Free Republic

The bottom-line question about President Bush's speech Monday night is whether or not it demonstrated he is finally serious about securing the U.S.-Mexico border. The answer is a resounding and exasperated no! The illegal immigration crisis now threatens to mark George Bush's legacy the way the Iran hostage crisis marked Jimmy Carter's. The question is how long America will be held hostage. Back in 1980, voters could retaliate against Carter for his feeble response to the hostage crisis by throwing him out of office. Voters cannot throw Bush out for his feeble response to illegal immigration, but they can throw...

IT WAS A DANGEROUS WEEK IN WASHINGTON, something almost got done. At least I think something almost got done. Like many citizens I was trying to tune to the Immigration Reform broadcast, but there was so much interference coming in from a pirate broadcast of yet another episode of The Vagina Monologues I had to switch off the receiver and get my reports third hand. From these I understand that, although nothing got done again in Congress this week, it was "the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life" . As the week that wasn't rolled along in...

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For some people, and some countries, the US can do no right. In the wake of the tsunami and earthquakes in South Asia, critics wasted no time in referring to US aid as "stingy" and "delayed." Even though the US began with an initial aid package of about $35 million, while still trying to assess the need and organize for a much greater commitment, the UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland suggested that the United States and other Western nations were being "stingy" with relief funds, saying there would be more available if taxes were raised.

ADLAI STEVENSON once argued that a politician is a statesman who “approaches every question with an open mouth”. If the performance of Jan Egeland, of the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, is an indication, the same is true of those paid by the United Nations. A week ago, despite just one day having passed since the Asian tsunami, with the reported death toll one tenth of what it is now believed to be, and ignoring the fact that public holidays are never the easiest times to start organising an aid effort, Mr Egeland saw fit to dismiss...

The White House used the front page of Monday's Washington Post to cashier a Cabinet member. A story headlined "Bush to Change Economic Team" said: "One senior administration official said Treasury Secretary John W. Snow can stay as long as he wants, provided it is not very long." Obviously the office will need filling before "very long." The president should fill it with Alan Greenspan. He has headed the Federal Reserve System under four presidents — since August 1987. Now he is needed elsewhere. Having been in Washington most of the 30 years since he became chairman of President Gerald...

DO-NOTHING SENATORKerry Offered Small Bills, But Little Change___________________________________________“I’ve actually passed 56 individual bills that I’ve personally written. And in addition to that, they’re not always under my name. There’s amendments on certain bills.” (Sen. John Kerry, Third Presidential Debate, Tempe, AZ, 10/13/04)OH REALLY? THE RECORD SHOWS OTHERWISE:Kerry Has “A Short List Of Laws That Bear His Name.”  “Asked what he has accomplished during his 19 years in the Senate, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry gives a lengthy answer but has a short list of laws that bear his name.” (Nedra Pickler, “Kerry’s Senate Career Marked By Investigations, Not Legislation,” The...

Iraq war's impact on intelligence An attack on Iraq could detract from spying on Al Qaeda, some analysts warn By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor The capture of Ramzi Binalshibh – a top Al Qaeda logistics and financial operator – is a textbook example of how Washington wants intelligence agencies worldwide to cooperate with the US. Speaking from Camp David over the weekend, President George Bush hailed the joint Pakistan-US operation in Karachi last week as proof of a "relentless" US effort to "one by one ... hunt the killers down." (New Al Qaeda arrests...

<p>OKLAHOMA CITY — The tough-talking former prosecutor who will oversee U.S. Catholic bishops' compliance with a new policy on sexual abuse says he will seek neither criminal prosecution nor Vatican action against bishops who cover up sexual abuse of minors by priests. Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a Catholic, says the new national review board he heads will rely on public outrage to force change in the church. He won't seek help from prosecutors or Rome "because I don't think it will have to happen," Keating said in an interview with USA TODAY.</p>