Coalition.

Near the end of Vath's long rant against Pullen he writes, "The people of Arizona have lived through this long enough - now Pullen is attempting to bring his brand of the Wild West to D.C. and the RNC. The guy is a liability to the future of the Republican Party."

Randy Pullen is not a liability to the party, he represents the grassroots of the party, he represents the heart and soul of the GOP.

Pullen has worked for party unity from the day he was first elected by the party as their chairman. Pullen loyally supported John McCain, the GOP nominee for president, often being criticized by some in the conservative wing for doing so. In fact, since Pullen became state chairman, I can't remember him ever saying anything negative about McCain.

No, Pullen is not a liability to the future of the Republican Party, U.S. Senators who miss more then half of the votes in the senate may be a liability, overly ambitious Washington politicians who forget that they work for us and not the other way around may be a liability, Republican Members of Congress who attack the party leadership may be a liability, and overstuffed bloggers who viciously attack all who they disagree with may be a liability to the future of the Republican Party, but those that work for unity and represent the Republican grassroots will never be a liability to the future of our party.

For God and country,
Bob Haran,
American Conservative Republican

PS, to those who might object to my reference to Mr. Vath's obesity, I don't care, he has no problem viciously ridiculing others, he does it all the time, he has done it to me, let him have a taste of his own medicine. Jeff Vath is a coward and undeserving of any respect.

Democrat Fund Raiser for Obama - Clinton Convicted of Fraud

NEW YORK (CNN) – A former Democratic fund-raiser who contributed to the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has been convicted in federal court on four counts of campaign fraud — one for each year from 2004 to 2007.



Norman Hsu, 57, was indicted in 2007 after an investigation into his two investment companies. He was accused of running a massive fraud scheme.



Earlier this month, Hsu was found guilty on 10 counts of mail and wire fraud surrounding his investment practices. In convicting Hsu of campaign fraud, the same court court found that he was involved in illegal "conduit" campaign contributions from 2005 to 2007 that exceeded $25,000 — a finding that will be used to determine the length of Hsu's sentencing, which is scheduled for August 19.



Lev Dassin, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that Hsu not only swindled investors out of at least $20 million but, according to the indictment, also told some investors to make campaign contributions to the candidates he supported, and suggested that their investments could be jeopardized if they didn't do as he asked.



He "also asked victims to contribute to specific candidates for federal office, and then directly reimbursed the victims for their contributions from his fraud proceeds, in violation of federal campaign finance laws," the indictment said.




When Hsu's activities came to light, the campaigns of Obama and Clinton — as well as others — either returned his donations or gave them to charity.



Hsu could receive a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each count of mail and wire fraud, and a maximum of five years for each federal campaign finance violation. In addition to the prison time, Hsu also faces potential fines for his fraud and campaign finance crimes.



Hsu will likely also have to forfeit various bottles of wine and champagne from his New York City apartment, along with a saxophone autographed by former President Bill Clinton.



In September of 2007, Hsu was en route from California to Denver, Colorado, when he became ill on an Amtrak train and was taken to a hospital.



Later that day, FBI agents arrested him on charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and he has been in jail since.



Those charges stemmed from an 18-year-old grand theft conviction in California. Hsu had posted a $2 million bond after he turned himself in to authorities in California on that conviction. But a bench warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to show up for a bail reduction hearing the next week.

Mike Huchabee on Abortion

From Mike Huchabee's Notes.

Americans Moving Firmly Towards A Pro-Life Position


Last week Gallup released a poll showing the American people moving firmly towards a pro-life position. You can find the details here http://www.gallup.com/poll/118399/More-Americans-Pro-Life-Than-Pro-Choice-First-Time.aspx . I spent a lot of time this weekend thinking about the poll and what it might mean for President Obama's coming choice for a Supreme Court Justice.

This is not a time to move away from what's right to what's convenient. The American people are saying loud and clear they want leaders who believe in the sanctity of life and cherish it even at the earliest stage.

President Obama should be mindful of this as he contemplates a replacement for retiring Justice David Souter. And it is incumbent upon pro-life leaders to speak loudly and forcefully on this issue in the weeks ahead. You can count on me to be one of the loudest.

