When Congressman Walter Jones spoke at the Conservatives, Arise! March meeting, the first question that he had to answer was about his stand on the War in Iraq.  He admitted that, as time has gone on, he has begun to seriously question why the United States is there.  Not only is he concerned about the lost of lives but he is also concerned about what the extremely high cost of the War is doing to the United States’ economy.  When the war began some of the countries in the Middle East pledged $15.8 billion to help with the expenses.  “So far our Arab friends have only paid $2.5 billion.”  We have put $26 billion into the effort so far.   We initially pledged $42 billion.  One “sobering truth” is that the United States is actually borrowing money from China to help pay for the war.  He pondered about the irony of borrowing money from a foreign government to buy steel for weapons for our soldiers from yet other foreign governments!  He quoted Pat Buchanan who wrote:  “No great nation will stand on its own feet if it has to borrow money to pay its bills.”  

During the meeting when Jones met with strong opposition to his stand on Iraq, he ended the conversation by replying, “On this topic it is apparent that we will never agree.”  He admitted that he knew that we would have to keep a military presence of 30,000 to 40,000 troops in Iraq for the next ten years or so.  His concern is that we don’t seem to have a plan for victory.   He said that it is not right for men (or women) to have to go to Iraq four or five times in five years.  There has to be an end.

He was asked what he thought about his opponent Joe McLaughlin and his only reply was that he had heard that his opponent was a fine person.  He did not mention McLaughlin by name.

When asked about what he thought of issuing pardons for the two US Border Patrol Agents, Ramos and Campean, his response was quick!  They need to be released immediately.  He could not understand why Bush has not issued pardons when the men could be out of prison “with the stroke of a pen.”  His office has released an amicus brief in their defense.

Illegal Immigration was another “hot topic.”   The American Legion has reported that since January, 2006, $26 billion has been wired to Mexico by workers here in the USA.  Since 2001, a total of $244 billion has gone to Latin America.  So far our country has paid over $1.9 billion to pay for “anchor babies.”   He is trying to get a law passed that states that babies born to illegals are not automatically citizens.  So far the bill is getting nowhere.  He expressed satisfaction that the McCain/Kennedy Bill that gave amnesty to  illegals was soundly defeated in the Senate.

Once more he spoke about the national debt.  In 1994, it was $4.3 trillion.  Now it is up to $9.3.  Each US citizen owes $30,000.

Next he addressed the pushing of the gay agenda in the public schools.  He said that there are now forty-two gay books available in elementary school libraries.  The 18,000,000 elementary students in this country need for their parents to get involved.  “If conservatives take back the party, we can bring conservative values back to our country!”

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