Support The American Legacy Run

Regardless of your political affiliation, I invite you to show your support for our troops by helping a fellow blogger raise money for children of military personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms.

Cyberotter, who owns the Donkephant blog and is a fellow member of Bloggers Against Torture, will be joining hundreds of wartime veterans and American Legion members in the American Legacy Run, a fundraiser for the American Legacy Scholarship Fund, a trust that awards scholarships to children of U.S. military personnel killed on duty since the terrorist attacks on or after September 11, 2001.

The five-day motorcycle run will begin at the American Legion national headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana on Friday, August 18th, and end in Salt Lake City, Utah on Tuesday, August 22, the site of the American Legion 88th National Convention. 

Their goal is to raise $100,000 for the American Legacy Scholarship Fund and here’s how you can help:

Participation: You can register for the event as a rider/operator ($35), a passenger ($10), or a non-rider supporter ($35). Click here to download the registration/release of liability form.

In person: If you live near Interstate 70 and/or Interstate 80, please consider attending one of the following events listed on this press release I found on U. S. Newswire and donate in person:

Aug 17, 1 p.m., a pre-run event, along with road-captain training, rider registration and briefings at Wayne American Legion Post 64 in Indianapolis, Ind.

Aug 18, travel to Effingham, Ill., for a lunch event and travel to Columbia, Mo., for an evening event at Post 202.

Aug 19, travel to Leavenworth, Kan., for a wreath-laying event with U.S. Army dignitaries at the Buffalo Soldier Monument. Travel to Hays, Kan., for an evening event at Hays, Kan.

Aug 20, travel to Aurora, Colo., hometown of National Commander Bock, for a lunch event at Post 23. Travel to Post 32 in Longmont, Colo., for a special event.

Aug 21, travel to Craig, Colo., to Post 62 for a special ceremony honoring a fallen soldier with the U.S. Army’s 244th Combat Engineer Battalion and then to Rock Springs, Wyo., where Post 24 will host an evening event.

Aug 22, arrive in Salt Lake City for a special arrival event.

Online or snail mail: If you can help a fallen soldier’s child receive a college education, please make a tax-deductible contribution to the American Legacy Scholarship Fund by clicking here, or mail a check to:

American Legacy Scholarship Fund
The American Legacy Run,
PO Box 1055, Indianapolis, IN 46206

Related Information:

• American Legacy Scholarship Fund
• American Legacy Run
• American Legion Riders

Technorati Tags: Announcements, American Legacy Run, American Legion, American Legacy Scholarship Fund

 

This Is Going Way Too F**king Far…

This image was taken from a MySpace profile of a user living near Lake Elsinore, CA. Go figure.

It probably won’t be long before we see signs like this sprouting up throughout Southern California. Right now, I’m seeing the color red. It’s not the color of dripping blood, nor the color of Kasey Kahne’s Dodge Charger. I have seen with my own eyes one of the most racists websites against Mexicans that isn’t affiliated with a hate group. At least for now, anyway.

This evening, the North County Times published an article on a group in Riverside County calling itself Private Police Force. They are not only threatening to do what our goverment isn’t doing, but they’re ready to go well above and beyond what other anti-immigration groups are doing against illegal immigrants. The tough-talking but anonymous authors of the website (yes, it’s anonymously registered) plan on doing the following to immigrants, specifically Mexicans:

We will operate quietly, we are not armed, but we will operate with enough force to detain illegals. They will be handcuffed to the Oak Trees.

What the hell? Handcuffing people to oak trees? Are we reverting back to Jim Crow-era times? I’m very distressed with the above threat. What if these people make a citizen’s arrest on someone that turns out to be a legal United States citizen? Don’t think about the consequences. Read about them here, especially this excerpt:

Making citizen’s arrest maliciously or without reasonable basis in belief could lead to civil or criminal penalties. It would obviously be a violation of a suspect’s civil rights to use excessive force, to torture, to hold in unsafe or cruel conditions or to invent a reason to arrest for the ulterior motive of settling a private score. Civil lawsuits against department stores, police departments, and even cult deprogrammers for false imprisonment are legend. Anybody who makes a citizens arrest should not use more force than is necessary, should not delay in turning the suspect over to the proper authorities, and should never mete out any punishment … unless willing to face the consequences.

