Dear Congressman Bishop

Last Wednesday I called my Congressman, Sanford Bishop, Democrat, 2nd District of Georgia. I left a simple message with his kind receptionist. 

“Part ways with Nancy Pelosi and represent your district by funding the President’s request. If you have not called, will you take a moment to do that? 202-225-3631. 

Earlier this morning, I also sent the following message. 

Dear Congressman Bishop,

Represent your constituents. Part ways with Nancy Pelosi. Cross the aisle, and vote to secure the borders and reopen the government.

In his address to the American people, President Trump said that this entire shut down could be resolved in 45 minutes with sincere negotiation. 

Thus far the Democrats have been hypocritical. If you insist on listening to and voting as Nancy Pelosi directs, then you, too, will be hypocritical. 

For years politicians on both sides of the aisle have talked about the need for stronger border security. I have read statement after statement from Presidents and leaders from both parties, including the the present Democrat leadership that you are following.

You know that some of those crossing the border are ruthless and merciless criminals. They bring innocent victims along with them.

Reports are that one third of the women who are on caravans to try to illegally cross the open border are victims of horrendous rape and sexual assault along the way. 

Statistics like this indicate that many of the people funding and leading these caravans are not humanitarians helping families seek the American dream. Rather it reveals that these are criminals callously treating women and children as mere commodities in modern day slavery and sex trafficking. 

Now you are inflicting even more pain by allowing the government to shut down. As I write you, federal employees are due a paycheck. It won’t come today.

President Trump said that he would own the shutdown. He may own the shutdown, but you own the solution. 

You voted for the Secure Fence Act when President George W. Bush asked for it. Chuck Schumer voted for it. Today, when the crisis at the border is even worse, you suddenly make a 180 degree turn. Why? 

It is not because of policy. Border security is an American issue, not a party issue.

It is not a funding question. I have not heard one word asking what to cut in order to fund the request.

There is only one reason for the sudden change. It is a political issue to keep President Trump from fulfilling a campaign promise. This is childish behavior. 

Even more childish, it is a personality issue about Donald Trump himself. It is time to put away childish behavior.

It is time for you listen to your constituents. It is time to part ways with Nancy Pelosi. It is time to cross the aisle.  

Vote to secure the borders, and reopen the government.

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Dear Mr. President

Thank you for your stand on securing our nation’s border. If I depended on the main stream media, I could start to think that I am the only person who supports you. I am not.

Given the media propaganda, I think that it is appropriate to let you know that I hear and understand what you are saying.

Americans from all walks of life, all races, nationalities, socioeconomic classes, and educational levels, hear and understanding what you are saying. It would not surprise me to learn that even some who vote Democrat hear and understand what you are saying.

Tweet from President Trump with image of steel slat fence

You made it clear that we need stronger border security. You even sent a tweet referring to the border security structure as steel slats.

I appreciate the picture you attached. It is simple and shows what we need at certain places on the border.

Whether we call it a wall or steel slats, it functions to protect and secure our borders. That is your mission.

On December 11, 2018, Nancy Pelosi told you that there were not enough votes in the House, even with a Republican majority, to fund the wall. Nine days later the House of Representatives passed a bill by a vote of 217-185 which included $5 billion to build a wall.

That bill never made it to a vote in the Senate. Chuck Schumer and Democrats used their power to filibuster to keep Senators from voting it up or down.

Schumer and Democrats said that the wall funding bill, as passed by the House, would not pass the Senate. Obviously they did not believe what they were saying or they would have allowed an up or down vote.

No one claims that we do not need border security. No one disputes that there are some bad characters attempting to enter our nation illegally. No one disagrees that the Executive branch has the responsibility to protect our nation and her borders.

Our Border Patrol agents face danger on a daily basis. They clearly can do their jobs more effectively, and with less danger in areas with a strong physical border.

Democrats and the mainstream media have made this entire escapade like a preschool playground argument that wants to keep little Johnny from winning a game. (My apologies to preschoolers who may be insulted by the analogy).

Mr. President, I hear you. I appreciate your stand. I support you fully.

History reveals the hypocrisy of Chuck Schumer. He voted for the Secure Fence Act in 2006. So, what has changed?

We elected you to be our President. That is what has changed.

Thank you, Mr. President, for standing for America.

Sincerely,

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Senators Dodge Accountability

Through some miracle, I am able to write this commentary in the midst of a government shutdown.

In all of the drama watching the clock tick down till midnight, Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee made brief comments about the voting process.

He explained that Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona and others had reached an agreement that the next vote by the Senate would be on a bill that was agreed to by the President and Republican and Democrat leaders in the House and Senate.

He went on to say that this pushes ahead a negotiation that will yield results. At first take that sounds reasonable. But remember, this is a politician talking.

What he is really saying is that there will be a closed door meeting with a handful of people. There will not be an open floor debate and discussion.

The news keeps saying that it takes 60 votes to pass. That is not true.

It takes 60 votes to end the debate. Then there is a vote on the resolution itself. That vote only requires a simple majority.

There should be a vote to end debate with each Senator on record to proceed to a vote on the House bill. That bill funds the government temporarily, provides border security, and provides emergency disaster relief which includes Georgia farmers hit by Hurricane Michael.

