The Texas 18th District Blog

John Falk on Immigration Reform

From: Roy Beck, President, NumbersUSA
Date: November 1, 2008

TX 18th

Dear friends in Texas’s 18th Congressional District,

You are fortunate to have a candidate for Congress who has gone out of the way to be identified as a TRUE IMMIGRATION REFORM CANDIDATE.

John Faulk was one of a small percentage of congressional candidates who volunteered to take our very tough survey on where they stand on key immigration issues. We don’t require 100% agreement with our positions — but pretty close. John Faulk met our criteria as a TRUE REFORMER.

Please take a look at the survey here that compares the candidates in this congressional race

NON-PARTISAN ALERT: NumbersUSA is strictly non-partisan. In some Districts like yours, the True Reformer is a Republican. But in others, Democrats hold that honor, such as Democrat Bob Conley, a True Reformer trying to unseat Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is one of the biggest amnesty supporters in Congress.

In the race for U.S. Representative from your Congressional District, the incumbent Member of Congress has taken actions that usually reward or encourage illegal immigration, that force congestion and that flood occupations with foreign workers to the detriment of vulnerable American workers and legal immigrants already here.

NumbersUSA never endorses candidates. We know you will cast your vote based on many issues, as well as character and experience. But we hope you will take into serious consideration the great disparity on immigration positions between the candidates on your ballot when you vote Tuesday.

Thanks for your concern on immigration issues,

Roy Beck

Founder & CEO, NumbersUSA

P.S. We can triple our membership quickly if our members email their friends about us and they in turn email theirs. Polls show that most Americans agree with NumbersUSA’s positions but, despite our recent rapid growth, most American voters still have never heard of us. You can help change that by forwarding this email widely. (Note: depending on your email provider, you may need to send this as an “attachment.”)

This may be a good time for you to make sure that you’ve let us know all of the areas you are interested in. In order to further customize the type of alerts you receive click here http://www.numbersusa.com/survey?action=longlist

As a NumbersUSA subscriber, you will receive occasional emails about immigration-related opportunities. If you want to increase or reduce the frequency of these emails, click here and choose from Total Activism, Moderate Activism, or Limited Activism at the bottom of your registration form: http://www.numbersusa.com/user

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I am Joe the Plumber Sheriff of Nottingham

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John Faulk’s Rating By “Americans for Better Immigration” (link)

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Quote of the day:
“[In] a world in which the many illegal foreign contributions to the leading candidate’s unprecedented fundraising include his own deportation-ordered aunt, satire is dead.” — Mark Steyn

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Michael Yon from Afghanistan with an election story

Vote   Bill Gurley

American Voters know which politicians failed us in the Mortgage Meltdown!

AP Poll: Obama leads or tied in 8 crucial states. Yahoo! article here

Article here:  ACORN Owes Millions in Taxes

Obama just said on TV that we may think he is a communist for sharing his toys in kindergarten.  Actually we may think he is a communist for taking the other childrens’ toys.  Don’t Kindergartens actually own the toys, its been so long since I or my kids went to Kindergarten I can’t remember.

One of the hypothetical questions being asked in an ad on TV is who would you want to wake up and find out is President on November 5th. 

If Charlie Rangel gets his way and a military draft call-up is implemented, which President would you want to serve under?

I just heard that the Fed interest rate cut today is the lowest its been since the Eisenhower Administration in the 1950s.  I was about 10 years old then.  My parents and my sisters and I lived better than ever before and ever since.  My mother was a high school graduate but my father wasn’t.  He did however go to night school to get an equivalent education.  My point though is they were not college graduates but inflation was low, interest rates were low and we lived more comfortably than we could have imagined.  Because of low interest rates we were able to have a car and a television.  No one else on our street had either in the early 1950s.  When a neighbor needed a ride to a hospital or doctor my parents took them.  We lived in a suburb of Philadelphia.  The key to the wonderful economics then was very low inflation.  Also as the evil villain Donald Rumsfeld once said in a speech, the USA was the only country that could export goods.  Our factories still functioned.  Most of Europe and Asia had been destroyed by Europeans and Asians.  We joined the war in the last few years and helped out.  We also helped rebuild them both after the war.

The market reaction to the 1% interest rate has been mixed because no one knows what the effects will be.  In the previous paragraph I was trying to show that it could be good. My oldest sister and her husband bought a house with a 2% mortgage in the late 1950s.  She still lives in it today.  She paid $12,000 in 1950’s dollars.

