Obama's Homeland Security Sect'y wants 'criminal aliens' out of US

Criminal aliens? No, no, no! According to La Racist, all those undocumented people didn't cross the border; the border crossed them!

"If you're a criminal and you're not entitled to be in the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wants you out of the country.

Napolitano wants what she calls "criminal aliens" off American streets. She is looking at existing immigration enforcement programs to see if taxpayers are getting the most bang for their buck."

Gee, Janet, you almost sound like a good republican. And I wonder how White House aide Cecilia Muñoz feels about that? Munoz had been in charge of La Raza's legislative and lobbying efforts as recently as last year.

"The goal, Napolitano said, is for federal immigration officials to know whether an inmate is in the country illegally immediately after he is processed into a detention facility. After the criminal serves his or her sentence, immigration officials can be ready to deport that person right away.

ICE spokesman Richard Rocha said the agency plans to expand this connectivity to all state and local detention centers over the next four years.

Napolitano, whose job includes overseeing immigration laws, says she also will go after criminal fugitives who are in the country illegally."

ICE?? But those agents act like terrorists! So said Janet Napolitano's boss, President Obama, to La Racist - just last summer.



Hope n Change sounds a lot like hypocrisy. No worries, though, for Obama's illegal alien aunt.

Barack Napolitano's Dangerous Profile

In April, 2009, a DHS domestic intelligence report, that was supposed to be for law enforcement eyes only, was leaked and quickly spread across the inter tubes. The report specifically singled out "right-wing extremist groups" - returning war vets, pro-lifers, gun rights advocates, anti-tax groups, et al.

No specific threats were notated. Nor was there any mention of radical Islam.

Janet Napolitano, head of the DHS, was quick to defend the report:

"We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not -- nor will we ever -- monitor ideology or political beliefs," Napolitano said in the statement. "We take seriously our responsibility to protect the civil rights and liberties of the American people, including subjecting our activities to rigorous oversight from numerous internal and external sources."

Later in April, Napolitano apologized to the American Legion for the report:

"Napolitano blamed one of her agency's analysts for prematurely sending out the intelligence assessment to law enforcement, according to Craig Roberts, an American Legion member who attended the meeting."

Lefties at the gub'mint subsidized Nat'l Public Radio (NPR) puzzled their puzzler till it hurt and wondered "was her mea culpa really necessary?"

Nov., 2009:

12 Soldiers Killed; 31 Wounded in Ft. Hood Shooting; One Suspect Killed

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, Ft. Hood Gunman is alive; Was He Part of Obama's Transition Team?

We May Not Be at War with Islam, but Apparently Islam at War with Us

Muslim soldier Nidal Hasan to fellow military doctors: “We love death more then (sic) you love life!”

Thousands Expected at Ft. Hood Memorial Today.

"At the memorial service, the names of the 13 killed wil be read aloud, along with a 21-gun salute.

The families of those 13 victims will be in attendance.

The president will also be among an estimated five thousand people."

I wonder if Janet will be there?

Homegrown Muslim Extremism Rising Threat

This may have been the most dangerous year since 9/11, anti-terrorism experts say.

I know. Snark says "an expert" is merely someone from out of town, but the L.A. Times puts forth a decent effort:

"Reporting from Washington - The Obama administration, grappling with a spate of recent Islamic terrorism cases on U.S. soil, has concluded that the country confronts a rising threat from homegrown extremism.

Anti-terrorism officials and experts see signs of accelerated radicalization among American Muslims, driven by a wave of English-language online propaganda and reflected in aspiring fighters' trips to hot spots such as Pakistan and Somalia.

Europe had been the front line, the target of successive attacks and major plots, while the U.S. remained relatively calm. But the number, variety and scale of recent U.S. cases suggest 2009 has been the most dangerous year domestically since 2001, anti-terrorism experts said:

* There were major arrests of Americans accused of plotting with Al Qaeda and its allies, including an Afghan American charged in a New York bomb plot described as the most serious threat in this country since the Sept. 11 attacks.

* Authorities tracked other extremism suspects joining foreign networks, including Somali Americans going to the battlegrounds of their ancestral homeland and an Albanian American from Brooklyn who was arrested in Kosovo.

* The FBI rounded up homegrown terrorism suspects in Dallas, Detroit and Raleigh, N.C., saying that it had broken up plots targeting a synagogue, government buildings and military facilities.

Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano issued her strongest public comments yet on the homegrown threat.

