Raj on FOX’s The O’Reilly Factor (with Bill O’Reilly)

Raj on FOX’s The Big Story (with John Gibson)

Raj on MSNBC (with Rita Cosby)

Raj & Elephants on Parade

What does one do when others are ignoring an undeniable reality, when they are, as the old English idiom states, ignoring the "elephant in the room?"

For congressional hopeful and former reality TV star Raj Bhakta, the answer was to obtain some real elephants, and not only that, but a mariachi band as well.

Glenn Beck of Headline News interviews Raj Bhakta about his exploits on the border.

Bill O'Reilly interviews congressional candidate Raj Bhakta about his trip to Texas and what he encountered there.

The year's homicide toll in Philadelphia rose to 324 this morning with a fatal shooting in the Spring Garden section, authorities said.

Police found an unidentified man with gunshot wounds at 18th and Wallace Streets shortly after midnight. The victim had been shot multiple times in the torso. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:16 a.m.

No arrests were made and no motive was known, police said.

Pennsylvania Republican candidate for Congress, Raj Peter Bhakta, showed what an absolute farce border security is---- by riding an elephant across the Rio Grande - with a mariachi band! (see his MSNBC interview here.)

He wasn't stopped, or busted... even though the mariachi band was playing full force, and the elephant walked about 1mph.

If they can get 10 guys with instruments, and an elephant across... terrorists can get themselves, guns, and a nuke across! Ridiculous!

I wish I'd thought of this. Pennsylvania Republican congressional candidate Raj Peter Bhakta, demonstrated what a joke border security is by riding an elephant across the Rio Grande — with a mariachi band! (see his Fox News interview here.) Sure it's a stunt, but stunts matter, like the College Republican affirmative-action bake sales or Horowitz's "reparations are racist" ads. The Left has been better than us at political theater for a long time; maybe we're starting to catch up.

Raj Batka, who was on the show Apprentice and is running for Congress in Pennsylvania, crossed the American border with Mexico on an elephant, with a Mariachi band, and no one stopped him. Watch the video, wow.

Raj is having a fundraiser in NY on Saturday, October 21st. View the evite here and donate money to this guy. He deserves it after an eye-opening stunt like that.

You know, Republicans could be following this guy’s lead and campaigning hard on border security except that their past performance on the issue has been wishy-washy, at best.

I guarantee you that if Republicans, as a party, had taken a hard line on border security starting a year and a half ago the current election scene would be very, very different.

On Sept. 17, people around the world gathered in a show of support for international intervention to end the genocide in Darfur. More than 200,000 people have been murdered by Sudanese government supported militias as the world watches.

On Sept. 26, people from around the region gathered in a show of support for legislation to end the proliferation of guns on the streets of Philadelphia. More than 300 people have been murdered in Philadelphia this year as the city watches.

After the Rwandan genocide, the world said never again. After young Faheem Thomas-Childs was killed, Philadelphians said enough is enough.

I commend Mothers in Charge and Men United for their persistent efforts to end gun violence in the city. The show of force during the rally in Harrisburg hopefully will be the inducement needed to spur the elected officials into action.

But what about the rest of us?

Where is the righteous indignation, the fervor, the moral outrage that our safety and very lives have been reduced to collateral damage by our fellow citizens who are fighting a losing battle to stand on corners that they don't own and sell harmful substances to our neighbors? Gun legislation can only take us so far.

We have lost our moral compass. There are those among us who have no hope or vision for the future. Children roam the streets at all hours, parents are physically or emotionally absent.

We lack the values that are fundamental to being both personally and socially responsible. As children are shot in the streets, people sell and wear shirts that proclaim "Don't Snitch." People are no longer ashamed of having criminal records.

Legislation will not solve the fundamental problem in both Philadelphia and Darfur, the loss of each individual's spiritual compass. Now that we have given our elected officials the charge, what are WE going to do in our own way to stop the violence? In Sudan and in Philadelphia, the time for diplomatic talks has come to an end.

