Two stories you MUST read from the LA Times. This one is about the MS 13 abusing the immigration laws to import their law breaking ways. Find it here.
Then, a sad post script to the crazy McMartin Pre School phony allegations from the 1980's. One of the "victims" now acknowledges what we've already figured out: he LIED.
Monday, October 31, 2005
READ THEM AND WEEP
CRACK DOWN ON PERVS
This was sent to me tonight on the issue of cracking down on child pedophiles (hereafter known as PERVERTS).
Oregon's Child Protection Initiative Update - now it's called Ballot Measure #90.
From Sec. of State, 10/20/05:
Initiative #69 (increasing mandatory minimum sentence for sex crimesagainst child victims) was withdrawn.
We received initiative #90 (increasing mandatory minimum sentence forsex crimes against child victims); the draft ballot title is due fromthe Attorney General on October 26 and written public comments are dueNovember 9.
http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/irr/2006/090text.pdf
Nina
Don't Worry, Trust Us...So Says SOS Bill Bradbury
It's Halloween but this is no typical scary story. The response by the Oregon Secretary of State's to a concerned citizen worried about illegal aliens and other illegally voting in Oregon's elections? Don't worry, trust us! Shout out to NWRepublican for the info.
Friday, October 28, 2005
This is a DEFENSE? Immigration Fraud/Racketeering Case: 80,000 Phony ID's
The defense began today in the case of Miguel Robleto. Attorney Natchigal began with a whimper by bringing in a woman who worked with Robleto at the now defunct Forest Grove DMV office back 'in the day' in the 1980's. She testified Robleto was a nice guy and testified about how the DMV handles licensing paperwork. An interesting nugget was her revelation that the DMV suggested to people without ID that they mail an envelope to themselves to provide a key piece of ID. That is actually part of Robleto's alleged scam (see yesterday's blog for deets), answering the question of where he got the idea! Hey, he got it at work! The DMV reportedly no longer offers this helpful advice to wanna be ODL rip offs.
Thanks to the prosecutor we found out the woman had been SUBPOENAED BY THE DEFENSE and took credit for suggesting to Miguel that he try to get himself a DMV driving test franchise. Good advice. He did. And made a loooooooooooot of money.
The now former employee of the DMV works for a third party company that gives driving tests. Sound familiar? That's exactly what Miguel Robleto did before he got busted (he's now simply running a driving school. Guess the bust was bad for business and all...).
Problem solved. She tests some of Robleto's customers for him. In fact, they saw each other just last week!
Trial resumes Tuesday at 9 with another defense witness and at least one prosecution rebuttal witness.
The Oregonian devoted three whole paragraphs to the story today. This for a story they describe as the BIGGEST IMMIGRATION FRAUD CASE IN STATE HISTORY.
NEWS UPDATE
Friday, October 28, 2005
-- Holly Danks
Defense will begin
in racketeering case
The case: Miguel F. Robleto, 47, was charged with racketeering involving 189 counts of money laundering, first-degree forgery, tampering with public records and other crimes prosecutors say were related to the Drive Master Education third-party driver's testing business he ran on Southwest Walnut Street in Hillsboro. Authorities say Robleto and seven others were involved in a scheme that helped thousands of illegal immigrants from across the country get Oregon driver's licenses, making it the biggest immigration fraud in state history.
Update: Prosecutors dropped 30 counts against Robleto, who has been on trial since Oct. 5 in Washington County Circuit Court before Judge Steven L. Price. On Thursday, Price denied defense motions to dismiss the case.
What's next: Fred C. Nachtigal, a court-appointed attorney, will open Robleto's defense today. From his cross-examination of prosecution witnesses, Nachtigal is trying to show that Robleto did not know people were buying fake documents in his parking lot, falsifying driver's license applications and getting licenses without taking driving tests.
Scooter's in Deep Doo Doo
Thursday, October 27, 2005
DENIED: Defense Motion for Dismissal in case of 80,000 Illegal Aliens Getting Phony ID's for ODL
Judge Steven Price today DENIED the motion for dismissal filed by Miguel Robleto's attorney Fred Natchigal (see yesterday's post for deets). The Victoria Taft Show Courtroom mole :) reports the Judge appeared not to buy the defense's story that the former DMV worker-turned-entrepreneur had nothing to do with the mysterious jailed Tanya's enterprise of coming up with phony ID for the 80,000 illegal aliens who appeared in Oregon and who within days received an Oregon Driver's License through the help of Robleto's DME (Drive Masters). In addition, the judge made an interesting comment about the records of giving 80,000 driving tests that Robleto didn't bother to keep. The judge said those documents appear to be public records because they were being kept by a DMV sanctioned driving school and hence were official DMV documents. Where are they Mr. Robleto?
Nachtigal appeared to be so happy about his arguments made in court yesterday that he was singing as he left the courtroom. His good humor, alas, went void when the judge ruled against him. In fact, because he apparently thought he'd win the dismissal Natchigal didn't bother to come prepared with witnesses and opening statements to begin the defense's case. He's on tomorrow at 9am in the Washington County Courthouse in Hillsboro.
Mr. Robleto, who speaks perfect, fluent English (since he worked in the DMV for years), will be provided with a taxpayer provided interpreter for tomorrow's proceedings.
