Meet Vernon Robinson — redux

The transcript left out one more hilarious sound effect:

…”but if you elect Vernon Robinson, that party is over.” (sound of zipper being zipped up).

Who knows how the Robinson/Miller race is polling?

Don’t forget Alan Keyes. If he did not win a majority in any counties in downstate Illinois in his race against Barak Obama for Senate, he came close to it.

North Carolina is a pretty red state so it might play fairly well with a certain group. It’s pretty blatant, so I want to know in which geographical location of NC that district is located so I may amend any future travel plans. If this guy is elected, they probably do have a Mexican and Gay boycot in their future.

the last was from the link jhupp provided.

lou, Alan Keyes won 26 of somewhere around 100 IL counties. (I had to find this info out for my job; I don’t remember what my source was at the time.)

Next, you supposes them Homosecshools will bring their illegal lovers to DC and demand up to $9000 of YOUR tax dollars for getting “married.”

Ooops…. tax dollars for getting married is a REPUBLICAN idea. Never mind.

Gracious – It’s in north central NC. Winston-Salem is in the district. I used to live there but I don’t remember if Greensboro is in the same district. I think Mt. Airy (Mayberry, get it) just north of Pilot Mountain (Mount Pilot, get it) is. The fact that it’s the real location of the fictional Andy Griffith Show might give you an idea of the culture (Andy Griffith was born and raised in Mt. Airy). Great BBQ there, though.

Frankly, I would much rather have Andy, Opie, Aunt Bea, Barney and Goober in Washington right now than that bunch of monkeys in the White House. They’ve got a lot more sense, and a whole lot more decency.

Jim (in Raleigh) – He’s running in the 13th? He must have moved someplace where he thought he could win. He was a city counselman in Winston-Salem so I just assumed he was running in the 5th. Um, never mind about the Andy Griffith Show stuff (although I’m sure it still applies generally).

He’s a real sick one. We need to be getting rid of his fascists buddies already in congress, as opposed to allowing more of them in congress.

Let us not also forget that Brad Miller hates America and wants the terrorists to win. And he looks French.

WTF? I seriously hope this guy is far, far behind Miller in the polls.

He’s running in the 13th district which includes parts of Greensboro and Raliegh, sounds fairly suburban. Wikipedia says he won 59% of the vote last time so it sounds fairly likely that Robinson doesn’t stand a chance with the crap he’s spewing.

Here’s a map of the district.

Also, it appears that every Raliegh-area district has a Democrat, so it’s likely that Miller is in a pretty solidly Dem district and fairly immune to nuts like this.

Miller’s Wikipedia entry.

Vernon Robinson’s very entertaining Wikipedia entry. It has a lot of good stuff on him, such as pointing out that, “On February 28, the last day file for office in North Carolina, Robinson withdrew as a candidate in the Twelfth District and filed to run in the more competitive Thirteenth District,” neither of which Robinson even lives. He’s been a perpetual losing candidate, running for public office for a decade, only actually holding public office in the Winston-Salem city council for two terms, finally getting defeated largely for “placement of a 1-ton Ten Commandments and Bill of Rights monument at City Hall (which had to be removed with city money)”.

I especially like that his campaign slogan for his failed primary bid for the 5th district in 2004 was “Jesse Helms is back! And this time, he’s black!”

Why am I suddenly reminded of the classic Dave Chappelle sketch about the blind black man who hated n*****s?

I could go on quoting from his Wikipedia entry but I’ll eventually have cut and paste the whole thing. So I’ll cut myself short and recommend you follow the link instead.

Pete, thank you so much for your comment. We vacation in NC in the Summer and I find it hard to believe that such nice people could vote for someone like this. I was considering setting up a spoof site that simply included links to web sites with responses to Robinson’s critiques.

Vernon Robinson says what other people are scared to say because it’s not “politically correct”. Political correctness is driving this country into the ground. Oh….let’s not do profiling in airports because we may hurt the feelings of this person of middle easter decent. Let’s just go ahead and let him walk right on in and blow up a plane. Instead…let’s stop this 90 year old grandmother because she might have some explosive hand lotion in her purse.

