Benedict Arnold Returns! Democrats Focus On Bush’s Amnesty For Illegals To Gain Hispanic Votes - If Successful, Dumb Dems Will Lose Both Congress & White House In 2008 - RI10

Benedict Arnold Returns!

Democrats Focus On

Bush’s Amnesty For

Illegals To Gain Hispanic

Votes - If Successful,

Dumb Dems Will Lose Both

Congress & White House

In 2008 - RI10

 

LOU DOBBS TONIGHT

Rumsfeld Memo Reveals his Changing Views on Iraq; John Bolton Resigns as U.S. Ambassador to U.N.

Aired December 4, 2006 - 18:00   ET

DOBBS: Coming up here, are Democrats putting the illegal alien lobby ahead of the country's border security? We'll have a special report on the Democrats' new push for illegal alien amnesty. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico joins us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: A truck driver today was convicted of the deaths of 19 illegal aliens who died while packed in the trailer of his truck. A federal jury in Houston convicted Tyrone Williams on 58 counts relating to the May 2003 smuggling and deaths. Jurors will decide whether he should be sentenced to death.

Williams is the only one of 14 people charged in this case who faces the death penalty. Prosecutors said Williams was responsible for those deaths because he did not free victims or turn on the trailer's air-conditioning.

It looks certain now to be high on the new democratically- controlled Senate's agenda, amnesty. The Democrats will likely try to push through a bill granting a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal aliens regardless of what the American public wants or says.

Lisa Sylvester has the report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With a new party heading up Capitol Hill, immigration will be an early focus next year.

Senator Patrick Leahy, the incoming chair of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, in a statement said, "Years of dawdling have worsened our border security and made it harder to fix this broken system. We should not let partisan politics and intolerance continue to delay and derail effective reform."

Translation? Democrats will try again to push through an amnesty bill that would legalize millions of illegal aliens and create a guest worker program.

JACK MARTIN, FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM: It's very likely that the Senate would -- would act first because of the fact that they already had legislation passed that had a Democratic majority in support of it.

SYLVESTER: Senator Harry Reid, the next Senate majority leader, suggests the Senate will take action sooner rather than later.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER-DESIGNATE: I have the opportunity as the majority leader to come forward with 10 bills at the beginning of the session. One of those is going to be an immigration bill, one of the 10.

SYLVESTER: But the so-called comprehensive reform could come to a screeching halt in the House of Representatives. Even though the House leadership is now stacked with amnesty proponents, the political landscape has changed. There are now more conservative Democrats in the House.

ROY BECK, NUMBERSUSA: I think you can count on probably at least 50 Democrats voting against any kind of comprehensive amnesty program. And I think you can count on 80 to 90 percent of the Republicans to hold against their president, his amnesty plan.

SYLVESTER: Last year, amnesty provisions passed the Senate and failed in the House. Next year could look a lot like a rerun of this year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYLVESTER: The vast majority of Americans are adamantly opposed to anything that resembles amnesty. Several political observers say that if Democrats hope to retain the majority in 2008, they may have to reconsider their position on this issue -- Lou.

DOBBS: Lisa, thank you very much.

Lisa Sylvester from our nation's capital.

Tonight, 15 members of Congress are asking for an investigation of the case of two U.S. Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a fleeing Mexican drug smuggler. It is a case we've reported extensively here, a case that has generated outrage over most of the country.

Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were convicted and sentenced to prison for 11 and 12 years. The strongly- worded letter to House Judiciary Committee chairman James Sensenbrenner said the integrity of the main witness, the drug smuggler, must be called into question.

They also wrote -- and we quote -- "By denying congressional hearings to Ramos and Compean, we are effectively turning our backs on the Border Patrol and the duty we entrust to them to secure our borders."

Agents Ramos and Compean are now free on bond. They are scheduled to surrender themselves to authorities on January 17th to begin serving their sentences.

