A Message to Michael

New Years Eve, 2010

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

To say that we've had quite an eventful year would be an understatement, wouldn't it? Those of us in the tea party movement, and right here in the Staten Island Tea Party, have dipped our toes into the river of history and altered its course.

We never planned to do it - we scarcely knew what we getting into at all - but we heard the call of our country and responded. I feel good about that. America was tested, and if the results of the last election were any indication, we passed. But make no mistake (and I know you don't need me to remind you) we will face more tests in the future, and we will have to be well prepared for them.

Though we elected a terrific representative in Mike Grimm, and many others who espouse the tea party values of fiscal sanity, free markets and a Constitutionally-limited government, we need to remember that words are cheap, especially so during campaigns. Washington is a fearsome place; it oozes power, and power is a virus to which few are immune.

So here's a New Year's message to our new Congressman: We believe in you - don't be afraid to make the hard choices, because we've got you covered. The 13th Congressional District of New York sent Michael Grimm to Congress to be Michael Grimm, not, as you have said many times, just another vote in the go-along-to-get-along gang. All the "cover" you will ever need to justify your voting record is right here in the hearts and minds of your constituents - and if you fight for us, we will fight like hell for you.

I think you know that if you ever become more devoted to your leadership than you are to your consituents and your country, you will lose us. We didn't walk the district, ring bells, pass out literature and spend hours on the phone to elect a party - we did all that to elect a man; a man we will continue to believe in unless he gives us reason not to.

Make a difference, Michael, make a difference. We've got your back.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank Santarpia

Staten Island, NY

Happy New Year!

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." - Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Trashing the Constitution

Ladies and gentlemen, this guest editorial was written by Paul B. Skousen for The Daily Caller. It is re-printed with his permission.

It is important that we document - and never forget - the way the 111th Congress has re-written the constitution, chiefly by ignoring it. This should serve as a serious reminder that we have much work to do, and that occasionally "compromise" is not a good thing...

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At the close of the 111th Congress, America is deeply in the bog of Thomas Jefferson’s prophetic warning: “The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.” Unfortunately, the broken chains of the Constitution have failed to contain the federal government.

By way of review, let’s take a stroll through the junkyard of constitutional violations that have been painted fresh by President Obama and the 111th Congress. Here’s my top-ten list, highly abbreviated for length.

#10. — 9/11 Responders Relief Fund: We love and honor those who put themselves in harm’s way for our security. However, giving the 9/11 first responders money after the fact violates the Constitution. Article 1.8 gives Congress the right to expend funds for all the purposes itemized, provided it is done for the general welfare, NOT for individuals or preferred groups. The states may reward heroes if they so choose.

#9. — Checks and Balances Failure: The Chairmanship of the UN Security Council: Where was Congress when President Obama became the chairman of the powerful UN Security Council in 2009? The normal monthly rotation for that chair goes to the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. because Article 1.9 of the Constitution forbids the president (and all other office-holders) from accepting any present, foreign office or title from a foreign country or a foreign potentate unless it is specifically authorized by Congress. The Founders wanted to prevent deal-making, corruption, and foreign influence from affecting America’s internal affairs.

#8. — Net Neutrality: The government is trying to stop Internet providers from blocking or slowing some web traffic and prevent providers from showing favoritism. The FCC thinks it should be able to regulate the Internet like it regulates utility companies. This violates the property rights of Internet providers and interferes in the market’s free choice of which services receive funding. Article 1.8 makes it clear that the FCC is not constitutionally authorized to pass laws, especially those disguised as regulations.

#7. – Czars: The moniker for appointees who report to no one but the president has taken on a new and eerie resemblance to the dusty Russian tsars of old. Article 2.2 grants the president leeway to appoint managers, but those managers may not have any regulatory, legislative or law-making powers — such powers are reserved to the legislative branch. Today’s “czars” have the power of cabinet members without having to go through a vetting process or the confirmation process prescribed for cabinet members. Czars are unelected and untouchable political decision-makers — in violation of Article 1.1.

#6. — Cap and Trade: The Clean Energy and Security Act mandates greenhouse gas emissions be reduced to 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, 42 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, and 84 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. By 2020, this tax will extract an estimated $160 billion from the economy, or an average $1,870 per family. Once again, had the chains of Article 1.8 not been broken, America would be spared such tomfoolery. Cap and trade masked in any disguise whatsoever cannot be justified as a general welfare activity.

#5. — Cash for Clunkers: The government offered $4,500 rebates to people turning in their clunkers for more fuel-efficient vehicles. When the first program quickly ran out of the $4 billion allotted to it, another $2 billion was added. Follow-up analysis showed the program did nothing to stimulate the economy and put many people into additional debt by encouraging them to purchase cars that they otherwise would not have bought during these hard economic times. The government has zero authority to selectively give individuals tax money for purchases of vehicles, according to Articles 1.2 and 1.8 — and common sense.

#4. — TARP Funding: The original 2008 act authorized $700 billion to bail out banks and other institutions. The government has no business rescuing private financial institutions from bad judgment and risky ventures. Article 1.8 excludes permission for Congress to grant financial aid or loans to private companies. Any use of Treasury funds must go toward the general welfare, not to specific groups.

#3. — Illegal Immigration: Arizona is being invaded. When that state passed SB 1070 to stem the flow of violent illegals into its sovereign territory, a derelict federal government turned around and sued. At issue was the Feds’ failure to control the border, so Arizona took it upon itself to do just that — to uphold existing federal immigration laws. It didn’t add new laws; it simply gave local authorities the power to enforce federal responsibilities. The federal government claims the right to manage immigration, but when it refuses to carry out that obligation, thereby jeopardizing the security of border states, it is derelict in its duties. Arizona should haul the federal government before the Supreme Court for malfeasance. Article 4.4 clearly states that the U.S. shall protect states from invasion — more than 400,000 illegal aliens (est.) in Arizona is, by definition, an invasion.

#2. — Economic Stimulus Bill: The $814 billion stimulus is the most backward-thinking proposition to come along since human sacrifice. Dumping borrowed money into an over-fed, bloated and out-of-control ogre doesn’t solve anything, it simply temporarily props up with blocks of melting ice cream a failed and failing government of extravagance. Not only does it illegally take money out of the economy that could be used to provide jobs, but it’s using borrowed money — with interest due.

And the worst violation of the Constitution over the past two years is …

#1. — Health Care Reform: Health care reform was the last lever needed to lift the lid off the pot of American gold and empty it out for socialism. It required all Americans to have health insurance whether they wanted it or not. Earlier this month, Federal Judge Henry E. Hudson said that the government has no power “to compel an individual to involuntarily enter the stream of commerce by purchasing a commodity in the private market.”

The string of constitutional violations supporting the judge’s rejection is long and shocking:

For purposes of regulation, Congress invoked Article 1.8 and claimed insurance may be controlled because it falls under Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce. But insurance is not interstate commerce — you can’t buy insurance across state lines.

