The ARA Statesman

 

The Journal of the Arizona Republican Assembly        Summer, 2007

“The Constitutional-Conservatives”

Inside:

 

Guest Editorial:

In the following article, Pastor Chuck Baldwin observes that both today’s Republican and Democrat Party are equally culpable in stripping America of its founding principles.  His disgust has led him to advocate the Constitution Party rather than to work at restoring the Republican Party to its founding Principles, the Principles of our nation’s founders!

While well meaning, he fails to recognize that we are too far down the road to tyranny.  There simply isn’t time to build a new party from the ground up!

That’s why the Republican Assembly movement was started; to Restore the Republican Party to its original Principles, the Principles of the Declaration of Independence and the its protecting document, the U.S. Constitution (See ARA Principles at www.PMRAonline.org)!

However, Baldwin’s Constitutional “Test” in his article is also a valid test for, “You might be a candidate for Arizona Republican Assembly membership IF…”  (Ed.)

 

YOU MIGHT BE A CONSTITUTIONALIST IF...

By Pastor Chuck Baldwin

Edited for Brevity by Gene Reed

In my studied opinion, neither the Democrat nor Republican Party has any intention of slowing the out-of-control expansion of government.  Neither party has demonstrated any loyalty to preserving and protecting our constitutional form of government or shows any real resolve to saving the lives of innocent unborn babies.

Like National Socialists and Soviet Socialists of old, the only thing that concerns Democrats and Republicans today is who is in power.  Both are equally willing to destroy the freedoms and liberties of people without conscience or regret as long as their party remains in control.

Knowing that there are countless other patriotic, God-fearing Americans across this nation who realize that both major parties have become impotent and irrelevant when it comes to representing constitutional principles, I offer the following test.  Read it and see if you, too, are a Constitutionalist.

You might be a Constitutionalist:

1. If you believe that elected leaders should really obey the U.S. Constitution;

2. If you believe that before the United States invades and occupies another country, Congress must first declare war;

3. If you believe the federal government should live within its means, like everyone else is forced to do;

4. If you think that taking away people's liberties in the name of security is neither patriotic nor does it make the country more secure. … ;

5. If you understand that we have three coequal branches of government that are supposed to hold each other in check and balance;

6. If you believe that the federal government has no authority to be involved in education or law enforcement.

7. If you believe that gun control laws do nothing but aid and abet criminals while trampling the rights and freedoms of law-abiding citizens;

8. If you believe that the income tax is both unconstitutional and immoral and, along with the I.R.S., should be abolished.;

9. If you believe the federal government had no authority to tell Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore that he could not display a monument containing the Ten Commandments in the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery.

10. If you believe that neither Congress nor the White House nor any sovereign state is required to submit to unconstitutional Supreme Court rulings such as the Roe v Wade decision;

11. If you understand that freedom has nothing in common with illegal immigration;

12. If you understand that outsourcing American jobs overseas is not good for America;

13. If you believe that the US should get out of the United Nations and get the United Nations out of the US;

14. If you believe that it is not unconstitutional for children in public schools to pray or read the Bible;

15. If you believe that the Boy Scouts are not a threat to America;

16. If you believe that the federal government should honor its commitments to America's veterans;

17. If you believe that U.S. troops should never serve under foreign commanders or the United Nations;

18. If you believe that the federal government has no business bribing churches and faith-based organizations with federal tax dollars;

19. If you believe that federal agents who murder American citizens (i.e., Ruby Ridge and Waco) should be held to the same laws and punishments that any other citizen would be held to;

20. If you understand that NAFTA, GATT, the WTO, and the FTAA are disastrous compromises of America's national sovereignty and independence (and all including the SPP/NAU are treasonous steps toward the New World Order – Ed.)!

21. If you would like to see Congressmen and Senators be required to actually read a bill before passing it into law;

22. If you understand that it is the job of government to protect and secure God-given rights not use its power to take those rights away;

23. If you understand that there is nothing unconstitutional with the public acknowledgement of God and our Christian heritage;

24. If you believe that in the beginning God made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve. … ;

25. If you believe that parents have a right to home school their children;

26. If you believe that governmental seizure of private property is plain, old fashioned thievery;

27. If you would like to meet one single Congressman or Senator besides Ron Paul who acts as if he or she has ever read the U.S. Constitution.

 

© 2006 Chuck Baldwin - All Rights Reserved

Chuck Baldwin is Founder-Pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. In 1985 the church was recognized by President Ronald Reagan for its unusual growth and influence.

 

Editorial:

Who’s Behind the “New World Order” and WHY?