The wife of a Georgia state senator who went into hiding when she was ordered to be deported will turn herself into immigration officials, according to her attorney. Sascha Herrera, the wife of Georgia legislator Curt Thompson, a Democrat, disappeared last week after federal agents tried to send her back to Colombia.

Her husband, a strong supporter of illegal alien rights, says a mix-up with the mail caused the problem. Her case is being appealed.

Later here, Senator Chuck Grassley joins us. He'll tell us about the shocking loss of over 100,000 U.S. immigration files, a loss that gave tens of thousands of people U.S. citizenship without a proper background check. At least one person with ties to Hezbollah.

And Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico joins me to discuss the case of the illegal alien who took refuge at a Chicago church and sent her 7-year-old son to Mexico to lobby for amnesty before the U.S. -- before the Mexican congress.

Up next here, election victory for the man who called President Bush "the devil." Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez, pushes his new anti-American agenda and a new socialist future for his country.

We'll have that special report.

And six American-Muslim clerics removed from a flight. Some passengers say the six were acting suspiciously. The religious leaders say they were behaving normally. They're the victims, they say, of racial profiling.

Who's telling the truth? Well have that report.

And a landmark case for the Supreme Court. Should race determine where children go to school?

We'll have that report and a great deal more, straight ahead.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: Excellent. Excellent. A mature and reasoned posture.

Thank you, Christine Romans.

Time now for some of your thoughts.

Jerry in Mississippi said, "All Americans must understand that illegals are not here to support America 100 percent. They're sending money they earn back to Mexico for Mexico's economy. If they expect to ever be Americans, they must be for America."

We'll see. And Peter in New Hampshire, "Suggestion for automatic telephone receptionist for business: 'For English, press one. For one-way trip back to Mexico, press two.'"

And Heather in Florida, "When are you going to stop hating immigrants? Would you do all the jobs that they do?"

No, ma'am, I wouldn't. I've done quite a few of them.

And I don't hate immigrants. I don't even hate illegal immigrants. But I do believe illegal immigration has to be stopped, and I do believe the only way to stop it is to first secure our borders.

Burt in Arizona, "Lou, 40 years ago if someone gave trade secrets to a foreign country it was called treason. Today it's called outsourcing."

Send us your thoughts to loudobbs.com. We'll have more of your thoughts here later.

Each of you whose e-mail is read here receives a copy of my book, "War on the Middle Class."

Coming up next, some of this country's Muslim leaders pulled off on aircraft. Legitimate security concern or discrimination?

We'll have that special report.

And the Supreme Court will decide whether race can decide where your child goes to school.

And hundreds of homes and businesses tonight threatened by fires tearing through southern California.

We'll have all of that, a great deal more, all the latest here tonight.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: Our top stories tonight: 14 more of our troops have been killed in Iraq. Four of them were killed when their helicopter made an emergency landing in al Anbar province. 2,904 of our troops have now been killed in this war.

President Bush today met with one of Iraq's most powerful Shia leaders, a leader with close ties to Iran. President Bush said the United States is not satisfied with the progress of efforts and the violence in Iraq. That meeting came today as -- before the Iraq Study Group releases its recommendation for few -- future U.S. strategy in Iraq.

Democrats appear determined to push

 
their illegal alien amnesty agenda

through the new Congress next year.

Many Democrats apparently saying the

illegal alien lobby and corporate

interests are to them more important

than the country's security at the

border.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: More now on that outrageous story we reported last week about the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Agency losing track of 111,000 files. As many as many as 30,000 of those people were granted U.S. citizenship besides missing documents and investigations of their background. Senator Chuck Grassley, one of the two senators who requested the investigation that brought the case to light. And Senator Grassley joins us tonight from Capitol Hill. Good to have you here.

SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: I'm glad to always be with you, Lou.

DOBBS: This is -- on the issue of illegal immigration; the absurdities never cease to amaze any of us. But this is inside the legal immigration system and it's completely a mess. Why is this going on?