Interesting case, huh? The Oregonian doesn't think so. The newspaper of record (HA!) has carried one story on the case. One. That was before the trial started.
BTW: here's how the scam worked:
Illegal aliens would be carted to Oregon from points around the US where they would stay in the Dunes Motel and other nearby hotels in Hillsboro. They'd be provided (for a fee of course) residency "ID" (yes, using the hotel/motel addresses) which was in the form of a postmarked envelope. Tanya is convicted of having sent those envelopes to herself by the dozens (the addressee would be written in pencil), whereupon receipt she would erase the pencil and fill in the names of her "clients." According to testimony by an investigator during the trial, Tanya and her people would also provide VOTER IDENTIFICATION CARDS as ID! They'd take their driving training at the DME, most often using Robleto's car, and then take their written exams at the DMV.
It's a shame Mr. Robleto didn't keep any records. Bummer. I would like to have filed a FOIA request to get a look at those babies and cross reference those names with the voters list.
Oregon Supreme Court Candidate (we hope) Jack Roberts Responds to Recalls, Initiatives
Jack Roberts wrote to the Victoria Taft blog today about my rant pertaining to M 37 and judicial activism in Oregon. See the previous post here.
Jack wrote: Victoria, your history is a little rusty. The courts overturned a measure setting campaign contribution limits passed in 1994 by a margin of 851,014 to 324,224. They also overturned Measure 62, a hodgepodee of campaign rules put together by public employee unions that passed in 1998 by 721,448 to 347,112.
Both those measures could fairly be characterized as initatives supported by the left, yet the court threw them out. I'm not defending the decade-long record of judicial activism by the Oregon Supreme Court, but I think we should be careful about characterizing this as a simple left-right split.
I also think the worst thing we can do is start recalling judges whose decisions we disagree with. I agree with those who believe recall should be limited to true corruption and malfeasance, not policy disagreements.Judicial elections are another thing. There we as voters have the right to choose judges whose reasoning and values we respect.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
80,000 DRIVER'S LICENSES TO KNOWN ILLEGAL ALIENS Ain't this a great country? The Trial Continues
The prosecution rests and the defense immediately moves for a dismissal in the bizarre case of the DMV worker who strikes out on his own to provide Driving Tests for illegal aliens in his own DMV subsidiary known as a DME.
As previously noted in this blog, isn't it interesting that after all the calls to privatize the DMV during the past ten years that they choose to do it with an Hispanic former employee whose sole reason for existing is to give Driving Tests to illegal aliens? Political correctness run amok. Malfeasance? Bad management?
Contact Bruce Warner, the former head of ODOT, now with the PDC about that. His lieutenant, Lorna Youngs, who was in charge of the DMV at the time of these allegations in 2003 is now acting director of ODOT. She's the one who fired the Linn County official I told you about yesterday. Trackback here. Small world, isn't it?
Anyhoo, The Victoria Taft Show court observer thinks today's motion for dismissal by the defense particularly disturbing.
Miguel Robleto's attorney argued that:
The $465,000 found in Robleto's safe couldn't have been used in a laundering scheme because it hadn't been taken to a bank. That leaves $140,000 that in fact was taken to the bank from the proceeds of the rather lucrative business.
Robleto couldn't be found guilty of forgery because the envelopes used to fulfill Oregon's laughable 'residency' requirements had been, in fact, phonied up by someone else (who's now, it should be noted, in the slammer).
Robleto did nothing wrong by offering Driving Tests to 80,000 illegal aliens imported from other parts of the country because as he accurately noted, it's not illegal in the state of Oregon to give a Driver's License to an illegal alien.
We'll have our courtroom observer there tomorrow to bring us the 411 on what's going on in Hillboro.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
80,000 DRIVER'S LICENSES TO KNOWN ILLEGAL ALIENS Ain't this a great country?
Trial in Hillsboro of the mysterious "Tanya," Miguel Robleto, daughter Patricia Robleto, Carlos Ayone for racketeering and supplying phony ID (including VOTER ID CARDS) and "driving tests" to 80,000 illegal aliens. Today the prosecutor characterized the business as a "criminal enterprise." *A MIRACLE HAPPENS* and he becomes a resident of Oregon.
Here's a sampling of one of the DME's "customers"
Male, Hispanic, receives Matricula Consular card May 8, 2003 in California.
May 13, 2003 is in Hillsboro,Oregon having taken his 'driving instruction' from a former Oregon DMV worker who now runs a "Driving Test" DME for Oregon and is ready to take his written exam to get his Oregon Driver's License.
In today's testimony an agent from the Oregon Department of Justice refuted testimony by Patricia that she didn't know the mysterious Tanya who is alleged to have phonied up home addresses for illegal alien wanna be ODL recipients. The agent came armed with cell phone records for Patricia's multiple cell phones (3-5 of them) to show she'd had conversations with some of the nefarious people involved according to the Victoria Taft Show's courtroom observer.