"We've seen an increased number of arrests here in the U.S. of individuals suspected of plotting terrorist attacks, or supporting terror groups abroad such as Al Qaeda," Napolitano said in a speech in New York. "Home-based terrorism is here. And, like violent extremism abroad, it will be part of the threat picture that we must now confront."

Officials acknowledged that her tone had changed, though they said terrorism has been her focus since becoming Homeland Security chief.

In some of the 2009 cases, extremist leanings are suspected but motives are not known.

Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan -- accused of killing 13 people in a Ft. Hood, Texas, shooting rampage last month -- has apparently suffered emotional problems. But in interviews, officials and experts have also raised his Muslim beliefs as an alleged motive.

A previous attack on the U.S. military, a shooting in June by an American convert who killed a soldier and wounded another at an Arkansas recruiting center, was apparently a case of a lone wolf radicalized in Yemen, according to Homeland Security officials.

"You are seeing the full spectrum of the threats you face in terrorism," former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

"Radicalization is clearly happening in the U.S.," said Mitchell Silber, director of analysis for the Intelligence Division of the New York Police Department. "In years past, you couldn't say that about the U.S. You could say it about Europe."

During the Bush administration, the flaccid Michael Chertoff couldn't bring himself to say "illegal immigrant", and now he can't seem to say "Muslim extremism", either. Obama's Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is no better, what with being sedated by her ridiculous don't say terrorism, say man made disaster. But I feel so much better, at least, knowing her tone has changed.

Uh, isn't "man made" rather sexist coming from such an enlightened liberal? But I digress.

Add this to the growing 'man made' list.

At least the experts got it right because there's hope-n-change: Gitmo detainees are to be transferred to Illinois prison!

Last Friday was 'Happy Sequester day'

Apparently, the sequester has gotten so bad that the gender pay gap in the White House has gone from paying women staffers 18% less than men to paying women staffers 21% less than men.

It's like a war, or something...

Yup. It is a war by the federal govt. - against the law abiding citizens of this nation: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano promised to release more illegal immigrants into the United States, saying the budget sequester has left her no choice.

Meanwhile, federal income tax revenue to hit record ($2.7 TRILLION) this year.

Violent, Leftist Nutjob Only American on FBI's 'Most Wanted' List

"Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 31-year-old computer specialist from Berkeley, Calif., is wanted for the 2003 bombings of two corporate offices in California.

Authorities describe San Diego as an animal rights activist who turned to bomb attacks and say he has tattoo that proclaims, "It only takes a spark."

A law enforcement official said the FBI was to announce Tuesday that San Diego was being added to the "Most Wanted" terrorist list. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the announcement ahead of time.

San Diego would be the 24th person on the list, and the only domestic terror suspect.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko declined to comment on the pending announcement.

The move to add a domestic, left-wing terrorist to the list comes only days after the Obama administration was criticized for internal reports suggesting some military veterans could be susceptible to right-wing extremist recruiters or commit lone acts of violence. That prompted angry reactions from some lawmakers and veterans groups."

Also on the FBI's Most Wanted List are the likes of Usama Bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, and Jamel Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Badawi.

I wonder if Janet Napolitano can tell us if Hugo Chavez's murdering buddies, FARC (the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), are still listed as a terrorist organization?

Obama Camp Turns to Clinton to Counter Palin

Doood! Iffen you wanted her on the ticket, you should've just said so. But you knew the obvious: watch yer back.

Oh, well. Billary does have a lot of debt to work off. Looks like she's off to Florida on Monday. 'Dispatched' by Obama. Uh, oh.

But it all comes with a caveat from Hillary to not expect too much:

"...noting that she had other commitments this fall..."

Still, Obama has other surrogates of the proper gender to call upon:

With the McCain-Palin team courting undecided female voters, including some who backed Mrs. Clinton in the Democratic primaries, Obama aides said they were counting on not only Mrs. Clinton but also Democratic female governors to rebut Ms. Palin — and, by extension, Mr. McCain. Those governors include Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.

Naturally, the big scurrilous scrutiny from the Left will be if those women can spare the time away from their families in the cause of politics.

And Yet Another Violent Pro-Illegal Immigration Mob

This time in San Francisco. Two arrested.

These Leftist, open border thugs employed their usual tolerance and compassion to attack counter demonstrators. Janet Napolitano is predictably silent.

The Gateway Pundit has more.

And just like all the other violence, vandalism and mayhem perpetrated by these Leftist, open border thugs, it's little more than a local news story.

