When do we call it treason?
This is what I see: A president who refuses to secure our borders. In fact, he stands in harmony with the Mexican president who verbally attacks Arizona for taking decisive steps to keep its citizens safe and treasury intact.
Under heavy pressure, President Barack Obama finally met with Gov. Jan Brewer on Thursday. Knowing what we know, it’s fair to call the meeting appeasement for international theater.
Obama is on the record as being against Arizona’s immigration law. It’s “misguided,” he says. He’s now passed Brewer off to “officials” for further discussion about the cost of the border chaos. Yet still, the border remains open.
Treason: “Violation of allegiance toward one’s country — especially the betrayal — by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.” (education.yahoo.com)
Leaving our borders open knowingly provides illegal entry into America. Terrorists know all about it. Obama knows they know.
Earlier this year (March 18, 2010), Homeland Security News reported this warning by the head of the FBI: “In February, Sheikh Abdullah al-Nasifi, a known al-Qaida recruiter in Kuwait, boasted on al Jazeera television that Mexico’s border with the United States was the ideal infiltration point for terrorists seeking to attack America.
“‘Four pounds of anthrax – in a suitcase this big – carried by a fighter through tunnels from Mexico into the U.S., are guaranteed to kill 330,000 Americans within a single hour if it is properly spread in population centers there,’” al-Nasifi said.
It’s old news, terrorists having access to the southern border.
Pathetically, embarrassingly, Obama offers 1,200 National Guard troops. Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution demands that the president protect “every state in the union — against invasion.” It’s the law of the land.
Disinterest in our national security smells like treason.
Obama offends our allies, yet embraces our detractors. We don’t know who Barack Obama is. We hoped we knew him. We thought, “Yes, maybe this man is different.”
Is this just politics? Is it about republicans and democrats? Whether we lean to the left or right, we better find out. Since 9/11, we’ve been put on notice that more is coming.
Yet, still the border sits wide open.
One must ask: When is the bridge to treason crossed?
I don’t feel safe. My neighbors don’t feel safe. Citizens across this continent don’t feel safe. In neighborhood gatherings, the topic is “fear.” People are buying extra food, stocking water.
When trust goes missing, citizens begin to fear for their civil rights: Guns, speech, liberty to move freely; basic rights that represent the American way. Trust is the greatest of all gifts the Oval Office receives from the citizenry. It’s a President’s to lose, to squander, to kiss off.
How is it, this president is so disconnected from his citizens and his troops? Really, do you want to blame all this on politics?
Everywhere, others are asking similar questions; the blogs, some of the mainstream media, not just conservative cable. They no longer see this president as “hope.” They sense a chill in his demeanor. He seems disoriented, appears to feign emotion. Yes, words still come easily, but action is absent, and the promised transparency non-existent.
Some think his worst problem is oil washing up on the Louisiana shores. Clearly, the oil scum is symbolic of what’s really coming at us.
Heaven forbid we should come under attack while he’s the commander in chief. I don’t know who he is, but his mind is not the mind of the American majority. We think the November elections will neutralize him. No. Only he can put us at ease. Otherwise, as long as he’s the one who receives that 3 a.m. phone call, this nation dare not sleep.
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East Valley resident Linda Turley-Hansen is a syndicated columnist and former Phoenix veteran TV anchor. Contact her at turleyhansen@gmail.com
wdgnas posted at 5:23 am on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
linda, linda, linda. you seem to forget your saint ronald of reagan signed a bill that gave amnesty to illegal immigrants in 1986. not only that, did very little to enforce employer sanctions that were in the bill. bush 41 and bush 43 were almost non existent on immigration. where were you during their terms. your silence speaks volumes...
iluvaz posted at 5:33 am on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
[sad] That was then...this is now! Get it? Shes not claiming a mistake wasnt made in 1986. But obama is flushing the USA down the drain and you liberal Muslim wanna be's are helping!
Rich posted at 6:28 am on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. " U.S. Constitution Article 3 Section 3.
Stop picking on the state that's 50th out of 50 in education.
AZMomma posted at 8:56 am on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
I agree with Ms Turley on this issue. President Obama simply is one disaster away from becoming a single-term President.
The more he is called to 'action' the more he resembles a person in denial, so passive he becomes a poster child for Valium. Son of Jimmy Carter.
When faced with factual data about border invasions, he meets with the primary enabler (Calderone) and all but genuflects and kisses his ring.
His staff speaks against a State action (SB1070), then admits they have not even read the item.
He allows us to be conned and sold down the river, not even the Sec. of Homeland Security (and the former Governor of Arizona!) Napolitano is willing to do her job.
His staff says the border is secure, as the Houston Chronicle reports on a Cartel plot to blow up a major Mexican/ TX dam.
The dusty little town of Columbus New Mexico has become a safe haven for a known group of Mexican criminals.
He refuses to allow our first line of Border defense (Border Patrol) to do their job and actually defend us and themselves.