Also a Department of Homeland Security officer testified that when she first got this case three years ago Miguel Robleto confirmed to her (after receiving his Miranda rights) that he knew his customers were illegal aliens. He also told her that it wasn't his job to check and that it was his job to teach them how to drive (for $80). Robleto, you'll recall, is a trained former Oregon DMV worker. Those who follow the Oregon Driver's License problem know only too well that this is the attitude of our Oregon DMV. When a Linn County DMV worker blew the whistle on an illegal alien using phony ID to get a license, the employee was FIRED.
Portlanders "offended" by pilot giving atta boys to soldiers on board!
THIS LETTER APPEARED IN MONDAY'S BOREGONIAN
Held captive by pilot
A funny thing happened to us on an American Airlines flight from Portland to Chicago this month.
After having welcomed us, the captain pronounced a political speech glorifying a couple of soldiers in the plane, their labor and their mission in Iraq.
By doing so, the captain acted as an ideological kidnapper. That was not his plane but American Airlines' plane. And, we paid to be transported from Point A to Point B safely; we did not pay to hear about the political opinions of a pilot, nor the glorification of a re-re-redefined (more "re-" to come, that's for sure) mission.
He had no right to do what he did. Keep politics off planes.
SEBASTIAN REYES GARCIA and FRIEDERIKE MACKENSEN, Southwest Portland
VICTORIA TAFT SHOW: 6-9pm M-F, KPAM. STREAM KPAM.COM
Upcoming guests: Authors Vince Flynn (THIS generation's Tom Clancy---yes, he's that good); The Washington Times' Tony Blankley, author of THE WEST'S LAST CHANCE; and author of the new book DISINFORMATION, Richard Miniter.
1,943 Bogus Voters Found in Washington; GOP goes on attack
Dino Rossi, the man who won two out of three Washington Governor's elections last November, may get some satisfaction from the Washington State GOP's announcement tomorrow.
Don't forget Oregon's electoral cheats. Right now in a Hillsboro courtroom several people are being tried on racketeering and other charges for illegally supplying illegal ID for 80,000 ILLEGAL ALIENS! Among the ID provided, according to testimony from an undercover cop: VOTER ID CARDS! Our Secretary of State pretends not to notice and instead seeks to crash down the walls between legal and illegal voters.
WWW.RECALLJUDGEJAMES.COM
Have you ever noticed that citizen initiatives are only overturned when they fall on the 'right' side of the aisle? Think about it: Victim's rights, reigning in PERS costs, politics and union dues, and others. The body politic said, hey, we may not agree but let us kill ourselves through suicide by doctor. The state laid off. No effort was made to over turn that or the Legally Stoned bill (medical marijuana), either. Now the Feds have a different take on it, but I'm talking state only.
There always seems to be some fatal flaw found by some judge and, wouldn't you know it, others jump on finding strength in the opposition and pretty soon the MSM picks up the thread and becomes the natural order of things.
This brings me to today. Some Marion County folks have had it up to HERE
with the anti Measure 37 judge, Mary James. A website has been established, a recall is being kicked off officially this week and Marion County can become a part of it. Here's where you can make your voice heard.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Able Danger: Contact your Congressional Reps!
Demand an investigation!
Demand to know why Lt Col Tony Shaffer is being punished for telling the truth!
Demand an investigation into why The 911 Commission wasn't briefed on Able-Danger when their own aides knew of it.
Contact your Congressional Representatives here!
Recall the Nutty Measure 37 Judge
After the decision to characterize sex acts before an audience as 'free speech,' after sitting by and watching a court tell the Eagles that their club is a public accommodation and that women should be admitted as members, after the hackneyed decision by Circuit Court Judge Mary James on Measure 37, it's time to get rid of these losers. First Stop: Recall Judge Mary James.
Congressman Curt Weldon TONIGHT on the Victoria Taft Show on AM 860 KPAM, The Talk Station
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 - Last night, Congressman Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, gave a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives decrying efforts within the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to smear the reputation and career of 23-year defense intelligence officer, LTC Anthony Shaffer. Congressman Weldon also brought forth new information on the destruction of data and findings of the Able Danger planning effort. Below, is the full text of the floor speech as recorded in the Congressional Record.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
BRIDGE ON THE RIVER COLUMBIA & IMMIGRATION
Topics tonight on the Victoria Taft Show
Would you pay a toll to get across the proposed new bridge?
Would you rather have ten lanes and no light rail or six lanes and light rail?
We're talking about it tonight on the Victoria Taft Show.
7pm Mark Krikorian with the Center for Immigration Studies talking about the plans by the Department of Homeland Security to CRACK DOWN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION!
What a concept.
Monday, October 17, 2005
GOOD BYE INITIATIVE PROCESS IN OREGON?
EDITORIAL IN ALBANY DEMOCRAT HERALD
- Good-bye initiative?
Measure 37 is a troublesome law because it threatens to gobble up much of rural Oregon for development. But the seemingly capricious decision by a Marion County judge, Mary James, to invalidate the law is far worse.The decision probably will not stand on appeal. It is too far out in terms of legal support. But if it does stand, Oregonians can kiss the initiative good-bye as a way of making changes in the way the state operates.
Measure 37 did not change the state constitution. It was a statutory initiative. But it is impossible for the voter to understand how it could be considered unconstitutional, or to believe that it is.