Or…..let’s allow all of these illegals into our country and allow them to send all of their UNTAXED money back to Mexico…but let’s do this. Let’s let them still demand for our country to take care of their medical needs and let’s just throw in all their other needs on top of that. By the way….did I say that they didn’t pay taxes. I am not at all anti-mexican. But I am anit-ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. Illegal is the key word in case you couldn’t figure it out. Four words……….PUT UP A WALL!!!!! If anyone objects to that….you have serious issues. Thousands apon thousands of these people coming over the border don’t even like Americans. They don’t want to be Americans. They just want our money…..so they can send it back to Mexico. But let’s just let them keep coming over. That way by the year 2050 our country will be made up of 25% illegal immigrants. That’ll be good.

And……let’s just legalize gay marriage. Oh by the way………if gay marriage was how it was intended to be……our existence…..well…….if I remember this correctly…….our existence would…..well….be no more. In case you have forgotten how the human race pro-creates……well…..you need an egg and a sperm. Homosexuality is wrong. It should not be an acceptable way of life. Period. We are sending the wrong message when we choose to embrace this as an acceptable way of life. I don’t care if people choose that life style. But I, along with the MAJORITY of the country, don’t want to live in a country that embraces gay marriage. Face it….those of you that do……well…..there are just not very many of you in the grand scheme of things.

I could go on………and on………and on………..and on. Bottom line…….mainstream America is still conservative. If the majority of the conservatives would get out and vote year after year…..liberals would never have a chance. Period.

Bush Administration, Dying at the Border

This is from “Skeptical Economist”. This is the one of the best articles I have ever read on economics and illegal immigration.

It is no secret that the Bush administration is failing and failing badly. The woes of the administration are legion, Iraq, immigration, the economy, Katrina, health care, gasoline prices, etc. The impact on public opinion is profound. Bush is well on his way to being one of the least popular presidents in U.S. history. His current popularity rating of 31% may be a high water mark. The twenties and perhaps teens are not that far off. Increasingly he has lost, not just liberals and mainstream Americans, but conservatives as well. The key question is why? Why has this once promising administration gone downhill so far and so fast? Is it just bad luck or is their a deeper force at work? In my view, the ideology and practice of Open Borders has condemned this president to complete failure. Could the Bush administration turn itself around by changing its stance on immigration? Yes, but it is exceedingly unlikely to happen. Bush is doomed and may not finish his term in office.

It is clear that the immigration polices of this administration are deeply unpopular and contrary to what the public wants. Clearly, immigration is contributing mightily to the low standing of this president. However, immigration is also directly responsible for the economic failings of this president and is (one step removed) also responsible for the debacle in Iraq. Immigration is also partially responsible for all of the other problems (Kartrina, gasoline prices, health care, Dubai ports, etc.). The links between immigration and what ails Bush (and America) are explained in more detail below. What should be clear by the end, is that immigration is either directly or partially for everything (and there is a lot) that is weighing down this president.

The immigration failures of this administration are obvious. The border is totally out of control and Bush completely refuses to even try to control it. Ordinary Americans are demanding immigration control and Bush has abandoned even the pretense of enforcing our laws (by some measures enforcement has declined by 95% at least, but other measures 100%). Ordinary Americans fiercely resent illegal aliens taking over their neighborhoods, jobs, and schools. Bush actually proposed legislation to replace every American worked with a foreigner who would do the same job for less (the “willing worker” program).

To call the administration out of touch on immigration would be an injustice to the language. Polls show strong support for greatly intensified enforcement. Bush is still trying to have the Kennedy Amnesty bill passed. Why the administration is so committed to policies that the American people regard as toxic is another matter. However, the reality of a president at war with his own people on this issue, should not be in doubt. Astoundingly, Zogby finds that only 17% of Americans approve of Bush’s immigration policies (7). On border security, Bush gets a 16% approval rating.

Immigration is also responsible for Bush’s economic woes. Superficially the economy should be a source of considerable strength for Bush. The high level numbers are actually rather good. Unemployment is down to 4.6% from a peak of 6.3% in June of 2003. GDP growth in Q1 2006 was 4.8%. The economy grew by 2.7% in 2003, 4.2% in 2004, and 3.5% in 2005. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has rallied from a low of 7286 on October 9th, 2002 to a recent high of 11,643 on May 10, 2006. That a gain of 59.8% in less than four years. The S&P is up 57.25% in the same period. Definitely a lot for investors to cheer about, particularly in the aftermath of the Tech Bubble and corporate scandals (Enron, Tyco, Health South, etc.).

