Let them run free: Lawmakers are set to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.

The debate immigration and what to do with those that have violated our national sovereignty by taking up residence in our nation is raging from the Colorado capitol to Washington DC.  While lawmakers try to invent new laws rather than enforcing ones already on the books, some of the discussions and possible outcomes are interesting.

In the first hearing today on the topic under the new congress, Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich) told his fellow lawmakers that illegal immigrants should not be called, well, illegal.

“I hope no one uses the term ‘illegal immigrants’ here today.  The people in this country are not illegal. They are out of status. They are new Americans that are immigrants,” Conyers said (video below).

Out of status?  Really?  Someone should tell the representative that if someone breaks the law, they are doing some illegal, hence the term ‘illegal immigrant.’

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Adams County Commissioner Chaz Tedesco (Center), his attorney Manny Solano and Solano’s wife, former Colorado State Representative Judy Solano. Despite friends in high places, Tedesco was slapped with a $1,000 fine for campaign finance violations.

Voters inexplicably elected Charles “Chaz” Tedesco to the Adams County Commissioners office despite his history of lying and financial problems.  While Tedesco claimed those woes were in his past, it turns out the past was only a few weeks ago when he was recently slapped with a hefty fine for campaign finance violations.

Foreclosure and bankruptcy were just some of Tedesco’s personal financial irregularities we documented leading up to the election.  This was in addition to his lying on television about his criminal past.  We also took a look at his campaign finance reports and noticed he was the recipient of donations from labor unions and corrupt politicians.

Jen Raiffie with Spotlight On Corruption took it a step further and noticed many reporting errors on Tedsco’s reports.  She in turn filed a complaint with the state.

Despite disgusting intimidation by Tedesco’s Democrat lawyer Manny Solano, Raiffie persevered and a judge rendered her verdict – $1,000 in fines for Tedesco.  He likely would have been fined more were it not for a technicality.

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While sheriff’s across the nation stand up for their citizens, Adams County Sheriff Doug Darr remains silent.

Local law enforcement officers around the nation are taking a stand against the Obama administration’s push to take away our 2nd Amendment rights.  Many have publically stated they will not enforce these unconstitutional mandates and a Colorado sheriff has now joined the chorus.

Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith posted a public message on his personal Facebook page outlining his grievances against the attack on our rights by Washington DC.

He reminds us that the Declaration of Independence stated that we were “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”  These God-given rights cannot be taken away by our government and it is our duty to resist should someone try to do so.

Smith gives a bit of a lesson on the Constitution and the enumerated powers that each branch of government has been granted.  As he wrote, “The executive branch is empowered to enforce laws, but not to establish laws.”

The entire posting is powerful but perhaps last two paragraphs bring it home:

We must understand that while we are talking about the Right to keep and bear arms today, we could just as easily be talking about the Right to lawfully assemble and petition our government, the Right to free speech, the Right to worship freely, the Right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure or any of our other Rights. They all have to be defended without fail.

I will continue to honor my oath to uphold the Constitution and protect citizens of my county. I will not allow unconstitutional proposals to stand. County by county, state by state, we must protect these God-given Rights that so many fine Americans before us have defended with their lives over the last 237 years. We will remain a Constitutional Republican for as long as we are respectful of these Rights.

For those of us in Adams County we can only wish we had a sheriff that had enough guts to stand up for the citizens he is charged with protecting.

Instead we have Doug Darr who likely will sit silently until called upon by fellow Democrats to testify at the state capitol in support of their efforts to take away our constitutional rights.  He did it in the debate about conceal carry and I have no doubt he would do it again.

We can only hope that more law enforcement officers, legislators and indeed citizens will remember that our rights shall not be infringed.

Editor’s note, 6:45pm: It has been brought to my attention that El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa has also chosen to take a stand for our constitutional rights.

Maketa writes in part, “Instead of the Federal Government, mainly Congress, continuing to engage in activities of which they have no authority and erodes our constitutional rights, we should focus on criminals and those who are most likely to commit acts of violence and not target the law abiding patriots of our nation.”