GRASSLEY: Well, could I say one reason why it really points out as being a mess? In 2002, we had a person who was a threat to the United States that got citizenship and the file wasn't even reviewed.

So when a terrorist can have that happen, we know it's really bad. How can this happen? I think that's your question. Basic incompetence of paperwork or the fact that even paperwork exists as opposed to having this stuff on computer where it can be saved.

My general -- we requested the Government Accountability Office to investigate this. And their report that I have with me, if you want to see it, would be -- would say that 30,000 people in this country became citizen citizens without their file even being reviewed. And in 14 offices that the Government Accountability Office went to, they found 111,000 cases of files being lost.

DOBBS: I have the General Accountability Office report here with me, senator. The idea that we have a federal agency, the Citizenship and Immigration Service trying to push through a backlog of, what, six million what are called alien files. They are aliens; people don't like to deal with that sometimes in the pro-illegal immigration lobbying and activist groups. But that's what they are. How in the world did we get in this situation and are they really doing this carefully because they seem to be just wanting to drive this through the CIS?

GRASSLEY: Well, first of all, people maybe are seen as doing a good job, the more people they rubber-stamped to become citizens of this country get here illegally in the first place.

Secondly, the fact that they lose these files and terrorists can become citizens and get into this country, you know there only has to be one mistake. A terrorist has to be right once. We have to be right every time.

And here we've got 111,000 files and 30,000 people becoming citizens that we didn't even get their case reviewed. You can see why it's a threat to our country.

And also getting back to your point, it shows if they can't handle legal immigration, how are they going to give amnesty to six million people that are -- 12 million people that are here illegally if we were to pass such a bill, which I'm opposed to amnesty, by the way.

DOBBS: You're opposed to it. I have to say Senator Leahy today, the incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary saying "years of dawdling have worsened our border security and made it harder to fix this broken system. We should not let partisan politics and intolerance," Senator Grassley, "intolerance continue to delay and derail effective reform."

Do you believe that the senator has any concept of how he can control immigration that he wants to reform if he can't assure us all that we're controlling our borders and ports?

GRASSLEY: I think a test to that will come next year when we have a debate on an amendment that there can't be any guest worker programs or even any consideration of legalizing illegality if we don't control the borders in the first place. In other words, control the borders in the first place and then look at all these other issues as a next step.

DOBBS: Senator Chuck Grassley, good to have you here. Thank you, sir.

GRASSLEY: Thank you.

DOBBS: A reminder to vote in our poll. Do you believe racial profiling, affirmative action, corporate diversity programs are constitutionally permissible? Please cast your vote, yes or no, at LouDobbs.com. We'll have the results coming up here in just a few minutes.

Tabacco: Even Lou Dobbs is NOT ABOVE STUPIDITY!  What follows is my Comment yesterday on the Dobbs’ website; it was Not read on the show.  I wonder why!

And a programming note, please join us Thursday evening for a special edition of LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, a town hall meeting, 7 p.m. Eastern. We'll be reporting Thursday night from Buffalo, New York, a city on the frontlines of the war on this country's middle class. That's Thursday, that town hall meeting special at 7 p.m. Eastern from Buffalo, New York.

Up next, this anchor baby paraded around in an attempt to keep the U.S. government from deporting its illegal alien mother. She's hiding -- well, she's not really hiding, she's taken refuge in a Chicago Methodist church. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico has been following the case and is now pleading her case. We'll be talking about that and illegal immigration and perhaps 2008 when he joins us here next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: Thank you, Wolf.

We've reported extensively here on the case of Elvira Arellano, the illegal alien who took refuge in a Chicago church some three months ago to avoid deportation.

A few weeks ago, she sent her seven-year-old son, born in the United States, an American citizen, on a mission to Mexico to win support for her case there. One of those won over apparently is Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico.

The governor joins us from Santa Fe tonight.

Governor Richardson, good to have you here.