Those behind the “New World Order”, or One World Government, have now achieved such a high degree of control over the governments of the leading powers of the industrial world that they have begun to become much more open and blatant about their intensions for world government.  Their control of the industrial world powers has been achieved by their establishment of private “central banks” with total control over the creation of debt-originated currency within each of these major powers.  With their control over money creation and supply, these private international banking interests are in virtual control of the major governments that the people THINK that they themselves are in control of through elections.

These private groups meet at least annually as the group of seven (or eight, counting Russia) finance powers to set and adjust their goals for the coming year(s).  The major countries are the USA, the UK, Germany, and France.

In the USA we know our control group as the Federal Reserve (or the FED); in the UK it’s known as the Bank of England; in Germany it’s the Deutsche Bank; etc.

Each of these banks has at least one common controller, the Rothschild banking group with the Rockefeller group a high level junior partner in the U.S.

These banking groups each have related international industrial corporate conglomerates under their control through direct, or indirect ownership share and/or by lending.

To organize these entities and special interests toward a common one world goal, these private financial interests have utilized several sister organizations that include the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in the USA; the CFR’s sister group in the UK; the European/American Bilderburg group; the Tri-Lateral Commission; and other related groups centered in the UK, Italy, France and Germany, among other countries.

From the beginning, these controller groups understood that their one world goal was a very long-term affair.  So their interim goal has been to establish regional governments on the way toward world government.  The European Union, a Western Hemispheric Union and a Pacific Rim Union (hence the Tri-Lateral Commission) are their interim regional goals.

Cecil Rhodes in the UK, acting for the Rothschild banking interests, created the first international globalist group at the end of the 19th Century.  This group led and directed the forces that created WWI.

WWI broke-up a number of the embedded European/Middle-East kingdoms and empires that would have been obstacles to the advance of world government, including the Austro-Hungarian, the Turkish, the Russia, and the Germany Empires.  Germany was disembodied with parts given to France, Poland, and the newly created Czechoslovakia while the remainder was burdened with unpayable war “reparations”.

During the war, the Russian Czar was overthrown, murdered and replaced by the Marxists to create the Bolshevik Soviet Union which was financed into power by the international banks (Schiff and the Rothschilds) to obliterate the Russian Empire and amalgamate Ukraine, the Black Sea nations and the Caspian Sea area Muslim Asian nations into the first element of regional government.

In 1915, the President of Columbia University and Executive Committee member of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Nickolas Murray Butler in a speech stated, “The old world order changed when this war storm broke – the old world order died with the setting of the day’s sun and a New World Order is being born while I speak.” (from “A World in Ferment, a Collection of Butler’s Speeches”, Scribner’s, 1917, P.106).

The CFR, made up of the international banking and corporate elite, was formed after WWI to control and direct US foreign policy toward globalism.  The League of Nations was the first attempt at global control, but failed because the US Congress was still under America First patriotic control.

WWII was caused by the disembodiment and economic oppression of Germany resulting in National Socialism and by the threat of Marxist Revolution throughout Europe backed-up by the massive pre-war military buildup of the Soviet Union.  After WWII, the world financial forces created the United Nations in a second attempt to move toward one world global government.  This time the US government was under the control of the banker’s own banking family man, FDR and a leftist democrat Congress, so the UN was able to gain a strong foothold in the US, now almost impossible to dislodge.

In the mid-1950’s the Bilderburg Group was formed by the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers from the European and American leaders of the internationalist banking-industrial world to forward the creation of regional governments in Europe and America.  With the US and UK occupation armies all over Western Europe, the English language was easily made mandatory throughout Europe.  This common language, the changing transportation and communications technology, the relatively small sizes of the formerly independent nationalistic states and the financial manipulation of the Bilderburg Group led to the Common Market as an interim step to the eventual regional European Union government.  The EU is now expanding to include Eastern Europe and to create a EU Constitution that will override the sovereignty of each of the individual nations.

Of the three regional governments to be created on the way to one world government, circumstances made the EU the easiest nut to crack.  Secularism, socialism, a common language and the nearly total breakdown of the Christian religion made Europe an easy mark for takeover.

These same general factors are now at work on the North American Continent.  Secularism and socialism are well advanced in the US.  Together with an open-borders policy that permits the invasion of a low-pay, high welfare and high crime illegal alien workforce within, and so-called “Free Trade” Treaties/Agreements that force wealth producing businesses to relocate and “outsource” jobs to low pay/slave-labor foreign countries without, the US is rapidly being made ready for merger with secular/socialist Canada and Marxist/Fascist, poverty stricken Mexico into a North American Union (NAU).  Like the EU, an interim step of the Common Market-like, Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), along with the coming fall of the Federal Reserve dollar, is being used to ease us into the NAU merger where a new currency will be established, as was accomplished with the euro in the EU.