The zooming stock market has reflected fast rising corporate profits. Pretax profits bottomed out at $714 billion (annual rate) in 3Q2001 and have since risen to $1,293 billion in 3Q2005 (not adjusted for inflation) (11). As a percent of GDP profits have grown from 7.0% of GDP (3Q2001) to a peak of 10.9% of GDP in 2Q2005 (down to 10.3% in 3Q2005). At 10.9% of GDP, corporate profits were higher than any year since 1968.

The productivity numbers have also been very, very good. Nonfarm productivity has risen by 17% or more since 2001. What the BLS calls multifactor productivity is up almost 8% since 2000. Per-worker/GDP is perhaps the broadest measure of productivity growth. In chained 2000 dollars, per-worker GDP is up by 8.73%. CPI-U adjusted, per-worker GDP has grown by 7.95%. The strong growth in productivity has almost completely offset nominal wage growth. Unit labor costs have only risen by 4.3% since 2001 (9).

Of course, Americans haven’t been shy about spending under Bush. Indeed, it’s been party time for several years as anyone who travels or frequents upscale restaurants can attest. The number tell the same happy story. Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) rose by 15.64% from 1Q2001 to 4Q2005. Not bad given that GDP only rose by 13.9% in the same five years (13).

As you can see it is easy to come up with a whole panoply of good economic news. But still… The American people just don’t agree. Poll after poll give gloomy views on the economy. Indeed 59% of Americans rate the economy as only “fair” or “poor” (8). Is the public wrong? Deluded? Confused by liberals? Where it only so. The sad truth is that the economic boom has passed the American people by. Indeed, they are suffering more from the backwash of inflated prices than enjoying any of the fruits. Why? As is all too frequently the case, Open Borders is killing the American Dream by making sure that only immigrants (legal and illegal) and the elites get richer while ordinary Americans get poorer.

This is not some liberal/left-wing fantasy. Indeed the left goes to great pains to avoid using the “I” word when they are talking about jobs/wages/incomes. The sad reality is that from the standpoint of ordinary working Americans, the economy is weak, at best. Some of the facts are downright scary. For example, only 9% of the new jobs created from 2000 to 2005 when to the American people even though Americans accounted for 61% of adult population growth (1). Worse, labor force participation has been falling since Bush took office (10). In January of 2001, it was 67.2%. Now it is 66.1%. You have to go back to the first days of the Clinton administration to find numbers this low (actually 66.2% in January of 1993). Labor force participation does not normally fall in an expanding economy… (12). Indeed, this appears to be the first recovery with declining labor force participation.

Sadly, the minority data is worse. Black male labor force participation has fallen from 69.4% in January of 2001 to 67.7% in May of 2006. Black female labor force participation declined from 60.1% to 59.1% in the same time period. Hispanic labor force participation (both sexes) has also declined, from 69.9% in January of 2001 to 68.7% in May of 2005.

The jobs growth numbers all point in the same direction. This is, by far, the worst recovery in modern history for employment. The last recession ended in November of 2001. Since then (actually the next 48 months) employment has grown by 4.7%. The worst prior recovery enjoyed jobs growth of 6.2%. The average recovery since the 1960s has produced 9.5% growth in jobs. Sadly, the payroll employment data is much worse (14) showing only 2.6% growth over 4 years.

Average weekly earnings peaked back in November of 2003 and have since declined. Amazingly, weekly wages are now back where they were in 1959 and 17% below the high in 1972. Forty six years without a raise. Something to be proud of. Not surprisingly the poverty rate has risen steadily since Bush took office. Back in 2000 the poverty rate was 11.3%. By 2004 it reach 12.7%. The poverty rate always rises in recessions. This may be the first boom with rising poverty (3).

Median household income tells the same tale of woe. Median incomes have declined every year Bush has been in office and are now 3.8% ($1740) below the 1999 level (4). Quite an accomplishment for a president who thinks tax cuts for the wealthy will make us rich.

The superficially nice consumption numbers (15.64% growth in five years) start looking rather dodgy once you look under the covers. Cleary GDP didn’t grow nearly fast enough to pay the piper. Nor did compensation keep pace. Indeed, compensation of employees rose by only 8.3% in the same period. Something had to give. Indeed, the savings rate fell from 2.4% of disposable income in 1Q2001 to -0.5% in 4Q2005 and -1.3% in 1Q2006. Where is the money coming from? Greenspan found the home equity extraction reached $600 billion in 2004 (15)(16) an immodest 7% of disposable income. Are folks using their homes as ATM machines really thrilled with the economy? Does ever rising debt pave the road to heaven? Or would that be hell?

