Posted on 10/22/2004 6:28:36 AM PDT by Klickitat
^&*$%#@$%^#!
Sorry for the spleen-venting so early in the morning, but read this from the AP, headlined "Bush wants intelligence bill free of immigration provisions:"
The White House yesterday asked Congress to reject an attempt in the House to place illegal-immigration measures in an intelligence reform bill.
The Bush administration wants "an effective bill that both Houses can pass and the president can sign into law as soon as possible to meet the nation's security needs," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and budget director Joshua Bolten said in a letter to congressional leaders.
Bush earlier called for lawmakers to hurry and finish their negotiations. "These reforms are necessary to stay ahead of the threats," the president said in a campaign speech Monday. "I urge Congress to act quickly so I can sign them into law."
The letter came as congressional negotiators prepared for their first public meeting today to negotiate a compromise on legislation to reform the intelligence community based on the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission. While behind-the-scenes staff meetings have occurred, no resolution has been reached on illegal immigration measures that Republican House leaders want and that the Senate refused to consider.
The House bill would expand the number of illegal immigrants subject to quick deportation by increasing the amount of time they would have to be in the United States to be exempted from speedy deportation.
It also would force asylum seekers accused by their home countries of being involved in terrorist or guerrilla activities to prove that their race, religion, nationality or political opinion would be a "central reason" for their persecution if deported.
"The administration strongly opposes the overbroad expansion of expedited removal authorities, and has concerns about the provision addressing asylum; these sections should be modified or dropped altogether," the letter from Rice and Bolten said.
The White House provided a copy of the letter to The Associated Press yesterday...
It's stupid White House stunts like this that make it very tempting to just stay home on Election Day.
As I reported on Oct. 6:
In an even more shameful betrayal, the White House is now reportedly pressuring stalwart House Republicans into scrapping important immigration enforcement provisions of the House Intelligence Bill that speed up the deportation process and bar illegal aliens from obtaining valuable driver's licenses or using easy-to-fake foreign consular ID cards. Why? Because they are politically unpopular with ethnic constituencies.
This race is not just about who is better able to hunt down and destroy our enemies abroad. It's about who is more willing to hunt them down right here, jail them, kick them out and keep them out of our home. President Bush has shown he can stand up to the international Axis of Weasels. He must show the same resolve against La Raza, the immigration lawyers and Teddy Kennedy.
When I wrote that column, I was criticized by Bush supporters for my "bad timing" and for not being a "team player." You're right, some readers commented, but why don't you just keep quiet until after the election?
My bad timing? NO, I WILL NOT KEEP QUIET.
At a time when President Bush is trying to convince undecided voters that he is the better choice to protect this country, the last thing the White House should be doing is flaunting its open borders agenda. The immigration enforcement provisions in the House version of the bill, H.R. 10, are supported by House Republican leaders and are the very measures suggested by the 9/11 commission report.
See here and here for detailed legislative analysis.
As I have noted many, many, many, many times, deportation and asylum reform are keys to effective immigration enforcement. You could put 30,000 paramilitary troops along the border, and it still wouldn't be enough unless you stopped the catch-and-release games being played inside our borders.
And as Dan Stein of FAIR points out:
"The 9/11 Commission did not limit the scope of its investigation to intelligence failures, and passing a reform bill that address only intelligence failures is tantamount to fixing the hole in sail while ignoring the crack in the keel. 9/11 was a multifaceted failure of intelligence, bureaucratic turf wars, immigration policy and enforcement, and common sense that led to catastrophic consequences.
For Congress to cave-in to special interest pressure and remove the immigration reform provisions of the bill and claim that the problem has been fixed would be an act of unprecedented irresponsibility. To deny that immigration reforms were even called for is simply an insult to the intelligence of anyone who has read the report.
I couldn't put it any better than one of my readers did this in an e-mail to me this morning:
Kerry doesn't need an "October surprise," the Republicans are doing it to themselves!
$%^#@!!
The White House comment line is 202-456-1111.
The Senate conferees are:
* Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) - 202-224-2523
* Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) - 202-224-3353
* Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) - 202-224-5641
* Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) - 202-224-2841
* Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) - 202-224-4774
* Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) - 202-224-2315
* Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) - 202-224-6253
* Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) - 202-224-4041
* Sen. Carl Levin(D-MI) - 202-224-6221
* Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) - 202-224-2152
* Sen. John Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) - 202-224-6472
* Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) - 202-224-3041
* Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) - 202-224-3224
Humor me. I'm always up for considering new ideas and different opinions. I could be 100% wrong, I just won't know it until someone points out some specific line of thinking that is flawed. You have yet to do so.
Are you going to tell me HOW I'm wrong, or just SAY I'm wrong?
buchanan is a real conservative. That's pretty darned funny.
You sound more liberal with every post.
Can't back up your statement with intelligent logic, so you attack and criticize mine.
Forget about Pat Buchanan. You said the endorsement of Kerry is 99% BS and I want to know how you arrived at that conclusion.
Do you not like getting called out to back up your own statements?
LOL! See how confused you are...it's YOUR GUY endorsing Kerry.
In other words, you disagree with the following statement:
The BEST choice for conservatives in the 2004 Presidential election is John Kerry.
Why? Bush isn't conservative. Kerry isn't conservative. Are you willing to vote year after year for the man who is less liberal than the other guy? Whoever has an "R" next to his or her name?
LOL! I really do feel sorry for people who think that. It must be difficult going through life in that state of mind. Or is it simply easier then dealing with reality?
