Below is an article written by Rudy Giuliani that appeared in the New Hampshire Union Leader on July 13th.
The next American President will take office alongside a new generation of world leaders. Few were in office when the attacks of Sept. 11 occurred, but all have been influenced by its impact. This is a moment of rare opportunity for new American leadership.
To succeed in the 21st century, America must expand our historic commitment to free people, free governments and free markets. That means expanding our involvement in the global economy and strengthening our reputation around the world.
A commitment to free trade can build bridges between America and the rest of the world. Higher living standards abroad can help us achieve realistic peace while enlarging foreign markets for our exports. The President will need to have the Fast-Track Trade Promotion Authority restored, while seeing the Doha round of trade agreements come to a successful conclusion.
As part of promoting free trade, we should reform the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. They should focus less on debt collection and instead encourage pro-growth policies for emerging economies.
Free trade does not mean a free ride. There must be a level playing field. Countries that don’t play by the rules must be held accountable. American companies need to know that their innovations will be protected against intellectual property theft abroad. The next President must enforce existing trade agreements.
We need to give American workers the skills to succeed in tomorrow’s economy. A high school degree is not sufficient to ensure success in the global economy. We should promote specialized vocational schools as post-high school options. And I believe we should reform existing Department of Labor and workforce training programs because only 39 cents out of every dollar currently goes to the worker in need. These programs should be empowering individuals, not perpetuating bureaucracy.
American businesses need to be freed to succeed as well. We need to reform the excesses of Sarbanes Oxley to keep American financial centers competitive. We need to reduce the corporate tax rate — among the world’s highest — to keep American companies and American jobs invested in the U.S.
Finally, to ensure that our companies are receiving the talents they need to succeed we should expand the number of H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers to meet market demand. America should not shut out talented individuals who want to contribute to our country.
There is an additional challenge the next President must face. I’ve traveled to 35 different countries since leaving the mayor’s office in New York City, and the simple fact is that America is not held in as high regard around the world as we once were.
The next President needs to make our case to the rest of the world. We need to assert American values abroad, without apology. After all, our enemies hate us because of what is right with America, not what is wrong with America.
We should start by reforming the State Department. The main purpose of the State Department is to advocate the interests of the United States of America. I will measure the success of the State Department — including our ambassadors and our embassies — that way.
We also need to embrace the world more aggressively by increasing the ranks of foreign service officers — encouraging new recruits to learn languages like Arabic and Chinese — while rewarding top performance with merit pay and merit placement.
We need to win the war of ideas as well as the war on the battlefield. That’s why I will expand and technologically advance the Voice of America and its satellite stations, while coordinating U.S. government global communications to combat anti-Americanism wherever it rears its head.
Advocacy alone is not enough. We need to expand our cultural and educational exchanges with the Arab and Muslim world to encourage mutual respect and mutual benefit.
To strengthen America’s reputation over the long term, we must continue to champion religious freedom, political freedom and the rights of women. In particular, we need a focused effort to support women’s education, especially in the Arab and Muslim world. Women’s education can be a civilizing force for the world — a revolution by evolution. It is a cause America must advance.
America is at its best when we serve as a shining city on a hill, a beacon of freedom and opportunity to people around the world. Our success in this new century depends on reinvigorating our historic mission with determined leadership that gives hard-working American families confidence their future will be better than their past. In the process, we can strengthen our national security and economic security while building a more peaceful and prosperous world.
Below is an article written by Mitt Romney that appeared in the New Hampshire Union Leader on July 12th.
It is no secret that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe that it is time for our country to change our current direction and set a new course to meet a new generation of challenges that affect the future of American families, businesses, military and security. To meet these challenges, there needs to be a change in Washington.
Both political parties claim to represent change, but there are major differences. When Republicans talk of change, we talk about opportunity, freedom and the people who can make these changes. When Democrats talk of change they advocate big government, big welfare, big taxes and big brother. Time and time again, it has been proven that these big government policies do not work, and they take our nation down the wrong path.
Democrats talk about raising taxes on people. We talk about cutting spending by government. For Democrats, it is always government first, people last. In 2011, they plan a record-breaking income tax hike. When you take money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans and give it to government, you slow down the economy.
I propose a different path, one that will grow the economy and address the fiscal problem in Washington. We need to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, kill the death tax once and for all, and make interest on savings, dividends and capital gains tax-free for middle-income Americans. It’s the right thing to do for our economy and it is past time to do it.
Conservatives rightly recognize that our fiscal problem is not that Washington is taxing too little, but that bureaucrats there are spending too much. Both parties share responsibility for all the earmarks, waste, duplication and failure to reform entitlements. I will also personally lead a top-to-bottom review of government programs, agencies, procurement and spending.
