Fearmongering doctor finds fame attacking border kids

Dr. Elizabeth Vliet

Dr. Elizabeth L Vliet isn't an expert on infectious diseases, but she plays one on TV. In fact, she is a board-certified psychiatrist who is using the recent furor over immigration to make a name - and maybe some money - for herself.

Dr Vliet has appeared several times on Fox News warning that the refugee children from Central America, who are fleeing to the United States to escape drug and gang violence at home, are bringing a number of dangerous infectious diseases with them. There isn't any actual proof to any of this, and there has been no outbreak of major diseases among the children detained along our border. Because she is a doctor, however, her statements are taken as fact without verification.

Last June, Vliet penned a column for The McAllen (TX) Monitor in which she claimed border kids were bringing in every disease short of Mad Cow into the country. Again, she cited no proof or examples, but instead provided a rundown of a list of terrible diseases and their effects. Her column, however, led to her TV appearances on both Hannity and Justice with Judge Jeanine, who both took anti-immigrant stances and used Vliet's statements to validate them.

Vliet's misleading statements have also been adopted by anti-immigrant activists and bloggers, who use them to justify their racist rhetoric by blaming immigrants (particularly children) for anything and everything. The website The Federalist Papers actually used Vliet's statements to blame the measles outbreak at Disneyland on illegal immigrants, even though all the evidence points to a Disneyland employee (and U.S. citizen) as the source of the outbreak.

The Gateway Pundit also used Vliet's arguments to blame the measles outbreak on illegal immigrants, stating that 72 cases of measles reported in 2011 were "imported" from other countries. While The Gateway Pundit tried to blame those cases on illegal immigrants, the source they used stated the exact opposite. The source, For The Record, could find no instance in which a case of measles could be attributed to an immigrant, legal or illegal. Of the 72 cases "imported" from other countries, 52 were caused by American citizens who brought the disease back while traveling abroad, while the remaining 20 were brought in by foreign tourists.

Vliet's campaign against immigrants isn't the first time she has ventured outside her expertise to gain a little notoriety. Besides being an expert on demonizing immigrant children, Vliet has parlayed her experience as a psychiatrist into a successful money-making venture - as a hormone health expert. Her website bills her as specializing in "preventive and climacteric medicine for women and men."  She has also written at least five books on the subject, including "It's My Ovaries, Stupid," all promising answers on how to improve your health by addressing hormone imbalance.

Although she often promotes herself as an expert on various issues, some of her former patients take issue with her professionalism. On the Vitals.com website, Vliet earned a 2.5 star rating, with some patients complaining about her bedside manner, and others complaining that they couldn't speak with her on the phone unless they paid an extra fee. One patient even called her "mean and nasty," claiming one phone consultation left her in tears.

For now, however, Dr. Vliet seems content on being an expert on the issue that brings her the most attention: feeding the fear and hatred of immigrant children.

Reports of diseased immigrant children mirror Nazi propaganda

This Nazi propaganda poster from 1941
tells Polish residents that Jews are
carriers of Typhus

This column was originally posted on CafeConLecheRepublicans.com. Bob Quasius also contributed to the piece.

The surge of refugee immigrant children to America’s southern border has ignited a vehement anti-immigrant tone in reporting by many independent news organizations and bloggers. In an effort to create justification for the deportation of these children without granting refugee status, many of these reporters are echoing propaganda tactics eerily reminiscent of the Nazi campaign against European Jews during World War II. 

The techniques used by today’s reporters and bloggers include not-so-subtle characterizations of the children, including the repeated use of the term “illegal alien” over “refugee” or “undocumented immigrant,” which is the far more correct legal designation. The loaded term “illegal alien,” and the often-unfounded implications it carries, is the reason why respected news organizations like Associated Press no longer use the term in general.

A far more insidious technique employed by writers in anti-immigrant press, however, takes a page out of the Nazi propaganda handbook. It involves using legitimate examples of sick immigrant children with various ailments, some serious, and depicting it as far more widespread and dangerous than it actually is.

Rockwall Conservative to GOP: Alienate Hispanic voters at your own peril

The Rockwall Conservative is at it again! With so many blogs out there, it's hard to find the diamonds in the rough, those conservatives who are saying some truly profound things we should hear, not just regurgitating talking points and preaching to the choir. That's why I'm pretty picky with the folks I link to; I only want to list sites that I feel are worth your valuable time. The Rockwall Conservative is certainly one of them.

This past weekend, the Texas State GOP Convention was held in Ft. Worth, and an uprising of some Republican activists had the party's immigration platform removed. The platform, dubbed the "Texas Solution," not only acknowledged our system was broken, but set out common-sense reforms for the system, including a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for undocumented and illegal immigrants. Instead, the immigration platform now in place offers no reform or solution of any kind, and supports a stance that will keep our broken system in place for years to come. This is because the new immigration platform (and those who support it) insist that the border be secured first before reforms are made, a goal that could take decades to achieve, if ever. Meanwhile, millions of decent future Americans are subjected to mass poverty, high crime, drug-fueled violence, and socialistic governments. Our misguided hubris on this issue is costing lives south of the border.

I've posted on this site before that I feel comprehensive immigration reform is a concept supported by conservative principles, free-market capitalism, and Christian ethics. This concept is undermined by those who use vague buzzwords like "amnesty" to derail the process. The anti-reform forces in our party are amassing a political toll as well, one that we will pay in elections to come.

The Rockwall Conservative points out in a new column just what this sort of political grandstanding (and the shrill rhetoric that accompanied it) will cost us in terms of support by Hispanic voters. "I don’t know everything, but I do know some things well," he says in the column. "For example, I know the defeat of the Texas Solution is taken as an assault on legitimate Hispanic citizens and legal residents. Ah! Just what the Democrats wanted!"

To read the entire column, please click here to visit RockwallConservative.me.

Steve King can't tell the truth when it comes to raising money

We don't like it when politicians don't speak the truth, regardless of their political party. Republican Steve King has done many good things, but he used half-truths and pinned America's problems on immigrants in an effort to raise money. In a fundraising email, he claimed America is on a "death watch" and your donation to his campaign would help stop that, but his claims against immigrants and immigration reform simply aren't true. Click here to read our report about his claims, and why they don't hold up to fact. No amount of money is worth sacrificing the truth.

Chipper Jones wants to feed poor immigrants to alligators

You know what I can't stand? Spoiled rich celebrities, and yes, spoiled athlete millionaires are included in that bunch. That's why I lost a lot of respect for former Atlanta Braves star Chipper Jones, who thinks it would be great fun to feed undocumented immigrants to alligators placed on the border.

I guess when we quote the poem at the Statue of Liberty saying "give me your tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free," we need to start adding "except for the poor, huddled masses of Mexicans yearning to escape the drug violence and poverty of their lousy country." What an ignorant tool this guy is. He probably doesn't even know that our goverment's immigration system is so screwed up that every year, thousands of immigrants trying to follow the rules are denied green cards for no reason at all. Over one million qualified applicants are still waiting. Some people have waited over 25 years. No wonder they cross the border in desperation. But that doesn't mean a thing to a spoiled millionaire.

To read more about this idiot, click right here to read my full story at Examiner.com.