StopLouBarletta.com

With Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta still up in the air about whether he will run for Congress or not, Chris Paige has written an op-ed over at Pa2010.com explaining just how scary America would be if Mayor Barletta were given the opportunity to make the rules.  In an article titled “Lou Barletta’s Hazleton”, Paige makes the argument that Barletta’s vision of government is too scary to be allowed to come to fruition.  Barletta’s vision of America, Paige argues, is horribly un-American.

To quote from the article (full version can be found HERE)….

“Imagine living in a country where you can’t rent an apartment without presenting your identity papers to a government official.

Imagine living in a country where you could lose your business—your life’s work, your family’s sole means of support, and your life savings—just because one of your employees was unable to produce his or her identity papers on demand.

Imagine living in a country where citizens are encouraged to report their friends and neighbors to the government whenever they suspect they might have violated the government’s constantly-changing rules on identity papers.

Sounds like North Korea or some other police state, no? In fact, I’m describing Hazleton—or at least, Hazleton as it would have been if the federal courts had not struck down its anti-immigration laws pushed by my potential primary opponent, Mayor Lou Barletta.”

I don’t know if Lou Barletta will run for Congress again or not.  It’s possible that Barletta doesn’t even know if he’ll run again.  However, if Mayor Barletta does decide to make a third go of it, I think it’s important to keep Mr. Paige’s argument in mind.  It’s bad enough that Lou Barletta is in a position to run an entire city into the ground, as he has with Hazleton.  Lou Barletta should not be elected to the United States Congress.

See also: Lou Barletta’s Vision of America and Steve Corbett on Lou Barletta

-Dan Cheek
www.StopLouBarletta.com
StopLouBarletta@gmail.com

The following video, which was brought to my attention by one of the readers of this website, is part of a series of YouTube videos produced by “LoserLou2008.”  To see all of LoserLou2008′s videos, click HERE.

Note: StopLouBarletta.com is not, in any way, associated with LoserLou2008  However, I do think the videos are all very good.  And much better than any of Lou Barletta’s YouTube stuff.

-Dan Cheek
www.StopLouBarletta.com
StopLouBarletta@gmail.com

To learn about Mayor Lou Barletta’s fundraising troubles, click HERE.

This cartoon was drawn by artist John Cole and first appeared in the Scranton Times.

Yeah.  In addition to trying, and failing, to enact one of the most extreme immigration policies in America, Lou Barletta also stuck the city of Hazleton with a massive legal bill for the failed court fight.  Full of brilliant ideas, Mayor Barletta then decided he would use the Internet to raise the money to pay the lawyers.  He established SmallTownDefenders.com, asking people to help him “win this fight.”

What Barletta really should have said on the website is,

“Hi.  My name is Lou Barletta and I’m the moron who, without City Council approval, decided to use city funds to defend my Illegal Immigration Relief Act in Federal Court.  After having my ass handed to me, and the law being struck down as unconstitutional, my city now has a mountain of legal bills.  Please send me all of your money so that the city can pay them off.  Or don’t.  I don’t really care, anyway.  I’m running for Congress and soon these bills will be someone else’s problem.  I love America!”

-Dan Cheek
www.StopLouBarletta.com
StopLouBarletta@gmail.com

Another cartoon from artist John Cole.  This cartoon originally appeared in the Scranton Times and can be found HERE online.

-Dan Cheek
www.StopLouBarletta.com
StopLouBarletta@gmail.com

Cartoon originally appeared at Time-Blog.com

-Dan Cheek
www.StopLouBarletta.com
StopLouBarletta@gmail.com

[Note: This article and the accompanying pictures were emailed to me by a reader who asked that their name be kept anonymous, for professional reasons. I have also, repeatedly, sent emails to the Barletta Campaign, inviting them to comment on anything posted on this site. Any response by the Barletta Campaign will be posted to this site, unedited. So far, the Barletta Campaign has not responded, although the invitation still stands.]

If “Pro” is the Opposite of “Con”, is Congress the Opposite of Progress? It Will Be if Barletta is Elected.

By: J.S.

More than 150 years have passed since the peak of, “No Irish Need Apply,” a phrased that was coined out of Nativist prejudice against Irish immigrants as part of the Know Nothing Movement. Empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by immigrants, it strove to curb immigration and naturalization to those who were often regarded as hostile to American values. Although this movement was met with little success, it did not preclude Levi Boone, the Mayor of Chicago for the Know Nothings from barring all immigrants from city jobs.

