Agreement sounds nice except that if he declines the federal government will sue him and threatened to take away millions of dollars in federal funding for the entire county. Obama’s thugs take the carrot and stick approach to a whole new level. It seems like the Obama/Holder Justice Department spends more time suing and/or threatening to sue states than doing real work, especially in Arizona and Texas. Is this retribution for their attempts to thwart Obama’s policies? Maybe Holder wants to run more guns through Arizona to the Mexican drug cartels.

Unfortunately for Obama, “America’s toughest sheriff” is not one to back down from a fight and certainly not this one. It was interesting that the AP provided little evidence of Arpaio’s alleged malfeasance, nor any details that Arpaio provided about the success of his illegal immigration efforts. If Obama is looking for a fight he got one as Arpaio, being the True American Hero that he is shot back (not literally),

“President Obama and the band of his merry men might as well erect their own pink neon sign at the Arizona-Mexico border saying ‘Welcome all illegals to your United States, our home is your home”

“I do have compassion, but I’ll tell you one thing. Enforcing the law overrides my compassion.”

Janet “Big Sis” Napolitano has also been involved in what appears to be a coordinated effort to bash Sheriff Arpaio as she cancelled Maricopa County’s involvement in ICE (illegal immigration) enforcement citing the results of the report. Some news reports on this story have stated that the Feds have had a grand jury looking at Arpaio since at least December 2009. I guess this is use of the tactic that if you throw enough “crap” against the wall eventually something will stick or like in the case of Scooter Libby someone may make a conflicting statement.

Anyone looking at this case has to ask the question as to why such egregious violations of the Constitution, not the law mind you, but the CONSTITUTION have not resulted in Sheriff Arpaio being arrested. If you have a law enforcement officer breaking the law why seek an “agreement” for him to do better? Why not arrest him? You cannot doubt that if Eric Holder’s minions had ANYTHING on Sheriff Arpaio they would not be threatening him with agreements, sensitivity training, and taking away his money…they would file charges.

My guess is that since Arpaio is out of the illegal immigration enforcement business it is only a matter of time until some illegal kills an American citizen. Obama and his mainstream media will ignore the story as they pretend there is no problem and we just need to bring these illegals “out of the shadows.”

I happened to go to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office website and found some interesting things that Arpaio has done to fight crime and rehabilitate lost souls besides his “Mug Shot of the Day” which gets around ONE MILLION hits each day:

• he started the nation’s largest Tent City for convicted inmates. Two thousand convicted men and women serve their sentences in a canvas incarceration compound. It is a remarkable success story that has attracted the attention of government officials, presidential candidates, and media worldwide.
• And there are his chain gangs, which contribute thousands of dollars of free labor to the community. The male chain gang, and the world’s first-ever female and juvenile chain gangs, clean streets, paint over graffiti, and bury the indigent in the county cemetery.
• He also has get some tough policies. For example, he banned smoking, coffee, movies, pornographic magazines, and unrestricted TV in all jails. He has the cheapest meals in the U.S. too. The average meal costs between 15 and 40 cents, and inmates are fed only twice daily, to cut the labor costs of meal delivery. He even stopped serving them salt and pepper to save tax payers $20,000 a year.
• He is also into fashion and in known for the pink underwear he makes all inmates wear. Years ago, when the Sheriff learned that inmates were stealing jailhouse white boxers, Arpaio had all inmate underwear dyed pink for better inventory control. The same is true for the Sheriff’s handcuffs. When they started disappearing, he ordered pink handcuffs as a replacement.
• He has also launched rehabilitative programs like “Hard Knocks High,” the only accredited high school under a Sheriff in an American jail, and ALPHA, an anti-substance-abuse program that has greatly reduced recidivism.
• Arpaio continues to reduce crime with hard-hitting enforcement methods. His deputies and detectives have solved several high-profile murder cases, including numerous child murders. The posse, whose ranks have increased to 3,000 members under Arpaio, is the nation’s largest volunteer posse. Posse men and women help in search and rescue and other traditional police work as well as in special operations like rounding up deadbeat parents, fighting prostitution, patrolling malls during holidays, and investigating animal cruelty complaints. The posse’s contributions are invaluable and essentially free to taxpayers.