But there's no media bias.

The Gang that Couldn't Dept. of Homeland Security Straight

The system worked.

"Napolitano added that there was "no suggestion that [the suspect] was improperly screened."

That's what Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday on CNN. And with a straight face, too!

But then it didn't work. It "failed miserably." That's what Napolitano said on NBC's Today Show this morning.

So, why Was Abdulmutallab Flying?

Explosive on Flight 253 Is Among Most Powerful.

Calls for Fire Napolitano getting louder.

Related: The myth of the poor, oppressed jihadist.

TEA Party Racist Calls for Revolution & Overthrow of U.S.

(This is a re-post from 2010)

Oh. Wait. Wrong again.

That would be a gub'mint school teacher calling for revolution & overthrow of the U.S. at a La Racist rally in California. Your tax dollars at work.

Fed up, yet?

Janet Napolitano will be predictably otherwise preoccupied, and The One will, once again, get all wee-wee'd up about incivility - just not towards this seditious, Latino racist.

Why? Too many potential undocumented democrat voters at stake.

Meanwhile, our vaunted Main Stream Media directs a chorus of chirping crickets.

TEA Party Racist Calls for Revolution & Overthrow of U.S.

Oh. Wait. Wrong again.

That would be a gub'mint school teacher calling for revolution & overthrow of the U.S. at a La Racist rally in California. Your tax dollars at work.

Fed up, yet?

Janet Napolitano will be predictably otherwise preoccupied, and The One will, once again, get all wee-wee'd up about incivility - just not towards this seditious, Latino racist.

Why? Too many potential undocumented democrat voters at stake.

Meanwhile, our vaunted Main Stream Media directs a chorus of chirping crickets.

That Failed Times Square Car Bomb

From the London Times:

"US authorities said they were treating the failed bombing , described as a “one-off” by Janet Nappolitano, the Home Security Secretary, as a potential terrorist attack, but said there was no evidence of a continued threat to New York.

Police released a photograph of the dark-colored SUV as it crossed an intersection at 6:28 p.m. Saturday. Two street vendors pointed the SUV out to a police officer about two minutes later after they noticed smoke coming from the Pathfinder, which had been parked haphazardly with its engine running and its hazard lights flashing.

Times Square was evacuated for ten hours as police defused the bomb and searched nearby streets for other possible explosives."

Crittenden has the obvious narrative:

"But as is the fashion, I’m going to guess. In the interests of political correctitude, I’m going with a homegrown right-wing fringe Tea Party racist nut case named Mohammed."

He also has a blog-o-sphere round of other punditry, including a Jawa claim that "South Park" was the target of this amateur bomb attempt?

I blame the Obama administration's climate of fear and divisiveness. 'Natch.

Banana Caught Masquerading as an Apple

 CNN hardest hit.

Author Vijeta Uniyal reports from Germany for the Legal Insurrection blog with this headline: ‘CNN Journalist of the Year’ Fired for Faking News Stories

So, who is this 'CNN Journalist of the Year?' He is Claas Relotius, a reporter and editor for the German weekly 'Der Spiegel' - a publication so radically far-left it makes old school Soviet communists drool with envy.

Looney Toons

But it's not funny.

Denial over the bomb plot By Joan Vennochi / Boston Globe

"Nine years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and the corresponding war on terror that American troops have been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the average citizen gets it. Some Muslim extremists want to kill Americans and will keep on trying to accomplish their mission.

It’s the first thought that registers when a bomb is placed in cars, shoes, or underwear by someone described as Muslim. What’s so terrible about acknowledging that link?"

10 Questions About the NYC Car Bomb Plot By Judith Miller / FOXNews.com

"Here's just some of what I want to know about the failed car bombing in New York's Times Square..."

Remain vigilant on terror threat - The Denver Post Editorial

"Even before investigators knew enough to connect Shahzad to Saturday's failed bombing, Janet Napolitano implausibly assured Americans the incident was a "one-off," or some character acting alone.

Given that investigators still didn't know what they were up against, it should have been impossible for Napolitano to make such an assertion. Coupled with her praise for the system in Abdulmutallab's failed attempt on Christmas day — she initially said it "worked really, very, very smoothly" — it gives the appearance the Obama administration is quick to wave off the ongoing threat to Americans as if not wanting to rattle us.