Of course, none of this had to be true. Productivity has risen strongly in recent years (see above). Soaring productivity could have brought large wage and salary gains to ordinary Americans. Productivity alone should have increased incomes by 8% since 2000. No one likes paying $3 for gasoline. However, not too many people would be complaining with fast rising wages. This is not a fantasy. In the 1950s and 60s, wages and median incomes rose right along with the economy. Then we abandoned our borders…

There are other dismal numbers as well (after all economics is the “Dismal Science”). Household inequality has increased under Bush (5). Inequality also went up under Clinton (”no interior enforcement”). Back when we took our borders seriously it declined, from 1947 to 1968. Inequality only started to soar when mass immigration resumed in the 1970s. Predictably, male median earnings fell from 2002 to 2004 and are now lower than they were back in 1973. The percentage of Americans without health insurance has risen from 14.2% in 2000 to 15.7% in 2004. Employment based health insurance fell from 63.6% in 2000 to 59.8% in 2004 (6). Why bother proving benefits when you have illegals?

If the economic statistics weren’t bad enough for Bush, we have the Iraq debacle. Is Open Borders really responsible for Iraq? At least indirectly, the answer is clearly yes. No we aren’t fighting illegal aliens in Ramadi or Sadr city. However, the connection to Open Borders is far from trivial. The easiest linkage is simply the cast of characters. Almost without exception, the cheerleaders for the Iraq war were Open Borders fanatics. Of course, the WSJ and Senor Bush fall into this category. However, you will also find the likes of Fred Barnes (The Weekly Standard), William Kristol (The Weekly Standard), Ben Wattenberg (AEI), and Michael Barone (US News & World Report) in this group.
By contrast, the strongest advocates of immigration reform were generally skeptical of the Iraq war or overtly opposed (Michelle Malkin being a rare exception). What is the connection? Both the Iraq war and Open Borders were/are based on a panglossian view of human nature. If you think America can tolerate massive legal/illegal third world immigration, then the idea that Iraq could be transformed into a model Middle Eastern nation with human rights, free elections, a free-market economy, peace with Israel, and U.S. bases might make sense. Saner voices recognized both ideas as deeply crazy. Crushing Saddam’s murderous and ultimately dangerous (sanctions were fading) regime might have made sense. Pouring American blood into the desolate soils of the Middle East to nurture “democracy” was, and is, folly.

Is immigration responsible for the other problems weighing on the Bush administration? In many cases, the answer is yes, at least to some extent. Only a president deeply wedded to Open Borders would have threatened his very first veto over the Dubai ports deal. A saner administration would have quashed the deal upfront or authorized it only after deep and credible scrutiny. Gasoline prices? The population of the U.S. has risen by 82 million since the mid-1970s when we built our last oil refinery. Most of the growth has been do to immigration. Runaway population growth doesn’t work with highly limited energy development. Something has to give, prices it would seem. A different president would make these choices clear or simply tell the American people that immigration must be stopped until we have a consensus in favor new pipelines, power plants, refineries, offshore drilling, etc. Hard choices in the Pollyanna world of Senor Bush? They don’t exist.

The immigration sickness infecting U.S. health care has already been mentioned. Of course, as the uninsured population explodes the costs fall on taxpayers and those with private insurance. These burdens make insurance even less affordable, pushing more and more folks into the ranks of those without. Why so-called conservatives would demand an immigration policy than can only end with socialized medicine boggles the mind. Perhaps non compos mentis explains it all.

Did Open Borders bring Katrina to the Big Easy? Actually, No. Even the most ardent restrictionists don’t suggest an enforceable ban on category 5 hurricanes. However, in a normal economy the reconstruction work would be providing well paid job opportunities for poor and working class Americans. Such a thing will never happen with Bush in office.

The Bush administration is clearly infected with some kind of “End of History” globalist worldview where mass migration is both inevitable and desirable. In this wonderful future fantasy, borders will disappear and all of mankind will embrace capitalism, free markets, free trade, democracy, etc. Sadly, this Pollyannaish view of the human condition has led to tragedy abroad, and economic failure at home. What should be clear is that the ideology of Open Borders is directly and indirectly responsible for the woes of the Bush administration. As of this late date there is little they can do about it. After 9-11, Bush had a perfect moment in time, to change course and save his presidency and his country. With malice and forethought he threw it away.