Test Your Geography

May 31, 2006

I scored 92% 18 miles 288 seconds on my second attempt. Takes one time through to get used to how it works. You have to be pretty exact when you place the states. Post your scores and… Good Luck :)

Test Your Geography

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Durbin: Owned By Mexico?

May 30, 2006

Dick Durbin: Consult with Mexico on Border Fence
Sunday, May 28, 2006 11:26 a.m. EDT

http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/5/28/112803.shtml?s=ic

The number two Democrat in the Senate is urging the House of Representatives not to repudiate a provision in the immigration reform bill that would force the U.S. to consult with Mexico before building a border fence.

“To think that we would build a fence without any conversation or consultation with Mexico – that doesn’t make sense,” Sen. Dick Durbin told “Fox News Sunday.”

Asked why he felt such consultations were necessary, the top Democrat explained: “Good fences make good neighbors, too. And remember that when it’s all over there will be cities across the border from one another in the United States and Mexico. And you’ll find in most instances they’ll try to find a level of cooperation.

“We ultimately want to have the cooperation of the Mexican government,” Durbin insisted.

An amendment slipped into the Senate bill at the last minute by Sen. Chris Dodd mandates consultations with Mexican officials before any fence construction begins.
It reads:

“CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT — Consultations between United States and Mexican authorities at the federal, state, and local levels concerning the construction of additional fencing and related border security structures along the United States-Mexico border shall be undertaken prior to commencing any new construction, in order to solicit the views of affected communities, lessen tensions and foster greater understanding and stronger cooperation on this and other important issues of mutual concern.”

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When the Two Parties Agree, The American People Are Getting Screwed

May 29, 2006

Power corrupts both parties

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060527/COLUMNIST14/605270341/-1/COLUMNIST

A rare bipartisan unity was achieved in the House of Representatives this week.

What was it that brought lawmakers together? A determination to win the war on terror? A plan to secure our borders? A compromise to save Social Security from bankruptcy?

Nah. Democratic and Republican leaders in the House joined together to protest the search the FBI made last weekend of the offices of Rep. William Jefferson (D., La.), who is under investigation for allegedly accepting a bribe from a Kentucky businessman.

Partisan differences are set aside when (and apparently only when) the privileges of lawmakers are threatened.

One would imagine, that in the wake of the Duke Cunningham and Jack Abramoff scandals, the GOP would be grateful for the attention devoted to Mr. Jefferson, because his case, and that of Rep. Alan Mollohan (D., W.Va.), make Democratic denunciations of the “Republican culture of corruption ” seem a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

But one would be wrong.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner said the FBI search violated the Constitution.

Mr. Hastert demanded the items the FBI took from Mr. Jefferson’s office be returned.

The lawmakers are on specious ground.

Article I, Section 6, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution says Senators and Representatives “shall in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of the respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place. ”

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D., R.I.) interpreted this provision expansively when, after crashing his car into a barrier at 2:45 a.m. earlier this month, he told Capitol police he was on his way to a vote, even though the session had ended hours before.

But as former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy noted: “The privilege against arrest is limited, and the privilege against being investigated is nonexistent.”

The Constitution makes it clear that lawmakers are not protected from arrest if a felony is involved, and if accepting a $100,000 bribe isn’t a felony, I don’t know what is.

Besides being lousy constitutional scholars, the protesting lawmakers are hypocrites.

Congress routinely issues subpoenas for Executive branch documents and does so without first obtaining a warrant from a federal judge, as the FBI did in the Jefferson case.

The Supreme Court ruled (in the Nixon Watergate tapes case) that executive privilege doesn’t apply in criminal cases.

If the president can’t lawfully resist a subpoena, what on Earth gives congressmen the idea they can?

Many who thought Congress was out of touch now think our august lawmakers consider themselves above the law.

In a Zogby Poll released Tuesday, just 3 percent of Americans described Congress as trustworthy. This brouhaha will not increase that number.

Reps. Hastert and Boehner have not previously been thought of as stupid men. Why would they take such a politically damaging, legally specious stand?

It may depend upon what the FBI was looking for in Mr. Jefferson’s office.

The FBI already seems to have him dead to rights on the bribery charge. It has confessions from the businessman who bribed him and from a member of Mr. Jefferson’s staff.

There is a videotape of the bribery transaction. And the FBI found the bribe money – $90,000 in cash wrapped in aluminum foil, which was hidden in Mr. Jefferson’s refrigerator. Any additional evidence would seem superfluous – unless the FBI was looking for accomplices,or evidence of other crimes.

Either could be a reason for beads of sweat to form on congressional brows.

Mr. Hastert and Mr. Boehner do not deserve to retain their positions, nor does the party they “lead” deserve to retain its majority. But though changing partisan control of Congress will shift the beneficiaries of corruption, it is unlikely to reduce its magnitude.

Power corrupts Democrat and Republican alike. Only major systemic reform can restore a semblance of honesty.

The longer they remain in office, the more likely it is that they are corrupt. So the reform most necessary is an amendment to the Constitution to limit the tenure of senators and representatives.

We must also change our system of campaign finance. As long as our lawmakers must rely on special interests for the bulk of their campaign funds, they will be corruptible.

Without these reforms, we will continue to have a Congress – whether Republican or Democratic – that serves itself well, and the people poorly.

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Bush on Border Fence

May 28, 2006

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30 Percent!!!

May 27, 2006

Justice Dept. Figures on Incarcerated Illegals
Monday, March 27, 2006

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/3/27/114208.shtml

One of the more popular claims by illegal immigration proponents is that those who enter the U.S. by breaking the law are invariably “hard-working” and “law-abiding” once they get here.

That argument, however, has one major flaw. According to Justice Department statistics and the analysis of immigration experts, the “law-abiding” claim often isn’t true.

As Investors Business Daily reported in March 2005:

“The U.S. Justice Department estimated that 270,000 illegal immigrants served jail time nationally in 2003. Of those, 108,000 were in California. Some estimates show illegals now make up half of California’s prison population, creating a massive criminal subculture that strains state budgets and creates a nightmare for local police forces.”

Citing an Urban Institute study, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies Steven Camorata noted in 2004: “Roughly 17 percent of the prison population at the federal level are illegal aliens. That’s a huge number since illegal aliens only account for about 3 percent of the total population.”

Former California Gov. Pete Wilson places the percentage of illegal aliens in U.S. prisons even higher. In 2001, he told Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly:

“We had problems related to the costs of educating children who were acknowledged to be in the country illegally, healthcare costs. One in five in our prison population were illegal immigrants who had been convicted of a felony after entering the country illegally.”

The Federation for American Immigration Reform also turned to the Justice Department to get statistics on criminal aliens. They report:

“In March 2000, Congress made public Department of Justice statistics showing that, over the previous five years, the INS had released over 35,000 criminal aliens instead of deporting them. Over 11,000 of those released went on to commit serious crimes, over 1,800 of which were violent ones [including 98 homicides, 142 sexual assaults, and 44 kidnappings].

“In 2001, thanks to a decision by the Supreme Court, the INS was forced to release into our society over 3,000 criminal aliens [who collectively had been convicted of 125 homicides, 387 sex offenses, and 772 assault charges].”

Up to a third of the U.S. federal prison population is composed of non-citizens , according to Federal Bureau of Prisons statistics – but not all non-citizen prison inmates are illegal aliens.

As to the “hard-working” claim, CIS notes: “The proportion of immigrant-headed households using at least one major welfare program is 24.5 percent compared to 16.3 percent for native households.”

Investor’s Business Daily concurs: “Once [illegals] get here, they are 50 percent more likely to be on welfare than citizens.”

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