Thursday, May 31, 2012

David Berger/Joe Friday wields flamethrower on Fox 11



Wow.

I guess David Berger really doesn't want Carmen Trutanich to be the District Attorney.

Fair enough.

I like Mr. Berger and he is entitled to his legitimate criticisms of Carmen Trutanich.

But, Berger works in the District Attorneys office.

If Nuch wins the election, he is going to be Mr. Bergers boss.

That might prove to be an uncomfortable situation.

But, I will give Mr. Berger credit. It takes a lot of balls to come out and say these things knowing that your next potential boss might not take this criticism so well.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame...


Strangely enough, I am becoming a huge fan of the University of Notre Dame.

Why?

Because Notre Dame has sued the Obama Administration, and they are going to win.

For many, many years I had disliked Notre Dame.

When I was a young kid living in Alabama, my father was a faculty member at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. As a faculty member, he got tickets to Alabama football games and took me to many of the home games.

I remember a period in the late 70s when Alabama lost several crucial games to Notre Dame that affected their chances for a National Championship. I had developed an intense dislike for Notre Dame ever since.

However, I respect the Fighting Irish brand and what they have achieved as a Catholic school. In fact, as a graduate of a Big Ten university (Wisconsin) I someday hope to be welcoming Notre Dame into our conference, which would be a perfect fit for all involved.

Now, as Notre Dame fights against the tyranny of Barack Obama and his meddling with religious freedom, I can't help but find myself rooting for a school that I formerly hated.




Sunday, May 27, 2012

The Indy 500 - Minus Danica


Today is one of my favorite days of the year, every year.

Memorial Day weekend not only honors our war dead, but also kicks off summer vacations for many families.... especially those with school children.

The Indianapolis 500 race is one of my favorite events, and I hope to attend in person someday.

Although I will be a little sad this year to not see Danica Patrick racing. She switched to NASCAR racing this year full time after giving it a part-time tryout last year.

She was one of my favorites. I was happy to see her do so well in 2005, actually leading the race with less than 20 laps to go. I remember the announcers going crazy with the thought that she could win it and revolutionize motor racing.

She will be missed, but other women are still in the race.

The tradition continues.

And what a grand American tradition it is.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Penn Jillette has a point



WARNING: There is some profanity in this video.

Comedian Penn Jillette has a very valid point here in this rant about President Obama and drug use. Jillette could also add that since the last three American Presidents admit to having used drugs at some point in their lives, then it might be time to re-evaluate the governments policies and laws concerning drug use.

I agree with Jillette that throwing people in prison doesn't solve the problem.

I don't agree with total legalization, but I definitely agree with decriminalization.

I still think it is best for our society to discourage drug use, but I think the punishments should be much less severe.

Putting millions of people in prison because they used drugs is becoming far too costly to the taxpayers. And it isn't solving the problem.

I think drug use should be treated like traffic violations. With escalating ticket costs and fines for each subsequent offense. I think taking money out of peoples pockets for violations slows them down a lot more than throwing them in prison.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Yeee-haw! Rick Perry for President!


I contacted the California Secretary of States office and found out that I can write in Rick Perry as my choice in the Presidential Primary. Perry will be my choice.

Yes, yes...I know he is out of the race.
But I don't support the other candidates.

Romney will already be the Republican Nominee by June 5th, so it doesn't matter anyway.

I'm staying true to my choice.

Come hell or high water.

Yeee-haw!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Cat Whisperer, O'Grady celebrate tyranny




Heading to work this morning, I check my phone and see a celebratory email from Tomas O'Grady. He was joyous over the fact that the L.A. City Council had voted to ban plastic shopping bags.

Wow.

After recovering from the initial shock, I mentally put Tomas O'Grady on my list of "Dangerous Enemies of Freedom". Lisa Sarkin and Judy Price need to move over and make a little room for the new kid on the block. The Irishman has come to inflict his own special brand of eco-terrorism on his fellow citizens, and it seems like the kid has some game.

I had come to know Tomas when I almost ran for City Council in District 4 in 2011. O'Grady seemed like a nice enough fellow, except for his irrational and unreasonable addiction to eco-greenie political issues. But other than that I didn't dislike the guy....until now.

How could anyone in their right mind inflict this type of tyranny on their fellow citizens?

Here's a hint for these omnipotent moral busybodies on the L.A. City Council....if you were to put this measure up to a public vote --and this measure would lose badly -- then it is probably not a great idea.