What concerns me about this group is they make some of the most outrageous claims against Mexicans and/or illegal immigrants. Among them are these gems on how to recognize an illegal/thief:

• If they have Latino facial characteristics and they can’t speak English
• If they carry their lunch in a plastic bag composed of stolen oranges and a
  burrito.
• If they are dirty and their clothes look like Goodwill items.
• If they carry a short garden hose, used to siphon gas from your car at night.

These are some of the other unsubstantiated falsehoods about Mexicans and immigrants the website claims as fact:

These thieves operate in small gangs. Notice that most Mexican workers have Nextel Walkie Talkie Cell Phones, so they can talk all day long with each other, virtually Free. They buy a cell phone package of six phones using one line, so they operate their own local walkie talkie phone system.

Fact: To sign up for Sprint/Nextel service, you must pass a credit check, not an easy task for illegal immigrants, if not impossible.

Do you pay Federal and State withholding? If George Bush has his way, you will. Even if they received Amnesty and obtained Citizenship, they would vote as Democrats. These people want Social Benefits. I’m sure the Donkey Party will give them added benefits because they are impoverished illegals.

Fact: About 40% of my paycheck goes to federal and state withholding, and I’m almost 100% certain that any California resident reading this post also has the same withholding rate.

It’s safe to say they are thieves because 99% are guilty of it.

Fact: There is no evidence that 99% of illegal immigrants are thieves. Has anyone done a survey of this? I didn’t think so.

Just call the Sheriff’s Department in Lake Elsinore, the Border Patrol or INS and report the address where the illegals are being employed or where they live.

Fact: On the same website, the authors claim, "You’re lucky if the police even come out. Serve and Protect – Right! (It’s not true of all the Sheriffs in Lake Elsinore)" and "Shame on the Border Patrol and the Sheriffs Department." So they want you to contact the police, yet they have no faith in (some of) them? That a confusing way to sell your message to your audience.

20% of all people in California are Illegals

Fact: The U.S. Census Bureau states that there’s 36,132,147 California residents. If the 20% figure is correct, then there’s 7.2 million illegal aliens in my state. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, there are 2.4 million illegal aliens residing in California as of their latest census study in 2004. If the Hispanic Pew Study states there are 10.3 million illegal aliens in the United States as of 2004, and recent news reports state there’s 11 million illegal aliens in the country now, do the math. It’s impossible for 5 million more illegal immigrants to pour through California’s borders unless they emigrated from other states.

Imagine a California with 20% less traffic congestion and with 30% more gasoline. Imagine our area with 90% less crime. We can do it, send them home!

Fact: There are no facts to support this claim. Let’s move on.

The facts are – they are bad workers because they are uneducated and unskilled, but worse is, they don’t care. They think us Gringos are dumb and we’re all rich.

Fact: Has anyone asked the illegal aliens? Not likely.

They have no work ethic and they hate Americans. Do you want a Socialist State where no one cares and there is no pride with Americans forced to live like third world countries. Mud huts are next – garage your truck, because it may soon be in Mexico. If you don’t see it that way, shame on you for being naive. Shame on you for being complacent and doing nothing; it’s destroying America.

Fact: According to Dataquick’s June 2006 statistics, the median price of a single-family home in Lake Elsinore has risen 12% (92530 zip code) and 18% (92532 zip code) within the past year. Shame on the authors for believing the cost of buying a home in third-world-like conditions will set you back at least $405,000.

We have three lawyers and several regular police officers who have pledged private investigation time in our area. We are also employing a few security professionals. If the Sheriff’s Department/Border Patrol will not enforce the law and deport the illegals, we will also take “them” to Federal Court.

