[Below are three courageous freedom fighters receiving the Annie Taylor Award at David Horowitz’s Restoration Weekend in Palm Beach, Nov. 18-21.]
David Horowitz: I took my wife, April, to Niagara Falls. And I always – when I go to Dealey Plaza, I go into the flea museum. And at Niagara Falls, they got a little flea museum, and they have the barrels that people use to go over the falls. And they’re all – they’re like submarines. I mean, they’re heavy tanks. And there was a barrel. Then they have a little film in there. They had a film of the woman who went over Niagara Falls in this barrel, whose name is Annie Taylor.
And Annie Taylor, then, is the first woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survive. And I thought, this is a perfect award for conservatives. And that’s why we’re giving it tonight.
(video played)
David Horowitz: We have two [alumni, former] award winners here – Jim Warner, who is a graduate of the Hanoi Hilton. Jim, want to stand up? Is he here? And – hey, there he is – Amir Fakhravar, who is the leader of the Green Revolution in Iran. Amir?
To present our first award, I’m going to bring up Center board member, constitutional lawyer, a member of the Federalist Society; a number of other organizations – Karen Lugo. Thank you.
Karen Lugo: I’ve had the privilege of chatting with this recipient this evening and comparing notes.
Some of you may have heard me earlier today, during my panel presentation, mention the Federalist Society. And to have come from a group of attorneys and lawyers who seek to foster debate and bring into the public square the balanced idea of what conservative originalist law is, relative to what often is taught and certainly propagated in the rest of legal circles, which is a very leftist orientation.
As we know, many law students graduate from law school with an orthodoxy that they are to go out and change the world according to their idea and President Obama’s idea of social justice and empathy. And so to have an attorney, or someone who with personal character comes to a position and sees a situation that he knows within his heart and as a person is unjust – but then as an attorney, with a career at stake, understands that what is going on and, in this case, what was going on in the Justice Department – and the fact that there was an orientation within this particular Justice Department that was clearly racist, that this individual recognized as racist, and had the courage to call it what it was, and to do that publicly.
And as we know, it is a very rare situation to have someone who is willing to stand and take the risk, and pay the cost that he did. So in looking back over the recent course of events, and the fact that the Black Panther [voter intimidation] case was exposed by this individual – and then he was willing to go public, and he’s been interviewed – most of us have seen the interviews on Fox News. Megyn Kelly did a recent wonderful interview.
And so it is a tremendous privilege tonight, as an attorney, as a member of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and as a conservative, and someone who cares very deeply about founding law and traditions and this country – I am very pleased to present this award to J. Christian Adams and would like to call him up now to receive it.
J. Christian Adams: I’m amazingly humbled by this. And so you’d please bear with me if I stray. But thank you very much, Mr. Horowitz.
Mr. Collier, when he first called me about this, said it was named after the first woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. And until now, I didn’t know whether she lived or died. And I’m relieved to find out she lived.
But I remember my last year of law school, I used to get something in the mail called “Heterodoxy.” And I always wondered, how did I get on this mailing list? And I guess now I know.
But I want to tell you all that when I decided to leave the Justice Department – I loved working there, I mean, it’s the best law firm in the world to work in, unless you’re in the voting section in the Civil Rights division in the Obama Administration. But I loved it. And I loved being a Justice Department lawyer. But the folks who worked on the Black Panther case saw first hand how our most important legal institutions can become corrupted.
And it wasn’t done overnight, but it’s always been there. And with the attitude that they had about blatant voter intimidation, none of us on the team felt that we could easily stand watching what was happening with the case.
And so I will never forget – when I quit, and I was flying to New York for my interview with Megyn Kelly [at Fox News], I thought to myself – I looked out the window, I said, what in the world have you just done? And I thought, there’s no turning back now. And if it weren’t for my wife, who’s actually here, Jana– I mean, it was truly a joint effort. You just can’t throw yourself into that without support of a great family. And I knew that I was dragging them with me.
But I want to leave you with this – and I hope that you all can see this firsthand more – but I cannot underestimate the level of rot, the bureaucratic rot and outright lawlessness, that infuses election law enforcement inside this Justice Department. I have not even told the whole story.