Alan Keyes Arrested Again, along with 78 YR Old Priest & others

AP – Alan Keyes, former Republican presidential candidate, is arrested during an anti-abortion protest Friday, …

President Barack Obama may rake in the votes for being pro-abortion, but some people put principle before politics and are willing to face arrest to defend the sanctity of human life.

By TOM COYNE, Associated Press Writer Tom Coyne, Associated Press Writer – Fri May 15, 6:02 pm ET
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Former Republican presidential hopeful Alan Keyes, a Roman Catholic priest and 19 others were arrested Friday after marching onto the University of Notre Dame campus to protest President Barack Obama's planned commencement speech.

The arrests marked the third straight Friday that protesters have been detained. They are angry about the school's decision to give Obama, who supports abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research, an honorary degree and have him speak at Sunday's commencement.

"Notre Dame is arresting a priest," the Rev. Norman Weslin, founder of the Lambs of Christ abortion protest group, said as Notre Dame security personnel put plastic restraints on his wrists Friday. "Why are you arresting a priest for trying to stop the killing of a baby? You've got it all backward."

Weslin, 78, who has been arrested dozens of times at abortion clinic blockades, was carried off on a stretcher. He and two others were charged with resisting law enforcement.

All 21 arrested were charged with trespassing. Keyes and five others were ordered held in the St. Joseph County Jail until Monday because it was their second time being arrested on a charge of trespassing at Notre Dame, said Sgt. Bill Redman, St. Joseph County Police Department spokesman. Bond was set at $250 for the others.

None of those arrested were students.

On May 1, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry and another man were arrested on campus while pushing strollers containing dolls covered in fake blood. On May 8, Keyes and 21 others, many of them pushing strollers containing dolls covered in fake blood, were arrested.

On Friday, there were no strollers or bloody dolls, but some of the protesters carried signs that read: "Defend her honor, rise and strike for the unborn."

About 35 people, many of them carrying anti-abortion signs, were standing on the four corners outside the school's front gate shortly before noon when a group of about 40 people led by Keyes and Terry marched up. They stopped briefly to say some prayers and to listen to Keyes, who lost to Obama in the Illinois Senate election in 2004.

"It is not consistent with God's love to honor those who have rejected that great gift of love in principle," Keyes said.

After speaking, Keyes then led a smaller group onto campus. They made it about 100 yards on campus before they were stopped by campus security. Keyes was taken into custody immediately, and the others were told to leave or they would be arrested.

Terry did not go onto campus, saying did not want to get arrested because he needs to remain free to lead more protests Saturday and Sunday.

"The reality is that if I get hung up in jail, I'm the only guy on the outside who knows how to keep this thing moving. It's strictly a leadership issue," he said.

St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Michael Scopelitis issued an order Thursday changing how bond is set for a person charged with a crime while already out on bond on a pending charge. Previously, such a person could have been released under a presumptive bond schedule. Now they must await a probable cause hearing, Scopelitis said.

BREAKING NEWS --- CCEC ORDERS QUELLAND REMOVED FROM OFFICE

The unelected Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC), for the second time since it was created, has ordered that an elected member of the Arizona House of Representatives be removed from office.

The CCEC voted 4 to 1 that, Phoenix Rep. Doug Quelland, R- LD 10, a long time champion of publicly funded clean elections and who was elected by the voters of his district in 2008 as a clean elections candidate, broke CCEC rules and therefore should be removed from office and pay $45,500 in penalties.

This appointed commission, which has been given the power to over-rule the will of the people and remove elected officials from office, has determined that Quellland did hire Larry Davis as a political consultant for $15,000, which he failed to report to the CCEC.

Quelland claimed that he fired Davis within two days and that he never paid him for political consulting work.

Evidence obtained by the CCEC however, indicated that Quellland wrote checks to Davis that matched the payment schedule in his consulting contract.

Quelland is considering appealing the CCEC decision, which would allow him to continue to represent the people of his district during the appeals process.

If Quelland is removed from office, the Republican Precinct Committeemen of his district will be asked to recommend a replacement. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors however, will have the final say as to who shall represent the people of LD 10 in the Arizona House. None of the county supervisors however, currently reside in LD 10.

The American Conservative Republican believes that an appointed commission can have the power to fine or otherwise punish an individual, the power to remove an elected official from office however, is too much power for an un-elected body. The people of LD 10 put Doug Quelland in the Arizona House of Representatives, not the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.