Trust me, there are lawsuits coming on this one....if I have to file them myself, they are coming.

This measure was thought up by -- wait for it -- "The Cat Whisperer" Paul Koretz. He got together with The Dark Lord and decided they would start stripping long-held freedoms from their fellow citizens. I myself have been able to use plastic shopping bags here in Los Angeles for over 17 years now, but thanks to 14 nitwits on City Council, I will no longer have the freedom to make that selection anymore.

Bernard Parks was the only Council Member who had any common sense at the time of the roll call vote yesterday.

I warn all Los Angeles voters to be wary of these 14 other Council Members...these newly minted "Dangerous Enemies of Freedom". Abuses of power give these people no pause whatsoever.

I will end with a new Phil Jennerjahn quote.

"Leaders who want to control all human behavior have sociopathic tendencies. They might start with banning plastic shopping bags ...but it nevers ends there."




Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Dark Lords tyranny never sleeps





"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -- C. S. Lewis

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

This is what we are up against



Here is a perfect example of what Conservatives are up against.

This video shows the childish behavior of Donna DeWitt, the outgoing President of the South Carolina AFL-CIO. In the video she bashes a piñata featuring a photo of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

The behavior is infantile, and shows the inability of high-level liberal leaders like DeWitt to separate the person from the policy when it comes to government decisions.


Monday, May 21, 2012

At Rabbi Shifren campaign event


Yesterday I was invited to speak at a campaign event for my friend Rabbi Nachum Shifren. The Rabbi is a good man who I met a few years ago when I was running for Mayor and he was running for the California State Senate.

The Rabbi is now running for U.S. Senate in a very crowded field on June 5th. His ballot has 24 candidates listed. It won't be easy to get through that crowded field, but I am happy to support the Rabbi and he will receive my vote.

One of the pleasant surprises yesterday was getting to meet Conservative hero Sharron Angle, who failed by a very small percentage to defeat Harry Reid in Nevadas Senatorial election in 2010. Angle is a charming woman, and spoke at great length about her rise from obscurity as a former housewife and schoolteacher to sudden national prominence as the major Republican candidate who almost took out Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

She was disarmingly charming and honest. I can see why so many voters in Nevada liked her.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Supported by TeaPAC!!



I just found this flyer on Facebook. I didn't know about it at all. I'm very happy to know my Tea Party brothers and sisters approve of me. It really made my day.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Greece at the brink


Things are happening in Greece right now which are going to affect everyone on earth, so it would be a good idea to pay attention to these events.

The Greeks, for decades, have had an unusually generous Socialist mindset and entitlement mentality. Much like the Los Angeles political situation, they had a large voting bloc of Socialist public employees who kept voting themselves higher and higher social benefits packages at the expense of their fellow Greeks. Public workers in Greece wanted to retire at 52 years old. They wanted to be paid more money in retirement than they did when they were working.

The problem with this is that it is mathematically impossible for their fellow Greeks to carry that economic burden. Far too much of their economy was being siphoned off by these looters disguised as public employees. It is a lot like the situation here in Los Angeles, where Democrats keep voting themselves higher and higher benefits, as more and more businesses pack up and leave town. Eventually, the system will collapse.

It was one thing for the Greeks to be doing this when they had their own currency, the drachma. But when they entered the European Union, they started using the Euro as their currency, and it was the French and Germans who controlled how much of that currency was printed and distributed. Eventually, Greece ran itself into an enormous hole. Greece couldn't just print up more drachmas anymore.

The math is clear ....Greece cannot recover.

What will happen next will affect world markets. Greece will exit the Euro and their economy will collapse. The drachma will literally be worth nothing because it is the vague promise of a bankrupt nation. Greece will stabilize 5-10 years down the road, but their will be massive civil unrest in that time period.

Greece imploding will trigger runs on banks, and the implosion of Spain, Portugal and Ireland. Eventually, the entire European Union will collapse. The Euro will cease to exist and the various countries will all suffer as they return to devalued local currencies.

All of this is happening because of large, overpowering Socialist governments who buy votes with taxpayer money. Sure, it is easy to buy votes with taxpayer money when you can actually deliver the goodies, but when the coffee can is empty, it will prove that this type of "government by organized crime" is unsustainable and should not be attempted again in the future.

The solution here is to privatize everything and stop letting government be in charge of their citizens money.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Obamas egomania knows no limits


Here is another charming story that makes you shake your head in disbelief about our 44th President.