I heard late yesterday that the stock market dropped just before closing again because someone issued a false report about a large company.

Obama To Spread the Wealth Around to Needy Rivals (Scrappleface does satire)

by Scott Ott for ScrappleFace · 32 Comments

(2008-10-25) — Coming off a month in which his campaign raised a record-breaking $150 million, Sen. Barack Obama announced today that he would voluntarily redistribute his cash to his presidential rivals including Libertarian Bob Barr, Independent Ralph Nader, Green Party pick Cynthia McKinney and even Republican John McCain, who has struggled to make ends meet while running on public assistance.

Breaking News Item: I wonder if George Soro’s accountant is upset about a $150 million unidentified out of balance condition in the records. (just being sarcastic)

Dick Morris on O’Reilly last night: If the healthcare system is expanded to include 47 million Americans who currently don’t have health insurance who is going to treat them.  He also mentioned that the 47 million figure politicians use includes illegal aliens. (Whether or not we provide for them is a moral issue not germaine to this election at this time)  Also among the 47 million are young people in the 20 to 40 age range who don’t want health insurance because 12 monthly premiums greatly exceeds the fee for service they can pay for a flu shot or rare doctor visit.  I’m not going to go in depth on services currently available to the poor because we covered that in at least two previous posts.

However the limited medical service provider issue is relevant and something I hadn’t thought about.  When you provide taxpayer funded healthcare to 47 million more people, people who didn’t go to the doctor for routine illnesses and cuts and bruises now start going.  As I mentioned when I was a kid  my family never went to a doctor for anything.  When my dad’s employer began offering health insurance as an employee benefit we started going every time we had something  more than the common cold.

Other families did as well.  That is when doctors’ fees and hospital costs started rising.  Demand drove prices up.  An individual might not have wanted to pay, but if an insurance company was paying, why not use it.  As an adult I watched co-workers take their kids to a doctor for things I never would have.  So if the supply of medical service providers remains the same we have to go to rationing.  If the government sets an artificial or bureaucratic price on fees then it becomes unprofitable for doctors.

It costs a doctor a couple hundred thousand to go to medical school.  He also has to pay for malpractice insurance and all of the diagnostic equipment in his office as well as staff.  I went to a doctor this week for a foot problem.  He had at least 6 staff in his office,  medical and clerical.  He has to bill for insurance coverage payments, schedule appointments, provide for accounting and bank deposits for his office.  He had a medical professional prepare my foot for minor surgery which I hadn’t anticipated when I went  into his office.

If the government tells him he cannot charge a fee adequate to cover all of his professional expenses and include enough for his personal residence, auto and family expenses why go to medical school and incur the costs.

We then go to a rationing basis as in Europe and Canada.  Now, Canadians come here.  Europeans go to Africa on vacation for medical treatment.  Where will we go!

One last comment.  I didn’t watch the 30 minute Obama infomercial last night but I saw clips in the news.  Obama said he will put a 90 day moratorium on mortgage payments.  Will that increase the ability of the homeowner to resume his  payments monthly when the moratorium expires.  What affect will it have on the mortgage companies not receiving cash during that period and not collecting the interest which is the life blood of their business.  It is the interest that enables them to pay their bills.

Obama said last night that “Guilt By Association” is unfair.  I have a better phrase that is more appropriate: “birds of a feather flock together”.  No one is indicting Obama for anything therefore “guilt” is not an issue. 

How about “You can judge a person by the company he keeps”.  Would you want your 8 year old hanging out with neighborhood kids that are always getting into trouble?  Would you want your 16 year old child hanging out with known drug users or dealers?  Obama’s friends Bill Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dorn have seriously bad rap sheets from the 1960’s era and are still today teaching overthrow of the US government and radical cultural ideas to naive, impressionable college students.  How dare I call college students naive and impressionable!  I was one and so were my daughters.  If you were one too then you too know.

Guilt by association- Sheila Jackson Lee is also a leftist.  Do a search on Sheila Jackson Lee leftist.  You’ll be amazed at how much you’ll find.  “leftist crowd at yesterday’s event”  Sheila Jackson Lee

Larry Elder’s latest article:

“The soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the (tax) rates now.”

On a lighter note, a little satire from Ann Coulter on pollsters

We don’t need lawyers in Congress, we need proven financial practicioners like John Faulk.

