News of his violent video game label bill was also mentioned on my blog previously, and I guess we are sounding the alarm again to make sure this bill sinks in committee.

This bill is only designed to make the congressman look good in the press and there is already a video game content labeling system and it has been around for the last fifteen plus years and it is called the Entertainment Software Ratings Board and they have ratings so parents could choose the best content for their children and devices such as the XBOX or Nintendo Wii have parental control devices as well. So, if a child brings forth Grand Theft Auto 5 or Call of Duty, the family XBOX 360 will not play the game.

Also, we are facing a huge budget deficit to add new federal employees from the Consumer Product Safety Commission to monitor this proposed law and if the private industry can enforce their content successfully with retailers and content producers working together in harmony we should just let this successful partnership continue.

Although Joe Baca is my congressman, and I did call his office to express my displeasure last time he submitted this bill he probably could care less about my two cents. But if you do live in the 43rd Congressional District feel free to call his office.

Illegal immigration is costing Los Angeles County over one billion dollars a year, one billion that could be used for other vital goods and services such as making sure public sector pensions do not consume the county budget.

Children of the undocumented are the collateral damage from those who sneak into our nation illegally. However most of us want the rule of law applied, but as a compromise I would allow for a “DREAM ACT” type amnesty, but put a revision of the 14th amendment to state the following:

Citizenship by birth is only valid if one of the two parents are American citizens or has a legal work permit to reside in the United States. Reducing the number of anchor babies would put some order in our immigration policies and our social spending.

But the amnesty would only be valid if the constitutional amendment gets passed and ratified.

My suggestion for Congressman Baca who represents my city in congress is that you will need to offer something for the enforcement community before something gets done for the young people who got smuggled in for no fault of their own else this problem is perpetually going to happen.

I would not reward these individuals with instant citizenship, but a work permit so they could get on the road to citizenship after a waiting period of 6 years. I do agree with the congressman that we want these individuals on the road to being productive and have a positive relationship with their adopted home country, but we should not be awarding toaster ovens to law breakers at first sight.

If a 9 year old boy from the United Kingdom can be restricted from the United States to be prevented from going to Disney World and the undocumented can run across the border with no problem you know something is wrong with our immigration enforcement.

Scott Folkens is a former member of the armed forces who served in the US Navy for over seven years and now is currently a social science educator at a private school in Bloomington.

Last time Scott ran in 2006, I did choose Joe as my vote, but for this election even though Scott does not support equal rights and instead supports second class citizenship for the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. I realized I can not afford to throw away my vote to the Democratic Party candidate after what President Obama has done to the nation with his nationalizing of the American economy and his arrogant attitude to his critics even though Republicans are traditionally hostile to queer people.

Yes, I do appreciate Congressman Baca’s commitment to equality, but Joe failed with his support for amnesty for the illegals, his lack of support for border enforcement and his vote for the health care law that will make your insurer raise your premiums or drop you as a customer that makes me want to plug my nose and vote for Scott in 2010. I would appreciate a candidate such as Scott despite his views against LGBT people to deal with the immigration enforcement issue and repealing the Pelosi-Reid-Obama health care mess.

The 43rd congressional district may likely be safely in Joe Baca’s possession due to the reapportionment of 2001. However we can send Joe a message that he needs to listen to ALL of his constituents not just labor union members and the undocumented from south of the border. Then, maybe a mainstream Republican without the views of Joe and Scott could win in 2012 when we take away congressional redistricting away from the politicians with Proposition 20.

With a two party system, sometimes there will not be candidates that will perfectly hit the mark and we have to make compromises even though the candidate we vote for will make us feel uneasy.

Perhaps if we stopped having theocratic candidates running against him we might have luck beating Congressman Baca.

Let’s talk about the P.R.O.U.D. ACT – or H. R. 2681, Congressman Baca introduced this bill 06/03/09.  This act can be called the "People Resolved to Obtain an Understanding of Democracy Act."

