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Open thread 8/31
- By Phillip Brownlee
- Posted Aug. 31, 2007 at 1:05 a.m.
- Filed under Open thread
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84 Comments
“On the blog, the gloves are off and it gets bloody sometimes. But after the day is over, we can go home like it never happened, because it didn’t really, just in our minds and here on the electronic screen of pixels. One button and poof, it’s gone.”
Posted by: the TROLL Kansas | August 30, 2007 at 09:25 PMhttp://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2007/08/iraq-flunking-i.html#comment-81187827
NOPE!!! One click on “Post”, and POOF, it’s on the World Wide Web for EVERYONE to read.
Like Kansas’ LIES, “The thing that bothers me about Environmental Activists is they have a lot of complaints but never offer any solutions.” And re wind farms, “they exclaim impractical and it kills birds.”
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2007/08/well-sebelius-i.html#comment-81160107
There is an excellent and thoughtful letter in this morning’s (8/31) paper regarding bridges across I235 and the big ditch. The folly of extending 25th street would include condeming houses and building a longer bridge just for a street that ends at Broadway and the railroad tracks.
By contrast, 21st street is already a major commercial thru way extending beyond our county, has extensive commercial development, and would require a shorter bridge. But nooooo, the wasteful spendthrifts are focusing on the 25th street extension.
This smells of payoff somewhere.
Built them both! Lesson from govt: Why have one when you can have two at twice the price?
“NOPE!!! One click on “Post”, and POOF, it’s on the World Wide Web for EVERYONE to read.”
Do you think ANYONE really gives a poo-poo what gets said here anonymously?????????
That’s pretty grandiose thinking.
Dubious headline:MILLIONS ON WWW HANG ON EVERY WEBLOG WORD. IT’S THE PRO-WRESTLING OF THE BLOGWORLD.COSTUMES, IDENTITIES, GOOD AND BAD GUYS! DRAMA, EXCITEMENT AND LIES!!!
Bush administration readies subprime bailout plan
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/bush-offer-proposals-stem-mortgage/story.aspx?guid=%7B0799AD9B%2D6519%2D4831%2DA25D%2DACD6212CB272%7D
Look Out! Here comes the Government bailout of the Rich Investors and Stupid Idiots who signed Riculous Arm Loans!
Refinancing with FHA loans only Temporarily sweeps the problem under the rug for many, and doesn’t solve the problem for others.
Those who can refinance with FHA, may now simply default 3 to 6 months from now and leave HUD (ie. taxpayers) footing the bill.
(Don’t tell me that HUD is completely funded against losses by its insurance premiums paid by borrowers!)
Others, with 2nd Mortgages and declining home values won’t be able to refinance even with FHA – unless the Government approves a $300,000 loan for a $250,000 house. And that would be STUPID, so FHA will probably do it!
And this will really help the poor:
“The Bush administration has previously asked Congress to eliminate rules requiring a 3% down payment and raise the size of loans that the FHA can insure, from $362,790 to $417,000, according to the reports.”
Why is it a surprise when the Bush Administration is ready to bail out the rich? That is the mantra in this country – the rich get richer at the expense of the total welfare.
And the Bush family knows about federal govenrment bailouts – just ask Georgie’s brother Neil about the savings and loans debacle.
Katie Couric to Report From Iraq, Syria
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Aug28/0,4670,TVCouricIraq,00.html
Katie is being set-up as the Sacrificial Lamb, to be kidnapped and taken-out by Al Queda in Iraq.
It will be the largest funeral event since the death of Princess Diana.
The home-run points scored by Al Queda should be enough to get Congress to defund the war and have US Troops immediately surrender in Iraq.
Victory for Al Queada and Defeat for the US.
I doubt if Katie knows. Katie’s thinking this is a trip to raise her TV ratings, which have sunk.
In a related story:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295335,00.html
Iraqi Insurgents Fire on Plane Carrying U.S. Lawmakers
A military cargo plane carrying three U.S. senators and a member of the House of Representatives had to take evasive maneuvers and dispatch flares Thursday night to avoid ground fire after taking off from Baghdad’s airport.
Where are the repukes now? Why are they not screaming socialism, socialism? Where is the motivation to continue to pay your mortgage if Bush is willing to bail you out? This is one situation where the repukes can really stand on the “civil responsibility” soap box. If the banks made bad loans, they should eat those bad loans. If the borrowers signed bad loans, then let them suffer the consequences. Hypocrisy of our democracy rears its ugly head again.
Mike, if Libs and Cons are both against this Government bailout for rich investors and not-so-poor borrowers, why not stop the bashing between Cons/Libs and work together to bash Congress!
Wouldn’t that be an amazing lesson for Congress, if The People United into One Big Voice!
I’m convinced Congress IS a reflection of The People.
And just like many here (myself included) are sometimes more interested in bashing the other side instead of getting some work done – so is our Congress.
This bail out has nothing to do with Congress Max. This is the presidents plan. The same president that said earlier in the month he would not offer a government bail out for the borrowers. Now its free money for everyone! Where is the motivation for those of us not behind on our mortgage to continue to pay on time if we know that Bush will bail us out? Where is this money going to come from? Who is going to pick up the tab? Why aren’t right wingers up in arms about this? This has the stinch of socilism all over it.
No one will “bail” you out if you get behind on your mortgage payments…your house will get repocessed just the same. It’s the mortgage companies getting bailed out, not the homeowners.
I hope congress does hurry and take up Bush’s plan for doing the FHA loans for people facing forclosure on subprime loans. I have friends right now, who are about to lose their homes. The crisis isn’t out there, it’s here in Kansas too.
This is not free money. Did you read the articles?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070831/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_housing_slump
They’re basically refinancing their loans under FHA…which many people already have FHA loans.
Mary, you’re right in a way. The original mortgagees already have their money, as the “paper” representing the subprime loans has been sold in packages to another entity, which raised the money to buy the packages through sales of securities backed by the packages of loans. This is all about the investors in the securities which are backed by the subprime loans. FHA steps in, money is paid from the refinancing to pay off the existing mortgage, which is then used to satisfy obligations to the investors.
Wondering how “subprime” is defined; wondering what the qualification criteria, if any, are, among other things.
If the people and property could have qualified through FHA, they would have an FHA mortgage now. I spent 4 yrs in the mortgage game, and know what I am talking about. FHA mortgages also require a credit score of +620. How many people are going to qualify with being past due on current mortgages? Your mortgage impacts your credit score more than any other tradeline. Being currently past due will drop your credit score 50 points in the first 30 days. ARM’s are not a FHA product. FHA only gives fixed term mortgages, for the best of credit(because they are gov’t insured). And this whole thing that the borrowers were misled is crap. Thats why you go to a title company to close your loan. They are a third party, that discloses the terms of the mortgage to the borrowers. I am not saying I am going to stop paying my mortgage. I like my home too much for that. Its just funny how one day there is not a plan to help the homeowners and now they can’t cut the checks fast enough. Remember what I posted yesterday regarding the housing market and how it impacts the whole economy.
The easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. The hardest is with one.- Joan Baez
Mike I think you could become a moderate conservative. This bailout is wrong. The mortgage brokers who made these loans needs to pay the price for this debacle. The borrowers who bought houses knowing that the payment would outgrow their income with the first adjustment in rates are also at fault.