The beat goes on.
Wake up Mr President! You may have ridden into office promising "change" but all you have shown is a complete lack of concern for the American citizen and our security.
Some may call it TREASON.
Irons1 posted at 9:47 am on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
Again, with the diatribes of accusations of treason. Turley-Hanson strikes again on these pages. What exactly would you like done with the border? Should we militarize it like North and South Korea? Should we put up artillery and machine gun nests? Would that make you feel "safer"? I doubt that you would really want that type of border when all is said and done. All you are really doing is spewing fear in hopes of trying to sway opinion toward the "tea bag" and libertarian point of view. In terms of stocking food and water, this is a religious view held by one of the churches here anyway. This is nothing new here. If we did come under attack, I believe that I would be much happier with a man who thinks before he acts than the previous idiot who couldn't think or act at all on his own account. This is just another attack anybody who doesn't think like her column by Turley-Hansen.
Accuracy posted at 11:39 am on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
TREASON - This word imports a betraying, treachery, or breach of allegiance.
President Barrack Obama cares more about being popular in Mexico than in Arizona and other border states.
Should be guilty of treason? A growing number of Americans are waking up to the tactics President Barrack Hussein Obama is using and realize that our country has gone from a democracy to a socialist and a Marxist communist system. One held to engage in left-wing, subversive, or revolutionary activities, he's politicizing the Justice Department and the Census Bureau to change how elections are conducted to alter the outcomes of elections, and attempting to turn 12 million illegal immigrants into voting citizens.
To survive the treason, political backlash, and for voters seek to take back their freedom, there is now a record number line up (Conservatives) to run for Congress. According to the Federal Election Commission, there are than 2,300 people that are running for 471 House and Senate seats in the midterm elections. The highest number in at least 35 years and the number still rising as more continue to file.
listenertoo posted at 12:19 pm on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
Irons1, well said, as usual.
Ms. Turley please remember the Aesop's story of the boy who cried wolf. The "fear" card seems to be your only card, and, if you have studied even freshman psychology being in a constant state of fear can lead to paranoia. Look back over your own columns and the theme is the overwhleming. Why is that, do you suppose? With each column of fear you become less credible.
Mike McClellan posted at 12:41 pm on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
"leaving the borders open" -- what proof does Linda proffer?
If people get across the border illegally, does that mean the "borders are open," or is it that we can do more?
And if this guy's treasonous -- using Hansen's standard -- then so, too, were Reagan, both Bushes and Clinton.
St. Regan guilty of treason? the horror, the horror!
samkat posted at 5:00 pm on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
I will start by addressing Mike first. Mike: I have read your columns and you seem to support illegal immigration. Yes, if illegals are making it across the border (and yes they are), then the border is insecure. I am more concerned about the lack of interior security and this administration's emphasis on political correctness than using National Guard members who will at most be filling arm chair positions as they did the last time.
Maybe there is job security in teaching if you are able to sustain the levels of children of illegals but personally, I would rather see my tax dollars go to improving the quality of education for legal citizens as opposed to throwing it down the rat hole called English learner immersion courses.
Now for iron and listen: Folks, how about providing us with some reasonable and logical recommendations as to how to stem the illegal invasion. Hint: for all three of you, amnesty is not a viable solution as it only encourages another run on our borders. Unfortunately, there is insufficient room here to give the discussion any really depth.
We have a lot of critics but they seem to be short on solutions. Now, if we are to have a decent dialogue, we have to have something to debate other than negative comments. Are you capable of doing that?
Have any of you considered that Linda may be trying to provoke folks into doing some logical thinking?
Slabside posted at 5:13 pm on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
Linda, you are spot on with this column. The open borders advocates posting here (irons, forked) will criticize any conservative approach to this issue but not offer any substancial remedies. We need to finish the fences and beef up security. That is the only way we will stem the flow and take back our country and economy.
listenertoo posted at 5:20 pm on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
Samkat,
"Folks, how about providing us with some reasonable and logical recommendations as to how to stem the illegal invasion."
First, I did not write the article, so it is not up to me to suggest a solution. You missed my point.
"Have any of you considered that Linda may be trying to provoke folks into doing some logical thinking? "
Next, if you have studied logic fear mongering is in no way related to logical thinking.
Second, how is that you
Rich posted at 6:08 pm on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
"Now for iron and listen: Folks, how about providing us with some reasonable and logical recommendations as to how to stem the illegal invasion."
There is no such "invasion." It's smoke and mirrors. The area that contains the U.S. Mexico border has been crossed daily, in both directions, by people going to work for the last three centuries. As to people causing problems crossing it, the crime stats say no. As to people crossing it to become American citizens, they are welcome no matter what the bureaucrats, who have tanked our property values, keep a lot of us unemployed and whose greatest dream is a socialist state where they have all the power, have to say. And they are the "illegal" part of this. It isn't a felony. (Of course if it was it might be a problem, our sheriff isn't competent enough to catch a felon.)