Language in the bill says the health care law may NOT be changed or amended by anyone once signed into law. This violates the role of Congress. Article 1.1 makes it clear that only Congress is authorized to make law, meaning it has every right to alter, amend and change the health care law. To restrict Congress is to change its constitutional duty. The 111th Congress must think it can change the Constitution without amending it — a violation of Article 5, which outlines the amendment process.

The health care bill also violates the 10th Amendment because it coerces states into complying with a new national program that reaches far into state jurisdiction.

So, what do you do when you’re navigating through a blizzard of political white-out where visibility is reduced to zero, the road is slick and slippery, and disaster is strewn about in all directions? You come to a complete stop — and put on the chains.

Paul B. Skousen is a former analyst for the CIA, an intelligence officer in the Reagan White House, and staffer for Senator Orrin Hatch.

A Christmas Message

He who has not Christmas in his heart
will never find it under a tree. ~Roy L. Smith

December, 2010

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

For a few days let's put all thoughts of politics and world affairs aside, and simply appreciate the joy that a loving family and close friends can bring.

It's a time to reflect and take comfort in the knowledge that each of us has the unspoken love and support not only of those close to us, but of people of good will everywhere across this great land -- and of a loving and merciful God.

Let's celebrate not only Christmas and Hanukkah, but the greatest gift of all - the wondrous liberty with which we were endowed by our Creator. No power on earth can take it away, because that liberty exists in our hearts and minds and souls.

I tell you that we are a great nation because we are a free and loving people - and we will prevail because free men and women of good will always do.

All of us here at the Staten Island Tea Party would like to wish you and your family a joyous and blessed Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank Santarpia

Staten Island, NY

"A fine pleasant evening for your Indian caper..."

"Friends! Brethren! Countrymen!--That worst of plagues, the detested tea, shipped for this port by the East India Company, is now arrived in the harbor."

-Handbill posted 29 November, 1773 in Boston

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

I couldn't let the day pass without remarking on its import. On 16 December, 1773, a group of citizens in Boston sought clearance from the British Customs Commissioner to send three ships of the British East India Company back from whence they came.

The chief cargo on board these vessels was tea - but to the colonists, the commodity, though it was much in demand, was tainted with a small but unpalatable duty charged by the British crown. Though the duty was merely a token, to the colonists it represented Parliament's attempt to prove that it had, indeed, the right to tax the American colonies - though their subjects were afforded no representation.

The Commissioner turned down the request for clearance because the duty had not been paid.

The rest, as they say, is history - at least to every schoolchild of my generation. Two hundred men, dressed as Mohawk Indians and brandishing hatchets and pistols, marched to Griffin's Wharf where the ships Dartmouth, Eleanor and Beaver were at anchor. When they were done, all 342 chests of tea aboard the three ships were broken open and dumped into Boston harbor.

Thousands stood on shore in silence and watched as the Sons of Liberty made their emphatic statement. According to eyewitness accounts, when done they marched past the home of British Admiral Montague, who had been watching discreetly from a window.

Legend has it that he yelled as they passed, "Well boys, you have had a fine, pleasant evening for your Indian caper, haven't you? But mind, you have got to pay the fiddler yet!"

What the Admiral could not have known was that the debt owed to the fiddler would be paid by the British at a terrible cost of blood and treasure, and that the actions taken by those patriots on that "fine, pleasant evening" would prove to be the spark that lit the fuse of revolution.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank

A Guest Editorial

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

The following essay was written by Shmuley Boteach for the Jerusalem Post, and it falls under the category of "I wish I had written that..."

He captures succinctly and completely the reasons why conservative values surpass progressive values not only in a practical sense, but in a moral sense, and he gives us a blueprint for building a stronger bond with minority and underprivileged communities. This is something I have targeted for quite some time, and I, for one, intend to use his insight in an attempt to increase awareness and support in those communities.

The link to the original column is here. Please read and enjoy, and I welcome your comments and suggestions at taxdayteapartysiny@gmail.com

Yours in Liberty,

Frank

Why the Tea Party Resonates With Human Dignity

The Tea Party movement is far from perfect, but it taps into a hidden human desire to live a life crowned with self-esteem.

One Friday night at my home, a dear friend who runs a large charitable foundation raised his glass to toast the demise of the Tea Party, which he branded a group of racists, xenophobes and bigots. Taken aback, I responded that to my knowledge the Tea Party is focused simply on more limited government and the reduction of government spending. I didn’t know racism was part of the platform, I said.

But he was adamant that the Tea Party’s small-government rhetoric was an attack on low-income minorities.

Lost in the debate about the morality of the Tea Party is any discussion about its underpinnings in human nature. The principle purpose of government is to provide the optimal conditions under which human beings can acquire their most important necessities, the highest of which is dignity.

Governments provide many essentials for their citizens, from law and order to social services, from good roads to education. If it’s a socialist government, it may even provide cradle-to-grave benefits, or if it’s a more Right-leaning government, it may emphasize robust national defense. But the one human essential that government cannot provide is human dignity.

Dignity is something acquired through personal effort. Dignity is the human aura that comes through self-reliance.

Its underlying premise is independence. A dependent life is a fundamentally undignified life. Self-respect is earned through the sweat of one’s brow. An heir to a great fortune may travel the high seas in a 100-foot yacht and soar through the air in a Gulfstream V. But he will remain without dignity so long as he is living on someone else’s dime.

Yes, people want to pay their bills. They want nice houses and material comforts. But more than anything else they seek an existence infused with a sense of relevance and purpose. We seek redemption, but wish for it to come through our own devices.

IN MANY cultures the loss of dignity, or face, becomes a reason to terminate life itself. The Talmud states that shaming someone in public is worse than murder, because the public humiliation makes them wish they were dead.

America’s rapid rise to global economic power was not an accident, but the direct result of a fierce individualism and rugged self-reliance on the part of its citizens.

Where European populations were content to live under anointed rulers, Americans threw off the yoke of a foreign sovereign and tamed a vast wilderness. For Americans, divine right translated as manifest destiny – the ability of an immigrant nation who arrived on these shores with nothing, to spread their accomplishments from sea to shining sea. In so doing, Americans claimed a level of independence and dignity that had few historical precedents.

The welfare state claims it is more moral than capitalism, which it sees as selfish and materialistic. There is some truth to this claim, especially when capitalism is allowed to run rampant, becoming soulless and deadening. But for all its flaws, capitalism fosters an independence that promotes dignity while socialism creates a reliance that subverts self-esteem. Yes, the government must provide a safety net for a rainy day, but only selfreliance creates a sunny life.

I recently heard a philanthropist tell of visiting a soup kitchen that had asked for his support. He was skeptical that the people eating there were actually in need; perhaps they simply came because the food was free. But the rabbi who ran the facility asked him: “Are you capable of asking someone for food?”

The philanthropist answered that he was not. “Well then,” the rabbi responded, “if someone is forced to ask me to eat, I have to believe he is truly hungry.”