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON, (D) NEW MEXICO: Thanks, Lou.

DOBBS: Your letter to the president reads in part, "I request you to consider granting Elvira Arellano parole to remain in the United States so that her son may continue to be raised as the great American he has already proved to be."

That's a stout statement for a seven year-old. But I take your point. And why did you believe it's necessary to seek a pardon for her?

RICHARDSON: Well, under our system, you can request a pardon or parole.

DOBBS: Right.

RICHARDSON: And I -- the law is also very clear, Lou. That young man -- anybody born in America is an American. What I didn't want to see was a cleaning lady, you know, one of the -- in a job that is probably very difficult. I didn't want to see this young man not grow up without his family, without his mother. And so I felt that our immigration laws are so out of whack, they're so out of step, that here you have a case where a child is a citizen, yet you're sending their parents away, who may have violated the law. And it makes no sense.

I think what we need to do is fix our immigration laws, tighten the border, but also recognize that there are 11 million of these individuals in the United States. Seventy percent of them have kids, three million kids that are citizens. And if you deport them automatically, Lou, as some want to do, these kids are going to grow up in America without families. It makes no sense.

DOBBS: Yes, I take your point.

Let me ask you this. First, we don't know how many illegal aliens there are. You may have better sources than I do. But the best we can get, somewhere between 11, 12 million, as many as 20 million. When you say 70 percent of them have children, I mean, I can't even imagine how you come up with that statistic because we don't even know how many there are.

But that...

RICHARDSON: Maybe it could be more, Lou. It could be more kids.

DOBBS: It could be more. I'm not sure it's even material as to whether it's more.

But when you talk about dealing with immigration reform, and, as you know, this Democratically led Senate and House is already making it very clear they're going to push for so-called comprehensive immigration reform.

You and I have talked about this. You've declared a state of emergency on your border in New Mexico. You're the first to do so. Why in the world is it inappropriate, bad policy for the United States and for the American people to express, as they have in survey after survey, that they want that border secured, which is necessary to controlling immigration, which is necessary to reforming immigration law?

RICHARDSON: Well, Lou, I think it's very impractical, whether it's 11 million or, as you said, possibly 20, to deport every one of these individuals. So what we need to do, I believe, is continue to tighten the borders, continue to get more Border Patrol. But what we also need, I believe, is a sensible legalization plan. Not amnesty, not automatic citizenship. But, for instance, let this cleaning woman work her way. Let's check her record. Does she pass a background check? Does she embrace American values? Has she learned English? Is she paying taxes? Is her employer credible? And then...

DOBBS: The McCain-Kennedy bill.

RICHARDSON: Yes. Something like that. Maybe it can be perfected. Maybe it can make more sense. But don't let that woman get at the head of the line. Let those that are trying to get here legally go before her.

My only point in writing that letter is I read about this kid. And there's millions of these kids that are U.S. citizens. And if you deport all of their family members, the 11 million or 20 million, they're going to grow up in America as orphans. That's make sense.

So what I would like to do is have a comprehensive act that addresses your concern, border security, that looks at those that satisfy and qualify under our law and then make sense out of a policy that is broken and is -- needs fixing. And this is the way that we need to deal with it, by a comprehensive effort.

DOBBS: Two quick questions: would you support asking President Bush for a pardon for Agents Compean and Ramos, convicted of shooting a fleeing drug smuggler, crossing the border back into Mexico?

RICHARDSON: Well, I don't have all the facts on that. But, you know, I just believe our law enforcement people deserve support. They deserve a day in court. I don't have all the facts, Lou. But it strikes me that if they're enforcing American law, that should be taken into account.

DOBBS: Well, Governor, let me ask you this, because we're curious about 2008. It's getting a little late now. Are you ready to announce you're running straight ahead for president of the United States?

