Any president promoting a woman to the JCS during his Presidential cycle would give many of us a sigh of relief and encouragement. It would be helpful knowing that more women are part of the “advisory committee”, which helps plan joint operations and resolutions of military problems because, as it stands, there appears to be too much testosterone fueling those key decisions.

It would be helpful for us to see balance at a strategic leadership level.

Some in Congress want changes in military law as a result of sex scandals

Members of Congress said they are so angry about the crescendo of sex-crime scandals in the armed forces that they are considering fundamental changes to military law and other measures that the Pentagon has resisted for years.

Lawmakers from both parties said Wednesday that they were appalled by the latest revelation: that the Army is investigating a sexual-assault prevention officer on suspicion of sex abuse and pimping. Several members pledged to overhaul the way the military punishes offenders and protects victims of sexual assault.  FULL STORY>>>

It looks like the Texas Senator (Cuban-American) Ted Cruz is the poster boy for Numbers USA.  According to the SPLC, Roy Beck, was head of the immigration-restriction group NumbersUSA.

SPLC states:

Beck leads an organization that has reached the heights of mainstream legitimacy, a position that helped NumbersUSA achieve dramatic policy successes, most especially in June 2007, when his followers flooded the Senate with more than a million faxes. (The onslaught helped doom comprehensive immigration reform that had bipartisan support and had been expected by many observers to pass.) He has long insisted that NumbersUSA has no “vision of a homogenous white America,” and his website decries all manner of “immigrant bashing” and racism.

But John Tanton has come to be an embarrassment. His longstanding connections to white nationalist ideologues, his flirtation with anti-Semitism, and his many racist statements about Latinos have become well known — and are a huge liability for Beck and his restrictionist program. Pressed, Beck claims he is not ashamed of his mentor. But Tanton’s name is nowhere on his website. John Tanton, it seems, is undermining Roy Beck’s respectability.

“It is amazing that Beck has attained the mainstream status he has, considering where he comes from,” concludes Henry Fernandez, a senior fellow at the progressive Center for American Progress, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. “His extremely close and decades-long relationship with Tanton should give pause to anyone who deals with NumbersUSA.”

NumbersUSA uploaded the below photo of Ted Cruz on their facebook page approximately 10 hours ago:

NumbersUSA

Does this mean Cruz is against privileged amnesty Cuban immigrants receive via the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966?

Is the Tea Party politician Cruz against Cuban immigrants receiving government benefit$ once their wet foot touches dry land since Tea Party people claim to be in support of doing away with tax payer funded government entitlement$?

What about the Cuban immigrant dry foot that touches dry land?  Is this why we are seeing a spike with regard to Cuban immigrants coming through Mexico?

That said, let it be understood the Texas Senator is on the record for ending his speeches with a story about how his father fled Cuban oppression.  According to the Dallas News, “his father departed for the U.S. in 1957, more than a year before Fidel Castro came to power.”

Cruz stated:

“My dad fled Cuba. He was imprisoned and tortured as a teenager, and came to Austin penniless, seeking freedom. The reason I’m running is simple. He fled oppression once. And you have my word that I’ll fight every day to protect freedom here, so that none of us have to flee oppression a second time.”

Penniless?

I thought his dad had money sowed into his underwear?  According to the inflation calculator, $100.00 back then is equivalent to $826.21 today.  That is a whole helluva lot more money than the dying immigrant crossing the desert comes here with.  Many immigrants crossing the desert die of dehydration.

According to FOX NEWS:

Cruz’s father Rafael is a pastor outside Dallas. He fought with Fidel Castro’s rebels in Cuba before Castro took power and eventually embraced communism, and the elder Cruz fled to the U.S. with nothing but $100 sowed into his underwear.

If Cruz believes in the idea of fleeing oppression and the corrupt Fidel Castro — doesn’t he know that Mexico’s corrupt score is worse than Cuba’s according to the Global Coalition Against Corruption?

I know a bunch of immigrants who came here  without a single dime to their name, and they come here to avoid the oppressive drug cartels.   They come here not seeking government entitlements and are not afraid of working in the hot agricultural fields  for a hard earned day’s pay.  Most immigrants do not receive a year’s worth of government entitlement$ the Cuban immigrants receive.