The story illustrates both the necessity of providing essential social services for those in need, while always being mindful never to allow that need to become a permanent dependency. True, socialist governments provide without people having to ask. But the effect is the same – a corrosive dependence on the hand that feeds. The effort to recapture the dignity that springs from selfreliance is what the Tea Party should be all about.

Countries like Britain, Greece and Spain are undertaking drastic austerity measures to rescue themselves from economic collapse. In truth, however, their move away from reckless entitlements and wholesale capitulation to organized labor has less to do with their inability to afford vast social services than it has to do with reversing the corruption these services were fostering in their populace. My progressive friends speak to me about how a compassionate society takes care of its citizens. That is true. But it must also take care to ensure that it never robs its citizens of the nobility of spirit which is their birthright.

Does having your job preserved by a union when you consistently underperform induce pride? Can you feel good about yourself when you’re in a profession in which only collective pressure keeps you receiving a paycheck?

Maimonides famously lists levels of charity, with the provision of a vocation being the highest. The Tea Party is far from perfect, but in emphasizing self-reliance, it taps into a hidden human desire to live a life crowned with self-esteem.

""Resolved: That Two Battalions of Marines Be Raised..."

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

It was a brew house built in 1693 at the intersection of Water Street and Tun Alley near the docks, and so the wooden structure built by Samuel Carpenter and his brother Joshua was ultimately known simply as Tun Tavern.

Over the decades, while fires of independence were being stoked that would eventually enflame all thirteen colonies, it became a favorite gathering place in that part of colonial Philadelphia known as Carpenter's Wharf, attracting the likes of Jefferson, Washington and Franklin. So it was that when Captain Samuel Nicholas was commissioned by the Second Continental Congress on November 10th, 1775 to raise two battalions of Marines, he appointed Robert Mullen, the proprietor of the establishment, to the position of Chief Marine Recruiter.

It must have been a raucous scene in that watering hole, night after night, as Mullen set out to attract able-bodied volunteers, though he was instructed that “no persons be appointed to office, or enlisted into said Battalions, but such as are good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs as to be able to serve to advantage by sea when required…”

The newly-established Continental Marines were to provide on-board security for the ship's Captain and crew, and during naval engagements Marine sharpshooters were dispatched to the top of the fighting masts. From there, they targeted enemy officers, gunners and helmsmen.

They wore green coats with white lapels and a distinctive high collar made of leather, designed to protect against sword and cutlass slashes. Even today, the Marine Corps dress uniform features a high collar in commemoration of those first two battalions - and they are still known as “Leathernecks.”

I could not let this date go by without asking you to think of them. I am, as you are, intensely and rightly proud of ALL branches of our military, but I must admit that I experience a little surge of adrenalin when I read the words, "The Marines have landed!"

They have defended our flag in God-forsaken, pestilent jungles across the globe. They have defended our liberty and independence with glory and honor, engaging and defeating enemies who may have had the advantage in numbers and guns, but could never surpass them in heart and courage.

They have been fighting and dying for our freedom since the days when the fate of our Republic may have depended upon the outcome of the next battle. They are symbolized by men like Sergeant Dan Daly, exhorting his Marines up and over the top against overwhelming odds in bloody Belleau Wood with the words "C'mon you sons-of-bitches, do you want to live forever?"

They are the stuff of legends.

Happy 235th Birthday, Marines. We couldn't have made it without you. May God bless you and keep you, and from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank Santarpia
Staten Island, NY

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"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."

- President Ronald Reagan
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The Great Debate

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

At one point during Tuesday night's debate at Wagner College, incumbent Michael McMahon smugly told challenger Michael Grimm that he was going to "school him." By the time it was all over, however, it became clear that it was McMahon who needed to learn a few things.

I arrived early. Outside the doors of Main Hall, a beautiful old building, dramatically lit, were a few hundred people holding McMahon signs - and virtually nobody displaying Grimm signs. Apparently the Congressman's campaign staff did a much better job of whipping up the volunteers than did the Grimm folks - at least, that's what I thought. Not an auspicious start.

Then I noticed that all the men in the crowd who were over the age of a typical college sophomore, were wearing matching shirts - crisp, new, white sweatshirts. Remembering what I was taught by never-ending commercials, I looked for the union label - and sure enough, emblazoned on the back was the logo of a labor organization which I shall not name. Those that were not wearing the sweatshirts were, well, college sophomores.

It was quite clear that this was an Astro Turf crowd; it was also quite clear that the McMahon camp had put a lot of effort into ginning up enthusiasm for their candidate. Unfortunately, they had to settle for manufactured sizzle. Truthfully, when you see all those robotic zombie-types dressed alike and taking orders from their leaders ("OK, everybody walk over here!") it smacks more of desperation than anything else.

Inside the theater we took the first empty seats on the aisle we could find - in about the ninth or tenth row - which meant that about 80% of the room was behind us.

At 7:30 the candidates walked in - McMahon first. As soon as he entered the room there was enthusiastic applause, and as he got closer to the stage virtually everybody sitting in front of me - all 8 or 9 rows - stood up and cheered. I thought it was going to be a long night with a packed McMahon crowd, until I turned around and saw that nobody behind me was standing, and only a scant handful was even applauding.

Then Grimm walked in and the room erupted. If this race was decided by an applause-meter, it would have been all over right then and there; if you were at the Healthcare Town Hall Meeting last October, it was deja vu all over again.

As for the debate itself, Grimm won handily, in my opinion. He spoke smoothly and confidently, hit all the right notes, came off as a regular guy with a passionate love of country and liberty, showed good humor, and scored multiple points.

He was obviously well-prepared. His poise and tone were quite remarkable when you consider that he has never been involved in politics in his life - another factor in his favor.

His biggest gaffe of the evening? In a question about immigration, he referred to "immigrants" when he obviously meant to refer to "illegal immigrants," and apparently didn't notice the slip. We all knew what he meant - it was quite obvious in the context of his remarks. McMahon, however, tried to pounce on him when it was his turn, pontificating about how this country was built on immigration. It was his "gotcha" moment, and hardly worthy of the mention.

However, McMahon's major gaffe was a beauty. During his response to the same question, and while defending the Administration's policy on illegals - which is to say, no policy at all - he stated that he supports deporting illegal aliens - if they commit a crime!

Mr. Grimm then pointed out that his opponent, the incumbent, might want to reflect upon the fact that "illegal" immigrants have by definition committed a crime the moment they crossed the border. Oops. Was his face red.

This is a horse race, my friends. McMahon and Grimm are driving down the stretch to the finish line; either one could win, and despite the Advance's attempt to marginalize the importance of this election (according to their editorial: "To hear some people around here talk, the fate of the republic hinges on the outcome of the election for the seat in the 13th Congressional District. Of course, all over the country, similarly outlandish claims are being made...") you and I know better: this year there are NO unimportant races. Let's make it happen.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank Santarpia
Staten Island, NY

On the second day. On a small hill.