An earlier direct attempt at forming the Free Trade Area of the America’s (FTAA), leading to a Western Hemispheric Union, was forestalled by citizen opposition displayed in the fight for CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Agreement) and the open opposition of half-a-dozen South American countries.  So the NAU becomes an interim step to the Western Hemispheric Union, or the American Union (AU).

In the 1970’s, the Rockefellers created the Tri-Lateral Commission, a group to include the banking and industrial leaders of the Pacific Rim Nations on the way to the creation of the third regional government, the Pacific Union.  The PU is probably still a couple of decades off.

As to the question, WHY do they want a “New World Order”?

In the USA, from early on, the growth of the middleclass has been a threat to the “royal” largess of the plutocratic elite, the promoters of one world government!  That is WHY they have been working together toward their “New World Order” since at least the beginning of the 20th Century.

The plutocratic elite, described above in the preceding section, want a NWO to return to a (modern) feudal system of control where all wealth and power remain “in the family”, and “peasants” do the work literally as bonded servants, or slaves, allowed a mere subsistence living, unable to advance, or resist.  They have been creating this system since the end of the 19th Century, a system of socialism, undue regulations, open borders, low wages and public welfare, paid by high taxation and unpayable debt (personal and governmental).  If you haven’t noticed, this system is well under way.

We see wealth producing jobs fading away to foreign lands replaced by low pay “service” jobs in the USA.  We see our national debt soaring to unimaginable heights while we have gone from the world’s largest creditor to the world’s largest debtor nation.  We see open-borders and sanctuary systems maintained to promote the illegal entry and use of poverty stricken alien workers that employers can acquire for less than subsistence wages.  We see massive credit card debt, much of which is already unpayable.  We see our Federal Reserve Dollar becoming worth less and less each day as its value has dropped from 1.3 Euros to 0.81 Euros in the last five years, a loss of nearly 40% of its value, as the FED creates a huge increase in our money supply to temporarily create the illusion of prosperity.  The money supply increase, unmatched by wealth creation, has been so outrageous that the FED stopped publishing the monthly M3 money supply numbers, that it had published continuously since 1957, at the end of March of 2006.

We see unbelievable numbers of home foreclosures and the growth of homeless people.  We see food production more and more in the hands of giant corporations, while self-sustaining family farms are being regulated out of existence.  We see the soaring cost of health care, promoted by big Pharma and their lackeys in government, which is unaffordable to the masses. We see more and more government control and regulation of small business and the populace. We see the emergence of “Big Brother” monitoring, and the reduction of free movement and privacy not consistent with our Constitution.  We see our education system, changed from academic achievement to feel-good behaviorism to dumb-down the populace, promoting world citizenship, environmentalism and the need for more socialistic government control.

We see our young men and women being expended in perpetual foreign wars serving with units of other countries in 130 countries around the world as the world’s policemen, gradually to become the “New World Order’s” police state enforcers as time goes on.  We see our foreign policy under the control of a dual-citizen Marxist-Trotskyite, neoconservative cabal working with, what President Eisenhower called, “a military-industrial complex” of international banks and corporations.  We see our domestic policy under the control of the private Federal Reserve and a cabal of international oligarchic corporations.  We see our middleclass rapidly disappearing and most people mired in debt bondage, as the gap between the ultra rich and the rest of the people widens.

We even see a great many of our religious organizations promoting universal government, liberalizing beliefs on morality, divorce, promiscuity, homosexuality, etc., with the religious values message of the remainder subject to the threats of the IRS and federal government “hate crimes” legislation.

Socialism, public welfare, undue regulations, open borders and low wages with high taxes and unpayable debt enforced in a growing police state environment is the modern method of feudal control.

 

Of merchants, which today would include the international banks and corporations, Thomas Jefferson said this,

“(M)erchants have no country.  The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.” – from Albert Ellery Bergh, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 20 vols. (Washington: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1907) 14:119, (1814).

Editor and ARA 1st Vice President:  Gene Reed

Reviewing the 2007 NFRA Convention

The 2007 National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA) Convention was held in St. Louis on August 3rd-5th with an optional city tour on Monday, August 6th.

Friday was consumed by NFRA Board and Convention Business Committee Meetings, the beginning of Delegate Registration, the Phyllis Schlafly Reception, and the Evening Welcoming Dinner.  NFRA President, Rod Martin and Missouri RA President, Chris Brown gave speeches welcoming registrants to St. Louis and the Convention at the dinner.

Our ARA was represented at the Convention by 10 registered Delegates including; Martin Sarager, Debbie Rowden, Debbie Spence, Virginia Archer and Clara Davis from the East Valley RA (EVRA); Cecil Boeltz from Yuma & Vicinity RA; Jim O’Conner, RA member from Scottsdale; and John Acer, Charlotte and Gene Reed from the PMRA.

