President Obama can reform immigration and stimulate the economy -- build a border fence

The Senate’s so called “gang of eight” had reached a bi partisan agreement on reforming our immigration system.  But the key to this bi partisan support was to seal our borders first, before we implement any steps to legality for the millions of illegals among us. But President Obama says our borders are already secure and there is no need to address border security first.

But the senators thought the border security proviso was logical, since what country has no control of it’s borders? What good will it do to reform our immigration system if thousands can cross our borders daily with impunity…We don’t even know who these people are.

President Obama says that our borders are more secure now than ever. Is that true?

US citizens that live along our southern border vehemently reject that notion. They point out the garbage strewn illegal crossing points, the damage done to private property, the violence and the worn trails that point to high traffic. 

These are regular high traffic corridors used by drug and human traffickers routinely crossing our southern border.  They funnel in huge quantities of drugs and the human mules used to carry these drugs across the borders. Some of these points are run with military precision. See Border No Country for Old Men

These desolate border crossing areas encompass thousands of square miles and federal border personnel are stretched thin, unable to staunch the flow of humans and drugs flowing into our country.

President Obama, is technically correct in one respect, the inflow of illegals is down right now because the US economy is in the tank, not because of increased border enforcement.  

 Even the Presidents own border patrol agents have brought suit against him for what they claim are policies that prevent them from protecting our borders. They claim his executive orders are a violation of the constitution. See Godfather Politics border patrol suing Obama

But if an immigration amnesty deal is inked before the borders are secured, look for a massive influx of illegals taking advantage of any pathway to US citizenship.

If President Obama is serious about reforming our immigration laws and making our country more secure as a result, he should do what is best for our country and approve the building of a fence along our southern border......and make sure there are enough personnel to make it secure.

Instead of rebuilding foreign countries with billions of our tax dollars, we should take those dollars and use them to protect our borders.  A border fence would be a stimulus for our economy, create thousands of jobs in the construction industry, and help staunch the flow of drugs.

Lets don’t put the cart before the horse; secure our borers first before there is any talk of reforming immigration, or pathways to legality.  Without securing our borders first, the rest of immigration reform is a farce.

School choice can save our children and our cities

 The hopes and needs of children are clearly evident when charter, or pilot schools become available in school districts. 

 Lines, sometimes blocks long, of applicants eager to give their children a better shot at an education can be seen.  Unfortunately, there are a limited amount of openings compared to the overwhelming demand by parents desperate to get their children a better education. These scenes, repeated around the country, are heartbreaking, but at the same time gives a sense of hope, that something is being attempted to shake up the government education system

This week is National School Choice Week.  It is being celebrated throughout our country with over 3,500 events honoring the change that can transform our education system into one of the finest in the world…But it will take courage to change the status quo.

In honor of School Choice Week, I talked to Jeff Reed, communications director for the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.  The Friedman Foundation has been spearheading school choice efforts throughout the country, working with new thinking Governors such as Louisiana’s Bobby Jindall and Wisconsins Scott Walker, in turning around a failing government education system.

Jeff shared many positive developments with me, as school choice starts to take hold around the country.  See this map of where school choice is being implemented.

Parents love the freedom, when offered, to take a voucher to a private, or alternative school for the chance of a better education for their children.

Many Governors and Mayors love the idea of vouchers not only for the freedom of choice they offer, they love it because it can save them huge amounts of money. Sometimes the cost of a voucher for a student to enroll in a private school is ½ the cost of the public school.  That can add up to substantial cost savings to states and cities struggling to keep their heads above water.

Additionally, when school choice is introduced into a state or district, through vouchers, tax credits, savings accounts, etc…It brings competition, which is lacking in the public school system.

But John Norquist, Democratic mayor of Milwaukee from 1988 to 2004, had a unique perspective on school choice and how it can restore our cities.

Norquist wrote: “If a young couple moves to, say, St. Louis and chooses a home in one of the city's revitalizing neighborhoods, everything goes well until their first child approaches school age. They might decide to pay for private education at one of the few such schools in the city. Or they might take a chance on getting into one of the city's elite magnet schools. But what looks like the surest way to enroll their child in a good school is to move to a suburb.”