My Dear Fellow Patriots:

In a few days our beloved Republic, the dream of our forefathers, will be saved – or it will be lost.

Seldom in its history has a battle been fought upon which the future of the country so soundly rests; never has its fate been more assuredly determined as it will be when the last polls close in the far western reaches of the United States of America on November 2, 2010.

The closest we’ve ever come to political extinction, to being just a noble experiment in democracy wherein free men were the rulers and not the ruled, was in July of 1863 - when the Army of the Republic came within a whisker of defeat at a bloody battle in a small Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg.


There, on the second day of the three-day battle, on a small hill that came to be called Little Round Top, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain was tasked with defending the extreme left flank of the Union Army with a handful of men known as the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

They were citizen soldiers, barely trained, hardly battle-hardened, and could not have known when they enlisted that upon their simple shoulders would rest the fate of a nation, and because of their courage, and their courage only, a nation would endure.

Politics played no less a role in America in the 1860’s than it does today; support for the war in the North was waning as the Union Army was dealt a series of stinging defeats; now, the Army of Northern Virginia, led by the seemingly invincible Robert E. Lee, had advanced further north than at any time since the war’s inception, and defeat in Pennsylvania would put Philadelphia, Baltimore and even Washington, D.C. in jeopardy. Fear was spreading; panic was waiting in the wings. A defeat here would force Lincoln much closer to a compromise with the Confederacy, and the very real possibility of military disaster loomed. It was not a far stretch to say that the preservation of the Union was at stake.

So it was that on June 30, 1863, one of Lee’s officers sent a foraging party into that small crossroads town – in search of shoes. And because upon such tiny hinges do the doors of world-historical events open and shut, the Rebels spied elements of Union cavalry arriving south of town, and reported back to their commanding officer, General A.P. Hill. Hill decided to send a reconnaissance-in-force, about two brigades, into the town the next day, to see if he was dealing with nothing more than a troublesome Pennsylvania militia, or perhaps something else - something unexpected.

It would require a great deal of time, space and most importantly research, to properly recount the events of July 1st, 1863 in the ridges and hills west of Gettysburg, and those events are not to the purpose of this writing. What happened the following day is, because it illustrates how a small band of determined men, armed with little more than a belief in their cause, rose up to defend the nation and Constitution in which they so firmly believed.

That Thursday morning the Union army, under General George Meade, found themselves strung out in a defensive position along a line of high ground ominously known as Cemetery Ridge. They faced west, and the ridge was anchored on the southern end, their left flank, by Little Round Top, where the defensive line was arrayed in such a way as to resemble a fishhook. The last element at the end of that hook was the 20th Maine. Should they be dislodged from that position, the entire Union line could be rolled up and occupied by the Confederates, and it is unlikely that they would ever be removed. A loss at Gettysburg, and the history of this nation would be forever altered.

Starting at 4:00 PM, the rebels pounded away at that left flank, led by the 15th Alabama. Over and over they charged up that hill, and over and over they were repulsed by blistering fire from the 20th on the Union flank; so thick was the shot that the tens of thousands of rounds of Minie balls cut down swaths of trees – and swaths of men fighting and dying for their cause. Death did not choose a side.

After ninety minutes, the 20th Maine was worn out, and worse, without ammunition. But still there was fight in them – still they would refuse to surrender the cause. Knowing that they could not withstand another assault, with desperation the word went up and down the line, which had now been stretched to single file along the prow of the hill: “Fix bayonets!”

In one of the most improbable counter-attacks in the history of the United States military, the 20th Maine charged down the hill towards the Rebel line without bullets: armed with nothing but raw courage and sharp steel. As shocking as the charge was to the enemy, equally shocking was the result – the Confederates could not withstand the surprise attack, and slowly, then more quickly, began to give ground. It turned into a rout, and by daybreak the stage had been set for the final act in the battle that changed the course of the war.

Unable to dislodge the Union army from the left flank of the line, Lee decided that on the third day he would attack the center, in a desperate winner-take-all gambit. The charge would be led, with pride, by General George Edward Pickett.

We all know the outcome.I wish we knew the outcome of the battle that will be fought on the first Tuesday of November - but we do not. Like the 20th Maine. we are running low on ammunition; like the 20th Maine, we face a determined foe; and like the 20th Maine, we refuse to lose.

We refuse to allow those who would attack our freedoms and our Constitution to take the high ground. We refuse to become discouraged, to lose heart, to succumb to the relentless attack on our beliefs. We, like the 20th Maine, must find the courage and determination to rise up, to exhort our neighbors to join our common cause as if the fate of the Republic were at stake - because it just might be.

The battle is in scant days. Fix bayonets.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank Santarpia
Staten Island, NY

Really Extreme.

Why We Vote..

Mourning this morning....

In 1984, a group called Citizens for the Republic produced one of the most famous television campaign ads ever. It was called "It's morning in America..." and was done for the re-election campaign of Ronald Reagan.

That same organization has produced a new commercial, and it's called "Mourning in America..." Here 'tis:



And here's the original:

You can't make this stuff up....

From the SITP "No Kidding" Department: Carl Paladino does not like Sheldon Silver. In fact, he appears to like him even less than he does Andy Cuomo.

So when Mr. Silver stated that he would move out of the state if Mr. Paladino won the gubernatorial election, Mr. Paladino, ever the gentleman, facilitated the move by buying Mr. Silver a ticket on Amtrak from Albany to Washington.

ALL ABOARD!

Fasten your seatbelts, it's gonna be a wild ride...

September 16, 2010

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

There can no longer be any way to spin it otherwise - the tea party movement is poised to force a paradigm shift in American politics.

The primary election results Tuesday night were, in a word, shocking. We saw outsider candidates upset party regulars not only with the trouncing of RINO Mike Castle in Delaware by underdog Conservative Christine O'Donnell, but here in New York we saw outsider Carl Paladino destroy the candidacy of the anointed mainstream Republican, Rick Lazio.

And right here on Staten Island, the man who was NOT the choice of the party bosses, Michael Grimm, garnered 69% in the district, which includes all of Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn. On Staten Island alone he earned 73% of the vote. Grimm's victory was so stunningly lopsided that it could only be interpreted as a complete repudiation of politics as usual.

If you needed any further proof that the tea party movement is not married to a party, Tuesday night's butt-kicking of the Republican establishment should have provided all the proof you could ever need.

Now my question is this: what are you going to do about it? What can I do to convince you that making a real difference this November is going to take more than your emotional support, and more than simply your vote? In order to create real change you must provide your candidate with the one thing that is as vital to him as the air he breathes, and without which he can never win the battle against his opponent this fall. And no, I am not talking about your money, though he needs that, too - I am talking about your time and effort.

Taking back America will take work. Real work. Are you ready, willing and able to roll up your sleeves? I know we are not all capable of devoting a lot of time - we have lives to live, families to feed and jobs to keep. But when working for a candidate the hours are flexible, the chores are varied - and the payoff just might be the restoration of our country.

