Pat Buchanan: "We are being invaded, and the president of the United States is not doing his duty to protect the states against that invasion"

As someone who considers himself conservative, I'm happy to finally read a column from a conservative I agree with...

A national emergency
by Patrick J. Buchanan
August 29, 2005

On Aug. 12, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson declared a state of emergency "due to a chaotic situation involving illegal alien smuggling and illegal drug shipments" on his southern border. Three days later, Gov. Janet Napolitano followed suit in Arizona .

Reason: the crisis on the border. The ally-ally-in-free immigration policy of George Bush and Vicente Fox, beloved of corporate America , has created a hell on our southern border.

Those Southwestern states are being inundated by illegal aliens trashing ranches, killing cattle, committing crimes and eating up tax dollars. The traffic in narcotics and human beings from Mexico is a national scandal and a human-rights disgrace.

What is true of New Mexico and Arizona is true of our nation, which is now home to an estimated 10 million to 15 million aliens who have broken our laws and broken into our country. It is a mark of the cowardice of our leaders that they are so terrified of being called "bigots" they tolerate this criminality. The moral rot of political correctness runs deep today in both national parties.

A president like Teddy Roosevelt would have led the Army to the border years ago. And if Fox did not cooperate, T.R. would have gone on to Mexico City . Nor would Ike, who deported all illegal aliens in 1953, have stood still for this being done to the country he had defended in war.

What are these Bush Republicans afraid of? Dirty looks from the help at the country club?

The question of whether America is going to remain one nation, or whether our Southwest will wind up as a giant Kosovo – separated by language and loyalty from the rest of America – is on the table.

Where is Bush? All wrapped up in the issue of whether women in Najaf will have the same rights in divorce and custody cases as women in Nebraska . His legislative agenda for the fall includes a blanket amnesty for illegals, so they can be exploited by businesses who want to hold wages down as they dump the social costs for their employees – health care, schools, courts, cops, prisons – onto taxpayers.

Not only have Richardson and Napolitano awakened – they are on the front lines – so, too, has Hillary Clinton, who has spoken out against illegal immigration with a forthrightness that makes Bush sound like a talking head for La Raza.

Why is a Republican Congress permitting this president to persist in the dereliction of his sworn duty?

George Bush is chief executive of the United States . It is his duty to enforce the laws. Can anyone fairly say he is enforcing the immigration laws? Those laws are clear. People who break in are to be sent back. Yet, more than 10 million have broken in with impunity. Another million attempt to break in every year. Half a million succeed. Border security is homeland security. How, then, can the Department of Homeland Security say America is secure?

Who can guarantee that, of the untold millions of illegals here, and the scores of thousands ordered deported for crimes who have disappeared into our midst, none is a terrorist waiting for orders to blow up a subway or mall and massacre American citizens?

Most of these illegals come to work to send money back to their families. They are not bad people. But because they are predominantly young and male, they commit a disproportionate share of violent crimes.

Why should U.S. citizens be assaulted, robbed, raped and murdered, and have their children molested, because their government will not enforce its own laws?

Is this not an indictment of democracy itself? What dictatorial regime would put up with this?

The Republican Party claims to be a conservative party. But what kind of conservative is it who, to cut a few costs or make a few bucks, will turn his family's home into a neighborhood flop house?

In a recent poll, 40 percent of Mexicans – 40 million people – said they would like to come to the United States , and 20 percent expressed a willingness to break in. Time to cut the babble about how NAFTA is going to solve the problem. This is a national emergency.

Twice, George Bush has taken an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States ." Article IV, Section 4 of that Constitution reads, "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion."

Well, we are being invaded, and the president of the United States is not doing his duty to protect the states against that invasion. Some courageous Republican, to get the attention of this White House, should drop into the hopper a bill of impeachment, charging George W. Bush with a conscious refusal to uphold his oath and defend the states of the Union against "invasion."

It may be the only way left to get his attention, before the border vanishes and our beloved country dissolves into MexAmerica, what T.R. called a "polyglot boarding house for the world."

Muslims have Al Qaeda while Christians have Pat Robertson

Pat Robertson needs a good ass-kicking by the Christians of this country. As reported by every legitimate media outlet, Pat Robertson, the founder of the Christian Coalition, called for the assassination of the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez.

I've never been to seminary, so I can't be called a biblical scholar, but I can't imagine this action or statement would pass the "What would Jesus do?" filter.