The Convention formally opened Saturday morning following Breakfast, as did the Vendor Exhibit Hall.  Between Breakfast and Lunch there were a number of speakers including Republican Presidential Candidate, John Cox of Illinois, and Minuteman Civil Defense Corp President, Chris Simcox.  Candidates, California Congressman Duncan Hunter and Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, scheduled for Saturday morning presentations, were unable to attend because U.S. House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi called a last minute special Saturday House vote session in Washington, DC.  Other Primary Candidates either did not accept the NFRA invitation (particularly, Guiliani and McCain), or were scheduled, like Romney, but did not show because of Presidential campaigning in Iowa in preparation for the Sunday Iowa Straw Poll. The Luncheon speaker, speaking on restoring constitutional government, was nationally known conservative leader, Phyllis Schlafly, Missouri Republican Assembly (MRA) member; author of the 1964 pro-Goldwater book A Choice, Not an Echo; leader of the successful opposition to the 1970’s women’s Equal Rights Amendment (ERA); top-level pro-Reagan campaign activist; founder of the Eagle Forum (a national traditional values, anti-abortion, pro-traditional marriage, anti-homosexual rights, constitutionalist organization); and a pro-American leader against illegal immigration, sovereignty robbing “free trade” agreements, and the North American Union (see Website, www.eagleforum.org)

After Lunch, there was a Middle East movie, a panel discussion on the Future of the Republican Party and a speech from Dr. Rand Paul, representing Republican Presidential Candidate, Texas Congressman Ron Paul.

After Dr. Paul’s talk, several NFRA Delegates attended a campaign Hot Dog Bar-B-Que, at a nearby Park, that was given by about 30 enthusiastic young Missouri Ron Paul supporters with speaker, Dr. Rand Paul in attendance (See Picture).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Saturday Evening NFRA Awards Dinner speaker was former House Majority Leader, Tom Delay.  Major awards were presented to Phyllis Schlafly and Chris Simcox (See Pictures 1-4 from the Awards Dinner).

Sunday, after Breakfast, a “straw poll” of convention attendees was held before the formal Delegate only, NFRA Presidential Endorsement Vote.  In both votes 13 candidate names were listed.

Straw Poll results were as follows:

Fred Thompson             33%     The remaining 7 candidates received a total of 10%.

Mitt Romney                 15%     McCain, Guiliani, Brownback & Hagel total 4 votes.

Ron Paul                       14%    

Duncan Hunter             12%

Tom Tancredo              10%

John Cox                      6%

 

Picture 1.                                                                                                           Picture 2.

                 

 

 Picture 3.                                                                                             Picture 4.

              

 

 In the Presidential Endorsement Vote, after seven ballots, no candidate received the necessary 2/3rds endorsement vote, so the result was “No Endorsement”.  The seven ballots and speeches took from about 9:30AM until around 2PM. 

The Endorsement Vote proceeded as follows:

First of all, in advance of the vote, the Rules Committee had established a rule that there would be a maximum of 7 ballots for a candidate to achieve the required 2/3rds of the votes cast that are needed to earn NFRA endorsement.  The Rules Committee further established a rule for the first ballot that, because of the large number of candidates on the ballot, a candidate had to achieve an arbitrary 15% of the vote to continue on to a second ballot. – This rule proved to be poorly thought-out, as an equal percentage for all 13 candidates would mean that each would receive 7.69%.  Such an outcome would leave no candidates moving on to a second ballot!

As it turned-out, only 2 candidates (Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter) met the 15% first ballot cut, making the remaining six ballots somewhat meaningless as 2 other candidates (Ron Paul and Mitt Romney) barely missed the first ballot cut.

With an equal split of 7.69%, the first ballot elimination point should have been no more than 10%, which would have qualified 5 candidates (the above mentioned 4 and Tom Tancredo) for a second ballot.  This would have given those voting for one of the then 8 candidates eliminated on the first ballot a more reasonable selection for their second choice.

However, under the 15% rule, only unannounced candidate Fred Thompson, who received 28.6% and Duncan Hunter, who received 19.3%, moved on to the second round.  This meant that 47.9% of the Delegates voting eliminated the choices of the remaining 52.1% of the Delegates! – This result was also distorted by the fact that the large convention home site Missouri delegation together with Thompson’s nearby Tennessee, Alabama, etc. delegations accounted for his first ballot vote, and the large California delegation, voting nearly as a block, accounted for Hunter’s first ballot vote.