Removing an official from an office he was elected to by the people is not only punishing the official, it is punishing the citizens who elected him.

Giving people who do not reside in a legislative district the power to select a replacement for a vacancy in that district makes no sense, they can't even vote in that district.

One member of the five member commission seems to understand that the power of removal from office is going too far for an un-elected body. Royann Jordan Parker was the only commissioner to vote against removing Quelland from office. Parker said removal from office is not something the commission should do. She said, "I believe that's something between him and the voters of his district," adding that the voters in his district could remove him by recall if they find his conduct objectionable.

The American Conservative Republican believes that no appointed commission should have the power to remove an elected official from office, that power should be in the hands of the voters or the courts, after due process, for a serious violation of law.

Allowing a county board of supervisors to fill a vacancy in the legislature makes sense if the entire board are registered to vote within that district, it makes no sense if they do not. Imagine a majority Republican board in Maricopa County filling a vacancy for a district that was represented by a Democrat or, a majority Democrat board filling a vacancy in Pima County that was represented by a Republican.

Allow the elected precinct committeemen from both parties of a district to select a replacement for a vacancy in the legislature with an individual from the party elected to the office.

This usurping of the people's right to decide who shall represent them must be corrected immediately.

For God and country,

Bob Haran,

American Conservative Republican

ALAN KEYES ARRESTED

By Helaine Chersonsky,

American Conservative Republican;


Yesterday, May 12, Sean Hannity interviewed conservative presidential candidate Alan Keyes on his radio show after Keyes was released following his arrest in South Bend, Indiana. Keyes and other pro-life supporters were arrested as they protested the forthcoming commencement speech this Sunday by President Barack Obama at Notre Dame. Keyes stated that it was scandalous for the Catholic university of Notre Dame to invite Obama to address the graduating senior class. He proceeded to give an in-depth analysis of the word "scandalous" as endangering each individual soul's salvation who goes along with this outrageous and contradictory invitation on the part of Notre Dame to the man who is most responsive and responsible to the pro-abortion industry in his administration. I was profoundly aware of how clear and incisive Ambassador Keyes is when he is defending both Christianity and the pro-life movement. I remember a long ago trip to South Bend to tour Notre Dame and how impressed I was with the ornate Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ -it was magnificent. Let us hope that the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ does not have to break because of the offense of the President of Notre Dame.

Alan Keyes wrote the following on his blog on
Tuesday, May 5, 2009:

Forgive Us Our Trespasses

[FYI: This past weekend Fox news reported the arrest of Randall Terry as he protested against Notre Dame's invitation and honorary degree for Barack Obama. (See Notre Dame: Promoting the Glamour of Evil, and An Open Letter to Father Jenkins.) According to the report "Terry was taken to the St. Joseph County Jail on criminal trespass charges." He has since been released after posting a bond. In light of this occurrence, I feel bound in conscience to make the following statement, commitment and call to all who labor in defense of the God given and unalienable right to life.]

With the arrest of pro-life servant Randall Terry, Father Jenkins and the University administration at Notre Dame take their adulation of evil to a new level of spiritual atrocity.

In a little less than two weeks they will welcome to the university campus a man who represents the most abominable and extreme commitment ever known in US politics to destroying the God given right to life of innocent human offspring. With their actions and the "honor" they confer upon Obama, they will actively promote the lie that it is possible to dishonor God blatantly and unashamedly, yet be somehow "honorable" in the eyes of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ.

Federal Government Must Borrow Nearly Half of What it Spends

From GOPUSA
Today at 6:17am

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government will have to borrow nearly 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year, exploding the record federal deficit past $1.8 trillion under new White House estimates. Budget office figures released Monday would add $89 billion to the 2009 red ink -- increasing it to more than four times last year's all-time high as the government hands out billions more than expected for people who have lost jobs and takes in less tax revenue from people and companies making less money.

Obama Cutting Criminal Aliens Lose

From Bay Buchanan,
Team America PAC

Dear Friend,

Barack Obama is putting illegal aliens ahead of Americans again!! First, he demands amnesty for millions of undocumented students with the DREAM Act and now he wants to gut the federal fund program that allows local law enforcement to keep illegal criminals behind bars until ICE picks them up.

