Saturday, June 15, 2013

Amnesty Defined

Last Wednesday Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) resurrected the old semantics argument regarding Comprehensive Immigration Reform.  The basis of his statement is the real meaning of the word AMNESTY.

This is an important talking point of those who want to pass this reform bill.  They got out the word that they need to control the narrative.  The public is against an “amnesty plan.”  But if you can get them thinking it is something else, they are more open-minded about it.

So, Paul Ryan (who has a reputation of being a budgetary conservative) said this last Wednesday:  “Earned legalization is not amnesty. I will debate anybody who tries to suggest that these ideas that are moving through Congress are amnesty. They’re not. Amnesty is wiping the slate clean and not paying any penalty for having done something wrong. Nobody’s suggesting that that takes place.”


Way back on July 16, 2001, Ari Fleischer, Press Secretary for George W. Bush, was attempting to define amnesty in a White House press conference.  The exchange went like this:
“Question:   Go back -- what is the distinction on that?  I mean, because that is a point of confusion I think for many of us.  If the President is against an amnesty program, but one of the options is to regularize status, which would eventually allow people to qualify for citizenship, isn't that an amnesty?



“MR. FLEISCHER:  No, amnesty is an automatic granting, as opposed to a formalized process that everybody who comes to the United States, in accordance with the laws, has to go through.  It's a very lengthy process and it's very different.”

Source link:

So, the problematic nature of the definition has been around for quite some time.  If we take the Ryan/Bush definition of the word “Amnesty,” we must conclude the following in the definition:
  • Wiping the slate clean.
  • Not paying any penalty.
  • Automatic granting.
  • No formalized process.

Now, here are a couple of dictionary definitions:
Oxford
an official pardon for people who have been convicted of political offenses

Origin: late 16th century: via Latin from Greek amnēstia 'forgetfulness’

Webster
the act of an authority (as a government) by which pardon is granted to a large group of individuals

Law. an act of forgiveness for past offenses, esp. to a class of persons as a whole.


Cambridge
politics & government.  a decision by a government to forgive people who have committed particular illegal acts or crimes, and not to punish them: [C] The state has declared an amnesty for individuals who pay their outstanding back taxes.

It is interesting to note that politicians regularly create tax amnesty programs where people come forward and pay their back taxes, but the penalties, fees and jail time are waived.  Surely Paul Ryan is aware of how these amnesty programs work.

In protecting the precious narrative Ryan has made himself look foolish.  He reminds me of the child who lies through parsing of words to avoid punishment.  “I did not hit my sister,” he declares.  A closer examination of events is that he swung at her with a book and the book hit her.

Such tactics are not reserved for children.  Bill Clinton, in his finest courtroom manor, taught us the varied meanings of the word, “is.”

The GOP Platform of 2012 clearly illustrates that Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio are on the wrong side of this issue:
“In this country, the rule of law guarantees equal treatment to every individual, including more than one million immigrants to whom we grant permanent residence every year. That is why we oppose any form of amnesty for those who, by intentionally violating the law, disadvantage those who have obeyed it. Granting amnesty only rewards and encourages more law breaking”


Perhaps these advocates of some sort of legalization program ought to ponder the above statement for its meaning and the warning it gives about the future.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Another One Gets Away

The case of Heriberto Estrada-Morales

First contact: December 8, 2008.  Arrest record number 08-12-1532.  He was arrested by the Elgin Illinois Police Department for driving with a suspended license.  At that time ICE identified him as being in the country illegally but did nothing about it.

Second contact:  January 9, 2009.  Arrest record number 09-01-1263.  He was arrested for driving without a license by EPD.  ICE once again identifies him  as an illegal alien, subject to deportation.  Once again, he was not picked up and detained by Immigration.


Then we lose track of Heriberto for a time.  Probably the police had contact with him but they stopped sharing the information with us…until March 6, 2011 when he went ballistic on us.

Here's the street in question:

 And the house before it was hit:

And after:




There were jokes around town of him being a pilot in the Mexican Air Force.

This is one of Elgin’s old money neighborhoods.  Lots of large homes on large lots.
The house, which was for sale at the time, was finally repaired structurally and sold.  I believe it went for $325K.

We’ve lost track of Heriberto.  Some say he died in the hospital.  There was no follow-up coverage of the case in the press.

What we DO KNOW is that he was known to local police and Immigration but wasn't detained and deported before he wiped out a house, leaving the financial liability (and his emergency care costs) to others.


Friday, May 24, 2013

Rewarding Bad Behavior

One of the key points against any amnesty plan is that it is bad policy to reward someone for not obeying the law.

The GOP 2012 Plaform puts it this way: “…we oppose any form of amnesty for those who, by intentionally violating the law, disadvantage those who have obeyed it. Granting amnesty only rewards and encourages more law breaking.”

But let me take a different approach.  It involves bad behavior, but not on the part of the illegal aliens themselves.  I’m talking about systemically ignoring the law that is taking place by our politicians.  It is their bad behavior I wish to address.

The 1986 amnesty plan was accompanied by a stern warning that strong enforcement was necessary to prevent another round of illegal immigration.  Heck, even the 1981 report prepared by Jimmy Carter’s own commission warned that we would need to plan to arrest, detain and deport illegal aliens or the problem would return.