Meanwhile, the Fort Hood massacre in November exposed a culture among military and security officials that put the laudable desire to be tolerant of religious beliefs above the safety of Americans. Though Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had a track record for promoting jihad and investigators were aware he had exchanged e-mails with the radical imam Anwar al-Awlaki, the psychiatrist continued his career until he shouted "Allahu Akbar!" while killing a dozen soldiers and a civilian."

We get it. We all understand this deadly terror threat from far off lands with strange names, odd languages and a bizarre death cult h3ll bent upon our destruction. Except this administration doesn't get it. The Obama administration is blinded by its maniacal, prejudiced pursuit of "man-caused" disasters from the phantom menace of European ancestry spouting Scripture and clinging to rusty rifles in the backwoods of America as public enemy number one.

His lapdogs in the MSM encourage this irrational narrative.

God forbid, but one day our luck will run out, and this administration will be guilty of gross negligence.

TY TS

I Got a Visit From A Census Worker

It was yesterday. She wanted to obtain my census information.

She was a very nice young lady who eagerly showed me her official Dept. of Commerce non-photo I.D. badge, and her official Census Bureau worker shoulder bag emblazoned with the official "U.S. Census Bureau" logo on its side. The bag contained a very informative brochure printed in a multi-culturally sensitive 51 languages -- from Albanian to Yiddish -- which, I presume, was for all those non-English speaking peoples the census bureau needs to e pluribus unum.

Despite the fact that she never offered to read the questionaire to me in Amharic, Romanian, or Yiddish, nor that I couldn't tell the difference between an official Dept. of Commerce I.D. badge and a fake ginned up by a crook, I was more than happy to speak with this $15/hr worker eagerly participating in the country's business.

Although, I do find it odd that the U.S. gub'mint will require a photo I.D. as a condition for employment screening of these census workers, yet, somehow, this requirement is "disenfranchising" when it comes to asking it of voters participating in our democratic process, which the census impacts. It's reminiscent of the photo I.D. hypocrisy demanded by our own President Obama for those attending his 2008 election night party, but these census workers going door-to-door in our neighborhoods aren't provided with photo I.D.

Funny how that works.

After the initial introduction and pleasantries, I informed the young lady that I had dutifully mailed my census form to the govt. back in March. She responded that things sometimes get mislaid, misplaced, or misapplied. I facetiously replied that I was shocked such blunders could befall our federal bureaucracy. She looked perplexed, and there was a pause, as if her information gathering rote was incapable of processing the jocular joust at her employer.

I ended the awkward moment by volunteering to tell her the same thing as I wrote down on the census form that was dutifully mailed to the census bureau back in March - "There are three people living here."

"Is there anything else you would like to tell me?" she asked.

"Nope," I responded.

She then asked my name, wrote down my address, and went on her merry way - no doubt to warn Janet Napolitano about the anti-gub'mint, wingnut danger which I pose to this great Republic.

Update: Doug Powers, guest hosting over at MM, apparently experienced a similar federal bureaucracy blunder.

Revenge of the Bubba?

Obama Throws No Bones to Progressive Base.

That's what MR over at TP opines in this article.

"When is Obama going to appoint someone who reflects the progressive base that brought him to the White House?

He won the crucial Iowa caucuses on the strength of his anti-Iraq War stance, and many progressive peace and justice activists worked hard for him against John McCain.

So why in the world is he choosing Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State when she was one of the loudest hawks on Iraq and threatened to obliterate 75 million Iranians?

And it’s not just Hillary.

Obama’s OMB pick, Peter Orzag, is a Clintonite disciple of Robert Rubin.

Obama’s AG pick, Eric Holder, is a Clintonite who represented Chiquita Bananas.

And Larry Summers’s name is still being bandied about for Treasury, even though Summers, while Clinton’s Treasury Secretary, forced the deregulation of our financial markets and imposed disaster capitalism on Russia.

Worse still, heading Obama’s transition team on intelligence matters are two former deputies to George Tenet, of all people."

Disaster capitalism? WAA!

Plus, the anti-war crowd is none too happy with THE ONE & fears that Obama may be a hawk in sheep’s clothing.

But, wait. There's more!

Greg Craig, Obama's White House Counsel, is Clintonista re-tread best known for defending John Hinckley, the man who shot President Reagan; heading up President Bill Clinton’s impeachment defense (he lost); advising Ted Kennedy's nephew in his rape case; and selling out Elian Gonzalez & his father to Janet Reno's storm troopers & Castro.

Hope n change smells a lot like 'Revenge of the Bubba'.