With only the remaining limited candidate choices, the Convention Delegates, voting in the subsequent ballots were to vote for in effect, their idea of the lesser of two evils.  Thus the lead oscillated back and forth between the two remaining candidates through 7 ballots with no endorsement, which under the circumstances was the correct result!

Not voting were a number of Delegates from various states whose airline flights required them to leave early Sunday morning in order to get home in time for their Monday morning schedules.  This included four of our Arizona Delegates.  There appeared to be few direct flights from St. Louis to most places and on most airlines, especially on Sunday.

The endorsement vote process took from about 9:30AM to about 2:00PM.  After the 4th ballot, the entire Maryland delegation had to leave to catch their plane!

Following the Endorsement vote, the Delegates passed 18 Resolutions; a half-dozen of which concerned illegal immigration including one to stop “birthright citizenship” for the children of illegals.  A floor Resolution to censor Sen. McCain for his leading role in support of illegal alien amnesty and opposition to border control passed unanimously.

The election of NFRA officers followed.  The major officer election results were:

President          Rod Martin, of Florida;

Executive VP    Chris Brown, of Missouri;

Secretary          Shaun Mitchell, of Florida;

Treasurer          John Acer, of Arizona;

Sgt. at Arms     Dino Minntiolo, of New Jersey

Also elected were 8 Regional VP’s.  In the Western Region, including Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Idaho, David Pyne of New Mexico was elected VP.

Following adjournment, a group of 12-14 delegates from Nevada, California, Arizona and Rhode Island, whose flights were not that night had a great coming-together dinner at a nearby Chicken, Beef and Pork-Ribs Bar-B-Que Restaurant.

On Monday, a group of non-Missouri NFRA Delegates took the optional tour of St. Louis, organized and led by MRA member, Judy Zakibe, and MRA President and new NFRA Executive VP, Chris Brown.  Four ARA Delegates, including EVRA members, Virginia Archer and Clara Davis, and PMRA members, Charlotte and Gene Reed stayed over and took the tour.  The tour included an all morning exploration of the fabulous 79 acre, St. Louis Botanically Gardens; lunch at the River Boat dock on the Mississippi River; a narrated River Boat ride up and down the Mississippi River fronting St. Louis; and an afternoon trip up to the top of the 630 foot, “Gateway to the West” St. Louis Arch.

 

The picture below shows ARA members, Gene Reed (second from the left, standing), Charlotte Reed (standing, middle-left, in green), Clara Davis (sitting, right front) and Virginia Archer (standing, in red) enjoying the Mississippi Riverboat Tour.  Other RA members from Rhode Island, Michigan, Indiana, Arkansas, and California took part, led by Chris Brown, Missouri RA President (at the left, standing) and Judy Zakibe, Missouri (not shown).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviewing the 14th Annual ARA Convention

The ARA held their 14th Annual Convention at the Sheraton Four Points at the MetroCenter in Phoenix on Saturday, June 16, 2007.  The business meeting started at 9:00AM with East Valley State Senator Karen Johnson giving the Invocation followed by State Senator Ron Gould (Lake Havasu City) leading the Pledge of Allegiance.  After the various business committee reports, the delegates present elected the new ARA State Officers, as follows:

President                                  Charlotte Reed;

1st Vice President                      Gene Reed (re-elected)

2nd Vice President                     Ken Bond (re-elected)               Maricopa & Pinal Counties

3rd Vice President                      Ben Anderson (re-elected)         Cochise, Pima & Santa Cruz

4th Vice President                      To be Appointed                        Coconino & Yavapai

5th Vice President                      To be Appointed                        Apache, Gila, Graham, Greenlee & Navajo

6th Vice President                      Karen Vanderjagt (re-elected)   La Paz, Mohave & Yuma Counties

Treasurer                                  Jan Hibbard (re-elected)

Ass’t Treasurer                         John Acer (re-elected)

Corresponding Secretary            Geneva Arthin

Recording Secretary                  Clara Davis (re-elected)

Membership Secretary               Virginia Archer (re-elected)

National Committeeman Randy Pullen (re-elected)

National Committeewoman        To be Appointed

During the morning business session, Louis Stradling, our ARA Chaplin Emeritus, surrounded by family members, was given an award for his lifetime of service to the Constitutional cause.

Our Lunch Speaker was Republican Presidential Candidate, Texas Congressman, Ron Paul who gave an outstanding speech to a capacity crowd, outlining the nations problems and his plans to correct our nation’s course including the war in Iraq, Illegal Immigration, stopping the North American Union, eliminating the Income Tax and the IRS, returning our Monetary System to Constitutional control, Health Care, etc.

Congressman Paul’s arrival at Sky Harbor Airport and Lunch Speech, as well as the afternoon speech’s by Randy Pullen, Chris Simcox, Bryan Turner and Alan Korwin were video recorded so that those not present at the Convention may see them via DVD copies that we hope to have available for showing at ARA Unit Meetings, etc.

