Archive for May 2010

With one lawmaker citing President Lincoln’s respect for the rule of law, the Massachusetts Senate passed a far-reaching crackdown this afternoon on illegal immigrants and those who would hire them, going further, senators said, than any immigration bill proposed over the past five years.

In a surprising turn of events, the legislation replaced a narrower bill that was passed Wednesday over the objections of Republicans.

The measure, which passed on a 28-10 vote as an amendment to the budget, would bar the state from doing business with any company found to break federal laws barring illegal immigrant hiring. It would also toughen penalties for creating or using fake identification documents, and explicitly deny in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants.

The amendment would also require the state’s public health insurance program to verify residency through the Department of Homeland Security, and would require the state to give legal residents priority for subsidized housing.

The amendment will now be part of negotiations with the House as part of the entire state budget.

Supporters, especially Republicans, struck patriotic notes and spoke of the sanctity of the law as they spoke on the Senate floor.

“It was President Lincoln — and I’m going to paraphrase here — who suggested that respect for the law should be preached from every pulpit taught by every mother to every child,” said Senator Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican.
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By Donald A. Collins

Hey, the elites on Wall Street have been stealing our money, the big oil spill seems a symbol of corporate indifference to our environment, and the Congress has been mortgaging our futures with profligate spending and ill focused policies. Americans are really angry.

In the Saturday, May 15 Wall Street Journal, an excellent article by Stephanie Simon tells of the rise of voter dissatisfaction.

“Primary elections draw the most ardent voters from each party, and this year many of them are in a combative mood.

Republicans seem ready to punish GOP lawmakers who helped bail out Wall Street. Democrats are challenging those in their party who resisted President Barack Obama’s expansive health-care legislation.

In much of the country, each party seems to want candidates who strongly side with the president, or oppose him. Primary season has just begun, yet two longtime incumbents have already been denied new terms: Sen. Bob Bennett, a Utah Republican, and Rep. Alan Mollohan, a Democrat from West Virginia”. [Primary Clashes Reflect Voter Unrest ]

Could it at last be that a powerful burgeoning reason for voter dissatisfaction is our immigration mess?

And now we find that the untreated immigration mess is stealing our children’s work ethic! Not that we didn’t already sense that was true!

In a May 5, 2010 OP ED published in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, I wrote:

“Our flagrant importing of cheap foreign labor in massive numbers keeps young U.S. kids from doing the kind of part-time and summer jobs that were standard in earlier generations, making shopping malls all too often the recreation centers for idle teens.”

In short, a prime tenet in the upbringing of our children, learning a work ethic, is being undermined by our immigration invasion.

A recent study from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) confirms my contention. It reports that this summer “is shaping up to be worst summer ever for the employment of U.S.-born teenagers (16 to 19 years old). But even before the current recession, the share of U.S.-born teens in the labor force—working or looking for work—was declining.”

So go loll at the Mall!

Again confirming the well known need to imprint early the importance of work on our young, the CIS study notes:

“The fall in teen employment is worrisome because a large body of research shows that those who do not hold jobs as teenagers often fail to develop the work habits necessary to function in the labor market, creating significant negative consequences for them later in life.”[A Drought of Summer Jobs: Immigration and the Long-Term Decline in Employment Among U.S.-Born Teenagers, By Steven A. Camarota, and Karen Jensenius, May 2010]

And this is not just inner city kids who may be peddling drugs. “The severity of the decline is similar for U.S.-born black, Hispanic, and white teens. The fall-off is also similar for teenagers from both high- and low-income households.”
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Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies last night arrested 19 illegal aliens during two separate traffic stops that are suspected of violating human smuggling laws or co- conspiring to commit human smuggling.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office often arrests and books illegal aliens on conspiracy to commit smuggling when detectives can prove that the suspects have entered into an agreement with smugglers to sneak them into the country illegally through Arizona.

To date, sheriff’s deputies have arrested over 2,000 illegal aliens for smuggling or co-conspiring to commit human smuggling resulting in a 94% conviction rate.

Last week, interim County Attorney Rick Romley stated that he will not longer prosecute the felony conspiracy cases referred by sheriff’s deputies.

Sheriff Arpaio voiced his concerns with Romley’s new policy saying that it is essentially a type of amnesty given the fact that the illegal aliens entering into agreements to be smuggled will no longer have criminal records when they attempt to return into the country illegally.

Sheriff Arpaio says, “While politicians continue to react to all the hype about securing our southern border, my deputies will continue to arrest those illegal aliens that they come into contact with during the course of their duties. I also look forward to enforcing all aspects of the new state illegal immigration law when it goes into effect.”
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This is the first nationwide Tea Party movement to protest against the new government of Japan’s Democrats in response to the shift from an American-centered policy to a more China-focused policy, more specifically the relocation of the American Marine Corps air base from Okinawa.