And Chris Coates, my colleague, who testified about four weeks ago, who’s still at the Justice Department – God bless him, he’s still there, and hopefully in the next year. But bear in mind this Justice Department will be in charge of our elections in 2012. And they won’t take dead people off the voter rolls, they won’t enforce the Motor Voter Act. I could go on and on until I hit the wall of privilege, and I’ll have to stop there. But bear that in mind as you watch the election this coming year.
Thank you very much. I’m profoundly humbled. I appreciate it.
Moderator: Thank you. I’m now going to ask – he’s already been recognized, but the Director of Jihad Watch, a great friend of all of ours, a real hero who will introduce – will give an award to another hero. But here’s Robert Spencer.
Robert Spencer: The next recipient of the Annie Taylor Award personifies courage and being on the cutting edge of the defense against the spread of elements of Islamic law in the United States. And for her efforts in defense of human rights, in defense of America, defense of Israel, defense of Judeo-Christian civilization, she has been demonized, ridiculed, mocked and, of course, threatened with death. And yet, she’s never given up and never will give up. Even Annie Taylor said, Nobody should ever do that again. But the next winner of this award keeps on doing it.
She has taken the battle to the Islamic supremacists in the United States and put them on the defensive like nobody ever has before, calling attention to the human rights abuses that are inherent in Islamic law in unprecedented and imaginative ways that have brought national attention that has never before been directed to subjects like honor killing, the death penalty for apostasy, and, of course, the sinister intent behind the Ground Zero mosque.
She created and placed all over the country bus ads that offered help to people who were leaving Islam. They were – as the media always does distort the truth – they were mischaracterized as asking people to leave Islam or inviting them to do so. Actually, this was a real offer for help for people that the whole world has ignored.
Islam mandates a death penalty for apostasy. Mohammad said if anybody changes his religion, kill him. But nobody ever cares for those people. Have you ever heard Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch say a word about apostates from Islam who are under the threat of death every day of their lives?
She brought national attention to this issue. And never before had the Islamic supremacist groups, like the Council on Islamic-American Relations – never before had they experienced this kind of pushback. Never before had they been put on the defensive. And the campaign was brilliantly conceived.
Because if you think about it, what could CAIR say? Well actually, yes, we do think the apostates should be killed. We don’t think that people who are threatened ought to be offered help. Never before had their agenda and their pseudo-moderation been so thoroughly and completely exposed.
She put ads on taxi tops, with pictures of beautiful young girls who had been murdered, murdered by their families, for besmirching the Islamic honor of their families. And you know, you hear about honor killings, and you hear about statistics. And people say, well, you know, 91 percent of the honor killings in the world take place in Islamic contexts. And these things are justified by various rulings in Islamic law. But 91 percent is a number. Never before had public attention been brought to the fact that these are girls, these are human beings. These are people that ought to have been saved and protected.
And here again, this kind of thing had never been attempted before. All the time, the groups like CAIR are on the offensive and are making us play catch-up and react to them. Never before had they been put on the defensive.
And of course, the crowing, the culmination of all this, was how she made the Ground Zero mosque a matter of national discussion and shone a light on the Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s pro-Sharia activities, his denial of basic freedoms in the United States, his call for restrictions on freedom of speech, his ties to the jihad flotilla against Israel, and so many other things; such that Daisy Khan, his wife, identified the [person I’m about ready to bring up] as the leader of the opposition to the mosque.
And then the Islamic attack machine went into high gear. She became a lightning rod for abuse from the Left, from the mainstream media. And it continues. It continues on a more or less daily basis.
I remember seeing an attack piece in a major publication and thinking, well, you know, these things are going to happen, with the Left controlling the media. Then the next day, there was another, and another, and another – one after the other.
And just a couple nights ago, you may have seen, the illustrious Keith Olbermann named her the worst person in the world, actually, for a controversy she had nothing to do with. But now she’s a symbol, you know, a symbol of freedom and a symbol that we will never give up.
And so, you know the old saying – if you’re getting flack, you know you’re over the target. If they’re screaming, you know they’re hitting them hard. And she never gives up and continues to work with passionate vision, insight, immense love for the West, for America, for Israel, for civilization.
We live in so cheap and tawdry an age that all you have to do to be a hero today is tell the truth. And yet there are so few heroes. Because if you dare to tell the truth, you will be made to pay a very great price. And yet, the next winner of this award is someone who has paid it, and paid it with great courage, and with a great joy in life that is an inspiration to me personally in my work with her.
