Posted on 03/16/2002 1:46:22 AM PST by grimalkin
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:50:06 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Two years ago, the Immigration and Naturalization Service was moving forward on an ambitious plan to beef up its checks of foreign nationals seeking permission to study in the United States, an effort designed to thwart terrorists from manipulating the loosely controlled student visa system.
Then, the program ran into a roadblock: a fierce lobbying campaign by colleges and universities that considered foreign students a major revenue source.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...
If I saw an 18-year old man of a different race than my family in the house at 4 A.M., these loons would probably complain that I was "profiling" if I called the cops without first asking him if he was a burgular.
Most Americans are very uncomfortable with the aggressive subverting of the obvious first level of security.
WHY?!? WHY?!? WHY?!?
ARGHH!!! I thought this was the whole point of a new administration!!!
Fire these agenda-driven incompitents.
But you'd have no problem of an evil-doer of your "race" in your house, huh?
'Nuf said.
A House Judiciary Committee investigation last fall determined that the tracking program was scaled back partly because of pressure from major U.S. colleges and universities on both Congress and the White House. The schools argued that an aggressive student visa program would put at risk the $12 billion collected each year in tuition from foreign students.
Wake up America -- the very people who bluster and scream about "Congressional hearings" into the INS are the very people responsible for the security loopholes that the terrorists of 9/11 exploited -- and future terrorists are now exploiting. Special interest groups talk, Congress listens, and Americans die. What's really ironic is that these same colleges and universities that blocked the program are the hotbeds of anti-Americanism -- and they are calling the shots.
But you'd have no problem of an evil-doer of your "race" in your house, huh?Those are your words, and they do not fit my mouth at all. The "race" part of the hypotheical was not gratuitous but an essential to my point. A point which, BTW, you so maladroitly illustrated by profiling me.
'Nuf said.More than enough, thank you . . .
(WASHINGTON, D.C.)—Federal employees working in the Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS) should not be held responsible for the visas that were mailed to terrorists, says the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).
AFGE, which represents 24,000 INS employees, is outraged and also not surprised that the Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), Inc., sent Mohamed Atta and Marwan Alshehhi student visas six months after they hijacked two airplanes and fatally flew them into the World Trade Center.
Representatives Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) and James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) wrongfully say the INS is to blame, employees and all, instead of the contractor. Tancredo called the INS “completely and totally dysfunctional” and “the Mickey Mouse Club of federal agencies.” Sensenbrenner said the mailing of the visas “shows once again the complete incompetence of the immigration service to enforce our laws and protect our borders.”
“There are two worlds in the federal workforce—the world of unaccountable contractors, such as ACS, and the world of dedicated federal employees,” said AFGE National President Bobby L. Harnage. “And, the only Mickey Mouse Club I am aware of are the Goofy’s in Congress who continue to blindly support the privatization of the federal government for campaign contributions and increased profit margins for corporations at the expense of taxpayers.” “Experienced INS workers who have been working 12-hour shifts to fight the war on terrorism should not be wrongly accused for a contractors’ serious error,” added Harnage.
ACS, which is headquartered in Dallas, has over 900 federal contracts in 21 agencies that total more than $380 million dollars, according to 2000 figures. According to a corporate profile, the company’s aggressive growth strategy has resulted in its acquisition of more than 50 companies since its 1988 inception, including its $825 million purchase of Lockheed Martin's IMS subsidiary.
And now we know the rest of the story
Congress is indeed the chief "Goofy" in this fiasco, but I wouldn't go so far as to beknight the "INS workers." A relative who worked in a prison witnessed first-hand the repeated failure of INS agents to claim prisoners scheduled for deportation -- they, like so many others, eventually disappeared into the American landscape. Congress created the conditions for large-scale failure by the INS, but the agency can't punt when it comes to lack of individual responsibility in matters they can control.
No, actually those are your words, and they fit very well in your mouth (to anyone who can read english).
In fact, the implication of your statement (which I subsequenctly pointed out) was exceptionally unequivocal. The "race" part of the hypotheical was not gratuitous but an essential to my point.
Au contraire, it was absolutely unnecessary.
A point which, BTW, you so maladroitly illustrated by profiling me.
Not at all.
You brought your hang-up with other "racial" groups to light.
Otherwise you would have simply said something to the effect: "If I saw a stranger in my house, I'd call the police without asking ...".
Case in point:
If you're African-American and saw a Black Panther in your house you'd have no problem with him.
If you're Caucasian and saw an IRA man in your house you'd have no problem with him.
If you're Sri Lankan and saw a Tamil Tiger in your house you'd have no problem with him.
If you're Hispanic and saw a FARC member in your house you'd have no problem with him.
Au contraire, it was absolutely unnecessary.
Clearly you do not understand the point, so I will type slowly.
In my hypothetical, person A identifies the fact that person B is almost certainly up to no good (in my example, intruder (B) could, for example, be a fireman investigating the cause of the smoke billowing out of my attic of which homeowner (A) is unaware) and reports his observation to the police. That part of the hypothetical does not, I agree, depend on any difference in the races of persons A and B.
However, I added the difference in the races of the individuals to ridicule the idea that person A should then be judged to have been guilty of "profiling" because the race of the intruder differed from that of the homeowner. The point is precisely that difference in race is irrelevant to what the homeowner should/would do.
And that if the homeowner's actions are judged on the basis of his race and that of the intruder, he is the one being profiled. And that is exactly the way you have treated me in this post--you have profiled me as
Freeper, therefore conservativeIt gives you a giddy sense of superiority to do that. Quite a relief from your usual, all-too-justified, feeling of inferiority . . .
conservative, therefore white
white, therefore racist.
And just how many populate that "world"?
Consistent with the Mickey Mouse mode of this thread: It's a small, small world after all.
Some people are twits. Don't waste another electron on the twit.
The INS is a nightmare because its caseload continues to grow under Congressional amnesties, such as the one GWB has been promoting since his first day in office.
And the one he finally rammed through this week had exactly zero dollars devoted to improving the operations of the INS before dumping 1 million new cases on its back.
Despite all the keening about the INS in the last few days, GWB and Ashcroft have done nothing to get it into order, and in fact this new amnesty will force it into even deeper paralysis.
GWB is losing the entirety of my faith and support over these issues. He is not being honest, or prudent, or thoughtful. His "shock" over the delayed visas doesn't pass the smell test, since GWB himself campaigned on the promise of getting the INS back to its statutory timelines in visa and naturalization processing. He knows right d%%& well that the INS is a disaster, just as he feverishly works to shovel more amnesty cases to it.
A white guy sees a non white guy in his house who doesn't belong there---calls the authorities who tell him to quit being a bigot.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.