"Nativist politicians have been taking advantage of gullible people like you since the end of the Revolutionary War, they used to be called "Know Nothings" and haven't improved. We've been invaded by the Irish, the Italians, and other people too numerous to mention. People like you used to lynch a few occasionally. The current "invasion" if you care to do a little research, isn't even close to the devastation wrought on this country by the Irish and the Italians, Just read the contemporary newspapers, a few in New York actually had "scientific" proof the italians were a separate, sub-human species. Of course they did make a few mistakes back then. They let Arpaios in. WASPs are so easy.
Slabside posted at 6:27 pm on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
Oh great, now we have a liberal hack named Rich accusing samkat of being the type to lynch people. He says we've been invaded by the Irish, Italians and others. Sorry mental midget, they did not invade America, they came as LEGAL immigrants through Ellis Island. Why don't you take your liberal open borders hysteria somewhere else like Moveon.org.
Reciprocator posted at 7:01 pm on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
Linda Turley-Hansen you are a Patriot.
Undoubtedly a terrorist will cross our borders illegally. He will be a sleeper. Then we will have a terrorist attack on undoubtedly a Republican Presidents watch, and the liberals will have a hey day. Just like 9/11. They did their training on Clintons watch but then attacked on Bush's watch.
In my opinion, this president is trying to bankrupt America to take us into a one world government.
Rich posted at 7:31 pm on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
Slabside
I'm not even close to liberal, The Arizona immigration laws are liberal. They require a liberal or loose construction of the Constitution. Educated here in Arizona perhaps? The point of view I expressed is either conservative (requiring a strict interpretation of the Constitution) or even reactionary, if you prefer, but the polar opposite of liberal.
Actually less than half the Italians came through Eliis Island and most of the Irish were here before it opened. You were taught history in Arizona, right?
Your ignorance is laughable and like other Know Nothings throughout our history, you will be laughed at eventually.
Irons1 posted at 8:21 pm on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
Usually Turley-Hansen deserves only one comment but in this case, I make the exception. First of all, to Slabside, yes, I don't like conservative approaches on many occasions. Just look what conservatism has done to Arizona. Not exactly a poster child for your side. In terms of solutions however, militiarism is not the answer, neither is amnesty, but there needs to be a happy medium. Perhaps a program for citizenship that requires more than just being here. To reciprocator, are you nuts? What has the President done to lead to one world government? Must be a channel for Glenn Beck. One more thing, just as Turley-Hansen is allowed to write a column in this newspaper (or whatever it is now), we who are not conservative have just as much right to our opinion as do conservatives and we will continue to voice them here and wherever else we have the ability to do it, whether you like it or not. Just because this newspaper does not allow anything other than conservative columnists does not mean that the public forums are the same as well
samkat posted at 10:09 pm on Sat, Jun 5, 2010.
Rich: I do believe you have been out in the sun too long. The DHS statistics do not bear out your assertion. Unfortunately, you are off base if you equate illegal crossing with legal entry.
retired03 posted at 6:39 am on Sun, Jun 6, 2010.
Yes, Obama is dragging his feet.... But, the sitting president when 9-11 occurred did nothing to secure our borders and he gets off scott free? Sure, the patriot act was established and other tough laws enacted but what about the south border from Texas to California? For that matter, where have the last several sitting presidents been? People, and the media have a very short memory. The flow has gotten out of control now and a few violent crimes were committed, arpaio gets his name in the news as the only one enforcing the laws so now we are all up in arms and willing to throw Obama to the wolves. I'm not an Obama fan but this is ridiculous calling him treasonous.
Rich posted at 11:18 am on Sun, Jun 6, 2010.
I agree with you Bingo. The immigrants that are destroying Arizona came over every border but the southern one. Used to be a nice place to live, with decent education, sensibly priced homes, enough work to go around. Nothing all that serious going on. Now they've got laws against parking under your own shade tree. So for the first half hour or so we all have to drive impaired, worse actually that a 1.0 BAC. They don't know how to live in a desert, don't get along with people who have lived here a century or more longer than they have and think being born an American in Kansas is license to Arizonans how to live. They are are immigrants who should be illegal. Tell 'em to go home to Kansas.
Slabside posted at 6:25 pm on Sun, Jun 6, 2010.
So Rich, you agree with Bingo who injected racism into a discussion that only says the sitting president is not doing his job. Me thinks you may be a racist as well?
allamer posted at 11:35 pm on Sun, Jun 6, 2010.
Linda, it goes beyond the President. State and local politicians violate their positions of trust, also. They are prostitutes to special interests, and this is especially true with illegal aliens. Chambers of Commerce, employer groups, Latino organizations, social program politicians all want illegal aliens-- and they have gotten them. Mayors have told their police to ignore our immigration laws for a long time, and now we have 20 million illegals in the country and 460,000 in Arizona. Politicians violate citizens' trust, and that is treason.