Ultimate explanation for George Bush's immigration & amnesty push - by John Derbyshire

National Review ^ | July 2, 2007 2:20 PM | John Derbyshire

[dennisw]

What a Waste. Steve Sailer said it all.

[L]et's stop and think about what an enormous waste of six years it has been for the President, aided and abetted by the almost the entire American Establishment, to pursue his delusion of imposing his immigration obsession on the citizenry. Even leaving aside how much better the immigration situation would be if Bush had followed his oath and simply enforced the damn laws, imagine what he would have been able to accomplish legislatively in other areas without wasting time, energy, and political capital on a losing proposition like this.

Well, why did he? Why did the president push this appalling bill with such passion and such arrogance? A number of theories are current. On a realist-to-romantic, or prose-to-poetry, spectrum, they are:

Machiavelli. Bush has been persuaded, probably by Karl Rove, of the following theorem: Hispanics are now a large proportion of the electorate, and are destined, via differential birthrates, to become a larger one. It’s important for the Republican party to win over these voters by doing Hispanic-friendly things. As a rough first approximation, Immigrant=Hispanic, so that a kind’n’gentle policy on immigration should be pleasing to Hispanics.

Bicycle. Someone — perhaps a visitor from the Wall Street Journal editorial page — has persuaded Bush that the U.S. economy would come to a juddering halt and fall over if not fed by a steady stream of unskilled immigrants working for below-minimum wages.

Pauline Kael. Bush has never in his life mixed socially with any person whose job or neighborhood quality is threatened by mass unskilled immigration. To the people he does mix with socially, unskilled immigrants are a good source of servant labor, or a way to “socialize the costs, privatize the profits” of enterprises they own or invest in. This puts us in somewhat the same zone as Pauline Kael’s famous bafflement on hearing that Nixon had been elected president: “How is that possible? I don’t know anyone who voted for him.” Can elite Americans really be that out of touch with reality? Believe me, gentle reader, they can.

Noblesse oblige. Bush’s childhood experience of friendly, deferential Mexican servants and employees, and of his Dad’s elite Mexican friends in the oil business, disposed him so kindly towards Mexicans in general, he is keen to do anything to (a) please the Mexican authorities, and (b) avoid any appearance of unkindness or lack of generosity towards Mexicans in general (e.g. by apprehending illegal Mexican immigrants). The first approximation here is even rougher than the Rovian one: Immigrant=Mexican.

Evangelical. The president is known to cleave to a generous and universalist (if you like it), or naive and sappy (if you don’t) style of evangelical Christianity. He sees himself, in his own mind, holding out his arms, murmuring: “Suffer the little immigrants to come unto me.” While by no means despicable as a personal lifestyle choice, this may not be a good foundation for national policy.

My guess is that there is some combination of all these at work, but with the center of gravity down in the romantic zone. W is an intelligent man, but he’s a feeler more than a thinker, consulting his heart before his head, and sometimes forgetting to consult his head at all. This can be an endearing trait under some circumstances. The forming of national policy is not one of those circumstances.

[OldArmy52]

Or maybe the Bush we see is really a Pod Person. (most likely explaination).

[Proud_texan]

I have pondered the why long and hard and this is a good list.

To add to it:

We're on the bubble of population replacement. Europe imported mooselimbs and that's not turning out so well for them. Japan did nothing and for a decade has been going through what arguably might be the first population decline recession in modern history. Bush looked to S. America.

Since the Feds are AWOL on securing the borders some states are passing laws aginst illegals. By granting amnesty to illegals it's automatic amnesty for CEOs.

[investigateworld]

I think the above ideas are all plausible, but it's my belief he knows it will destroy the Republican Party. Remember, he owes the Clinton's big time for that photo of Elian being hauled off to a life in a communist country.

Throw in the BP guys in Prison, the use of strum truppen in arresting them and 'Dog' Chapman, his reduction of prosecution of employers of illegals....

[Cobra64]

Or maybe the Bush we see is really a Pod Person.

Spotted in Crawford, TX two weeks ago.

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

Good reading for pondering.

I have only gotten past the fact that the deed has been attempted, the why of it remains unfathomable to me still.

I hesitate it speculate on the why of it without heavy application of tin foil, but the above list is as good as any I've read.

PS - I do have thoughts on this but they are not listed.