Within his outrageously irresponsible $3.4 trillion dollar budget Obama has targeted The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program-a $400 million program to keep Americans safe! Every one of these dollars keeps proven criminals off our streets and Obama wants it eliminated!! Even the liberal Senator Diane Feinstein knows better-she wants it increased!

This is a program Obama supported when he was planning his presidential run-he knew it was what the voters would want him to do. But now that he has taken possession of the throne he wants to gut it!

I was talking to Mayor Lou Barletta the other day and he said after he passed those tough immigration regulations in Hazelton, PA and illegal population headed elsewhere crime in his city dropped forty percent. The same is true of Prince William County in Virginia. Once the tough illegal immigration policy was in place crime dropped 37 percent.

Obama's policy will force local enforcement agencies to put known illegal criminals back on the street! Crime will climb and once again Americans will pay dearly for the failed policies of Washington.

The president is requesting $27 billion for border security and $112 million to fund E-Verify. This is great news-but he opposes a border fence and has backed off workplace raids which had begun to be enormously effective. He just can't bring himself to enforce the law against those here illegally-even those behind bars!!

Amnesty Again

From the American Spectator
Amnesty Again
By W. James Antle, III on 5.11.09 @ 6:08AM

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Barack Obama and his immigration-policy team are ready to give amnesty another chance.

This month, President Obama begins his push for "comprehensive immigration reform," an effort at which both his predecessor and his 2008 general election opponent failed repeatedly. Despite the support of liberals like Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) both saw their efforts founder on the questions of border security and what to do with the 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants already in the United States.

Try as they might, neither Bush nor McCain were ever able to convince the American people that they were willing to do what it takes to secure the country's porous borders. Whenever Bush or McCain said "immigration reform," the voters heard "amnesty now, enforcement never." Much as happened when the first major bipartisan amnesty, the Immigration Reform and Control Act, was passed in 1986.

For this reason, Obama has tread carefully. Although Democrats control both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue and the enforcement-first Republicans who defeated two Bush-era immigration bills have been reduced to an ineffectual rump, the immigration issue is fraught with political peril -- especially for Democrats representing historically Republican congressional districts, many of whom were recruited by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel himself in his past role as Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman.

Emanuel's skepticism about the political appeal of the Bush-McCain-Kennedy approach to illegal immigration was thought to relegate the issue to the backburner until Obama is safely re-elected. But in April, the Wall Street Journal reported that Emanuel had emerged as an "unexpected ally" of comprehensive reformers and a "backer of immigration action."

Yet the president seems mindful of Emanuel's concerns about immigration politics and is proceeding cautiously -- so much so that one reporter pronounced him a convert to the enforcement-first position. The Washington Times noted that Obama's budget "calls for extra money to build an employee-verification system and to pay for more personnel and equipment to patrol the border."

"If the American people don't feel like you can secure the borders," Obama acknowledged at a press conference, "then it's hard to strike a deal that would get people out of the shadows and on a pathway to citizenship who are already here, because the attitude of the average American is going to be, 'Well, you're just going to have hundreds of thousands of more coming in each year.' "

So has Obama abandoned all hope of an immigration amnesty and embraced the pro-enforcement position? Don't count on it. One of the few programs on the chopping block in the president's round of paltry budget cuts -- $17 billion in the context of a $3.4 trillion budget -- was the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP). SCAAP reimburses state governments for the cost of incarcerating convicts and criminals awaiting trial who are in the country illegally.

When President Bush tried to scrap SCAAP, Democrats in Congress and from border states protested. Congressman John Spratt (D-S.C.), now chairman of the House Budget Committee, protested that "the need [for this program] cannot be overstated." Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who had to beat a Republican immigration hawk to get to Congress, complained that SCAAP "has been consistently underfunded." Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, now Obama's secretary of homeland security, penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed demanding that the funds be restored.

But the biggest sign that amnesty remains in Obama's plans is the appointment of Esther Olavarria as deputy assistant secretary for policy in the Department of Homeland Security. After years spent working for immigrant advocacy groups in Florida, she came to Washington, D.C. to work for Ted Kennedy as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee's immigration subcommittee -- where some credit her with writing the McCain-Kennedy immigration plan.

