Thread: numbersusa news release

Don't let open borders groups censor the media!
NumbersUSA : March 3 , 2008 -- by Roy Beck

DEAR FRIENDS,

"If you can't beat them, shut them up" seems to be the new motto of groups that have been continually losing in their attempts to pass an amnesty for illegal aliens.

(Here is an Associated Press story about this national censorship campaign.)

Led by the National Council of La Raza and the Anti-Defamation League, the open-borders groups have started a concerted campaign to persuade Cable TV executives to either bar me and our Director of Government Relations Rosemary Jenks from their shows, or to always introduce us as representing an "extremist" organization with ties to hate and racist groups.

Their characterization of NumbersUSA and our members is without any connection to reality, facts or even common decency. But if all of us remain silent in the face of this campaign of character assassination, we might indeed be silenced on TV and beyond.

Please consider sending an email to Cable TV executives urging them to resist the national censorship campaign.

So broad is the attempt at censorship that the open-borders groups suggest that virtually no spokesman or group fighting illegal immigration or asking for less overall immigration should be allowed on TV. And they want Lou Dobbs off CNN, and Pat Buchanan off MSNBC, and Sean Hannity off Fox.

LA RAZA SUGGESTS THAT NO PRO-ENFORCEMENT GROUP HAS A LEGITIMATE RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH

The total censorship advocacy of La Raza and its friends can be seen in the fact that their website lists NumbersUSA as "the most reasoned" of all groups on the restriction side of the immigration issue ... but then it says even NumbersUSA should not be allowed on TV, or quoted by the Washington Post.

In other words, no group that stands for enforcing immigration laws should be allowed on TV, because all of them are less reasonable than NumbersUSA, which La Raza describes as being an "extremist group targeting Latinos."

These comments from La Raza are so desperate and disconnected from reality that when they began last month I dismissed them and chose not to bring them to your attention.

NUMBERSUSA HAS ALWAYS CAUTIONED AGAINST ANTI-IMMIGRANT EXPRESSIONS

Those of you who have used NumbersUSA's activist tools for our 11 years of existence know that, for instance, we have NEVER talked about the ethnicity or race of immigrants and illegal aliens. We have ALWAYS called for immigration policies that do NOT take race into consideration and that do NOT favor one ethnicity over another.

You also know that beginning with my 1996 video, "Immigration by the Numbers," and with the founding of our website in 1997, we have always admonished Americans to refrain from getting angry at immigrants. We have warned against "immigrant bashing." We have always rallied citizens to express their anger against the public officials who have created the immigration nightmare.

Frankly, the Anti-Defamation League is itself engaging in incredibly reckless defamation of NumbersUSA and many other immigration-reduction groups and leaders.

What we have here is several groups that favor very high immigration -- such as La Raza, ADL and the Southern Poverty Law Center -- who seek to advance their cause by throwing the most incendiary type of labels at their opponents.

And they really believe they can get by with it. They have already begun to achieve meetings with TV executives to make their case for keeping off the air all immigration-restriction groups, and especially the two largest national groups, NumbersUSA and FAIR (the Federation for American Immigration Reform).

'WE CAN STOP THE DEBATE' WEBSITE LAYS OUT THE CASE FOR CENSORSHIP

I can tell you that the majority of text on the La Raza website about the groups, about NumbersUSA and about me is simply not factual.

The website is called "We Can Stop The Hate dot org." But it might as well be called "We Can Stop The Debate."

According to the ADL's Stacy Burnett on the website, anybody who uses words like conquest, invasion, swarms, hordes, crime and disease in connection with illegal immigration -- or who even suggests that immigration is an economic threat to a community -- is guilty of hate speech.

La Raza says such talk is "used to justify extreme action, sometimes even genocide, since the people using those labels claim that the 'larger public interest' is at risk."

The website also says that more than 40 million Americans are members of hate, racist and extremist groups that apparently are fanning the passions of genocide toward immigrants.

Wow! And I thought we were just trying to reduce the numerical level of immigration and to enforce immigration laws that have been on the books for decades.

Don't you find that 40 million figure a little hard to believe? What groups can they possibly be counting?

This stuff sounds so nuts that you can see why I dismissed it at first, but the website is rallying its own supporters to a relentless campaign to pressure TV executives to erase nearly all opposition to amnesties from TV.