This bill would amend the Immigration and Naturalization Act to provide for the naturalization of certain graduates of U.S. High Schools who are under 25 years of age on the date of application for naturalization.

Basically, if you are and illegal aliens and you attend high school, and show proof of attending U.S. Schools, for a certain number of years, and you have the good grades, you can bypass the immigration line, and go to the front of the class and AUTOMATICALLY BE ELDIGIBLE FOR CITIZENSHIP !

This bill as already been sent to the Subcommittee on Immigration on August 19, 2009.

Congressman Baca has also released H. R. 3855,  this bill is titled, "Every Person Counts Act."   This Bill was released on October 20, 2009. 

This Bill will greatly help out in New York, and California, which "benefit most from inclusion of non-citizens, including illegal aliens, in the apportionment process."  ( fairus.org ) "In his press release, Congressman Baca wasn’t shy about the fact that he wants illegal aliens to skew Congressional apportionment, Presidential elections and Federal funding in favor of his home state of California."  Congressman Baca, said that census data "determines the allotment of federal funding and is "absolutely necessary for (determining) Congressional representation and Electoral College figures."

It is important to note that Congressman Baca came out with H. R. 3855, because of Senator David Vitter’s amendment H. R. 2466.  Senator Vitter’s amendment would require the Census Bureau to ask questions about citizenship and immigration status as part of the 2010 decennial census.

"If non-citizens are used for purposes of Congressional apportionment, Senator Vitter’s office has said that nine states with lower illegal immigration and lower foreign-born populations would end up losing a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, while four states would pick those seats up."  (fairus.org)

Other reasons Congressman Baca does not want illegal aliens counted on the census, include not wanting the American people to know just how many illegal aliens actually reside in our country.  If you think it is just twelve million, think again (multiply it by four) !  Second, if everyone sat down and did some math on how much each and every state spends on Education, Incarceration, Medical services, Welfare programs, Social Security benefits, and Housing programs, we could balance every budget in every state, our federal government would not be as broke, Medicare would not be broke, neither would Social Security (Remember waste fraud & abuse) ! How low would our unemployment rate be?

Look at it this way folks, if you owned a business, and you just kept taking on new employees, even if they weren’t qualified, and you gave them benefits, and you really couldn’t afford it, but people just kept coming, and you kept paying them, and giving them benefits, you would go broke, and be out of business!  That is what is happening today to our country!  It is time to run America like a business, it is time to get it right. 

Who does not feel sorry, for people in other country’s who have it worse off than we do?  But, let’s use our head’s, if we don’t take care of our own citizen’s first, we will not be in a position to help anyone in the future!

Stand up for your rights as an American Citizen, before your rights are gone!  Call Congressman Baca, and tell him No to HR 3855 & HR 2681 ! ‘ IT IS TIME FOR JOE TO GO" 909-885-2222, or 202-225-6161.  JOE BACA IS UP FOR RE-ELECTION IN 2010, VOTE HIM OUT! 

H/T:  Jeane Rossiter from Laura Boatright

My congressman lives in a very safe constituency where he could take principled stands without much risk. The repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (HR 1283) is one of the rare equality bills that have broad support across demographic lines from conservatives to liberals, church going people to the non church going and over 142 fellow members have already co-sponsored this bill already.

It is disappointing when Congressman Gary Miller who served my community before reapportionment had his office write to me even on the most insignificant of legislation, but Joe Baca’s staff is asleep at the wheel even when its legislation that is traditionally Democratic Party favored.

I hope after the phone call I get a response in the next two weeks, if not I will probably need to write a letter to the editor in our local newspaper so he will get the message. Congressman Baca’s legislative director should have positions on various notable pieces of legislation already written up so the people of his district would know his positions on the issues.

Constituent service helps make or break a politician. If I was your representative I would do my best to treat my constituents with care even if we disagree strongly on an issue.

Update: Joe Baca eventually sponsored the bill and I thank him for his effort. And if you want a prompt response, DO NOT mail to the congressional office because the mail basically gets irradiated and held for a week or so. I learned my lesson.