"She wrote the bill," Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies flatly told the Miami Herald. "She was Kennedy's main immigration person. She was really driving that bus." Although that bus went over a cliff to political defeat, people on the other side of the debate agree. Cheryl Little co-founded the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center with Olvarria and argues that her colleague will "fight tooth and nail" for more liberal immigration laws.

Whatever her role in drafting McCain-Kennedy, Olvarria clearly prefers it to other alternatives. Speaking at a meeting of Irish immigration activists, the Irish Voice quoted her as describing a bill by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) as "heavy on enforcement" and legislation by Sen. Arlen Specter (then-R-Pa.) as containing "the worst solutions for the undocumented."

It is worth nothing that both of the above bills were widely regarded as amnesties in their own right, albeit with more conditions and stronger enforcement provisions. But such provisions were not popular with Olvarria's audience. The Irish Voice reported that illegal immigrants present complained that it was becoming too difficult to get driver's licenses and people were starting to go home.

"Here you have someone who has spent her entire career looking at immigration issues entirely from the perspective of the immigrant," Don Todd, research director of Americans for Limited Government, told TAS. "She is not going to start looking at them from a pro-enforcement perspective now that she is working on these issues at DHS."

The failure to respect the fact that a nation of immigrants can also be a nation of laws has doomed "comprehensive" legislation in the past. Obama, with the help of advisers like Olvarria, is about to put this to the test once again

Maine Allows Gay Marriage

So goes Maine so goes the nation, oh I hope not.

The Associated Press has reported that Maine Governor John Baldacci has signed a bill approving gay marriage, making it the fifth sate in the nation to approve the marriage of homosexuals.

The New Hampshire legislature is also poised to send a gay marriage bill to their governor. John Lynch, a Democrat. If New Hampshire approves homosexual marriage, Rhode Island will be the only state in New England opposing gay marriage.
The Maine Senate voted 21-13, with one absent, for a bill that authorizes marriage between any two people rather than between one man and one woman, as state law currently allows. The House had passed the bill yesterday.

Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, who hadn't previously indicated how he would handle the bill, signed it shortly afterward. In the past, he said he opposed gay marriage but supported civil unions, which provide many of the benefits of marriage.

Debate in the Maine Senate was brief. Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell, a Democrat, turned the gavel over to an openly gay legislator, Sen. Lawrence Bliss, also a Democrat, to preside over the final vote.

Sen. Debra Plowman, a Republican, argued that the bill was being passed "at the expense of the people of faith."

"You are making a decision that is not well-founded," warned Plowman.

Senate Majority Leader Philip Bartlett II, a Democrat, said the bill does not compel religious institutions to recognize gay marriage.

"We respect religious liberties. ... This is long overdue," said Bartlett.

Maine is now the fourth state in New England, to allow same-sex marriages. Connecticut enacted a bill after being ordered to allow gay marriages by the courts, and Vermont passed a bill over the governor's veto.

Massachusetts' high court ordered the state to recognize gay marriages. In Rhode Island, a bill to legalize same-sex marriage has been introduced but is not expected to pass.

Outside New England, Iowa is recognizing gay marriages by court order. The practice was briefly legal in California before voters banned it.

Marriage between men and women has existed since the beginning of civilization and has always been viewed as the union of male and female.



Shame on Gov. John Baldacci and the Democratic Party.

The American Conservative Republican is strongly opposed to this reckless experiment of redefining marriage and the family. Homosexuality is a life style choice and a perversion. The Democrats that support gay marriages are merely pandering for votes and campaign contributions from the gay community at the expense of the foundation of American society, which is the traditional family.

Arpaio To Use Armed Volunteers To Bolster Budget Cuts

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced today plans to significantly increase the number of armed volunteer posse as a way to bolster public safety after a 17% budget cut.

Arpaio says the move is needed to combat the potential ill effects of the recent actions by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to cut his budget, resulting in a hiring freeze of patrol deputies and a mandate that all deputies take furlough days.

Nineteen new qualified armed posse volunteers will graduate today from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Training Academy in Phoenix.

Arpaio says he plans to step up his recruiting methods to attract more men and women to join his volunteer armed posse through more public outreach.

"The public has a desire to help local law enforcement when times are tough. I am banking on their generosity of time and energy to help my deputies keep our communities safe," Arpaio said.