Meanwhile responsible homeowners and borrowers will once again pay the price for others stupidity and lack of responsibility. Its the nanny state all over again.
This is the third point that I strongly disagree with Bush on. Just threw that in for the record.
From a cursory review of the proposals, there are going to be a large number of folks who are foreclosed upon. No question. The proposals seem to be directed at some consideration of relaxation of FHA guidelines, etc., which, in the case of those borrowers who were not credit worthy initially, will not provide much assistance in the refinancing of these loans.
ksgrm, the mortgage brokers already have their money and have gone on to other things. The best that can be hoped for is that refined, more transparent if you will, disclosure rules result such that this won’t happen in the same form again. I believe, ksgrm, you are making an assumption here: “The borrowers who bought houses knowing that the payment would outgrow their income with the first adjustment in rates are also at fault.” If, in fact, this was disclosed clearly before the loan was closed, I agree; if, however, there was not disclosure on future costs, etc., in a meaningful manner, or flat outright fraud and deception, as has been alleged, then the said borrowers did not and could not know that fact,
This doesn’t seem to be a total “bail out” as proposed, but we’ll have to see what Congress does to ascertain the final effects of any bills passed and signed into law.
KsgrmThanks for the invite but I have a conscience, and do not subscribe to the hypocrisy that comes from your party. I have stated here many times that I am a registered Independent. Both sides are greedy idiots. But the stinch from repukes is unbearable.
This bail out comes at the expense of the rest of us. You never worry about what a politician is saying…..its what he is not saying that should worry you. This is more apparent than ever when it comes to our economy.
VTYou are right. The brokers get there money at closing just like the seller and have moved on to other things. The title company that closes the loans surely disclosed that the borrower is in an ARM. The borrower has to sign acknowledging that this was disclosed to them. What could not have been predicted was the adjustment. ARM’s have a fixed period and then they adjust to the current market APR. These were designed to be refinanced while still in the fixed period.
Mike, I’m sure if a third party title company closed the loan, there was disclosure of the fact that the loan was an ARM, as well as being nonassumable, subject to penalties and other charges if prepayment was made, etc. I’ll even wager that the adjustment “trigger” was disclosed. As you say, the ARM adjustment could not be predicted.
I would offer a suggestion to anyone in a position of power who might read my pitiful comments; disclosure on ARM adjustments, while not predictive, might be made by an example or two, e.g., if the ARM adjustment is two points after X months/years, the projected payment will then be $Y; and, if in another period, it is one point, then the payment will be $Z, etc., etc. I would tie the examples to the maximum permitted adjustment amounts (if, like many ARMs I’ve looked at in the past, there is a “cap” on the amount of adjustment at any one time); as well as the maximum permissible rate of interest the loan will bear under its terms. This is the kind of disclosure that does not currently need to be made, as I read the “rules”, and which should be required at the time the loan application is made, not at closing of the sales transaction.
Vaughn, those ARM terms are disclosed, on paper.
Brokers sometimes verbally disclose something else.
Lesson – don’t beleive it unless it’s in writing. Then, read the writing.
Government will likely now step in to do what it should have been doing under current law:
1. Regulators (OTS for eg.) should audit and ensure all lenders have a fraud audit process in place.
2. Regulators should audit New Loans of all lenders to ensure that the fraud audit process is in place.
3. Any lawbreakers, (eg. brokers, appraisers, lenders, realtors, buyers/sellers) should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
In other words, EXISTING LAWS SHOULD BE ENFORCED.
There’s an overwhelmingly obvious pattern of Lack of Enforcement by Government for many laws going back many years, including all Administrations from both parties.
Partisan bickering won’t solve this problem.
Mike I didn’t invite you to be a Repub. I was noticing you had some conservative leanings. I am really more than a little disappointed in the repubs myself. But becoming a conservative is something else entirely. The major draw for me is that I am for less government and less taxes for those businesses that create jobs for the masses. This is what keeps the economy of the US perking along thru good and bad times.
VT I do realize that the brokers are out of the picture. They have those mortgages sold before they write them. Ultimately we can go after them by following the trail backwards. This wouldn’t affect those heading to foreclosure but might do something to clean up an industry with few controls.
But yes I do think homeowners should have a share of the blame. People simply have to become more knowledgeable, they have to read papers they sign, they have to ask questions, etc…
Education is the answer. That is my firm belief. There are always those apologizers who think the homeowners are blameless.
When I hear an advertisement selling cars, furniture, etc… and they say your payments will only be $19.99 a week but they don’t tell you how many weeks I know they are still out in lala land. Educate, educate, educate.
Reverend Performs Iowa’s First Same-Sex Marriage After RulingFriday, August 31, 2007
Stringer concluded the ceremony by saying, “This is a legal document and you are married.”The men then kissed and hugged.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295416,00.html
Why didn’t the writer say, “The COUPLE then kissed and hugged?”
This bail out has nothing to do with Congress Max. This is the presidents plan.
Posted by: Mike | August 31, 2007 at 10:46 AM
Mike, playing the partisan card won’t solve this problem.
Are you are truly independent? “But the stinch from repukes is unbearable.”
Do you think members of Congress are not also working on similar plans? You bet they are.
And many Congressmen will jump on this bandwagon to bail out those poor borrowers.
Yet you jump on the Blame Bush bandwagon and accomplish nothing.
I suggest to all who don’t want a Federal bailout for these rich investors and not-so-poor borrowers:
Write/Call your Congressmen Now!
Blog Bitching and Name Blaming alone won’t solve the problem.
ksgrm, I agree; educate, educate, etc. On trace back to the brokers, who are merely brokering loans on behalf of lenders, and are not the lenders themselves, hang ‘em out to dry if they were involved in any “evil doing”; but if the brokers merely put prospective borrowers together with the prospective lenders, and then had nothing to do with the transactions, we need to get to the lenders, right? And, as has been reported, there are already a number of the subprime lenders in Chapter 11… I think you see where I’m going.
Max, this may be true, as I’ve not looked at any ARM paper for a few years. The only disclosures the paper I looked at (from memory) disclosed the current payment amount and interest rates; the fact the loan carried an adjustable interest rate; the points at which adjustments could occur; the maximum adjustment that could be made at any point; and a maximum rate for the loan. The disclosures also cited the basis for the rate adjustment. BUT, there were no actual examples given of the amount of the new monthly payments required after an adjustment. If this is now required to be disclosed, fine; but if it is not, it needs to be, along with the appropriate caveats. Additionally, there is a disclosure that prepayment carries a penalty (usually stated as a per centage, etc.) if applicable; but no actual $$ amount example, i.e., if the loan is not in default and prepayment occurs at the end of year 2, then the prepayment penalty is $Y.
Just my thoughts.
This might be one of our Presidents smartest moves. It is ridiculous that the ARM on our second mortgage vacation home has gone up. If the Feds had NOT raised the prime rate, our second home would still be a bargain.
At least I know with MY life time of established credit history that I will qualify for another mortgage. I’m sure Bush considered the number of us retirees and the terrible impact this would have had on us.
Thanks to Mr. Bush, we will be able to continue to spend our summers at home in Kansas and still enjoy our North Carolina beachfront property.
God Bless him.
One big key with an ARM is to know the index. If it is some kind of obscure “cost of funds” RUN AWAY!
