Posted on 09/18/2001 7:35:09 PM PDT by Mercuria
We kept our date and gathered together.
To pray for the families and loved ones of the departed, for miracles for the missing, for healing for the injured and broken-hearted, for justice, for wisdom.
To share our experiences of the last week.
To get angry...and to get busy.
The tragedy of September 11th just made it even more necessary to sound the call to action to close the true loopholes to our security - loopholes that allowed us to become vulnerable, victimized, and bereft of thousands of our American brothers and sisters.
The Jeffers home was just as lovely as ever. The last gasp of summer boosted the heat level, and so we had another bright, sunny Southern California day.
I was just as happy to see my good friends from Free Republic as I ever was and always am. DoughtyOne</FONT COLOR>, AnnaZ</FONT COLOR>, HangFire</FONT COLOR>, Lady Jenn</FONT COLOR>, gc4nra</FONT COLOR>, flamefront</FONT COLOR>, Ticonderoga</FONT COLOR>, AJFavish</FONT COLOR>, Mrs. Ron C.</FONT COLOR> - so many of my dear friends. How many times had we gathered together on the frontlines in our search to somehow push the burden of the truth through the fog of perversion and perversity that has blinded the eyes of Americans to the extent that they can't see clearly anymore?
But a certain nagging numbness as a result of this tiny, pinprick pang somewhere above my stomach made the beauty of the rosebushes along the Jeffers' walkway somehow unbearable, the sun seemed merciless, and even as I ran around taping and snapping very bad photos, I kept looking towards my friends, returning to the table, arching my neck, a new anxiety of losing sight of them nagging at me. Because bad things happen.
It's not that I didn't know this before or anything. But certain things can definitely nail that fact home with noticeable resultant changes in one's - and others' - behavior and attitude.
Certain people and their policies had admitted strangers into our home - hostile strangers - and suffered them to live among us, train among us, plot among us, kill among us.
Now, more than ever, it is necessary to address an admittedly divisive but absolutely crucial issue that quite literally has taken on life-or-death proportions in the discussion of national security.
I've included highlights from the speeches of the special guests and guest-of-honor at the home of Tom and Eva Jeffers on September 15, 2001. Entire transcripts of the speeches are available via link to the speaker's name above the highlights.
And I'm warning you right now...some of the language is a bit strong, and as for those with whom I've "crossed swords" on this issue - those who tend to be sensitive on the discussion of immigration reform - I'm very much hoping are mad enough at this point (and I know you are - I have proof) to maybe take into consideration some of the information contained in the speeches. There might be a few things therein that we can discuss as we all try to consider and discern what is best for our country.
God have mercy on us all and on our nation during these difficult and troublesome days. Not our will, but His be done.
- mch</FONT COLOR>
NICK JESSON, Republican Party candidate for Governor of California
...I've been getting e-mail saying, "Well, where is God? How can God let this happen to us?" I e-mail back to them, and everyone should be doing the same thing and saying, "Well, we kicked God out of schools, we kicked prayer out of schools, we kicked it out of business, we kicked it out of politics, we kicked God completely out of our lives. So it's not God that has let us down. It is us that let God down.
GEORGE PUTNAM, radio talk-show host
You know, our precious freedom has within it the seeds of our own destruction. We praise our freedom, our liberties, those who fought the war...and yet we say again, as...we take for granted God. "How could God let something like this happen?" God separated us from the animal kingdom and others when God gave us free agency. Gave us power of choice. God has allowed us to strive...
God is a knowing God. God is a loving God. If this doesn't bring us together, my dear friends, we are in serious trouble.
Witness the volume of information that now comes to hand. Almost immediately after the fact, after the disaster of last Tuesday, after that attack...we had the indicators. They're coming forth. We had much of the information. We failed to analyze it. We failed to interpret it. Only this morning it was announced that an additional nine men in the cell are in Mexico. Tell me about the people who come pouring across our borders! Tell me about the stupidity of any President, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, whatever, who wants to bring into being instant civilization and instant right to hold that precious card. I cannot believe that George W., for all of his good, can believe it is now the right time to give amnesty to three million illegal aliens. This cannot pass.
RICK OLTMAN, Federation for American Immigration Reform
Back in 1999 and 2000, FAIR ran an ad about Senator Spencer Abraham from Michigan who wanted to make it even easier for illegal immigrants to get past the northern border. And the ad that we ran had a picture of Spencer Abraham on one side and Osama bin Laden on the other. And what we said is, what this senator wants to do is to make a change that will make this country more open to terrorist attack. And we were severely criticized for running that ad. Well, now, who was right?
Now it's time - we cannot overreact, we have to get our facts straight. What we understand is that the hijackers were all here legally on B1 or B2 visas. Obviously they didn't want them running afoul of any immigration laws. Many of the hundred or so that have been arrested so far are being held on immigration laws because they have violated the laws, so it appears we have our open legal immigration and illegal immigration has led to this. We all know that our nation's wide-open immigration policy is based on cheap labor. Well, after Tuesday, it doesn't look so cheap anymore.
