Friday, April 30, 2010
Arizona Authorities Find Wounded Deputy in Desert
Another fine example of why we need to secure our borders. These criminals have zero respect for our laws or those who enforce them. Let's hope the deputy is ok and is able to get back to fighting crime as soon as possible.
From NewsCore
A Pinal County sheriff's deputy shot by a suspected illegal immigrant Friday was airlifted to hospital while authorities tried to apprehend a number of suspects who had also started shooting at a police helicopter, according to local media reports.
At about 4:30 p.m., the deputy radioed in to report that he was shot in the abdomen with an AK-47 assault rifle during a traffic stop after pulling over a vehicle containing a group of suspected illegal immigrants on the Interstate 8 west of Casa Grande, Arizona.
The deputy was investigating a shipment of marijuana in the desert and was confronted by five suspects, Lt. Tami Villar told 12 News.
Police believe at least two people were armed with long guns and at least one handgun, AZCentral.com reported.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office dispatched a helicopter and members of its SWAT team to assist, department spokesman Lt. Brian Lee told AZCentral.com
At about 5.45 p.m. there were reports over the police scanner that suspects were shooting at a police helicopter, he said.
The Pinal County Sheriff's Office tactical team were searching for the five suspects. So far, two people have been caught, MyFoxPhoenix.com reported.
The deputy was found in the desert more than an hour after he radioed for help and was airlifted to the Casa Grande Regional Medical Center. He was expected to survive.
Customs and Border Protection agents stationed in Tucson were also on their way to help in the search, and were equipped with night-vision technology in case the manhunt extended into the night.
Traffic in the area is also being impacted.
The shooting comes on the heels of the passage of a controversial Arizona immigration enforcement law.
'Everything Will Be Examined' in Gulf Oil Spill, Officials Say
I wouldn't put it past obama and his gang of thugs to have this rig blown up. The administration and all the tree huggers could then use it as an example of why not to expand our drilling efforts in the gulf and other offshore locations. Historically, off shore drilling rigs are very safe and not prone to accidents like this one. It will be devastating for the affected States.
If the federal government had reacted sooner, this may have been much less of an issue. Still a big issue but not near as damaging as what it will be now.
By Joshua Rhett Miller - FOXNews.com
Federal officials say they plan to investigate every possible cause of last week's massive explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico -- including the possibility of criminal acts or negligence.
In the aftermath of the blast, an uncapped underwater oil well continues to leak an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf every day -- creating a monstrous oil slick that made landfall in Louisiana's wetlands Thursday night and could become the nation's worst environmental disaster in decades.
President Obama said Friday that his administration is doing "everything possible" to respond to the explosion of the BP PLC-operated rig.
A top adviser to Obama -- who last month lifted a drilling moratorium for many offshore areas, including the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico -- said no new drilling will be authorized until the cause of the explosion, which killed 11 people, is determined. Obama also ordered Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to report within 30 days on what new technologies will be needed to prevent future oil spills.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of the Interior are conducting a joint investigation into the explosion. "Investigations are ongoing and everything will be examined," a DOI official told FoxNews.com in an e-mail Friday when asked if any evidence points to acts of criminality or negligence. "It's obviously too early to know."
Salazar has ordered immediate inspections of all 30 deep-water drilling rigs and 47 platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
"This operation is underway and will be targeted inspections ensuring that [blowout preventer] tests have been completed and those records are available for inspection," the e-mail continued. "We are also verifying that emergency well control exercises are taking place. [U.S. Minerals Management Services] inspectors should complete these inspections within seven days. Once drilling rig inspections are complete, we will start immediately on inspecting all deep-water production platforms."
Along with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Salazar was traveling to the Gulf Coast on Friday to inspect ongoing operations and to evaluate the environmental impact of the April 20 explosion.
The officials will conduct an aerial tour of the affected area and meet with federal, state and local officials leading the response effort.
DHS officials declined to comment on the cause of the blast and referred to DOI's statement.
But Elmer Danenberger, who retired in January as the head of offshore regulatory affairs for the U.S. Minerals Management Service, said the investigation into one of the biggest oil spills in U.S. history will center around what happened just before the blast, as workers finished pumping cement between the well pipe and a hole bored into the ocean floor. The process is intended to prevent oil and natural gas from escaping, he said.