[Rottweilerson]

I have to think that He is dependent on his advisers after seeing him with Putin in Maine. Bush was fake smiling & invading Putin’s body space and Putin was scowling & looking down the whole time. My guess is Bush’s advisers told him to stand shoulder to shoulder with him to send a message to the world that The US & Russia stand together. Just one example.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Demand a border fence! Build it NOW!! Beef up the border patrol and close our borders!

U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121

U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121

White House comments: (202) 456-1111

Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep

Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Toll free to the US Senate:

1-800-882-2005. (Spanish number)
1-800-417-7666. (English number)

Courtesy of a pro-amnesty group, no less!!

Republican National Committee
310 First Street, SE Washington, D.C. 20003
phone: 202.863.8500 | fax: 202.863.8820 | e-mail: info@gop.com

Take a look at their hidden agenda: http://www.mexica-movement.org

[jwh_Denver]

Out with your thoughts or your papers will be examined very closely.

[dalight]

This guy is certifiable. If you read the rest of the post on National Review.. he agrees with Marx on religion, and generally dismisses much of what is honorable and good about America. I would call this guy a Troll if he were on FR. Not worth wasting precious brain cells on.

I have been as against this version of immigration reform as the next, but I know, that the 4.5% unemployment number is only sustainable in the presence of illegal immigrants. If these people were to up and leave, the US would sustain the worst inflation we have seen since Jimmy Carter.

Folks are just not willing to face this fact and Big Business and the President aren't willing to admit it either. They just talk in dark tones about consequences. This has been GW's failing all along, he doesn't get the most important point across because it would be shrill and scary.

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

LOL

You have been here long enough to know that that advice may fetch me a pounding - and my papers ARE in order :)

[flat]

‘My guess is that there is some combination of all these at work, but with the center of gravity down in the romantic zone.’

...well globalism IS ROMANTIC...

ITS THE GLOBALISM, STUPID.

GLOBALISM, i tell you..

the fad du jour.

Think what a fine legacy it’d be ...opening up a grand 8 laner running from southern meh hee ko thru northern canadee...

hot damn. .....

just one big happy family .........

what a great future this would portend....well...for canadians and mexicans at least.....

invader pavement providing kumbaya on a continental level...

just what we need whole nations of folks eager to dip into american largesse ...lotsa poverty strickin citizens the mexican gobernment sure dont want to deal with and or pay for.. show up from the south end (that’d be good at least, according to the HERITAGE FOUNDATIOIN...heh heh heh..)

while canada supplies socialist ideological underpinnings sanctioning ruinatious give aways from the north

swell concepts like

....gun confiscation and socialized medicine......idieas whose time has kumbaya.

both outfits ready to throw heaping handfuls of sand directly into the economic engine of the world that is america ....brilliant ...

NOW, tell me one more time how this amnesty thing prevents the american economy from coming to a shuddering halt, please.

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

I’m gunna have to bump now - this could get well, iteresting.

[Shery]

A good list, and I would say that he really sees his compassionate conservatism as the reason for this, if he were to be asked. But this doesn’t make good policy for a nation, and he has taken an oath to first uphold the US Constitution and to protect its natural citizenry. While this might be good on a personal basis, after 9/11 it is folly! I guess the thing that sticks in the craw the most is this: Instead of looking out for the best for us, he has to make our enemies look like good guys. He is chagrined that the rest of us just don’t seem to understand that he’s willing to see the best in everybody else...what’s wrong with us!

We had a school administrator that saw things this way. It was a total disaster and even the kids made fun of her and used her. She couldn’t understand why they hated her so much! DUH!

[rogue yam]

If you read the rest of the post on National Review.. he agrees with Marx on religion, and generally dismisses much of what is honorable and good about America.

I read NRO daily and my understanding is that Derb is a capitalist who believes in God and America. I don't understand how you came to such a contrasting understanding.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Just where IS that White House guy who showed up here on FR briefly just to lobby us against opposing the Prez on immigration??

I REALLY want to send this to him.

And what's more, I REALLY want to get their feedback on each and everyone of these theories. I want to hear the White House deny each of them (although one if not several, may well be true!!!) I would love to see their reaction. Any ideas???

[AmericanInTokyo]

One more possible explanation in the article could/should what we could title be "Follow the Money".