The time for action is NOW.

Sonya Springer, Philadelphia

Beck: Now, former "Apprentice" contestant and current Pennsylvania candidate Raj Bhakta. Raj, how did this -- how did this idea come to you?

Bhakta: Glenn, it came to me after watching a guy literally come under the official U.S./Mexico international bridge in Brownsville, Texas. I was there. The guy came right under the nose of U.S. security. I figured if this guy can get across right here, only getting caught, in fact, as a result of having given him chase, you could probably get an elephant across. You could probably get an elephant and a mariachi band across. For that matter you could probably get Osama bin laden dressed as Osama bin Laden across.

Beck: Now, you actually chased the guy?

Bhakta: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

Beck: Got to love that! Don`t think we have anybody else in Congress doing that.

Bhakta: We need more people. People of action in Congress.

Beck: Do you think -- you`re a Republican?

Bhakta: I am.

Beck: Do you think that the border issue the way it`s been handled by the Republicans is just going to end up being the death of them?

Bhakta: Well, I think it`s clearly, sadly, political corruption on both sides. Overwhelmingly Republicans and Democrats agree that something needs to be done. You know this. But the Democrats are addicted to the notion that minority votes are Democratic votes and Republicans, due to the ties with small business, want to keep the border open for cheap labor. But the tragedy here is that we`ve gone and spent nearly a trillion dollars in the name of national security, gone into Iraq, gone into Afghanistan, passed the Patriot Act, created the Homeland Security Department, untold treasure and lives and fortune, and I can carry on like this on the border, and people come across right under the bridge. It`s a joke.

Beck: All right. So, Raj, honestly, you know, I -- there`s -- I think we are facing some of the most critical elections of our country`s history in the next few elections. This -- this one coming up is very important. I`ve been on the radio program just saying, please look into all of these candidates to make sure that they`re not jokes. Here you are, a game show contestant. Tell me -- tell me your stance on Iran. What do you think of these guys?

Bhakta: Clearly, I think nuclear proliferation is the biggest threat to civilization going forward. It needs to be the policy of the United States, with respect to Iran and North Korea, to bring the maximum -- maximum leverage possible upon them. Now, the point here is I think the war in Iraq has shown the limitations of American unilateral power. We`re stretched out very thinly. So we need diplomacy here. We need to work with the French and the Europeans. It`s not easy to work with the French. We know this. But we`ve got to.

Beck: Right. We`re going to France. You know what? I almost want to put you in Congress just to see you pull that one off.

Bhakta: Yes.

Beck: Raj, thank you very much.

Bhakta: Take care, sir.

Beck: Best of luck to you.

Raj Bhakta suspected that security at the U.S.-Mexican border was lax.

So, the Republican congressional candidate traveled to Brownsville, Texas, last week to see for himself.

On the first day of his trip, he saw a shirtless Mexican man crossing the Rio Grande into the United States. He chased the man, who was ultimately apprehended.

The next day, to show the absence of security, he hired three elephants and a six-piece mariachi band to stand at the border crossing. He rode one of the elephants for a while. The crowd was there for two hours.

So, how much attention did they attract from security?

"Nada," said Bhakta, who was wearing an American flag bow tie.

The candidate did get plenty of national television exposure, including an appearance on The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News.

Bhakta said the stunt would be funny if the issue of border security were not so serious.

"It’s all fun and games until a terrorist gets across the border," he said.

Bhakta, who is challenging freshman Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-13th dist.), calls the security "a joke."

"It’s ten times worse than you can imagine," he said. "We have old ladies with blue hair strip searched at airports, but we have elephants going across the border and not getting stopped."

Bhakta believes Congress and President George W. Bush are callous and out of touch on the issue. He wants Congress to take a field trip to Brownsville.

If elected, he would support high-tech surveillance and increased border patrols at high-traffic areas.