PLEASE CONTACT TV EXECUTIVES AND CALL FOR CONTINUED OPEN IMMIGRATION FORUM -- INCLUDING OUR OPPONENTS

I am asking as many of you as have time to send an email to CNN, Fox and MSNBC executives to urge them to continue to keep their shows open to all sides of the immigration debate.

Unlike the open-borders, pro-amnesty groups, our side of the debate does not want to silence our opponents. We believe in freedom of the press, freedom of speech and in allowing American citizens to hear all points of view. Yes, we find the views of many of the open-borders leaders repugnant, but we would never suggest that they should be excluded from news stories and from talk shows.

Because these TV executives have not shown any sign of giving in to the censorship campaign, I don't want to burn up their fax machines with faxes at this moment.

So, I am asking you to send your own email to the executives, based on what you have read in this alert and what you read on We Can Stop The Hate dot org and on our own NumbersUSA website.


CNN
Jim Walton
President CNN Worldwide
Atlanta, GA
Email: jim.walton@turner.com


Jonathan Klein
President CNN U.S.
New York, NY
Email: Jon.Klein@turner.com
Viewer Response Line/Comments
Call 212-275-7800 ask for Viewer Response Line

FOX NEWS
Roger Ailes
Chairman and CEO
New York, NY
Email roger.ailes@foxnews.com

Bill Shine
Senior Vice President Programming
New York, NY
Email bill.shine@foxnews.com


Brian Lewis
Executive Vice President Corporate Communications
New York, NY
Email brian.lewis@foxnews.com

Public Feedback
Yourcomments@foxnews.com


MSNBC
Phil Griffin
Senior Vice President of News
New York, NY
Email phil.griffin@nbc.com

Please remember that these executives are not our enemies. Although we may not always agree with their balance in covering immigration, these three cables have been far more open than broadcast TV and the nation's newspapers to allowing the majority of Americans' concerns about immigration to be expressed.

The La Raza Censorship Campaign is telling these executives that if they allow leaders from FAIR, the Minutemen, ALIPAC, or if they allow Rosemary and me, to continue to express our views on TV, the executives will be inculcating "good people" to hate all immigrants.

The La Raza website says it goes beyond the bounds of free speech to say that our nation's immigration policies threaten our communities and our values.

I say that statement itself threatens the values of our nation.

Let these executives know that you know about the effort at censorship and that you back them 100% in keeping the immigration forum open to all sides -- including the open-borders people who want to censor us.

http://www.numbersusa.com/news?ID=9681

Call Media Bosses and Urge them to Maintain a Fair Playing Field

Please email and/or call the media executives listed to the left. Let these executives know that you are aware of the attempt at censorship and that you back the media outlets 100 percent in keeping the immigration forum open to all sides - including the open-borders people who want to censor your viewpoint.

REMEMBER: These executives are not our enemies. The names in the left column have been far more open than broadcast TV and the nation's newspapers to allowing the majority of Americans' concerns about immigration to be expressed.You will find additional talking points below.


Talking point: NumbersUSA and people like myself are completely mischaracterized by open-border groups, which are completely disconnected from reality, facts, and even common decency. Thank you for continuing to give organizations that represent my point of view a chance to speak on your programs.

Talking point: La Raza suggests that no pro-enforcement group has a legitimate right to free speech. I support their right to voice an opinion, provided that their targeted rivals are allowed to defend themselves. Thank you continuing to give both sides of the debate a chance to speak on your programs.

http://www.numbersusa.com/phones?ID=9676

Sorry, someone else posted this a few days ago, but did do it. Hope we can stop this campaign of hate for Americans these groups have. The best I and all of us can do now is to pray that God will turn the tide toward right.

According to the ADL's Stacy Burnett on the website, anybody who uses words like conquest, invasion, swarms, hordes, crime and disease in connection with illegal immigration -- or who even suggests that immigration is an economic threat to a community -- is guilty of hate speech.

Their definition of what constitutes 'hate speech' is absurd .

They are using the Nazi tactic of Joseph Goebbels--
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."


Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.- William Orville Douglas

We need to fight so hard against this. Calls, emails and faxes, let's fight this.

If you want to know the worst - - our Congress actually gives money to LaRaza. I'm not sure about the ADL - don't have stats on that yet. This whole thing is NUTZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!