"That's what [investigators] said the operation was just prior to the blast," Danenberger said. "Now, how much prior we don't know. Investigators will be all over those issues."
Danenberger said it appears "to be the consensus" among drilling experts that a poor cementing job probably led to the blowout -- when oil and natural gas exit a well with extreme force.
"They're going to be focusing on the root cause, how the oil and gas were able to enter the [well] that should've been secured," he said. "That will be the primary focus, how the influx got in to the [well]."
Cementing operations could benefit from additional inspection standards, Danenberger said, adding that cementing incidents remain too common.
According to a 2007 study by three U.S. Minerals Management Service officials, cementing was a factor in 18 of 39 well blowouts in the Gulf during a 14-year period, making it the single largest factor, the Wall Street Journal reported. Equipment failure and pipe failure were the next leading factors.
"There has been a history of gas influxes during cementing operations, so that is an area of concern, but nothing is confirmed," Danenberger said. "But perhaps additional standards are necessary for cementing operations."
Meanwhile, critics of British Petroleum say that cost-cutting measures by the London-based oil giant helped to contribute to the rig explosion.
Tom Bower, author of the 2009 book "The Squeeze, Oil, Money and Greed in the 21st Century," told Fox News that British Petroleum's economizing led to a lack of engineers, an overdependence on outsourcing and a lack of supervisors to keep an eye on subcontractors.
Transocean Ltd., which operated the rig on lease from BP, has said Halliburton Co. had finished cementing the 18,000-foot well shortly before the explosion. BP has said while it assumes responsibility for the incident, the company is still waiting for an investigation to show Transocean's role in the matter.
In a statement released late Thursday, BP Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward said the company was increasing cleaning efforts along the shorelines of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. In addition to 180,000 feet of boom already in the coastal waters, an additional 300,000 feet is staged or in the process of being deployed.
"We are doing absolutely everything in our power to eliminate the source of the leak and contain the environmental impact of the spill," Heyward's statement read. "We are determined to fight this spill on all fronts, in the deep waters of the Gulf, in the shallow waters and, should it be necessary, on the shore."
In a statement released Friday, Halliburton confirmed it performed a variety of services on the rig and had four employees stationed there at the time of the accident.
"Halliburton had completed the cementing of the final production casing string in accordance with the well design approximately 20 hours prior to the incident," the statement read. "The cement slurry design was consistent with that utilized in other similar applications."
Halliburton said tests demonstrating the integrity of the production casing string were completed in accordance with accepted industry practices. At the time of the incident, its statement read, well operations had not yet reached the point requiring the placement of the final cement plug that would enable the planned temporary abandonment of the well, consistent with normal oilfield practice.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
U.N. Elects Iran to Commission on Women's Rights
Once again the u.n. proves that it is absolutely clueless. Iran has no business being anywhere near this commission. Does the u.n. do any research at all on these elections? Do they not know that women can be stoned to death in Iran? Or that women who the government feels are immodest or immoral can be given lashes? Women's rights? Iran? Just one more reason the u.n. should be kicked out of this country and our membership dissolved.
By Joseph Abrams - FOXNews.com
NEW YORK — Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged "immodest."
Just days after Iran abandoned a high-profile bid for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, it began a covert campaign to claim a seat on the Commission on the Status of Women, which is "dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women," according to its website.
Buried 2,000 words deep in a U.N. press release distributed Wednesday on the filling of "vacancies in subsidiary bodies," was the stark announcement: Iran, along with representatives from 10 other nations, was "elected by acclamation," meaning that no open vote was requested or required by any member states — including the United States.
The U.S. currently holds one of the 45 seats on the body, a position set to expire in 2012. The U.S. Mission to the U.N. did not return requests for comment on whether it actively opposed elevating Iran to the women's commission.
Iran's election comes just a week after one of its senior clerics declared that women who wear revealing clothing are to blame for earthquakes, a statement that created an international uproar — but little affected their bid to become an international arbiter of women's rights.
"Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes," said the respected cleric, Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi.