Opinion: If this is fact, then the idea that individuals sworn to “Protect and Serve” the community are associated with this group is frightening. Can you imagine what would happen if you were in Riverside County and these people pulled you over for a moving violation (speeding, running a stop sign, etc.) and you happened to look “suspicious” or Hispanic? I was racially profiled by the police during the Proposition 187 era and I’m afraid those days will return to Riverside County in the very near future.

We will be publishing any and all resident opposition names including pictures. We will also publish Mexican worker names with photos. You will become the talk of the Community.

Opinion: I sincerely hope those who oppose this group document their activities and make sure no one’s civil rights are abused. The premise of this group and its false claims will not do anything to solve the problem. This will only serve to divide Riverside County even further along ethnic lines.

Shame on the anonymous members of Private Police Force for taking their hatred out on Mexicans. They should do the responsible thing and report crimes to the proper authorities. There is a Border Patrol station in Murietta that can handle the problem. According to a spokesperson, they act on tips given to them but no one has reported a problem in the area. I ask for those involved in this organization to reconsider their actions and report all activities to the Murietta Border Patrol station. Give them a chance to do their job. That’s what our taxes pay them to do.

Robbie Gonzalez is an Independent blogger from El Cajon, California. You can read more of his commentary on politics, sports, current events, and things happening around San Diego by visiting his blog Greetings From America’s Finest City.

Technorati Tags: Immigration, Latino News, Politics, Racism, Republicans, Riverside County, Private Police Force, Lake Elsinore, Immigration falsehoods

 

You Could Be Donald Rumsfeld’s Bitch

I wish I could rephrase the title in milder terms, but I can’t. Earlier today, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Senate Armed Forces Committee how the Bush administration plans to skirt the Supreme Court ruling on military tribunals –by admitting hearsay evidence, limiting rights against self-incrimination before a trial, limiting defendants’ access to classified information, and allow testimony obtained by coercion if it was reliable and useful.

This is very disturbing because if this legislation is allowed in its current form, interrogation techniques not consistent with the Geneva Convention would be allowed. If you’ve been reading my blog posts on the subject, this move shouldn’t come as a surprise. On Saturday morning, I had mentioned in my first Bloggers Against Torture post that the Bush administration sought to weaken Article 3 of the Geneva Convention.

Even worse, Gonzales pressed Congress to refine the definition of war crimes. What’s with the feigned stupidity and arrogance? If Gonzales is serious about defining what constitutes a war crime, I invite him to read the following reports:

• Amnesty International’s report on Jordan’s detention and torture of political suspects.
• Human Rights Watch’s report on soldiers’ accounts of detainee abuse in Iraq.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, this article in Saturday’s edition of the Helena Independent Record states some very disturbing facts about legislation the Bush administration is proposing to conform to the Supreme Court’s ruling on military tribunals.

U.S. citizens suspected of terror ties might be detained indefinitely and barred from access to civilian courts under legislation proposed by the Bush administration, say legal experts reviewing an early version of the bill.

According to the draft, the military would be allowed to detain all ‘‘enemy combatants’’ until hostilities cease. The bill defines enemy combatants as anyone ‘‘engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners who has committed an act that violates the law of war and this statute.’’

This shouldn’t make headlines. This is what the Bush administration has been doing to "enemy combatants" in Guantanamo Bay, Abu Gharib, and other secret prisons for the past four and a half years. What should get your attention is the last two paragraphs of the article, which state the following:

Legal experts said Friday that such language is dangerously broad and could authorize the military to detain indefinitely U.S. citizens who had only tenuous ties to terror networks like al Qaeda.

‘‘That’s the big question … the definition of who can be detained,’’ said Martin Lederman, a law professor at Georgetown University who posted a copy of the bill to a Web blog.

Under this legislation, you could become a passenger on Air Torture’s next flight to nowhere. All it would take is for Donald Rumsfeld to determine you are an enemy of the state, a dangerous criminal, or associated with terrorists in any way.