That corporate contributors to the election and reelection of the President, and the RNC and Republican Senate Campaigns, have so ensconced their position, to the exclusion of normal, flyover country guys and gals like you and I in the grassroots. Their money--combined with their open door lobbying to the Oval Office--essentially has bought off national policy, for they want massive numbers of illegals at cheap wages with erased national borders to be "globally competitive", damn the borders in the process--and they were willing to pay, donate and influence to that effect.

I cannot believe that naive, benevolent altruism is entirely to blame for this travesty.

[tgusa]

Aha, you hit my hot button along with the nail on the head. ‘Compassionate conservatism’ is one smokescreen for the immigration disaster being foisted on us by W and his allies on this issue. For whatever reason, he JUST DOESN’T GET IT that most of the country is livid about this issue. Intentional or not, W has certainly mobilized his base. Time will tell if he’s on the right side of this issue. Unfortunately, a mistake on this particular issue is not reversible. I lived in San Diego in the late ‘70s, and am here to tell you Southern California has been lost.

[Razz Barry]

My guess is that there is some combination of all these at work, but with the center of gravity down in the romantic zone. W is an intelligent man, but he’s a feeler more than a thinker, consulting his heart before his head, and sometimes forgetting to consult his head at all. This can be an endearing trait under some circumstances. The forming of national policy is not one of those circumstances.

Maybe he was consulting his pocket book and those of his friends. I think Bush and his rich friends are scared to death of an overthrow of the Mexican government. Had our government not turned a blind eye and allowed millions of young Mexicans to invade us, Mexico, in my opinion, would be involved in a civil war. That's the reason government leaders say "we can't deport 14 million people". We can, it's Mexico that can't take back nine+ million people, and do without $23 billion in remittances. And, if the government goes down, foreign owned companies will be subject to nationalization. It couldn't happen to a better bunch than those who sold America out.

[ran20]

I agree with you that a lot of it is population issues. A lot of America’s economy has always been based simply on growth. One I look at is real estate. In Japan in 1989 the average dwelling sold for something like 420,000$ USD. In 2006, seventeen years later it sold for 220,000$ USD.

Great for young Japanese who want to own a home.. not so great for major land owners and banks who want to finance and collect interest for the next 30 years.

[Bernard]

Pauline Kael. Bush has never in his life mixed socially with any person whose job or neighborhood quality is threatened by mass unskilled immigration. To the people he does mix with socially, unskilled immigrants are a good source of servant labor, or a way to “socialize the costs, privatize the profits” of enterprises they own or invest in. This puts us in somewhat the same zone as Pauline Kael’s famous bafflement on hearing that Nixon had been elected president: “How is that possible? I don’t know anyone who voted for him.” Can elite Americans really be that out of touch with reality? Believe me, gentle reader, they can.

So the lesson learned here is, maybe the first question we ask any candidate for President is, "What was your first part-time job while you were in high-school, and did it involve a paper hat or a paper route?"

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

"Maybe he was consulting his pocket book and those of his friends. I think Bush and his rich friends are scared to death of an overthrow of the Mexican government. Had our government not turned a blind eye and allowed millions of young Mexicans to invade us, Mexico, in my opinion, would be involved in a civil war. That's the reason government leaders say "we can't deport 14 million people". We can, it's Mexico that can't take back nine+ million people, and do without $23 billion in remittances. And, if the government goes down, foreign owned companies will be subject to nationalization. It couldn't happen to a better bunch than those who sold America out."

Interesting point. I haven't seen this point made before - another piece of a puzzle to examine. I'm not sure which puzzles this piece will fit in -

[AmericanInTokyo]

It may finally come out in some of Bush’s aides memoirs, if they chose to be honest with us, otherwise it will take Freedom of Information Act filings by us in flyover country. I DO hope we get to the bottom of it and why he did this to us.

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

Those are my hopes also - sooner than later though, I feel a sense of urgency in this.

[Proud_texan]

And it goes beyond that. When the effective interest rate is 0% year after year something weird is going on. Interesting situation and hopefully someone with a better understanding of economics can expand on it as I know there are other factors that have been at work.

But still that sub-replacement population thing has to be a factor...

[dalight]

rogue yam writesI read NRO daily and my understanding is that Derb is a capitalist who believes in God and America. I don't understand how you came to such a contrasting understanding.