If there were not enough votes to end debate, then someone could offer an amendment and the Senate could deliberate and vote on the amendment. In other words, be accountable for the vote.

The US Senate is supposed to be the great deliberative body. They should go on record so that everyone can hear and see.

Historians should be able to look back and see how our “distinguished” Senators set priorities and addressed border security. But this is not about the great deliberative body debating and hammering out these issues.

It is about allowing individual Senators to dodge accountability. Theoretically some Democrats might be persuaded to vote to end the debate and proceed forward.

I believe that some Republicans do not want to end debate because they do not want real border security. They just do not want their constituents to know that.

They want to dodge accountability. Once again, this puts on open display the hypocrisy of politicians in Washington.

They say that they can’t do away with the filibuster for appropriation bills because the Senate is the great deliberative body. Yet their actions show that they do not want the Senators to deliberate at all.

The Senators are dodging accountability. They should be held accountable.

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Execution by Paper Cut

Democrats are trying to execute Brett Kavanaugh by paper cut. They have been very clear about their goal to stop his confirmation. They intentionally hid an allegation of sexual assault for weeks. The sole reason was to throw it out as a last minute Hail Mary pass to delay the Senate Judiciary Committee vote.

Witnesses named by the accuser have denied knowing anything about the alleged event. Judge Kavanaugh immediately issued a strong denial and asked to testify before the Judiciary Committee.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley made extraordinary accommodations for the accuser to offer testimony to the committee. The first hint came on September 13, after the committee had completed hearings. A vote was scheduled for the following week, September 20.

It was then that Senator Fienstein revealed that she had turned over a letter to investigators from an anonymous source about an anonymous matter. Unnamed sources stated that it was an allegation of sexual misconduct by Judge Kavanaugh.

Over the weekend, the accuser was identified as Christine Blasey Ford. She said that she wanted to testify. The scheduled vote for Thursday the 20th was cancelled and a hearing was set for Monday the 24th.

With each new day, new excuses and demands arose from Ford’s attorney. Then another accusation came out from Deborah Ramirez. Democrats immediately called for more delays and more conditions. The hearing was rescheduled to Thursday the 27th for Ford and Kavanaugh both to testify.

Meanwhile, not wanting to be left out, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti, popped out of the clown car and announced that he also has someone ready to come forward in the next 48 hours.

Fortunately, Senator Grassley has put his foot down. Thursday, September 27 is the date for the hearing. I still doubt that Ford will show up for the hearing.

Grassley has scheduled a vote for Friday. Senate Republicans are poised to start the full Senate confirmation vote debate on Saturday. Until the Senate finally has a confirmation vote, we may as well get accustomed to hearing outrageous claims from all corners.

Democrats hoped that Kavanaugh would give up and quit. Thankfully, he is not quitting. He is standing firm while Democrats are trying to execute by paper cut.

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President Trump Played the Hand He Was Dealt

I have seen many posts and commentaries critical of the President for signing the Omnibus spending bill into law. I do not think that there was anything more that he could gain by vetoing the bill.

His top priority was to rebuild our nation’s military after nearly a decade of neglect. This bill took a big step in that direction.

Other initiatives such as building the wall, defunding Planned Parenthood, and reforms in the Veteran’s Administration were passed over by Congress. It is neither reasonable nor realistic to believe that Congress would have improved any of these other initiatives.

Republicans control both the House and Senate. It does not appear that they put up much of a fight in the bill that they gave the President. If they did not have his back at the beginning, he certainly could not expect them to have his back to support a veto.

It took a fork lift to deliver the 2200 page bill to the President. When it arrived at the Whitehouse, he looked down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol. All he could see were taxi cabs and Uber cars with members of Congress scrambling to get to the airport.

Congress is supposed to pass a budget and the President sign it before October 1 of each year. When they do not have their act together in time, they merely pass a short term extension.

For this year they extended through December 8, then December 22, then January 19, then February 8, then March 23. I count five times they kicked the can down the road. There is no evidence that anything substantive took place during those temporary extensions.

Here is the real ugly truth. The 2200 pages were churned out by lobbyists and congressional staffers who then packaged it up for a handful of elected members of Congress.

Those few members, from both parties, then push it out to the rest of the members giving little or no time for debate, much less time to read it. This is all under a cloud of imminent disaster if it is not passed by the deadline – which by then is literally hours away.

Georgia Senator David Perdue is on a lonely crusade to change the budget process. Along the way he has built support for his ideas. Congress even established a joint study committee to consider changes in the budget process.

We are now 6 months away from the next budget being due. Maybe I should more correctly say that we are six months away from the next season of kick the can.

Republicans in Congress need to stand up for the agenda on which they have been running and getting elected. Fund the wall, defund Planned Parenthood, and reduce the size of government.

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The State of the Union

I look forward to hearing President Trump’s State of the Union Message tomorrow evening. We will hear him focus on how we have advanced as a nation in the past year.

The last President was going around the world apologizing to other nations for America. Contrast that to President Trump who is unapologetically proud of America. The differences are as stark as the dense darkness in the depths of Mammoth Cave to high noon in the Sahara desert.