RICHARDSON: Well, I've always said I'm going to decide in January. And I feel, Lou, I had a good year. I got a big re-election margin, 70 percent. We elected a bunch of new Democratic governors. You know, I feel I have something to offer. But I haven't decided yet.

But I know there are a lot of people getting in there, and that's fine with me. I think in a Democratic primary, we need a lot of people in there, you know, Senator Clinton, Obama, Kerry, Edwards, let them all get in. Let us all get in, if I decide to do it, and debate the heart and soul of the future of the Democratic Party. I don't see a problem with that.

DOBBS: Not even -- I don't see a problem. As a matter of fact, it sounds like a pretty good way to go about the business of who will lead this nation in 2008. Are you ready to announce? One more chance.

RICHARDSON: Well, no. No, I haven't decided yet, Lou. I've got -- I'm getting my program ready for New Mexico, which includes, by the way, more funds for border security because we're still waiting for all the Border Patrol agents we were promised.

DOBBS: Well, Governor, we thank you for being here, and we appreciate hearing from you as always.

Governor Bill Richardson.

Still ahead, we'll have the results of our poll tonight and a few more of your thoughts. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: The results of our poll tonight: 69 percent of you say racial profiling, affirmative action and corporate diversity are not Constitutionally permissible.

Time now for more of your thoughts. Many of you are writing in on the citizenship test that's been made tougher.

John in New Jersey saying, "Hey Lou, since our government has made it so easy to break into this country, the least they can do is make the test to stay harder."

And W.B. in California: "You ask if the new U.S. citizenship test should be made easier or harder -- let me ask you, how could it be made easier than strolling across the border and being granted amnesty by the Bush administration and the Democratic Congress?"

Send us your thoughts at loudobbs.com.

For all of us here, we thank you for watching.

Good night from New York.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0612/04/ldt.01.html

Immigration wasn’t a winning platform
Reading Eagle ^ | November 19, 2006

Posted on 11/20/2006 7:08:25 AM PST by Dane

Immigration wasn’t a winning platform

The Issue: Illegal immigration proves to be less of an issue for the American public than many in Congress had thought.

Our Opinion: It is time for Congress to devise a reasonable immigration-reform measure that meets the need for a more secure border and recognizes the importance of foreign nationals to our economy.

In a campaign miscalculation that proved fatal to several candidates, incumbents and challengers — most of them Republicans — found that the illegal-immigration issue wasn’t nearly as important to the American public as they had thought.

Actually, illegal immigration trailed several issues in importance, according to voters interviewed in exit polls.

Top priority was official corruption, according to 42 percent of the voters interviewed during exit polls, followed by terrorism (40 percent), the economy (39 percent), Iraq (37 percent) and values (36 percent).

Only 29 percent of the voters who talked to exit pollsters said illegal immigration was extremely important to them.

According to Republican pollster Ed Goeas and Democratic pollster Doug Schoen, only 8 percent of voters ranked illegal immigration as their top issue.

As a result, many candidates who had hoped that a tough stance on illegal immigration would overcome their constituents’ dissatisfaction with Iraq found themselves making concession speeches on election night.

Most notable was GOP Indiana Rep. John Hostettler, chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee, who lost to his Democratic opponent, Brad Ellsworth, by a wide margin.

Hostettler was the prime mover of a heavily punitive illegal-immigration bill passed by the House late last year.

Included in the bill was a provision that would have made felons of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the country. The provision was eliminated from the House bill during a House/Senate conference committee.

Hostettler also took part in what were termed field hearings across the country to stir up voters on the issue.

The Indiana Republican was not the only illegal-immigration hardliner to be rebuked by voters. In Arizona, through which thousands of illegal immigrants enter the United States each year, GOP Rep. John D. Hayworth lost his bid for a seventh terms in Congress.

He is the author of a book titled “Whatever It Takes: Illegal-Immigration, Border Security and the War on Terror.”

A political opportunist, Hayworth supported President Bush’s guest-worker plan then turned against it when it appeared that an anti-illegal immigration stance would be more acceptable to his constituents.