Quote from this article: "Fundamentally (if you’ll pardon the expression) I can’t take religion that seriously. I see it the way Marx saw it, as an epiphenomenon, part of the “superstructure” of human society. (Though I disagree with Marx on the nature of the substructure.)"

This was embedded in "Derbs' riff on why Islam isn't a threat to the west, because scholarly books about Islam's roots bore him. This guy is obviously a heavy thinker.

[Liz]

N-i-c-e take-----your summation nails it.

And if Americans pondering 2008 think the "North-South corridor globaloney" is bad, they oughta take a look at candidate Rudy Giuliani's globaloney---this guy Giuliani is globally-connected up to his eyeballs.

Giuliani is involved in multinational businesses, revolving around global security, and international legal representation and investment banking. Giuliani companies (that we know of) include:

(1) Giuliani Capital Advisors, LLC (AKA Giuliani Partners LLC),
(2) Giuliani Group,
(3) Giuliani-Kerik (re-named Giuliani Security and Safety, after the departure of the tainted ex-Police Commissioner),
(4) Giuliani-Van Essen, and,
(5) Bracewell & Giuliani LLP law firm (based in Texas with global interests).
(6) Giuliani Security & Safety Asia

Attorneys Bracewell & Giuliani's January Closings in Kazakhstan Total US $1.625 Billion
lawfuel.com | February 22, 2007

FR Posted on 02/26/2007 by Jim Robinson
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791780/posts

ALMATY, Kazakhstan-- LAWFUEL - Law News, US Law Firms --Bracewell & Giuliani LLP closed three cases in January for a total of US $1.625 billion, acting as international counsel for the offering of corporate debt and solidifying their place as the premier legal authority on Kazakhstani business affairs in the Caspian region. “We continue to thrive and grow in Kazakhstan, mirroring the country itself,” said Greg Vojack, managing partner for the firm's offices in Kazakhstan. “As Kazakhstan transitions into a prosperous free marketplace after the fall of Soviet Russia, its fine-tuned monetary policies are helping the country’s financial sectors grow faster than New York.” ~snip~

Established in 1994, Bracewell's presence in the Republic of Kazakhstan has helped clients capture significant opportunities in the Caspian Region. The firm's energy and finance attorneys provided groundbreaking guidance to create the legal and financial infrastructure in that emerging nation and today actively advise energy and financial companies in the region and the government of Kazakhstan. ~snip~

MORE BACKGROUND Giuliani firm has Venezuela ties
MiamiHerald.com | Thu, Mar. 15, 2007 | BETH REINHARD
Posted on 03/15/2007 3:26:41 AM PDT by Condor 63
The law firm headlined by presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani does business with a company tied to Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, who has called President Bush ``the devil.'' Bracewell & Giuliani lobbies on behalf of Texas-based Citgo Petroleum, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Venezuelan oil company controlled by Chávez. The Bush administration said last year that Venezuela was ''not cooperating fully'' with antiterrorism efforts, stopping one step short of grouping the country with state sponsors of terrorism like Iran, Syria and Cuba. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor best known for his leadership after the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks, does not personally lobby for Citgo, though he is a senior partner at the firm and shares in its profits. (Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...

FYI: About Bracewell & Giuliani
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP is among the nation's most prominent law firms. With 400 lawyers in New York, Texas, Washington, D.C., Kazakhstan and London, we are distinctively positioned to serve clients concentrated in the energy and financial services sectors worldwide. In 2005, former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani joined the firm as a senior partner. His international reputation for leadership and problem solving is a unique asset for our clients, which include Fortune 500 companies, major financial institutions, leading private investment funds, governmental entities and individuals. For more information about Bracewell & Giuliani, visit www.bgllp.com. (Excerpt) Read more at inform.kz ...

GILT-EDGED GUARANTEE Any candidiate who does not perceive issues through the prism of the red, white, and blue will get his/her walking papers.

[Caipirabob]

One I look at is real estate. In Japan in 1989 the average dwelling sold for something like 420,000$ USD. In 2006, seventeen years later it sold for 220,000$ USD.

Good point on the Japanese. I have to go OT for a moment...I wonder how their salaries increased in proportion to their realty prices?

The critical factor in the US markets is that the salaries have not increased in proportion to the cost of living/housing prices.