This morning I filled up my American made, gas guzzling, V8 powered truck and was pleased to only pay $2.60 per gallon.  The relatively low gas price had me wondering what was driving down the price of fuel.  Then it occurred to me: President Obama explained lower gas prices in one of his debates with Mitt Romney. I think he may very well be right.

Obama has shifted his anger about his inability to ‘fundamentally transform’ the nation on to the Founding Fathers.

Well, what can you say, the narcissist-in-chief has moved on from blaming George W. Bush for his incompetence to faulting the Founding Fathers and the Constitution.

In an interview with Matt Lauer, the president is asked how he feels about the citizens of the United States being disappointed in his leadership.

“What’s frustrated people is that I have not been able to force Congress to implement every aspect of what I said in 2008.  Well, it turns out that our founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change than I would like sometimes,” Obama replied.

Well, Mr. President, all I can say in reply is that you are president of a constitutional republic.

This is not a dictatorship and thank God our Founding Fathers did make it difficult on you.  Our Constitution is there to protect we the people from men like you.

Are Americans willing to give up their constitutional rights?

There has been no shortage of hysteria about gun control put forth by the liberal media and Democrats.  We knew they were going to use tragedy as opportunity and now we have our first look at the assault on the Second Amendment they are planning.

Many expected a return of the so-called ‘Assault Weapons Ban’ which was enacted in 1994 but allowed to lapse in 2004 after its ‘benefits’ were shown to be non-existent.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D – Calif) yesterday unveiled legislation that would expand the definition of ‘assault weapon’ to include 80% of the firearms currently sold in the United States.  Most troubling, even those gun owners grandfathered in before the legislation is enacted would be subject to intrusive and unconstitutional restrictions and monitoring.

Feinstein would see the United States ban the sale of a wide variety of weapons.  Most notably the ban includes, “Semiautomatic rifles and handguns with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10 rounds.”

Notice this isn’t just about high powered rifles anymore.  Democrats are going after handguns now, the most prevalent weapon used by Americans to protect themselves and their families.

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After taking a bit of a sabbatical from writing on the site I am slowing gearing up to return to the fray after the first of the year.  I’ve fielded lots of questions over the past six weeks or so as to why I had stopped writing and while the silence may have pleased the local leftists, the quiet won’t last.

I always said that I started Tony’s Rants as more of an outlet for me as a way to get things off my chest.  Nothing more.  I didn’t care if anyone read my rantings as they were more for my own edification as anything.

Leading up to the 2012 elections I was writing constantly, pouring my soul into trying to steer folks in the right direction as they cast their ballots.  The effort failed miserably.  Losses were seen across the board and were disappointing to say the least.

More than anything I was stunned by the local results.  I firmly believe that local elected officials and issues have more of an influence on our day to day lives than the national races.  Unfortunately it is clear that voters simply paid little attention to what was going on in their own backyard and that is a shame.

Suffering from ‘writer’s burnout’ and going through a rather eventful period in my personal and professional life, I took some time off from writing.  This site is not my job, I don’t get paid for it, and I certainly have far more important things to tend to.  Those took priority and they always will.

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The 2012 elections were devastating for those that recognized the massive problems with Adams County government. However there is some hope for the future.

Removed from last week’s election by more than a week we can sit with calmer heads and evaluate what went wrong with local elections and rededicate ourselves to restoring good governance to Adams County.  While the election results were far less than ideal, there is a glimmer of hope.

The two races for Adams County Commissioner were losses for Republicans, one of which was absolutely baffling.

Eva Henry bested Gary Mikes in District 1 which isn’t necessarily surprising.  Henry had big bucks behind her plus the benefit of name recognition having served on Thornton City Council.  I still don’t believe she should have abandoned her constituents in Thornton after serving one year of a four year term.

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This was posted by a friend (and verified to be accurate)… Very powerful words from a Founding Father that have me thinking a lot this afternoon.

God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The past which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive; if they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.[...] What country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is its natural manure.
~ Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to William S. Smith (13 November 1787)