Everyone's final trip--six feet down

I always thought it oddly coincidental that Creed’s Weathered CD with the song ‘One Last Breath’ came out the same year that HBO’s Six Feet Under series launched. The lyrics, “Hold me now. I’m six feet from the edge, and I’m thinking that maybe six feet ain’t so far down,” would have been perfect to use in the show’s theme song if not for the rockin’ melody. I digress…

I was an early and regular fan of HBO’s Six Feet Under, and then life got in the way. Dumb luck along with a free Sunday evening with nothing on TV led me to watch episode 63 entitled “Everyone’s Waiting.” Despite missing the last three seasons of this series, watching the hour-long special before this final episode got me caught up.

If you ever watched Six Feet Under, the final episode is a must-see, if for only the last 15 minutes of the show. When I saw “David James Fisher, 1969 – 2044,” I lost it. I too was born in 1969 and 2044 is only 39 years away. Intellectually I’m ready to meet my creator, but I’m sorry, God, I can’t imagine leaving my wife and daughter. Comprehending our own mortality sucks.

Guess whose kids will be footing this bill?

Even ignorning its impact on the price of oil, the war in Iraq will have a $1.25 trillion price tag. For a party so known for fiscal discipline, where is the outrage from Republicans about the growing economic cost of this bullshit war? I don't want my kids paying for the mistakes of our generation.

Stats from the New York Times below:

Jesus loves you, Michael Marcavage. Everyone else thinks you're an asshole.

Church group disrupts Gay Day at Phillies game

By PHIL SHERIDAN
The Phildelphia Enquirer
Published on: 08/18/05

PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies found themselves in the middle of the culture war as well as the National League wild-card race Thursday night.

As the Phillies played the Washington Nationals, a confrontation developed in the upper deck at Citizens Bank Park between Repent America, a fundamentalist Christian group, and fans, many of whom were attending the game as part of a gay pride group.

This is the third year for Gay Day, which featured a national anthem performance by the Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus and a first pitch from Cyd Ziegler of Outsports.com.

It's also the third year Repent America's Michael Marcavage has attended in protest of the event. Marcavage and another man held a sign that read, "Homosexuality Is a Sin, Christ Can Save You" at the top of Section 303 in right field.

At one point, other fans stood in front of the banner, obscuring it. Eventually, officers from the Philadelphia Police Civil Affairs division flanked Marcavage and his unidentified companion.

"This is totally offensive to me," said James Duggan, a fan from Merchantville who stood several rows in front of the sign and engaged Marcavage in debate. "These people are false Christians. I was told the Phillies' lawyers arranged this with Repent America's lawyers, and I find that totally offensive, too."

Mike Stiles, the Philles' vice-president of operations and administration, said the team's attorneys had met with attorneys for Repent America after the group protested the first gay-pride event at Veterans Stadium in 2003.

"It's pretty clear under the Constitution," Stiles said, "that if you're going to have a gay community night, people have the right to express another opinion. We understand it's distressing for some people to have to look at that sign. We believe the leaders of the gay community who arrange this night like any other group know what they're going to have to put up with."

The Phillies have written policies barring fan behavior "interfering with other guests' ability to enjoy the game," as well as banners that contain "fighting words likely to provoke a breach of the peace."

Both policies, Stiles said, are trumped by Repent America's First Amendment rights.

"On a night when we didn't have the gay community, we wouldn't necessarily permit a sign like that," Stiles said. "A sign expressing an objection to the war would not be permitted because it has nothing to do with baseball."

Marcavage and the second man rolled up their sign at the end of the sixth inning, prompting cheers from the fans around Section 303. As the police officers and Phillies officials escorted them out of the grandstand and to an employees' elevator, fans booed and chanted obscenities.

Duggan left the section a few minutes later and headed over to buy a beer.

"I moved here from New York," Duggan said, "and I've traveled a lot. I've found Philadelphia to be the most tolerant place I've ever been. I think that says something. I'm a gay man, I confronted this guy, and I'm not the one who got booed. He is."

Litmus test for war

I was working tonight listening to "Heaven" by Live thinking about the lyrics:

I don't need no one to tell me about heaven
I look at my daughter, and I believe.
I don't need no proof when it comes to God and truth
I can see the sunset and I perceive

And then it hit me why I'm so against the war in Iraq. It's because my litmus test for war is an affirmative answer to the question, "Would I be willing to send my daughter to serve and die?" Of course my daughter is a toddler, so I'm safe for now, but the question is a valid one. Without skin in the game, the war in Iraq is just academic.

I'd sincerely appreciate hearing a reporter ask the question, "Mr. President, given your willingness to commit troops to Iraq, are you willing to send your daughters to fight and die? And if not, then why?"

What the hell is wrong with our President?

I just finished reading Bob Herbert's op-ed today, and as a Christian, I wonder how the "religious right" can still promote George W. Bush as the posterboy for Christian leadership?

To display leadership and convince me his faith is more than just words, here's what I'd like to see..