I have used ARMs at various times in the past and have never had a problem. The usual index was the one-year Treasury index plus some number of basis points. I could look up in the Wall Street Journal what my resets would be. I also had limits per year and over the lifetime.
I think what happened is that with all these fly-by-night outfits (many now defunct) they were packaging all sorts of paper with rediculously low teaser rates and fast ramp-ups. And they took advantage of a lot of consumers.
This really stinks:
Dear USAJOBS User,
Recently, malicious software, known as Infostealer.Monstres, was used to gain unauthorized access to the Monster.com resume database to steal the contact information of job seekers. Monster Worldwide is the technology provider for the USAJOBS website and regrettably, some of the contact information captured came from USAJOBS job seekers.
The information captured included name, address, telephone number, and email address. Monster Worldwide has assured the U.S. Office of Personnel Management that Social Security Numbers were NOT compromised because of IT security shields USAJOBS has in place.
Access to the data was obtained through the use of a private sector Monster customer’s computer using legitimate employer credentials. OPM is working closely with Monster to quickly protect the USAJOBS data. Monster Worldwide already has identified and shut down a rogue server that was accessing and collecting the job seeker contact information. Further safeguards are being put into place.
We ask you to remain alert for counterfeit “phishing” emails that may appear to come from Monster.com asking you to click on a link. USAJOBS will NEVER request personal information via unsolicited email (i.e. not a response to an email sent by you). Monster has also assured us THEY will NEVER ask any site users to download any software, “tool” or “access agreement.”
Please also be on the alert for fraudulent email that advertises positions managing financial transactions, or cashing checks. These emails are attempting to engage job seekers in a money laundering or bad check scam.
Phishing” and Internet fraud is an issue that, from time to time, can affect any Internet user or business. We remain committed to safeguarding the integrity of the information provided by job seekers. If you have any questions, please contact mayday@fedjobs.gov.
Sincerely,
Steve ConnellyProgram Director, USAJOBS
USAJOBS respects your online time and privacy. This is a service-related email to notify you of important account information.
Should have adede “Liars Loans” – based on my claim that my little home business clears several hundred thousand bucks a year with no verification.
Never used an ARM and I would talk anyone out of using them.
My straight up mortgages will be paid off in two years, both of them.
Then I can, well…do whatever with my money. :)
Hey, Ben, you never got into an ARM with future adjustments based upon LIBOR +X%? :-)
Ben you only had to look at the TV ads which said you could get a $250,000 dollar loan and your payments would only be $650 a month the first year to smell a skunk. This didn’t even cover the interest.
My daughter-in-law works with a woman whose husband is a mortgage broker. She was trying to get her co-workers to refi with adj arms to get extra money for vacations, etc.. When my DIL told me about this she described the woman as a ‘friend’.
I worked up an amortization schedule and showed her that the principle on their home would have a negative impact because they wouldn’t even be paying the interest on the loan. Thank goodness she asked me about it. Many in her office didn’t have others to advise them and are some of the ones in this mess now. One womans payment went up over $600 a month.
Real reform is needed. When we financed our first home we only had to choose between conventional, VA or FHA. None of these new choices offered today.
I have used an ARM. As long as you are smart enough to understand the terms, it can be an attractive and respectable alternative. Ben’s post above expresses the concept. Knowing your cap and watching the rates in not rocket science. And no prepayment clause.
I finally refinanced my last ARM, which was at 7%, to 4.85 when rates were at their lowest. I saved myself a bundle with the ARM, and later when rates dropped.
Perhaps these people with subprime loans, with bad credit ratings and poor cash flow were,
well, stupid.
There has been a lot of coverage on this. I wouldn’t go so far as to call them stupid. When this kicked off, a lot of dirty companies were hyper aggressive in getting sub-primers in the door. The agents were told to lie to the borrower and tell them it was a fixed rate. Most of those shops are closed now and the CEOs/Owners are living the high life.
Buyer beware. They still should have read the contract.
An alert for everyone. I had a charge for $139. show up on my Discover this month. It happened on a day we were on vacation and I couldn’t remember buying anything for that amount.
When I called to question the purchase they immediately told me they would remove the charge. I finally got her to tell me it was for a subscription to BuyersAdvantage. Something I had never heard of before.
Everyone should always be alert to each item on their bill. Because we pay it off monthly I keep track of everything that goes on it.
Grm, my grandmother had that happen to her recently, remember I posted it here. Except they added on a fraud protection charge…seems you only notice it when you’re careful.
They did also remove the charge.
TOM & the rest of KEC and Allies, Congratulations….now if only we could get that applied to other jobs. I know you’re working on it.
YAY! Oh thanks Kathleen!
“Sebelius Extends Non-Discrimination Protection to State Workers:Order Protects Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Employees
TOPEKA, KAN. — Today Gov. Kathleen Sebelius joined a growing numberofleaders across the country in issuing an executive order making itillegalto discriminate against state employees because of their sexualorientationor gender identity, regardless of their job performance.”
This sucks…that is truly bad news…since my information was on both sites!
Well, that does it then.
The Executive Order actually Makes It Happen!
As with any Law or Executive Order, unless it is ENFORCED, it does nothing except make some people FEEL GOOD – fooling them into thinking Government has DONE something.
And Sebelius can take credit for-
Doing Nothing!
Maybe Sebelius can issue an Executive Order banning Crime next.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070831/NEWS01/708310383/-1/nletter02
Michigan, 16 other states to share $109M to enforce belt laws
I could think of better usage of my tax dollar.
There must be at least 1,000 items like that in the Federal Budget Sol.
$105 million time 1,000 ‘little’ cuts would be $105 BILLION dollars.
If Congress ever actually cut $150 BILLION (1st we would all faint) then the Press would give them holy heck for starving the poor.
As for seat belt laws, doesn’t enforcement actually pay for itself? Like speeding tickets?
Take existing cops and have them write 40 (2 per working day) $50 seat belt tickets and you bring in $2,000/month.
Most cops are terribly underpaid making around $25,000/year, right?
Write 60 tickets a month and you pay for the police car too!
Sorry, getting sloppy typing, making errors like the press now.
Y’all can do the math better then me, I’m sure.
PLEASE CONGRESS – PASS THE LINE ITEM VETO! Then Congress can blame the President for every little $105 million cut that is made.
Max, while I’m a champion of the “line item veto”, I believe a constitutional amendment will be needed so such may exist at the federal level. I truly wonder if an amendment of that nature would pass and be ratified, given “earmarks” and all that.
BRAVO, Guv!!
Rep. Arlen Siegfreid, “I can almost guarantee you that will be a topic of legislative discussion.”
All in favor of reinstating discrimination, please tap yer foot under the stall.LOL!!!!
BRAVO, Guv!!