In fact, if you study the commissions on immigration over the years they are sickening in their similarity.  They all call for the same thing – enforcement.   The key elements that are repeated over and over again are:
·                   Border security
·                   Visa enforcement
·                   Employment documentation
·                   Abuse of benefits
·                   Unfair labor competition
·                   Deportation (until it became a dirty word around the year 2000)

What has happened is that Congress has failed to adequately fund immigration enforcement and the White House has failed to enforce the laws on the books.  Please do not interpret this as a criticism of the current Congress and Executive Branch alone.  Surely those in power are to blame.  But this problem has persisted since the last amnesty plan in 1986 so it includes both parties.

The last serious enforcement bill passed was in the House in 2005.  It was HB4437.  The Senate failed to respond and it died at the end of that year.

The Washington politicians have not been passive participants in this non-enforcement problem.  They have been active in defunding the fence as well as various interior enforcement programs.  Worse, they have regularly promoted lawlessness in campaigns and speeches calling for amnesty.

Sooooo…this “bad behavior” really belongs to our rulers.  Granting legalization rewards their cowardice over the years and lets them off the hook for decades of non-enforcement.

No amnesty for the ruling class.  The time has come to enforce the law.

Monday, May 20, 2013

How Extreme NON-Enforcement Really Is


The Strange Case of Valentin Sierra-Martinez
Here is a timeline of a famous illegal alien:
April 26, 2008
He was arrested in Elgin, Illinois for Failure to Appear/Driving with License Revoked.  When they ran his information through the Homeland Security computer (Law Enforcement Support Center , Williston, VT) they got a hit.  At that time Immigration (ICE) was notified by the Elgin Police.The answer came back from ICE that he was not in the United States legally but he is not picked up for deportation. 
EPD report # 07-111276

June 27, 2008
He was arrested again, this time the charge was Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance.  Again, Elgin Police use the LESC system and Immigration is contacted. The same answer came back from ICE.  He is here illegally.  He is not picked up for deportation.
EPD report # 08-061774

July 14, 2008
ICE does a sweep of known gang members in the Chicago Area under their Community Shield program.  Mr. Valentin is one of the 49 people they pick up.

August 6, 2008
ICE in Washington DC issues a press release about the 49 arrestees and specifically names Mr. Valentin as the 10,000th person arrested under the Community Shield program.  They give us an insight into his criminal history with the following statement: Arrested July 14 in Elgin, Ill., Sierra-Martinez is an illegal alien from Mexico with prior criminal convictions for residential burglary, domestic battery, possessing drug paraphernalia, and knowingly damaging property. He remains in ICE custody pending deportation to Mexico. 

Perfect.  This gangbanger is on his way OUT of the United States.
But wait; there’s more.  A year later he appears in the local police blotter.
Police Report
Courier News (of Chicago Sun-Times fame)
September 29, 2009
• False report: Valentine S. Martinez, of 383 Division St., Elgin, was arrested Monday on a felony charge of disorderly conduct after he allegedly filed a false police report. Martinez on June 15 told police that his car had been stolen, a police spokesman said. On Sept. 23, according to police, Martinez's missing car was recovered in Hanover Park. Martinez then admitted he had sold the car to another man, a report said. Apparently, the car buyer had only partially paid for the vehicle, so Martinez reported the vehicle stolen, authorities said. Martinez's bail was set at $10,000. He is to appear in court Oct. 13.

Another account by another local newspaper:
Fox Valley police blotter  
 Daily Herald 
Staff Report
Published: 9/29/2009 12:04 AM
Elgin
• Valentin S. Martinez, 21, of the 300 block of Division Street, Elgin, was charged with felony disorderly conduct Sunday. The charge alleges that in June he filed a police report falsely claiming his 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis had been stolen. Martinez's bail was set at $10,000 and his next court date is Oct. 13 at the Kane County Judicial Center. He faces up to three years in prison if found guilty.

The same name shows up in the police blotter in Elgin, Illinois.  The age is the same.  This is the SAME GUY who was the 10,000th customer in the ICE Community Shield program.

But this time he’s the victim.  As it turns out he sold a car to someone who promised to make payments.  When he stopped making payments, Valentin turned to the police and reported it stolen.

The city attorney explained to me why he was still here:
(From an e-mail dated September 29, 2009 11:11 PM)
Deputy Chief Beeter contacted ICE today about Mr. Martinez to inquire into his status. ICE advised Deputy Chief Beeter that a judge has now granted Mr. Martinez authorization to be in the country. ICE further advises that it will not be able to deport Martinez unless he commits a deportable offense which would include certain drug offenses or violent felonies.
William A. Cogley
Corporation Counsel
City of Elgin

So he was never deported.  And despite his rap sheet and convictions, he was not going to be deported without future felonious activities.  Some judge intervened and allowed him to stay.  His new status was never explained.

October 13, 2010
But he continued his life of crime.  He’s three years older but no wiser.  Here’s a mugshot of our guy, still in Elgin, Illinois, with a charge of “Prowler.”