First let me state my position on immigration issues.  I believe as I have stated before that there are two separate issues, closing the border and legalizing in a realistic manner those who are already here.  We have some obligation to them other than the drastic “send them back”.  We allowed them to come here, we use their services and we allowed them to stay in most cases long enough  to settle in, buy property have children and take a shot at living normal lives as any citizen by birth.

Now read the article linked below.  It is informative.  And eye opening.

“Yet, even in the face of stark reality, black leadership organizations did not support restrictions on immigration. In fact, by the end of the 1990s, they opposed restrictions outright. The pattern among black elites — politicians, academics, community leaders — consistently has been to make alliances with other elites, in order to insure support for their ever-expanding demands on establishment whites. These blacks continued to nurse the notion that any alliances with other “minorities” would give them greater power in the race intimidation game being played out against the white adversary.”

“In the realm of pandering black elites, there is no more notorious public figure than Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who represents the 18th District in Texas, and is the ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, Claims. Jackson Lee, who, for good reason, in 1998, was named the “biggest windbag in Congress” by the Washingtonian magazine, never tires of repeating that worn-out cliché about America being a “nation of immigrants.” Hence, we should relax and play our proper role as host to the teeming masses of the planet.”

More than ever before Americans need to elect members of Congress with strong financial backgrounds instead of lawyers who put us in this situation like Sheila Jackson Lee.

Below is a table with a comparison of views on issues by the candidates; John Faulk and Sheila Jackson Lee in their race for the Texas 18 Congressional seat.

Candidate views represented above are presented true and accurately as best I know. Make sure and bookmark this page because this table may change as we wind down to election day, most everyone seems to be “flip-flopping” this year, except John.

Ken

You can help us send John Faulk to Congress today.

Governor Perry sent a letter to Sheila Jackson-Lee:

May 20, 2005

The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee

 U.S. Representative,

District 18 U.S. House of Representatives 

2435 Rayburn House Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congresswoman Jackson Lee:

Thank you for your letter about the Minuteman Project and border enforcement.  As you know, I did not invite the Minuteman Project to Texas. Nor do I, or any other elected official, have the authority to prevent law-abiding citizens from traveling to, from or within this state.

With that said, I fully understand and can appreciate the frustration that many Texans and others across the nation have with illegal immigration, its potential impact on our national security and the unacceptable burden it is placing on taxpayers, and state and local criminal justice, education, and health care systems…

For full text of letter you’ll have to do a google search.  I don’t know what her question was but it seems to relate to the minuteman project,  She was probably representing indiviuals not happy about it.    I also know the problem not only didn’t go away but worsened.

One of the problems for an illegal immigrant is what happens if he comes here for harvest season, completes the work and returns to his native country.  Next year he faces the same risks crossing the border through the wild desert area, criminals who prey on those entering, the killing heat, snakes, etc. It seems it is more rational to stay once he is here.  A consequence of staying is he is separated from his family.

 If he had a legal means to enter, work the harvest or whatever, return home and then re-enter U.S. farmers would get the help they need and the illegal would be legal.  The strain on our welfare systems would be less since many would not be living here permanently.

 Thomas Sowell points out how the debate about immigration legislation is not being talked about honestly. An excerpt:

…Let’s return to the question of what would happen if border control legislation were to be voted on separately from amnesty legislation, instead of in the current package deal.First of all, we would find out who is serious about border control, especially if the question of amnesty (by whatever name) is postponed for some definite period of time, in order to first see what happens at the border before taking that irrevocable step. Who would lose anything by this separate consideration of the two pieces of legislation? The country would not lose anything. Neither would the illegal aliens already in the country.The biggest losers would be politicians. They could no longer be on both sides of the issue by voting for a package deal but would have to stand up and be counted on border control.Some say that the Democrats would filibuster a bill that offered border control separately. Fine. Let them!Let them show their true colors in an election year and then go face the voters in the fall.For additional insight about the illegal immigration go here:  How often have we heard that illegal immigrants “take jobs that Americans will not do”?  Dr. Sowell explains the issue.

Separating the issue into 2 parts, border security (a national security issue) and what to do with those already here makes the most sense to me.

