S.E. Cupp comes to Georgia Tech

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Andrés Celedón

The Georgia Tech College Republicans, with the collaboration of the Young America’s Foundation are hosting up and coming conservative author S.E. Cupp! Ms. Cupp will be focusing on the importance of conservatives being active, especially the younger generation. The event will take place Thursday, April 26th at 7PM in the LeCraw Auditorium (College of Management, Room 100). The physical address is: 800 West Peachtree NW, Atlanta, GA 30308.

The event is open to the public, and we will be raffling off a signed copy of Phil Kent’s book “Foundations of Betrayal: How the Liberal Super Rich Undermine America.” After the event, there is a book signing event planned with Ms. Cupp.

So come on out and support the Georgia Tech College Republicans as we end the semester with a thrill as we get ready to get boots on the ground for the November election to make sure President Obama is a one term president!

We are offering sponsorship levels to make sure that this event runs smoothly, we would like to thank all of our past and future donors!

$500 Gold: A ticket to a special VIP dinner with S.E. Cupp before the program, photo op, a front row seat, a signed copy of S.E. Cupp’s latest book, and recognition in our program
$250 Silver: Front row seat, a signed copy of S.E. Cupp’s new book, and recognition in our program
$100 Bronze: Front row seat and recognition in our program

Special offer to any campaign:

If you meet or exceed a Bronze level sponsorship, we will allow you to place campaign literature on a table at the front door of the event and your campaign’s contribution will be recongnized in the program brochure.

You can mail your check directly to:

Georgia Tech College Republicans
2211 Student Center Commons
350 Ferst Drive, NW
Atlanta, GA 30332

You can also access the Facebook event page by clicking here.

Please contact the chairman, Ellie Smith, at chairman@gtrepublicans.com with any questions!

A little about Ms. Cupp from the Young America’s Foundation:

S.E. Cupp is author of the new book, “Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media’s Attack on Christianity” which comes out April 27th (Simon & Schuster). She is also co-author of “Why You’re Wrong About The Right,” which was published by Simon & Schuster in June of 2008.”…After two terms of George W. Bush, it’s harder than ever to know what it means to be a conservative, though for a working definition, this book is an excellent place to start.. Cupp and Joshpe have thought it through, and write with the sort of easy wit we could use more of on the right.” — Tucker Carlson.S.E. is a political columnist and culture critic. She has a regular online column at the New York Daily News, and a regular feature at The Daily Caller. She is a contributing editor at Townhall magazine, and a regular contributor to Politico’s “Arena.” She has been published in the Washington Post, Newsmax, Slate, Human Events, American Spectator, Townhall, FOXNews.com, Sports Illustrated online, Maxim online, NASCAR.com, FrontPage, Detroit Free Press and others.

S.E. is also a political commentator. She has appeared on FOXNews, MSNBC, CNN, CSPAN, Al Harra and others. She is a regular guest on “Hannity,” “Larry King Live,” “Fox & Friends,” “Geraldo,” and “Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld.” She has been heard on dozens of radio shows, including The Dennis Miller Show, The Mancow Show, The Curtis Sliwa Show, Bubba the Love Sponge, Andrew Wilkow, The Alan Colmes Show and others.

She is a graduate of Cornell University (2000) and a Masters candidate at NYU (2010). She was born in Carlsbad, CA and grew up primarily in Andover, MA. She lives in New York City.

Meeting with Rep. Edward Lindsey

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Andrés Celedón

NOTE: This is on a Tuesday not Monday

From the Georgia State Assembly Website:
Representative Edward Lindsey is an Atlanta native. He is a graduate of the
Atlanta public schools, Davidson College (B.A. History 1981) and georgia Law School (J.D. 1984) [And we'll forgive him for that].

Representative Lindsey was first elected in 2004 to the Georgia House of Representatives, representing the Buckhead and Sandy Springs communities in Fulton County. In the State House, he serves as House Majority Whip and is on the Appropriations, Industrial Relations, Education, Ethics, Judiciary, and Rules Committees. In addition, Representative Lindsey has been appointed as one of Georgia’s Commissioners to the Uniform Law Commission and is Vice Chairman of the Georgia Child Support Commission.

Legislative Accomplishments:

Charter School Reform (HB 881):The bill provides for a dual track chartering system between the local school board and the state and insures that state and local education dollars follow the child.

Georgia Development Impact Fee reform (HB 232): Requires local governments that collect impact fees for transportation purposes to actually use the funds collected in the area impacted by the new development.

Georgia False Medicare/Medicaid Claims Act (HB 551): Provides for a State Medicare/Medicaid False Claims Act to provide for civil remedies to sue those entities which engage in fraudulent Medicare/Medicaid activity.