The afternoon began with the ARA President’s awards to legislators that were judged to be “Friends of the Taxpayers”, and for other special patriots (Ron Gould, Karen Johnson, Russell Pearce and others).

John Acer, Gene Reed and Randy Pullen presented a Reagan Bust Award from LD11 and the Phoenix Mountains Republican Assembly (PMRA) to Rob Haney.  The Award was presented in recognition of Rob’s outstanding work in recruiting conservative Precinct Committeemen, which made it possible for conservatives to take and maintain control of LD11 (McCain’s home District) and to take control of the State Party by electing Randy Pullen as Arizona State Republican Chairman.

The afternoon’s speeches began with the state of the Republican Party and plans to recover lost legislative offices given by Randy Pullen. 

Chris Simcox, President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corp, followed with the status, plans and action of the Minutemen, and its impact on forcing the federal government to stop illegal entry into the U.S. and build a fence on the border.

Then, Gun Law author and expert, Alan Korwin spoke on Arizona’s Gun Laws and the status of Gun Law in America.  Alan’s satirical, musical singing group, The Cartridge Family, led off Alan’s talk with a hilarious medley of songs of their own creation, lampooning just about every incompetent, “Big Brother” government politician and bureaucracy.  They literally brought down the house with laughter, and were encouraged to an encore following Alan’s speech.  They readily obliged.

In his speech, Alan encouraged everyone to get a Concealed Carry gun permit, which would seem to be a form of gun registration.  However, with the Concealed Carry Law on the books, would-be assailants are never sure who is armed and who isn’t, so the law serves to retard mass assaults, which occur in places, such as Washington, DC where they ban all guns.

Besides Concealed Carry, Arizonan’s have always been permitted to carry firearms openly.  Open Carry includes in your vehicle glove compartment, or trunk, or in a visible holster.

Finally, Bryan Turner, JBS Arizona Area Coordinator, gave an overview of the NAFTA and how it is to be expanded into the North American Union, if we do not stop the SPP/NAU plan now.

 

ARA Chartered Unit Activities and Projects

PMRA:  Our May 27th speaker was Bryan Turner (mentioned above) speaking on NAFTA, the NAU and border control.  Bryan stated that our borders are left open because of the upcoming SPP/NAU agreement, to which Bush has initialed a preliminary agreement along with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.  In 2005, they agreed to launch 20 government study groups to meet the merger goal of 2010.  As I write, the third Bush/Canada/Mexico meeting is in progress in Canada!

Bryan pointed out that NAFTA was an evolutionary step setting up the groundwork for the NAU.

During the meeting, PMRA re-elected our incumbent Unit Officers for the two years through April of 2009.

On July 24th our main speaker was Don Goldwater who discussed why we need to continue to collect signatures for the LAW and SOLE initiatives and he spoke about the voter email/FAX/phone call barrage that lead to the temporary defeat of the 2007 Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill.  It appears this bill, which would have created a new and more disastrous Amnesty Law than was passed in 1986, is dead for this year.

Don explained how the Employer Sanctions Law, HB2779, will work and that if employers use the federal governments Basic Pilot Program diligently, they will suffer no punishment for inadvertently hiring an illegal alien.  HB2779 also provides a felony charge for those seeking work with false, or stolen Social Security Numbers, and a serious misdemeanor charge for those lodging false, or frivolous charges of hiring illegals against an employer.  Employer punishment provides a two strikes approach.  Up to a 10-day license suspension on the first offense, and a permanent suspension of license to do business in Arizona on the second offense.

Don stated that we must continue the LAW initiative in order to ensure that an Employer Sanctions Law is made permanent, as the Governor wants to make HB2779 essentially toothless in a special session she hopes to call to make a technical correction.   Weakening of HB2779 is made more likely by employers who regularly hire illegals, together with various Chambers of Commerce, and illegal alien support groups that are pressuring legislators who originally voted for the Bill to reverse their vote in the next session, thus gutting HB2779.

Pressure is coming from Mac McGruder who appears to hire illegals at his many Arizona McDonalds franchises; wheeler-dealer Jerry Colangelo; homebuilders; resort hotels; and other high rollers from the industries that are generally known to employ illegals.

The Sole Initiative will allow local law enforcement to ask about citizenship in the normal course of their law enforcement activities without harassment and reprimand from their superiors, and either arrest criminals, or turn them over to ICE.

