FROM THE BARREL OF MY PEN
By Gonzalo “Jun” Policarpio

PUT AWAY CHILDISH THINGS

An article in the New York Sun caught my attention about Vice President Cheney coming into town on May 29th with a mission to “pray over” in the political sense the “ailing” New York State Republican Party on its annual dinner reception on behalf of its struggling elected officials considered as “endangered species.” The invitation I received from the organizers showed former Mayor Rudy Giuliani as the guest speaker, not Cheney. What gives?

On the following day, May 30th, Sen. McCain’s campaign stalwarts also flew into town perhaps to look at the extent of the State Party’s political malignancy. In the same newspaper article about Cheney’s urgent trip to New York, a former candidate for the U.S. Senate from New York, Kathleen McFarland, firmly prescribed a solution to the problem: complete overhaul of the New York State Republican Machine. Conclusion: a political revolution within the party to usher a new breed of effective and energetic Republican leaders.

Here is a good example of the stark naïveté or rather mediocrity of the current head of the New York GOP, Joseph Mondello. According to a candidate who confessed to be a lifelong Independent without any political background whatsoever, Mondello endorsed her to run for Congress. Since I, a Republican for 25 years, have already declared my candidacy and filed appropriate papers with Federal Election Commission for the 5th Congressional District of New York, the GOP chair’s move is not uniting but dividing the Queens and Nassau Republican Parties by forcing a primary election for the second time since 2004. What gives? Old silly grudges?

Among mature men and women, reason should prevail in their minds instead of childish emotionalism. As the Bible says, when you were a child, you talked like a child and thought like a child; but when you are no longer a child, you must put away childish things.

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FROM THE BARREL OF MY PEN
By Gonzalo “Jun” Policarpio

QUEENS AND NASSAU GOP ENDORSE A NON- REPUBLICAN?

When President Bush told the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) during his visit to Israel that a policy of appeasement to Iran and other terrorist countries is foolishness and will not work, that was a stroke of wisdom. Definitely, a wise person cannot shake hands with the devils.

In 2004, I ran for Congress against Democrat Gary Ackerman. I then tried to seek the Queens and Nassau County Republican Party endorsement. Instead, a group of GOP leaders called me and met with me asking me to run against another Democrat, State Senator Toby Stavisky. I refused and that upset them. So they picked up Stephen Graves who already declared his candidacy for Congress in the 7th District. Promised with an instant endorsement, Graves took it hook, line, and sinker.

When a New York Sun reporter asked Graves about his last minute Republican endorsement, he said the party leaders thought I had communication problems presumably because of my Filipino accent. In a Candidates’ Forum, I recounted this newspaper article and described it as racism.

Now I’m running again for the same congressional seat. Against the advice of those who know what’s going on in the backroom of the Queens and Nassau GOP, I still tried to get their endorsement and appeared during their executive committee meeting on April 30th to the extent of apologizing if my words had hurt their feelings. I also brought prominent Rabbi Pomerantz to show that I’m not anti-Semitic. I already expected their accusation of having written articles that are anti-Semitic because I have called Gary Ackerman as an anti-Christian legislator for voting against a Congressional Resolution about the importance of Christmas and Christianity.

The day before the committee meeting, I learned that Bob Bishop, a member of the group who met with me in 2004, downloaded articles from my blog site, From the Barrel of My Pen, that he thinks are anti-Semitic and anti-Italian. He forwarded my articles to the GOP leaders such as Phil Ragusa, the GOP chair, Vincent Tabone, Daniel Egers, and to Janet Malone, president of the Northeast Queens Republican Club. The clear intent was to persuade them not to endorse me.

In spite of all the odds, I still hope to get the Queens Republican Party endorsement. I was surprised when I learned that the leaders once again plucked another candidate from somewhere in the boondocks who confessed when asked during the Q & A that she was a lifelong Independent. She just registered as a Republican on May 2nd. Her name is Liz Berney, another Stephen Graves.



Now I thought of the President’s prophetic warning not to talk to unreasonable people. He was exactly right because during the Q&A following my statement, a woman asked me, “are you from Hong Kong?’ That was no doubt a racist remark. That old character supposed to be a paid party heckler surely did not ask that question to another Asian American candidate in their midst that night who indeed came from Hong Kong. The other Asian American candidate, Peter Koo, which they endorsed has money to give to all who ask. He was also kind enough to run against Toby Stavisky. A local Republican Club just recently honored him for his financial generosity and no other that State Senator Padavan was asked to bestow the plaque of appreciation.

For me and my candidacy for Congress and my goal to rid Congress of Gary Ackerman who is undoubtedly anti-Christian, I begin another saga. Yet endorsed by the Conservative Party of Queens and Nassau, I will campaign hard to win the Republican primary to be the Republican nominee if these local leaders in a joint committee meeting by majority vote as provided by law would be able to nominate a non-Republican such as Liz Berney.

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FROM THE BARREL OF MY PEN
By Gonzalo “Jun” Policarpio


AMERICA’S CHOICE: A MAN OF EXPERIENCE OR AN INEXPERIENCED BOY

Complaints from innocent Filipinos in need of sound immigration advice who fell prey to the advertising antics of a non-Filipino immigration lawyer have reached my desk. So what’s bugging them?

Because of anxiety about what’s really a simple immigration issue with a simple solution, these Filipinos told me they have been asked to pay the flamboyant lawyer an exhorbitant fee of about $250 to $300 for 10 minutes of information that you can get from the internet. That’s how a susceptible mind could succumb to a glib-tongued immigration predator.

Let’s go back to American politics where somehow the issue of a battle for the mind is relevant. The Clinton political machine finally crashed after suffering a humiliating defeat at the recent North Carolina primary vote. Almost all political analysts and the media itself say that there’s no way Hillary can win given the insurmountable number of pledged delegates for Obama.

Yet we learned that Hillary vows to fight on until the last vote is counted. Whatever happened to the “inevitable” president of the United States? Is she going out of her mind?

As in boxing, Hillary fought like a man. So she got knocked down like a man.

I recalled advising Hillary’s opponents to treat her as a male contender during the presidential contest. Her political strategy and tactics seemed to come out from a masculine mind.

Consider the attack on Obama’s confession of using drugs during his teens and twisting it to include selling drugs. Didn’t Bill Clinton also confess using marijuana?

I thank Sen. Barack Obama for stopping somebody who could be a dangerous American president. A senior fellow of Manhattan Institute named McWhorter writing for the NEW YORK SUN even described Hillary as a “monster” in his recent article.

Now we’ll see who wins in November to be the next president of the United States: inexperienced youth or a man of experience. Fellow Americans, there’s no sense taking the risk when our lives are at stake.

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FROM THE BARREL OF MY PEN
By Gonzalo "Jun" Policarpio


VIGILANCE IS THE PRICE OF LIBERTY

So many lives have changed in the name of religion and politics. But there is something in religion and politics that attracts the mentally or spiritually needy.

In any religious gathering, say a revival or a crusade, the depressed and the desperate flock to the altar call to ask God for a change in their lives. You may also see the same kind of people who join a political meeting or rally wanting some change in themselves.

Religious and political leaders sometimes are tempted to exploit those who are vulnerable to do anything at their command. These people become fanatics and therefore dangerous.

Religious and political fanatics such as the Islamic jihadists and suicide bombers have killed thousands and thousands of innocent lives. Such dangerous characters may have their counterparts in any religious and political organization operating even in a democracy.

Our law enforcement agencies should always be on alert to detect any religious and political group exhibiting any tendency to disregard the rule of law and destroy our American spirit of liberty and freedom.

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