All of this is a strong indicator that the American public probably is amenable to an immigration-reform bill that would incorporate a program that would provide a path for illegal immigrants eventually to attain U.S. citizenship.

Perhaps it’s time to revive Bush’s plan, which would allow illegal immigrants to obtain three-year work visas. After the visas expire, the illegal immigrants would be required to return to their countries of origin and go through legal channels if they wanted to return.

Tabacco: NO WAY!  If we can’t make them leave Catholic Church sanctuaries or go back to Mexico now, 3-year work visas will not make them leave in 3 years either.  The only effective option, one neither Democratic nor Republican politicos want to invoke, is criminal and economic sanctions on American employers, landlords and yes, churches.  This will work, and Illegals will leave America of their own volition by the droves.  And that’s the only way we can regain our country from the ENEMY.  Sorry, folks, but people, who gain entrance to your home, eat your food, take your job, cost you money and violate your laws, are your ENEMIES!  If you returned home and found Squatters in your home, would you negotiate with them or call the cops and have them evicted and jailed?  Think about it.  And would you care that they were homeless home breakers?  I think not.  You might feel sorry for them, but your home is your home.  You’d take it back any way you could.

Or maybe the plan devised by the Senate Judiciary Committee could be reconsidered. That plan would balance enforcement of immigration laws with a recognition of the role foreign nationals play in our economy.

And of course there’s the plan co-sponsored by Sens. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Edward M. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat. Their plan would beef up border security and require illegal immigrants to pay all fees required of legal immigrants as well as a $1,000 fine before they could become guest workers.

None of these plans amount to amnesty. They do secure the boarder while allowing foreign nationals to work in the United States.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1741511/posts




Biden: Blame immigration woes on Mexico
AP on Yahoo ^ | 11/27/06 | Jim Davenport - ap

Posted on 11/27/2006 5:55:59 PM PST by NormsRevenge

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Sen. Joe Biden, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's incoming chairman, wants to get tough with Mexico, calling it an "erstwhile democracy" with a "corrupt system" responsible for illegal immigration and drug problems in the U.S.

Biden, D-Del., was in Columbia on Monday in his first post-election trip to this first-in-the-South presidential primary state as he continues to line up support for his presidential bid.

During a question-and-answer session before more than 230 Columbia Rotary Club members, Biden was asked about immigration problems.

Biden, who favors tightening the U.S.-Mexico border with fences, said immigration is driven by money in low-wage Mexico.

"Mexico is a country that is an erstwhile democracy where they have the greatest disparity of wealth," Biden said. "It is one of the wealthiest countries in the hemisphere and because of a corrupt system that exists in Mexico, there is the 1 percent of the population at the top, a very small middle class and the rest is abject poverty."

Unless the political dynamics change in Mexico and U.S. employers who hire illegal immigrants are punished, illegal immigration won't stop. "All the rest is window dressing," he said.

An even bigger problem is illegal drugs "coming up through corrupt Mexico," he said. "People are driving across that border with tons, tons — hear me — tons of everything from byproducts for methamphetamines, to cocaine, to heroine."

Covering a variety of topics, Biden kept most of the crowd in their seats for an hour — twice as long as scheduled.

"I warn all of you, all of you making more than a million bucks — I hope you all are — I'm taking away your tax cut," Biden said. "I'm not joking."

The extra revenue would generate $75 billion a year and pay for a backlog in national security and local law enforcement programs, Biden said.

Biden's appeal for bipartisanship captured Bruce Rippeteau, a former Rotary president who says he's in the Genghis Khan wing of the Republican Party.

He "was saying some important things in a nonpolitical way," Rippeteau said.

"I want to compliment him about what he didn't say," Wilson said. "He never one time mentioned weapons of mass destruction."