In addition to pledging to fight tax increases and cutting waste, I have also pledged to cap non-defense discretionary spending at inflation minus one percent, saving $300 billion over 10 years. I will veto appropriations that exceed that cap. Strengthening the American economy starts with cutting wasteful and irresponsible spending in Washington.
Both parties also claim to focus on improving the nation’s health care system. There are 45 million people who lack health insurance. The Democrats’ solution is government-managed universal health care. On the other hand, conservatives believe we need to provide people with their own private, affordable and portable insurance by insisting on personal responsibility and free market principles. Once again for the Democrats, it is government first.
Beyond our domestic challenges, we face a very different world around us. Asia is emerging as a far more effective economic competitor than we have faced before. In the face of this challenge, Democrats shrink. They believe the American people cannot compete. However, in this global economy, the only choice is to compete. We must charge into the emerging Asian marketplace and invest in our people and technology. Democrats fear the strength of others. Republicans believe in the strength of Americans.
Today’s new generation of challenges includes threats to our national security. Violent jihadists are determined to replace moderate Muslim governments with a caliphate or imam. They seek the collapse of our economy, government and military. Most recently they sought to maim and kill innocent civilians in London and Glasgow.
All this talk of jihadists, Salafi Muslims, and the War on Terror makes Democrats like former Sen. John Edwards uncomfortable. He says the War on Terror is only a slogan. Tell that to the people in London, Glasgow, Bali, Malaysia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Tanzania, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Israel, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. If there is a war being waged by the terrorists, there will be war waged on the terrorists and we will win.
This convergence of challenges is why I am convinced that America is at an inflection point in our history that will force us to change. That change will either make us stronger or it will make us weaker.
Conservatism, Republicanism, is a philosophy of strength. We believe in a strong military, a strong economy and strong families and values. The way forward is not to look left, but to look ahead. There is too much at stake to do otherwise.
This is the America our parents chose, and now it is time for us to choose what America will be. Republicans choose a strong America that will always be the land of the free, the home of the brave and the hope of the world.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams of Ireland apologized Thursday after telling a Dallas audience a day earlier that she “could kill George Bush.”The Wednesday remarks prompted an uproar among conservatives across the nation, led to phone and email threats and caused a buzz among delegates at the International Women’s Peace Conference.
“I’m just really passionate about my work. Sometimes it’s ‘open mouth, insert foot,’ ” she said. “I’ll spend the rest of the day saying I’m sorry to everybody.”
Betty Williams won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976. It seems as though these liberals want peace with, and are tolerant of anything and everyone that is liberal. The one thing they are not tolerant of is conservatism.
Another hypocrit exposed.
Finally someone has introduces a REAL immigration bill, a bill the American people want. And you have to love the name of the bill also.
dubbed the Optimizing Visa Entry Rules and Demanding Uniformed Enforcement (OVERDUE) bill
What a great name for a bill that the American people deserve.
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) on Wednesday announced plans to introduce legislation that would overhaul the U.S. immigration system by placing tighter restrictions on legal immigration and increasing pressure on illegal immigrants currently in the country to leave.
Of course he will be called a racist for bringing forth such legislation. He must be a bigot, right? He couldn’t possibly be doing this because it is right for America.
“Throughout the immigration debate, out of touch amnesty-only critics of enforcement have tried to hide behind their cry of ‘what is your solution?’ Well this week we will show them and the president what immigration reform should look like and what the American people deserve,” Tancredo said in a statement announcing the proposal.
In the interest of full disclosure, I will not be voting in the New Hampshire primary for one of the so-called front runners. I will be voting for one of the long shots, Hunter, Tancredo, or Brownback. I haven’t made up my mind, but with this proposal Tancredo has moved up on my list. There is no chance of this every becoming law, but it’s nice to dream isn’t it?
With the Deomcrats looking to create a permanent underclass of welfare recipients, and the Republicans looking to try and woo the Spanish vote, this bill is DOA. The politician’s political interests outweigh America’s interests on this issue and that is sad.
Tancredo’s proposal uses indirect measures to encourage undocumented residents to leave on their own. The bill would eliminate “chain migration,” tighten the employment-based green card category, and limit automatic birthright citizenship to those with at least one parent who is a citizen or legal permanent resident.
Other provisions of the proposal include suspending the Visa Waiver Program and prohibiting states from granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, according to a summary provided by Tancredo’s office.
It also requires federal immigration authorities to assist state and local law enforcement officials in enforcing immigration laws. The bill does not include provisions addressing the construction of a fence along the U.S. border with Mexico, because the funding for the fence has already been approved by Congress and including it in this bill would be “redundant and unnecessary.”
Perhaps he has only drafted this bill as a response to the outcry over president Bush’s immigration reform bill for his own political gain, but it has worked in my case. We need to become tough on illegal immigration and this bill would be a great start. It’s just too bad no politicians are serious about securing our borders and stopping the invasion.