As word of Iran's intention to join the women's commission came out, a group of Iranian activists circulated a petition to the U.N. asking that member states oppose its election.
"Iran's discriminatory laws demonstrate that the Islamic Republic does not believe in gender equality," reads the letter, signed by 214 activists and endorsed by over a dozen human rights bodies.
The letter draws a dark picture of the status of women in Iran: "women lack the ability to choose their husbands, have no independent right to education after marriage, no right to divorce, no right to child custody, have no protection from violent treatment in public spaces, are restricted by quotas for women's admission at universities, and are arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for peacefully seeking change of such laws."
The Commission on the Status of Women is supposed to conduct review of nations that violate women's rights, issue reports detailing their failings, and monitor their success in improving women's equality.
Yet critics of Iran's human rights record say the country has taken "every conceivable step" to deter women's equality.
"In the past year, it has arrested and jailed mothers of peaceful civil rights protesters," wrote three prominent democracy and human rights activists in an op-ed published online Tuesday by Foreign Policy Magazine.
"It has charged women who were seeking equality in the social sphere — as wives, daughters and mothers — with threatening national security, subjecting many to hours of harrowing interrogation. Its prison guards have beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted and raped female and male civil rights protesters."
Iran's elevation to the commission comes as a black eye just days after the U.S. helped lead a successful effort to keep Iran off the Human Rights Council, which is already dominated by nations that are judged by human rights advocates as chronic violators of essential freedoms. The current membership of the women's commission is little different.
Though it touts itself as "the principal global policy-making body" on women's rights, the makeup of the commission is mostly determined by geography and its membership is a hodge-podge of some human rights advocates (including the U.S., Japan, and Germany) and other nations with stark histories of rights violations.
The number of seats on the commission is based on the number of countries in a region, no matter how small their populations or how scant their respect for rights. The commission is currently made up of 13 members from Africa, 11 from Asia, nine from Latin America and the Caribbean, eight from Western Europe and North America, and four from Eastern Europe.
During this round of "elections," which were not competitive and in which no real votes were cast, two seats opened up for the Asian bloc for the 2011-2015 period. Only two nations put forward candidates to fill empty spots — Iran and Thailand. As at most such commissions in the U.N., backroom deals determined who would gain new seats at the women's rights body.
The activists' letter sent to the U.N. Tuesday argued that it would be better if the Asian countries proffered only one candidate, instead of elevating Iran to the commission.
"We, a group of gender-equality activists, believe that for the sake of women's rights globally, an empty seat for the Asia group on (the commission) is much preferable to Iran's membership. We are writing to alert you to the highly negative ramifications of Iran’s membership in this international body."
A spokeswoman for the U.N.'s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which oversees the commission, did not return phone calls or e-mails seeking comment.
When its term begins in 2011, Iran will be joined by 10 other countries: Belgium, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Estonia, Georgia, Jamaica, Iran, Liberia, the Netherlands, Spain, Thailand and Zimbabwe.
Judge asks feds to show militia did more than talk
It sure seems like there is a lot less to this story now than the officials were claiming in the beginning. According to the news reports shortly after the arrest, these guys had a hard plan to kill cops. Now it sounds as if it may have been more of a conversation than a plan. One of the defense attorneys has a good point, millions of us a disgusted with what obama and his gang of thugs are doing to our country. Millions of us think we need to take our country back. Are we all going to wind up locked up on some bogus charges for feeling betrayed by our government?
From MyWayNews
DETROIT (AP) - A federal judge challenged prosecutors Wednesday to show that nine members of a Michigan militia accused of plotting war against the government had done more than just talk and should remain locked up.
U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts heard nearly 10 hours of testimony and arguments over two days. She did not make a decision about whether the nine will remain in custody, saying only that a ruling would come soon.
The members of a southern Michigan group called Hutaree have been in custody for a month. An indictment accuses them of weapons violations and a rare crime: conspiring to commit sedition, or rebellion, against the government by first killing police officers.
Prosecutors say the public would be at risk if the nine are released. But defense lawyers claim the government has overreached with a criminal case based mostly on hateful speech.
An undercover agent infiltrated the group and secretly made recordings that have been played in court. While there is talk about killing police, it's not specific. In one conversation, there are many people talking over each other and laughing.