The judge found that the measure violated the equal-protection clause because it benefited only people who were potentially harmed by changes in land-use rules. Exactly. That was the point. There’s no reason to compensate buyers for restrictions already in effect when they bought. Every law benefits only people to whom it applies. How can this be suddenly unconstitutional?The judge also found the measure intruded on legislative authority. Of course it did. So does every citizen initiative. That’s the point of initiatives.The initiative process has its flaws. But Oregon can’t allow a circuit judge to throw all of it out. (hh)
OREGONIANS IN ACTION RESPOND TO M 37 RULING
M E M O R A N D U M
TO: The 1,054,000 Oregonians who Voted for Measure 37
FROM: Oregonians In Action
DATE: October 17, 2005
RE: Marion County Decision on Measure 37
As you are no doubt aware, a Marion County Circuit Court Judge - Mary Mertens-James (Kulongoski appointee) – declared on her own last Friday that Ballot Measure 37 was unconstitutional. The judge accepted the novel legal theories presented by property rights opponents who filed the lawsuit - all of whom actively opposed Measure 37 during the 2004 campaign.
Essentially, the judge’s decision can be distilled into this one argument: she didn’t think Measure 37 was fair. Fair to whom it is unclear, but the primary argument of the property-rights opponents was that Measure 37 was unfair, and the judge apparently bought into that specious argument.
Measure 37 Impairs the Legislative Body’s Plenary Power
The court’s decision is built upon a house of cards. The foundation of which is the argument that Measure 37 impairs the plenary power of the state of Oregon.
“Plenary power” is legalese for “police power”, and it describes the authority of the state to protect the public welfare, health and safety through the imposition of laws such as zoning regulations. Of course, no constitution, state or federal, grants Oregon or any other state a “police power.” Linde, Hans, Without Due Process: Unconstitutional Law in Oregon, 49 Or. L. Rev. 125, 147 (1970). As Justice Linde reminds us:
There simply is no such thing [as the police power]. What Oregon has, as a state, is plenary power to make and administer law, by means of constitutional institutions and subject to constitutional limitations. A state constitution distributes power, it does not create it...But where in any constitution is the state granted a “police power?” Or power to define property rights? Or family relationship? Or commercial transactions? Or to define and punish crimes? Or to levy taxes? Or to build roads?
These and all other possible objectives of law are simply part of “the legislative power of the state” that in turn is allocated by Article IV. The state has that legislative power, not because of any grant, but because it is a state.”
Id. at 147-148.
Justice Linde says, “It [the term ‘police power’] ought to be completely abandoned, shunned in opinions, proscribed from briefs, and blue-penciled whenever it threatens to creep into sight.” Id (emphasis added).
Undeterred, the court claims the question presented by the anti-property rights interests is whether the legislative branch (here, the people via the initiative) can impose limits on the government’s ability to use its “police power”. Even though there is no such thing as “police power”, the Marion County judge says that if Measure 37 prohibits the legislative branch from exercising its police power, then Measure 37 is unconstitutional.
At this point in the opinion the judge has already gotten sidetracked, creating a rule of law that has long ago been dismissed. But even under the judge-created standard, Measure 37 should have survived. The test the judge said she was going to apply was whether Measure 37 prohibited the legislative branch from enacting land use regulations.
The judge then correctly states:
Measure 37 does not purport to restrict the power of government to enforce current land use regulations or the power of legislative bodies to enact new ones.
Bob Stacey, executive director of 1000 Friends of Oregon, also testified that nowhere in Measure 37 is the ability of government to pass new land use laws – or enforce new laws – prohibited. So even under this judge’s erroneous standard Measure 37 should survive, right?
Wrong.
After announcing the test she would apply is whether Measure 37 prohibits the legislature from enacting land use regulations, the judge (apparently realizing her new test wouldn’t get her the result she wanted) applied a new, but undefined, test. Judge James states:
Measure 37 requires government to pay if it wants to enforce valid, previously enacted land use regulations, i.e. it must pay to govern. This is legislative body cannot do, and the possibility that a later legislature could decide to repeal that condition on enforcement does not make it permissible.
This makes no sense whatsoever. The judge states that requiring government to pay if it wants to enforce valid, previously enacted land use regulations is impermissible. Of course, the judge cites absolutely no legal authority whatsoever for this proposition, She also does not explain why she announced the legal standard she would apply to Measure 37 and then failed to apply it.
The court then tries to rationalize its decision by using hypothetical examples to justify the court’s conclusion. First, The court says that if Measure 37 is allowed to remain law:
[B]y future regulation, public entities could be forced to choose between enforcing Department of Environmental Quality regulations or paying citizens whose cars do not meet emissions requirements for the cost to repair their cars.
Huh?
[B]etween enforcing school attendance policies and paying parents for the costs of clothing, food and other privately borne costs associated with sending their children to school.
As irrational as these examples are, both would satisfy the test the court said it would apply to Measure 37 - that is, whether the law prohibits the legislative assembly from exercising its “police power”. In the examples presented by the court, neither compensation regulation would have prohibited the government from passing new - or enforcing current – land use regulations. In other words, both hypothetical compensation schemes posed by the court would have satisfied the court’s own test!
