A Message From Rick Hickey

PLEASE DON’T VOTE, until you read this… ... ...

As Vice-Pres. of OFIR I understand that the issue of illegal immigration is a non-partisan issue impacting all Americans and legal immigrants.

This notice concerns only registered Republicans and the current ballot just received.

Included in your election ballot is a form (yellow) to become a Precinct Committee Person or PCP. A PCP has the voting rights to influence what happens in the party. You can become a PCP by voting for yourself (write-in) and having just two others write you in on their form and mail it in with the ballot.

These two others need to be registered in the Republican Party and in your precinct or one of the adjacent precincts.

There are hundreds of slots open statewide, so your vote(s) to become a PCP should be approved.

Why bother? I understand why many of you are frustrated with John McCain and the Republican Party leadership decision to ignore or pander on this issue of illegal immigration.

These leaders are convinced that groups such as PCUN or "La Raza" (supporters of amnesty) and other enablers of crimes will now tell their indentured sheep to vote for McCain. However you and I know that these special interest groups, who are taking advantage of these desperate people and the language barrier, will never change their agenda. They would cease to exist if they did.

I believe that some elite leaders are only listening to the few employers and special interest groups that are breaking several federal laws, not the majority of voters. If we really had a labor shortage wages would be going through the roof, they are not as you know.

If the majority of Americans really wanted amnesty, legislation would have easily passed the 1st or the 2nd time around. It hasn’t and is not going to this year either.

Attrition thru enforcement does work and is the most humane, efficient and compassionate solution, not rewarding bad behavior. The 1986 amnesty and the results of it 22 years later should be enough proof. Attrition is a result of respecting the rule of law, a Republican Party by-law.

Did you know this important news? The Oregon Republican Party wrote and passed a resolution supporting the Respect for Law Act, twice. This is our only opportunity at enforcing immigration laws here in Oregon for now. We should let the entire state know that republicans do support the rule of law and therefore motivate the larger majority of voters that agree with this.

Party leaders should not be afraid to support the 9 out of 10 employers that are not violating laws. Instead voter registrations and donations prove we have lost a majority support position and will continue to do so if we pander to corrupt employers only.

Did you read about this resolution in your Newspaper? Get an e-mail? Saw this on the TV News? Heard this on the Radio? No. No. No. Some republican leaders again are choosing to ignore this after five months of several of us asking for out reach efforts to happen. How much longer can just a couple of people ignore the will of the people? Isn’t that the same reason that millions have fled their countries, risking all to come here?

They have leaders that ignore the needs and wants of the people. Together we can change this. Together we must change this for the future of our nation or this anarchy will become the norm.

Our economy, jobs, crime, schools, and health care are all impacted negatively by this overwhelming stream of illegals. If illegal aliens were "good for the economy", the state with the most illegals, California, would be enjoying record prosperity. Instead they are billions and billions in debt.

We the taxpayers are paying the bills for corrupt employers and special interest groups via millions of people willing to work for less pay then you and by being experts at taking advantage of our generous social safety nets.

Republican by-laws say we are the party of less taxes and government; however some leaders in our party are ignoring the #1 reason for increased government spending = illegal aliens.

I refuse to ignore this issue as I read about illegal’s killing and raping people every week, crimes that are preventable when the law is applied.

Republicans in other states know how important this is and the results have been the introduction of over 1,100 new bills to stop illegal immigration introduced this year. I refuse to ignore the identity theft or fraud crisis. I refuse to ignore the Meth epidemic. I refuse to make excuses while people continue to suffer when we all know how it could be significantly reduced,
by honoring the rule of law.

Please consider becoming a PCP now, while you have that ballot handy. If we cannot get help from the leadership here for now, as a PCP you can change that.

Do not give up; together we can stop illegal immigration and get our party on the right track again. After all, it is the LAW.

Sincerely,
Rick Hickey
U.S. Citizen via legal immigration
2nd generation.
www.respectforlawact.org

Gotta Love Oblamma

Gas Prices

When I woke up this morning, I wasn't feeling well. It is after all that time of year when colds and flu are making the rounds. We've been told that even though you may have gotten a Flu Shot, it really isn't going to do you much good. Hmmmmm, sounds a lot like our government lately. We may have one, but it isn't doing us citizens much good right now.

As I said, I wasn't feeling well, so I got up around 4:00am. At 4:30am I turned on the local news. They were prepared with Breaking News that gas prices are at an all time high and are likely to hit $4.00 a gallon by summer. And that's for Regular folks. You German Car drivers better be ready to really pony up.