In 2006, at Barletta’s urging, the Hazleton City Council adopted tough measures aimed at stemming the flow of illegal immigrants, whom Barletta blamed for crowded schools and overburdened social services. Since when do public schools accept citizens without proof of residency, birth certificates and social security cards?

Within 2 years establishments in Hazleton have followed suit with Barletta’s manifestation of bigotry and hypocrisy. Gone are the days of No Irish Need Apply, yet because of Lou Barletta Hispanic residents are faced with signs that boast, “All Legals Served.” (See Graphic) Why do bars need to advertise their compliance with Pennsylvania’s Liquor laws if their non-compliance would lead to the commencement of their operation?

Luis Mendoza, the chairman of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly’s Pennsylvania chapter, criticized the Mayor’s actions by calling them, “A slap in the face to Latinos driving them away from the GOP […] Personally, being of Mexican descent, I find a lot of immigration rhetoric really offensive and I feel increasingly backed into a corner by my own party.” (Tarone, 2007). Is it any wonder why John McCain hasn’t had the time to stop and meet with Barletta? (Lou Barletta for Congress, 2008).

This sentiment was also expressed in John Zogby’s report analyzing the Hazleton area, “a massive community effort needs to be made to root out the disease of racism” urging residents to challenge the mayor on every front. The report challenged the claims made by Mayor Barletta that illegal immigrants are responsible for overburdened police, schools and hospitals. (Allentown Morning Call, Worden, 2007).

In an WITF interview Ann Van Dyke, a trainer and investigator with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, agreed with Zogby stating that flare up’s in ethnic tensions are directly related to ever changing demographic shifts. She continues, “The most important step toward avoiding those conflicts is for a community to change its definition of ‘we’.” As you can plainly see, the establishment of English as the official language explicitly precludes any sort of consensus being built among the citizens in the Hazleton Area. (Detrow, 2007)

To further this point, Luzerne County’s Judge Olosheski Jr. recently handed down a ruling to three legal Hispanic residents which instructed them to either learn English or go to jail. A ruling that is a flagrant violation of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. However, no defense attorney will waste their time to argue with this judicial activist that legislates from the bench. Perhaps judge Olosheski will maintain this precedent in allowing serious offenders to learn English instead of serving the prison term they’ve earned.

With rising energy and food prices, a health care system in shambles and an abundance of ignorance regarding this Nation’s state of affairs, does this Country really need another Strom Thurmond? Although Mayor Barletta has denounced the endorsement of individuals like David Duke of the KKK, we must ask ourselves what Barletta will accomplish in office if the only achievement he boasts of to date is supported the ideals of one of our Nation’s oldest hate groups.

-J.S.

Sources:

Detrow, Scott. Racial Incidents at Schools Rise as Demographics Change.
WITF. October 15th, 2007. Radio.

Allentown Morning Call. Renowned Pollster’s Commentary Stirs Illegal
Immigration Debate anew. October, 2007.

Tarone, L.A.. Barletta Ponders Bigger Plans. The Standard Speaker.
September 29th, 2007. Front Page cont’d on Page 16.

Lou Barletta for Congress. McCain Says No to Lou Barletta’s Invitationto Visit Hazleton and Discuss Immigration. 2008.
http://www.loubarletta.com/index.php/Latest/McCain-says-no-to-Lou-Barletta-s-invitation-to-visit-Hazleton-discuss-immigration.html

[The following is an email sent to me a few days ago from Dee Deakos, a long time fixture in Hazleton politics and Lou Barletta's challenger in the last Hazleton Mayoral Primary race.]

This quote is from Lou’s 60 Minutes interview:

“We’re not involved in immigration in any way. We’re not regulating people coming in and out of the country. In fact, we’re not doing anything to the illegal alien. We’re simply punishing businesses that hire them and landlords who rent to them,” Barletta says.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/17/60minutes/main2195789_page3.shtml

This is his claim on what he is doing to illegals. He is simply pushing the problems onto other communities. Is this truly a solution to the problem?

He doesn’t understand the economics of the problem. The federal government has limited resources to chase and deport all illegals. In fact some countries won’t even take them back.