It is my great pleasure and honor, therefore, to present the Annie Taylor Award to a true hero, a great warrior for the Right, whom I am proud to say is my friend and colleague, Pamela Geller.
Pamela Geller: Oh, my God. You see, Mom, miracles really do happen. I don’t think she thought I would amount to much. I had two sisters that were doctors. And you know, you could become President of the United States, but you’re not a doctor.
First, I want to thank my colleague, my friend, and the person I consider to be the world’s leading counter-jihadist, Robert Spencer. Please. He joined forces with me a couple of years ago. And it started with the Aqsa Parvez memorial, honor killing victim in Canada who was buried in an unmarked grave. And I wanted to raise the money just to get her a marker. And that was the beginning of the partnership.
And I can’t thank him enough for supporting every initiative, no matter how dangerous. He never, ever tried to talk me out of anything that I wanted to do – we wanted to do. We started the Freedom Defense Initiative, we started Stop the Islamization of America. I tip my hat to him.
Even the involvement that I have with the David Horowitz Center – I have to again thank Robert. And any time I approach the David Horowitz Center, if it was one of the events I wanted to do at CPAC – the largest conservative gathering in America – to bring some education in terms of jihad to CPAC – David Horowitz would always get me the room.
These are small things, but they’re important. Because, as this past year has seen, you don’t need an enormous amount of people or money to make the difference. You take the enemy’s playbook, and you shove it right down their throat. And that’s what I did.
Very briefly – the Freedom bus ads – you know, I was covering the Rifqa Bary case. And this was the – back story is a Christian convert out of Islam. Father threatens to kill her, she runs away. So now she’s in Florida, and they’re trying to bring her back to the household, the devout Muslim household, that wants to kill her. Mind you, there are girls who run away by the millions. They’re doing drugs, they’re selling bodies; nobody’s looking for them. But this little virgin, the straight-A student – they’re tracking her like a serial killer.
So when I was in Florida, I would see these bus ads proselytizing for Islam – “Come to Islam,” “Why Islam?” And I thought, what about those that want to leave Islam? And that’s how it started.
And the reason why it was so pivotal was because on these television shows, where they’d say, you know, they’re anti-Islam, these are anti-Islam ads – I’d say, “How are they anti-Islam ads?” If I did an ad for spousal abuse, that’s like every husband in America saying, “Hey, I’m insulted.” We got to say things that were never said in the media.
The Ground Zero mosque – sadly, we know they’re going to go forward. Listen. Listen, you have to understand that we’re in a war. We are at war now. It’s not coming, it’s not around the corner; it’s now. The Ground Zero mosque is the second wave of the 9⁄11 attack.
And when I appear on television, and I say things like, “It’s an Islamic pattern to build triumphal mosques on the cherished sites of conquered lands.” People never heard that. People never heard, why build a shrine to the 270 million victims of jihadi wars, cultural annihilations, land appropriations and enslavements? People never heard that before. It’s a teachable moment.
And I’m sure it’s gotten quiet at the Ground Zero mosque because they have to show the money. Here he’s a slumlord, Imam Rauf, whose buildings just went into receivership. But he’s building a $150 million mosque. And Sharif El-Gamal, the developer on it – he was just thrown out of his offices in Soho, SOHO Properties. And he’s building a $150 million mosque. They know that the flashlight is on them. And so they’re going to have to move very carefully. And yes, when they break ground, there’s going to be moms and their kids, with little strollers, standing up there – “Move us.”
We are under attack. Obviously, the violent jihad, the academic jihad, the sociological jihad, the cultural jihad, the academic jihad – we have been infiltrated at the senior level of the DOD, the Department of Defense. I mean, look at what you’re put through to travel. Look at what you’re put through to travel. And yet, not one time in the Department of Defense’s report on the Fort Hood jihadi – not once was religious motivation mentioned. Yesterday, we had the verdict in the first Gitmo trial – acquitted of 280 counts, guilty of destroying property.
So what does this mean? It means that – understand that it was doctors and lawyers, and moms and dads and kids, and aunts and uncles – they were the target in 9⁄11 and beyond. They were the target. They are the soldiers. We are the soldiers now.