Why should you be concerned about this? Do you remember my post on Khalid al-Masri’s case of mistaken identity during Blogathon 2006? That could happen to you if the Bush administration sees you as an enemy of the state. This legislation isn’t aimed at suspected terrorists. It’s broad enough in scope to include American citizens. That’s why you need to contact your elected officials and voice your concerns about your disappearing civil rights.

Robbie Gonzalez is an Independent blogger from El Cajon, California. You can read more of his commentary on politics, sports, current events, and things happening around San Diego by visiting his blog Greetings From America’s Finest City.

Technorati Tags: Human Rights, Politics, Republicans, Donald Rumsfeld, Terrorism, Air Torture, Torture, Extraordinary rendition, Alberto Gonzales, Military tribunals

 

Ozzie Guillen’s Outburst Exposes Ugly Truth About Men

Yesterday, Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen apologized for his latest outburst act, a day after he called Chicago Sun-Times columnist and Around The Horn contributor Jay Mariotti a “(bleeping) fag”. Couple that incident along with the tantrum he threw when rookie pitcher Sean Tracey failed to hit Rangers slugger Hank Blaylock with a pitch and you have an individual who needs to reassess his machismo.

When Tracey was demoted the day after the Blaylock non-incident, I dismissed it as Guillen’s reaction to a rookie not following orders. But when Guillen turned his attention to Mariotti, who at times can be as pleasant to listen to as fingernails running across a chalkboard, he exposed one of the truths about men: we use slurs to describe the weaker of our own species.

From my experience, it’s more common than you think for Latinos to use homosexual slurs to defend our machismo. In our culture, if we feel a male is being less than manly, we tend to use the worst of slurs to state our opinion. However, that truthful explanation does not excuse Guillen for his in appropriate behavior. In America, it’s never appropriate for men, regardless of race, to use a homosexual slur to berate our own.

It gets even worse when we try to skirt that unwritten rule because we resort to comparing less-than-manly men to women instead, which is just as bad, if not worse. Just look at some of the examples we have in popular culture. In one of his dreams, surfer/slacker Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High referred to competitors in a surfing competition as “a bunch of fags”. Two years ago, California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger referred to the Democratic-controlled state legislature as “girly men”, and a large proportion of the male population loves calling the weaker of our species variations of the female sexual anatomy.

Guillen’s outburst did more damage than expose a weakness in Latino culture to the general public. It also exposed a general weakness of men: we have a tendency to use whomever we perceive as weaker to describe the worst of our own.

Robbie Gonzalez is an Independent blogger from El Cajon, California. You can read more of his commentary on politics, sports, current events, and things happening around San Diego by visiting his blog Greetings From America’s Finest City.

Technorati Tags: Ozzie Guillen, Jay Mariotti, slurs

 

Michael Bloomberg For President?

When The Hankster linked this ABC News article on New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on her website, I couldn’t help but wonder if he’s a viable presidential candidate for 2008. In the article, Bloomberg was quoted as saying “I won’t be running for president. I don’t know why I can’t convince everybody.”

Let me answer your question, Mr. Bloomberg. Speaking for myself, I don’t want to waste my vote on "the lesser of two evils" ever again. I felt like that’s what I was doing when I voted for president in 2000 and 2004 when I selected Gore and Kerry. I was not impressed with either man, but they were a lot more appealing than the alternative the GOP rolled out for both elections.

That’s why speculation on you running for president won’t go away. I’m certain I’m speaking for more than myself here, but I’m not passionate about the preliminary list of contenders considering running for president. I don’t want to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, John McCain or George Allen. In my opinion, a vote for them is a vote for "business as usual". We don’t need a president who will maintain the status quo. We need someone who will serve the people and get results.

Mr. Bloomberg, you’re exactly what this country needs, a fiscally responsible leader that leans progressive on social issues. You’ve developed quite a political resume since you took over for Rudy Giuliani as mayor and it wouldn’t be a lark for you to throw your hat into the ring and run for the nation’s highest office. Maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part, but when I cast my ballot in two years, I want my vote to go to someone who can straighten out this mess that’s become our country.