Nevertheless, the court ruled that Measure 37 infringes on the government’s imaginary “police power”. It is from this false conclusion that the court rests the remainder of its decision.
Measure 37 violates Equal Privileges and Immunities
The Plaintiffs in this case alleged that Measure 37 violates the “privileges and immunities” section of the Oregon Constitution, Article I, Section 20. The Plaintiffs asserted that “Early Oregon cases recognized that this provision [Art. I, Sec. 20] bars legislative favoritism by precluding laws that benefit special interests.” The Plaintiffs based the entirety of their “privileges and immunities” argument on the conclusion that Measure 37 “benefits special interests.”
This overly simple argument by the Plaintiffs exposed their own weaknesses – the reason the Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit in the first place is because they believe Measure 37 “gores their ox,” so to speak. Under Oregon’s land use system, farmers are benefitted in any number of ways. The result of which is cheap and abundant land. Depo of Vanasche, pg. 22-26 (Aff. of Day, Ex. 6, pg. 6; Ex. 14, pgs. 3-6). Oregon’s land use system itself is designed to “benefit special interests” – farmers! Would the Plaintiffs and the Court agree then, that Oregon’s land use laws equally “benefit special interests” and should therefore be invalidated? Doubtful.
The law on Oregon’s “equal privileges and immunities” clause of the Constitution is well defined. Essentially, legislation that targets or excludes a suspect class of citizens is unconstitutional. Whether or not a class of citizens is “suspect” depends on whether the class possesses certain immutable characteristics such as race, creed, religion, or sexual orientation. Further, a class cannot be created by the law itself. The class must exist outside the operation of the challenged law.
A law that targets or excludes a class of citizens not determined to be “suspect” is subject only to rational review. In constitutional law parlance, “rational review” is unbelievably easy for the government to satisfy. In practice, when court’s invoke “rational review”, the challenged regulation will always survive judicial scrutiny.
But not in this case. The court held that Measure 37 discriminated against a class of citizens, but the class was not suspect. Nevertheless, the court held, because (in the court’s opinion, analyzed above) Measure 37 unconstitutionally restricts the legislature’s authority to regulate property, Measure 37 cannot withstand scrutiny under the “rational review” standard.
Measure 37 Violates Suspension of Laws
Article I, Section 22 of the Oregon Constitution which states:
The Operation of laws shall never be suspended, except by Authority of the Legislative Assembly.
The text of the cited constitutional provision could not be more clear. The operation of laws should not be suspended, except by the authority of the Legislative Assembly. In their argument in support of this claim, the Plaintiffs purposefully ignore the plain and unambiguous language of this section of the Oregon Constitution. Assuming for the moment that Measure 37 “suspends the laws”, the voters of Oregon, by approving Measure 37 (acting with their co-equal authority with the Legislative Assembly), authorized such a suspension, consistent with the requirements of the Constitution. What could be more clear?
Nevertheless, the court held that Measure 37 violated this section of the Oregon Constitution. Why? Because, according to the court, this section of the constitution must be read in conjunction with the other sections of the Constitution, and that to the extent a law violates the equal privileges and immunities section of the constitution, it must also violate the “suspension of laws” section of the Constitution as well.
The house of cards gets taller the farther one reads into the opinion. Let’s summarize:
• Even though there is no such thing in the Oregon Constitution as the “police power”, and even though Measure 37 doesn’t prohibit the legislative assembly from enacting or enforcing new land use regulations, Measure 37 nevertheless infringes the “police power” of the legislature by prohibiting the legislative assembly from enacting or enforcing new or existing land use regulations.
• Because Measure 37 violates the non-existent “police power” of the legislature, Measure 37 violates the equal privileges and immunities section of the Oregon Constitution because violating a non-existent constitutional power cannot possibly be rationally related to a legitimate governmental interest.
• Because Measure 37 violates the equal privileges and immunities clause of the Oregon Constitution by violating a non-existent “police power” not contained in the Oregon Constitution, Measure 37 must also violate the “suspension of laws” section of the Oregon Constitution.
Measure 37 violates Oregon’s Separation of Powers
The fourth floor of the court’s house of cards claims that because Measure 37 is an impermissible prohibition on the legislature’s “police power”, Measure 37 represents an impermissible delegation of authority, and therefore violates the separation of powers principles embodied in the Oregon Constitution.
Measure 37 Violates the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
The penthouse level of the court’s house of cards comes in the court’s conclusion that Measure 37 violates the due process guarantees of the the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
First, the court argues that Measure 37 does not provide procedural protections for persons such as the plaintiffs. The court correctly identifies the review process available to property rights opponents as the Writ of Review process. ORS 34.010 et. seq. A writ of review allows a person affected or aggrieved by a decision (including a Measure 37 decision) to go into court and have the court review the local government’s decision. This is a review process that has been used by parties affected by local government decisions for decades in Oregon.
Judge James called the process “too little, too late.”
Finally, the court says that because Measure 37 impedes upon fundamental rights of those opposed to property rights, Measure 37 necessarily violates the substantive due process rights of the Plaintiffs. This part of the court’s opinion is the icing on the cake because the court recognizes what it calls “the fundamental rights of neighboring property owners”, but refuses to recognize the fundamental rights of Oregonians like Dorothy English who have had everything taken from them through the exercise of the state’s non-existent “police power”.