This is an easy post for me as most of it will be using Daniel Hannan’s own words and a link to an article written by him that you will be inticed to read.  The article is a message to “Occupy” folks and an attempt to point them in the right direction to vent their displeasure.  Hannan offers ten points of which I’ll only provide a brief tease;

1. Free-marketeers resent the bank bailouts. This might seem obvious: we are, after all, opposed to state subsidies and nationalisations….
2. What has happened since 2008 is not capitalism. In a capitalist system, bad banks would have been allowed to fail, their profitable operations bought by more efficient competitors…
3. If you want the rich to pay more, create a flatter and simpler tax system.  This is partly a question of closing loopholes (mansions put in company names to avoid stamp duty, capital gains tax exemption for non-doms etc)…
4. Those of us who believe in small government are not motivated by the desire to make the rich richer. We’re really not…
5. We are not against equality…
6. Nor, by the way, does state intervention seem to be an effective way to promote equality…
7. Let’s tackle the idea that being on the Left means being on the side of ordinary people, while being on the Right means defending privileged elites. It’s hard to think of a single tax, or a single regulation, that doesn’t end up privileging some vested interest at the expense of the general population…
8. Capitalism, with all its imperfections, is the fairest scheme yet tried. In a system based on property rights and free contract, people succeed by providing an honest service to others…
9. Talking of fairness, let’s remember that the word doesn’t belong to any faction. How about parity between public and private sector pay? How about being fair to our children, whom we have freighted with a debt unprecedented in peacetime?
10. Let’s not forget ethics, either. There is virtue in deciding to do the right thing, but there is no virtue in being compelled. Choosing to give your money to charity is meritorious; paying tax is morally neutral (see here). Evidence suggests that, as taxes rise, and the state squeezes out civic society, people give less to good causes.

Do yourself a favor and read all of Mr. Hannan’s memo to the Occupy protestors.

You can read my original post here.

“what I consider to be a total lack of leadership from the President and nothing’s going to get fixed until the President himself steps up.”

“this administration is the greatest wet blanket to business, and progress and job creation in my lifetime. And I can prove it and I could spend the next 3 hours giving you examples of all of us in this market place that are frightened to death about all the new regulations, our healthcare costs escalate, regulations coming from left and right. A President that seems, that keeps using that word redistribution.”

“those of us who have business opportunities and the capital to do it are going to sit in fear of the President. And a lot of people don’t want to say that. They’ll say, God, don’t be attacking Obama.”

“this is Obama’s deal and it’s Obama that’s responsible for this fear in America.”

“The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don’t invest, their holding too much money. We haven’t heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists.”

“I’m telling you that the business community in this company is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the President of the United States. And until he’s gone, everybody’s going to be sitting on their thumbs.”

Of course what I think Mr. Wynn means by “steps up” is for Obama to actually get his hands dirty to get the job done and cut the uncertainty in the marketplace rather than complain from the sideline as he is prone to do. 

Here are some of my thoughts.

• Step away from the microphone Mr. President. 
• Stop lying Mr. President. 
• Stop playing on our fears Mr. President.
• Give us a budget proposal Mr. President.
• Stop the outrageous spending Mr. President.
• Stop the juggernaut of new government regulations.
• Drill here, drill now Mr. President.
• Repeal Obamacare or stop issuing waivers to your friends and unions.
• It’s been nearly two years since you signed a budget Mr. President.
• Stop campaigning Mr. President.
• Stop golfing Mr. President.
• Stop vacationing Mr. President.
• Stop partying Mr. President.
• Be “presidential” for a change!

You can read the original post here.

“this is Obama’s deal and it’s Obama that’s responsible for this fear in America.”

Mr. Friedman is the first True American hero that I have proclaimed who is deceased, but his words live on in his books and I happened upon a treasure trove of videos that folks put out featuring this grandfatherly figure.  All economics classes taught in the United States should play the following videos.  It is a testament to how deep liberal/progressives have infiltrated the education system that probably 99 percent of Americans have never heard of Milton Friedman.  I hope you enjoy this series of short videos about common economic topics from a True American Hero:

Minimum Wage:

The Power of the Market – The Pencil:

The Power of the Market – The Invisible Hand:

The Power of the Market – Unfair Competition:

The Power of the Market – Equality:

The Power of the Market – Poverty:

The Power of the Market – Prices:

The Power of the Market – Welfare:

Two things strike me as I write this.  The first is that I find myself struggling about what to call Congressman West.  I just cannot bring myself to call him a “politician” as if on him it is a pejorative.  His constituents in Florida are smart to have elected him and lucky that he settled there after his military service.  The second issue was how to whittle the following video clips to the few that I wanted to include to illustrate this man.  I planned only two clips, but that just wasn’t enough.   The third thing (I know that there were supposed to only be two things) was that I found myself watching and watching and watching the videos.  I love his voice.  I love his style.  I love his delivery.  And most of all I love his message.  I hope to be able to vote for him someday in perhaps a nationwide election (Ryan/West 2012?). 

You may read the original post here.

The conservatives within the Republican Party have finally come to life or at least have been given more press lately and there are many heroes within that group and some will be featured here in the near future.  I believe that Senator Jim DeMint is a True American Hero because he was at the forefront of the Tea Party movement.  He ran along side the citizens rather than trying to jump on board the wave as it thundered toward the electoral shore.  He was with the Tea Party folks from the beginning and has stuck by them as many of his Republican colleagues lament what could have been without Tea Party favorites like O’Donnel, Angle, Miller, etc.

“I think they [Tea Party] made a huge difference in the election.  They’re just part of this awakening of the American people, the citizen activism, this realigning of politics in America today.”

Perhaps the best endorsement of DeMint comes from the Huffington Post.  You cannot imagine how painful it is to link to that web site.  Their headline says it all as they attempt to portray themselves as a real news organization thought funded by Soros;  “Jim DeMint Emerges As Conservative Superpower With His ‘Disciples,’ But Faces Big GOP Backlash,”  It is funny to read the story as the HufPo uses RINO Lindsay Graham to make their case that DeMint cost the GOP a chance at a control of the Senate.  Lest you forget that the Republican Senate has such conservative stalwarts as Mr. Graham, McCain, Snowe, and Collins.  No matter how many seats the GOP picked up we could never overcome their propensity to stroll across the aisle.

We know that the left fears strong, well-spoken, confident conservatives.  I expect DeMint to be demonized like the media did to Newt.  I was politically young when the Mr. Gingrich became the Speaker of the House, but was awake enough to recognize his demonization.  He seems to have accepted his role as a media pundit, writer, and think-tank supporter and has frustrated me on occasion with his acceptance of some liberal views.  My wish for Senator DeMint is that his brain doesn’t grow three sizes too small and forget his principles. 

I also hope that Republicans don’t continue to eat their own.  As much as I admired Karl Rove, I no longer have any respect for him because of his attacks on Christine O’Donnel.  It wasn’t enough to say nothing, but he piled on and on and on.  He, perhaps, bears the most to blame for her loss.  His Republican establishment probably looks at strong, independent voices like DeMint as troublesome.  DeMint has some great teammates coming his way with Rand Paul and Marco Rubio and maybe even Joe Miller and Dino Rossi.  Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center perhaps said it best;

“The big winners of 2010 are Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin and liberal and moderate Republicans can’t stand it.  The Republican Party owes Jim DeMint a massive debt of gratitude and a standing ovation for what he did.  If the moderates in the Republican Party want war, they’re going to lose.  I guarantee you we will see their political carcasses when they come up for re-election.”

Senator DeMint penned an article for the Wall Street Journal the day after the historic election.  He wrote it to the new conservatives coming into Congress and it is worth reading the whole article, but I’ll leave you with this excerpt;

“Many of the people who will be welcoming the new class of Senate conservatives to Washington never wanted you here in the first place. The establishment is much more likely to try to buy off your votes than to buy into your limited-government philosophy. Consider what former GOP senator-turned-lobbyist Trent Lott told the Washington Post earlier this year: “As soon as they get here, we need to co-opt them.

Don’t let them. Co-option is coercion. Washington operates on a favor-based economy and for every earmark, committee assignment or fancy title that’s given, payback is expected in return. The chits come due when the roll call votes begin. This is how big-spending bills that everyone always decries in public always manage to pass with just enough votes.

But someone can’t be bribed if they aren’t for sale.”

Someone can’t be bribed if they aren’t for sale!