One last thing. AB 60, the driver's license bill, will likely land on the governor's desk in the next couple of weeks. I don't even know if they voted on it yesterday, because they were supposed to have Thursday. But we expect AB 60, the bill that will undo the law that we got passed when Senator Mountjoy was here and helped us pass that law, in the early 90s that would prevent illegal aliens from getting driver's license - they're trying to undo that law in Sacramento right now. What we want to do is now contact the governor and say, "If there was ever an example where we should not be giving valid state documents to people who have entered our country without inspection, this is it." Veto AB 60 and let's hear no more of it.
BARBARA COE, California Coalition for Immigration Reform
We are all still reeling from a tragedy that need never have happened. Thousands of our fellow citizens dead and dying - victims of corrupt politicians who have welcomed illegal aliens, including terrorists into our midst, and are still handing out visas like popcorn with no criminal background checks.
Our sorrow and our grief are exceeded only by our outrage. We questioned whether or not September 5th would be a day in infamy when it was rumored that George Bush announced that he had bowed to the demands of Mexico's Presidente Fox to grant amnesty to all of his illegal aliens now in the US and a fraud guest worker program to bring in millions more, again with no criminal background and no health checks.
Although we constantly reported deaths of innocent citizens at the hands of illegal aliens during the Clinton years when he welcomed into our nation with the same enthusiasm he welcomed interns into the Oval Office, we, as you, were not prepared for the overwhelming slaughter of our own people by third world fanatics last week. Even though 40 Iraqi illegals were just apprehended in Mexico - and we know that our Canadian border is vulnerable - neither of these borders have been closed. We who are still targets of these terrorists ask why.
CCIR condemns those on both sides of the aisle, and we ask you to share our message with them. And that message is - "The blood of our people is on the hands of those of you who refuse to enforce our immigration laws. Deport all illegals as those laws mandate, secure our borders, and protect our people from foreign invasions as you took an oath before God to do!"
EZOLA FOSTER, President, Americans for Family Values
We must support our President, but we must also put pressure on Congress to immediately call for a declaration of war against the terrorist nations that have murdered our Americans on our own soil. I understand that Representative Bob Barr has already put out a resolution. But I'm beginning to wonder more and more about this congress. Because they are as much at fault for allowing this as many of us for not being more vocal. And of all the television coverage, the one I found most offensive was to see Clinton standing there with his arms around Americans who were truly hurt, and of course the fake tears that come so easily. I just wanted to go through the TV and say, "YOU dropped this on us with all of these scandals and these spies coming all over the place and you have the audacity to stand up here like you're sorry for it?" We have had our intelligence agency so dismantled that they don't even know what each other is doing. That's a sad state of affairs.
You know, I heard Colin Powell in support of Bush's statement that we are going to go after the perpetrators and those who harbor them. And then a little later on, Colin Powell comes on and he says, "And we have friends that are joining with us in our endeavor", and then he talked about Iran. A friend?! They have trained these terrorists. What are we talking about? We don't know our friends from our enemies anymore? How can we fight them unless we're shadowboxing?
GLENN SPENCER, President, American Patrol
I couldn't help but remember, we were talking about that young man that was on the phone with his wife. Did you see that, on television? His 31 year old wife...he was such a hero, and she was such a heroine. She told him that the other aircraft had crashed into the twin towers. He knew that this airplane was headed for a similar target. And he knew he was going to his death. How many other Americans have done just that for our flag and our country? And how many others are going to do it again? But this time, how many are going to have to lay down their lives because of traitors in the White House and in our government? And it's got to stop, and it's got to stop right now.
When I heard - and we have it up on our website - that the FBI knew that these people were going to flight schools here, and that they knew that they were attached to bin Laden, and that they knew that they were terrorists, and that they knew that all of these other people were in the country illegally - they called it "out of status" or something - that they were here illegally. But they were willing to take that risk. Why? Because they're willing to sacrifice the United States on the altar of globalism. And they're doing it every day, and we're going to stop them. We're going to sacrifice them on the altar of globalism.
The Los Angeles City Council has a law, has a rule called Special Order 40, that tells the LAPD - and I don't care what they say, I have a copy of it, and if they tell you it doesn't say this, they're lying - and the rule is in the city of Los Angeles, that if a police officer arrests someone, and suspects they're in the country illegally, he cannot tell the INS or the federal government. It's called Special Order 40. Do you think we should have such a special order in Los Angeles? All right, all right. But I think the American people have about had it with this kind of nonsense.
So week after next, we're going to go to City Hall. We're going to organize thousands of people to go down to Los Angeles City Hall and we're going to tell them to rescind this order and tell our cops, "If you run across a terrorist in Los Angeles, an illegal alien, we don't want our city blown up. We want our kids safe. You turn those people over. So you're going to be hearing from us." All of you here! And we're going to set up buses that will drive you down there, but we're going to go down to City Hall, and I want 2,000 people down there to cram the City Hall. Week after next, we've got to have some time. And I don't want to leave until the City Council passes this ordinance and rejects this Special Order 40.