He goes on with: “Although the couple enjoys urban life in St. Louis, they leave for better school opportunities. This process occurs all across the country; many parents with resources move away from cities and suburbs where poor people live.”

The lack of quality education choice leads to the further decay of our big cities and urban areas.  Mr. Norquist believes “many more, including middle-class parents, would live in economically and racially diverse cities once school choice was universally available.”

When you hear a leader of the top public education union and fiercest foe of education choice say: “Union dues, not education, are our top priority,”…..it is plain to see we have lost our way as a country and have failed our children.

Lets give all of our parents and children a choice when it comes to education.

Father Malachi Martin: Vatican envoy and exorcist

Recently Lionsgate Home Entertainment sent a copy of a newly released DVD called “The Possession." 

I popped it into the machine and for the next hour and a half watched a story based loosely on a real event; A young girl buys an antique box at a yard sale, unaware that it is actually a Dybbuk Box.  According to Jewish folklore the box was used to house ancient demons. Soon she begins exhibiting Linda Blair’s "Exorcist" symptoms.

I yelled at the TV screen several times, trying to warn the young woman NOT to open the box…But she didn’t hear me and predictably, the demon was released to set up shop in her body.

Of course the story has a Yiddish twist. Instead of the heroic Priest entering armed with a crucifix, holy water and a holy book.....this one features a Rabbi with a Torah and the Star of David.

The story had a happy ending for the girl and her family…. however the Rabbi, who gave his all, met a horrible fate and the demon lived on to inhabit another hapless victim.

But the premise of the movie reminded me of a Priest who I used to communicate with years ago.

The first time I heard him was when I would awake at 0 dark thirty a few times a week to drive to my job in the city.  On the way, I would turn on the radio for company.  One morning the first voice to greet me was the melodious accent of an Irishman.  Of course, I tuned in to hear what he was speaking about.

That voice was Father Malchi Martin, a Kerry Ireland native, learned scholar, author and traveling envoy for the Vatican.  At the time, he was a guest of the largest syndicated radio show in the world…so he was speaking to millions of listeners.

The drive took me an hour as I listened to how how he described his brushes with evil.  How every person has crossroads, how the seductive power of evil draws you down a path, even a seemingly insignificant one and puts you at risk.

As he went on, he described how he sometimes went to the extreme and ended up performing exorcisms on people who had become possessed.

 Father Martin was a firm believer in the power of evil and  battled it throughout his career as a Catholic Priest.

What he was talking about reminded me of Dr. Scott Peck, an author who was selling tons of books at the time. .A brilliant psychiatrist and author, his books combined medical science along with his personal experiences. I had just read his “Road Less Travelled” and now had picked up his other book “People of the Lie” See video

 People of the Lie, was Pecks scientific study of evil.  He took documented cases of patients treated over his career and painstakingly investigated the genesis of evil.  It was chilling to read of the cruelty that leaped out of that book. In fact he prefaced “People of the Lie” with the warning that “it was a dangerous book.”

That day I wrote Fr. Martin a message. I let him know I had heard his interview on the radio and was appreciative of his points.  I also informed him there was a prominent figure in the scientific/media world who would be a great person for him to contact and compare notes with, Dr. Scott Peck.

Later that night Fr. Martin sent his blessings via email.  He thanked me for my input and suggestion, but that he was already very aware of Scott Peck and knew him personally.

As I read the rest of Peck’s “People of the Lie,”  I reached chapter 5,  Peck wrote of his experiences with exorcism and how he had worked with Fr.Martin in two of them.  He described the exorcisms in detail from a scientific, case study point of view.

From time to time after that, I kept in touch with Fr. Martin. I always appreciated his intelligence and controversial points of view on the Church, as well as society in general.

Fr. Malachi Martin was an accomplished best selling author who possessed not only superb writing skills but also displayed tremendously keen insights into the Vatican, its operations and problems.

His excellent contacts in Rome gave him first hand knowledge. However, he made enemies by his criticisms of those in positions of power and prominence, especially when he came out with his novel “Windswept House." A Vatican novel.

Fr. Martin was asked if he feared for his life since writing "Windswept House". He just said that he was, but was too old to change his ways.