Let’s Strike Up The Band again !!OPERATION WETBACK. Operation Wetback was a repatriation project of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service to remove illegal Mexican immigrants (”wetbacks”) from the Southwest. During the first decades of the twentieth century, the majority of migrant workers who crossed the border illegally did not have adequate protection against exploitation by American farmers. As a result of the Good Neighbor Policy, Mexico and the United States began negotiating an accord to protect the rights of Mexican agricultural workers. Continuing discussions and modifications of the agreement were so successful that the Congress chose to formalize the “temporary” program into the Bracero program,qv authorized by Public Law 78. In the early 1940s, while the program was being viewed as a success in both countries, Mexico excluded Texas from the labor-exchange program on the grounds of widespread violation of contracts, discrimination against migrant workers, and such violations of their civil rights as perfunctory arrests for petty causes. Oblivious to the Mexican charges, some grower organizations in Texas continued to hire illegal Mexican workers and violate such mandates of PL 78 as the requirement to provide workers transportation costs from and to Mexico, fair and lawful wages, housing, and health services. World War IIqv and the postwar period exacerbated the Mexican exodus to the United States, as the demand for cheap agricultural laborers increased. Graft and corruption on both sides of the border enriched many Mexican officials as well as unethical “coyote” freelancers in the United States who promised contracts in Texas for the unsuspecting Bracero. Studies conducted over a period of several years indicate that the Bracero program increased the number of illegal aliens in Texas and the rest of the country. Because of the low wages paid to legal, contracted braceros, many of them skipped out on their contracts either to return home or to work elsewhere for better wages as wetbacks.
Increasing grievances from various Mexican officials in the United States and Mexico prompted the Mexican government to rescind the bracero agreement and cease the export of Mexican workers. The United States Immigration Service, under pressure from various agricultural groups, retaliated against Mexico in 1951 by allowing thousands of illegals to cross the border, arresting them, and turning them over to the Texas Employment Commission,qv which delivered them to work for various grower groups in Texas and elsewhere. Over the long term, this action by the federal government, in violation of immigration laws and the agreement with Mexico, caused new problems for Texas. Between 1944 and 1954, “the decade of the wetback,” the number of illegal aliens coming from Mexico increased by 6,000 percent. It is estimated that in 1954 before Operation Wetback got under way, more than a million workers had crossed the Rio Grande illegally. Cheap labor displaced native agricultural workers, and increased violation of labor laws and discrimination encouraged criminality, disease, and illiteracy. According to a study conducted in 1950 by the President’s Commission on Migratory Labor in Texas, the Rio Grande valleyqv cotton growers were paying approximately half of the wages paid elsewhere in Texas. In 1953 a McAllen newspaper clamored for justice in view of continuing criminal activities by wetbacks.
The resulting Operation Wetback, a national reaction against illegal immigration, began in Texas in mid-July 1954. Headed by the commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization Service, Gen. Joseph May Swing, the United States Border Patrol aided by municipal, county, state, and federal authorities, as well as the military, began a quasimilitary operation of search and seizure of all illegal immigrants. Fanning out from the lower Rio Grande valley, Operation Wetback moved northward. Illegal aliens were repatriated initially through Presidio because the Mexican city across the border, Ojinaga, had rail connections to the interior of Mexico by which workers could be quickly moved on to Durango. A major concern of the operation was to discourage reentry by moving the workers far into the interior. Others were to be sent through El Paso. On July 15, the first day of the operation, 4,800 aliens were apprehended. Thereafter the daily totals dwindled to an average of about 1,100 a day. The forces used by the government were actually relatively small, perhaps no more than 700 men, but were exaggerated by border patrol officials who hoped to scare illegal workers into flight back to Mexico. Valley newspapers also exaggerated the size of the government forces for their own purposes: generally unfavorable editorials attacked the Border Patrol as an invading army seeking to deprive Valley farmers of their inexpensive labor force. While the numbers of deportees remained relatively high, the illegals were transported across the border on trucks and buses. As the pace of the operation slowed, deportation by sea began on the Emancipation, which ferried wetbacks from Port Isabel, Texas, to Veracruz, and on other ships. Ships were a preferred mode of transport because they carried the illegal workers farther away from the border than did buses, trucks, or trains. The boat lift continued until the drowning of seven deportees who jumped ship from the Mercurio provoked a mutiny and led to a public outcry against the practice in Mexico. Other aliens, particularly those apprehended in the Midwest states, were flown to Brownsville and sent into Mexico from there. The operation trailed off in the fall of 1954 as INS funding began to run out.
It is difficult to estimate the number of illegal aliens forced to leave by the operation. The INS claimed as many as 1,300,000, though the number officially apprehended did not come anywhere near this total. The INS estimate rested on the claim that most aliens, fearing apprehension by the government, had voluntarily repatriated themselves before and during the operation. The San Antonio district, which included all of Texas outside of El Paso and the Trans-Pecos,qv had officially apprehended slightly more than 80,000 aliens, and local INS officials claimed that an additional 500,000 to 700,000 had fled to Mexico before the campaign began. Many commentators have considered these figure to be exaggerated. Various groups opposed any form of temporary labor in the United States. The American G.I. Forum,qv for instance, by and large had little or no sympathy for the man who crossed the border illegally. Apparently the Texas State Federation of Laborqv supported the G.I. Forum’s position. Eventually the two organizations coproduced a study entitled What Price Wetbacks?, which concluded that illegal aliens in United States agriculture damaged the health of the American people, that illegals displaced American workers, that they harmed the retailers of McAllen, and that the open-border policy of the American government posed a threat to the security of the United States.
Time For Operation Wetback II
The Center for Immigration Studies recently publicized an Immigration and Naturalization Service report [PDF] that estimated there are over 7 million illegal aliens in the United States as of the year 2000 census. The INS projected that a average of 700,000 illegal aliens entered the country every year from 1990 until 2000. Add in the years 2001 and 2002 at the same rate, and that brings the total of 7 million up to 8.4 million illegal aliens … and counting!
The INS report identified Mexico as the number one illegal alien sending country. California was the number one illegal alien destination. Both win their categories hands down.
The INS estimates that approximately one-third of the seven million illegals are living in California. Overall, approximately 4.8 million are from Mexico – that’s 68 percent — more than two-thirds of the total. Illegal immigration is a nationwide problem, but the statistical evidence of a Mexican reconquista of California is overwhelming.
So why aren’t federal immigration laws being enforced – especially in the Golden State?
And why is there still no systematic method for the public to report illegal aliens?
On VDARE.COM you can find out how to report illegal aliens in both English and Spanish. But in the internet age, the new millennium, the post-9/11 world, or whatever you want to call it, the INS still does not have any way for the public to report illegal aliens through a web site – or even through e-mail!
So much for reinventing government. Or “homeland security.”
The FBI seems to think the internet is a good way for the public to report any suspected criminal activity. Maybe American citizens should start using the web-based FBI form for reporting illegal aliens.
Calling 911 is another excellent option to make a public record of any encounters with illegal aliens.
The soon-to-be abolished INS posts telephone numbers for its field offices as the only way to report “suspected illegal aliens or suspected illegal immigration activity.”
But the new Department of Homeland Security web site does not have any information for how citizens can report illegal aliens. Instead, in its immigration and borders section, it features a link under the U.S. Border Patrol explaining – get this – “how do I report a missing person suspected of falling victim to dangers along the border?”
No telephone numbers for reporting illegal aliens in your backyard though.
So what to do about the 7 million, now 8.4 million illegal aliens? FrontPageMagazine columnist Steve Brown recently called for a new drive to deport aliens through workplace immigration enforcement on a scale of the Eisenhower administration’s Operation Wetback in 1954.
The trouble is that immigration law and the deportation system isn’t what it used to be. Just visit my DeportAliens.com for the whole story.