At this point I can’t seem to find our boy.  This statute basically applies to intimidation or disturbing the peace.  It is generally a misdemeanor with some community service time.  Who knows?  He doesn’t appear in the IDOC inmate computer.  Maybe he’s moved on to another state.  Or maybe he’s living down the street.

What’s clear at this point is that government didn’t protect me from him given two easy opportunities (in handcuffs in the local jail).  Even with the ICE sweep of gangbangers he was turned loose by a judge.

His stunt of filing a police report to satisfy a car loan obviously didn’t have long-term consequences because he was out on the street in October of 2010.

What’s wrong with this picture?  And why should we believe Homeland Security and Marco Rubio this time around?

Friday, May 17, 2013

Obama's Management Style

A pattern is emerging here of a detached presidency that goes beyond the president himself to his cabinet as well.

Not only does Obama have deniability when it comes to critical activities, his cabinet members as well are in the dark.  It takes them days to get information from their rank-and-file employees.

Take for example:
  • Treasury and IRS harassment of conservative groups
  • Homeland Security and ICE detainee releases
  • Attorney General and, well, lots of things.  AP reporter phone records for example
  • State Department and embassy security
  • CIA and intelligence warnings

The pattern is the same for all; Obama didn’t know what was happening, the cabinet member didn’t know what was happening, and getting to the truth takes weeks and months to uncover.

No Drama Obama has created a culture in the White House of a cabinet that only brings him good news.  All the data is rosy.  No one wants to bring him a crisis.  It is all about making him look and feel good.

So, he wants 8% unemployment or lower, and his Labor Secretary gives it to him.  He wants record-setting deportation numbers and Napolitano obliges. That mentality rolls downhill to the department heads and the individual employees.  The whole system is geared to propaganda at all costs.

Such a system can only work when Obama’s people work around him.  You’ve got Valerie Jarrett (not subject to review or censure) who theoretically could be working with departments of government a couple of layers down.  She would know the real truth and do the actual work of the executive branch.  And the deniability of Obama and his cabinet would be intact.

But I’m not sure Obama is that smart.  Government could simply be on auto-pilot with bureaucrats doing what bureaucrats do best.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Amnesty Bedfellow Report

Senator Alan Simpson once claimed that the immigration issue brought about "the goofiest ideological bedfellow activity I've ever seen."

And although Simpson was talking about the congressional negotiations in the 1980s, things haven’t changed much.

You have Mark “Facebook” Zuckerberg with his faux conservative band of pals.  Fwd.us includes:
  • Mark Zuckerberg (the public face of the group)
  • Joe Green (founder and president of the group)
  • Microsoft founder Bill Gates
  • Dropbox employees Drew Houston and Ruchi Sanghvi
  • LinkedIn CEO and founder Reid Hoffman
  • super-angel Ron Conway
  • venture capitalists Jim Breyer (of Accel Partners)
  • Matt Cohler (of Benchmark Capital)
  • John Doerr (of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers)
  • Chamath Palihapitiya (of The Social+Capital Partnership)
  • Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft)
  • Brian Chesky (founder of Airbnb)
  • Chris Cox
  • Paul Graham (co-founder of Y Combinator)
  • Reed Hastings (CEO of Netflix)
  • Chad Hurley
  • Josh James
  • Max Levchin (former CTO of Paypal)
  • Joe Lonsdale (founder of Palantir and Addepar)
  • Andrew Mason (founder and CEO of Groupon)
  • Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo!)
  • Mary Meeker
  • Dave Morin (CEO of Path)
  • Mark Pincus
  • Keith Rabois
  • David Sacks
  • Eric Schmidt (executive chairman at Google Inc)
  • Brad Smith (Microsoft executive vice president of legal affairs)
  • Kevin Systrom (CEO of Instagram)
  • Padmasree Warrior (CTO of Cisco)
  • Fred Wilson (of Union Square Ventures)
  • Elon Musk (CEO of SpaceX and of Tesla Motors) was originally listed as a major contributor, but left the group in the wake of advertisements put out by FWD.us supporting some political activities that conflicted with Musk's environmentalist priorities.
Source: Wikipedia, 5/12/13
This bunch looks more like the address book of David Plouffe than that of a group that calls itself Americans for a Conservative Direction.  They want you to believe they are conservative, but they aren’t.

Here’s another one, called Partnership for a New American Economy.  (Boy, does that sound like a New World Order front group.)  Here are the main players:
  • Mark Hurd                   Chairman, CEO and President of Hewlett-Packard
  • Robert Iger                  President and CEO, Walt Disney Co.
  • J.W. Marriott, Jr.         Chairman and CEO of Marriott International, Inc.
  • Jim McNerney             Chairman, President and CEO of Boeing
  • Rupert Murdoch          Chairman, CEO and Founder of News Corporation
  • Julián Castro               Mayor of San Antonio
  • Michael Bloomberg    Mayor of New York City
  • Michael Nutter            Mayor of Philadelphia
  • Antonio Villaraigosa   Mayor of Los Angeles
Source: Wikipedia, 5/12/13

Those two groups alone mean there is all sorts of pro-amnesty money being thrown around for lobbying and media buys.

