Some Comments on the Immigration Kerfuffle

I've been beaten down by all the analysis of the proposed Senate bill that has now gone on for a week, from a sure thing by the end of this week to a 50-50 chance of ever becoming law. I have surmised that it must have some major problems, whichever side you are on.



It has forced introspection and the development of a "plan" that I believe is necessary. So, here we go:





1. We are a nation of laws, and if we want our nation to continue - and I certainly do - we must start enforcing our laws. This is not brain surgery! So the first step in fixing the illegal immigration problem is to enforce our laws against hiring illegals; after all, we should get to our citizen law breakers before we go after the illegals. Agreed? This has already started in a more aggressive manner, and I think should continue for 1 year becoming more aggressive as that year progresses. A report would be due at the end of that year on the effects - economic and societal - this has had on our nation and illegal immigration.



2. We are a nation of laws, and therefore illegal immigrants must not be allowed to cross the border into this country. Easier said than done, eh! But this is the United States, and we can do whatever we set our minds to. Only the political will is needed. So the second step - which will run parallel with the first - is to "close" our border with Mexico with a combination of physical fences - more than the 7 or 8 hundred miles now discussed - and virtual fences where physical fences make no sense, and immediate disposition and deportation of any foreign violators. This would be an ongoing program for probably 3-4 years. A report would be due at the end of 18 months on the effect this approach has had on illegal border crossings.



Note: the 12-20 million illegals in the United States at this time do not become targets in any way, for deportation or legal status. After the above two reports are anayzed and digested, and tweaks to the programs made during this 18 month time period and for 3 months after it ends, a report to the people on the effects of step 1 and step 2, with data on the changes this program caused, is issued for consideration by the people and their representatives.

3. Now, after two years of attempting to enforce our laws and making an intelligient analysis of how these two actions have effected the problem, we have the discussion we are trying to have today. But now we have these answers:

• Does serious enforcement of our current laws against hiring illegal immigrants have positive or negative effect on our economy? This seems to be a point of contention now, so why not get the answer? Maybe we wouldn't miss the illegals!
• Does serious enforcement of our current laws cause self-deportation? Another point of contention that could be resolved. Maybe the problem would go away!
• Does serious enforcement of our current laws regarding our border work? Can we stop illegal border crossings? Maybe it is not as hard as we think! And if it is, maybe we can change our border operations to achieve a closed border! Closed borders must be our goal in the long run, or our nation will no longer exist. Agreed?

Now, think how easy the answer to our present illegal immigrants will be once we have the three answers above! Seriously, any question you currently have on amnesty, path to citizenship, green card availability, temporary worker plans, et al, can be answered with some intelligience! Instead of the posturing we now have to endure while our elites figure out how to gain more votes in 2008!

This plan would need only two things to happen:

1. The political will.
2. The acceptance that some people will be hurt: businessmen operating illegally, perhaps some of their employees if the business is hurt, illegal immigrants, their families and even their children who are citizens.

The right does not have the political will. The left cannot accept that some people will be hurt. And both are making political decisions on a subject that deserves much deeper consideration.

It is only a two year delay, the blink of an eye in the history of this problem.

Comments?

How to Make Companies More Competitive

Lawrence Kudlow gives his view of why tax incentives for business is a winner for all!

Don't know how to check this, but it is an interesting fact:

• "Manufacturing now accounts for a higher share of the U.S. economy than it did 15 years ago, and for the same share of world production it enjoyed in the early 1990's. Yes, there have been manufacturing job losses, but virtually all of them have come from productivity-enhancing automation."

That is an amazing statistic in light of China's rapidly growing manufacturing!

The Amnesty Fraud

Thomas Sowell gives his view of the illegal immigrant problem and the Senate bill that is being discussed this week. A good analogy worth looking at!

IMMIGRATION CAPITULATION!

If you can read Mark Steyns accurate summary of the facts of immigration in our country and not realize the ridiculousness of our Senate and - yes - our President, then you are just not setting aside you bias.

This issue is truly one where there should be not party interests in the bill, and yet this is certainly what we have. Potential votes are driving both sides, and if we let it go this self-interest will destroy our sovereignty!

P.S.: Enjoy his writing whether you agree or not!

"Presumptions of the Left"

And the right, after hearing the details of the Immigration Bill that was presented to us by our Senate today!

Thomas Sowell, whose thoughts I post more often than most, gives the clearest explanation of why Elites of the left do what they do and most often fail. The key paragraph:

• "That is why free markets, judicial restraint, and reliance on decisions and traditions growing out of the experiences of the many -- rather than the groupthink of the elite few -- are so important."

The right has shown themselves to be of the same ilk today, allowing this sorry solution to our immigration problem to be presented to the Senate. Senators, listen to the many!

The Bias of our Media!

A post at Breitbart.com from the AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE illustrates the obvious bias in France (it is not only in the U.S., in fact our MSM sometimes almost looks balanced compared to European press) against Israel. The story starts:

"Israel strikes Gaza as latest truce frays

May 17 09:29 AM US/Eastern

Israel bombed a Hamas headquarters in the heart of Gaza City on Thursday as rival Palestinian factions clashed again in the unruly territory wracked by days of deadly internecine bloodshed.
An Israeli aircraft fired at the headquarters of a Hamas paramilitary force, killing one person, wounding 30 others and destroying the two-storey building after Israel vowed to hit militants firing rockets from the territory.