Roberts pressed that point more than once as Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Waterstreet argued in favor of keeping the nine in jail. The judge suggested she didn't hear or read in the transcripts any indication that violence was imminent.
"Mere presence where a crime may be planned is not a crime. ... How does this add up to seditious conspiracy?" Roberts said.
Waterstreet said the government is not required to show all its evidence at this early stage of the case. He referred to the words of militia leader David Stone, 44, of Clayton, Mich., who was recorded by the undercover agent while they drove to Kentucky earlier this year.
"It's now time to strike and take our nation back so that we may be free again from tyranny. Time is up," Waterstreet said, quoting a transcript.
Later, putting the transcript aside, the prosecutor said: "The theme is the brotherhood is the enemy - all law enforcement."
Defense lawyers urged the judge to look at each defendant individually. Although all are charged with conspiracy, they were not always together during critical meetings cited by the government.
"'What if' is not the standard. ... None of these words are an instruction to anyone to commit a crime," said Stone's attorney, William Swor, as held up a stack of transcripts.
Arthur Weiss, a lawyer for Thomas Piatek, 46, of Whiting, Ind., said disgust with the government as recorded by the undercover agent is similar to what's said daily by radio and TV talk-show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.
"Millions of people" are talking about "taking our country back," Weiss said.
The judge also heard from relatives of some of the defendants who pledged to be responsible for them if they were released from jail.
Police state: How Mexico treats illegal aliens
Michelle Malkin has a good column on Mexico's immigration laws.
By Michelle Malkin
By Michelle Malkin
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has accused Arizona of opening the door “to intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law enforcement.” But Arizona has nothing on Mexico when it comes to cracking down on illegal aliens. While open-borders activists decry new enforcement measures signed into law in “Nazi-zona” last week, they remain deaf, dumb or willfully blind to the unapologetically restrictionist policies of our neighbors to the south.
The Arizona law bans sanctuary cities that refuse to enforce immigration laws, stiffens penalties against illegal alien day laborers and their employers, makes it a misdemeanor for immigrants to fail to complete and carry an alien registration document, and allows the police to arrest immigrants unable to show documents proving they are in the U.S. legally. If those rules constitute the racist, fascist, xenophobic, inhumane regime that the National Council of La Raza, Al Sharpton, Catholic bishops and their grievance-mongering followers claim, then what about these regulations and restrictions imposed on foreigners?
– The Mexican government will bar foreigners if they upset “the equilibrium of the national demographics.” How’s that for racial and ethnic profiling?
– If outsiders do not enhance the country’s “economic or national interests” or are “not found to be physically or mentally healthy,” they are not welcome. Neither are those who show “contempt against national sovereignty or security.” They must not be economic burdens on society and must have clean criminal histories. Those seeking to obtain Mexican citizenship must show a birth certificate, provide a bank statement proving economic independence, pass an exam and prove they can provide their own health care.
– Illegal entry into the country is equivalent to a felony punishable by two years’ imprisonment. Document fraud is subject to fine and imprisonment; so is alien marriage fraud. Evading deportation is a serious crime; illegal re-entry after deportation is punishable by ten years’ imprisonment. Foreigners may be kicked out of the country without due process and the endless bites at the litigation apple that illegal aliens are afforded in our country (see, for example, President Obama’s illegal alien aunt — a fugitive from deportation for eight years who is awaiting a second decision on her previously rejected asylum claim).
– Law enforcement officials at all levels — by national mandate — must cooperate to enforce immigration laws, including illegal alien arrests and deportations. The Mexican military is also required to assist in immigration enforcement operations. Native-born Mexicans are empowered to make citizens’ arrests of illegal aliens and turn them in to authorities.
– Ready to show your papers? Mexico’s National Catalog of Foreigners tracks all outside tourists and foreign nationals. A National Population Registry tracks and verifies the identity of every member of the population, who must carry a citizens’ identity card. Visitors who do not possess proper documents and identification are subject to arrest as illegal aliens.
All of these provisions are enshrined in Mexico’s Ley General de Población (General Law of the Population)
and were spotlighted in a 2006 research paper published by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Security Policy. There’s been no public clamor for “comprehensive immigration reform” in Mexico, however, because pro-illegal alien speech by outsiders is prohibited.