Conclusion
The court’s decision in this case is factually and legally flawed in several respects, beginning with the most fundamental aspects of the operation of government. Boiled down, the court’s decision means that the state government has an affirmative obligation to regulate the use of land! Talk about judicial activism! No where in the Oregon Constitution does it say that the legislature must regulate the use of land.
But even more disturbing is, if allowed to stand, the court’s decision will eliminate the ability of the legislature, or the people of the state of Oregon, to limit the power of state government in any respect (subject only to limits in the Oregon Constitution).
Message of Measure 37 decision: Judges are in charge of policy
Be at KPAM AM 860, THE TALK STATION for the Victoria Taft show 6-9pm tonight as we give you the short and sweet of the Measure 37 case. In addition to the obvious conclusion--that your land isn't your own-- here are four other take aways on the issue right now:
1) This decision reduces the impact of citizen sponsored initiatives. This is by
design by an apparatus mobilized to reduce the effectiveness of the initiative process.
2) The legislature was asked to tweak M 37 during the session and refused; this could have been a good thing, but in retrospect reveals the legislature to be
as dysfunctional as we feared
3) The Governor is a no-show on the issue
4) This leaves the judiciary to make policy decisions for the state.
THE STAKES COULDN'T BE HIGHER!
Saturday, October 15, 2005
150-200 Show up for Rally for the Minute Men
What a great turn out to the RALLY TO SUPPORT THE MINUTEMEN at the State Capitol building steps today. What an eye opener for those who have never heard about how much a toll is exacted by people who come to this country illegally. I appeared today and the following is my speech.
In Oregon…we could have as many as 200,000 people who have come here illegally. A disproportionate number of people who came here illegally commit crimes as evidenced by the prison stats which show 6% of the people in prison, there on violent crimes charges—rape, murder, sexual assault—have Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds on them. That means they’ll go back to their home country after they’ve done their time because they’re here ILLEGALLY.
That means they came to this country ILLEGALLY…possibly worked a job-- which they got ILLEGALLY…committed a CRIME…and probably more than the ones for which they were caught…and are in a PRISON.
Do I need to say out loud that they shouldn’t have been here in the first place?
After 911 we found out the hijackers had expired Visas—NEVER MIND THEY WERE ACTUALLY GIVEN VISAS--…were ILLEGAL ALIENS…law breakers…and among them had dozens of drivers licenses.
Five of them got Social Security numbers with FAKE ID’s, seven hijackers received Virginia state ID cards, even though they lived in Maryland motels.
And how about this…quoting Michelle Malkin here…
“Illegal aliens participated in the first attack on the World Trade Center, the Los Angeles Millennium bombing plot, and the New York subway bombing plot. Moreover, three of the September 11 hijackers were here illegally at the time of their attacks and several others obtained fraudulent ID cards with the assistance of an illegal alien. Clearly, illegal-friendly policies — not only sanctuary laws, but also driver's licenses, banking privileges, and college-tuition breaks — make it easier for terrorists to blend in and carry out their nefarious plans.”
Our state was host to one of those home grown terrorist cells you’ll be hearing more about in the months and years to come.
The Portland Seven…another group in New York…Providence…Los Angeles…and Bly, Oregon…which was home to a terrorist training camp…where TERRORISTS spent a weekend trying it out before deciding to move to another spot.
Oregon…home to a TERRORIST CELL and target of a TERRORIST TRAINING CAMP and in a fit of political correctness the Portland mayor pulls OUT of the FBI’S JOINT TERRORISM TASK FORCE.
The Driver and Motor Vehicles department, the DMV, falls all over itself to finally privatize some of its business (that we’ve been asking them to do for years) and what do they do? They hand a sweet part of the business to a hispanic former DMV worker—in an attempt to reach out to Latinos--and he now is alleged to have set up a business to give no FEWER than 80,000 people…the overwhelming number of them ILLEGAL ALIENS…FAKE ID’S to get Oregon Driver’s licenses.
When DMV workers raise an eyebrow...they’re told to keep their heads down and do as they’re told.
When a Linn County DMV worker denied a Driver’s license to a person with FAKE ID…they were fired!
The illegal alien gets the license…the LEGAL AMERICAN worker is fired.
Here in Oregon…the government apparatus LINES UP to give illegal aliens…medical care…paper work…jobs…DRIVER’S LICENSES….BANK ACCOUNTS…MORTGAGES--there was a bill in this last session to give children of illegal aliens in state tuition breaks—IN STATE TUITION? THEY’RE IN THE COUNTRY ILLEGALLY!!! And all of this is necessary to melt into our economy while sending most of their money back home. Even the Oregon Secretary of State’s office is at these events…to do what…sign illegal aliens up to vote?
Every legislative session…every meeting of the city council…Metro…school districts…every one has their hand out. They never have enough of your money.
A Cell phone tax…a tax on the internet…a regional INCOME tax??? State Representative Kelley Wirth even floated the idea of a grocery bag tax in the last session. They think of every way they can get your money.
And yet…that government apparatus falls all over itself to school people who are here illegally…to give benefits to people who are here illegally…to GIVE DRIVER’S LICENSES to people who are here illegally…driver’s licenses that they use to get benefits they shouldn’t be allowed to get because it’s ILLEGAL.