In the meantime, Don indicated that the promised border fence is progressing at a snail’s pace (at the present rate the 700 miles of fence, authorized by congress last fall, will be completed by about 2035 - Ed.).  The approximately 17 miles completed near Yuma has slowed illegal border crossings in that area.  However, Bush plans to order some 15% of the Border Patrol to Iraq to train Iraqi’s (Whose borders does he think are more important? - Ed.).

Don and Gene Reed told the audience about how citizens can voice their opinion on Bills before legislative committees over the Internet from home, or office (See the following article).

EVRA:  As part of her plans to bring the ARA Units together through closer interaction, our newly elected ARA State President, Charlotte Reed attended the East Valley RA meeting on Tuesday, August 21 at the Main Fire Station in Mesa mingling with the EVRA members and attendees.

Speakers at the meeting were past ARA President, Tony Mackelprang; Maricopa Co. Health Care Board Member, Charlie Gail Hendricks; and LD18 State Senator, Chuck Gray.  All of these are also EVRA members.

Tony, who is now a statewide volunteer for the Ron Paul Presidential Campaign, updated the audience on Ron Paul’s success in 5-6 Straw Polls all around the U.S.; on a very large number of Internet news sites & blogs; and in particular, with youth voters who are volunteering in large numbers nationwide, independently producing their own Ron Paul Badges, Bumper Stickers, rallies and campaign literature.  The latter accounts for Ron Paul leaving Iowa with $250,000 more campaign money than he had on entry into their Straw Poll, while all other candidates left Iowa having made large expenditures (like Romney’s one million plus expenditure).

Tony reported that Paul came in first in Straw Polls in Alabama, North Carolina, and New Hampshire, and a close third in Illinois.  Paul’s fifth place finish in Iowa, where the famously fraudulent Diebold voting machines were used (and as usual several failed, having to have ballots rerun), was highly suspicious.  Local media exit polling showed Paul polling close to Romney for first place; there were apparently far more Paul signs in the voting hall then any other; and while over 20,000 Straw Poll tickets were sold at $35 per ticket, only 12,000 to 13,000 votes were counted.

Charlie spoke on the problems facing the County Health Care System and the taxpayer.  She explained that the County Hospital and its eleven clinics receive patients financially serviced by five sources; AHCCS, HSP (a state funded source), patient out of pocket private funding, Medicare and Commercial Health Insurers.

The problems stem from the fact that the County Health System is mandated to service patients even if they can’t pay.  Currently, County Health Care Services are being overrun by patients that can’t pay and do not qualify for government, or for insurance provider funding.  A great many of these are illegal aliens.

This means that private funding is the only source, and most can’t pay, but non-the-less, government mandates that they be serviced.  This translates to higher taxes.

Further, the County Health facilities are being stretched beyond their capacity.  There is debate in process at the Board about building another County Hospital.  A new hospital would probably run the taxpayers at least a billion dollars.

Charlie is literally the only conservative on the Board and is always fighting the Board to hold down taxes.  She is currently arguing to “outsource” whole hospital unit functions to current private hospitals such as the Mayo Clinic and St. Joseph’s to avoid the capital cost of building a new taxpayer funded County Hospital.  Such functions as the Burn Unit could be “outsourced” with the actual services paid for by the County Health System without the added cost of taxpayer capital spending.

Senator Gray introduced the group to two of his three major legislative initiatives for 2008.  First is a plan to legislatively change the redistricting system to provide a computer software system that would create near equal population unbiased districts, using census data without the gerrymandering that our current system creates.  These would end up creating nearly square/circular districts of different physical sizes as tightly packed as possible with the required near equal populations unbiased by political considerations.

Chuck’s second legislative initiative would call for a change to the Child Protective Services system, wherein, commitment to pull a child out of a home to CPS custody would be handled by a local police or sheriff investigator required to file a full written report, independent of CPS, rather than the current all CPS investigation without any report required.  As a former police investigator, Senator Gray believes this would alleviate the current CPS power abuses.

Yuma and Vicinity RA

The YVRA Unit has continued its border security work with the Yuma Patriots Border Watch Group.  The Unit’s President, Cecil Boeltz attended the NFRA Convention in St. Louis and was an active participant in the endorsement vote process, as described above.

Following-up on her plans to bring the ARA Units together through closer interaction, new State ARA President, Charlotte Reed is scheduled to attend and speak at the Yuma Unit’s September meeting.

Lake Havasu City RA

Following-up on her Yuma meeting, State ARA President, Charlotte Reed will attend and speak to the Lake Havasu City Unit at their September meeting on the evening following the Yuma Unit meeting.  Among other issues, Charlotte will review the New-Unit Chartering process with Lake Havasu leaders, as they have been working with a conservative Golden Valley group with the possibility of starting a new ARA Unit in that area.