ChronWatch ^ | October 17 | Mathew Manwellar
Since this will be my last column before the presidential election, there will be no sarcasm and no attempts at witty repartee. The topic is too serious, and the stakes are too high.
This November we will vote in the only election during our lifetime that will truly matter. Because America is at a once-in-a-generation crossroads, more than an election hangs in the balance. Down one path lies retreat, abdication, and a reign of ambivalence. Down the other lies a nation that is aware of its past and accepts the daunting obligation its future demands.
If we choose poorly, the consequences will echo through the next 50 years of history. If we, in a spasm of frustration, turn out the current occupant of the White House, the message to the world and ourselves will be two-fold.
First, we will reject the notion that America can do big things.
Once a nation that tamed a frontier, stood down the Nazis, and walked upon the moon, we will announce to the world that bringing democracy to the Middle East is too big of a task for us. But more significantly, we will signal to future presidents that as voters, we are unwilling to tackle difficult challenges, preferring caution to boldness, embracing the mediocrity that has characterized other civilizations. The defeat of President Bush will send a chilling message to future presidents who may need to make difficult, yet unpopular decisions. America has always been a nation that rises to the demands of history regardless of the costs or appeal. If we turn away from that legacy, we turn away from who we are.
Second, we inform every terrorist organization on the globe that the lesson of Somalia was well learned. In Somalia we showed terrorists that they don't need to defeat America on the battlefield when the country can be defeated in the newsroom. Terrorists learned that a wounded America can become a defeated America.
Twenty-four-hour news stations and daily tracking polls will do the heavy lifting, turning a cut into a fatal blow. Except that Iraq is Somalia times 10. The election of John Kerry will serve notice to every terrorist in every cave that the soft underbelly of American power is the timidity of American voters. Terrorists will know that a steady stream of grizzly photos for CNN is all you need to break the will of the American people. Our own self-doubt will take it from there. Bin Laden will recognize that he can topple any American administration without setting foot on the homeland.
It is said that America's World War II generation is its ''greatest generation.'' But my greatest fear is that it will become known as America's ''last great generation.'' Born in the bleakness of the Great Depression and hardened in the fire of World War II, they may be the last American generation that understands the meaning of duty, honor, and sacrifice. It is difficult to admit, but I know these terms are spoken with only hollow detachment by many (but not all) in my generation. Too many citizens today mistake ''living inAmerica'' as ''being an American.'' But America has always been more of an idea than a place. When you sign on, you do more than buy real estate. You accept a set of values and responsibilities.
This November, members of my generation, which have been absent too long, must grasp the obligation that comes with being an American, or fade into the oblivion they may deserve.
I believe that 100 years from now historians will look back at the election of 2004 and see it as the decisive election of our century. Depending on the outcome, they will describe it as the moment America joined the ranks of ordinary nations; or they will describe it as the moment the prodigal sons and daughters of the greatest generation accepted their burden as caretakers of the City on the Hill."
------------------------------------------
The choice is very clear.
I'd say good night to you but you're already asleep.
I thought it was an excellent article, although I also thought the conclusion (that we should support John Kerry) was dead wrong. From a strategic standpoint, a Kerry victory might give the GOP time to do some badly needed soul-searching. That said, I know a person or two over in Serbia who would REALLY be happy if I did NOT vote for Kerry, if you get what I mean.
I agree that it shouldn't be rushed. They should take the time but as you point out because it's an election year they'll try to ram it through.
"2. National Drivers License Standards known as a Backdoor National ID Card"
I don't see this as a national id card, just a set of uniform standards. There are states with extremely lax policies, and those policies can and do negatively affect other states. section 3071 specifically prohibits using social security numbers on licenses which prevents using it as a national id number and also will help prevent identity theft. Here is portions of bill. Also for those interested refer to Section 3001 thru 3033 and those past 3072 for more on internal security provisions at http://thomas.loc.gov/ type in hr10.
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"3. National License Database known as the Driver License Agreement"
I read this as being shared by states, not used by government, and agree if that is the provision it should be removed. I didn't find any reference to the driver license agreement content, if you have it please give me a link. I'm also with you on that, states should not be required to punish a driver for infractions committed outside that state.
No they're not. It doesn't even show up on the polls as an issue.
They're enjoying the economic boom and in some states historic low unemployment rates. Economic growth and prosperity in part fueled by an expanding labor market.
Four years ago a number of people on FR were saying that the nation was going to be shocked by how many votes Buchanan was going to get because of all the people who were "fed up with illegal immigration". Some really believed that he would win. But he got less than one fourth of one percent.
There is only a very small very emotionally involved very vocal group of malcontents talking among themselves.
The best place to look is at http://nonationalid.blogspot.com. It also has info on the Driver License Agreement including links to the legal language at the AAMVA web site - http://www.aamva.org.
bttt
It is part of the "let them eat cake ( or nachos) " Government. Government by the corporations and for the corporations I find humor in the fact there are still conservatives whining about the UN, they can not see that our own government is now the enemy of freedom and our constitution
No, our "economic growth" has been fueled mainly by further increased accessibility of debt. And adding millions of destitute, unskilled workers to the economy at a time when the unemployment rate is stagnant is NOT going to help the economy.
Have you tried job hunting lately? I have yet to come across a place that's having trouble finding the workers it needs.
I wonder if you even believe anything you write.
Thanks for the info. Malkin hits very hard on the immigration issue, but she's right! It's good to have folks like her in the GOP. :-)
There are a number of new retraining programs you might try. Also, why not concentrate on looking for a job that requires good English language skills or a valid drivers license, that illegals can't compete with you for?
Take my word for it: Malkin is definitely a Bushie.
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