Israel's actions threatened to further exacerbate tensions in Gaza, riven by five days of gunbattles and reprisal attacks between rival Fatah and Hamas fighters that has stoked fears of a civil war and driven the coalition cabinet to the brink of collapse.

"All options against the Zionist enemy are open, including suicide attacks," warned Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

"If there are possibilities to carry out suicide attacks, we are ready."

Bloodied victims of the Israeli raid, including at least two women, were dragged from the wreckage as several hundred onlookers gathered at the site and gunmen fired automatic weapons into the air.

Israeli tanks also took up positions in the northern Gaza Strip, a day after the country was drawn into the conflict by launching two air strikes against Hamas militants, killing four gunmen."(my emphasis)


Who do you think the bad guys are now? Israel seems to be the exacerbator! You do realize 95% of readers never get this far in the story - I guarantee you the writer does!

The story continues:


"Six more rockets fired from Gaza crashed in southern Israel on Thursday, including one that hit a school and wounded a child, police said.

Six civilians have now been wounded by more than 30 rockets that have landed in Israel since the inter-Palestinian violence erupted last Sunday. "(my emphasis)


Think this might have something to do with Israels reaction? The writer and AFP obviously do not want you to know this. A sad commentary on our worlwide media!

You can read the whole thing here:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070517132125.a57v3x7z&show_article=1

An Interesting Commentary on Racial Political Correctness

Thomas Sowell in this column - "Bookstore Ghettoes" - explains the costs of our "feel good" political correctness

Global Warming

Der Spiegel prints an article based on German climatologists views on global warming which is the best I have read - a concise and factual summary.

Highly recommended if you want to understand the phenomena!

Minimum Wage

Walter Williams, another of my favorite economists, takes the mask off the minimum wage legislation that was recently passed and off our Speaker of the House.

"Moreover, Congress hasn't chosen to mandate that an employer hire a person whose productivity is less than the minimum wage. This means higher minimum wages cause unemployment for the least-skilled workers."

Unintended consequences! Read if you really want to understand.

MSM "scandals" based on party affilitation!

This fact is known by most political junkies, but in todays Thomas Sowell column he summarizes the obvious and confirms this fact.

Sounds logical!

From WSJ Best of the Web Today comments on a Bill Clinton speech at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government:

"An Associated Press dispatch on the same speech begins with this:

"Clinton said Friday that disasters such as worldwide famine and an obesity epidemic could destroy the U.S. health care system unless politicians begin to look ahead and cooperate."

Why don't the obese people just give some of their food to the famished ones?"

James Taranto is obviously a deep thinker!

Racism is alive and well!

A couple of columns from Sunday expose the reverse racism that has infiltrated segments of our society.

Steve Chapman destroys the myth of rampant racial profiling by our traffic police. Amazing what an intelligent analysis of the data will show!

Ruben Naverette critiques the May 1 immigration marches and "The Arrogance of the Legalization Movement." Illegal immigrants should be careful with their demonstrations and their requests as guests of this country!

Both good reads.

Hard Work at The Kentucky Derby!

Street Sense, in the middle, had to pass 18 horses to win the Kentucky Derby, which probably explains the mud jacket! To the left is Hard Spun, who must have led most of the way since there is not much mud!

I wonder how he saw where to go with all that mud, but congratulations to the jockey Calvin Borel.

VDH posts his view of the Iraq conflict today...

with the following closing paragraphs:


"Oil, father of us all!

In the end, all reasoning and caclucation comes down to oil, not energy independence, just a lessening of our need to import by about 5 million barrels or so on the world market. Let Brazil export duty-free ethanol; drill in Anwar and off our coasts; build 20 or so nuclear reactors to replace natural gas and power batteries at night of small commuter cars; up the fleet average gas mileage; develop oil tar and oil shale; use alternative energies—and do all that inclusively rather than in an either/or strategy, and we can collapse the world price, and with it the strategic importance of this dangerous, dysfunctional, and ultimately irrelevant part of the world.

Without oil and nukes, the Arab and Iranian Middle East has no hold on the world, no more than does Paraguay or the Ivory Coast or Bulgaria or Laos. We wish them well, but find Ahmadinejad, Nasrallah, the House of Saud, Hamas, Khadafy, and all the rest, well, all too retro-7th-century for our tastes." (my emphasis)

If we followed the suggestions of Victor Davis Hanson, an historian with unique understanding of our current situation, we would get much closer to a solution.

Read his entire post here.

In honor of W's veto of the misguided supplemental spending bill...

Thoughts for Harry Reid
By Tarzana Joe


Would Rockne be remembered
If the towel he had tossed?
Forget about the Gipper, boys
This game’s already lost.

Would Lincoln be a hero
And on pennies be embossed
If he announced that, after Shiloh
This Union, friends, is lost.

Would Caesar have surrendered
Before the Rubicon was crossed?
Did Ulysses pull the plug
When his barque was tempest-tossed?

Would Perry’s flag be flying
Would hist’ry give a rip
If, on it, he embroidered
“Do give up the ship!”

If we’d been bowed by setbacks
Or our opponents’ fury
Nothing would have happened
On the deck of the Missouri

So in the battle of our lifetime
If I can be the chooser
I’d rather keep on fighting
Than declare myself the loser.

(HT: Hugh Hewitt)