But Father Martin soon met his death, many think it was under very suspicious circumstances. He was found unconscious and bleeding in his home with wood fragments imbedded in his skull.  Some say he regained consciousness just briefly enough to declare that it was a murder attempt, but that he did not get a chance to see who did it. Fr. Martin fell into a coma and died on July 27, 1999. He was 78 at the time of his death.

A documentary titled ‘Malachi Martin: The Pope’s Exorcist’ is in Pre-Production at Irish Causeway Pictures.  Belfast producers Chris Patterson and Paddy McCarney plan on featuring the life and times of one of religions most famous figures.

An idea whose time has come? Universal background checks for gun purchasers should be standard for politicians.

Looking at the state of affairs in Washington, perhaps it is time to apply the same proposed standards for gun owners and apply them to prospective and sitting politicians.  Perhaps go even further, by requiring our leaders to pass an FBI background check.

Governor Huckabee mentioned he was subjected to a security background check while Governor of Arkansas, in order to be allowed access to National Homeland Security information.

At the time, he was a sitting Governor, a politician… he had no problem complying with it.  In fact he suggested all politicians be subjected to security background checks.

What’s wrong with verifying who our leaders are?  Should they at least be able to pass the same background tests that applicants for an FBI job have to pass?

After all, their decisions have the power to affect our national security; shouldn’t we make sure they at least meet the same standards as the rest of us if we want a government job in the security sector?  Or even a regular government job for that matter.

It would be good to know ahead of time, if the person running for senator has criminal ties? Graft or corruption allegations?  A drug problem. Is there anything in the background that could subject him/her to blackmail?

How about running all of his/her credentials and getting those degrees verified?  This is nothing less than what many prospective employees are put through for even a county job.

There is a growing chorus for medical/psychiatric standards for gun owners.  From listening to some of the bizarre rants coming from leaders in Washington DC, I think some sitting members would not be able to pass the psychological standards.

Many say these screens are already set up by political opposition research to try to dig up dirt on opponents.  But opposition research cannot be as thorough as an FBI background check. 

Ask Bill and Hillary Clinton what one of the first things they did when they entered the White house in their first term? They got the confidential FBI files on all of their political opponents. What did they do with that information for the next 8 years?...And to this day for that matter?

Perhaps it is time for President Obama to appoint Joe Biden to head up another “blue ribbon” committee to see how this can best be facilitated…As soon as Joe passes his background check.

Benghazi-Newtown; what difference does it make Hillary?

In the Newtown Connecticut School shooting, when 911 was called, help came.  

When Americans called 911 while under attack in Benghazi, no one came to help.

One stays in the headlines of the media, the other one is quickly forgotten.

After watching the Benghazi dog and pony show hearings yesterday in Washington, it is apparent the citizens of the United States will never get the truth out of this administration.  The absence of details as to exactly what happened before, during and after the Benghazi murders, is astonishing. Such as: Orders were given to not help Americans under attack in Benghazi.  Who gave that order? Why?

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had 4 months to skirt answering any questions on Benghazi:, reasons given: A wine tasting tour in Australia, a bout with the flu, exhaustion, a concussion, a blood clot and many think she would have come down with the “vapors,” had not her 25 million campaign debt been retired earlier this week.

She appeared at the hearings yesterday ready to not really answer any of the glaring questions, but only to obfuscate and run out the clock. Her quip of:  "What difference does it really make" as to why Americans died in Benghazi showed a callous disregard for the disaster that happened under her watch.

Conveniently each politician had only a few minutes to ask a question of Hillary and get an answer.  Most of the questioners couldn’t resist their time in the spotlight to get long winded and as a result, didn’t have time to follow up when Hillary gave a non answer.

Was this by design or just incompetence?

The main stream media has been a willing accomplice to this administrations attempt to bury Benghazi and doesn’t have the appetite to upset the apple cart of lies and deceptions.

Only when there was a hint of sex scandal involving CIA chief Petraeus and his paramour, did Benghazi temporarily get elevated to front page news by the “bread and circuses” media.

But the media has been front and center in the war on “assault” rifles.

The Newtown shooting has captured the medias attention and fits hand in glove with the pre planned assault on the 2^nd amendment.