What prompted this post (read rant) is that the local news station (KPTV) has their reporter parked outside a gas station (service went away a long time ago) and every five to seven minutes, he comes on to say the same damn thing, "Gas prices are at an all time high and going higher..."

This is not breaking or any other kind of news. Anybody that hasn't been aware that gas prices have been going up dramatically for the last few years has probably been in a Coma.

I am wondering why the reporter is posted outside a gas station and not down at the State Capitol investigating this obvious fraud that is being perpetrated on the American people and what can be done to reverse it.

So far, everyone I talk to is so complacent I want to reach out and shake them. WAKE UP PEOPLE! It isn’t just affecting you at the pump, it will alter your very way of life! Everything you buy is going to start costing you more… … … A lot more, and soon!

Most people I talk to say, “Well, this is closer to where gas prices should be.” I say, “Based on what?” Their reply is usually weak at best.

I’ll always be the first to admit I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it seems to me if there is a shortage, the oil companies can’t make as much money because they don’t have the product to sell. WRONG! They just jack up the price at the pump and not only do they make record profits, they make obscenely high profits and what do you know, there’s all kinds of gas at the new higher price.

Well now they’re saying, the latest price hikes aren’t due to a “shortage of crude oil” or “lack of refineries” it's the sluggish economy – And yet, the oil companies are STILL making obscene profits. It’s good to see the oil companies doing their part to help the slumping economy. RIGHT!

One of the first things someone might say to me would be, “Greg, if you don’t like the high price of gas, don’t buy it.” Believe me, I buy as little as possible. I work out of my house, I consolidate trips and then on a motorcycle as often as possible. The problem is, I have to heat my home, eat and everything else normal folks do, and it’s all going to cost more – much more!

I always thought there were Monopoly laws that prevented cornering the market and jacking prices for a given commodity out of sight. Oh yeah – why there’s no Monopoly here. There are several different oil companies, all free to set the price for their products as they see fit to compete in the market place. BULLSHIT! The whole oil business is a ‘Good Ol Boys’ club. Where one goes, they all go. It has made them all very fat and very happy I’m sure, but they've become gluttons and once they got a taste for price gouging, they can’t get enough of it. The American consumer is really taking it on the chin. I just don’t understand why it appears no one is doing anything about it.

Like lemmings we just allow the oil companies to keep raping us at the pump without saying a word.

I am not ready to drop down to a lower standard of living just so oil companies can continue to make obscene profits, but I know that many Americans will have to. And, at some point I may not have a choice. You would think that alone would be enough to get our elected officials excited and involved, but it doesn’t seem to be.

Some say that it’s happening because President Bush is an oil guy. I’d say that’s a fair bet although not the only reason. I sure haven’t heard Hilary, Barack or McCain step up and say that they will get a handle on any of this. On the issue of jacking gasoline prices, it appears that those three are as bad as Bush.

I for one am sick to death of it. The American public is being held for ransom at the pump and nobody seems to care enough to do anything about it.

I guarantee you that we are getting screwed and the oil guys are laughing all the way to their off shore tax exempt bank accounts. You have to know that as long as we let them get away with this simultaneous screwing they will continue to think we are dumber than a box of hammers.

It’s time we let our elected officials know in a very loud voice that we’re done being patsies and if they don’t get serious and do something about this, they will soon find out how life in the private sector is.

While I'm at it, why are gas prices in the Portland Metropolitan almost .40¢ a gallon higher than most of the rest of the country?

As for our friends at the local Television and Radio stations, how about you go find a real story like, who is doing what to help curb this travesty and what citizens can do to help put a stop to it rather than repeating every 5 minutes what I already know by driving by any gas station.

On a somewhat related note, here's another thing we Americans have just let go by the wayside - SERVICE! Tell me why when I was paying .35¢ a gallon, I got my front and rear windows washed, headlamps and outside mirrors washed, battery, belts, hoses, coolant, engine oil, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, tire pressure and tread depth checked by several attendants and now that it is damn near $4.00 a gallon I can't even get a guy to wait on me in a reasonable amount of time let alone get my oil checked.

Another interesting little tidbit to ponder... Our friends at Costco that we know and trust to keep quality high and prices low, who clearly have the lowest gas prices in their areas (they scout the competition twice a day to make sure they are lower) still make .40+ cents net profit a gallon - Yes, I said net. My guess is that the Mom & Pop gas stations have lower (albeit not as diversified) overhead than a Costco Store. I remember when we were cutting a fat hog if we made .3¢ to .5¢ a gallon.