It’s going to be a tall task reuniting this divided nation and putting it on the right path but out of all the contenders out there I feel you’re the best person for the job. The only question is, do you want it?

Robbie Gonzalez is an Independent blogger from El Cajon, California. You can read more of his commentary on politics, sports, current events, and things happening around San Diego by visiting his blog Greetings From America’s Finest City.

Technorati Tags: Michael Bloomberg, 2008 presidential election

 

Are We Overdrawn On Our Political Capital?

This morning I ran across two stories that made me wonder if the United States still has any credibility with the rest of the world. Do we have any political capital left, or did President Bush overdraw on our account the last time he visited the bank?

On Friday, I missed this report by OneWorld.net on UN ambassador John Bolton’s implied threat by the United States to close the United Nations. According to the report, Bolton gave his approval for the next two-year budget, but only for the next six months. Now there’s speculation that the United States won’t pay its dues unless there’s management reforms.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan isn’t some American politician the Bush administration can buy off and put in its back pocket, so what is Bolton trying to accomplish with these strong-armed tactics? We can’t pull an Eric Cartman and declare “Screw you guys…I’m goin’ home” when we don’t get our way. We supply the UN with 22% of its funding, but that doesn’t mean they do our bidding. The UN is a humanitarian organization that serves the world. What the Bush administration and their supporters forget about the UN is its purpose, which includes the following:

• To maintain international peace and security
• Promote economic and social development
• The protection of human rights
• Provide emergency relief through the coordination of humanitarian relief operations
• The development of international law
• The decolonization of former territories so they become soverign nations

I’m happy to report that Annan is standing behind Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown’s earlier comments that the United States doesn’t stand up for the UN against domestic critics and used the UN as a diplomatic tool. Bolton characterizes Brown’s comments as an affront to the American people but I don’t feel that way. Brown spoke the truth and that’s what needed in this debate. It’s time for Bolton to get back to the table and resolve disputes without any more public posturing or heavy-handed tactics.

In another disturbing article published over the weekend, The New York Times reported that the Bush administration could be looking into the possibilty of maintaining a fighting force of 50,000 troops in Iraq for years to come. Why is this necessary? Is it because we can’t restore electricity to Iraqi citizens? Because the pipelines that, according to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and others, were supposed to help finance this war cannot be protected from insurgents and black marketeers?

It would be pointless to maintain a fighting force in Iraq if we cannot control the country in the first place. During the past three years we have not shown any progress in restoring the country to anything it resembled under the rule of Saddam Hussein. Removing a tryant from power and killing a two-bit hoodlum that can’t fire a jammed machine gun does very little to solve any of the problems facing Iraqi citizens on a daily basis, most of whom don’t know how long the lights will stay on or remain unsure that the American soldiers they see are their friend or foe.

The last time we’ve stationed and maintained a significant fighting force on foreign soil during peacetime was in South Korea over fifty years ago, and technically the Korean War hasn’t ended yet. Will this war end with a cease-fire agreement as well? How much longer will our troops be in Iraq? No one knows and the Bush administration is not forthcoming with answers.

For those of you who are eligible to vote, especially those of you who are a.) under 25 years of age, and/or b.) registered to vote and choose not to participate in the electoral process, let the past six years teach you a valuable lesson: this is what happens when a failed businessman and mediocre college student with little political experience gets elected as President of the United States.

Don’t ever let this happen again.

Robbie Gonzalez is an Independent blogger from El Cajon, California. You can read more of his commentary on politics, sports, current events, and things happening around San Diego by visiting his blog Greetings From America’s Finest City.

Technorati Tags: George W. Bush, Iraq War, financing the Iraq War, John Bolton, United Nations, credibility, political capital

 

So You Want To Be An Independent?