Biden will lead the Foreign Relations panel because Republicans around the nation lost seats in the Nov. 7 elections. That tide didn't reach Republican-dominated South Carolina, where the GOP maintained its four U.S. House seats and Democrats kept their two.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen., Joe Biden, center, D-Mass., gets advise from New Hampshire state Sen. Sylvia Larson in this July 22, 2006, file photo. Presidential hopefuls are setting the ground game seeking political activist to help them win the nation's first presidential primary and boost their political campaign. . (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1744889/posts

Tabacco: Democrats can obviously count to 20,000,000!  That’s a number currently floated about re estimated Illegals from south of the border now in the United States.  Democrats want the Lion’s Share of those votes once Illegals become Legals.

The problem with the Democrats' Arithmetic is that there are 300,000,000 they seem to have overlooked or taken for granted.  That’s the number of Legal Americans.  300,000,000 TRUMPS 20,000,000, Democrats, any day.  Maybe Democrats and Republicans should be required to take a Remedial Math Refresher Course!


The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

'Visa lite' program studied to ease travel
By Shaun Waterman
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Published December 4, 2006

U.S. officials are providing more details of the president's proposal to broaden the Visa Waiver Program, sketching an ambitious plan for an electronic "visa lite" system that would enable travelers to be cleared against terrorism and immigration watch lists before reaching the United States.

    In remarks in Europe last week, President Bush addressed complaints from the leaders of several of the post-Soviet democracies about the restrictive requirements for the program, under which citizens of 27 participating nations are entitled to travel to the United States for up to three months for business or pleasure without a visa.

    Mr. Bush said officials in Estonia had been "straightforward and very frank" about the issue. He said there was "deep concern" that people from countries fighting alongside the U.S. military in Iraq weren't able to travel to the United States as freely as they would like.

    The issue also arose in Latvia, and had been raised with Mr. Bush by Poland and other former East Bloc countries that are now U.S. allies and in some cases members of NATO and/or the European Union.

    Mr. Bush promised last week to send a proposal to Congress to modify the program, "to make sure that nations like Estonia qualify more quickly," while strengthening security.

    On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security laid down broad outlines of the reform package Mr. Bush would be sending to Congress. They include the new "visa lite" system called an "electronic travel authorization," which would be issued to passport holders before they traveled to the United States, as well as better information-sharing by new member nations on lost and stolen passports and criminal and terrorist watch lists and higher standards for their document and airport security.

    In return for subscribing to these additional security measures, officials said, nations that wanted to join the program would be granted flexibility on other requirements of membership, such as the less than 3 percent refusal rate on visa applications.

    "We know that, realistically, there are some [countries] that are not going to make the 3 percent bar," said Homeland Security Department spokesman Jarrod Agen, adding that the focus of such measures was on a pre-September 11 conception of how the program might be abused, "looking at economic factors and illegal migration."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20061203-114025-3318r


The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

Congress open to passing bill on immigration
By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published December 4, 2006

Congress will approve an immigration bill that will grant citizenship rights to most of the 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the U.S. after Democrats take control next month, predict both sides on Capitol Hill.

    While Republicans have been largely splintered on the issue of immigration reform, Democrats have been fairly unified behind the principle that the illegals currently in the country should get citizenship rights without having to first leave the country.

    "Years of dawdling have worsened our border security and made it harder to fix this broken system," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who will lead the Judiciary Committee next year. "We should not let partisan politics and intolerance continue to delay and derail effective reform."

    Democrats in both chambers say they will start with some form of legislation first drafted by Sens. John McCain, Arizona Republican, and Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, which was the basis for the bill that was approved earlier this year by the Senate.

    "This past May, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported and then the Senate passed bipartisan versions of comprehensive immigration reform to bring people out of the shadows while strengthening our borders," Mr. Leahy said. "I look forward to building on that work next year and making progress on a bipartisan effort that improves security, supports our economy and respects the dignity of all people."