I have listed some additional links for more relevant analysis.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1639037/posts

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell041206c.asp

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MmQwZGU0Njc2MDlkNzM3MmJjZGYxOTM3NTk1ZjM5ZmU=

http://jacksonlee.house.gov/immigration.shtml

http://profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=TX&VIPID=795

Below, we have quoted the first few paragraphs as an intro to an exhaustive study and essential resource entitled:

“Analysis of the Economic Impact of Undocumented Workers on Business Activity in the U.S. with Estimated Effects by State & by Industry”

which can be downloaded/viewed by clicking the link above.

The study was prepared by:

The Perryman Group (Waco Texas) and released in April 2008

Document Overview

As the era of a plentiful workforce wanes and the “baby boomers” begin to approach retirement, the US economy has found numerous ways to sustain growth and prosperity. These approaches include massive investments in labor-saving technologies, strategies to keep more workers involved in the production process (such as job-sharing, working from home, providing daycare services in the workplace, and re-hiring retirees as consultants), and an increasing reliance on immigrants, both legal andundocumented. The rise in the number of undocumented residents that has accompanied these market adjustments has become a source a considerable controversy, often generating inflamed rhetoric and misinformation.

Strenuous debate continues over policies and implications of immigration, in particular the undocumented population. While some emphasize the value of a readily available workforce as the baby boomers begin to age and retire, others focus on costs including health care, education, and social services. There are many options available, but the current approach which tacitly allows an ever growing number of undocumented entries and creates many social and market distortions must be addressed. Congressional action is required to craft a rational and sensible policy that fully addresses the realities of the modern US economy.

While there are numerous considerations surrounding this issue, it is clear that immigrants, both legal and undocumented, influence business activity in fundamental ways. Although the characteristics and importance of documented immigrants can be measured in a relatively straightforward manner, the impact of undocumented immigrants is more difficult to determine.

Immigrants have historically played a very large role in growth in the US population and economy. Even though public policy regarding new entrants has been altered several times over the years, and is certain to change again in the future, opportunities available in America continue to draw immigrants from around the world. Only during the Great Depression of the 1930s did the number of people leaving the United States exceed the number coming in.1 A long-term historical view illustrates the role that immigration has played in the growth of the US population.

Read more…

Ken

Sheila Jackson Lee is Not Fit for Houston, Texas – We Don’t Need Out-Of-Touch National Lawmakers Fighting Local & State Law Enforcement Agencies and the Texas Judicial System for Personal Political Gain.

LOL - Sheila, just put your “Big Bad Congressional Gun” away, you have already been “outdrawn” by most everyone in Texas, including State and Federal Agencies.

That’s pretty desperate to pretend that the “Joe Horn Shooting” is a “Racial Issue” for your own political gain and to think that your constituency in The Texas 18th Congressional District would fall for it. You really got lost playing up to Hillary! How could you be so lost Sheila? Maybe you don’t get local Houston News in Washington. I’ve posted some of the clips you missed below.

In one video I saw a Border Patrol Agent claim that “illegal immigrants” from 140 nations were recently detained coming across the Mexico/U.S. Border.  Another agent stated that many have “known criminal and terrorist ties” such as in the Joe Horn Case.

There is a serious border war going on between Mexico and the U.S. but it’s not a Mexican National vs. American Citizen Issue like many political opportunists and the uninformed try and present. In fact the Mexican borders are an open gateway to the U.S. through our borders for anyone who wants to enter the country illegally.

Many American and Mexican Citizens who do not live near the border do not understand the seriousness of the problem. Not only is it out of control in the U.S. but it’s out of control in Mexico with mass murders of Mexican citizens, tourists and Mexican Law Enforcement Agents all along the entire Mexico/U.S. border.

Pay particular attention to what the last border agent interviewed on this video says:

That’s right, he said:

“People are afraid to the point that they are going to start shooting.”

He was quite reserved in that statement but he was absolutely right, as in the recent Joe Horn case. Texans and particularly Houstonians and those living in the Greater Houston Area are scared and fed up with home invasions & car-jackings perpetrated in large by illegal aliens (undocumented criminals), like that in the Joe Horn shooting:

It seems like every day we see another Houston Home Invasion news spot where couples and families are brutally injured or murdered in their homes or cars.  I can’t even count the home invasions that have occurred in Sugar Land, Texas. Many of these crimes are perpetrated by organized gang members as if they are participating in a “Turkey Shoot” at Thanksgiving.