Apparently, Obama isn't just comfortable using his own time period to brag about himself. Now, he has made the audacious move to insert himself into other biographies.

Yes, The American Pharaoh is now editing former Presidents biographies on the White House. gov website to add charming bon mots about the nobility of #44.

Unbelievable.

No President in history would do this.

Obama? Different story.

Just another reason I despise him and everything he stands for.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Waiting for Caruso


With the Los Angeles Mayoral election coming up in 2013, I haven't decided on a candidate to support yet. Basically, I am waiting for Rick Caruso to get involved. He is the one man who can change the criminal corruption of the Los Angeles political scene and possibly change things for the better.

The biggest problem with Los Angeles is that it is run by a crime family, the Democratic Party -- in conjunction with public employees and public unions. Whoever they decide to support almost never loses in an election. They can bring the muscle and the dollars to basically wipe out any potential opponents. Because of this, Los Angeles suffers very low-quality leadership. Corrupt public officials who participate in this pay-to-play arrangement are already morally bankrupt and will never turn against their political overlords to change the status quo.

So, we voters in Los Angeles are forced to suffer the sleights from these low-quality leaders like ethics violator and serial adulterer Antonio Villaraigosa, treasury-looter Tony Cardenas, criminally-indicted Richard Alarcon, and intellectual underachievers like Ed Reyes and Tom LaBonge.

Rick Caruso is the one man who could make all the difference in the world. His massive wealth would allow him to outspend the Los Angeles political crime family and get more people to the polls in an exciting contested election.

Eric Garcetti, Wendy Greuel, and Jan Perry are not the solution. They are part of the problem. Instead of solving the massive problems that Los Angeles faces, they spent their time on City Council being "philospher kings", as former Mayoral candidate Walter Moore would put it. Declaring the State of Arizona to be racist. Banning plastic bags and cat declawing. Coddling troublemaking anarchists who destroyed the lawn at City Hall and cost the City millions in damages.

No. I can't support these people. They need to go.

The other candidates for Mayor are not worth mentioning, because you are not going to beat political figures who have been elected multiple times without a massive campaign war chest. This is an unpleasant fact, but a fact nonetheless.

Garcetti, Greuel, and possibly Yaroslavsky could be the favorite in 2013, but none of them would make the changes necessary for Los Angeles to succeed. A wealthy businessman like Rick Caruso could make all the difference in the world.

Unfortunately, one of the reasons extremely wealthy people don't run for office is because they have to "undress" financially and expose their assets. Many wealthy people don't care for this.

I hope for the sake of this City that Rick Caruso can put up with a little unpleasant exposure.

Friday, May 11, 2012

I'm supporting Carmen Trutanich for District Attorney!





Here is a blog post that will definitely wind a lot of people up, including David Berger, Alan Jackson, Zuma Dogg, all the Mayor Sam bloggers and half of the LA Weekly staff.

I am supporting Carmen Trutanich for District Attorney. For the sake of simplicity, I will refer to him hereafter by his common, more popular nickname "Nuch".

I met Nuch in 2008 when I was running for Mayor of Los Angeles and Nuch was running for City Attorney. We were both underdogs at the time and ended up speaking in front of a lot of the same homeowners associations and Neighborhood Council meetings. After listening to him speak in public on repeated occasions, I started to feel a sense of camaraderie with Nuch. At public forums where we both spoke, he was earnest, humble, direct, and honest. Nuch is a man who came from humble beginnings. He used to work in a tuna cannery with his Dad.

I knew who this guy was, and I liked him.

I was overjoyed when Nuch defeated the worthless and vile Jack Weiss for the City Attorney spot.

Now, here is where things get a little complicated....


Nuch signed a pledge saying that he wouldn't run for another office while he was City Attorney. Now, this might seem a bit hypocritical for me to support someone who does this, as I have pilloried the repulsive political figures Paul Krekorian and Richard "Fredo" Alarcon for doing the exact same thing. However, there is a very specific difference here. Krekorian and Alarcon gave their voters the middle finger salute as they virtually left skid marks on their way out of office mere months after having asked voters to elect them.

Nuch may have believed when he was elected that he would stay on as City Attorney for 4 (or 8) years. Nuch has already served 3 years of his 4 year term. I don't consider his leaving his post a little early that big of a violation of the voters trust. He has done his job, and done it with an aggressive style that has rankled many of his critics, including some elected officials.