In the good old days under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, with a deportation system relying on Special Inquiry Officers for hearings, the federal government was able actually to deport, voluntarily return or scare off possibly over 1 million illegal aliens from Mexico over about a year during Operation Wetback. In Texas, the federal government deported illegal aliens on trucks, busses and even by ship from South Texas to the port of Veracruz, Mexico, in 1954.
But law enforcement under the 1952 Immigration Act has given way to illegal alien “rights.” What was once a streamlined deportation system is now a federal litigation bureaucracy called the Executive Office for Immigration Review – the EOIR – spawned in 1983.
Instead of men with guns detaining and deporting people who have no legal right to be in the country, the EOIR of the new millennium offers a revolving door for detention, a deportation abyss and permanent amnesty for illegal aliens and criminal alien residents. The EOIR is not set up to actually deport illegal aliens, as I have been pointing out since 9/11.
So if the deportation system has been sabotaged with bureaucracy over the years, and there are 8.4 million illegal aliens running around, what is to keep things from getting worse?
Peter Brimelow already answered the question ten years ago in a postscript to his National Review article, “Time to Rethink Immigration?” — by quoting a Washington Post article from May 6, 1992.
“At a Cabinet meeting today, Attorney General William P. Barr said nearly one-third of the first 6,000 [Los Angeles] riot suspects arrested and processed through the court system were illegal aliens, according to a senior Administration official. Barr has not proposed any special effort to have them deported, a Justice Department spokesman said.”
The answer: there’s nothing to keep things from getting worse – much worse.
It’s time for a second Operation Wetback. The first step: reform deportation procedures. And that requires getting the idea through the thick skulls of the American elite.
Leading a large delegation of Texas executives trying to drum up business in Mexico, Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday pushed for amnesty for illegal aliens, while standing on Mexican soil, sealing the fate of his political career, a sad end for a once-promising Republican governor.
Men are involved in 95% of all abortion decisions, and they are profoundly impacted by their participation in the killing of their child, often suffering shame, guilt, grief, emotional trauma, and depression, and requiring counseling.Abortionist quack George Tiller has afflicted more victims than you think.
Max, while I’m a champion of the “line item veto”, I believe a constitutional amendment will be needed so such may exist at the federal level. I truly wonder if an amendment of that nature would pass and be ratified, given “earmarks” and all that.
Posted by: Vaughn Tolle | August 31, 2007 at 03:33 PM
It would be a tough sell Vaughn for sure.
Doesn’t mean the American Public isn’t tough enough to push it thru.
If 10 million+ of us bombard Congressmen with calls and letters, letters to the Editors, Blogs, calls to talk radio, oh and with an absence of campaign contributions to boot.
If the Congressmen don’t want to be labeled as Porkers, if the don’t want to lose re-election, The People could get their attention.
Alas, time for a 3 day weekend – and a cold beer!
Max, have a cold one for me, too.
The issue is that one man’s pork is another man’s well deserved federal benefit program. Plus, once the congress is convinced to act, 38 state legislatures must be also convinced to ratify. Yes, “We the People” might be able to muster sufficient political power to accomplish this, but I’ll not hold my breath.
BTW, I’m aware of the potential for a constitutional convention, but I don’t see that happening, either.
VT – nope, no LIBOR.
ksgrm – so true. I STILL see those idiotic ads on the net all the time.
“BTW, I’m aware of the potential for a constitutional convention, but I don’t see that happening, either.”
VT, I doubt if that’s going to happen. Doesn’t a constitutional convention open the door to a lot of other changes? I think I recall reading that once a thing like that starts, other issues can be addressed, also.
XXX, that’s the question, namely does a constitutional convention duly called and assembled have any restriction on what may be considered/acted upon by the same. The plain language of Article V, U.S. Constitution, states in pertinent part: “.., shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments…” contains no limitations on the proposing of Amendments. So, long way to respond “yes” to your question.
Everyone have a safe three-day weekend.
‘Agreement Reached on Greenhouse Gas Curb’http://www.physorg.com/news107790441.html“Negotiators from 158 countries reached basic agreement Friday on rough targets aimed at getting some of the world’s biggest polluters to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
A weeklong U.N. climate conference concluded that industrialized countries should strive to cut emissions by 25 percent to 40 percent of their 1990 levels by 2020. Experts said that target would serve as a loose guide for a major international climate summit to be held in December in Bali, Indonesia.”
‘United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’http://unfccc.int/2860.php
Have a good holiday all:
Here is the Washington Post’s Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter – and supply a new definition.
The winners are:
1. Cashtration (n.):The act of buying (or building) a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus :A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.
3 Intaxication :Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize that it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation:Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone (n.):The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy :Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
7. Giraffiti:Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
8. Sarchasm :The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.
9. Inoculatte:To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10. Hipatitis :Terminal coolness.
11. Osteopornosis:A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
12. Karmageddon :It’s when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes and it’s a serious bummer.
13. Decafalon (n.):The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
14. Glibido :All talk and no action.
15. Dopeler effect:The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.):The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.
17. Beelzebug (n.):Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
18. Caterpallor (n.):The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you’re eating.
The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.
And the winners are:
1. Coffee, n.The person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted , adj.Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.
3. Abdicate, v.To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade , v.To attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-Nilly, adj.Impotent.
6. Negligent , adj.Absentmindedly answering the door whenwearing only a nightgown.
7. Lymph, v.To walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle , n.Olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence , n.Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash , n.A rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle, n.A humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude , n.The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon, n.A Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster , n.A person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism, n.The belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent , n.An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.
Gee Jerald — I sure hope there are some keyboard pills to help you with those lonnnnnng posts!! LOL
We don’t need a mortgage bailout. What we need are LAWS and REGULATIONS that prevent us from getting into this mess again. Laws should passed that reform the mortgage industry and regulate it heavily. For example:
1. Outlaw ALL prepayment penalties and fees. Most legit mortgages do not have these anyway. But the predatory mortgages have heavy prepayment penalties- some of $10,000 or more which keeps people who have cleaned up their credit and built equity from refinancing into a better deal.2. REQUIRE credit worthiness of all borrowers. That includes at least a 10% cash down payment and no late payments of collections for the past 12 months. No repos, bankruptcy or forclosure for the past 36 months.3. Outlaw all “smoke and mirror” mortgage loans such as interest only loans. Limit loans to no more than 30 years and no less than 10 years. Outlaw traps like “ballon payments” on short term loans.
If the government would do these things, we would not have these problems anymore. Yes some folks might have to wait and clean up their credit to buy a house but it is better for them to get a decent loan that they will be able to pay back and not lose the house.
Anybody with a brain knows they are getting an ARM when they sign up. ARMs are only good if you are planning to refi, pay off or sell before the term of the initial rate is up (often 5 years). The problem is that the PREDATORS often stick things in the loan contract that are harder to spot. Things like “if you wish to pay off the loan early, it will cost you an extra $10,000″. These effectively prevent even those with good credit from a refi or even selling.
“If the people and property could have qualified through FHA, they would have an FHA mortgage now. I spent 4 yrs in the mortgage game, and know what I am talking about. FHA mortgages also require a credit score of +620.”
My orginal mortgage was an FHA. While I think that FHA is a good thing, I also think they are too liberal on qualifications. 620 is not a great FICO score. They should require at least the median score- which I think is around 680. And 3% is not enough. At least 5% to 10% down. Even before all this, I often see FHA homes sitting around abandoned because they were forclosed on. And that drags the neighbourhood down.