Being an independent is more than just a decision. It’s a lifestyle choice. In order to be a true independent, you have to leave all of your comfort zones.

First, you have to pull yourself away from all political message boards, even popular ones like Democratic Underground and Free Republic. While message boards are amongst the most popular places for political discourse, you cannot think for yourself if you hang out in a place with a "follow the herd" environment that encourages cranial flatulence from nutbags seeking validation for their extremist behavior.

Cranial flatulence isn’t just for message boards. It’s also prevalent on blogs. If you hang out in the comments section of a blog long enough, you’ll easily identify who these extremists are. They’re the ones who are the quickest to pass jugdment on a ongoing story. At the first sign of bad news, they’re the ringleaders who grab pitchforks and lead the sheeple down the path of self-destruction while spewing venom like “President Bush is granting them amnesty!” or “Release the names now, Jason!“

It’s imperative that you leave all message boards because the environment doesn’t exactly encourage you to think for yourself and if you’re not with the herd, you’re an outcast.

Once you break away from message boards, the next thing you’ll have to do is grow thicker skin. Being an independent means you’ll have to withstand slings and arrows from the left and the right. Being of mixed race, I’m used to getting shit from both sides so this is not a problem for me. Some Latinos tell me I’m not a real Mexican because I have German heritage or I don’t speak Spanish, while some whites have the gall to ask me things like, “How much would you charge for mowing my lawn?” and “Are you here legally?”

As much as I’d love give them the middle finger, these people are just like the orangutans at the San Diego Zoo. When they flip you off, you don’t salute them back. That’s the trigger for them to fling their feces through the bars surrounding their enclousure, and you better not be standing within their throwing range because these primates have better accuracy than Philip Rivers.

From that analogy, you have an idea what you’ll be up against when you blog or respond to the comments section of one. Not only will you be dealing with name-calling from the right, but you’ll have to show your sources to the left. Are you ready? Can you handle that? If so, then you’re well on your way to being an independent.

But is being an independent all it’s cracked up to be? No, it’s better. When you’re an independent, you’re no longer shackled by the ideology of either the Republican or Democratic party. You’re free to judge an issue from a third-person point of view, so when you can take a stand on an issue, you can feel good about it because it’s what you wholeheartedly believe in, not what others want you to say or feel.

That is what being an independent is all about.

Robbie Gonzalez is an Independent blogger from El Cajon, California. You can read more of his commentary on politics, sports, current events, and things happening around San Diego by visiting his blog Greetings From America’s Finest City.

Technorati Tags: Independent, politics, message boards, blogs

 

So What If al-Zarqawi’s Dead?

It’s a great day when a monster like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is eliminated with a pair of 500-pound bombs, but some people are freaking me out with their celebrations. I think it’s a little creepy when someone like Fox News anchor Sean Hannity practically gets aroused from watching the replay of the bombing video like some horny college kid who downloaded an amateur porn clip off the Internet and watches it on his computer monitor over and over and over…

While others are cheering al-Zarqawi’s death, I’m not ready to throw candy to children in the street like Palestinians did when word got out that we were attacked on September 11, 2001. Al-Qaeda likely has someone who can take al-Zarqawi’s place in Iraq and continue the insurgency against us. I don’t take the al-Qaeda terrorist organization for fools. Hell, even the neighborhood street gang has a heirarchy system or some sort of pecking order, so it’s not a stretch to believe al-Qaeda already had someone within their organization who could fill al-Zarqawi’s shoes if he were captured or killed.

So what will it take for me to yell, “America, fuck yeah!” at the top of my lungs? I’ll celebrate when we take out the big guy, the one who started this mess in the first place. With what we now know from the collection of Downing Street Memos, it doesn’t matter what we accomplish in Iraq at this point because it has no connection to the 9/11 terrorist attacks whatsoever. It was our invasion of Iraq based on fabricated prewar intelligence that empowered al-Zarqawi in the first place. I support our troops, but I don’t support the way they’ve been misused to fight President Bush’s resource war.