Arpaio is seeking primarily those who wish to be trained and qualified to carry and use a weapon. Currently there are about 300 qualified armed posse members in a volunteer force of nearly 2,600, the largest volunteer posse in the nation.

The Sheriff says to be armed qualified volunteers must supply their own weapons and graduate from training class consisting of 160 hours law enforcement instruction, including 60 hours of shooting range practice.

"We are not simply gathering people off the streets, giving them guns and telling them to go out and arrest bad guys, " Arpaio said.

"Our armed posse volunteers receive the same amount of firearms training as our deputies," Arpaio says. "They are and will continue to be an instrumental force behind public safety in Maricopa County."

The Sheriff will be attending their graduation today to address the newly trained volunteers and to give them direction on their responsibilities as armed posse members.

Mexican Drug Smugglers Ordered to Use Deadly Force against U.S. Law Enforcement.

From the Los Angeles Times:

The reputed head of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel is threatening a more aggressive stance against U.S. law enforcement, instructing associates to use deadly force, if needed, to protect increasingly contested trafficking operations, authorities said.

Such a move by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most-wanted man, would mark a turn from the cartel's previous position of largely avoiding violent confrontations north of the border - either with American law-enforcement officers or fellow traffickers.


Local police and federal agents in Arizona said they recently have received at least two law-enforcement alerts focused on Guzman's reported orders that his smugglers should "use their weapons to defend their loads at all costs."


Guzman is believed to have delivered the message personally in early March, during a three-day gathering of his associates in Sonoita, a small Mexican town a few miles south of the Arizona border, according to confidential U.S. intelligence bulletins sent to several state and federal law-enforcement officials, who discussed them on the condition of anonymity.


The Sonoita meeting is one of several signs that Guzman is becoming more brazen even in the face of a Mexican government crackdown on his activities and continued turf rivalries with other traffickers.


American Conservative Republican asks, Do you think we should put the U.S. military on the border now?

Or should we wait until more of our law enforcement officers are murdered?

Michael Savage Banned from UK

By Beverley Rouse, Press Association

Talk show host Michael Savage - real name Michael Weiner - is on the banned list


Sixteen people banned from entering the UK were "named and shamed" by the Home Office today.


Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she decided to make public the names of 16 people banned since October so others could better understand what sort of behaviour Britain was not prepared to tolerate.

The list includes hate preachers, anti-gay protesters and a far- right US talk show host.


"I think it's important that people understand the sorts of values and sorts of standards that we have here, the fact that it's a privilege to come and the sort of things that mean you won't be welcome in this country," Ms Smith told GMTV.

"Coming to this country is a privilege. If you can't live by the rules that we live by, the standards and the values that we live by, we should exclude you from this country and, what's more, now we will make public those people that we have excluded.

"We are publishing the names of 16 of those that we have excluded since October. We are telling people who they are and why it is we don't want them in this country."

She said the number of people excluded from Britain had risen from an average of two a month to five a month since October.


The list of the 16 "least wanted" includes radio talk show host Michael Savage, real name Michael Weiner.

"This is someone who has fallen into the category of fomenting hatred, of such extreme views and expressing them in such a way that it is actually likely to cause inter-community tension or even violence if that person were allowed into the country," Ms Smith told BBC Breakfast.

Also named are American Baptist pastor Fred Waldron Phelps Snr and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who have picketed the funerals of Aids victims and claimed the deaths of US soldiers are a punishment for US tolerance of homosexuality.

"If people have so clearly overstepped the mark in terms of the way not just that they are talking but the sort of attitudes that they are expressing to the extent that we think that this is likely to cause or have the potential to cause violence or inter-community tension in this country, then actually I think the right thing is not to let them into the country in the first place. Not to open the stable door then try to close it later," Ms Smith said.

"It's a privilege to come to this country. There are certain behaviours that mean you forfeit that privilege."

Hamas MP Yunis Al-Astal, Jewish extremist Mike Guzovsky, former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard Stephen Donald Black and neo-Nazi Erich Gliebe are also on the list released today.

Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky, the former leaders of a violent Russian skinhead gang which committed 20 racially motivated murders, are also banned from coming to Britain. Both are currently in prison.