Consider: Open-borders protesters marched freely at the Capitol building in Arizona, comparing GOP Gov. Jan Brewer to Hitler, waving Mexican flags, advocating that demonstrators “Smash the State,” and holding signs that proclaimed “No human is illegal” and “We have rights.”
But under the Mexican constitution, such political speech by foreigners is banned. Noncitizens cannot “in any way participate in the political affairs of the country.” In fact, a plethora of Mexican statutes enacted by its congress limit the participation of foreign nationals and companies in everything from investment, education, mining and civil aviation to electric energy and firearms. Foreigners have severely limited private property and employment rights (if any).
As for abuse, the Mexican government is notorious for its abuse of Central American illegal aliens who attempt to violate Mexico’s southern border. The Red Cross has protested rampant Mexican police corruption, intimidation and bribery schemes targeting illegal aliens there for years. Mexico didn’t respond by granting mass amnesty to illegal aliens, as it is demanding that we do. It clamped down on its borders even further. In late 2008, the Mexican government launched an aggressive deportation plan to curtain illegal Cuban immigration and human trafficking through Cancun.
Meanwhile, Mexican consular offices in the United States have coordinated with left-wing social justice groups and the Catholic Church leadership to demand a moratorium on all deportations and a freeze on all employment raids across America.
Mexico is doing the job Arizona is now doing — a job the U.S. government has failed miserably to do: putting its people first. Here’s the proper rejoinder to all the hysterical demagogues in Mexico (and their sympathizers here on American soil) now calling for boycotts and invoking Jim Crow laws, apartheid and the Holocaust because Arizona has taken its sovereignty into its own hands:
MEXICO'S IMMIGRATION LAWS & ILLEGAL ALIENS
With the laws in Mexico being as strict as they are, how does the Mexican president have any room to criticize the new law in Arizona? I think is outrage toward the law is more about the reduction of money flowing into his country from the United States than any thing else. His cries of human rights violations sound pretty damn hollow when you know how people in his country illegaly are treated. Ask anyone who has ever been a foreigner in a Mexican prison...
Recently Mexican President Calderon has been very outspoken, critical on U.S. Immigration law enforcement efforts and supports Amnesty for all illegal aliens from Mexico residing, working in this nation.
Contrary to popular belief, Mexico has very strict immigration laws which are enforced by every police agency in the country. The Bureau of Immigration can call upon any law enforcement officer to assist in their mission. Citizens from the United States traveling in Mexico without proper documents, work permits or non immigrant visas are subject to arrest as illegal aliens.
The laws regarding foreign national visitors, immigrants, non-citizens are as clear and concise in Mexico as are our own U.S. laws which are considered unenforceable by many politicians in Washington, D.C.
* Reglamento de la Ley General de Poblacion (General Law on Population) in Spanish dated Abril 14 de 2000 Capitulo Quinto --Migracion Seccion 1
Mexico welcomes only foreigners who will be useful to Mexican society:
Foreigners are admitted into Mexico "according to their possibilities of contributing to national progress."
Immigration officials must "ensure" that "immigrants will be useful elements for the country and that they have the necessary funds for their sustenance" and for their dependents.
Foreigners may be barred from the country if their presence upsets "the equilibrium of the national demographics," when foreigners are deemed detrimental to "economic or national interests," when they do not behave like good citizens in their own country, when they have broken Mexican laws, and when "they are not found to be physically or mentally healthy."
The Secretary of Governance may "suspend or prohibit the admission of foreigners when he determines it to be in the national interest."
Mexican authorities must keep track of every single person in the country:
Federal, local and municipal police must cooperate with federal immigration authorities upon request to assist in the arrests of illegal immigrants.
A National Population Registry keeps track of "every single individual who comprises the population of the country," and verifies each individual's identity.
A national Catalog of Foreigners tracks foreign tourists and immigrants and assigns each individual with a unique tracking number.
Foreigners with fake papers, or who enter the country under false pretenses, may be Imprisoned. Foreigners with fake immigration papers may be fined or imprisoned.