You can man a phone bank or pass out literature on your block. You can stuff envelopes or distribute lawn signs. You can do something.

You can also tell me that your vote is all you can give. What I'd ask you to think about, though, is what can be accomplished when you contribute a few hours of your time and leverage your one vote into ten votes, or twenty votes or a hundred votes. That is how elections are won.

If you have recognized that we have reached a crossroads in America, if you are ready to work for change, please contact me. Time is short and the hours are long - but the moment is now. I got off my couch one afternoon about 18 months ago and started on a journey to make a difference. I'll be gone as long as it takes. You come too.

Yours in Liberty,

Frank Santarpia
Staten Island, NY

UPDATE: A NY Post poll has Carl Paladino pulling to within 6 points of the once heavily-favored Andrew Cuomo.

All It Took Was the Pledge

I spent Saturday with a group of friends - about three or four hundred thousand of them.

Together, shoulder-to-shoulder, we gathered for a few hours on the National Mall in our nation's capitol. We were there to hear well-known and charismatic people speak about restoring honor and hope to our nation. I expected to be inspired, and I was, but I found that I was moved not as much by those who spoke as I was by those who didn't.

There was a kind of power in that crowd; a passion for freedom that was palpable and electric. Husbands and wives, parents and children, young and old talked quietly amongst themselves as we moved towards the Lincoln Memorial; crowding every trail and pathway in a swath a half-mile wide, resting on benches or a shady patch of ground when the heat became too oppressive.

I walked silently among them, alone in a crowd, absorbing the energy that crackled in the air around me. And as I walked, I was transported; I was no longer on the mall, no longer in Washington, D.C., no longer on the East Coast - I was in America.

You may summer in Maine or winter in Florida or Arizona. You may cruise to Alaska or take the kids to Disneyland. You may gamble in Las Vegas, party in New Orleans, explore the Grand Canyon, hike the Appalachian Trail, honeymoon in Hawaii or swim in the Gulf of Mexico. But to really experience America, you have to experience her people.

This is what I have learned about my country in the past year: our true beauty and greatness lies not in purple mountains and fruited plains - but in our people. Good, hard-working, charitable and uncomplicated people - who believe profoundly, who know, that the content of a man's character means everything and that the color of his skin means nothing. Because we believe in the sanctity of the individual, and because we measure a man by what's in his brain and in his heart, we're not the ones who need to be lectured to about civil rights.

We know that being American is a state of mind. We look through clear glass at a clear reality; others hold a prism before their eyes and see only separate bands of colors. I pity them.

On Saturday in Washington D.C., we the people, we Americans, stood up - taller than any monument, prouder than any statue, and more durable than the tall trees that surrounded us.

We crossed 14th Street and circled around the Washington Monument, within earshot now of the massive speaker systems, and we trampled the hot grass as we migrated towards the National World War II Memorial. Beyond that was the Reflecting Pool, flanked by monuments to two excruciating wars - Korea and Viet Nam. My goal was to get close enough to have a good view of the Lincoln Memorial and the stage set before it.

I never got that far. I didn't need to. In the middle of a field, with Washington's white marble obelisk now a hundred yards behind us, everyone stopped. Those on the ground stood up. Hats were removed, veterans snapped to attention, right hands covered pounding hearts - we were halted by the words that boomed from the speakers: "I pledge allegiance..."

Now hundreds of thousands of voices spoke in unison: "...to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

With tears streaming down my cheeks I realized that I didn't need to hear from Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin; all I needed to hear that day I heard in those few moments. All I needed to learn that day I was taught not by celebrities or politicians, but by those who were just like me - ordinary people living ordinary lives in extraordinary times.

I knew then that OUR voices, the voices of free and independent Americans rising up by the millions, would be the only voices that mattered in this struggle, and that our unwavering commitment victory in November would be the only true way to reclaim the honor and greatness that is America's destiny.

Frank Santarpia
Staten Island, NY

Attention: This is NOT a depiction of Rep. McMahon

Do not be confused! Appearances can be deceiving!
Here are the Top 5 reasons this is NOT our Representative:

5. OUR Congressman has an older staff.
4. OUR Congressman is not Ron Howard's brother.
3. OUR Congressman did not vote for the health care takeover (though he did not vote for its repeal, either).
2. OUR Congressman has already been to Africa with Oprah and Bono.

And the number one reason that this is NOT Congressman McMahon...

1. OUR Congressman has more hair!

Guilty!

Nancy Pelosi, who once called ordinary folks in the tea party movement Nazis - because they dared to demonstrate against the ruling class who would run our lives - has decided that a proper role of government is to investigate dissent.

In calling for a probe of those who protest the location of the Cordoba House - a Muslim community center and mosque to be built in the shadow of Ground Zero - Ms. Pelosi has shown a tone-deafness that is almost beyond description, but is sadly typical of the entire Obama administration.

However, on a positive note, it does rip the mask off this regime's true feelings about about just what the limits of free speech ought to be in their Bizarro-world.

Here is Pelosi's statement in a radio interview yesterday:

There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some. And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded, how is this being ginned up...?

Ms. Pelosi, I am guilty. I have ginned. I have not, however, been funded. Am I doing something wrong? Should I be sending out an invoice?

Yes, I was guilty of exercising my right to free speech - a.k.a. "ginning" - when I wrote that I believed the construction of the Cordoba House in lower Manhattan was insensitive, insulting and provocative. What is the penalty for opposing a project, policy or piece of legislation an American citizen finds abhorrent? I await my sentence.

I also await my check. Since I somehow missed the offer to fund my ginning-up activities, I feel that is is only right that I be reimbursed as soon as possible. And while you're at it, can I please get paid for my tea party activities? I work very hard to lay this astroturf, Ms. Pelosi, and if I'm going to be accused of being funded by various - and nefarious - right-wing cabals, should I not see at least some of this money? Right-wing, radical, racist, I've-got-mine Nazis like to take their wives to dinner, too.

Nailing It.

The Mosque That Cannot Be Ignored

After six U.S. Marines fought their way to the peak of Mt. Suribachi in February of 1945, I doubt that there were any citizens of Tokyo who viewed the raising of the American flag over Iwo Jima as a form of "community outreach."

Triumphant armies have always planted their symbols and standards at the conclusion of battle, and I believe that even the most progressive and tolerant elements of Japanese society would have averted their eyes from that symbol to avoid the pain of loss, to avoid a constant reminder of the horrible death suffered by a loved one.


So it will be that we in America must avert our eyes to avoid the pain of loss, because of the cowardice and political correctness of a ruling class that has removed all impediments to the construction of a mosque within yards of Ground Zero.

Indeed, the building over which the mosque will rise is in such close proximity to the World Trade Center site that a piece of landing gear crashed through its roof on the morning of September 11, 2001.

The construction of this mosque will be a heinous act of triumphalism on a scale so massive that it is almost unimaginable.