All with our tax dollars.
The undeniable conclusion is if they stopped helping and encouraging and coddling…illegal aliens…we might have a few more dollars to put in the governmental apparatus for helping LEGAL CITIZENS!
We look the other way in the name of tolerance but there’s TOLERANCE…and there’s STUPIDITY.
Unfortunately Oregon errs on the side of stupidity.
How can you tell the good guys from the bad guys…you can’t always…but you can make sure they go through every legal hoop we hold up and every back ground check we can devise to make people who want to come here prove they’re worthy to be here.
We’re here today to thank the Minute Men for doing a great job. Their job is to watch the border patrol do …or not do… their jobs. The Minute Men are the mirror image to the border patrol.
This week Senator Majority leader Bill Frist announced that the republicans were making illegal immigration THEIR issue. He spent some time on the Texas border with politicos who gave him the 411 on what’s going on there.
You and I both know he NEVER would have given that issue the time of day were it not for groups such as OREGONIANS FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM…THE MINUTE MEN…and Talk hosts…such as Michael Savage and Sean Hannity…and bloggers such as Michelle Malkin.
Take that to the bank with your LEGAL ID…it wouldn’t have happened if not for these folks and people like you.
By being here today you have an opportunity to make a change for the better. By being here you may get the people making the decisions to change their attitudes about Oregon being a sanctuary for terrorists and illegal aliens.
Thank you.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Rally for Minute Men Saturday 1pm State Capitol Salem
*Don't forget the Rally for the Minutemen at the steps of the Oregon State Capitol Building in Salem Saturday, October 15 at 1pm. I'll be there!! Will you? Oregonians for Immigration Reform is sponsoring it.
Useful details for Rally trip There will be no access to restrooms in the Capitol building, as it is closed on Saturdays. There?s a portable toilet, painted green, in the park adjoining the Capitol; it?s large enough to accommodate wheel chairs. The Capitol building maintains its own website with helpful information, at: http://www.leg.state.or.us/capinfo/ There's an enlarged map of the Capitol Mall area, with buildings and streets identified, at: http://egov.oregon.gov/ODA/docs/pdf/ag_map.pdf The Capitol?s website gives these directions for driving to the Capitol: From North I-5 Go South on I-5 to the #256 Exit (Market Street) Go right on Market Street Turn left on Summer Street Turn left on Center Street Right on Capitol Street Turn right on Court Street. Park in appropriate area for visitors. From South I-5 Go North on I-5 to the #253 Exit (Mission Street/Hwy. 22) Turn left on Mission Street/Hwy22. Follow signs to State Offices & Willamette University. Park in appropriate areas for visitors. From East Go West on Hwy 22 to Salem. Follow signs to State Offices & Willamette University. Turn left on Court Street. Park in appropriate areas for visitors. From West Go East on Hwy 22 to Salem. This road becomes Center Street. Stay on Center Street. Turn right on Capitol. Turn right on Court Street.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Wednesday: On the Talk Show Tonight AM 860 KPAM The Talk Station
*Don't forget the Rally for the Minutemen at the steps of the Oregon State Capitol Building in Salem Saturday, October 15 at 1pm. I'll be there!! Will you? Oregonians for Immigration Reform is sponsoring it.
The Fraternal Order of the Eagles is a service organization, a club if you will. While the little women can't be members they come and go as they please. The Eagles, a private organization, has now been ordered in the state of Oregon to admit women, under the public accommodations law. Officially this is apparently how the free speech/first amendment stuff works out in Oregon:
1) live sex shows are now protected OPINION speech
2) panhandling is protected opinion speech
3) fraternizing, associating with people of your choice in your PRIVATE club has no protection.
More incredible info from the Washington State Governor's election. Oh, I know, you say 'Victoria that's just SO last year' but illegal ballots were counted and they could have made the difference for Dino Rossi. Be here at 7:35 as Stefan Sharkansky sorts it all out. Plus read his piece in The Stranger.
Now we learn that in the state of Washington that political lying is A-OK. The case stems from a state Senate race in 2002 in which a Green Party candidate deliberately lied about her opponent and this court ruling says her lies are protected under the first amendment: you know, political speech and all. My friends, this is what legislating from the bench gets you: confusion.
Tune in tonight to the Victoria Taft Show, broadcasting LIVE from the People's Republic of Portland, where no tax is too high, no business too small to pay 'em, and where they want more money for schools because they're "broke" but are building a NEW school which could have been had a privately run Charter school but didn't want the competition!
*Rides to Rally this Sat.; PARKING INFO A driver from Gresham is offering to take 3 passengers to the Rally this Saturday. He will be driving down via 205. If you live along that corridor and need a ride, send a note to o4ir@excite.com. If there are other drivers willing to take passengers, or persons needing a ride, please also contact OFIR at o4ir@excite.com. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PARKING INFORMATION The meters on the streets surrounding the block where the Capitol Building is located, will not be monitored on Saturday, so parking is free around this block. The underground parking structure for visiting government offices is closed on Saturdays. All of the walking-distance parking east of 12th Street is free with no time restrictions on Saturday, according to a resident of that area. The Capitol is at 900 Court St. Surrounding streets are Court and State Streets, Winter St. and Capital St. The Capitol is just east of the downtown business section. Willamette University campus adjoins on the south side of the Capitol.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
On the Talk Show Tonight AM 860 KPAM The Talk Station
Have the citizens of Portland just signed on to provide rehab to all homeless people? Sounds like it. Tune in at 6:05 pm (pacific) to listen in and join the discussion. 877-774-KPAM (5726), 503 225 0860, victoria@victoriataft.com.