According to the Dallas News:

I could not believe my ears when he told me he was considering leaving the GOP.  He’s a strong conservative.  I cannot say that I blame Ryan for leaving the GOP particularly when the California Republican Party hands over the microphone to extremists like Tim Donnelly who is running for California Governor.  (You would think that the California GOP would have learned by now considering Prop 187 and the fast growing Mexican-American and/or Latin population there). The Republican National Committee should have started changing their platform yesterday after suffering a devastating loss on November 6, 2012.  Now they are acting as if they have a leg to stand on after the devastating blow with regard to the fiscal crisis issue. The GOP keeps giving the soapbox over to the likes of Tea Party extremist Jim DeMint.  [My God -- how in the heck do they expect the party to grow with tools like that?]

Here is why Ryan chose to be an independent / no party preference voter … and I think it is important to share his story with fellow Arizonans — particularly since California is a neighboring state.

Ryan Trabuco writes:

 

No Party Preference

Posted on January 3, 2013

“I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit.” — Theodore Roosevelt

My decision. My choice. Certainly, this wasn’t easy. Allow me to think this through.

I’ve always admired Theodore Roosevelt. He fought corruption, spoke out passionately about his beliefs in much-needed reforms, and was noted for his fairness in policy and politics.

Of course, you may also read that folks at the turn of the 20th century considered him belligerent and opinionated. Hell, I’ve been called worse. For every one of his critics, however, there were many more who considered him “the hero America needed” as author Michael L. Cooper penned in his 2009 biography on our nation’s 26th President.

What I admire most about Teddy’s legacy and leadership, was his ability to bring folks together — often transcending partisan politics — and in doing so, for the good of our country.

Many of Teddy Roosevelt’s decisions were not easy, such as leaving the Republican Party in 1912 — a party he was active in and helped lead as a New York Assemblyman, Police Commissioner, Governor, Vice-President, and President. The Republican Party had left him and tacked a hard right turn, and Roosevelt, through the passion of defiance, left the party to continue to champion those reforms, values, and ideas he held dear.

Today, I feel it’s the same path I must take as well. Today, I re-registered to vote as “No Party Preference” (a.k.a. “Independent”).

I assure you, no decision could have been harder for me, personally.

Freedom. Opportunity. Self-Reliance. State’s Rights. Government efficiency.  There’s a sense of tradition and a value system — that I cherish and hold dear — you just don’t find in other political parties.

There’s a proud history of nearly 10 years here registering Republican voters. Volunteering. Fundraising. Knocking on doors, calling voters, doing anything I could possibly do to help Republican candidates win elections — pouring blood, sweat, and often tears into these efforts. Oh Lord, did I mention the tweeting?

For now, in this moment, I just felt it was the right choice to make.

As unfortunate (for a number of reasons) that I felt 2008 was a bad year politically, nothing could’ve prepared me for the slaughter of 2012. Of course, in the heat of election cycles, it’s easy to re-hash the talking points of a campaign, and paraphrase why you feel it’s better that voters should choose your side. There’s facts, graphs, logic, and ideology at play. What’s often overlooked though is governing, and the plan to govern.

There hadn’t been much thought about re-registering until recently, while watching the fiscal cliff debate play out over weeks on end. Speculation. Finger-pointing. The constant will-they-won’t-they approach to politics. Quite honestly, it was sick. For as bad as it was for Democrats, I couldn’t honestly sit back and defend the Republicans’  seemingly hands-off approach to governing.

I kept asking myself, “Where’s the leadership? Where’s the plan?”

Then, allowing the Democrats to figure it out on their own and then dictate the terms of whatever the compromise would be was embarrassing to say the very least. I can’t defend that.

I admit, I said for a long time that wild horses couldn’t drag me from my party — and they didn’t. The selfish behavior of those who would rather bring our country to its’ knees, rather than face the challenges ahead of us have drug the party away from me. The constant kowtowing to the Tea Party and like-minded ideologues have damaged the brand, the mission, and the spirit of the Republican Party.