Over the killing field of 3,000 Americans, men and women who were guilty on the morning of their deaths of nothing more than simply getting up and going to work, the Islamists will smugly plant their flag of victory. Such is the degree of effrontery on the part of its sponsors that it was scheduled to have been opened on September 11, 2011, and was to have been called the Cordoba House, referencing the seat of the Islamic caliphate in Spain in the 8th century, which Muslims consider to be symbolic of Islamic rule in the West.

There is something terribly wrong with the people who would want to do this, and there is something terribly wrong with the people who would allow it to be done when they had the means to prevent it. To desecrate the site of the worst attack on American soil by a foreign enemy, and to do so with a structure glorifying the religion in whose name the terror was perpetrated, staggers the imagination and defies logic.

There is no question that the location is symbolic in a way that sickens most Americans.

The leader of the Cordoba Initiative is one Imam Feisal Rauf, who in the days after the attacks called the United States an accessory to the crime, and said that for all intents and purposes Osama Bin Laden was made in the U.S.A. He has steadfastly refused to condemn Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations. He has dodged questions about the massive funding required to complete the project.

Still, freedom of religion and speech are the basic principles upon which this country was founded, and I'll fight to the death to defend both them and the constitution in which they were enumerated. However, opposition to this mosque isn't about inhibiting religion or speech - there are thousands of mosques in New York - and I recognize that when something can be built “as of right,” meaning that there are no legal obstacles to the construction, we have no right to prevent it. Not liking the builder – or what he’s building - does not trump his right to build.

This case, however, is simply about common decency. If, as the Imam states, the construction of an Islamic Community Center is about building bridges between the cultures, I would think a good way to start would be to be mindful of the sensitivities of a community, a city and a nation that mourns still. There are dozens of sites upon which to build this project. Why here? Why so close to an open wound? We see through you, Imam Rauf, we are not blind, unlike the cowards and quislings that sit on commissions and inhabit City Hall.

The ruling class may have removed the last legal obstacle to your project, but the souls of 3,000 dead Americans cry “NO!” The families of 3,000 dead Americans cry “NO!” The vast majority of New Yorkers are outraged and cry “NO!”

It may mean nothing to you, but there are millions – no, tens of millions – of ordinary Americans who remain deeply wounded by the cowardly attack that killed 3,000 innocents, and who have not forgotten that the pilots of those planes shouted “Allahu Akbar” as they successfully concluded their insane mission.

We will never know peace if a mosque lords over the site of that murderous act of war, Imam Rauf, but know this: you may never know a moment of peace within it.

An American Heart

I saw this song performed live in Philadelphia, at the Unit-Tea rally. It was written and sung by Jon David, an L.A.-based writer/producer/artist whose real name is Jonathan Kahn.

Jonathan explained to the crowd that when he first started to perform the song, he did so incognito - hiding his features behind a hat and sunglasses and his identity behind a nom de plume; the L.A. scene would not tolerate a conservative. He came out of the closet with an article in the Wall Street Journal in May of this year. He said: "Being a conservative is the kiss of death in Hollywood..."

Here is his song:



Lyrics:

They say our reputation
Needs a new coat of paint
and a delicate melody
But I say I like the bruises,
And a melody don’t mean a thing
If we don’t have the strength to sing

I won’t be made to ever feel ashamed…
…that I’m American made
I got American parts
Got American faith
In America’s heart

Go on raise the flag
I got stars in my eyes
I’m in love with her
And I won’t apologize

They say that we need changin’
As if all the Founding Fathers
seem to get it wrong
But I say I still believe in
The greatest Liberator, Innovator, Cultivator
Freedom knows

So I suggest you take a look inside
I think you changed already
You went and lost your pride

But I’m American made
I got American parts
Got American faith
In America’s heart

Go on raise the flag
I got stars in my eyes
I’m in love with her
And I won’t apologize

Dress her up so you don’t recognize her
She’ll still be there if you wake up in the night
‘Cause a mother can always find her child
Even when that child don’t know he’s lost

I’m American made
I got American parts
Got American faith
In America’s heart

Go on raise the flag
I got stars in my eyes
I’m in love with her
And I won’t apologize
I’m in love with her
And I won’t apologize
I’m in love with her
And I won’t apologize

"The Great Anniversary Festival"

The manuscript that launched this country on its journey to greatness was written by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, and we can only wonder if, as he scratched his quill pen across a clean sheet of parchment, he knew the extent to which he would be shaping the history of the world.

By early June of 1776, the Second Continental Congress had decided that a formal document needed to be created, one that would inform the King, the people of Great Britain, and the governments of the world that the will of the American people was unshakeable and unmistakable: the thirteen American colonies, united, would have nothing less than complete independence from the British crown.

The declaration that Jefferson produced a scant month later shook the foundations of Europe - and signaled the rise of what would become the greatest nation in history.

Today, as we have on every fourth of July since 1776, we celebrate that Declaration of Independence and the nation that was born on the day it was affirmed. Of the adoption of the declaration by Congress, John Adams wrote to his wife “I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the Great Anniversary Festival."

All too often we take for granted the men who signed that parchment, but we should always be mindful that in the eyes of King George and the British Parliament – rulers of a nation that possessed the most formidable military in the world – the signers were nothing more than traitors, deserving of nothing less than execution. By his affirmation of the declaration each man knew he might be signing his own death warrant – so we would do well to remember that our nation was born because men of steel nerves and raw courage made it happen.

We were never meant to be a country of the timid – we were destined for boldness and greatness from the beginning, because those were the traits of our founders and forefathers. They apologized to no man or monarch; they ran from no fight; they defended their rights - and ours - to the moment of their death.

Ironically, for two of the men responsible for the creation of the declaration, John Adams and Jefferson himself, that moment of death came 50 years later to the day; they passed into history within hours of each other on July 4th, 1826.

So as we bask in the happy company of family and friends today, let’s reflect on the courage of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Most of them were many days travel from hearth and home for months at a time, suffering and debating through two hot, pestilent Philadelphia summers. All of them, to a man, risked their lives for their principles - because they believed, as you believe and I believe, that the natural state of man on Earth is freedom and that there is no higher cause than liberty.

As much as anything else this day, we should remember and celebrate their courage, those men of the Second Continental Congress, and the bravery and dedication of all the men who gave their lives for that glorious cause.

We are honor-bound, too, to acknowledge that they bestowed upon us a responsibility we cannot shirk and cannot ignore: America, the last, best hope of man on earth, must be defended at all costs against those who would destroy her by force of arms - or enslave her with the stroke of a pen.

Frank Santarpia
Staten Island, NY

McMahon: Free Speech Be Damned

June 25, 2010

My Dear Fellow Patriots;

Yesterday, my Congressman voted to stick a knife into the heart of free speech.

He voted for a bill that carries a cruel joke of an acronym: DISCLOSE. That stands for Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections. Never has there been such a misnomer.