Making up the rest of the 16 named by the Home Office today are preachers Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim, Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal, Safwat Hijazi and Amir Siddique, Muslim activist Abdul Ali Musa (previously Clarence Reams), murderer and Hezbollah terrorist Samir Al Quntar and Kashmiri terror group leader Nasr Javed.

Senate Republicans launch new caucus website

(STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX) – Today, with the Launch of the Republicans’ new caucus website www.azsenaterepublicans.com, the public has another way to find out what is going on at the state Capitol. The caucus will use the site to enhance transparency and communicate with the public on important legislative issues through the use of articles, images, video, and other multimedia content.



“In this day and age, virtually anyone across the state can stay in touch with what we are doing at the Legislature. Now more than ever, we can use technology to communicate with Arizonans. This website is just one more example of how we are opening up the process to the public,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Gray, R-Mesa. “We hope people can find accurate information on the budget process, watch video clips, and hear from members of our caucus on a variety of topics that affect Arizona families.”



Add www.azsenaterepublicans.com to your bookmarks. We look forward to becoming a resource for you.





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For more information, contact:

Sarah Dodge, Communication Coordinator

Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus

Office: (602)926-3796, e-mail: sdodge@azleg.gov



Laura Devany, Communications Advisor

Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus

Office: (602) 926-3972, e-mail: ldevany@azleg.gov

Poll: Most Americans Don't Want Gay Marriage in Their State

By Nathan Black

Christian Post Reporter



A recent poll released this week shows that the majority of American voters do not want their state to allow gay marriage.



Fifty-five percent of voters oppose a law in their state allowing same-sex couples to marry, according to an April 30 poll of more than 2,000 registered voters by Quinnipiac University.



Moreover, half of American voters support the federal law allowing states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.



The 1996 Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), enacted under the Clinton administration, provides that states need not recognize same-sex marriages from another state.



Fewer Americans, however, support the second DOMA provision which defines marriage as between one man and one woman and bans the federal government from recognizing gay marriage for any purpose, including eligibility for federal benefits.



Fifty-four percent of voters say the federal law denying federal spousal benefits to gay and lesbian partners should be repealed.



Also, 57 percent support same-sex civil unions and 53 percent favor allowing same-sex couples to adopt children.



"Americans have nuanced and at times inconsistent views about gay rights issues," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in the report.



"In general, Americans tend to be more supportive when it comes to narrow equity questions like serving in the military or collecting federal benefits," he noted. (Fifty-six percent of voters say the ban on openly gay men and women in the military should be repealed.)



"But they are less accepting of more philosophical issues such as equating gay rights with civil rights for blacks and the belief that people are born gay rather than it being a choice," said Brown.



According to the Quinnipiac poll, half of surveyed voters say ending discrimination against homosexuals is as necessary today as ending discrimination against blacks was in the 1960s. But less than half (45 percent) agree that not allowing same-sex couples to get married is discrimination.



Also, 42 percent of American voters say people are born gay or lesbian while 36 percent say it is a choice. And according to Brown, 65 percent of those who think people are born gay support legalized gay marriage compared to 15 percent among those who say being gay is a personal choice.



In other findings, 39 percent of American voters say same-sex marriage is a threat to traditional marriage between a man and a woman. Evangelicals (57 percent) and Protestants (47 percent) were the only religious groups more likely than the total surveyed Americans to say it is a threat. Catholics (34 percent) and Jews (8 percent) were less likely to agree.





When it comes to who should decide whether same-sex marriage should be legal, 43 percent of voters say their state legislature should decide and 25 percent say the courts should. Only 16 percent say neither should make the decision.



Vermont became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage last month through legislative action. Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa were legalized through the state courts. More recently, Maine's and New Hampshire's Senates passed gay marriage bills this week.

Specter Double Talk

The following, are statements made by now Democrat Senator Arlen Specter, concerning his switching parties which proves with his own words that he is a; cheap, pandering, politician, who stands for nothing.

In March:
"I am staying a Republican because I think I have an important role -- a more important role -- to play there. I think the United States desperately needs a two-party system. It is the basis of politics in America. I think each of the 41 Republican senators, in a sense, and I don't want to overstate this, is a national asset, because if one was gone you would only have 40. The Democrats would have 60 and they would control all of the mechanisms of government." --Sen. Arlen Specter

In April:
"Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans. ... Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right." --Sen. Arlen Specter