Our country should have spent the past five years concentrating on Osama bin Laden instead of a Middle Eastern country that had no connection to the 9/11 terrorists attacks. The American people should demand that they see something done in Afghanistan besides the destruction of poppy fields to prove we’re making progress against al-Qaeda.

We have to get Bin Laden, and American citizens shouldn’t settle for anything less. We don’t have to go as far as sticking Osama’s severed head on a pike and then parade it around the streets where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood to prove we’ve made progress in the war on terror, but it will take something of that magnitude for me to believe we’re fighting one in the first place.

Until then, the resource war in Iraq and the chaos it brings continues.

Robbie Gonzalez is an Independent blogger from El Cajon, California. You can read more of his commentary on politics, sports, current events, and things happening around San Diego by visiting his blog Greetings From America’s Finest City.

Technorati Tags: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq, terrorism, Sean Hannity, al-Qaeda, September 11th, 9/11, Downing Street Memos, Osama Bin Laden

 

Mistakes and Missed Opportunities

Although a winner hasn’t been declared in the 50th District runoff as I post this, I don’t think there should be one declared when all the votes are counted by the County of San Diego Registrar of Voters. Both candidates made mistakes and missed opportunities to earn a convincing victory in last night’s election.

As of midnight, Republican candidate Brian Bilbray held a narrowing lead over Democrat Francine Busby, but even if he hangs on he shouldn’t feel victorious. In a district where registered Republicans have a fourteen percentage point advantage over Democrats, this election should have resembled the double-digit margin of victory Randy "Duke" Cunningham celebrated two years ago. Instead, the slim lead Bilbray held as of this writing should be interpreted by the rest of the country as a signal that it won’t be business as usual anymore for Republicans that are embroiled in political scandals, immoral behavior and radical ideology.

Of the two candidates, Bilbray’s campaign did the best job within the past eight weeks leading up to the primary election. The RNCC chipped away at Busby’s early advantage by releasing dirty, misleading campaign ads slamming her position on taxes, immigration, and her handling of a teacher within her school district accused of possessing child pornography. Each ad was designed to expose a flaw in Busby’s character or campaign platform and they did their job, forcing Busby to run a campaign from a defensive position.

One bold tactic that Bilbray employed was placing all of his eggs in the immigration basket and running it as his number one campaign issue. It differentiated himself from Busby, but when National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) ads portrayed Busby as being for illegal immigration “amnesty”, it also exposed Bilbray as a zealot that did not support President Bush’s immigration program. It was a risky move, but until we find out the final results of this election we won’t know if this gamble paid off.

Busby should be congratulated for making this a close race but at the same time her campaign strategists should be chastised for botching an opportunity to seize control of the 50th District when they had the chance. Busby ran a clean race, but playing nice isn’t how you win a tight race in American politics. Her campaign manager did not learn the lessons that the 2004 Presidential Election taught the American public: dirty tactics win votes when the opposition turns the other cheek.

With apologies to men and women who fight for our freedom, American politics is as close to war as a civilian can get without enlisting in the armed forces. It’s the way political campaigns are fought in the twenty-first century, and this election proved once again that Democrats have yet to develop the killer instinct to fight back. When the first NRCC attack ad was released, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) should have responded with all guns blazing. At the time, Busby was ahead in the polls and every effort should have been made to maintain that advantage, even if it meant running a dirtier campaign than Bilbray. Instead of responding in kind, the Busby campaign took the high road and released ads that hit Bilbray with the ferocity of a kangaroo frolicking on holiday on an Australian beach.

There was another time when the Busby campaign’s lack of a killer instinct hurt their chances for victory. When Bilbray’s May 15th ad stated he was opposed to “amnesty” for illegal immigrants, Busby’s camp should have seized on that opportunity to embrace Republican voters who agreed with the bipartisan immigration bill co-authored by John McCain and Ted Kennedy. Every effort should have been made to paint Bilbray as a radical for supporting James Sensenbrenner’s immigration bill instead of the one supported by President Bush, but once again Democrats let another opportunity to nail Bilbray in their crosshairs slip away and it hurt them in unimaginable ways last Thursday.