New LD7/LD8 Unit In Process

Gene Reed has been working on chartering a new ARA Unit in LD7 and LD8 covering northeast Phoenix and much of the Scottsdale/Fountain Hills area.

Current new membership has reached the point where Unit Chartering may begin with the potential for near term growth to very significant proportions.

One new member, Jim O’Conner has already become actively involved in the ARA, attending both the ARA State and the NFRA Convention in St. Louis as an ARA Delegate.

There will be an early September Chartering Meeting (date and time TBD) at which new Membership Applications will be accepted, signatures will be gathered for the Chartering Petition and the group will select a name and begin the officer selection process. 

State Senator Russell Pearce and/or Don Goldwater will be asked to speak on the LAW and SOLE Citizen’s Initiatives, and Colette Rosati will talk about the importance of also becoming a Precinct Committeeman.

Voicing Your Opinion to Influence Bills before the Legislature

When significant legislative bills are to be heard in committee, the committee vote can be influenced by a preponderance of opinions to APPROVE, or OPPOSE from citizen input to the committee.

Whenever a Bill is in a committee hearing, time is given to those citizens who have made a Request to Speak on particular bill in SUPPORT, or OPPOSITION.

If you are present at the legislative buildings for committee hearings, you may do so prior to the hearing by entering your Request to Speak on a particular bill(s) to be heard that day in a particular committee(s) on a computer terminal provided in the lobby of the House, or Senate building.  You may also enter your opinion to APPROVE, or OPPOSE the bill(s) with, or without a Request to Speak.

In committee, after Bill presentation, debate and citizen verbal input, the Committee Chairman calls for a reading of the names and representation of those non-speaking citizens who “voted” to APPROVE, or to OPPOSE the bill by computer input.

Committee members “on the fence”, or mildly supporting, or opposing the bill can be influenced by the shear number of those citizens taking the time to APPROVE, or OPPOSE the bill!  A similar influence may be made by the number of citizens present SUPPORTING, or OPPOSING the bill! – For instance, if 100 names are read APPROVING and only 10 are read OPPOSING a bill, the fence-sitting legislator is more likely to vote to APPROVE the bill, and visa versa.

THIS IS A POWERFUL CITIZEN TOOL for constitutional-conservatives to influence the direction of state law, and ARA members and friends should take maximum advantage of it!

However, we know that it is generally NOT possible for most of us to be present at the legislature on any given occasion.

BUT, YOU DON”T HAVE TO BE PRESENT to input your “vote” to APPROVE, or to OPPOSE the bill!!

Here’s how to input your opinion from home, after only one trip to the State Capitol:

First, you will need to go to the Capitol ONE TIME, in-order-to obtain a Computer Login Name and Password to allow your opinion to be entered to the legislative computer system from home via the Internet.

Once you have done so, you may enter your “vote” to APPROVE, or OPPOSE a bill from your home, or office computer, by following this procedure (Note that you have to follow this procedure EVEN if you ONLY want to enter your APPROVE, or OPPOSE “vote” to the Committee Chairman, but DO NOT wish to Speak (I know, it’s crazy, Ed.):

On your computer:  Go to  www.azleg.state.az/ on the Internet

Click on:  “Request to Speak”(this button is right under the picture of the Capitol Ceiling)

        Then Click on:  “Make a Request to Speak”

There are 3 ways to make your entry:

      1.    If you know the Bill #, entry it in the box provided, and

                Click on the “Begin Search” button at the bottom;

     2.    If you know the committee your bill is to be heard in, Select it from the List, and

                Click on the “Begin Search” button at the bottom;

3.      If you know a Phrase in the Title, enter it in the box provided, and

          Click on the “Begin Search” button at the bottom.

When the next screen comes up:

     Select the Committee, or Bill, and

          Click on “Choose Bill” at the bottom.

Then when the next screen comes up you will see the Bill #, Description, Committee Name, etc.

      Answer the Questions asked:

·         Who do you represent? (I.e., Group Name, or Self) -- Use Self unless you are an official representative; What’s your stance on the bill? (Select the appropriate Stance; i.e., For, Neutral, Against);

·         Do you wish to Speak? (Select your choice)

      Click on “Submit Information” to Committee Chairman.

Then on the next screen,

      If your Selection is shown as “Add Pending”, wait a few seconds before Clicking on the “Refresh List” button.

     If your Selection shows a Dot, it has been accepted, SO DON’T Click “Refresh List”; INSTEAD,

Review your Selection – You may Modify, or Delete your Request by Clicking the appropriate button, or you may

Click on “Search (Add Request)” at the top of the screen to entry an additional Bill/Committee you wish to “vote” upon; or

Click on “Logout” to end your session. – ALWAYS make note of your Request/Selection Information before ending!