[NonValueAdded]

Let the games begin.

[NonValueAdded]

Indexing ping

[Malesherbes]

I have e-mailed both my Republican Senators and my Republican Congressman to this effect. If you pass this trashing of American citizenship, you will erode your base. I will not vote Democrat, but I will simply stay at home and not vote in November.

[Huck]

Hey, I hadn't heard about this.

[kingu]

Hmm. 10,000 border patrol people protecting, uhh, how many tens of thousands of miles of border?

Thanks, Bush. Got some interesting ideas there, but how about kicking out the illegals and closing the borders to them. THEN we can talk about your little jobs program.

[cruiserman]

Fourth, new laws should provide incentives for temporary, foreign workers to return permanently to their home countries after their period of work in the United States has expired.

This doesn't make sense. If they wanted to stay in their home countries, they wouldn't come to the USA in the first place.

[ladyinred]

Some temporary workers will make the decision to pursue American citizenship. Those who make this choice will be allowed to apply in the normal way. They will not be given unfair advantage over people who have followed legal procedures from the start. I oppose amnesty, placing undocumented workers on the automatic path to citizenship. Granting amnesty encourages the violation of our laws, and perpetuates illegal immigration. America is a welcoming country, but citizenship must not be the automatic reward for violating the laws of America. (Applause.)

This is NOT what I have been hearing on the threads. Thanks for posting the transcript.

[NittanyLion]

Remind me what the incentive is to ensure you come into this country legally? Illegal entry is now being rewarded with legal status and a job. This will only serve as an incentive for additional illegal immigration.

How can one administration be so good on foreign policy, and so awful on the domestic side?

[SunStar]

Once again, FReepers have underestimated President Bush and freaked out before his plan was layed out. He has said all along that he wanted to implement a "guest worker" program, and that he was against Amnesty. And once again, he is doing what he said he would do. This is an honest solution to the illegal alien problem. However, what I did not see in the transcript is what action the HSA will take against those illegal immigrants already here who do not apply for the guest worker program. If they are to be deported, then this plan may actually work. If not, the plan solves nothing.

[OESY]

For the first time in our history, we have consolidated all border agencies under one roof to make sure they share information and the work is more effective. We're matching all visa applicants against an expanded screening list to identify terrorists and criminals and immigration violators. This month, we have begun using advanced technology to better record and track aliens who enter our country -- and to make sure they leave as scheduled. We have deployed new gamma and x-ray systems to scan cargo and containers and shipments at ports of entry to America. We have significantly expanded the Border Patrol -- with more than a thousand new agents on the borders, and 40 percent greater funding over the last two years. We're working closely with the Canadian and Mexican governments to increase border security. America is acting on a basic belief: our borders should be open to legal travel and honest trade; our borders should be shut and barred tight to criminals, to drug traders, to drug traffickers and to criminals, and to terrorists.

Bush presented a well-thought out incentive program that will help us get a handle on uncontrolled immigration and potential terrorists within our borders. It recognizes reality, does not reward illegal behavior and has political side benefits.

[GSWarrior]

I have often wondered, in my naivete, why these 'jobs that Americans won't fill' can't be filled by those on welfare, unemployment or prison worker release programs.

[TomServo]

Bookmarked...

[McGavin999]

An understanding of what it means to be an American is not a formality in the naturalization process, it is essential to full participation in our democracy. My administration will examine the standard of knowledge in the current citizenship test. We must ensure that new citizens know not only the facts of our history, but the ideals that have shaped our history. Every citizen of America has an obligation to learn the values that make us one nation: liberty and civic responsibility, equality under God, and tolerance for others.

YEAAAAAA!!!

[Biblebelter]

When his Daddy broke his no new tax pledge, it was a punch in the gut to those who elected him. Somehow I feel the son just delivered a punch in the gut to me and many others who helped to elect him and in that election more than any other we the individuals voters feel he would not have been elected if not for our individual vote. Well, he may be able to afford to punch some voters in the gut if he were assured that Dean would be his opponent. But ol' Wesley Clark is more wily than angry and Clark could be a formidable candidate. Clark represents the proverbial choice of the devil we don't know. There are many Americans who might choose the devil that they don't know.

[JoeSchem]

I propose a new temporary worker program that will match willing foreign workers with willing American employers, when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs.

Right now, no Americans can be found to fill the jobs because the jobs are offered under the table, with no taxes or benefits paid, which is why illegals can take home $10 an hour and still be hired over Americans taking home $7 or less per hour. And there are Americans who would be willing to work for even less, but here in Washington State, thanks to a minimum wage of $7/hr that applies only to American citizens, they have to become destitute rather than find employment.

You think millions of illegals are going to flock to be legalized, and thereby be subjected to the same taxes as the rest of us -- and thereby become as unemployable as the rest of us? No, I can assure you the only ones who'll sign up for this program are the ones planning to go back to Mexico soon and now we'll give them full Social Security benefits as they head out the door! The utter cluelessness of this proposal reflects George W. Bush's lack of contact with the real world of working people.

By saying, "There are some jobs that Americans will not do," he is directly insulting the work ethic of millions of hard-working American citizens. Quite an arrogance for someone who has never held a real job -- unless you count shaking hands of potential investors for a group of business partners at a time when your father just happens to be President of the United States.

[FrontlinesofFreedom]

CAN ANYONE SAY 3RD PARTY CANDIDATE!!!!!!!

[Bethbg79]

Ping!

[UB355]

mark for later

[madprof98]

Bush is a courageous leader who is willing to take risks to do what is right. I thought people here already knew that.

[hattend]

[gubamyster]

ping