This is not a conventional war. Each one of you must fight this war. I cannot impress this upon you enough. You are each activated. What does that mean? It means you have friends, you have an e-mail list, yes? You have – when you wake up in the morning, and you throw your legs over the bed, and you rub the sleep from your eye, you ask yourself, what am I going to do today to save the Republic? I mean it.
We have not yet recovered the bodies from 9⁄11. And we’re under attack with the Ground Zero mega-mosque. And make no mistake – [it’s called] Cordoba, iconic of Islam’s conquering the West – it’s quite deliberate. He can call it whatever he wants. Believe me, it is a triumphal mosque. Because one schmuck in New York says “it’s a mosque of healing” doesn’t make it so. It’s ridiculous. It’s insulting.
There is no action that’s too small. We see that the media is completely and utterly corrupt. We see this. The greatest act of perfidy in American history – they did not vet our Presidential candidate. So we know this. But it’s key that you get the information out there. It is incumbent upon you.
You go to your favorite websites. I am sure Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch is on there. But we are reporting news that you do not get anywhere else. You send it around.
That is how the Ground Zero mosque became a story. I’d been writing about it for months. Somebody took the pictures of our first rally – where I expected a couple hundred; 10,000 people showed up – and sent that around in an e-mail. And it went viral. I’m sure you guys got it – the censored rally, the mystery rally. That was the first major news story, national news story, that went to number one, and international, without the media. That shows you how powerful you are.
Whatever you – if you’re not into e-mail, then you have to volunteer at a precinct. You have to get on the school board. Look what they did in Texas with the textbooks. You have to take your country back. You must do it. Nobody is exempt. There are no exemptions in this war. And I promise you – they may have the big guns. They may have the big media and the big academia. And they have the big arsenal.
But we are good. And we are right. And we are righteous. And we will win. I promise you. Never give up. Never give up. Never give in. We will prevail. I promise you, we will prevail.
Thank you.
Moderator: We have one final Annie Taylor presentation. And I’m very honored to bring up a very close friend of the Freedom Center – someone who’s done a lot of work in the state legislature in Arizona on behalf of academic reform and immigration reform – former State Senator Thayer Verschoor of Arizona. Thank you.
Thayer Verschoor: It’s a great privilege to be up here. And the Freedom Center is just a great organization. I appreciate all the work that is done by the Center and by David.
You know, this is a privilege for me to get up here and to honor someone who is just a great friend of mine. And I will tell you, the first time that I saw Russell Pearce, quite frankly he scared the hell out of me. I was like, man, this guy looks like he could just whoop up on me in the blink of an eye.
And as time went by, I got to know Russell as a very sincere and caring person – a person who loves his family, loves his country and loves his God. And those are his source of power and bravery and courage. Because he believes in those things, and he believes in standing up for those things.
You know, you ever heard the term, you know, when you fall off the horse, get back up on it? Well, that’s Russell Pearce. He’s been thrown from some bulls and from some horses. When I’d go to have breakfast meetings with Russell over the years, we’d meet at this little restaurant by his house. And in that restaurant, they have a John Wayne room. And so, every time we meet, we have to sit and pay homage to the Duke.
And I’ve always appreciated that about Russell, because that’s how Russell is. You know, he says what he believes. And he doesn’t back away from it. And he works very hard to protect those things that he believes and to stand up for them. Russell’s the kind of guy that – you know, you always hear that term, “I got your back?” That’s not Russell, Russell doesn’t have your back. If Russell can, he’s standing out in front of you, trying to take the bullets and the arrows for you.
In fact, I kind of tease Russell all the time when he comes up here. You may or may not notice, but he’s got a little stub for a finger there. And we kid him all the time, because we’ve known him for years. We kid him all the time about that – you know, how much he milks that he’s got it, and stuff like that.
Here’s the story, and understand this – Russell was a sheriff deputy. And in fact, Russell – anybody ever heard of Sheriff Joe Arpaio? Well, the reason you heard about him is because Russell helped him get elected in Maricopa County. Russell was his chief deputy when Joe got elected, and Russell helped him.
But Russell was a sheriff deputy. And he was trying to arrest some bad guys. And one of them pulled a gun out and shot him. And Russell, being shot, losing his finger, and – the bullet went right through his chest, and he kids all the time about it. People, you know, always come up to Russell – “Russell, you need to smile more often.” And Russell says, “Look, you know, I smiled this morning when I brushed my teeth, and I got it out of the way.” So, you know, but – and he says, you know, “I got shot here, and that proves that I’m a Republican. Because if I’d have had a heart, I wouldn’t have made it.”