It just goes to show you that cheap labor is more important than sovereignty and that the same pressure is applied whether the job is a chambermaid or a computer programmer.  And it is proof positive that the elites have gone post-American all the way.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Obama's Deportation Record

The State of Utah is an interesting place.  Mostly Mormon.  Heavily conservative.  They're kinda quaint in the things they are proud of, like Mitt Romney and the Jazz.  Utahns bust their buttons over odd things sometimes and tend to think everything was invented by a Mormon.  Rumors abound about who IS a Mormon in films and politics.  Like I say, it’s kinda quaint.

But there are some serious rankings that Utah SHOULD be proud of.  Like these:
  • “Utah has the nation’s highest percentage of stroke patients who receive clot-busting drugs in the 'golden hour,' within 60 minutes of arriving at a hospital emergency room, shows an analysis by the American Stroke Association.”
  • “...Census estimates released Wednesday show 35.7 percent of U.S. babies in 2011 were born to unwed women, continuing an upward trend that started in the 1940s. Utah had the lowest-in-the-nation rate of just 14.7 percent.”
  • “The most generous state, according to the latest study, was Utah, where residents gave 10.6 percent of their discretionary income to charity, followed by Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina.  The least generous was New Hampshire, at 2.5 percent, followed by Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.”

 Now for the bad news.  Utah is climbing in the area of immigration enforcement.  Actually, I don’t care about the ranking here, but rather the OTHER story buried within the story; proof that Obama is cooking the books on deportations.  Note the highlighted parts of the story below.

Utah now among top 10 states for immigration prosecutions
Courts » Utah is ranks 10th, far behind leaders Texas and Arizona.
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published May 10 2013 10:38 am • Last Updated May 10 2013 05:13 pm

Utah is among the top 10 states for immigration prosecutions for the first time ever, though its case count is a sliver of that in leading states Texas and Arizona.

Utah ranks 10th in immigration prosecutions with 135 cases filed in U.S. District Court for Utah during the first six months of fiscal year 2013, according to the report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. Utah ranked 13th a year ago.

The Southern District of Texas in Houston topped the list with 17,022 prosecutions, while the Western District of Texas in San Antonio ranked second with 13,379 prosecutions. Arizona, with 11,476, is listed third.

Those three courts have been at the top of the list for the past five years, according to the report, which is based on Justice Department data.

TRAC found that the lead charge in more than half the cases was "entry of an alien at improper time or place." The second most common violation was "reentry of a deported alien."

Nationwide, there have been 50,468 new immigration prosecutions filed so far. If filings continue at that pace, the total prosecutions for the year will top 100,000, a nearly 10 percent increase over the previous year.

Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection division accounted for 73 percent of the case referrals.



What that tells us is that Obama isn’t draining the swamp.  He’s not deporting the 11 million who are already here.  He’s calling himself The Great Deporter when he’s really counting the border captures.

The president of the ICE union, Chris Crane, reveals that Obama is making border captures, then converting them over to ICE arrests and deporting them right away.


So, the truth is that Obama’s deportation numbers are pathetically low when compared to past administrations.  Half of his numbers are an apples-to-oranges comparison and do nothing to relieve the problem in the interior.

In a candid moment to Hispanic journalists Obama admitted his scheme (for a political purpose, of course):
"The statistics are actually a little deceptive," Obama said last month during a discussion with Hispanic journalists. There has been "a much greater emphasis on criminals than non-criminals." And "with stronger border enforcement, we've been apprehending folks at the borders and sending them back. That is counted as a deportation even though they may have only been held for a day or 48 hours."


So, the next time someone tells you Obama has deported more illegal aliens than any previous president, keep in mind how he’s doing it.  His data is meaningless.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Doublespeak and Amnesty

If there is an award for Doublespeak, this one is surely in the running.
Americans for a Conservative Direction
That's a mouthful.
You would think it was a solid conservative organization.

But you'd be wrong.  It is funded by Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame.  He is throwing money around in an effort to get cheap IT labor for his web schemes.  And he really doesn't mind the illegal aliens at the lower end of the scale either.  (I guess he has a pool and a great deal of landscape to tend.)

They've co-opted Marco Rubio, who has already sold his soul to the Gang of Eight.  Marco is the talent in front of the camera pretending that their amnesty plan is something it isn't.  Even Fact-Check caught some of the lies he tells.

Here: http://factcheck.org/2013/05/zuckerberg-backed-group-spins-immigration/

There's nothing "Conservative" about the backers or the message.  They just want you to think that conservatives favor amnesty.  Of course, we don't.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

The Effectiveness of Sanctuary Cities

As the Senate debates the latest amnesty plan, along comes a study that suggests there is a stifling effect from immigration enforcement.  It seems that illegal aliens (and immigrants in general) are less likely to cooperate with local police because they fear investigation and deportation as a result.

The study is a collaboration between PolicyLink and U of I Chicago.  The survey was done by Lake Research Partners.  (You can do your own research about these organizations.  I found them to be far left of center in their projects, leaders and staff.)