Obama Draws Heavily on Clinton Era and Congress for Appointees; Daschle Gets HHS.

"WASHINGTON -- President-elect Barack Obama campaigned on the slogan of "change." But his early appointees, including two top choices that emerged Wednesday, show that experience is one of his main criteria.

His choice for secretary of Health and Human Services, officials said, is former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who has a long Washington résumé. Jacob Lew, one of President Bill Clinton's budget directors, is favored to direct the National Economic Council.

The latest transition news highlighted the three personnel pools supplying Mr. Obama with his picks. Most prominent are Clinton administration veterans -- including, possibly, former first lady Hillary Clinton for secretary of state. Some high-profile appointments are also long-serving members and staff from Capitol Hill. Then there are the influential Chicagoans -- a group that seems smaller than the hometown crowd that usually accompanies a new president to Washington.

Linking them all is Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who has played prominent roles in each group.

Each day brings news of more Clinton veterans at the helm, which is perhaps natural, given that many Democrats with the experience necessary for a top job worked in that administration at some point.

On Wednesday, the transition office announced that the working groups reviewing agency issues would include Carol Browner, Mr. Clinton's longtime Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and Dan Tarullo, a Clinton assistant secretary of state and deputy White House assistant for economic policy.

The two leaders of the national-security working group are James Steinberg, a Clinton deputy national security adviser, and Susan Rice, a Clinton assistant secretary of state. Ron Klain, a top aide to Vice President Al Gore, will be Vice President-elect Joe Biden's chief of staff.

In addition, the transition office officially announced Wednesday that Gregory B. Craig, Mr. Clinton's impeachment lawyer, would be White House counsel. The newly announced White House staff secretary, Lisa Brown, was Mr. Gore's counsel.

On top of that, Clinton veterans have been picked or are under consideration for at least three top cabinet posts. Transition officials say Eric Holder, deputy attorney general at the Justice Department under Mr. Clinton, will be named to the top Justice post. In addition to Mrs. Clinton at State, Lawrence Summers is under consideration for a second tour as Treasury secretary.

"Bringing change to Washington means more than what's on a résumé," said transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. "It means putting the most qualified and experienced team in place to implement the policies that President-elect Obama has outlined that will change the country."

Other picks are coming from Capitol Hill, building a bridge to the lawmakers whom Mr. Obama will need to pass his agenda.

Mr. Daschle is the most prominent example. Atop HHS, he is expected to play an important role in moving Mr. Obama's ambitious health-care agenda through Congress. He was an early backer of Mr. Obama during the primaries, and served as a key adviser though the campaign.

As a veteran of Washington and of Capitol Hill, Mr. Daschle brings knowledge about how to move legislation through Congress. He has a particular interest in health care and is co-author of a book published this year, "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis." The former South Dakota senator left the Senate after losing a race for a fourth term in 2004.

Mr. Daschle's chief of staff from his days as Senate majority leader, Pete Rouse, will also be in the White House as a senior counsel. Phil Schiliro, a longtime aide to Rep. Henry Waxman with deep respect in Congress, will lead outreach efforts to the Hill.

The Chicago circle bears little resemblance to the teams that Presidents George W. Bush brought in from Texas, Bill Clinton from Arkansas and Jimmy Carter from Georgia. Those presidents were former governors, and had large cadres of state-level aides to draw from. Mr. Obama, by contrast, has just a handful of key political advisers.

David Axelrod, a Chicago political consultant and the Obama campaign's message meister, will be a senior White House adviser, the transition officially announced Wednesday. Valerie Jarrett, a Chicago businesswoman and close friend of Mr. Obama and future first lady Michelle Obama, will be another senior adviser.

Grumbling over the lack of "change" is coming from the left and the right. Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin has posted mocking pictures of the Clintonites populating the Obama White House and transition team. Writer and filmmaker Lee Stranahan, writing on the liberal Huffington Post, was moved Wednesday to defend Mr. Obama for his peace overtures to the Clintons. "Some of my fellow progressives," he wrote, "may find it ironic that Hillary Clinton -- who wrote most of the script for the McCain attacks on Barack Obama -- might end up as secretary of State if she decides to."

---

Write to Laura Meckler at laura.meckler@wsj.com and Jonathan Weisman at jonathan.weisman@wsj.com

---

'Let's do the time warp, again' is not change; it's nostalgia. This will either be a brilliant political cabal, or a world class fustercluck for the history books.