No way could local salaries sustain the cost of a home without outside buyers coming into the market with cash, or multiple investors cooperating on a speculative purchase.

I can only deduce that the dramatic reduction in the Japanese market was due to the same conditions. In the US market, however, we can still anticipate an influx of outside buyers, foreign or otherwise. Moreso than the Japanese could.

But the difference is the bubble in that market. I suspect our adjustment will be somewhat softer than the one the Japanese experienced except for those who stretched themselves beyond reason.

Just yappin'... now stop making me think. : )

[saganite]

Shades of Atlas Shrugged in this mess. I remember a passage about Mexico in the book and how some were willing to support her.

[ran20]

I think the effective 0% or below interest rates are to do with the Japanese culture of saving combined with a debt backed money system, along with what you said a falling or even stagnant population. Tons and tons of capital chasing little opportunity. People always have to accept the best available return on capital.. even if it goes negative. A -1% rate of return, is still better then a -5%.

A similar thing happened in the black death. In some places 50% of the population died off. It sucked to be one of those dead 50%.. but for the survivors it was great economically. Instead of 4 sons splitting a family farm, or 1 getting it and 3 having to work for a pittance for a lord.. 1 son often inherited multiple farms from relatives. Farms and related buildings and equipment was most of the capital of those days.

The surviving son didn’t need loans to finance new construction.. and he didn’t have to accept servitude to survive as he had his own lands.

[Ditter]

I think the point that President Bush doesn’t want to get across because it is scary is the fact that if Mexico doesn’t have an escape hatch (the US) for it’s people, that a communist dictator will take power.

I don’t care who you are, that’s scary right there!

[garbanzo]

This has been GW's failing all along, he doesn't get the most important point across because it would be shrill and scary.

It is isn't that he doesn't get it across - it's more that people don't want to believe it. Like the Soviet Union, we are in the midst of a mass delusion about the true nature of our economic system. Except that instead of having The Party do it to us, we're doing it to ourselves.

[garbanzo]

Actually, Derb “came out” as an atheist about a year or so ago.

[Tucson]

I doubt seriously anyone here fails to face the relationship of our unemployment rate with need for additional labor. However, what is certifiable is the idea we need to amnesty some 12-20 million illegals to ensure we have sufficient low-end labor to keep the engines turning.

We have as a nation utilized various legal and managed guest worker programs for these purposes. Turn the labor shortage over to companies like Kelly Services on both sides of the border; let American companies requisition the necessary numbers and categories of workers they need and have the staffing agencies locate, hire and provide the labor. When the need is satisfied, they are returned to their country of origin or the next job. It’s really not rocket science.

[garbanzo]

A lot of America’s economy has always been based simply on growth.

Productivity equals wealth and to first order a nation's (or business') economic productivity is its manpower, that is, more people is more productivity. If we make sharp and sudden decreases in our national labor force, we can expect sharp decrease in productivity and wealth.

[cb]

"Even leaving aside how much better the immigration situation would be if Bush had followed his oath and simply enforced the damn laws"

So..............when are they going to impeach this clown?

[azhenfud]

"W is an intelligent man.."

"My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true. But the facts and the evidence tell me it is not."

[Raycpa]

I suspect this is one of the factors

Exodus 12:49
The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you.”

Exodus 23:9
“Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.

Leviticus 19:33
“ ‘When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him.

Leviticus 19:34
The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 23:22
“ ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.’ “

Leviticus 24:22
You are to have the same law for the alien and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.’ “

Leviticus 25:35
“ ‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you.

Numbers 15:15
The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD :
Numbers 15:14-16 (in Context) Numbers 15 (Whole Chapter)

Numbers 15:16
The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.’ “

Deuteronomy 10:18
He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.

Deuteronomy 24:14
Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.

Deuteronomy 24:17
Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.

Deuteronomy 24:19
When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Deuteronomy 24:20
When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow.

Deuteronomy 24:21
When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow.

Deuteronomy 27:19
“Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow.” Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

Psalm 146:9
The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

Ezekiel 22:29
The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice.

[hinckley buzzard]

but I know, that the 4.5% unemployment number is only sustainable in the presence of illegal immigrants. If these people were to up and leave, the US would sustain the worst inflation we have seen since Jimmy Carter.