You can read the report here:

Three things struck me about this study:
1)     Sanctuary city policies are NOT having the intended effect.  If they are in place to instill cooperation between police and the foreign-born…THEY AIN’T WORKIN’.  All four of the cities studied are sanctuary cities.  And the surrounding counties in three of the four are also sanctuaries.  Chicago and LA have long-standing sanctuary policies, dating back to 1985 and 1979 respectively.  And yet 40+% of the target population responded that they were not likely to cooperate with police.  Even Sheriff Joe’s Maricopa County (the toughest Sheriff in the nation) scored nearly as well in the areas of reporting crime and cooperation.
2)     Given the lack of willingness to cooperate with police regarding crimes in the community explain to me why we want to grant amnesty to these illegal aliens.
3)     The TIMING of the release of this study seems fishy.  The data was collected in November and December…and it comes out just as the Senate is marking up the Gang of Eight plan.  (I’m not shocked; the client list of Lake Research Partners reads like a Democratic primary ballot.)

I suppose the intended result of this study coming out now is to generate sympathy for the plight of illegal aliens and as a byproduct imply that Obama has been strong on enforcement.  A rational look at the study in context should dismiss it as agenda-driven hype.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Immigration Enforcement


As the Senate debates the latest immigration “reform” bill some critics have rightly criticized Washington for not enforcing existing immigration laws.  They question, “What makes you think you’ll enforce the new laws any better than the current ones?”

Obviously, they can write laws that are very tough but if they aren’t enforced we are no better off than before.

So, let’s take an example from the 1986 amnesty plan.  In 1986 the government made a Social Security card mandatory for children over 5-years-old.  In 1990 that was changed to 1-year-old.  You cannot claim a dependent on your taxes without one.  So it has become customary to get one along with a birth certificate before the baby leaves the hospital.

So, everyone has a Social Security card.  Presumably there is a giant database with the information.  When we get a job our employer sends money to the government to build our account.  Every few years we get a report from the Social Security Administration showing our earnings history and other information based on our number.

Between the IRS and the SSA we have a pretty good idea about the payroll activity of every card out there.  And when someone retires we have additional information.  And we report to the SSA when we die so they don’t keep sending out retirement checks.

So far, so good.

I’m not sure if Washington gets sloppy or lazy, but we know that these problems regularly occur:
  • People make up fake Social Security cards with made-up numbers.
  • People use the Social Security numbers of other adults.
  • People use the Social Security numbers of their anchor baby children.
  • People use the Social Security numbers of other children.
  • People use the Social Security numbers of dead people.

And when they do it is perfectly feasible to believe that the clerk in the personnel office would accept a card without knowing it doesn’t belong to the person in front of them.

But rather quickly the government knows or should know that there has been a mistake.  Surely made-up numbers, children and dead people would be easy enough to spot.  And enforcement would be fairly straightforward.  The employee has a problem with their card.  Go to the government and sort it out.  After 30 days you either have the issue resolved or you don’t have a job.

If a pattern emerges or the same number pops up in one geographic area, perhaps ICE gets involved.

But as it now stands, the Social Security number is widely compromised.  Take for example the blatant and wide-spread fraud described here: http://alienrants.blogspot.com/2012/05/paying-for-global-children.html

You would think that if the government wasn’t going to require E-Verify at least they would enforce Social Security number fraud.  After all, ONE THIRD of all the foreign-born people living in America are here illegally.

So, pardon me if I don’t believe Marco Rubio and his Gang when they talk about tough enforcement measures in the new bill.  It takes money, effort and the political will to enforce the law.  And all three of those are in short supply in Washington.  When even the union representing immigration officers complains that Obama won’t let them do their job you know we have reached a new low.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Priest Acts out the Stations of the Border Crossing

This story struck me as odd.  The messages from it are mixed.  I'm just going to make my comments as you read along:

Chicago priest crosses U.S.-Mexico border to better understand parishioners
April 29, 2013|By Jennifer Delgado, Chicago Tribune reporter

The Rev. Gary Graf, of St. Gall Roman Catholic Church in Chicago, tells his parish during a Spanish-language service Sunday about his experience crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Just days after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border by climbing a wall, a Chicago priest says what he did was wrong and urged parishioners in his Southwest Side church to apologize if they had done the same.

"And by recognizing you did something wrong, you can't keep doing it," said the Rev. Gary Graf of St. Gall Roman Catholic Church in Chicago's Gage Park neighborhood. "I'm begging the people to take a different tactic."
So, this priest is calling for repentance here.  It is wrong to cross the border illegally.  He tells them not to do it again, whatever that means.  Wouldn't righting the wrong of trespassing be to get off the property?  Go back home?  Turn yourself in to ICE?  Apparently not.

After speaking to a packed Sunday morning Mass, Graf said he traveled to Mexico this month with the intention of returning to U.S. soil by scaling a 20-foot iron wall.

The 54-year-old pastor, a U.S. citizen, said he wanted to understand what many of his Hispanic parishioners went through. Now that he does, he feels it's important they make amends for their actions by having a conversation with U.S. citizens about it.
Here are his instructions for repentance: Have a conversation with a citizen about the subject.  Huh?