Elian Gonzalez joins Cuba's youth Communists

Let's give a big round of thanks to bubba & reno's storm troop policies for shipping this kid back to a brutal commie regime. Was fidel's milkshake worth it, bubba? Me thinks maybe janet only watched.

The Cuban boy at the center of an international custody battle eight years ago has joined Cuba's Young Communist Union.

Elian had survived a boating accident off the Florida coast that killed his mother, who was attempting to (flee cuba's brutal & poverty stricken communist regime) and come to the U.S.

Now 14, Elian was 6 when his relatives in Miami, Florida, lost their fight to keep him in the United States and he was returned to Cuba in mid-2000 with his father.

That wasn't so hard, was it?

Troops Reducing Illegal Border Crossings
SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Mexico -- The arrival of U.S. National Guard troops in Arizona has scared off illegal Mexican migrants along the border, significantly reducing crossings, according to U.S. and Mexican officials.

U.S. authorities said Monday that detentions along the U.S.-Mexico border decreased by 21 percent, to 26,994, in the first 10 days of June, compared with 34,077 for the same period a year ago.

Along the Arizona border, once the busiest crossing spot, detentions have dropped 23 percent, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Detentions dropped 31 percent, to 8,308 from 11,977, along the Texas and New Mexico border.

The desert region's blistering June temperatures typically drive down the number of migrants, but not so drastically, said Mario Martinez, a spokesman with the U.S. Border Patrol in Washington.


And this here sounds like a great lil dis-information campaign:
Laureano Miranda, a 37-year-old farm worker from Mexico's Sinaloa state, said he was trying to get back to a construction job in Los Angeles.
"We've heard that there are soldiers and armed 'migrant hunters' but we have to try," Miranda said. "If we don't make it in three tries, then we'll go back home."

Pssst. Mr. Miranda, there are no 'armed migrant hunters', but phrases like that sure help sell newspapers. Either way, it is a great bit of 'dis-information'. I say as long as there is no blood shed, use all the tools at the ready.


Speaking of tools:
Reform must break the culture that encourages illegal work force.
Tough talk
With estimates of illegal residents in this country reaching as high as 12 million, immigration reform has become a popular refrain.

In the Arizona Legislature, a bill sought to have illegal immigrants arrested as trespassers and let employers go unpunished if they fired workers upon learning they were illegal. Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed the measure on Tuesday.
Nationally, the Senate and House proposals focus primarily on border security, but they also include provisions to quash the illegal work force:
● Higher penalties and fines.
● A mandatory electronic system to verify work eligibility.
● Fraud-proof identification cards.
● Sharing of information between the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.

The Senate bill, which includes a guest-worker program with a path to permanent legal status, would provide more agents to investigate employers. The House bill would not. It deals mostly with border enforcement and makes illegal entry a felony.
President Bush favors a temporary guest-worker program and tamper-proof Social Security cards. He also wants harsher penalties for those who hire illegal immigrants, comparing current fines to parking tickets.
Such changes would worry illegal workers such as Quintanilla, but so far he's willing to live with the risks.
"Why did I come to the United States — to hide?" he asked. "No, I came to the United States to give my family a better life and give my best for a country I'm helping build."

Implementing an immigration plan would take years, even if Congress could reach a compromise, says Daniel Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based libertarian public-policy research foundation.
"There are just a lot of challenges between where we are at now and legislation that could pass Congress and be signed by the president," says Griswold, who has studied immigration for nine years.
Getting there means overpowering a business lobby that has fought hard to preserve the status quo, Oltman says.
"That has been the game all these years — to ask those in power not to enforce the law, drag their feet and make excuses," Oltman says.
Staying there means withstanding shifting political winds, Papademetriou says.
"This is serious money we are talking about, and this is a country that is having serious budget problems," he says. "My guess is that as soon as the country moves on from the issue of immigration, among the first things that will fall by the wayside will be funding for a robust effort at employer sanctions."

Big show
As lawmakers debated reform in recent weeks, Homeland Security unveiled its plan to crack down on employers. Like a Hollywood producer premiering a film, the department put on a big show meant to leave an impression.
Officials stood tall and talked tough on April 20 in Washington, D.C., one day after agents arrested more than 1,100 illegal workers and seven current and former executives of pallet maker Ifco Systems at 45 sites nationwide, including Phoenix.
"Our nation's communities cannot be a wild frontier where illegal aliens and unscrupulous employees subvert our nation's laws," Julie Myers, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that day.
The plan — Phase 2 of the Secure Border Initiative, which first concentrated on border control — promises to levy criminal charges, not just fines, to punish employers who repeatedly hire illegal immigrants. It also aims to eliminate workers' use of fake Social Security numbers by giving Homeland Security access to Social Security data.
Already under way is the shift toward criminal indictments and away from fines, which range from $275 to $11,000 per violation and which many employers see as a cost of doing business, says Russell Ahr, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman.