He voted for a bill that has only a single reason for its existence: to thwart the ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of Citizens United vs. FEC, which unshackled corporations from the restraints on political speech imposed upon them by McCain/Feingold.

When the SCOTUS ruled that private citizens, of which corporations are comprised, have the freedom to speak their political minds, Democrats went into a panic. How could they silence these newly-freed voices? First, they denied that corporations are composed of individual human beings with a right to free speech. Then, they demonized them as soulless entities with no shred of humanity – never mind that corporations are comprised of nothing BUT people like you and me.

Finally, behind closed doors, Chris Van Hollen and Chuck Schumer, the two men in charge of getting Democrats re-elected in the House and Senate respectively this fall, crafted DISCLOSE. In doing so, they reminded us once again that what Nancy Pelosi promised would be “a new era of honest, open, and transparent government,” is simply an epic fail.

The bill, which will have a tremendous effect on this November’s campaign, received a total of one hour of debate. This was determined by the same Democratic rules committee that had allotted 41 hours of debate to the naming of post offices.
What does the bill mean? This from Mark Hemingway of the Washington Examiner:

So unions now get nearly unrestricted, undisclosed political spending. Further, the restrictions in the DISCLOSE Act only cut one way — against business. If you took TARP funds as a business, express political advocacy is now verboten. So GM has very limited first amendment rights, but even though arguably primary beneficiary of the auto bailout was the United Auto Workers union which got government guaranteed billions directly as a result of the TARP funding — UAW can spend almost whatever it pleases, and it has a history of spending millions on Democratic campaigns.

Further, under the DISCLOSE Act if a company has more than $7 million in government contracts, it has no right to political speech. But public sector unions can spend millions of recycled tax dollars campaigning for Democrats, no problem. All this will likely do is make business spend more money on lobbyists rather than campaigns. Of course, campaign spending is much more transparent than lobbying, but when it comes to the DISCLOSE act, clean elections and free speech seem to be secondary considerations to getting Democrats elected.

And what are we to make of the fact that this bill - unlike all other campaign finance bills - has NO provision for expedited judicial review? It's just more evidence that this is a desperate move, by a desperate majority, desperate to hold on to power. They know that this law will likely fail to pass constitutional muster - but not before Election Day, 2010.

Instead of a bill that applied restrictions fairly to all entities, it contained loopholes (called "carve outs") to help the Democrats friends and silence their foes. I am disappointed that my representative would try to pull the wool over our eyes in this way - and worse, that he would try to silence our voices.

I suspect he still hasn’t gotten it. We are no longer asleep, Congressman McMahon – we are awake, alert, very concerned, informed and engaged. In the old days, you could double-talk your way around this vote and count on it being forgotten in a few short days. You'd probably be right if you thought that nobody was even paying attention.

Not anymore, Congressman. There are about 1,500 people on our mailing list, and these missives are forwarded to thousands of others, and they all have friends, relatives and neighbors. They may not call and they may not write, but now they are paying attention, and now they DO NOT forget - they watch and listen and read, and will remember when it's decision-making time in November.

Every vote like this one, every vote that makes us less free, every vote that brings us further under the thumb of this administration – every one – will energize us.

We will not rest, Congressman. We will take it to the streets and we will take it to Capitol Hill, and most importantly, we will take it to the voting booths.

Frank Santarpia
Staten Island, NY

On Memorial Day.

There are 1,541 American men buried in Suresnes, France. In the cemetery at Meusse-Argonne, 14,246. At St. Mihiel, there are 4,153, and in Lorraine lie 10,489 of our military dead.

There are others in France: in Somme, in the Rhone valley, in Aisne-Marne and in Brittany, all hallowed ground where the mortal remains of fathers, sons and husbands sent by their countrymen to defend freedom, lie under stark, white crosses, a silent testament to the goodness and greatness of the United States of America.

They died in Sicily - almost 8,000 are buried there, and in Florence over 4,400; men who fought to liberate Italy from the tyranny of fascism. And there are more than 5,000 American dead in Luxembourg.

At Henri-Chapelle lie the bodies of 7,992; in Ardennes, 5,329, and to end this incomplete list, 528 Americans are buried where they fell – in Flanders fields, where poppies grow. These three cemeteries are in Belgium.

All are in Europe. I have not even touched upon the war in the Pacific. To do so would be almost incomprehensible; in total, American military deaths during World War II alone numbered over 400,000.

Let the numbers wash over you – don’t permit yourself to be so overwhelmed that they become meaningless. Think hard, concentrate on the magnitude of the sacrifice, feel the pain of so many tens of thousands – hundreds of thousands - of mothers who watched their little boys answer the call to defend freedom everywhere – because that’s what Americans do. And make no mistake, no matter what their age, to those mothers they were all just little boys.

Close your eyes for a few moments and think about these things, and you will find when you open them that Memorial Day will mean something just a little different than it did before.

There are almost no words to describe the debt we owe to those men and women who gave their last full measure of devotion to the cause of liberty, a debt that is owed by free men and women everywhere, because without the armed forces of the United States, there would be freedom nowhere.

Reflect on the magnitude of America’s sacrifice to the world. We were not fighting for our own liberation – we were fighting for others bound to us by a single tie: a belief that freedom and liberty are the natural state of man, and that tyranny is to be fought and defeated no matter the cost.

We can honor them in no greater way than to dedicate ourselves to those principles. We can never forget them, we can never lose our way, and we can never permit anyone to tell us we are the problem, not the solution.

We must condemn and reject those who suggest it, whether the calumny be uttered by a foreign potentate or, sadly and inexplicably, a member of our own government.

And above all, we must never, never apologize for America’s role in the world, and we must vow to never let freedom slip through our fingers. To do so not only cheapens the lives of those we honor today, it condemns them to the pure hell of having died in vain.

The Staten Island CONSERVATIVE Party?

The Staten Island Conservative Party has accelerated its rush to irrelevance with its Executive Committee’s endorsement of a liberal Democrat in the race for New York's 13th Congressional District. In a bizarre move eerily similar to the Republican Executive Committee's decision to endorse the non-candidacy of Vito Fossella, it proves once again that principle has very little to do with the "good ol' boy" decision-making process.

How any party that calls itself "Conservative" could endorse the continued majority status of a Democratic Congress that is bankrupting our country, trampling our individual liberties, crushing private enterprise and expanding the powers of the federal government far beyond ANY interpretation of the Constitution, is a complete and utter mystery. The Staten Island Conservative Party Executive Committee has shown that they are not forward-thinking individuals interested in conservative principles and values, but rather are the sad, old remnants of an incestuous club.

Statement's like Carmine Ragucci's "he can deliver for the district" sound more like the acceptance of a Tammany-era bribe than political astuteness, and represents the most reprehensible sort of political quid pro quo. The Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress, of which Rep. McMahon is part, are stealing the wealth of America, and America's children, and America's grandchildren, and giving it to their disciples to distribute in return for endorsements and votes. This represents “crony governance” more at home in a banana republic than the United States, and bears little resemblance to the representative republic founded by our forefathers over 200 years ago.