But Russell, in all seriousness – Russell got up, and he chased those guys down. Now, he didn’t catch the guy who shot him. But he didn’t stop, and he didn’t give up. So then, when Russell took up this issue of our open borders, of the amnesty crowd out there that wants to give amnesty to everybody and destroy the Constitution of our country, Russell stood up and made a difference. And everybody tried to take him out, politically. Some people might’ve tried to take him out in other ways, too.
But I know a few years ago, he faced a very tough campaign for reelection. The business community came out and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to beat him in a legislative race. He didn’t back down from that, he didn’t kowtow to any group. Because Russell believes in freedom, he understands freedom, he has the courage to stand up for freedom, and he’s never backed away from it.
And that’s one of the things that, when you’ve got a – when you’ve got someone like that, you have to cherish him. And it’s a great pleasure and privilege for me to not only present this award but to call Russell my friend.
And Russell, Mr. Russell Pearce, who is going to be the next president of the Arizona State Senate, as the recognition for all the hard work that he’s done here in Arizona – he is a great man. And I’d like to invite Russell up and present him this award. Russell Pearce. Senator Russell Pearce.
You know, I assume some things here, I suppose, that I shouldn’t – you know, old term “assume.” And so, just to be perfectly clear – Russell was the author of Senate Bill 1070. Okay? He was the author and the sponsor of Senate Bill 1070.
And so, you know, a lot of people have taken credit for it. And Russell’s one of those guys who believes that old Regan adage – you know what, it’s okay who takes the credit, as long as we get the right things done. And that’s the kind of guy Russell is.
And Russell, congratulations.
Russell Pearce: Let me say amen. You know, and I’m grateful. I’ve been in this battle for a long time. I actually believe in our sovereignty. I actually believe – in fact, most of you guys here [probably] preach to the choir.
But as a young boy, I was very fortunate. Raised as a very poor young man. Ran around the streets of Mesa barefooted, selling mistletoe and newspapers on Main Street. Fact, my favorite place was the Green Frog. It’s a little bar. And I used to love going in there, around those streets.
And I remember America when I thought we all had our moral compass pretty much in place. But I hear what’s going on tonight, and I watch what’s going on around the world. And I know today, we’re a republic at risk. And like you, I read about our founders and the principles of this great nation, and our obligation to Israel, which is our battle. That is our war. They’re fighting our war.
And David Horowitz, I want to thank you for the legacy and the impact you’re having on America. I’m so grateful for patriots. And I love to read about our founding patriots. And I’ve read about the real George Washington, the real Thomas Jefferson, the real Benjamin Franklin; Thomas Paine – “Common Sense” that he wrote – was a turning point in the war. Patrick Henry, the firebrand he was.
And you read about those men, and miracle after miracle that occurred in the making of America. Little ragtag army led by congregations, with a minister in most cases at the head of it, taking on the most powerful army and navy in the world. Shouldn’t have won that war. Like Israel, they had somebody on their side. You cannot read that history and those miracles and not know that God had His hand in the making of America. And we have an obligation to preserve, protect and defend it.
You know – and again, I appreciate a little levity here – the governor and I were speaking at an event here awhile back. And I got to know a bit of the history. She had two opponents running against her in the primary, in a dead heat. She’s the incumbent; that shouldn’t be the case. She was trailing about 10 points in the polls against the Democrat candidate – those [who were] going to run against her, our attorney general. And that tells you, if you’re the incumbent, and you’re in a dead heat with two candidates in a primary, and you trail by 10 points in the general, against your general opponent if you prevail in the primary, you’re in a lot of trouble.
So anyway – but the polls, after [Senate bill] 1070, really got different. In four days, she jumped 20 points in the polls. It really did make a difference. So we tease a little bit about it. And I try to be gentle with her. I love the governor.
But anyway, we were at a little speaking engagement. And she – Janet Napolitano – you’ve heard of her – anyway, she’s your Homeland Security director. Well anyway, when she left, Jan Brewer, who was the secretary of state, got elevated to governor. Well anyway, she got to a point – and that’s by constitutional ascension – but anyway, she got a point to secretary of state, which was our Ken Bennett.