With only his backpack, Graf flew to Tucson, Ariz., almost two weeks ago and then rode a bus to Mexico. Graf paid for the trip but took about $3,000 from a church collection to pay coyotes, or people who smuggle others into the U.S. for a fee.
Is that the best use of church funds?

He spent three days in a home with 27 people waiting for smugglers to take him to the U.S. before abandoning his plan. Graf said he then hitched a ride and walked hours through the desert until he came to the border.

At nightfall Wednesday, Graf said he sat, prayed and looked at the fence for about an hour before climbing it. He thought he'd get arrested as soon as he landed on the other side, in Nogales, Ariz., but didn't see anyone around.
Our border is as secure as ever, says Big Sis.  But Nogales isn't exactly remote territory.

The next morning, Graf said he turned himself in to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's office, which later called U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Neither agency arrested him, and he was let go, he said. A representative from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's office could not be reached for comment Sunday.

A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Chicago on Sunday said Cardinal Francis George did not know of Graf's actions in Mexico until Saturday evening.
It's always a good idea to let the boss know what you are doing.  Apparently the Cardinal did not have anything to say about the matter.  You would think the press would ask for his opinion on illegal aliens or the actions of the priest.  I guess not.

The pastor said he believes he is the first Chicago priest to cross the U.S.-Mexico border by climbing a wall. 
Is he trying to get in the Guinness Book of World Records?  The first Chicago priest (not Detroit) to cross the border by climbing a wall (not through a tunnel or a hole in the fence or an unguarded section).  Perhaps he should add, "With a ham sandwich in his pocket."

He added that he wants his parishioners to speak thoughtfully about immigration instead of rallying and protesting on May Day.
Now, here's the rather strange point.  To make amends for entering illegally and getting a job by fraud, you should not march in the streets demanding amnesty.  According to Father Graf,  you should speak to someone thoughtfully about what you did.  (I think he means outside the confessional.)

"I really feel that as pastor my goal is to engage both sides of the conversation, and this is my attempt to do that," said Graf, who plans on returning the parish money.

Outside of the Southwest Side church, many parishioners showed their support for Graf. Many said they did not know the pastor scaled the border wall until a few days ago.

"We're so happy he did that for us," said Jacqueline Portero, 31, as she stood next to her 10-year-old daughter. "He just wanted to experience what the people experienced. He wanted to show the people he's there for them."
His congregation loved it.  I suppose that's because having a conversation about breaking into the United States uninvited is a lot easier than returning home to Mexico.

Source:

Saturday, May 4, 2013

The Religious Life of President Obama

Easter Sunday 2013 – The Obamas, in their Easter finery, walk to church.  All’s right with the world.  The image rings true to Christian families throughout the world.

But that’s where things get a little crazy.  The First Family walked over to St. John’s Episcopal church to hear Reverend Luis Leon tell the congregation, “It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back…for blacks to be back in the back of the bus…for women to be back in the kitchen…for immigrants to be back on their side of the border.”

I guess Obama liked the sermon because he didn’t make any comment about it.

His behavior since then has been decidedly unchristian in my opinion.

He’s been to the national convention of Planned Parenthood with the message, “Thank you, Planned Parenthood.  God bless you.”  That’s a slap in the face to Christians everywhere.

Then he went out of his way to call and congratulate Jason Collins, a mediocre NBA player, for coming out of the closet.

He’s also sent his Secretary of Defense to get the word out that his policy is “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” when it comes to religious conversations in the military.

He rang in on the Plan B abortion pill for 15-year-olds with a two-faced answer that pleased no one.  Mostly he said he had some concerns about it but that it wasn’t his business.

And that has just been since Easter.

Obama has regularly gone after religion in America over charitable contributions and the voice of churches in public discourse.

His battles with church organizations over Obamacare defines him.   

And though he is willing to issue waivers to his union pals, he’s not so willing to do so with Christian-owned corporations like Hobby Lobby.

One must be careful in declaring the president anti-Christian.  Before the election he sounded very Christian.  After November 3rd, he shifted to the progressive mode.  As a lame duck, I don’t expect the moderate Obama to return…except for selected appearances for midterm candidates.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Immigration Reform Meets Doublespeak


The Gang of Eight Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill is a prime example of what George Orwell called Doublespeak, the political practice of masking the real meaning of words in an effort to deceive the people.

Let’s take the word “sovereignty” for example.  Here’s the definition:

sov·er·eign·ty

1. Supremacy of authority or rule as exercised by a sovereign or sovereign state.

2. Royal rank, authority, or power.

3. Complete independence and self-government.

4. A territory existing as an independent state.

Note that the word suggests an independent nation with borders and self-rule over its own affairs, not manipulated by the wishes of outsiders.

Now, in the preface to the Gang of Eight bill they freely use the term “sovereignty,” suggesting that it enhances our independence over foreign desires.  Here’s what it says:

“The passage of this Act recognizes that the primary tenets of its success depend on securing the sovereignty of the United States of America and establishing a coherent and just system for integrating those who seek to join American society.

“All parts of this Act are premised on the right and need of the United States to achieve these goals, and to protect its borders and maintain its sovereignty.”  (page 7-9 of the bill)

But when you read the bill you will quickly realize that it does just the opposite of securing our sovereignty.  The bill proposes giving legal recognition to people who have sought to disregard our laws and violate our borders.  It rewards trespassers whose first encounter with the United States was to enter illegally.  To make matters worse, they break the law every day they go to work, knowing that they have no authorization to work here.