Mexico’s Immigration Laws: The Untold Story

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Andrés Celedón

As shown on The Foundry

There is no shortage of criticism of our immigration laws from detractors who contend that they are unjust and immoral. And though criticism of U.S. immigration laws can be fierce – particularly in the case of Arizona’s SB 1070, the Support our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhood Acts – Mexico’s much harsher immigration laws rarely get noticed.
Upon Arizona’s passage of SB 1070, critics attacked the law with claims of racial profiling. Among the opponents were the open border lobby, including the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF), other liberal interest groups, President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. In addition to critics here at home, the bill also found an enemy in Mexican President Felipe Calderon. He famously lectured our country in his address to Congress in 2010, declaring that the law “ignores a reality that cannot be erased by decree” and “[that it] introduces a terrible idea using racial profiling as a basis for law enforcement,” he said to cheers from some in the House chamber.
The speech and Calderon’s remarks received considerable media attention, particularly from a largely sympathetic Hispanic media. But receiving far less scrutiny was how President Calderon and his country are dealing with illegal immigration. Upon closer examination, Arizona’s SB 1070 looks like amnesty compared to Mexican law.
The Law Library of Congress released a report in April 2006 titled, Immigration Law Sanctions and Enforcement in Selected Foreign Countries: Brazil, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, and Switzerland. The report observed how Mexican law considers “[i]legal entry a federal crime … penalized with imprisonment for up to two years, a fine from three hundred to five thousand Mexican Pesos, and deportation.” Repeat offenders receive even harsher sanctions of 10-year imprisonment and a fine of up to five thousand pesos and deportation.
Although Mexico recently reformed the Ley General de Población (General Law of the People) in January 2011, our neighbors to the south continue the policy of maintaining fines at the current level of five thousand pesos, or $418.10 in March 2011, for those who don’t follow deportation orders (Chapter 8, Article 117).
Among the other findings of the Library of Congress, through its “enforcing arm, the National Institute of Migration –INAMI” (the equivalent of ICE here in the USA), the Mexican Police Force, may carry out the following:” (Chapter 10, Article 151)

Perform verification visits
Cause a foreigner to appear before immigration authorities
Receive and present complaints and testimony
Perform migration inspection operations on routes or at temporary points different from established inspection locations
Obtain such other elements of proof as may be necessary for the application of the Act, its regulation, and additional administrative provisions

Lastly, “the authorities of the country, whether federal, local, or municipal, and the notaries public and commercial brokers are required to request that the foreigners whom they deal with prove their legal presence in the country” and illegal immigrants who wish to get married to Mexican citizens “must request authorization from the Secretariat of the Interior.”
In contrast, let’s look at the far less complicated17-page Arizona legislation that caused so much uproar last year, even though it’s clear that many of the fiercest critics neglected to read it. Law enforcement officials can only check on the immigration status of an individual after a lawful stop, detention, or arrest for “any other law or ordinance of a county, city or town or this state.” And they can only check on the immigration status if they have a “reasonable suspicion” that the individual is an alien and is unlawfully present in the United States. Further, the Arizona law specifically prohibits racial profiling – race and ethnicity cannot be considered by law enforcement officials. The Arizona law also states that:

“Except as provided by federal law, officials…may not be prohibited or … restricted…for the following purposes”: (8.F)

Confirming the identity of any person who is detained (8.F.3)

If the person is an alien, determine whether the person is in compliance with the federal registration laws prescribed by Title II, Chapter 7 of the Federal Immigration and Nationality Act. (8.F.4)

Transport any convicted alien who has been released from jail to the “custody of the USICE or the USCBP. (8.C)

In other words, the law simply makes it a state crime to be in the state of Arizona illegally and requires law enforcement officials to check on the legal status of persons who have been detained or arrested for other reasons – but only if there is a reasonable suspicion that they are in the United States illegally.
The law specifically defines who is considered an illegal alien. The person in question must meet both of the following: be present in “any public or private land in the state” and be in violation of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1304(e) or 1306(a). If a person is arrested in violation of this new law he is not eligible for “suspension or commutation of sentence” and, along with facing penalties for any other law he may have broken, must pay a fine of at least $500 for a first violation and twice the amount specified in the first sentencing. The entire bill can be read here.
As our country tries to enforce the rule of law with sensible immigration laws, it is worth remembering how other countries are also grappling with the national security, economic, political and social concerns that come with illegal immigration. With nearly sixty percent of illegal immigrants originating from Mexico, it is particularly helpful to remember that our neighbor to the south is dealing with illegal immigration in a much harsher manner than the United States, a fact that illustrates the hypocrisy of Calderon’s criticisms of Arizona’s new law.
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Andres Celedon, an intern at The Heritage Foundation is a junior at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he is studying public policy with a minor in history.

