Posted on 11/14/2002 3:44:40 PM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
William Safire's editorial today is heating up an important debate. There are two camps: "This is war." vs. "This is Orwellian." I want to open a third camp. "This is ridiculous."
Our borders are wide open. Terrorists could blindside us at will. The foreign threats are much greater than the domestic threats in this war of terrorism. So naturally, we do NOTHING about that. Instead, we strip away our privacies. Sorry. That doesn't fly. If it were truly important to take away our privacy, the borders would have been secured a year ago.
It appears that it is easier to ask us to live in fish bowls than to tell illegal immigrants that we cannot afford to have such loose border control anymore. It appears to be a political calculation. Does that not reduce the lost privacy aspect to nothing but political calculations? Which is more important? Our safety? Or as Dick Morris says it, the 'browning of America'? But hey, the 'browning of America' ends when the borders are secure. Thus, the ridiculousness aspect only grows.
GW Bush is well intentioned, I'm sure. But his political calculations reveal that taking away our privacy can't be all that important, if he isn't willing to tick off parts of the Hispanic community by securing our borders.
This is my suggestion, for what it's worth:
1. First seal the borders.
2. Mention a timeline for this lost privacy. No 'continuation triggers' either. Settle for 4 years of this lost privacy. Then destroy the data of all non-suspects. Only keep data of suspects that is deemed worth keeping by a warrant.
3. Non-citizens can be monitored and that info can be filed at will. Americans generally would like that idea.
4. Put someone in charge other than Poindexter. Why give ammo to the desperate DNC? It makes no sense.
If GW fails to heed this advice, I forsee political havoc. And I will be a part of it.
We should deal with the phoney student and tourist visa holders first. Here's an illustrative story from my local newspaper:
Belmont County (Ohio) Northern Division Court Judge Frank Fregiato on Wednesday called for a nationwide manhunt for a Turkish man who failed to appear for a hearing on a traffic violation.
Bahadir Eker, 32, who said he was a tourist, but had a Bronx, N.Y. address, was stopped Oct. 26 by the Ohio State Highway Patrol on Mall Road near St. Clairsville for failing to obey a traffic-control device. A routine license check revealed Eker was driving with a suspended New York-issued license. Both charges are misdemeanors.
"I want this man pursued and arrested,'' Fregiato said Wednesday, adding that he wanted every piece of information posted to every authority across the country.
Eker needed a friend to act as a translator at his arraignment Nov. 8, stating that he did not understand English. He said he had been in the United States for seven months under a tourist's visa. After receiving no answer as to why his stay was so extended or why a tourist even needed an American driver's license, Fregiato had ordered that Eker provide proof of his passport and visa at Wednesday's pre-trial hearing.
"Just because you don't speak English doesn't preclude you from getting a driver's license,'' said New York Department of Motor Vehicles Deputy Director of Communications Mike Burns, who said Eker's license was issued in May 2001 and suspended because he failed to pay fines for two seatbelt violations.
Burns said Eker's license was obtained prior to new laws that require applicants to provide their actual Social Security registration card at the time they try to get a driver's license. Eker said in light of the happenings in Belmont County, investigators within the Department of Motor Vehicles are looking into how Eker obtained a license. "How he obtained a license is up to our investigators to see what proof he provided at that time,'' Burns said.
The court case captured the attention of a St. Clairsville man. Sener Calis told Fregiato that he was a native of Turkey and a United States citizen who took a day off from work Wednesday to offer his services as a translator. He said he left Turkey at the age of 18 to study engineering at The Ohio State University and has lived in the Ohio Valley since 1972.
"I love this country, and I don't want somebody from my home country to screw things up,'' Calis said after leaving the courtroom in Martins Ferry. "I don't want illegal aliens in this country, especially if they are here to bring harm to people.''
Calis said he was disappointed that Eker did not appear for the hearing. He said he wanted to serve as an impartial translator so court officials could know what was being said. "A friend would just translate whatever he wanted to,'' Calis said.
A spokesperson for the Charleston, W.Va. office for the Immigration and Naturalization Service said about 95 percent of those in the United States on a tourist's visa apply for some type of American driver's license, but that most are turned down because of their ineligibility to obtain a Social Security number. She said it is possible to obtain a Social Security number, but the applicant must explain why it is needed. [Does this make sense to anyone here?]
The visas are only valid for six months, she said, but the holder can reapply for an additional six months if the person can show financial support and a reason why the stay should be extended.
The spokesperson said Fregiato could order that Eker be deported because of his failure to appear, saying that is a violation of the visa regulations.
The onus isn't upon her to educate you on the topic at hand, that falls on YOUR shoulders.
Are you insulting Bush? You are saying that he doesn't care what his conservative base thinks? Are you saying he isn't open to ideas? You know, I don't think he would appreciate that.
Bush is Hitler!!! Bush is Hitler!!! Bush is Hitler!!!
The only thing Trent Lott is considering is his own belly button.
I don't know where this figure came from but there are this many illegals in both Texas and California.
Eaker
A nation that cannot control its borders loses its sovereignty and ceases to be a nation. The government of the United States extracts $2 trillion per year from taxpayers. We are told that is not enough money to keep Middle Eastern terrorists from receiving student visas like gumball candy. We are told that is not enough money to stop the estimated 7,000 to 10,000 illegals who pour across our borders EVERY NIGHT.
It is enough, however, to feed illegals. It is enough to provide them with free medical care. It is enough to provide them with public education. It is also enough to send U.S. troops to more than 100 places throughout the world. It is also enough to have secured the borders of South Korea for FIFTY YEARS. It is enough to send United States troops to Panama, Grenada, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Somalia and a host of others.
Nothing is more important to the people of a nation than their security and protection from outside invasion. The United States has utterly failed in that task and there is no excuse for it.
I will unequivocably state this country's government refuses to stop the invasion of illegals though it certainly has it within its financial and governmental power to do so.
When America's time has ended, the shame of its capitulation to foreign invasion will stand for a thousand years as a betrayal to all of America's founders and patriots who bled and died to preserve her. The more than two-hundred-year sacrifice of American patriots will have been nonchalantly pissed away in less than a generation by cowards who refused to stand for American sovereignty.
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