This is a problem as wide as the southern border and there are no easy fixes, but steps like this coupled with more physical barriers at the border are a good start.
When is the last time you wrote your friendly neighborhood congressperson? On a state or federal level, I'm sure they would just love to hear from you! Follow this link to find out how to contact and send 'em a message.


NO border security needed here.

Parts is parts

Even al-Qaeda is glad to see Al-Zarqawi dead & gone.

He understood and harnessed the power of the internet. He recruited hundreds of suicide bombers, had brilliant intelligence and absolutely first-class bomb makers. He ran his operation on an industrial scale.

However, in recent months he became too extreme even for his allies. The success of his destructive campaign provoked concern and envy and turned all but the most hardline zealots against him.

Iraqis suffered most from his relentless assault, which included assassinations, beheadings and suicide bombings delivered on the streets of Baghdad.

The al-Qaeda leadership also become alarmed by the impact that his brutal methods was having on support in the Muslim World. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda number two, wrote to al-Zarqawi last year urging him to stop the practice of beheading victims and posting the footage on the internet.

Arguably the most disastrous operation happened last November when three suicide bombers acting on al-Zarqawi’s orders killed 60 people in hotels in Amman. The victims included Palestinians attending a wedding celebration.

Most of the militias in Iraq are fighting for political ends, they have an agenda and their aim is to secure some kind of deal giving them power in Baghdad. Zarqawi wanted to provoke sectarian war and to establish a Sunni caliphate, which would have meant rejecting 80 per cent of Iraq's population as collaborators and heretics.

It was an impossible aim but he didn't care, seeing Iraq as a step on the way to achieving this ambition.

Fellow Sunni Muslims became increasingly alarmed by his nihilist ideology and the two sides clashed openly last year when Sunnis decided to participate in the general election against al-Zarqawi’s wishes.

Well, zarqawi has his reward now: 72 'janet reno' lesbians with a hillary demeanor and hell's pitch fork to vex him where the sun never shines for all eternity. Ka-boom, al.

This abu zawahri putz is next on the worm food list.
And this just in: osama bin laden is still dead. Details at eleven.



And why didn't I think of this? Here is a capital idea.
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's prime minister imposed a daytime driving ban in Baghdad and in the province where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed by American bombs, fearing insurgents will seek to avenge the death of the al-Qaida in Iraq leader.

As Iraqi and U.S. leaders cautioned that al-Zarqawi's death was not likely to end the bloodshed in Iraq, an American general said another foreign-born militant was already poised to take over the terror network's operations.

Once more, with feeling!

Minutemen installing Ariz. border fence
Scores of volunteers gathered at a remote ranch Saturday to help a civilian border-patrol group start building a short security fence in hopes of reducing illegal immigration from Mexico.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps plans to install a combination of barbed wire, razor wire, and in some spots, steel rail barriers along the 10-mile stretch of private land in southeastern Arizona.
Timothy Schwartz of Glendale, Ariz., who was among at least 200 volunteers gathered, said he wants to see a fence along the border from California to Texas.
"We're not going to stop," Schwartz said. "We're going to stay here with a group and keep building."
Quetzal Doty of Sun Lakes, Ariz., a retired U.S. diplomatic consular officer, brought his wife, Sandy, to the event.
He said he's convinced the Minutemen and most Americans aren't anti-immigrant.
"They're just anti-illegal," said Doty. "The Minutemen walk the extra mile to avoid being anti-immigrant and that's what we like about the organization and what got us interested."

American Flag Raised At The Border On Its New Permanent Pole


Guard heads to border in June
About 300 Arizona National Guard troops will be sent to the state's porous southern border in June as the first tangible step in President Bush's controversial plan to beef up border security throughout the Southwest.
Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano said Arizona is ready for deployments after months of preparation. In addition to assisting Border Patrol agents, Napolitano said, the Guard can focus on the increasing drug trade that has wreaked havoc on Arizona families.
For months, Napolitano has pleaded for the federal government to do more in the battle against illegal immigration. In January, she unveiled a plan to station more National Guard troops at the border but only if the federal government picked up the tab. Now that plan is about to happen.
On Saturday, she gave a hearty thanks to the men and women in the Arizona National Guard.