Happiness Realization Party is willing to support this grass roots campaign and conservative movement by joining the demonstration that started at Hibiya Park in Tokyo to the National Diet on May 11 @ 1:00 pm in Japan. In spite of rain, more than 3000 people participated in this demonstration.

Yukio Hatoyama, Japanese prime minister, representing the policies of the Democrats of Japan, wants to change Japan’s foreign policy from focusing on the US-Japan alliance to a more Asian-focused policy, especially with China. While the US-Japan alliance is celebrating its 50 year anniversary of the security treaty this year, Hatoyama is re-examining its ties with the United States. He ended an eight year refueling mission in Afghanistan and Hatoyama is trying to relocate the US Marine Air Base from Futemna out of Okinawa, or Japan.
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Escondido City Council

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Two New Hampshire state workers were charged with bribery yesterday, one a state trooper and the other a Division of Motor Vehicles cashier accused of issuing driver licenses for illegal aliens, state and federal authorities said yesterday.

Five others also face charges in the investigation, which officials said has spanned months and involved unprecedented cooperation between state and federal agencies.

Officials wouldn’t indicate yesterday how many bogus licenses may have been issued. But more arrests are expected as the investigation unfolds, said Jane E. Young, head of the Attorney General’s Criminal Bureau.

“When illegal aliens obtain legitimate drivers licenses by fraudulent means, it allows them to apply for other documents and essentially build a false identity,” said Mathew J. Etre, acting special agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The most serious charges involve Donna Rockholt, 47, of 80 Pinard St., Manchester.

She is charged with three felony counts of bribery and six related misdemeanor charges.

Rockholt is listed as a DMV cashier on the state Web site. Officials said she worked at the Salem DMV office.

Rockholt allegedly received bribes to issue the drivers licenses when presented with false identity documents, authorities allege. Recipients of those licenses have been charged with illegal entry into the country and identity theft, officials said.
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PHOENIX – Police have identified the officer who was killed after a shooting broke out in Phoenix this morning.

The incident began when officers were reportedly trying to conduct a traffic stop in the area of 19th Avenue and Indian School Road around 1 a.m.

The suspect in the vehicle, a Ford Mustang, eluded officers by apparently turning off the lights.

During this time, the suspect allegedly hit a parked car.

Trent Crump with the Phoenix Police Department said police then received a call that someone was trying to cover, and possibly hide, a Ford Mustang at a home in the area and additional officers responded to the scene.

Crump said the first officers on scene split up to search for the suspect.

Travis P. Murphy, 29, encountered the shooter and was shot, said Crump.

Police put Murphy, an officer from the Squaw Peak Precinct, in a police car to take him to the hospital instead of waiting for an ambulance.

Murphy was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital where he died from his injuries.

Video available here.
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Ron Paul

Congress, with its insatiable appetite for spending, is set to pass yet another “supplemental” appropriations bill in the next two weeks. So-called supplemental bills allow Congress to spend beyond even the 13 annual appropriations bills that fund the federal government. These are akin to a family that consistently outspends its budget, and therefore needs to use a credit card to make it through the end of the month.

If the American people want Congress to spend less, putting an end to supplemental appropriations bills would be a start. The 13 “regular” appropriations bills fund every branch, department, agency, and program of the federal government. Congress should place every dollar in plain view among those 13 bills. Instead, supplemental spending bills serve as a sneaky way for Congress to spend extra money that was not projected in budget forecasts. Once rare, they have become commonplace vehicles for deficit spending.

The latest supplemental bill is touted as an “emergency” war spending bill, needed to fund our ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. The emergencies never seem to end, however, and Congress passes one military supplemental bill after another as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drag on.

Many of my colleagues argue that Congress cannot put a price on our sacred national security, and I agree that the strong, unequivocal defense of our country is a top priority. There comes a time, however, when we must take stock of what our blank checks to the military industrial complex accomplish for us, and where the true threats to American citizens lie.

The smokescreen debate over earmarks demonstrates how we have lost perspective when it comes to military spending. Earmarks constitute about $11 billion of the latest budget. This sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to the $708 billion spent by the Pentagon this year to expand our worldwide military presence. The total expenditures to maintain our world empire is approximately $1 trillion annually, which is roughly what the entire federal budget was in 1990!

We spend more on defense than the rest of the world combined, and far more than we spent during the Cold War. These expenditures in many cases foment resentment that does not make us safer, but instead makes us a target. We referee and arm conflicts the world over, and have troops in some 140 countries with over 700 military bases.
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The Cato Institute has produce a new short video that hits on five basic points for the Tea Party movement:

1. Republicans are not always your friend

2. Some Tea Partiers like big government

3. Democrats are not always your enemy

4. Smaller government demands restraint abroad

5. Leave social issues to the states

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