You don't know that, you just think it--based on what, who knows. The rise in costs by "legalizing" wages would be a mere patch on the forces of past inflation.

Folks are just not willing to face this fact and Big Business and the President aren't willing to admit it either.

Actually Big Business probably has convinced Bush of this canard, and were slobbering at the mouth with the prospect of a sudden windfall of cheap legal labor. Too bad Bush swallowed it whole.

[hinckley buzzard]

I cannot believe that naive, benevolent altruism is entirely to blame for this travesty.

I agree. I think that is the weakest explanation offered, and probably is a figleaf for the mercantile interests you describe. That Bush may have deceived himself into believing it, however, is not ruled out.

[Right Wing Assault]

Pod delivery truck approaching White House

[hinckley buzzard]

I lived in San Diego in the late ‘70s, and am here to tell you Southern California has been lost.

I lived in Tucson until 1978. At the time I moved, there was not a place in the city I didn't feel safe going into, for shopping, eating at excellent mom'n'pop Mexican restaurants, anything. It never occurred to us to think like that. Returning for a visit a few years ago, chatting with the girl at the motel desk about old familiar sights I wanted to visit, she welcomed us and assured us that there were "safe areas" we could go to and have a good time.

Don't suppose Bush, or McCain or Kyl for that matter, has ever had to worry about "safe areas" in what used to be Goldwater Country.

[MinuteGal]

Perhaps your prose is not as sophisticated and polished as that of the highly-paid Mr. Derbyshire, nonetheless your post gets right down to the nitty-gritty and nails the pith (and it's very difficult to nail piths).

Leni

[EverOnward]

...wonder if we’ll ever really now why Bush is possessed with selling the USA down the river ... my guess is to the highest bidder.

[dennisw]

NAFTA Superhighway Has Giuliani As Key Player by Diane M. Grassi

But the SPP is cleverly disguised as a boon for all three North American .... Bracewell & Giuliani is comprised of 400 attorneys, based in Houston, ...
www.theconservativevoice.com/article/24879.html - 35k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Quips Clips Rants Raves: NAFTA SUPERHIGHWAY HAS GIULIANI AS KEY PLAYER

Cleverly, however, since the SPP is not a treaty, the President was able to avoid .... Bracewell & Giuliani is comprised of 400 attorneys, based in Houston, ...
quipsclipsrantsraves.blogspot.com/ 2007/05/nafta-superhighway-has-giuliani-as-key.html - 27k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

WorldNetDaily: Rudy Giuliani tied to 'superhighways'

Bracewell & Giuliani also has advised Cintra on the completion of the Comprehensive Development Agreement negotiated ... Idaho lawmakers want out of SPP ...
www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55695 - 40k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

[EverOnward]

Re post #15 — could it be called “killing the messenger?” ... and unable to do that, at least DISCREDIT the messenger

[EverOnward]

Great insight on your part...

[Halgr]

Another possible explanation -

Bush as a lame duck has the freedom to do unpopular things....and maybe his true colors are coming out and he’s really an agent of the North American Union.....

[kabar]

We're on the bubble of population replacement. Europe imported mooselimbs and that's not turning out so well for them. Japan did nothing and for a decade has been going through what arguably might be the first population decline recession in modern history. Bush looked to S. America.

Nonsense. The US has one of the highest population growth rates of any developed country in the world, i.e., .89% annually. Our total fertility rate is at 2.09 children per female or replacement level, but we also bring in over a million legal immigrants a year and another 500,000 to 1 million get in here illegally.

Even without this bill, the Bureau of the Census projects the population of the US to grow by 62 million in the next 23 years, i.e., by 2030, to 364 million. This is the equivalent of adding the current population of the UK. And by 2050, the projection is 420 million. If the Senate bill had passed, these projections will be grossly understated.

Since 1970, the population of the US has increased by 100 million; from 1990 by 54 million, from 2000 by 22 million [or the equivalent of our six largest cities.] There may be some shortfalls in certain age cohorts, but the idea that we need to import millions of high school dropouts from Latin America who don't speak English to fill these gaps is nonsense. If we had a legal immigration policy that met our national needs instead of the current one, we could bring in the kinds of people we need to keep us competitive in the global economy. We can pick and choose. Instead, we are headed down the path of a Balkanized society along cultural and linguistic lines that will give us the profile of a third world country.