In the ossified thinking of Staten Island Conservative leadership, pork trumps principle every time.

Though he does so roughly 90% of the time, Representative McMahon is to be commended for not voting in complete lockstep with Nancy Pelosi. However, he unfortunately lacks the clout to either change or derail any draconian legislation. If voting against his party’s leadership is merely symbolic and cannot change the outcome of the Obama administration’s far-left legislative agenda, he may “get it,” as Mr. Ragucci has said, but has little to show for it except pork-barrel projects funded with money pinched from the pockets of taxpayers, stolen from the treasury or borrowed from future generations of Americans.

I would urge any and all members of this "party" who are rightly disgusted by the decision of your Executive Committee to act on the courage of your convictions and denounce this disgraceful endorsement.

What It Means To Be a Democrat Today...

It means that in a joint session of Congress, you permit the leader of a foreign nation to come before you and bash the Governor and the citizens of one of your states - a state under attack from that same foreign nation. And then you give the man a standing ovation.

It means that you permit the leader of a foreign nation to come before you and lecture you about putting the interests of foreign criminals ahead of the interests of citizens of the United States. A man whose own country has some of the strictest immigration laws in the world - which are methodically and brutally enforced. And then you give the man a standing ovation.

It means that you permit the leader of a foreign nation to come before you and mischaracterize a law that protects the sovereignty of the United States, in essence telling you that your borders no longer exist, and therefore, your country is no longer a sovereign nation. And then you give the man a standing ovation.

We will remember in November.

We will remember this sickening image.

Gotta Love Governor Christie...

Free Speech In the Crosshairs

Do you remember what it was like before the internet and talk radio and Fox News?

Do you remember the suffocating cocoon in which we felt wrapped and trapped, desperate for someone, anyone, to simply tell the unspun truth about the direction in which our country was headed? To express an understanding of the love we felt for a proud America who need not apologize to any nation or people, unashamed of its independence, vitality and free markets?

The Obama Administration remembers those days; so does the Left; so does the Mainstream Media.

They long for those times – times when they could empower the march to Marxism on a daily basis, news cycle after news cycle after news cycle. They are desperate to return to that era of control over the shaping of the political agenda, and as their electoral prospects dim, their anxiety grows.

The Tea Party Movement is their worst nightmare.

It is becoming a mighty river of public opinion and voting trends, flowing from the confluence of talk radio, cable news and the internet; it is Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and Heritage.org writ large; it is, indeed, the awakening of the sleeping giant . It is the message of conservatism gone viral; it is a longing to return to constitutional principles that is sweeping that portion of the populace that reveres and believes in the documents that are the foundation of this great country.

The Tea Party Movement empowers people who wish to halt the “fundamental change” being wrought upon this nation. Fundamental change? Why would any person who believes in the sanctity of human life and liberty want to fundamentally change a nation that has done more good for more people than any country in the history of the world?

Because of these things: the internet, talk radio, Fox News and Tea Party rallies, the silent majority now has a voice and feels empowered to push back. Worse for the left, it appears that we don’t merely wish to keep the statists in check – we mean to make fundamental changes to our government by disabusing it of the insane "entitlement-as-a-right" atmosphere that has pervaded Washington since the sixties.

And so, for the march to Marxism to continue, we must be stopped.

A seed was planted back in the ‘90s, when Bill Clinton tried to lay the impetus for Oklahoma City bombing at the feet of Rush Limbaugh, a seed which has been fertilized and watered by Democrats, the mainstream media and the Left countless times over the years.

It was nurtured again last week by Mayor Bloomberg, whose first instinct was that the as-yet-unidentified Times Square bomber was someone who was unhappy with the recently-passed health care legislation - code words for a disgruntled Tea Partier.

Then a few days ago at a graduation ceremony, President Obama said, “Meanwhile, you’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t rank all that high on the truth meter...[snip]...Information becomes a distraction, a diversion...”

Information a distraction?

These are not isolated events; these are puzzle pieces which the Left hopes to fit together, and I can guarantee you that we will not like the picture that emerges after it is assembled.

Right now, the Tea Party movement stands atop a three-legged stool that is comprised of talk radio, cable television, and the internet. From this vantage point, at rallies throughout the country, grassroots groups espouse an obedience to the Constitution that is anathema to this Democratic Congress and their radical agenda – but all attempts to collapse this stool have thus far failed.

The collective wheels of the Left continue to spin, however, and therein lie my worst fears.

There is one thing which will give the Left, championed, as it is, by this Democratic Congress and the media, a shot to silence once again the silent majority: a major domestic terrorist attack that can be hung around the neck of the Tea Party movement.

Forget, for a moment, that a single kook with deranged purpose can erupt within ANY ideology – that truth that will be ignored. The sad truth is that the agenda of the Left is advanced by any act of violence that can plausibly be connected to an American that has expressed or implied Tea Party connections.

And if that happens – watch out.

Expect the Left to drag out the Fairness Doctrine, and use it as a cudgel to beat conservative voices into silence. ALL conservatives will be blamed for the attack, even humble bloggers, and all will be condemned as the enablers, the instigators, the progenitors of a deranged, right-wing monster.

They will shout that under such circumstances political candidates must disavow the Tea Party movement at every turn, that rallies must cease – or even be outlawed as an incitement to violence – and that mainstream America is obligated to turn away from the conservative principles in which we so passionately believe.

Say goodbye to Limbaugh, Levin, Malkin, Krauthammer and the rest if the Left finally gets the inaccurate and disingenuous "hate speech" moniker to stick.

To ensure that a movement such as ours will not rise again, they will systematically cut off every leg of the stool, every voice of the movement, and they will do it through legislation or simply by fiat. All they need is one kook.

My fear is that they, the Left, will provide him.

Already, one outlier has exhorted “infiltration” of the Tea Party movement to discredit it – but that was a single nut without a real plan, and without the brains to keep his intentions secret. There are other, smarter and more dangerous individuals out there, to whom a human life – or a hundred, or a thousand – is a small price to pay to quash a Constitutional movement that threatens to unravel decades of planning for "fundamental change."

The disturbed individual that tried to exhort his followers to infiltrate and discredit the April 15th Tea Party events with racist and violent signs became neutralized when a bright light was shone on his shadowy plot. That one was easy. The next one might not be.

The next one may carefully infiltrate the movement, stand shoulder-to-shoulder with ordinary Americans at rallies, may carry the appropriate signs, talk the talk, walk the walk - and then strike. His Tea Party bona fides will appear to be impeccable, but his heart will be filled with duplicity, hatred and death.

Be vigilant. Stay strong. And if, God forbid, such a thing were to happen, stand firm in your commitment to our country, our flag, our Constitution and the goodness of America. We cannot let the actions of a madman, whatever his motivations, be the excuse this Administration is seeking to marginalize - and worse, criminalize - this movement of free Americans.

Frank Santarpia
Staten Island, NY