People :We need to enforce the borders, not only from Mexican’s but terrorists !!!ALAMO, Texas (AP) – Federal agents acting on a tip found 58 illegal immigrants of various nationalities crowded in a single-story residence in the South Texas town of Alamo. That’s what U.S. Customs and Border Protection said yesterday.
Agents on Thursday found 15 women and 43 men, of which there were 33 Mexicans, 19 Brazilian, three Hondurans, two Salvadorans and one Peruvian.
The illegal immigrants were taken to the agency’s Weslaco station pending formal removal back to their home countries____________________________________COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. — The U.S.-Mexican border here is the most heavily used corridor for illegal alien traffic on America’s southern boundary. With its difficult topography that is folded, creased and convoluted, it is a land that yields well to smuggling. The Huachuca, Chiricahua, Dragoon and Whetstone Mountains are riddled with hundreds of deep canyons, caves and arroyos that offer superb concealment for the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens that annually cross here.
The numbers of unauthorized immigrants smuggled across this porous border dumbfound the imagination. To date, the U.S. Border Patrol has apprehended 158,782 illegals in 2001. By the Border Patrol’s own admission, it catches one alien in five, and admits that around 800,000 have slipped across the U.S. line this year. The local ranchers, who have been watching the border for several generations, strongly disagree. They contend the agency only nets one in 10, and estimate that in 2001 over 1.5 million unlawful immigrants have crossed into America in what the Border Patrol calls the Tucson Sector.
Many border ranch-owners are validly apprehensive of speaking about their desperate situations because of likely retribution by narco-militarists (drug runners) and coyotes (smugglers of humans). Unsolved murders and arsons are alarmingly ordinary in Cochise County, so pure fear keeps locals from speaking on the record.
Line of illegals moving across a ranch on the Cochise County, Ariz.-Mexican border. Photo by Donald Barnett, Bisbee, Ariz.
The foot traffic is so heavy that the backcountry has the ambience of a garbage dump and smells like an outdoor privy. In places, the land is littered a foot deep with bottles, cans, soiled disposable diapers, sanitary napkins, panties, clothes, backpacks, human feces, used toilet paper, pharmacy bottles and syringes (the drug runners inject stimulants to keep their energy up).
U.S. Border Patrol agents are doing the best they can, considering their sparse numbers and the impossible terrain they patrol in four-wheel-drive vehicles, quad-runners and on foot. Agents of the Border Patrol have their other fears besides being ambushed by rock-chucking illegals and confrontations with assault-rifle-armed narcos: They are not allowed to speak about what they cope with each day.
As one agent who spoke anonymously said, “Look, I can tell you a lot of stories, but I have to remain unnamed or I will be blackballed and might lose my job.” Then, worriedly, he added, “I have a family depending on me.”
Another agent, of supervisory rank, stated, “The smuggling traffic of Mexicans has really slowed. We are experiencing a tremendous increase in OTMs” – border lingo for “other than Mexicans.” When queried about the ethnic make up of the OTMs, he answered, “Central and South Americans, Orientals and Middle-Easterners.” Middle-Easterners? “Yeah, it varies, but about one in every 10 that we catch, is from a country like Yemen or Egypt.”
Border Patrol spokesperson Rene Noriega stated that the number of other-than-Mexican detentions has grown by 42 percent. Most of the non-Mexican migrants are from El Salvador and other parts of Central America, she said, but added that agents have picked up people from all over the world, including the former Soviet Union, Asia and the Middle East.
Pick-up truck load of mixed-nationality illegals destined for Tucson or Phoenix, Ariz. Once in those cities, an organized pipeline disburses them across America. The “trucking” is generally handled by street gangs. Photo by Donald Barnett, Bisbee, Ariz.
Arabs have been reported crossing the Arizona border for an unknown period. Border rancher George Morgan encounters thousands of illegals crossing his ranch on a well-used trail. He relates a holiday event: “It was Thanksgiving 1998, and I stepped outside my house and there were over a hundred ‘crossers’ in my yard. Damnedest bunch of illegals I ever saw. All of them were wearing black pants, white shirts and string ties. Maybe they were hoping to blend in,” he chuckled. “They took off, I called the Border Patrol, and a while later, an agent, Dan Green, let me know that they had caught them. He said that they were all Iranians.”
According to Border Patrol spokesperson Rob Daniels, “Ten Egyptians were arrested recently near Douglas, Arizona. Each had paid $7,000 to be brought from Guatemala into Mexico and then across the border.”
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, hours after the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, an anonymous caller led Mexican immigration agents to 41 undocumented Iraqis waiting to cross into the United States.
The Associated Press reported that Mexican immigration police detained 13 citizens of Yemen on Sept. 24, 2001, who were reportedly waiting to cross the border into Arizona. The Yemenis were arrested Sunday in Agua Prieta, across the border from Douglas. Luis Teran Balaguer, assistant head of immigration in the northern state of Sonora, said, “The evidence indicates that they have nothing to do with terrorist activities.”
Group of unauthorized immigrants take a rest break on a trail that winds across the Barnett ranch near Douglas, Ariz. Amateur photographer Donald Barnett alerted the Border Patrol and was there for the bust. He noted, “There were people in this batch from Brazil, Salvador, Costa Rica and some Arab countries.”
The Agua Prieta, Mexico newspaper, El Ciarin, clearly did not agree with Balaguer’s assessment. The editor, Jose Noriega Durazo, claimed in a front-page El Ciarin headline, “ESTUVIERON AQUI TERRORISTAS ARABES!” (The Arab terrorists were here!) El Ciarin quoted Agua Prieta police officials as identifying the 13 Yemenis as terrorists. Reportedly, the Mexican immigration police returned the Yemenis to a federal detention center near Mexico City, but new information would indicate that they were “released” and returned to Agua Prieta.
Carlos X. Carrillo, assistant chief U. S. Border Patrol, Tucson Sector, told WorldNetDaily in a telephone interview Monday that nine Yemenis were reportedly holed up in a hotel in the border town of Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico, across the border from Douglas, Ariz.
“We have passed this tip to the FBI,” said Carrillo.
When pressed for more information, he said he could not confirm the number of OTMs or Middle-Easterners apprehended while crossing the American/Mexican border. “We are under OP/SEC and cannot divulge this,” the chief said. (OP/SEC is a counter-intelligence acronym for operations security.)
A Border Patrol field patrol agent, who spoke anonymously, confirmed the presence of the nine Yemenis. The agent said, “They can’t get a coyote to transport them and they are offering $30,000 per person with no takers.”
On Oct. 12, a Mexican national, associated with the hotel in Agua Prieta, abandoned it and moved to Arizona — to hide out. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he told WND: “There were 13 Arabs there when I left. They were paying the coyotes 30 to 50,000 bucks, apiece, to transport them safely into the U.S. I became so frightened I left. They are genuinely bad hombres.” Since Carrillo had reported only nine Arabs at the hotel, it is unclear if the missing five Yemenis made it into the U.S. as reported.
Like most ranching families on the Arizona-Mexico border, the Winklers live behind protective bars. “We are having steel gates like this made for all our doors.” says Doris Winkler as she peers through an armored entrance. “We never know what kinda people will try to bust in our home.” Photo provided by the Paragon Foundation.