Bill to ban Toy Guns Proposed in the Senate
Why is it that the Democrats idea of legislating is banning things? It’s like that old saying in manufacturing, if an inspector doesn’t find ANYTHING wrong he doesn’t think he is doing his job. An inspector will find the smallest thing wrong if he can’t find anything. If a Democrat isn’t trying to ban SOMETHING he doesn’t feel like he’s doing his job.
The latest item to add to the list of items to ban: toy guns. Read more…
New Hate Crimes bill to Target Christian Preachers?
There is currently a bill in the House of Representatives that would expand the hate crimes protections to homosexuals.
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (H.R. 1592) would expand the federal definition of hate crimes to include violence against a person because of his or her “actual or perceived” sexual orientation or “gender identity.”
Under the bill, people who attack others out of “hatred” for their race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability would be committing a federal offense.
Now you may say that it is good to protect homosexuals from being victims of hate crimes, no-one should be a victim of any crime. Now while I agree that it is true that no-one should be victimized by crime, why should there be a greater penalty given to a man who assaults a homosexual, than to a man that assaults a heterosexual? Aren’t both crimes equally appalling? Where are the heterosexual’s rights? Read more…
Video: Hot For Hillary
I don’t even know what to make of this video, but here it is anyway. I don’t know if this is supposed to be a joke or not. I think it is, but who know. You decide.
Republican Wins Special Election in New Hampshire
When results of yesterday’s special election to fill the vacant District 9 seat in the state House of Representatives were announced last night, former U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley let out a whoop, grabbed the hand of Republican Party candidate David Boutin and held it up in victory.
Boutin coasted to victory last night in the Republican dominated town of Hooksett. In a race that drew the interest of party leaders on both sides, Boutin beat Democratic candidate David Paquette, 670 to 388.
A special election was held in Hooksett to fill a vacant house seat, and a Republican ran away with the victory. While this won’t change anything here in New Hampshire, could be be an early sign of voter discontent in New Hampshire? Jeb Bradley, who lost to Carol Shea-Porter in last year’s US Rep. race thinks so.
Bradley wouldn’t say whether he thought the vote was a referendum on the majority party until after last night’s votes were tallied, but once the results were clear, so was he.
“The message Hooksett sent New Hampshire is that we’re on the road to the income tax,” he said last night. “And Dave Boutin is a symbol against the income tax and the sales tax.”
I’m trying not to read too much into this, but I hope it is a sign that the people of New Hampshire realize the mistake they made last November and are ready to fix it.
I’m still trying to find the poll numbers of liberal Gov. John Lynch, I can’t find them.
Congress Struggles Through Low Approval Ratings
These are tough times for the Democratic-led U.S. Congress, where partisan battles have led to little progress on big issues and have made lawmakers collectively less popular than President George W. Bush.
So how do they explain congress’ dismal ratings?
Congress, typically never all that popular to begin with, starts the second half of 2007 with an anemic job approval rating of about 25 percent, down from 43 percent in January, with one Gallup poll ranking lawmakers at 14 percent.
By qualifying their statement by saying congress was never popular anyway. We never hear any kind of excuse like this for the president’s rating. And then there is this:
Experts attribute the woeful rankings to an inability to force a change in direction in Iraq, the priority Democrats campaigned on to gain power in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in last November’s elections.
But that is not all. There has been little to show on other priorities, including a change in Social Security and other entitlement programs that will run out of money in the years ahead, in addition to overhauling a health care system that has left millions uninsured and a broken immigration policy.
In other words, they are the do-nothing congress that they claimed the Republican led congress was.
Harry Reid had an interesting quote about their approval ratings:
“I’m not really much for polls,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
What I find really interesting about this poll, if not ironic, or better yet, hypocritical, is the fact that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, and all the other Democrats have been sighting polls as a reason we need to surrender in Iraq. But now that the polls don’t work in their favor, they say they don’t pay attention to them. Isn’t that funny how it works? The Democrats suffer from selective polling data. If they like the polls they listen to them, if they don’t like them, they don’t care about them.
When is the Separation of Church and State Ignored?
The simple answer to that question appears to be when the religion is Islam. Some schools appear to be going out of their way to disregard the so-called separation of church and state when in regards to Muslims. Separation of church and state does not appear in the constitution, but that’s an argument for another day. If we are going to live in a country where we acknowledge a seperation of church and state, shouldn’t that mean all churches?
Decisions by public schools and colleges to provide special prayer times or to make other allowances for Muslim students have raised eyebrows.
In a time when liberal, politically correct groups feel the need to pander to Muslims they are afraid not to give them rights not afforded to other religions.
Here’s one example:
In one instance, the University of Michigan is preparing to spend $25,000 to install two footbaths at its Dearborn campus to accommodate Muslim students wanting to wash their feet before prayers. Read more…