Nuch threatened to prosecute AEG and Tim Lieweke for profiteering off of the Michael Jackson funeral while costing the City millions to police the event. He also threatened to throw City Council Member Jan Perry in jail for cutting backroom deals with billboard companies at L.A. Live.

I really liked these moves by Nuch. It showed me that he had toughness, and character.

Now, this isn't to say there weren't negative moments. Nuch has also been accused of being a bully. Of being too aggressive with the power of his office. There was the incident in City Hall where he was caught on camera shouting at medical marijuana supporter Kathryn Schorr about pesticides. Clearly, Nuch most likely regrets that incident.

There was what the L.A. Times called an "unusually aggressive move" by Trutanichs office to raid the home of a Pacific Palisades businessman on a Friday night and throw him in jail with a million dollar bond for erecting an eight story supergraphic in Hollywood. I have no problem with Nuch arresting this man, but I do think the million dollar bail was excessive for the crime.

Is Nuch perfect? No, of course not. He is human and he makes mistakes like everyone else. But he is a hell of an improvement over someone like Rocky Delgadillo, who was much more likely to be personally involved in lawbreaking rather than preventing it.

Nuch is brash and aggressive in his pursuit of justice, and I like that about him. Critics say that Nuch is a bully, and that he has a mean streak. Let me answer these critics....

Law enforcement is not for the timid! You cannot be a shrinking violet or a wallflower when you make decisions to throw people in jail. You are going to make enemies when you ruin peoples lives by arresting them. You cannot back off because you want to be politically correct!

Nuch threatened to sue the Occupy L.A. miscreants for the damage done to City Hall. Mayor Villaraigosa and Councilman Alarcon were out there handing out rain ponchos to the Occupy crowd. They were practically baking them cookies! Tough leaders have to make tough decisions, and there is nothing about Nuch that indicates he would back off of a tough call.

The Republican Party says I should support Alan Jackson.

Nope.

Jackson seems like a little bit of a crybaby to me. He filed suit over Nuch using the phrase "Chief Prosecutor" on the ballot. This shows me that Alan Jackson will misuse the legal process to solve a petty dispute between himself and Nuch, hoping for an outcome that can benefit only one person...himself. I don't care for that.

What people use as their ballot description is irrelevant. Obsessing over it is petty.
Nuch is allowed to differentiate himself from the hundreds of other attorneys that work for the City of Los Angeles.

When I ran for Mayor in 2009, Gordon Turner called himself "Deputy City Attorney" on the ballot even though --from what I understand -- he hadn't been working for the City for over a year. Did I cry about it? Did I go running to the courts and sue because Turner had a ballot designation that sounded appealing to voters?

No. I didn't. It was my job to get my campaign message out...and I didn't do the best job...and Gordon Turner beat me by thousands of votes.

Carmen Trutanich has already shown everyone how tough he is.

Alan Jackson is showing us quite the opposite.






Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Indiana GOP ousts Lugar



Last night, in a joyous moment, the old RINO Dick Lugar was taken out by Tea Party voters in Indiana.

Lugar had been their Senator since 1977! It wasn't just that Lugar had gotten old and out of touch with his voters, but he had committed acts of apostasy that voters in Indiana couldn't stomach.

Lugar voted for the TARP bailouts. His votes to seat Sotomayor and Kagan on the Supreme Court drove some voters over the edge. In the end, it wasn't very close. Voters in Indiana gave Lugar the boot. They let him know that values and principles matter.


Barack Obama is the gift that keeps on giving.

Voters who are repulsed by his Socialist agenda have turned to the right politically. Maybe not far enough to the right for my tastes, but much further to the right than they would have been if Hillary Clinton had been President. Hell ... President Hillary Clinton would have been an overwhelming favorite for re-election. Obama is trending at about 47% support in many of the swing states.

This turn of events bodes well for the GOP in the fall election.

When Obama has a jailed felon get 41% of the votes in the Democratic Primary in West Virginia, it is a sign that he is reviled in that state. And no doubt, there are many other states that are prepared to vote the same way in 2012. 

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Ron Paul to suffer blowout losses in Indiana, North Carolina, and West Virginia tonight



Although I have considered voting for Ron Paul in the upcoming California Primary, one of the things that might cause me to decide otherwise is the behavior of some of his supporters.

Look, let me be clear about my feelings here.

I like Ron Paul. He's a nice guy. An honorable man. He has good intentions.

He has great ideas about sound monetary policy and financial restraint in government.