From his first visit to Saudi Arabia where he confronted Muslim terrorism in its own back yard to Warsaw where he boldly proclaimed Western Judeao-Christian values that are the foundation for freedom.

Just last week in Lavos, he promoted America First and clearly explained that America First does not mean America alone.  He made economics simple by pointing out that a strong American economy is good for the whole world.

The stock market hits new records highs on a weekly basis. When it passed 25,000, President Trump said it looks like 30,000 is our next goal.

I expect him to talk about his plan for investment in infrastructure. He will discuss his plan for Immigration.  He offered a proposal to the Democrats for the Dreamers that is bi-partisan.

He stood firm when Democrats shut down the government to allow some illegal immigrants to stay. His proposal now doubles the number of illegal immigrants who would be allowed to stay and have a path to become citizens.

The mainstream media has focused on matters that don’t matter to the average American. It has become nauseatingly comical. President Trump will address the things that do matter.  It is not just talk. It is action and millions of Americans are seeing it now, even in their own paychecks.

This will be an important address. I will be watching. I hope that you will too.

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Shoehorning to Shutdown

Congress failed to send a bill to the President to continue funding the government. As a result, President Trump directed an orderly shut down process to begin at midnight, January 19, 2018.

Senate rules allow a minority of Senators to block action on a bill. Republicans hold a slim 51 to 49 majority in the Senate. When Democrats filibuster (which they did) Republicans need at least 9 Democrat votes to allow a vote on the bill.

Five Democrats voted to proceed with voting along with 45 Republicans. Five Republicans including McConnell voted NO on the motion to proceed. McConnell voted NO so that he could move to reconsider.

I watched the Senate proceedings. Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell spoke with clear common sense about the failure of the Senate to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government.

There was very little controversy over the content of the resolution. McConnell noted that the shutdown was 100% avoidable and pointedly said, “Democrats chose to filibuster a non-controversial funding bill that contains nothing, not a thing, that they do not support.”

That raises a rather obvious question. What is the problem? The problem is that Democrats decided to insert a completely separate issue into the resolution. McConnell put it best, “There is only one reason we ended up here; the shoehorning of illegal immigration into this debate.”

Cut through all the hype and it comes down to one simple issue. Democrats put the interests of illegal immigrants above the interests of Americans.

The issue they shoehorned into this debate has nothing to do with funding the government. Republicans in the Senate should stand together and refuse to yield to this blatant extortion.

The American people clearly see Schumer’s priorities.They see where they stand in relation to illegal immigrants.

Senator McConnell is to be commended for his leadership thus far. Schumer’s Shutdown does not just put Americans in the back of the bus. Schumer’s Shutdown kicks Americans under the bus.

Democrat Senators need to make the wise decision to put America first. Put an end to this hypocritical smokescreen charade and let the Senate vote on the Continuing Resolution.

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Repeal and Let It Fail

After numerous efforts to replace Obamacare failed, President Trump stated that he is fine with letting it implode under its own weight, Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell has stated that he is bringing a vote to the floor on the same bill to repeal Obamacare that passed the Senate in 2015. It would have an effective date two years away.

Three Republican Senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Susan Collins of Maine said they oppose McConnell’s proposal. Of those three, only Collins voted against the 2015 repeal plan.FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmailby feather

Finish Your Chores Before You Play

The mini drama plays out every day in thousands of households around the world.  “Mom, can I go to the mall, play, see my friends, watch a movie?  You fill in the blank.  Mother responds, “Sure, but first clean up your room.”

Five or ten minutes later, “Mom, can I go now, my friends are waiting?”  This time the Mother’s response is in the form of a question. “Have you cleaned up your room?”  The answer comes back, “I’m almost done.”  The mother patiently replies, “Finish cleaning up your room.”FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmailby feather

A Fraud Perpetuated on the American People

“A fraud perpetuated on the American people.”  What an irony that Senator David Perdue pointedly addressed his fellow Senators with these words on June 6, the same day that we remembered D-Day 73 years ago.

On June 6, 1944, the United States launched the most massive military undertaking in world history.  It required an unshakable resolve, monumental planning, impeccable execution, and passionate prayer.  It was a time of crisis for our nation and, with God’s care, we rose to meet the crisis.

73 years later our nation is in the midst of another crisis that is even more ominous. It is a crisis that is more sinister and threatening than even the threat of terrorism. Like a cancer on our nation, it is steadily and tenaciously destroying us from the inside.

For 14 minutes, Senator Perdue presented common sense truth to the Senate.  This was not an address filled with partisan flamboyancy. It was not an address in the late night hours to an empty room simply to have footage for campaign commercial.

It was a call for the Senate to simply do its job.  It was a call to seriously address a national debt that has grown to nearly 20 trillion dollars.  It was a call to have an honest budget process. You can watch his message in less time than it takes for a coffee break.

If you feel that you do not have time to watch it, then I’ll give you the reader’s digest version below.  But you need to watch this speech.

This is not a politician pontificating.  It is a plain spoken American exhorting his colleagues to stop serving themselves and serve the American people.FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmailby feather