When Busby spoke to a Latino audience at the Jocelyn Senior Center in Escondido that evening, a member of the San Diego Minutemen was in attendance and caught a slip of the lip that might have made the difference in this election. During her speech, Busby uttered the words “you don’t need papers for voting”. Although Busby corrected herself immediately, the damage was already done. A tape of the speech was exchanged amongst Minutemen members and then found its way on the airwaves during Roger Hedgecock’s KOGO radio broadcast the following day.

For someone running on an ethics reform campaign, that’s about as bad as being on record against homosexuality, adultery, and sodomy and getting caught with your pants down performing one of the three acts. it’s likely the reason why early results show Bilbray in the lead, and if he goes on to win, it’s going to be tough for Democrats to be within ten percentage points in November’s election unless Bilbray gets caught up in his own scandal in the coming months.

If Bilbray keeps his nose clean while serving the rest of Cunningham’s term, he’ll likely win in November and yesterday’s primary election will go down in history as another missed opportunity by Democrats to seize the moment when victory was within their grasp.

Robbie Gonzalez is an Independent blogger from El Cajon, California. You can read more of his commentary on politics, sports, current events, and things happening around San Diego by visiting his blog Greetings From America’s Finest City.

Technorati Tags: 50th District, Brian Bilbray, Francine Busby, illegal immigration, amnesty, ethics reform, Duke Cunningham

 

I’m Detecting A Disturbing Trend in the Mainstream Media

While I was packing my breakfast and lunch for work yesterday (I work the late shift), I heard a news story at the top of the hour during the 12pm PST broadcast of CNN Headline News.

What breaking story headline did Susan Hendricks and Thomas Roberts read first? The swearing in of Michael Hayden as CIA chief? President Bush’s promise that civilian-killing Marines will be punished? Katie Couric’s tearful goodbye to her “Today” show coworkers? Nope. There was one story that CNN Headline News thought should dominate the nation’s headlines above all others yesterday afternoon: a rich, white woman missing from Birmingham, Alabama not named Natalee Holloway.

The victim was 34-year-old Sandra Eubank Gregory, a family law attorney that was kidnapped from her downtown Birmingham apartment. The good news is that Ms. Gregory is safe. The bad news is that I’m detecting a disturbing trend in the mainstream media. Why is it a national crisis when a rich, white person goes missing?

I do not place fault with Ms. Hendricks or Mr. Roberts for what happened. These fine anchors are only doing their job, which is to present the news as written on their teleprompters. As a matter of fact, I like to watch CNN Headline News, or at least listen to the audio, while I’m getting ready for work around 12 noon my local time.

However, I don’t understand why the mainstream media stopped the presses when Ms. Gregory went missing while they don’t nudge a Botox-paralyzed eyebrow at the increasing problem of missing (and possibly exploited) children from all walks of life disappearing from their loved ones every day.

I do not mean to trivialize the traumatic ordeal Ms. Gregory went through yesterday, but I’m going to be the bad guy and point out that there are more important issues affecting the United States right now than one missing person, such as college graduates facing the weakest job market in two decades (even worse than the one I faced over a decade ago), Sun Microsystems slashing 5,000 jobs, or even the prospects of women over 40 getting married.

What yesterday’s events in the mainstream media taught me is this: being a Hispanic, I’m guaranteed I’ll never have to worry about anyone making a fuss over my whereabouts if I skip work and hit three ATMs on my way out of town for a road trip with my digital camera.

Robbie Gonzalez is an Independent blogger from El Cajon, California. You can read more of his commentary on politics, sports, current events, and things happening around San Diego by visiting his blog Greetings From America’s Finest City.I’

Technorati Tags: CNN Headline News, Susan Hendricks, Thomas Roberts, Sandra Eubanks Gregory, kidnappings, mainstream media, racism