Portland may be providing potties for the homeless and anyone else desperate enough to search for a loo downtown.
Then at 7:05 join the head of the Minutemen (Canada) in an enlightening discussion of what's going on North of the border and how that impacts illegal immigration and possible terrorist activities.
Don't forget the Rally for the Minutemen at the steps of the Oregon State Capitol Building in Salem Saturday, October 15 at 1pm. I'll be there!! Will you? Oregonians for Immigration Reform is sponsoring it.
Former FBI chief Louis Freeh was interviewed today. You won't believe what he had to say about President Clinton and his lies. Verrrry interesting.
Tune in tonight to the Victoria Taft Show, broadcasting LIVE from the People's Republic of Portland, where no tax is too high, no business too small to pay 'em, and where they're plotting right now to tax your cell phone and internet connection. LET FREEDOM RING!
Monday, October 10, 2005
Have you heard about the university bombings? No?
Two bombings: one at Georgia Tech, one at the University of Oklahoma. The NorthEastern Intelligence Network is on it.
MIERS REMORSE...Get rid of Harriet. NOW.
Here's John Fund's piece in Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com about Harriet Miers's nomination and how she should go now. Did I mention NOW?
666: The Mark of a Failing School District?
Portland Public Schools has often patted itself on the back with much ballyhoo for being one of the few successful inner city school districts in the country. Well, the district continues to lose students. The latest loss over the 04-05 period is 666 students. School, city, and county officials continue their plot against tax payers on how to prop up this problem district by offering up a TEN YEAR LONG INCOME TAX as a solution to the region's school problems. Other districts realize this for the sham it is: they know if they throw their lot in with Multnomah County that somehow their 'cut' of the tax booty would be less than that of PPS. No duh. Plus, as this article in the state's newspaper of record (ha!) shows other districts have their own tax gouging plans and could torpedo the plan.
I can tell Portland why people aren't staying in the city to school their children: There's little reason to stay. Portland has fallen all over itself to be hip and attract childless couples, the young artsy crowd who, on a regular basis, spend their days barking latte orders and scouting their faces for the next prime piercing spot. Portland also actively seeks to attract not just any young people, but liberal young people. A recent weekly tabloid insert in the state's paper of record (ha!) purported to show this young, hip crowd, where the best blogs in town are. Mine wasn't up and running yet, but several other conservative blogs were and, you'll never guess, not one conservative blog was on their list (insert shock and outrage here).
Portland goes out of its way to welcome gays to the area. Gay people don't produce children. Add to that the recently family friendly State Supreme Court decision on sex clubs, the reduction in the sizes of homes, the reduction in the sizes of lots (plenty of room for the kids!), the urban growth boundary which puts upward pressure on home prices , the gentrification of areas which push out old timers and minorities, hot and cold running panhandlers, and you've got a VERY unfriendly atmosphere in which to raise children.
Hey, Portland, did you hear me?
Friday, October 07, 2005
Harriet Miers...Who is She? See what Planned Parenthood thinks of her
Check out the "Choice Magazine" piece from Planned Parenthood on Harriet Miers here. The President also predicted today that, far from having her candidacy torpedoed, she WILL be confirmed.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Trafficking in Oregon Driver's Licenses...80,000 on the street. The biggest immigration scandal ever in Oregon.
Isn't it interesting that after years of prodding by free marketeers to privatize the Oregon DMV, the state chose to "privatize" by granting the gig to a company that deals only with spanish speaking people and illegal aliens? Whoops! Turns out our boys are accused crooks, to boot. Forging documents, running a racketeering outfit, and, oh yeah, money laundering are among the dozens of charges. Prosecutors say it seems this man, a former DMV employee, got drivers licenses for as many as 80,000 illegal aliens. That's not a typo: 80,000.
Are you ticked that Oregon gives out driver's licenses to illegal aliens? It's worse than that, however, Oregon is complicit in seeking out illegal aliens to whom to give services. Check it out here. Check out the Oregonians for Immigration Reform website for more information here.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Suicide by Doctor
I've been amused by the MSM's reaction to the arguments made in front of SCOTUS today on the issue whether the state's use of federally regulated drugs to kill people is an appropriate use of federal drug laws. We're told that John Roberts didn't let Oregon's Senior Assistant Attorney General get one sentence out before he began peppering Robert Atkinson with questions which seemed to indicate which way he'll vote on the issue. Anthony Kennedy was quoted as saying--wait for it--"It's a tough case," which the MSM didn't attempt to translate except to intimate by including it in their stories that the observation was deep, really deep, man. The issue is whether Oregon's ability to regulate the way in which physicians practice medicine trumps the federal government's ability to regulate