Look at California. The Republican Party, here, is a mess. Enough said.

In San Diego, it’s not nearly as bad but there’s problems here as well. There’s nothing wrong with good-natured, well-intentioned, and much-needed government reforms, but there is a significant problem when you allow a single elected official — an emotional and personality equivalent to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride — to dictate the focus of the party, and whether you are or aren’t welcome within the apparatus.

When Nathan Fletcher left the Republican Party last spring, I admit, I was more than disappointed and reflected those feelings to him over the phone. He said he was tired and over the drama. All the critics said it was political. After much soul-searching these last few weeks, I have to say that Nathan was right. I’m tired and over it, too.

All in all, I don’t feel there’s leadership. Or focus. I don’t feel there’s necessary attention being paid to strengthen the Republican Party. All talk, no action. I’ve said for years that the GOP needed to embrace it’s roots founded in the original 1856 Platform — a document that reads more like the blueprint for ideas in freedom and governance, rather than today’s GOP platform which specifically says what you can or can’t do in life.

Where’s the allure? What’s the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats, aside from being polar opposites on the political spectrum? Nothing. God forbid you find yourself in the political center. You have no where to go.

All that said, where do we go from here?

I’m sure folks will say I’ve always been a squish. Not committed. Not conservative enough. That’s fine. That just shows that those folks have very little respect for the consistent work I did all those years. All the more reason for my decision to step aside, and re-register.

I am now a simple, registered voter who states that I have NO PARTY PREFERENCE. That doesn’t change who I am or what I believe. Our spending needs to be under control, I’m not in favor of big government or higher taxes — we need some desperate spending cuts, for sure. However, if I ever served as an elected official, I would have sense enough to know not to bring a government to its knees because of hard-headedness (a heartfelt sentiment to both parties).

Thankfully, I have no designs on political office. I’m too honest for it.

Now, there are good Republicans, and there are good Democrats. I’m honored to know both. It’s the self-interested ones on both sides of the aisle who need to reappraise their purpose in politics.

Hopefully, there will be a time in the very near future when the Republican Party evaluates itself in the tradition of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. I pray it does.  It would be an honor to re-register as a Republican under such circumstances. Until then, I will spend my time focusing on my commitments and service to my community, and encouraging camaraderie among others — no matter what their political persuasion may be.

Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” I’ve always been inspired to reach for the stars, and although I’m no longer a Republican, I feel as grounded as I’ve ever been.

On a last note…

Americans are getting sick and tired of the do-nothing Congress because they cannot seem to pull their heads out as elected official to do what is in the best interest of the United States. We are fed up with their bickering and their inability to work together in a bipartisan fashion.

It is no wonder why we are seeing a sharp rise in independent voters (or no party preference) across our Nation. We are on the brink of an independent revolution, and am glad to see new leaders like Ryan emerge.

If we  have enough money to bomb other countries (and Mitt Romney has already stated he wants to increase the war budget by $2.1 trillion dollars), then I believe we sure as hell have enough money to take care of our own here in our Homeland.

From MotherJones:

The Journal of the American Medical Association

Barrels of ink have been spilled over Medicare during this year’s campaign. There’s nothing wrong with that: Obama and Romney have fundamentally different approaches to Medicare and they deserve attention. Romney, for example, wants to increase the eligibility age to 67 and convert Medicare into a voucher system that relies primarily on competition between private firms to rein in costs. That’s a big change. At the same time, the actual differences in what the two candidates would spend on Medicare is fairly modest. This is more a fight over means than ends.

The same can’t be said for Medicaid. Romney wants radical changes here too, promising to “block grant” Medicaid if he’s elected. This means the program would be turned over entirely to the states. The federal government would continue to provide a share of funding, but that funding would go straight into state coffers, and states could decide how to spend it. So the question is: Once released from federal regulations, what would states do with their Medicaid money?

Romney’s plan represents a massive change in our commitment to providing decent medical care for those who can least afford it.

….

