I realize that technically, amnesty means to grant a pardon and of course no politician would be so foolish as to use the word "pardon" in this case.
But ... here's how the American people have decided if it is amnesty or not:
Does it reward or punish people for breaking the law?
If the answer is "reward" (and how can it be anything else), it is amnesty.
So let's stop with the semantics and parsing. We used to have a president who spent a lot of time parsing his statements and actions. We didn't like him very much.
After I had finished I asked her if their phones were busy,if a large percentage of the calls she's gotten are about amnesty and if a large percentage were for or against the bill.She said that she's not at liberty to be specific but she assured me that "you're not alone" in opposition to this bill.
This is awful. Why does he continue to insult conservatives?
Call It What It Is http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1638060/posts
Lets assume the sellout passes and Bush signs it. Sure there will be millions of newly legalized “citizens”, but what’s going to stop them from coming on in the way they are now? I doubt a small partial fence is going to get the job done.
Am I also expected to believe that if an illegal doesn’t qualify for the amnesty they are just going to pack up and go back home? I don’t see it happening.
No, it doesn't.
The "best chance to reform our immigration system" is for you to do your *^@$#)@ job, and enforce the law.
compromising with criminals. Giving them rights, medical care, hud housing, welfare benes, and a free education isn’t good enough. They want us to hand the country over to them and disappear from te planet.
pig + lipstick = pig
Gotta part with the big guy on this one. For everything he has gotten right, he is taking the wrong approach on illegal immigration.
The millions of poor, Mexican illegal aliens provide an excellent way to measure how well your immigration enforcement is working. If they are unable to support themselves in the USA and move back to Mexico, the enforcement is working. And since they will move back home on their own, their is no need to deport the majority of them. In this light, granting them legal status makes no sense. In fact, it places no part in “comprehensive” reform.
“This bill provides the best chance to reform our immigration system and help us make certain we know who’s in our country and where they are.”
This Bill has nothing to do with immigration...and everything to do with giving amnesty to illegal aliens who are NOT immigrants but worse than burglars..
If the provision of this Bill is intended to “help us make certain we know who’s in our country and where they are” why are illegal aliens being rewarded for being found and identified?
Would it not behoove the government to penalize the illegal aliens and not celebrate them?
What message does this send to those REAL immigrants who have applied to enter our country the correct way...by asking permission and fulfilling all the requirements?
Could it be..You are not important? you are not welcome? You are just a stupid chump? Wait in line longer..you know how to do that?
As an immigrant, I have not answers for the injustice that is wrapped up in this fallacy of an Amnesty Bill...
For more the past week I’ve felt like the senators pushing this are kicking me in the guts...
Well, much more of this and you’ll see conservatives driving around with the same damned bumper sticker that the peaceniks came up with: “Bush lied, people died.” What a sad business.
Bush says that it’s not amnesty because they have to pay for it—maybe $1,000, maybe $5,000.
What he forgets to say is that they are excused all their taxes, they are excused their crimes, and the government will predictably come up with the money to pay their amnesty fees for them when the time comes.
Also, they get full social security, medicare, medicaid, etc., without having put anything into it.
Good morning, Mr. President.
IFIYGD
Amnesty isn’t amnesty, just as oral sex isn’t sex.
I’ve had it with this elitist jackass. I’m getting anxious for January ‘09.
He thinks we’re stupid.
Yes, the bill does grant amnesty. And it further messes up the system. We do not need this bill. We already have laws. We need enforcement of these laws. When our BP agents try to do their job, they are falsely accused and sent to prison. Innocent men are now sitting in prison for some ten years thanks to Johnny Sutton.
Amnesty or no amnesty I could not get behind this bill on one item alone that Bush or anyone else supporting this cannot deny it is part of the bill - and that is the 24-hour background check.
24 - Hours for some low level government clerk to check someone’s criminal record on both the Federal level and in all local jurisdictions, and to find out if they just may be on the terrorist watch list when they didn’t give you their real name to begin with. It can’t be done. It is impossible...
Me, an American citizen with a squeaky clean record. A hard working, tax paying, church going, flag waving, law abiding American with roots in this country going back to the early 1700’s - Takes 3-days to be checked out before I am aloud to by a hand gun.