MARGARET BIANCULLI, Sachem Quality of Life Organization
Maybe some good can come from the horrendous attack on America we suffered this week. We will help our fellow citizens understand the implications of this government's present immigration policy and help them understand that this disgrace was brought upon us by our refusal to enforce immigration laws and thus our own government made us vulnerable to this week's terrorist attacks. We will unite those who come to us as new members, under the immigration reform ideals that will save our country, protect our sovereignty, and save our Constitution, which Constitution this very day is hanging by a thin thread.
From my classroom window, we watched the twin towers explode and disappear. My students were called out of class, one by one, as their families came to gather them home and wait for the arrival of a family member who might have been a victim of that tragedy. Many, many fathers and mothers did not come home. Friday I watched those who wore red, white and blue and waved their flags and chanted to the President, "USA! USA! USA!"
But I watched in sadness as I knew that most did not understand that the person they were cheering was a symbol of the very thing that forced them to be at ground zero. And I prayed that their eyes would be open and that we could find ways to help them understand that their chant was good, and that their feelings of patriotism were good, but it needed to be directed to some important and drastic policy changes.
RICHARD MOUNTJOY, President, California Republican Assembly
You know, we got 187 on the ballot, as you know, and went through several courts. It was held in one court for a period of about four years before that court let it loose. And it was on its way to the U.S. Supreme Court where it would have been deemed constitutional. We knew it, they knew it, and Governor Gray Davis, along with Attorney General Bill Lockyear, decided that they would mediate the constitutionality of 187, and had it set aside. Well, I don't believe it's dead. I believe that if we get the right person in office, somebody with the backbone to stand up and pull that 187 out of mediation, and send it onto the Supreme Court where it properly belongs...!
The problem we have - we have a group that is in public office today that has the spine of a jellyfish. Everything that they do, they want it to be politically correct. One of the things that should have been done after this crisis has not been done, one of the most simple things that should have been done. They should have started picking up everybody that had a visa that was overrun. That's one of the ways illegals get into this country - via legal visa, and then overstay that visa. The next thing they should have done is seal the border, and rid this country of those that are illegally in this country. It has nothing to do with cheap labor. They are not taking the jobs that other people won't take. There are plenty of people who will take all the jobs in America. And that is a phony issue and a phony argument.
You know, I was telling George just a minute ago, I come from a background of construction. But if you have a water heater burst in your basement...the very first thing you do, you shut the water off. And then you go down to the basement and you pump the water out of the basement. And then you patch the leaks. Well, that's what we should have done in this crisis. We should be about patching the leaks, stopping the flow of those that are illegally entering this country every day rather than go out and put bottles of water for them out in the desert.
BILL KING, Former Chief of Border Patrol
We need tighter control. We need sensible immigration policy. Along with it, we need interior enforcement, something that is no longer existent within the INS. If an illegal alien makes it across the border or overstays the terms of his visa, he's home-free. Nobody's going to bother him. And that's dead wrong.
We need tighter controls on the border. That thing is just as porous as it ever was. And INS has placed all the border patrol agents on the immediate border with no back up. Just like putting a football team in its entirety on the line without a back field to stop the end runner. And believe me, people, they're getting in because of it.
And damn it, it is time that we put the military on the border. It has to happen. And one of the greatest insults that can be given to any of our troops, the best and brightest troops in the entire world, is to have our military leaders tell us that they are not qualified or trained to do that job on the border. For lack of a better term, I've got to tell you, that's a bunch of horse puckey.
TERRY ANDERSON, radio talk-show host
Let me read something that someone gave me today that should be read. It's very important and it shows what we can do. I'm sure you all remember Spencer Abraham, he was a United States Senator. Spencer Abraham was forceful in using his influence as chair of the Immigration Subcommittee to block the Responsibility Act of 1996. This section would have set an automated entry/exit control system for foreign visitors.
When put into effect, this legislation would have allowed the Attorney General to identify non-immigrants who have remained in this country too long. Do you understand that, folks? If Spencer Abraham would not have done this, these ignorant bastards - excuse my language - who did this would not have been in our country to perpetrate this because they were illegal aliens!
Now, how long have we said that people should be put out of this country and visas should not be overstayed when SA made it where we could, and let me tell you what happened to him. Some people got together with a group called MichImpact and they got him out of office. They attacked him, they put ads in the papers, they went to town hall meetings, and they got him voted out of office. And this is what we're going to do with the rest of them. We're going to get them voted out of our offices. We are not going to allow them to stay here and tell these lies and make things where illegal aliens won't have a problem staying in this country, we're going to make it where they do have a problem.
Let me say this, folks, and I've said it many times, and I've said it right here on this property: Illegal immigration is the worst problem to ever hit this country since World War II and Tuesday proved it.
On a local issue, illegal immigration has killed my community. Illegal immigration has made it unlivable. Illegal immigration has made it where our young kids can't jobs flipping hamburgers unless they speak a foreign language. Illegal immigration has made it where our kids are pushed into schools, 40 and 50 in a classroom, and can't understand anything because everything is half a day in English, half a day in Spanish. Illegal immigration has made it so our entry-level jobs are gone and our skill jobs are gone! You won't find black bricklayers! You won't find white bricklayers now! You won't find Americans doing skilled labor! Because the illegal alien has come here and undercut us.
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