He should target the ones in the prisons that have been convicted and have them deported. The ones he claimed who shot that man were already in the legal system. Criminals tend to be repeat offenders, so why give them the chance to commit more crimes?

Drug dealers and violent persons are allowed to return to the streets without a whisper from Lou. As people cheered the compassionate ruling that some violent criminals should be forced to learn English, Lou should have been shouting “Deport them – it is the law”. Yes, there is a federal law that allow these individuals to be deported whether legal or illegal. Unfortunately these criminals who are in the minority had made it difficult for the whole immigrant community.

With Lou’s rhetoric, people feel comfortable bashing the Hispanics and other foreigners. What a shame – one man’s bid for popularity can hurt so many people. He needed this popularity because so many people were angry with him because he brought questionable dredge is an already polluted portion of the city.

He embroils Hazleton into a lawsuit that violates federal law. He said no problem – we have insurance. But he knew that insurance wasn’t going to cover it all, in fact, very little of it. His solution was to beg to the people of America to send donations to his personal fund – Small Town Defenders. Too bad it won’t cover the million plus in legal fees that Hazleton will be left to pay as Lou tries to move to greener pastures. Does he really care?

Of course that whole lawsuit was illegal because he didn’t ask council to give him the funds to pay for it. Wait a minute; don’t you understand “illegal”, Lou, when it applies to you?

-Dee Deakos

[The following is an email I received a few days ago. I've reprinted it here with permission.]

I was at the Nanticoke Music Fest last weekend, near the Chamber of Commerce tent when Lou Barletta showed up. I tried to ignore him, I really did, but as I was angling away from him, he walked around me and stuck out his hand and said Hi Mr McDonald (it seems that local women who was with him pointed me out as a local businessman and former President of the Chamber) and I didn’t extend my hand back. He said “no, no, no, do you know who I am” and I replied “oh I certainly know who you are”.

He said “so you’re not going to shake my hand because I’m a Republican” and I said “No, I won’t shake your hand because you, sir, are a bigot”. He went spastic, up in my face, finger waging and decrying how illegal immigrants are committing all the crime and ruining “his” town. I said “that is a lie, you must know the statistics that illegal immigrants commit much less crime than citizens in general, they pay more taxes and more social security and don’t receive services for their efforts at all because they often file under improper social security numbers”.

He said “no, legal immigrants do and they commit less crime, I am all for legal immigration”. I said “that too is a lie because you have stood against even President Bush’s (and he isn’t exactly a liberal on any issue) and his plan to document new arrivals. So if you don’t want to document people and you don’t want undocumented people here, then you are really saying that you don’t want people to come at all”.

After fifteen minutes or so of this, his people literally pulled him away from me after I requested he step away from me 3 times. Another five minutes passes and he comes back with his hand extended saying he would like to apologize and of course this time I shook his hand yet he would not stop there. He said then “but let me tell you blah, blah, blah,” and I stopped him and said that “yes it is true that I don’t know what is in your heart and even if it were not true, why have you never reached out to the Latino community, if you are not a bigot then at least you are a political opportunist, lending your efforts to those who hate.” he said stammering “oh I have, I have lots of Latinos, legal Latinos, supporting me” and I said that is another lie you have virtually no support in that community. You want to build a fence to keep people out when you should be saying tear down this wall Mr Gorbichev. Is that because you hate Mexicans?”

Then he said and I am quoting him exactly “no, no, no it’s the Dominicans. They are all in gangs. And they are really coming through the Port of New York. They came here and stabbed a women in my town 37 times (I might be wrong he might have said 47). Do you want that in your town?” I said “well that guy is a criminal and you should go all out against criminals especially violent ones and also have a concerted effort against violent gangs and you should also go after the Mafia with a vengeance too but you don’t hold all Italian Americans responsible for the Mob do you”.

Well I thought the vain in his forehead was going to explode. I continued saying “you should stop blaming people who come to your town trying to make a better life and contribute just because your downtown went to shit. And that is because you have not reinvested in your downtown, the outlying areas are booming with industry. And he went off again on how they stabbed that women, bla, bla, bla. Till I finally said “sir you need to take your message of hate and get away from me and preferably leave my town alone”.

So let me ask you, do you think this precludes me from getting a job on his Congressional staff? We should start a Dominican appreciation day in Hazelton. What it does say is that he has a very hot temper and lacks the dignity required for such an important job. His admission that “it’s the Dominicans” that he hates is easily the most opprobrious statement I’ve have heard a modern politician utter”. You’re right that this man must be stopped. Keep up the good work, kid.