Texas has had to become one of the more progressive States in allowing citizens to arm & protect themselves and their families because of Out-Of-Touch Washington Lawmakers like you Sheila Jackson Lee. The Texas Courts, Texas lawmakers and Texas Law Enforcement Officials have simply had to pass and enforce personal protection laws for their citizens:

I have only had to pull a gun on someone twice, but you Sheila Jackson Lee have gone and pulled out the “Big Bad Congressional Investigation Gun” on your constituency just after abandoning the Texas 18^th District Black Voters by rejecting Obama and stumping for Hillary as a Super-delegate in the primary elections.

Sheila Jackson Lee, You have turned your back on:

• Houston Lawmakers
• Houston Law Enforcement
• Local & State Judicial Systems
• The entire 18^th Congressional District
• The oil industry and the jobs that we can create here
• Texas Border Agents

The list goes on and on Sheila, but it stops with you.  You support you and you only. The Joe Horn case is not a RACIAL ISSUE so don’t try and come in as “I’m back and Black” after neglecting us for Hillary and pretending that you have our best interests in mind with a pretentious “Racial Issue” here.

You have no grounds to challenge a Houston “Grand Jury” in a no-bill and you know that, with your prestigious legal background. You are simply exploiting a perceived (historical) racial divide down here for your own political gain. What you don’t seem to understand is that there is much less racial divide between Americans these days. Many from all races are supporting Obama, when even you didn’t and don’t. Maybe you are more prejudice than the American public. Maybe you thought your black voter constituency was stupid enough to fall for your lame political games.

I certainly hope your few remaining supporters in Congress aren’t dumb enough to divert their attention away from real issues like the Economy, Health Care & National Security to fall for your weak self-serving political play here.

The American Public has changed and so has your constituency in the Texas 18^th Congressional District. You are acting like a Congressional Terrorist pulling out a “Big Gun” on your constituency, Houston and Texas… But you need to know that we defend ourselves down here.

You are going to be voted out. We don’t need or want you anymore. You are not good for Houston or Texas and you have not done much of anything for the Nation in a long Congressional tenure.

Sheila you may consider going back to Queens, New York where you were born and raised… You just don’t fit in here.

We are going to vote you out because you think we are idiots and you aren’t serving your community anymore. You have a great retirement plan, better than most of us will ever see. It’s time to draw on it.

We’ll be doing you a great favor… Just go back to New York and set up your own law firm, or practice in a prestigious New York Law Firm while you are drawing Congressional Retirement Benefits. That’s a “cherry” scenario!

Maybe you can even work for Donald Trump.

We don’t need you in Houston or Texas any more.

Thanks for your past service and enjoy your freedom.

Engineer2

There are numerous reasons why I think you should elect me to the Texas 18th Congressional District and to defeat Sheila Jackson Lee.
I received an email from Texan for Immigration Reform concerning John McCain and the border.

I have edited the email below.  The email quoted John McCain as saying …” “I was proud to work for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and If I am elected President I assure you that in 2009 I will ask Congress to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform.”

If you send me to Congress, we will not only gain a vote for Border enforcement but we will also eliminate one of the most Liberal voting members of Congress, Sheila Jackson Lee!
My first flight of ads is running on KCOH 1430 AM between 7 AM and 11AM.  The phone actually started ringing at noon yesterday!

Please read parts of the email that I received:

“Both Senator John McCain and I look forward to meeting you next Wednesday.”

Face to Face with John McCain!
“Hispanic Voices Reception”
Wednesday, June 18, 2008, starting at 7:30 PM
The Drake Room The Drake Hotel 140 E Walton Place Chicago, IL 60611
You are invited to hear John McCain address Illinois Hispanics!
_________________________________________________________

I was especially looking forward to what John Mc Cain would say about illegal immigration.

This was a NO MEDIA ALLOWED EVENT! I was told by my friend and fellow Hispanic Marianne Davies who is on the board of “You Don’t Speak for Me” that John McCain has been going across the country having “PRIVATE” meetings with Hispanics.

John Mc Cain’s favorite words of the evening were Comprehensive Immigration Reform. But he started out first of all saying if he is gonna win the Presidential election he will need the support of the Latino community.

Then John Mc Cain said the exact thing I came to hear, he said:

“I was proud to work for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and If I am elected President I assure you that in 2009 I will ask Congress to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform.” (The crowd goes wild)”It is a Federal Responsibility” he said and continued ” we also need a temporary guest worker program”.

NOW we see what kind of folks are interested in getting John Mc Cain in office.”