During yesterday’s U.S. Senate debate over the cloture motion on the zombie Amnesty Immigration Bill, Louisiana Senator David Vitter spoke poignantly about the Senate being out of touch with American citizens - these are the same citizens who made so many phone calls, emails and faxes to capitol hill opposing the Amnesty bill that the entire phone system crashed. Must see 1minute 47 second Video HERE.

Vitter is correct and not just on a national level. His adjectives describe perfectly the attitudes of Baton Rouge lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat.

It is arrogant and out of touch for Baton Rouge lawmakers to think that they know better than we how to spend OUR tax dollars.

By voting to bust the spending cap, Baton Rouge lawmakers arrogantly told us that the best use of OUR tax dollars was in support of every pork project in the state - as long as their own pork in their own districts was also approved.

It is arrogant and out of touch to think that they can buy our votes in the next election cycle with a few locally well placed contributions to everything from churches to civic groups - with a scattering of other projects thrown in for good measure.

It does not take a PhD in Economics to realize that their votes for busting the spending cap and spending every cent to which they had access, mortgages our future and set us up for future tax hikes.

Yesterday’s defeat of the Immigration Shamnesty Bill proved that when the people rise up against “arrogant, out of touch” career politicians - bad bills, and the politicians in Washington who support them CAN be defeated.

Louisiana citizens must understand that WE have the power at the voting booth this fall to tell Baton Rouge lawmakers from both sides of the aisles that WE are not stupid, and THEY can take their arrogant, out of touch attitudes straight down the marbled capitol steps - because come October, they’re fired.

If you cannot watch C-SPAN this morning, (the one hour of debate prior to the cloture vote is going on at this very moment) go to Michelle Malkin’s website to follow the play by play.

If Ted Kennedy and Arlen Specter are making your stomach turn sour as is mine, take a quick break and watch this clever music video, “The Amnesty Bill Blues”  courtesy of Freedom Folks.

Immigration Bill minute by minute update on the Senate floor is HERE.

The following text quoted from the linked Michelle Malkin post.

More Vitter heroism…:
4:07pm update. Dodd amendment is tabled, 56-41. Reid refuses to yield for a parliamentary inquiry from Vitter.
An unnamed amendment has been withdrawn without unanimous consent. Reid says unanimous consent is not needed. Menendez-Obama-Feingold amendment to amend the point system and move it back to favoring family reunification is apparently up next. Menendez speaks about his amendment. Vitter is trying to get recognized for a parliamentary inquiry. Vitter: Will the majority leader yield? Menendez keeps speaking over them–engaging in debate despite the rules laid down by Reid that have prohibited GOP opponents from debating.

Reid responds to Menendez. Moves to vote on tabling the amendment.

3:59pm update. Vote is underway on tabling a Dodd amendment. Meantime, Noam Askew hears that Domenici will vote against cloture tomorrow. There’s buzz that Nelson and Bond are also likely no’s.

3:29pm update. The Bond amendment is killed, 56-41. Reid is reading the letter he sent to GOP senators regarding the clay pigeon strategy. I posted the exchange yesterday here. David Vitter is trying to get recognized. He is “acknowledged, but not recognized.” Now, Vitter’s allowed to speak.

Vitter: “Senator McConnell is not being railroaded. President Bush is not being railroaded. I’m being railroaded. My colleagues [who want to offer amendments] are being railroaded.”

DeMint gets time to read the GOP senators response to Reid’s letter.

3:00pm update. The vote on whether to table Bond’s amendment commences.

2:42pm update. Vitter asks Reid point blank if he and others will have a chance to offer amendments. Reid extols the fairness of the process. Translation: No.

Video HERE. Under intense pressure from the President of the United States, the Republican National Committee, nearly every Democrat in the U.S. Senate, and scores of special interest business groups, Louisiana Senator David Vitter has remained steadfast in his determination to see that the ‘Shamnesty’ Immigration Bill is defeated in Washington.

What is most impressive about Vitter’s role as champion of “We The People” is that from Day 1, he has sided with the overwhelming majority of Americans who want to see our borders secured, and who do not want to see {10% of the population of Mexico} millions of ILLEGAL aliens given amnesty.

Although Mary Landrieu’s cloture votes were the right votes, (thanks in large part to the relentless phone calls, emails, and faxes from her constituents) it seems that she was dragged kicking and screaming all the way to the correct vote.

David Vitter, by contrast, did not put his finger up in the air to see which way the wind was blowing before he took a stand. Vitter did not need thousands of phone calls, emails, and faxes to decide where he stood. Weeks ago, Vitter’s office was clear on where he stood -

1. NO AMNESTY
2. SECURE THE BORDER.

With regard to the amnesty bill, David Vitter came early and he’s staying late. His stand for the people, and against some of the most powerful forces in Washington are nothing short of heroic. See a video “Thank You” HERE

A few years ago when the Catholic Church in America was suffering from a near epidemic of sex abuse allegations, several of my Catholic friends became so disillusioned with the Catholic Church that they thought about leaving it once and for all.

In the end, my Catholic friends made the decision to stay, expressing that corrupt, perverted, pedophile priests were Catholics in name only. The lives of these disturbed priests did NOT reflect the teachings of the Church or of Jesus Christ, and certainly did NOT represent the backbone of the Church - its rank and file members.

My friends decided that ultimately they were Catholic because they believed in the Bible, and believed in following Catholic Church teachings. No twisted person or persons would cause my friends to abandon that in which they so strongly believed.

While faith in a political party is certainly NOT the same as religious faith, some parallels can still be drawn. And with my nearly total disillusionment with the Republican Party on the national, state, and local level, I find myself thinking quite a bit about this example from my Catholic friends.

I am a Republican because I believe in the Platform of the Republican Party. No person inspired me to become a Republican. I simply read the GOP platform, compared it to the Democrat Platform, and decided for myself that the GOP platform most closely matched my beliefs and political philosophy.

I’ve had to remind myself of that often lately, as I watch national Republicans self-destruct on the immigration issue, state Republicans talk one way and vote another in Baton Rouge, and local Republicans so busy in turf wars that they abandon the precepts of the platform in a rush to support life-long Democrats turned recent Republicans - never mind the liberal voting record.

No, I’m not quite ready to give up my faith in the principles of the GOP as espoused in the platform. And, while the GOP has many faults, I still believe that electing true conservative GOP candidates offers the best hope for real change in Louisiana in this fall’s elections.

But you can bet that I’ll make darn sure that whatever Republican candidate I support lines up philosophically with the platform, in word AND deed, AND (in the case of an incumbent) - in their voting record.

Where’s an ACLU attorney when you need one!? Our state Representatives and Senators have approved literally millions of dollars of taxpayer money to fund numerous church and religious organizations from Shreveport to Grande Isle and everywhere in between.

The last time I checked, it is the ACLU which screams loudest and longest any time government dollars are used to fund programs which have even the slightest inkling of “religious” overtones.

But here in Louisiana, $20,000 of YOUR tax dollars can go to the St. Paul Church of God in Christ, or $50,000 to the Muslim New Orleans Masjid of Al-Islam, or $75,000 to the Fourth District Missionary Baptist Church, and much more - all without so much as a raised eyebrow from the ACLU.

Perhaps the ACLU is too busy pursuing such egregious violations as the City of Slidell’s display of a picture of Jesus in one of Slidell’s courtrooms.

If the ACLU would come to the aid of the Louisiana taxpayer, for once, I would side with them.  I won’t hold my breath.