However, he has no chance to be President in 2012. He lost. And it is high time for the Ron Paul supporters to get over it.

Ron Paul was never a perfect candidate. He has some very curious isolationist views concerning our military that didn't sit well with the far-right segment of the GOP. His libertarian attitudes towards social issues didn't sit well with social conservatives in the deep south. As a result, he never got more than about 30% of the vote in any primary or caucus.

And I'm getting a little tired of seeing the Ron Paul supporters on Facebook talking about how Ron Paul is "sweeping the Nevada and Maine delegates", and how the convention is going to be contested.

No...it isn't.

Mitt Romney is the only one who can get to the magic number of delegates. He is the 2012 nominee.

Ron Paul supporters might scare up 100 or even 200 delegates, but they are not going to steal the nomination from a guy who won over half the state primaries and caucuses. That is fantasy-land thinking by the Paul supporters. And I'm tired of hearing about it.

Monday, May 7, 2012

President Mitt Romney



As of today -- May 7th, 2012 -- I remain fairly convinced that Mitt Romney will be elected the 45th President of The United States. Most of my readers know that I am not a fan of Romney, but I still predict his success in the fall election. For several simple reasons...


1) Geographic/Demographic shifts:  Many people have moved to the warmer weather Red States, and the changing Census data gives the Republicans about 6-10 more electoral votes to start with. And Romney has already won about 22 states before the first vote has been cast. That is a big advantage.

2) Obama is doing a terrible job of running the country: 5 trillion in new debt and a staggeringly low number of people who actually have a job is usually enough of a reason to get an incumbent tossed out of office. Actually, come to think of it, this should be reason number 1.

3) Romney can play himself up as a business turnaround specialist: People who are unemployed are going to be looking for someone who can create a better business environment that will produce growth -- and REAL jobs. Not government make-work.


Now, this isn't to say that things couldn't change. If gasoline prices dropped about $2, Obama would get a bump from that. If unemployment dropped two points by election time, Obama might breeze back into office. Romney could make some type of horrible gaffe on the campaign trail and alienate voters in swing states. Anything is possible.

But right now, looking at Obamas poor approval ratings and the overall poor state of the economy, Obama is in real trouble heading into this fall election. His fundraising really shows it. This "billion dollar" war chest he was supposed to have is never going to materialize. In 2008, electrified voters wanted to be part of something historic. In 2012, it seems that the thrill is gone.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Adam Schiff: Power-abusing creep


My opponent in this years Congressional election here in Californias 28th District is liberal Democrat Adam Schiff.

Schiff has been in Congress representing the Pasadena-area district for ten years. Unfortunately, this power has gone to his head and turned him into a power-abusing creep.

Schiff supports CISPA, new legislation that basically says that nothing on the internet is private anymore. The government has the right to snoop around through anyones personal files, emails, etc.

CISPA is a slap in the face to the 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution...the very same Constitution that Schiff is supposedly sworn to protect.

I will make this clear to voters in this years election. If they want Adam Schiff and the Big Bad Government snooping around through all their emails, then they can vote for Congressman Adam Schiff.

If they prefer freedom, I will also be on the ballot.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Super villain Alarcon eludes justice .. (for the moment)



He's done it again. Master criminal and arch-villain Richard "Fredo"Alarcon has slyly avoided his date with justice.

In a move that defies explanation, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy threw out the District Attorneys case against Alarcon based on some vague technical details. She said that the prosecution had not instructed the jury to listen to evidence from the defense? Uh... excuse me...isn't that the job of the defense team?


Not to be deterred, District Attorney Steve Cooley simply filed new charges against Alarcon.

If I was Cooley, I would have had Alarcon re-arrested and perp-walked out the front door of City Hall.

Alarcons defenses are vile. He knows he wasn't living at the other address and he knows all his election paperwork was fraudulent. He should have cut a deal and taken some kind of punishment.

But that is not Alarcons style.

Alarcon is so mind-bendingly arrogant, that even while under indictment he has decided to run for political office again. The voters in his district must have no self-esteem and no shame.

Alarcon is a scoundrel, and a villain. He gave his voters the middle finger the last time they elected him to the State Assembly.

Judge Kathleen Kennedy needs to be investigated for corruption. She also threw out similar charges against another devious politician, State Senator Roderick Wright, who also wasn't living in the District he was elected to represent.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Newt Gingrich: Pyromaniac



Newt Gingrich ended his 2012 Presidential campaign yesterday. And he did it in typical Newt fashion....trying to burn the house down on his way out.