The bill seeks to ignore the fact that they are unlawfully present and disregard their lawbreaking as they worked here.

We already have borders and immigration laws that, if enforced, would demonstrate our sovereignty. 

What has caused our sovereignty to erode is the long line of apologists who defend the illegal aliens and seek amnesty.  Such behavior by politicians and preachers is shameful.  Now they seek to legalize the very people who have weakened our sovereignty.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Immigration “Reform” and Unintended Consequences

Congress is once again tackling the topic of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, this time attempting to pass the Gang of Eight proposal aka SR744.

In 1936 a Harvard professor by the name of Robert Merton wrote a paper about unintended consequences and how they come about when making public policy.  Based upon Merton’s outline, I shall explain why this bill is bad public policy and will produce negative unintended consequences.

First, identifying the wrong problem.  Merton says that sometimes we are so blinded by politics that we address the wrong problem altogether.  The problems Washington addresses are:
  • Our immigration system is “broken.” 
  • We have 11 million people “living in the shadows.” 
  • There are a million de facto citizens who came here as children and have no papers to advance in society. 
  • We are separating families.
In a moment of candor, they might even tell you that they would like to tap into this potential voter pool.  Surely the political analysts have crunched some numbers.

May I suggest than the real problems relative to having millions of illegal aliens are these:
  • Depressed wages and benefits.
  • Unemployment of low-skilled workers (mostly minorities and teens).
  • Unemployment of scientists, engineers and IT professionals.
  • Excess population.
  • Stressed school districts and social services.
  • Fraud and ID Theft.
  • Loss of tax revenue.

The real problem here is that we have failed to enforce the law for decades now.  We have not deported people whom we knew were here illegally.  They have not self-deported because we have made excuses for them and defended their presence at the highest levels.

This is an interesting phenomenon.  Traditionally when there is a rash of disobedience to a specific law the answer has been more enforcement.  For example, if there is a problem of people speeding in a school zone, they set up a speed trap to catch and/or deter speeders in the area.  If there is a gang problem in town, they bring in extra officers and form a gang task force. 

Second, bad data.  Good public policy requires solid numbers.  In this immigration debate, those solid numbers are hard to come by.  The assumption made by Washington is that there are 11 million illegal aliens.  It used to be 12 million but the poor economy has reduced it to 11 million.

But some sources tell us that there may be 20 million, or even 38 million.  This is not an easy number to come by.

It would appear that they don’t WANT to know the real number.  A few states and other groups have tried to determine the costs of illegal aliens in schools, social services, prisons and jails, local communities…only to be told by Washington that those numbers are “wrong.”  Well, let’s see the official number then.  They don’t exist.

Indeed, true numbers are nearly impossible because you are trying to measure people who don’t want to be counted.  Part of the enforcement problem is that we have not done a good job of following up on ID theft problems.

People can live for years with a fake social security number.  They can buy cars, even houses.  They can get jobs.  And at the government level (school districts, social service agencies, marriage license bureau…) they don’t bother to check.  Although databases such as E-Verify and SAVE exist, they are not mandatory.

Third, the imperious immediacy of interest.  This means a rush to do something; anything to meet the immediate political need.  The Gang of Eight had hoped to get this thing passed within 48 hours of its introduction.  And they would have succeeded if not for a few brave Congressmen who insisted on some review and debate.  Here they crafted this plan behind closed doors with input only from pro-amnesty people they had selected, pitched its unknown contents on the Sunday talk shows, and expected passage without peer review.

And this effort is a fulfillment of Obama’s promise to the Latino voters that he would deliver “Reform” within the first year of the new term.

But rushed policy is bad policy.  There is a far greater risk of unintended consequences when something is not fully reviewed, analyzed and debated.   “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,”…is not a way to run government.  (I might add that we are finding all sorts of unintended consequences in Obamacare.)

Fourth, creating the wrong solution.  We should know by now that any sort of legalization will only lead to another round of people sneaking into the country.  That’s the lesson from the 1986 amnesty plan.  You have to develop the political will to deport people simply because they are here illegally.  We’ve never been able to do that.

Government is far better at saying YES than telling people NO.  You don’t get many votes by cracking down on people. 

Even if they seal the border they haven’t fixed the visa problem.  US-VISIT is not an enforcement program.  All it does is give government credit for those who have left the country.  We would still need to find, process, detain and deport those people living here on expired visas.

Another red herring here is whether or not the plan offers citizenship.  The citizenship debate is meaningless.  These illegal aliens don’t want to naturalize.  Even their legal brothers and sisters don’t want to become citizens.  Fewer than 25% of Mexican green card holders become citizens.  They retain their Mexican citizenship and are content to have a green card so they can work and send money home.  Only the politicians want them to become citizens so they can vote.