Potential terrorists, stealing across the border, had been predicted well in advance of the World Trade Center disaster. In a May 1, 2000, Report to Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, the General Accounting Office reported, “Alien smuggling is a significant and growing problem. Some are smuggled as part of a criminal or terrorist enterprise that can pose a serious threat to U.S. national security.”
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., in an Oct. 9 speech to the House of Representatives, stated, “It’s almost incredible to recognize, as part of the overall strategy this government is going to employ to deal with the issue of terrorism, that we would not concentrate heavily on securing our borders and try to do everything humanly possible to stop people, who have evil intent, from coming into the United States.”
Terrorists are well aware that the 4,000-mile border between the U.S. and Mexico is easy to cross, with its vast unmonitored stretches. Their crossing directly into Arizona is of special concern. Arizona appears to have been the home of a “sleeper cell” of Osama bin Laden’s worldwide terrorist organization, with a select group of operatives living quietly in bland apartment complexes and obtaining flight training, in preparation for the Sept. 11 attack. The organization’s known history in the state goes back nine years. Terror experts say the activities of at least three part-time Arizona residents fit the pattern of the al-Qaida terrorist network.
Sealing the border is a daunting task. Perhaps the most valuable asset that the Border Patrol has is the aid of rural Cochise County citizens. Many have attempted to help, in accordance with Arizona law. Through that legal process, landowners may execute a citizen’s arrest for individuals or groups trespassing on their property. However, even that has been nullified. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, backed by the American and Mexican media, have characterized citizens who have legally detained aliens as “racist xenophobic vigilantes.”
Not a cattle or game trail, but a well-defined human path across the IGO ranch. Photo provided by the Paragon Foundation.
Rural citizens here have met with savage recriminations for exerting their legal rights. Immigration advocacy groups howl in protest, as does the Mexican government. Their lawyers have demanded that the ranchers be prosecuted for false arrest, kidnapping, intimidation, criminal assault and violation of civil rights – anything lawyers can come up with to advance their clients’ interests. Illegal immigrants have now sued some Cochise County citizens in American courts.
Ben Anderson, a retired U.S. Army colonel who lives in Sierra Vista, Ariz., has made a detailed study of the border danger since the flood of illegals began through Cochise County in 1997.
“There is only one way to handle this,” the colonel says firmly. “In a world now filled with biowarfare agents, backpack nuclear devices and chemical weapons like Sarin gas, we must militarize the border. There is no other way to stop the flow.”
Reporter’s personal note: “I do not see how the folks living along this border keep going. I am a former U.S. Marine sergeant, and yet the presence of so much apparent violence spooked me. In researching this story, I went backcountry on quad-runners with a goodly couple, Larry and Toni Vance. The first thing they asked me was if I brought a sidearm. When I said, ‘no,’ they promptly gave me a wheel-gun to strap on. To tell you the truth, that lump of metal was comforting. It’s not wise to travel unarmed in a war zone.”
I would like to announce a site to, initially, allow technical discussion of the ‘oops that the 787 must pass (or even has passed) as the time line moves toward delivery.
http://7-oops-7.blogspot.com/
The overarching framework is Truth Engineering.
http://truthengineering.blogspot.com/
There is no intent to limit the discussion to one product, vendor or even just to aviation.
The problem with illegals is not going to be won or lost at the border. You can plug holes on that border all you want and they will still find a way to get in. And there are people that sneak in here from Canada too although most of them are not Canadians but people from third countries such as China and Poland. The way to solve this problem is to go after the people that hire them and to make local law enforcement cooperate in deporting them when they are caught here. But we should only do these things in concert with an amnesty for those already here.
Georgia has had some sucess with the illegal problem this year by not allowing them to buy car tags here. Until this year, an illegal alien could not obtain a Georgia Drivers License but could register a vehicle and get a Georgia tag with a license issued elsewhere. It is well know fact here in the south that most illegal immigrants go to North Carolina and get a drivers license because that state has a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and they will give licenses to anybody without proof of legal presence or even being a resident of that state. Then they would use the NC license to register cars here and get tags. Not anymore though.
OK people here you go !Illegal immigration has finally been noticed by the media and even by some politicians. After fifty years of neglect and incompetent management, we can finally all agree that illegal immigration is a problem that must be dealt with right now. The problem is so urgent even the illegal aliens consider it a problem.
While considerable blame is being tossed about, and rhetoric parsed, the “solutions” being offered for consideration are flawed and unworkable. Any country’s immigration laws should meet a basic criteria whereby the guest country and it’s people benefit from immigration. Our country is no exception.
Most importantly, any solution to illegal immigration shouldn’t compromise the Constitution or the rule of law.
Any legislation must uphold the rule of law. That is to say everyone must be treated equally by the legislation and no one should be above the law. This means that under no circumstances, any person or business that has broken our laws, should be excused for doing so.
The legislation must meet Constitutional standards. Legislation must not allow for a new class of residents with partial Constitutional rights. Either you are a citizen or not. We cannot have a sub class of residents such as guest workers with partial rights.
All of the so called immigration solutions to date do not meet this simple criteria. Irrespective of the fact that we pay people handsome sums of money to run this country and provide sensible policies for dealing with our challenges, I a mere citizen, will offer a solution that contains the necessary ingredients.
Ten Point Plan to End Illegal Immigration
The border must be controlled with a wall and/or very intense (military) enforcement there. I prefer a wall. The San Diego wall proves that it works. The flow of illegal entrants must be stopped at the border for the sake of eliminating illegal immigration and strengthening national security.Severe work place enforcement must begin immediately. Employers are to be fined in amounts that exceed the normal costs of doing business. They must also face prison time in addition to monetary fines. The costs of hiring illegal workers must exceed the benefits for hiring illegal workers. The resulting perp walks must be widely publicized and these traitorous businesses must be viewed for what they are.Any hope of Amnesty must be eliminated. Amnesty is as strong a magnet for illegal aliens as are jobs and free social services. There cannot be any amnesty for the 30 million illegal aliens already here. Amnesty would put this group of people above our laws. To maintain the rule of law, the principle upon which this country was built, these millions of aliens must face the consequences of their illegal actions.
There also cannot be a guest worker program that allows for a path to citizenship. People are to immigrate to this country because they want to be a part of it not because they want to work here. We are a nation not a factory and it’s time we run the country this way.All social benefits awarded to illegal aliens must be completely eliminated. No free health care (except life and death situations), no free education, no welfare, no social benefits of any kind.