Here is a message to Chris.  That is what all politicians do.  They generally stay on message and the good ones don’t take the bait.  How could any real journalist expect to be treated respectfully when they don’t extend the same courtesy.  Bachmann had the line of the night when she responded to Matthews’ taunts with this line,

“I think people are thrilling tonight, I imagine that thrill is maybe not quite so tingly on your leg anymore.”

You can read my original post here.

“I have a message for the politicians that decided that their careers are more important than their children: I’m coming.  I have a message for the lawyers who have made a lifetime of suing us into failure:  I’m coming.”

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie

We all have seen politicians come and go, make promises only to break them, promise light then enter Washington’s darkness, or give us hope and change then promptly turn to politics as usual once in office.  Politicians almost always forget that they sent to Washington or Harrisburg or Trenton or Sacramento or even Madison to REPRESENT us the people.  Chris Christie came into my atmosphere when, as a Republican, beat the incumbent and popular Gov. Corzine.  Christie’s upset of Corzine made a lot of news at first, however, his ascendance was quickly pushed to the back page in the media.  A usual technique when they want to hide a popular conservative. 

I didn’t pay much attention because it was after all New Jersey and I suffer in Rendell’s Taxylvania.  I guess that I expected Christie to be more like The Governator of Caulifornia; more of a RINO than a true conservative.  To quote Gomer Pyle, “Surprise, surprise.”  Gov. Christie is actually doing what he said he would do; a rare trait in a politician and a trait we all long for, that is if what he promises is what we want – not so good when you consider Obama doing what he said he’d do.

For me it’s not just that Christie is working to balance his state’s budget and fix what’s broken in New Jersey government, it’s his hutzpah.  He takes criticism and gives it right back.  I doubt that anyone has ever accused him of being a shrinking violet.  If you have never seen Gov. Christie’s take on an issue or a person, shame on you.  This is a guy you can follow and once you see him in action you’ll pray that he has higher aspirations of public office.  He is nice and polite but assertive and often quite funny.  He seems to typify what I think of as a Jersey guy and certainly not the nimrods on the Jersey Shore MTV show.  This clip shows his sense of humor:

Michael Van Der Galien recently wrote an article for NewsRealBlog showing his top five Chris Christie moments.  The best way to experience Christie is to see him in action.  The following clip is one of the author’s top five and is one that I had not seen, but it shows Christie in a classic no-holds-barred discussion about a tough issue; teachers unions and education:

This last clip is perhaps my favorite as Gov. Christie speaks from his heart about New Jersey’s “day of reckoning” and imploring the citizens to join him in fixing New Jersey for the children and grandchildren.  I don’t see any teleprompters here.  I suspect that his messages are not poll tested before he utters them.  I believe him.

The only thing were Gov. Christie may be wrong is about him coming after politicians and lawyers.  I believe that we are ALL coming after them.  Remember we surround them.

You probably did not hear anything about the speach given by Vaclav Klaus.  This was probably because President Klaus does not support European socialism so the media either didn’t report his words or buried the story.  Burying the story gives them deniability when we blast them for being leftist since they did print it.  Unlike the calls from the world’s elitists for greater global governance Klaus, a free market economist, blasted this path:

“On the contrary, this is the time for international organizations, including the United Nations, to reduce their expenditures, make their administrations thinner, and leave the solutions to the governments of member states…[the world is] moving in the wrong direction…The anti-crisis measures that have been proposed and already partly implemented follow from the assumption that the crisis was a failure of markets and that the right way out is more regulation of markets…[this is a] mistaken assumption…[that will] destroy the markets and together with them the chances for economic growth and prosperity in both developed and developing countries.”

If you are like me, these are the words that I long to hear from our President.  The problem Klaus and other free market proponents have is that even though the free market system always works (remember the United States has far too much government control to really be considered free) there will always be losers and winners.   There will always be a group crying for their piece of pie.  I always find it interesting that the smaller European nations that long-suffered under Soviet Communism have become some of the strongest free market societies.  Do you think they know something that we forgot?

For all of you socialists or liberals or progressives or whatever label you try to hide behind, would you rather be poor in America or Cuba?  You may be surprised to learn that being poor in the United States is much better than being poor in the third world.  I have never heard of a news story about a group of Americans making a raft to sail to Cuba to live. 

Cheers to President Klaus.

You may read the original post here.