Every detail that fits into the narrative the media is trying to foist on the public, is made known and kept on the front page……Every truth and detail of the Newtown shooting that does not fit the agenda is buried.

Such as where is the drug screen test of the shooters blood?  It seems many of these mass shooters had a cocktail of anti depressant/psych meds in their bloodstreams at the time of their crimes.  Coincidence?

What other warning signs about the crazed lone gunmen are being overlooked in the rush to assault law abiding citizens gun rights?  What violent video games did he obsess on? Did mental health professionals know about his potential violent blow up?

As a result of the Benghazi hearings yesterday, we know we are not being told the truth.  We also know we are not being told the whole truth about the Newtown Shooting.  Is there any journalistic curiosity left in the main stream media?

That’s what the difference is Hillary, there is a double standard in the media when it comes to what truth they want America to hear.

Michelle Obama did the country no favor with her eye roll - VIDEO

President Obama and the First Lady

The inauguration of a president to a new four year term, is celebration for all Americans to be proud of.

Our political system has shown we can have a peaceful and orderly transfer of power after popular elections; no need for armed overthrows of leaders.

Inauguration day is when the leaders and their families come together as Americans, despite their political differences. It’s a moment in time when our leaders can mark a new spirit of cooperation for the country and set the tone for the rest of the citizens. 

After all we are all crew-members on this ship of state called America.


Read More: Boundless enthusiasm among crowds in Washington DC as Barack Obama is sworn in

So much of the inauguration festivities are symbolic, that’s why it has always been a day to observe social mores and show basic respect.

When cameras caught Michelle Obama’s, look of contempt and disdain towards the speaker of the House John Boehner during a luncheon, it came as a shock for many.

This is not what this day is about and it brought out an ugly truth on a day that was supposed to be reserved for celebration and unity as a country.

If looks could kill, John Boehner would have been lying on the floor after the treatment he received from the First Lady at that luncheon; Courtesy of My Fox,

Boehner, sitting next to President Obama and Michelle, was trying to make polite conversation with them, but as the video showed, Michelle showed as much courtesy to Boehner as she would have to a lowly cockroach. She didn’t stop eating, to acknowledge the Speaker and couldn’t have flashed a worse multi faceted scowl his way without missing a bite.


Read More: Bill O’Reilly slams President Obama’s inauguration speech - VIDEO

From the video, Boehner acted like a gentleman and continued on with the conversation, not allowing himself to be dragged into the pettiness.

What would the reaction be if it was a Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi being shown such disrespect at a George Bush inauguration?

The First Lady and the president had an opportunity to mend fences and set a tone for the country yesterday.  They had an opportunity to mend the rift the country finds itself split down the middle on…..But if Michelle is any indicator of what lies in the heart of the White house, there will be little attempt to mend fences or find common ground.

“The Men Who Built America,” aimed for the stars

The tale of the key dreamers and shapers, who took a struggling nation and transformed it into the greatest economic and technological superpower the world has ever known, will come to life on DVD/Blue Ray Disc, January, 22. 

The Men Who Built America showcases five key titans of Americas past: Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Cornelius Vanderbilt and John D. Rockefeller ,are showcased in an epic mini series that will inspire us with the real audacity it takes to follow our dreams.  It gives another meaning to “think big,” at a time in America’s past when all things were possible.

See the exciting video: The Men Who Built America

Post civil war America was suffering from the trauma that had torn at our country’s very fabric of existence.  Although the war itself was over, the spiritual and economic wounds continued to eat away at our country. 

We stood at a crossroads and very well could have lost our way as a nation, but as history has shown time after time, humanity produces transformational figures….and this was our time.

Through ingenuity, audaciousness and sheer force of will, these men changed the course of history for our country.  They produced undreamed of prosperity making the United States the envy and magnet for the rest of the world.  At the same time, it brought these men unheard of wealth through capitalism, wealth that previously was reserved for royalty.

Lionsgate Home Entertainment will make available HistoryⓇ’s Tent Pole Event Series, on Blue Ray Disc and DVD, January 22. 

Don’t miss this epic work as it realistically transforms you back to those tumultuous days in Americas past, when everything was possible…..Because at the helm, we had fearless, intelligent risk takers who made us reach our potential.