    House Republicans and many outside Congress derided that bill as "amnesty" for allowing illegals to remain in the U.S. and eventually become citizens. Democrats say it's not amnesty because aliens must pay a fine and wait years before becoming citizens.

    "The Senate bill is pure amnesty," said Rep. Jack Kingston, Georgia Republican. "Dress it up any way you want, it's still amnesty. It lets people pay their way out of sneaking into the country illegally."

    With President Bush as an ally in the White House, he worries Democrats will proceed next year with legislation to ultimately make citizens out of most of the illegals now in the country. And Republicans, still reeling from deep losses in the November elections, will give up the fight.

    Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican, said he expects an immigration-reform bill that doesn't deport illegal aliens to be the only significant legislation to come out of the new Democratic Congress and win Mr. Bush's approval.

    "The only real legislation that can be expected from Congress is amnesty," he said. "If they come up with a plan and the president is behind it, it will pick up a lot of our own members."

    Republicans also expressed little confidence that their leadership team is committed to blocking amnesty.

    The group Americans for Better Immigration, which supports tougher immigration policies, has given Republican leaders mixed grades on the issue. But on the issue of amnesty, the grades have been much worse.

    Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, has a "D"; Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the House Republican whip, scores a "C+." Incoming House Republican Conference Chairman Adam H. Putnam of Florida, who has co-sponsored legislation that many view as amnesty, scores an "F-" from the group on the issue.

    Still, Mr. Boehner and Mr. Blunt can claim credit for thwarting the Senate immigration bill earlier this year. But now the only hope, Republicans say, is that some of the conservative Democrats who beat Republican incumbents this year will side with conservatives in the House to block anything that smells like amnesty.

    Rep. Tom Tancredo, the Colorado Republican and a leading critic of amnesty, was initially dejected by November's elections, fearing that Democrats would ram through immigration reform. But a recent congressional trip with conservative-leaning "Blue Dog" Democrats changed his mind.

    They don't want to touch the issue, he said, after seeing fissures already develop among Democrats' base voters on the issue. Illegal-alien advocacy groups think the Senate bill is too harsh on illegal aliens because it imposes fines on all and excludes others with criminal records. Those groups also insist future workers have a direct path to citizenship -- a requirement that labor unions fiercely oppose.

    "I think it's going to be much more difficult for them to do than I had thought the day after the election," Mr. Tancredo said.

    Most likely, he said, Democrats will succeed at undoing plans to build 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.

    "The thing that's in the greatest jeopardy right now is the fence, because they do have the appropriations process and that's probably the one they can stop," Mr. Tancredo said.

    •Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20061204-122448-1240r


Tabacco: Remember Readers, the only way to control Democrats is to watch everything they do, keep on top of them all the time, email them like crazy, and threaten to kick them out of office if they don’t listen to your wishes.

There is nothing you can do to control Republicans.  They feel they can get away with anything and do not need to obey the wishes of voters because most voters don’t pay attention anyway.  Until November 7th, it appeared these Republican politicos were correct.

So long as Democrats feel that the voters’ only alternative to them is Republicans, and Republicans feel that the voters’ only alternative to them is Democrats, you the voter are in a BOX!  Kicking Republicans to the curb in 2006 and kicking Democrats to the curb in 2008 is a STUPID GAME!  Tabacco has a solution!  But like bad-tasting medicine, it isn’t going to make you smile until you get well.

We the Voters must be willing to vote for 3rd Party candidates – Tabacco advises all Readers to research and investigate the Green Party – just in case the Democrats act like Republicans for the next two years.  As with presidential campaigns, you have to start early or it will be too late.

Tabacco: I consider myself both a funnel and a filter. I funnel information, not readily available on the Mass Media, which is ignored and/or suppressed. I filter out the irrelevancies and trivialities to save both the time and effort of my Readers and bring consternation to the enemies of Truth & Fairness!

In 1981's 'Body Heat', Kathleen Turner said, "Knowledge is power".

 

T.A.B.A.C.C.O.  (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization)

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