Fifth, poor execution of the plan.  Surely if there is any area where enforcement implementation was not carried out it would be immigration laws.  Over 30% of all foreign-born people living in the United States are here illegally.  In fact, both Bush and Obama have chosen not to enforce significant parts of immigration law.  By fiat, Obama has called for new immigration hearings for 300,000 deportable aliens.  He also created his own DREAM Act without so much as a Congressional vote.

The Supreme Court has made it nearly impossible to prosecute someone for aggravated identity theft.

Just last week Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told a Congressional hearing that her agency sets the enforcement priorities regardless of what the law says.  In other words, since you cannot afford to do it all, you choose the laws you will enforce.

So, on all counts the proposed immigration reform bill is a disaster in public policy just waiting to happen.  It is fraught with errors and unintended consequences.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

An Unfamiliar Term

A million people in the Boston area were locked in their homes on Friday under orders from the "authorities."
These Federal/State/Local law enforcement people were looking for a 19-year-old boy who blew up the finish line at the Boston Marathon.

On Thursday night police had a gun battle with the boy and his brother.  And pipe bombs were thrown at police as these young terrorists tried to escape.  The older boy, age 26, died Thursday night.  (If we are to believe these incomplete accounts, he died when he was run over by his brother.)

So, the "authorities" shut down the buses and trains, closed the schools, and strongly suggesting that businesses close for the day.

And their plan worked.  Boston was a ghost town Friday.

The instruction to the public was to "Shelter in Place."    The term had been used in the past for things liked chemical spills and leaks.  If there were an ammonia cloud in the neighborhood, people would turn off the furnace fan, gather in a small room in the house, and close off the gap at the bottom of the door.

But the terrorist application is to stay in your home with the doors locked and do not open for anyone but a uniformed police officer.

"Shelter in Place," belongs in the Newspeak dictionary.  It's a fancy term for "cower in fear" or "hunker down."  My what they won't do to protect their precious narrative.

The Boston Connection

The Gang of Eight is worried that the Boston Bombing will make it impossible to pass their amnesty bill.  And comment boards around the country are crying foul.  They say that these two bombers were here LEGALLY and that Congress should disregard what happened in Boston when considering their bill.

But it has nothing to do with the immigration status of the two terrorists and everything to do with Homeland Security.

We are expected to believe that Homeland Security is doing a great job.  It isn’t.

We are expected to believe that Homeland Security can screen and vet 11 million applicants for amnesty.  They can’t.

Narrative Shaping

In the days between the detonation of the bombs at The Boston Marathon and the identification of the suspects the news agencies engaged in speculation that exposed the worst in journalism; and confirming the bias of which they are accused.

In subtle, and not so subtle ways, they were hoping for another Timothy McVeigh.  A Unibomber would not do.  And certainly not a foreigner.  A Mormon would be fine, but no Muslims.

Media outlets have become guardians of the narrative at all costs.  And if the truth doesn’t fit they will trim it here and there until it does.

Salon.com even hoped out loud that they were right-wing whites because they could be convicted without creating animosity toward and suspicion of global terrorist organization.  How nice of them.
http://www.salon.com/2013/04/16/lets_hope_the_boston_marathon_bomber_is_a_white_american/
Here are some of the comments and theories of the media, preserved:

NPR correspondent Dina Temple-Raston:
"The thinking, as we have been reporting, is that this is a domestic, extremist attack and officials are leaning that way largely because of the timing of the attack. April is a big month for anti-government and right-wing individuals. There's the Columbine anniversary, there's Hitler's birthday, there's the Oklahoma City bombing, the assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco."

CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen:
“I'm reminded of Oklahoma City, which was a bombing, which was initially treated as a gas explosion. First reports are often erroneous.
“Once the device -- if it is a device -- is found; what kind of explosives were used. So for instance, if it was hydrogen peroxide, this is a signature of al Qaeda. If it was more conventional explosives, which are much harder to get hold of now -- that might be some other kind of right-wing extremist. … We've also seen, for instance, right-wing groups  trying to attack the Martin Luther King parade in Oregon in 2010.”

MSNBC's Chris Matthews:
"…as a category, normally, domestic terrorists tend to be on the far right."

Luke Russert of NBC News:
“I was at Fenway Park with my dad during Waco which was on Patriots Day in 1993.  Speculating on possible link.(Twitter post)

Nicholas Kristof, columnist for the New York Times:
“…explosion is a reminder that ATF needs a director.  Shame on Senate Republicans for blocking the appointment.”  (another Tweet)

David Axelrod (Obama’s former PR chief):
 "I'm sure what was going through the president's mind is -- we really don't know who did this -- it was tax day"

CNN:
“A senior U.S. counterterrorism investigator told CNN that pressure cooker bombs have also been a signature of extreme right-wing individuals in the United States who he said tend to revel in building homemade bombs.”

Esquire’s Charles P. Piers:
“I would caution folks jumping to conclusions about foreign terrorism to remember that this is the official Patriots Day holiday in Massachusetts, celebrating the Battles at Lexington and Concord, and that the actual date (April 19) was of some significance to, among other people, Tim McVeigh, because he fancied himself a waterer of the tree of liberty and the like.”

Huffington Post’s Nida Kahn:
“We don't know anything yet of course, but it is tax day & my first thought was all these anti-gov groups, but who knows.”