-Bob McDonald

This picture was emailed to me today by a reader who thought I might be able to find a use for it here on the site. I didn’t design the graphic, but I do think that it sums up what a lot of people think about Mayor Lou Barletta and his extremist, and unconstitutional, immigration polices. Just another reason as to why Lou Barletta should not be elected to Congress.

Many thanks to “JS” for sending me this graphic.  Much appreciated.

-Dan Cheek
www.StopLouBarletta.com
StopLouBarletta@gmail.com

Steve Corbett is a radio talk show host and reporter for WILK-FM.  One of the more popular reporters of the station, Mr. Corbett is also a very vocal and adamant Lou Barletta critic.  The following article was written by Mr. Corbett on February 4th of this year and appeared on the WILK home page.  The article is entitled, “Is Barletta’s Glass Half Full or Half Empty?“

“Lou Draft” might be more popular than “Draft Lou.”

A nice cold beer might win out over a lukewarm potential candidate who doesn’t know if he wants to answer a higher calling and run for a higher office.

After months of posturing and preening like a high school homecoming king with a sense of entitlement, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta is playing hard to get.

Maybe he will and maybe he won’t challenge U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski for his congressional seat. In 2002, the powerful incumbent Democrat easily hammered Republican Barletta.

Maybe Barletta didn’t learn his lesson.

Or maybe he did.

Either way, Barletta has spent the past few years making a name for himself as the darling of the illegal immigration crowd. Appearing across the nation as a so-called voice of the people who oppose undocumented people whom critics call “illegals,” Barletta has whipped the masses into a frenzy with plans to round ’em up and move ’em out.

But rawhide chafes, and their mean-spirited chattel drive really isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

Still, ego sometimes drives people into the abyss. And supporters of blind faith also refuse to see reality as they pound the cracked pavements of the old hometown in the spirit of victory – even when they’re terribly out-classed.

Underdogs are admirable.

But Barletta isn’t your average long shot.

The true underdogs in this battle are the millions of hard-working undocumented immigrants whom Barletta and his gang of legals have demonized as being as bad for the United States as the Mexican Mafia and Pancho Villa put together.

Immigrants from south of the border give fits to Barletta’s fan base. Blamed for almost everything bad in America, they take the brunt of Barletta’s phony populism and find themselves battling for freedom and existence.

Mostly Mexican, they must wonder what they ever did to Lou except make his bed in hotel rooms, pick vegetables for his salad, and wash his dishes in restaurants when he’s on the road calling for their immediate expulsion.

Barletta’s Posse has now taken to the streets as well, rushing to draft him into action whether he wants them to rally round or not.

Of course he wants them to beg.

That’s why he told my WILK News Radio colleague Sue Henry this morning that he will announce one way or the other by Friday.

We have a week to bite our nails, hold our breath and hope that Barletta will step forward like Clint Eastwood to save us from the hordes of desperadoes from down Mexico way.

Ay carrumba.

Even Kanjorski has taken a harder line on immigration than ever, issuing loads of press releases and glossy color mailings that highlight crowns of barbed wire wrapped around desert spotlights rather than the halo that surrounds the sanctity of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Kanjorski and Barletta, both practicing Catholics, have forsaken the social justice lessons of their childhood catechism days. Both men forget their own families’ immigrant days. Both men campaign on exactly what flatline Americans prefer – lacking a pulse and a conscience when it comes to the humanity that’s required to empathize and reject the bigoted darkness.

Pizza and beer parties are now planned to gather signatures on petitions that must be filed by Feb. 12 if Barletta chooses to enter the race.

But hearts aren’t the only products that fizzle. Beer goes flat as well. So do candidates.

The once-frothy head on Barletta’s glass is already half empty. He still owes money from his last challenge to Kanjorski and his posse will have to rob a stagecoach if they expect to match Kanjorski’s money machine in Washington.

It’s doubtful that Republican political bankers will put more hops into the “Lou Draft.”

Tequila has a more powerful kick anyway.

My money’s on the Mexicans. They have more staying power.

And I mean that literally.

-Dan Cheek
www.StopLouBarletta.com
StopLouBarletta@gmail.com