The REAL Latino State of the Union

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Andrés Celedón

Earlier this year, MALDEF hosted its 5^th annual Latino State of the Union (LSOTU), which talked about the issues that worried Hispanics the most, or at least that’s what they planned on doing. The panel spoke about issues like gay marriage, [illegal] immigration reform, and education reform that consist of throwing more taxpayer money at the current system. They forgot to a couple of unimportant issues, the economy and job growth.

The Hispanic community is not concerned with the issue of gay marriage; we are worried about more pressing matters like immigration and the economy. Even if we were worried about this issue, only 31% of Hispanics support it and 35% oppose both marriages and civil unions.

We Hispanics care more about the economy and job creation than gay marriage. The most recent figures (October 2011), show that 11.4% of Hispanics are unemployed. This is more than the national average of 9.0% and 8.0% of whites. Maybe we can all agree that gaining economic freedom should be at the forefront of any group, because with it comes prosperity, liberty, and political freedom. The Heritage Foundation released its most recent version of the Index of Economic Freedom in February. What is economic freedom? Heritage defines it as “the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property.” The notion of economic freedom is about American as it gets and it is at the foundation of the American dream, which is what all people who move to this country wish to achieve.

The majority of Hispanics, 86%, support a path to citizenship “if they pass background checks, pay a fine and have jobs”, so we do not agree with full on amnesty. Hispanics do believe that reform is needed, the difference lies on the type of reform. We are not in line with illegal immigration and here at Heritage we have come up with various solutions to the problem; stronger border patrol and reinforcement of current laws to start off. A true immigration reform must focus on those topics and have a strong emphasis on legal immigration.

Education is an issue that affects the country as a whole, poor academic performance translates to a weak country and economy in the long term. Earlier this year we celebrated “National School Choice Week.” While Heritage calls for a change of pace and a word of warning against the national academic standards, MALDEF continues to give support to an unsuccessful education policy, with the Hispanic dropout rate at 18.3% (average of 8.0%), known as “No Child Left Behind.”

Finally, MALDEF is in need of congratulations for admitting what they are, a progressive activist organization, which can also be called a special interests group. And as such, they have to promote their own interest, which is fine, but not when they claim to represent almost 16% of the US population. The strategy of the progressives is to scare people into thinking something (i.e. – Republicans hate all Hispanics) and MALDEF is no different.

The main problem with their comments and suggestions is that they claim to be fighting for equality, while making sure to separate the Hispanic population from the rest of America. Why must they pursue policies that only target Hispanics? Are we that disenfranchised that we need special assistance? I’d like to say we’re not, if that’s wrong, then the LSOTU is much worse off than I feared. Conservatives do not strive towards finding solution that only help a segment of society, but society as a whole.

Obama’s Secret Conference Calls

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Andrés Celedón

In the light of President Obama going to campaign, er, give a speech about immigration in El Paso, TX let’s look at the president’s long history of “cooperation” with Hispanic organizations, namely the National Council of La Raza (NCLR).As we know, Obama’s political beginnings were in Chicago, a city and state know for giving political favors, so all this should come as no surprise.

The Obama White House held a “secret conference call with Hispanic leaders” on May 5^th, a fitting day. The call was hosted by Cecilia Muñoz, Obama’s current director of Intergovernmental Affairs and former senior vice president of NCLR. The conference call was to try to appease Obama’s critics on immigration reform by stressing to them the hard work the administration has being doing to “fix the ‘broker’ immigration system (read amnesty).”

But this isn ’t the first “off-record” phone call this administration has made and it probably won’t be the last, so much for the promise of being the most transparent administration in history. The administration held another conference call, hosted by Ms. Muñoz, calling for Hispanic activist to show their support for the DREAM Act during the lame duck session this past winter.

This is odd– dare I say, illegal?– because in 1939, legislators passed the Hatch Act, which regulated and restricted the political activities of all federal employees, including, but not limited to: endorsing candidates, organizing political activities and holding posts in partisan organization (which has been easily circumvented by the creation of “non-partisan” organizations).

If these secret conference calls don’t do it for you, then perhaps if we look at a list of the president’s appointees for various positions, we find a clear tie to various Hispanic organizations, namely NCLR and MALDEF. For starters Obama appointed two Judges to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Marisa J. Demeo and Florence Y. Pan, both of which have an extensive history with MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund). He also nominated Mary H. Murguia, sister of the president of NCLR, to serve on the U.S. 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Obama also appointed Maria del Carmen Aponte to be the next American ambassador to El Salvador. Aponte, who was nominated in 1998 by then-president Bill Clinton to be the American ambassador to the Dominican Republic (before it was found that she had ties to the Cuban equivalent of the CIA), is a former board member of NCLR. To top it all off Obama’s Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, appointed the president and general counsel of MALDEF, Thomas A. Saenz, along with MALDEF board member, Jesse Ruiz, to the recently created Equity and Excellence Commission of the Department of Education.