And so anyway, she was introducing Ken, and he was a latecomer from Phoenix – was down a little more towards Central Arizona. And she wanted [everybody around] – she was doing it in a jestful way – she says, just when he gets [here], remember, he owes me. When he gets [here], remember, I put him there.
And so anyway, when I got up afterwards, I just thanked the governor, said ditto. And I think she appreciated it; I know the crowd did. But it really was a great thing. And I tease her a lot, but I’m grateful that she had the vigilance, not only after signing the bill, but the battle we knew was coming.
When you talk of a jihad, that is exactly what Obama has against America – specifically the state of Arizona. Think about it. This is the first time in the history of the United States a sitting President has sided with a foreign government to sue the citizens of its country, for defending our laws, for defending and protecting the citizens of the state of Arizona. It’s outrageous, and it’s impeachable.
You’d think it couldn’t get any worse. But then she’s going to drag us before the UN, the Human Rights Commission. We’re going to be judged on human rights by Uganda, Cuba, Libya, Hugo Chavez? Wow. I could go on.
Think about it. Sheriff Joe, a good friend of mine, is being sued for enforcing the laws. Department of Justice had been there – speaking of Department of Justice – been there for 18 months, trying to find some way to prove that he’s been a bad guy – profiling. Well, first of all, he’s enforced the law. Illegal is not a race, it’s a crime. Arizona didn’t make illegal illegal. It was actually already illegal.
I loved CNN right after [Senate bill] 1070 passed. There was, on one of the CNN – they said Arizona makes illegal illegal. I thought, now there’s publicly educated people. You know.
So anyway, it’s been quite a battle. And, you know, I wrote this bill (inaudible) being sued. I mean, you can go down the list (inaudible). You know the Obama Administration also investigated into Tucson Unified School District, not because of what they’d done; because of our Board of Education. We actually believe that they ought to show that they’re legally able to work before we hire them. You know, and then they’re also suing because we fired some teachers because they couldn’t speak English well enough to communicate with their students. Again, public education, I guess, wasn’t that important.
So anyway, it’s rather amazing, as you look what’s going on. It’s more than amazing. And this is a battle of epic proportion. I want to tell you, it’s more than just about enforcement.
Our model in Arizona is attrition by enforcement. We don’t have a broken immigration process. We have a broken political process with broken politicians. All we need is enforcement. We have good laws. But we have policies around the country, all over, in city after city after city, that have put sanctuary policies – tell our law enforcement they may not enforce the law. You wonder why we have a problem? It’s amazing. Those cities are illegal under the federal law. It’s illegal. Yet they don’t sue them. They sue Arizona for enforcing the law?
During the debate on 1070 – and again, I’ve introduced this bill in ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, 2010 before a governor would finally sign it, along with other things. Fact, we just had a hearing in the Ninth Circuit Court on a bill that I wrote in ’04. Went to the citizens’ initiative Prop 200. I know it’s a novel idea, but we actually, in Arizona, think you ought to be a citizen before you vote. Apparently, the Supreme Court decided differently, in a two-to-one in a three-judge bench, that you you can’t actually ask for papers.
I guess if we carry that out, that means from now on, if a kid’s buying liquor, they no longer have to show a paper; we just affirm they’re old enough. And guy in the court no longer has to prove he’s innocent; he can just affirm he’s innocent. It really is more than just ridiculous.
And I’m going to the Supreme Court on the 8th of December to defend employer sanctions, another bill that I wrote. Seems like I’m spending more time with the ACLU and MALDEF than I ought to be. It’s not good company. But anyway – so it is. And we head down this road.
But anyway, during the debate of 1070 – and you’d think we did something novel – simply enforcing the law of the land. And we did it differently – we put it into state statute, in a compelling way, demanding that it be enforced. Sanctions against cities who have policies that restrict our law enforcement [enforce] the law to the slightest degree.
Fact, for two months before it was signed, I had a lot of friends of mine marching around the Capitol for two months straight, with signs that my wife tells me not to read – I’m too young – and other things. And I have a DPS director that calls me on a regular basis, wanting to provide security for me. Some he feels are pretty credible threats.
I’ve learned to mow my yard with my 40 caliber. We are a Second Amendment state. And again – but anyway, [kind of is] I just want to share a couple of quick stories with you, though.