I suggest a phase in period of a year for the elimination of these benefits. That will do a couple of things. First it will ameliorate the suddenness of this enforcement technique, allowing aliens a full year to get their affairs in order before leaving. Second it will make the exodus more orderly by allowing illegal alien, school children to finish up instead of abruptly being taken out of school. Thirdly, it shields this action from the accusation of being overly harsh.The anchor baby law needs to either be interpreted properly or changed not to allow anchor babies. The anchor baby phenomenon isn’t due to a flawed Constitutional Amendment, rather it’s due to erroneous interpretation by inept and agenda pushing justices. Either way, whether it be proper interpretation or new legislation, there must be an end to anchor baby status. If need be, a special Supreme Court session should be called for the sole purpose of clarifying the true meaning of the 14th Amendment.Chain migration must be eliminated. Chain migration is a phenomenon due to families being allowed to bring in other family members from foreign countries. If we are to maintain chain migration, it should be limited to immediate family members only, instead of cousins of cousins etc. Chain migration is the equivalent of a never ending stream of immigrants.A law must be passed that says “if you are caught in this country illegally, you will never be eligible for legal immigration or a guest worker program. This will provide an incentive for illegal aliens to leave before getting caught here illegally.Spot raids and work place raids must continue and be stepped up. This sends the message that our laws are being enforced. It’s like the speed trap on the highway that keeps everyone driving at the speed limit. You slow down when you know you can get caught. The same principle holds true with illegal immigration.Aiding and abetting laws need to be toughened and also enforced to the maximum extent. This includes sanctuary city policies that coddle the lawless. Any city that has sanctuary policies will forfeit all federal funding until and unless the city complies with all immigration laws.
Any business that aids and abets illegal aliens must be fully prosecuted, heavily fined and incarcerated where appropriate. This would put an end to programs like Bank of America’s credit cards for illegal aliens program that makes it easier for illegal aliens to be here and remain under the radar.There must be a Federal, State and Local government proclamation putting illegal aliens and their supporters on notice. The proclamation will clearly state that from a certain date forward, these entities consider illegal immigration a grave problem that will be met with total enforcement of our laws. In essence, the proclamation will make formal, a policy that no longer tolerates illegal immigration. Amazingly in today’s environment, this is absent.Having all of these things in place at the same time will allow attrition to work to it’s full potential. It addresses the here and now by stopping the flow at the border and through immediate work place enforcement and spot raids. It gives the exodus order in that those not caught at the workplace, will be given up to a year to leave, before ALL social benefits run out and before eligibility of future naturalization is forfeited.
Additionally, the magnets for illegal aliens will have been eliminated. There is no reason for illegal aliens to want to come or stay here. There will be no jobs, no hope for amnesty, no anchor babies, no social benefits.
Most importantly, this ten point approach doesn’t compromise the rule of law and our Constitution.
Adding the elimination of social benefits to strict enforcement is sure to work. Eisenhower showed us in the fifties that enforcement itself works. The added element of “no magnets” will only fortify that technique.
For the most part, it is the illegal alien advocacy that touts massive round ups and deportations. Knowing how unpleasant it could be to witness that. With attrition, there is a lesser degree of the unpleasantness. With attrition, the illegal aliens will leave the same way they came, under their own volition and their own expense.
Yes we can deport 12 million people. Eisenhower through Operation Wetback, deported about a million back in the fifties. Actually, less than 100,000 were arrested and deported. The other 900,000 seeing the crackdown and laws being enforced, deported themselves. This proves that enforcement works. It proves enforcement aids attrition.
A side note to Ike’s handling of the immigration issue in the fifties is he actually implemented a Guest Worker Program strictly for agriculture. It worked too. Agriculture migrants were allowed to work and did leave at the end of a 54 week period. You can do these things if you have the spine to enforce laws and have a workable system. Today we don’t have these things.
So there you have it, a sensible ten point plan to eliminate illegal immigration. One that upholds the very foundations of our nation, the rule of law and the Constitution. Let the debate begin.
NOW GET IT DONE POLITICIANS WE DEMAND IT !!
Lots of Blog diarhhea going around… must be the long weekend…
Idiot =In medicine and psychology, an idiot is a person with a very severe mental retardation or a very low IQ level. Idiots were defined as people whose IQ were below 20 (with a standard deviation of 16). In the current classification, these people are now said to have profound mental retardation
An alert for everyone. I had a charge for $139. show up on my Discover this month. It happened on a day we were on vacation and I couldn’t remember buying anything for that amount.
When I called to question the purchase they immediately told me they would remove the charge. I finally got her to tell me it was for a subscription to BuyersAdvantage. Something I had never heard of before.
Everyone should always be alert to each item on their bill. Because we pay it off monthly I keep track of everything that goes on it.
Posted by: ksgrm | August 31, 2007 at 01:00 PM
Yeah, grm, had a similar problem. My Chronoco-Phill-Ups 666 (by Sh*tibank) had to be canceled because I got enrolled in a Balance Protector even though they couldn’t prove we had ever even authorized the “intro packet.” A year after we canceled the card we got a letter saying that they were happy we were interested in enrolling in Balance Protector, but our account was closed so we couldn’t. Fraud. I closed my other Citi card and walked away. Credit cards are a one-way ticket to debt and victimhood.
Weird ksgrm, I just got my statement today and found $140.00 charge i don’t remember making.
I’ll have to check into it.
Sounds like some credit cards information data bases have been compromised… Maybe you all should request new cards, and new numbers??
Well, Happy Labor Day Weekend everybody!! Hope you all have a great holiday!!
Community Groups Storm and Take Over New Orleans HUD OfficeSource: Press release (nothing on the news yet)
Several community organizations, including Power U Center and the Miami Worker’s Center from Miami, took over the US HUD administrative office in New Orleans today, Friday August 31, 2007 at around 12:30pm. The groups are in New Orleans to commemorate the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
The groups and residents are demanding that HUD open St Bernard’s Parish housing project, which serves low-income Black residents. Two years after the area was evacuated in the post-Katrina floods,the housing project remains empty. Residents and groups have been prevented from rehabilitating and filling the vacant units, and the federal government has refused to do so.
US military vehicles, including armed Hummers, have surrounded the 25 people encamped inside, who refused to leave the building unless HUD officials acquiesce to community demands.The community effort to open St. Bernard’s Parish is symbolic effort of the dislocated Black community of New Orleans to return to home. Residents such as former public housing residents have been met ignored, criminalized and otherwise excluded from the rebuilding of New Orleans—–
Capn,Thanks for the message.
Let me give you immigration buddies a clue. Use smaller posts…it increases the likelihood someone will actually READ them.
Tony,Idiot= someone who, upon finding that a clawhammer is ineffective for repairing watches, insists he needs a bigger hammer. This is not a function of IQ; idiots can be found who have Ph.D.’s and are members of Mensa. They somehow rise to positions of power in governments and corporations. Idiocy is often inherited and is usually incurable.
Um Newman…er, glob oleo.
Where are all these victims?
“Balance Protector even though they couldn’t prove we had ever even authorized the ‘intro packet’.”
Always question authority. It is a good habit.
You mean like this PMom?
1. Illegal Aliens = Illegal Entry2. Deport all Illegal Aliens3. Close all Borders4. Fine heavily and imprison Employers who hire Illegal Aliens5. Take away all federal funds from cities who provide sanctuary to Illegal Aliens
In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his/her level of incompetency… (The Peter Principle) — Lawrence Peter –
Yep, that’ll work Kansas.
I don’t mind a few paragraphs, but if it’s something I have to scroll more than one page for, ain’t interested.
Cant figure out what ol’ Jerald’s problem is…. LOL
I think it’s gonna be a LONG weekend… Hope the ball games are good… Well, nite all!! Time to hit the sack…
Good Nite, Good Luck, and God bless, whatever you conceive God to be!! (+)
“Chas.” –
A god of my understanding doesn’t meet the job requirement.
That’s why I’m a lapsed agnostic; I’m not sure what it is I don’t believe in.
I always like that you sign off that way Chas.
Goodnight.
Are conservative conservative because they are uninformed or misinformed?