Newt is a firestarter. A pyromaniac. If he couldn't be President, he was going to incinerate anyone else who was beating him in the polls.

In fact, Newts acidic attacks on Romney are being used in a new Obama commercial.

His tepid endorsement of Romney is classic. (With friends like these...)

Newt had an ugly social life, and that made him unelectable, no matter how smart he was or how great a debate opponent he could have been for Obama.

I say good riddance. Newt has burned enough bridges here that he will probably never be able to run again. After all, he couldn't beat Mitt Romney. That doesn't bode well for a future run.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Bachmann set to endorse Romney?

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Michelle Bachmann didn't think Romney could beat Obama.

In fact, she has been very clear about her not being very impressed with him.

Strangely enough, she is going to endorse him anyway.

That surprises me.

I think Romney has cut a deal with the losing candidates to retire their debt.

If anyone needs that type of deal, it would be Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich is millions in debt.

Gingrich stepped aside today, and he did it in typical grand Newt style -- in the process practically burning the town to the ground.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

May 1, 2006 (or "The Day I Became A Conservative")


Today is an interesting anniversary for me. It marks six years since I became a Conservative.

Previously, I had been a Democrat. Probably about as far right as you can go and still be a Democrat, but that was what I was at the time. I believed in a strong military, but had a certain tolerance for the government and its activities in dabbling in social programs.

But in the early 2000s, things started to change for me.

In a chance meeting in the late 1990s , I ran into a former TV actress named Lisa Loring, who had been hanging out with my sister. As a child, Loring had played Wednesday Addams in the hit TV show "The Addams Family" in the 1960s. One night when we were hanging out over at her place in Sherman Oaks, she suddenly grabbed my arm and asked if I had read "Atlas Shrugged". I told her I didn't know what she was talking about.

"You have to read it!", she said, grabbing my arm even tighter. "It is the most important book you will ever read! It will change your life!" Her intensity was a little unnerving... and I quietly wondered if she was under the influence of drugs. I told her I would look into it and later dismissed the whole episode.

However, a year or two later I remembered her intensity and did actually go buy the book. Good Lord, I thought..1200 pages..? Anyway, it took me many months to wind my way through it, but I did read the entire epic novel. Ayn Rand convinced me that Corporations were not evil...that they were made up of hard working men and women who operated honestly and offered products and services that made the lives of others better. It was government that was evil. Government used force...it stuck a gun in your back and said "You will do as I say." A corporation gives you the freedom to walk away. A government does not.

"Atlas Shugged" did actually change my life. That book, along with Barry Goldwaters "Conscience of A Conservative" became two of the factors that changed my future.

May 1, 2006 was the breaking point for me.

On that day, I woke up to the news that 500,000 foreign nationals, most of them from Mexico and Central America, were marching on the streets of my city-- demanding their "rights."

Wow. How do you react to something like this?

My first thought was of National Security. Sure, these 500,000 seemed to be marching peacefully. They were holding up signs and flags.

But what if they had been waving guns instead?

The sheer numbers of them could produce a standing army on our own soil. A troubling thought, indeed. Many of them were waving the Mexican flag, showing their loyalty to a different nation. How would the tiny Los Angeles Police Department, with 10,000 officers, stop an army of armed foreign nationals with 500,000 in their ranks? The answer? They couldn't! They would be outnumbered 50-1! I give our officers credit for being talented, but nobody is that good.

I realized immediately that we were reaping the whirlwind...paying a terrible price for horrible political decisions that turned a blind eye towards illegal immigration. What was to stop a march five years from now from having 1,000,000 participants? Or 2,000,000 marchers tens years after that?

As much as many Conservatives admire Ronald Reagan, he was not perfect. One of his catastrophic decisions was to grant amnesty to over 3 million illegal immigrants in the 1980s. This horrible decision sent two disastrous messages to potential immigrants: 1) America was not serious about enforcing its immigration laws, and 2) Having given this amnesty, they would probably do it again in the future.

As a direct result of poor political decision making, we now have about 20 million illegal immigrants here in the United States. And I'm not picking on Mexico, either...the illegals come from many places: Russia, the Philippines, Ireland...everywhere, actually. There might not be a country on earth that doesn't have an illegal immigrant living here in America.

After May Day 2006, I became a Republican and never looked back.

I've been working for Conservative causes ever since, trying to undo the damage of decades of poor decisions by our political leaders.