Because during the debate of 1070 – and I have a long list of victims – 12 Phoenix police officers killed or maimed by illegal aliens. Tracy Kelly, 17-year-old high school girl. Just sentence a guy to 169 years for multiple child molestations and rapes, breaking into homes, raping and molesting young girls. Fifteen-year-old in Guadalupe kidnapped/raped 15-year-old in Scottsdale [raped].
Beheadings in Chandler. Contract killings in Casa Grande. Second in the world in kidnappings. Apparently, that’s just collateral damage to some folks, for cheap labor and cheap votes.
[All] during the debate, literally during the debate of 1070, a good friend of mine was murdered on the border, Rob Krentz. Been a rancher down there for six or seven generations, his family. Susie, his wife, will never be the same. Her skin’s as tough and leathery as any ranch hand you’d have, because she’s out there every day with him, working that ranch. Now she’s lost her soul mate. I take that personal. That’s government’s responsibility.
And I can tell you another story, just quickly. While I was debating this issue that I’ve been engaged in for some time, standing at the podium, literally – in 2004, the Brookings Institute – literally standing like I am now, and was handed a note from home, to call home. Emergency, critical, immediate. Wow. I’ve got grandchildren. Fact, I’m very blessed. I’m one of 13 children. My wife’s one of seven. We have five children, have – I have 14 grandchildren. By the way, I have a hundred nephews and nieces. So that’s one reason I do what I do – I don’t need any friends.
So anyway, I was handed this note. And so I found a phone, and I called home. And LuAnne tells me – she says, “Russell, Sean’s been shot.” Excuse me. “Being air-evacced to a hospital.” Said, “I don’t know how bad, but – and I’ll give you an update.”
So I find a ride home, change the flight and so forth. About an hour later, I get a hold of LuAnne. She says, “Really going to make you mad. You won’t believe this.” Because I was debating this very issue at the Brookings – debating the immigration, flawed policies, not the bad law. It was good law. She says, “He was shot by an illegal alien wanted on a homicide warrant, in a gun battle, him and another deputy shot. Sean was shot three times.”
Folks, you know, I’m not mad at that young man. He belongs in jail. I have to admit, I wish they were a little better shot; usually, Sean is. What I’m mad at is my government. That should have never happened. Just like Susie Krentz losing her husband, that should’ve never happened.
I had the ranchers come up after Rob Krentz was murdered. And rancher after rancher – had them from Sasabe to Douglas, they had [span of] the entire border – [wanted them to] tell their story. Rancher after rancher talked about how things aren’t the same as they used to be. Things are as bad or worse than they ever been. And this is after your Homeland Security director said the border’s more secure than ever. This is after a response to your Secretary, Homeland Secretary, that we have areas that are dangerous, instead of fixing them. They’ve posted signs 30 miles from Phoenix – “Stay out,” “Dangerous.”
Anyway, as they came up, they said, “Russell, it’s unbelievable.” This is rancher after rancher. They said, “Our dogs’ throats are cut, our fences are torn down, our animals are slaughtered, our waterlines are cut.” One rancher – 13 burglaries. Three home invasions, multiple vehicles stolen. They had their doors and their windows boarded. Afraid to come outside. They hear noises at night; they pray for daylight.
And we tolerate that? This is not the same. What’s coming across the border today – besides the fact that 133 nations have been identified, some come from nations of – countries of interest. Means they harbor, aid, abet or somehow have connections to terrorism. What’s coming across our border today are gang members, human smugglers, drug smugglers, child molesters. Why would we tolerate that?
Simple little bill of 1070, you’d think I changed the world. You listen to the lame-stream media, you’d think that was a divisive – somehow there’s something wrong with this bill. Yet, because of people like you, it’s supported across America three to one. Three to one. Twenty-five states are writing model legislation after 1070. I’m proud of that. It’s a debate that should’ve taken place a long time ago.
And the young lady who just got the award before me talked about – it is our God-given duty to protect and to save this republic. The greatest threat we have – we have two or three of them [identified here tonight] – is our failure to secure our border and enforce our laws; protect Americans.
Let’s take back America one state at a time. I’m grateful that Arizona’s in the front of that parade.
God bless you. Thank you. This is more of an honor than I deserve. I’m grateful, I appreciate it. Thank you. God bless you.
David Horowitz: It was a long but, I hope, inspiring evening. Thank you all.
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