Mexican voters fear country on brink of chaos before presidential elections
Less than two months before Mexicans elect their next president, many fear the country is teetering on the edge of chaos – a perception that could hurt the ruling National Action Party's chances of keeping the presidency and benefit Mexico's once-powerful Institutional Revolutionary Party, whose candidate has been trailing badly.

Fox has failed at job creation in Mexico
(Editors note: I'm not a big fan of the notion that government should be in the business of creating jobs, even if it is a quasi-socialist concern. The creation of wealth, jobs and income is best left to the people who are better served by that interest. However, gov't can foster an enriched climate for citizens to prosper.)
Mexicans are not your typical immigrants, it seems.
"We're not here for the American Dream," Jose Gonzalez said. "We're here to survive."
At various times during his U.S. trip, Fox said his government would "continue expanding jobs in Mexico so that migration is no longer a necessity."
Gonzalez doesn't believe it. So I had to ask: What would he do to make a better Mexico if he were presidente for a day?
Three things, he said.
(1) Tackle police corruption; people have no incentive to be productive if they're constantly being fleeced and robbed by those who are supposed to protect them.
(2) Stop penalizing employers and small businesses; cutting licensing fees would allow companies to create more jobs and pay higher wages.
(3) Clean up the environment by punishing companies that plunder natural resources and lay waste to the countryside and waterways.
Fox hadn't done enough in those areas, Gonzalez insisted.
He's all talk and no action. A mentiroso (liar), he said.


Is the tide finally turning in Mexico?
When I was in Mexico last fall, after dozens of visits over the years, people on every political and social level confirmed these accusations, complaining to me of Fox's failures. Forty families still own 60 percent of Mexico. There are no voluntary organizations, no civic involvement, no family foundations – and thus, no accountability, allowing corruption to flourish. Mexico gains $28 billion from oil revenue and $20 billion from immigrant remittances. There is virtually no industrialization, no small business, no real chance at individual entrepreneurship. Under Fox, it has created only one-tenth of the 1 million jobs needed.

Ah, but there are new voices of change, of reason, of self-awareness in Mexico, in place of the hoary anti-gringo rants: the beginnings of a transformation of the debate. Other prominent Mexicans were quoted as saying, for instance, the formerly unthinkable: that a wall would be the "best thing that could happen for Mexico"; the "porous border" allowed "elected officials to avoid creating jobs." And former Foreign Minister Jorge G. Castañeda, who always took a tough line toward the United States, writes in the Mexican newspaper Reforma that Mexico needed “a series of incentives” to keep Mexicans from migrating, including welfare benefits to mothers whose husbands remained in Mexico, scholarships, and the loss of land rights for people who were absent too long from their property.

This is European social democracy, this is American New Deal, this is real development talk, in place of the tiresome historical Mexican attitude that everything is the gringos' fault and they should pay for it. This is a real revolution of the mind! It also may indicate that, while President Fox failed in carrying through such basic modern reforms, he did lay the basis for them.

Surely the fact that America has awakened to the insult of its "neighbor" cynically exporting its problems, while doing nada at home, can only help Mexico and jar it to some modern sense. Ironically, the debate and the anger in the U.S. about this mammoth illegal immigration has already helped Mexico to begin to shed its dependency on America – and to turn its energies toward its own real predators, all home-grown.

Uh, Mexico promotes tourism? via the american comedy network. Thanks, Boortz!

What is Wrong with Pennsylvania?

"Obama mocked you to his liberal donors out in San Fransisco. He mentioned Pennsylvainians by Name. Yet the majority of you still Voted for him. Even when it was found out just days before the election that Obama planned to fine the Coal companies out of business, which would elimate a huge number of Jobs in Pennsylvania, still you Voted for him. That doesn't even make sense. And you can't just blame Philly, although it's tempting.

Tell me something Pennsylvania when will you learn? Murtha's back, Obama's President and we have you to Thank for it. Now your Governor, Fast Eddie Rendell is at it again. This time caught being his sexist self on video tape. Apparently Fast Eddie thinks only Childless women should hold powerful office. CNN's Cambell Brown in a rare moment of clarity in the segment, takes to task the Governor's idea that Janet Napalatanio's "perfect" because she has "No Life""

It's hopey-changey-licious!