But that’s not all. In this case, there’s more than just differences in ideology at work. Unlike Medicare, which he’s willing to fund at about the same rate as Obama, Romney doesn’t want to spend as much on Medicaid as Obama does. In fact, he wants to take a chainsaw to it. Aaron Carroll and Austin Frakt took a look at the Romney and Obama plans in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week, and the chart above shows their conclusions. On Medicare, the two candidates want to spend roughly similar amounts of money. On Medicaid, Romney wants to spend way, way less. And not just on poor people. As Jon Cohn points out, cuts of this size will have a huge impact on “dual eligibles,” elderly patients who rely on Medicaid to pay their nursing home bills. This is not a minor point of technocratic disagreement. It represents a massive change in our commitment to providing decent medical care for those who can least afford it. Medicaid, much more than Medicare, demonstrates what’s really at stake in November’s election.

FULL STORY HERE>>>

Republicans do not want the average and ordinary American to remember they have done a thorough job of offloading good jobs to India, China and other parts of the globe while blaming homeland immigrants who are taking agricultural type of jobs that Americans don’t want anyway.  Never mind how immigrants  contribute their talents to our Nation and wanting to keep their money here in our United States as their money tends to support American small businesses.

On this Labor Day 2012, let us remember how the Republicans killed the jobs bill in 2011.

From the New York Times:

 

Truth be told, there are more than 20 million people who will continue suffering because of the Republican failure to pass the American Jobs Act.

Creating well-paying jobs is the only way to save the American economy. By creating 200,000 to 300,000 new jobs every month, we would increase the tax base and not even have to think about raising taxes on anyone in America.

People with jobs would be able to keep their homes, send their children to college, and once again buy goods and services. That would create more profits for American companies, adding revenues to the tax base and lowering the deficit.

What Senate Republicans have done is shameful, disgraceful and a major blow to the economic health of our nation.

 

Gary Johnson

The Republican Party snubbed Gary and now they “will get what they wished for and will pay tenfold…..” That said, I see Gary Johnson being a POWER HOUSE in very much the same way Ross Perot was in 1992.

Remember Ross Perot from 20 years ago and who was concerned about free trade, federal budget deficits, and the U.S. national debt? I see the same parallel and we can learn from history.  Gary Johnson WILL INDEED influence the direction as he does his best to frame political discourse. Like Ross Perot….Gary will indeed have an important effect on the 2012 election.

The new House Congressional Poll ratings will hurt the Republican Party since in essence they became the “Party of Hell No” instead of being the party of solutions. More than ever we need to go back to working on

Tea Party - the party of Hell No

SOLUTIONS….shedding the partisanship.  We need to go back to the Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill days. We are hungry for that.  We can no longer support the Tea Party and those who chant Hell No to everything.  Americans want politicians to do what they are paid to do and work with each other across the political aisle for what is in the best interest of the United States.    More Tea Party supporters have proven to be divisive with their “Hell No” to everything approach and it is destroying the unity message we yearn for because a house divided will not stand.

From University of California — Berkeley:  “Moreover, although there remains some debate about Perot’s impact on the outcome of the election, most analysts conclude that his presence (Perot won 18.9% of the popular vote) drew support away from incumbent Republican President George H.W. Bush (who won 37.5%) and helped swing the election to Democratic Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas (43%). The 1992 election was also significant in that it ended twelve years of Republican control of the White House and marked just the fourth time in the twentieth century that a sitting President was denied re-election.”

Some interesting quotes I heard Gary Johnson say today:

I got snubbed by Republican Party.

Tired of crony capitalism.

Being on the ballot in all 50 states cannot be downplayed.

61% of Americans would vote for 3RD party presidential candidate.

Drug laws discriminatory against person of color….if a person of color gets conviction of drug related violations they are 4 times more likely to wind up in jail than a white person.

Gary Johnson differs in views with Ron Paul in the border security department (which I knew that all along) even though Ron Paulers will debate and aruge with me on this. Bottom line:   Gary Johnson had the most reasonable immigration reform views when he was running as the 2012 Republican Presidential primary election candidate.

Gary no longer has to worry about pissing off the Republican Party.  He is now truly a free spirit and a free agent and he can speak what he is convicted to speak on.  Nobody can shut up Gary now, and that makes him politically dangerous.  I like that, and  I applaud his bold move.