But don’t take my word for it; take President Obama’s word (even though his words fall on deaf ears) for it. At one of his many camping stops in 2008, he addressed the NCLR and remarked that “being here with all of you today feels a little like coming home,” ending the speech by assuring them that “when I’m President, I’ll be asking many of you to serve at every level of government.” And hey, what do you know, that’s something he didn’t lie about.

Hugo Chavez is a hypocrite, but we knew that already, didn’t we?

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Andrés Celedón

In the wake of the killing of the most wanted man on Earth, it is perhaps time to start to focus on our enemies that are closer to home. This title used to belong to the “president” of Cuba, Fidel Castro, but if you didn’t know already, he has officially retired from the Cuban Communist party. But no worries, Hugo Chavez has all the intention in the world to be just like Fidel; in fact he’s doing a pretty good job at it. Now, I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking “why should I care what Chavez is doing?” and that question will be answered with much joy.

First, let’s look at what he’s doing here in America’s capital. He donated $1.5 million to CASA de Maryland, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization (that receives about $4 million from taxpayers), effectively works as a special interest group that advocates any legislation that supports amnesty for illegal immigrants and open borders. So it comes as no surprise that the director of CASA de Maryland, Gustavo Torres, said at an event in Washington that celebrated, yes celebrated, Hugo Chavez’ “achievements.”

Torres said that “[T]he development of a profoundly democratic and participatory process and an extraordinary investment in the poor” adding that, “[t]his has changed the dynamic in Latin America; there is now evidence that profound changes can come through democratic means.” Yes, democratic means, the same means that limit (in the best cases) the freedom of the press, but don’t tell that to Argentina, and the same means that jails anyone who so much as disagrees with state propaganda.

Surprisingly that wasn’t event the most shocking, or perhaps revealing is the appropriate word, at the event. Andrew Castro, National Coordinator for the ANSWER coalition, said that “[W]ith the financial crisis and recession in the US, with people losing their home and jobs, many Americans are realizing that Venezuela is trying to construct an alternative model to capitalism.” Yes, people are realizing that the alternative is socialism.

If this isn’t enough to make you question why people are lauding Chavez for his strides toward equality, let’s see what he’s doing in Venezuela. In January of 2011, the Venezuelan National Assembly passed “the law of the Defense of Political Sovereignty and National Self-Determination,” a mouthful as well as a law that diminishes the freedom of speech. Basically, the law does not allow groups that disagree with state rhetoric or propaganda from receiving foreign donations, or else they’re subject to a fine of “double the sum it receives from abroad.” This law is simply another tactic to silence the anti-Chavez speech in Venezuela and allow the Bolivarian– read Socialist– Revolution to continue smoothly.

Chavez is also trying to gain support for his policies here in the US among the poor by offering them oil at less than market value, a program he started in 2005. Chavez says that “if you want to eliminate poverty, you have to empower the poor, not treat them as beggars,” basically figuring that people will act upon self-interest, so they’ll support him because he is offering them a good at a lesser value. The United States must not rely that just because our neighbors to the south haven’t been a cause for concern in the past; it means that nothing will ever come from Latin America. We must be actively monitoring the area and watching out for the values and virtues of liberty and democracy that this great nation was founded upon.

Obamcare and State’s Rights

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Andrés Celedón

Governor Gary Herbert gave an impassioned speech at Heritage while I was interning there about the principle of state’s rights and how Washington is interfering on those rights with the new monstrosity of a law known as Obamacare. He described the law as “the biggest social change since FDR” and that it is “the most divisive issue since Vietnam.”

He proposed to his fellow governors (especially Republicans) to step up to the table and take charge in this debate of federalism and went as far to say that “states should be laboratories for democracy.” He also showed how the current administration views state’s rights: not very highly. Governor Herbert said that the “governors and states have not been invited to the table” for the discussion on healthcare reform and frankly, that’s simply not acceptable.

All of this goes to show what a catastrophe this massive bill is and will be, and as Governor Herbert emphasized, no one knows really what the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) contains, even though we already passed it (I guess Pelosi was wrong yet again), and how it will affect them mainly because it calls for hundreds of new regulations that are yet to be written by unelected bureaucrats. The states, and its people, need to restore federalism in this country and oppose any measure that infringes upon a state’s right to sovereignty.

The founding fathers preached the importance of federalism in the Constitution, specifically with the tenth amendment, which reads:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

There is no doubt that our current health care system is currently in serious need of repair, but a “one-size-fits-all” solution is not viable. This country, and its states, is too diverse to say that one solution works well for all involved. The states can, and will, find appropriate solutions for their own unique healthcare needs and do not need the federal government to tell them how to do it. As one Democratic governor said “Keep…out of my state!”

We could all take a page out of Utah’s playbook as they are seeing an economic growth rate of around 4% having implemented an insurance exchange market five years ago. It’s amazing what the free market can do.