Foreigners who sign government documents "with a signature that is false or different is subject to fine and imprisonment.
Foreigners who fail to obey the rules will be fined, deported, and/or imprisoned as Felons. Foreigners who fail to obey a deportation order are to be punished.
Foreigners who are deported from Mexico and attempt to re-enter the country without authorization can be imprisoned for up to 10 years.
Foreigners who violate the terms of their visa may be sentenced to up to six years in prison . Foreigners who misrepresent the terms of their visa while in Mexico -- such as working with out a permit -- can also be imprisoned.
Under Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony. The General Law on Population States…
"A penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine of three hundred to five thousand pesos will be imposed on the foreigner who enters the country illegally."
Foreigners with legal immigration problems may be deported from Mexico instead of being imprisoned. Foreigners who have contempt against national sovereignty or security" will be deported.
Mexicans who help illegal aliens enter the country are themselves considered criminals .Under the law, A Mexican who marries a foreigner with the sole objective of helping the foreigner live in the country is subject to up to five years in prison.
Shipping and airline companies that bring undocumented foreigners into Mexico will be fined. The general immigration laws of Mexico are very similar to 8 U.S. Codes of the I&N Act. The review of basic Immigration laws of various nations including Mexico have been researched by various authors including Professor Michael Waller and Reports for U.S. Congress. Open border advocates, special interest groups in the United States do not appreciate this information made public although the facts have been readily available and widely distributed. Condemning U.S. Laws as cruel and inhumane lacks any measure of common sense when the majority of nations in the world including Mexico have very strict immigration policies.
From Minnesota to Georgia, Politicians Lend Support to Arizona Immigration Law
This list is going to continue to grow. States have been sick and tired of paying the bills associated with illegal immigration for many years, but up to this point no body of government has had the guts to take a stand and say enough is enough. Arizona, for all the grief they are taking from the liberals and civil rights wackos, will wind up being the hero in this fight.
And to all the places planning to boycott Arizona over their decision to protect the citizens of the State, well, maybe the millions of us who agree with Arizona will boycott YOU, starting with san francisco.
By Joshua Rhett Miller - FOXNews.com
If it's good enough for the desert, it's good enough for 10,000 lakes. That's what a group in Minnesota is saying as it calls for an Arizona-style crackdown on immigration in the North Star State. And more than a thousand miles away, in Georgia, a Republican candidate for governor says he's all for it.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Texas Rep Wants to Import AZ Immigration Law
You can count on more Texas politicians getting on board with this. Polls have indicated that about 70% of the voters in Arizona support the new law and about 60% of voters outside of the State support it also.
People continue to try to make this into an issue that it is not. It has nothing to do with race or hate, it has everything to do with the safety and security of the citizens of the United States. It also has to do with our federal governments complete disregard for that safety. For too long washington has ignored the cries for help from the border states, but every state feels the negative effect of illegal immigration.
I can't understand how people who have come to this Country legally can be supportive of those who have no regard for the laws of our Country. It is quite an accomplishment to come to the United States and go through the process to become a citizen. It is something to be proud of. I'm sure most people who have come here the right way have little sympathy for those who are trying to cheat.
Texas has the same relationship with illegal immigrants as every other state. They fight the same battles in the schools and emergency rooms and every other place tax payer dollars are spent on illegal immigrants.
A Republican Texas lawmaker plans to introduce a tough immigration measure similar to the new law in Arizona, a move state Democrats say would be a mistake.
Rep. Debbie Riddle of Tomball said she will push for the law in the January legislative session, according to Wednesday's editions of the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle.
"The first priority for any elected official is to make sure that the safety and security of Texans is well-established," said Riddle, who introduced a similar measure in 2009 that didn't get out of committee. "If our federal government did their job, then Arizona wouldn't have to take this action, and neither would Texas."
The Arizona law would require local and state law enforcement to question people about their immigration status -- and make it a crime for immigrants to lack registration documents.
The measure is already making an impact in North Texas. Organizers for a rally against the immigration law said Tuesday they hope for 100,000 protesters to show up for a Saturday march in Dallas. Leaders of various groups are planning to attend.
"What I say to the African-American community: If they come in the morning for brown-skinned people, and we remain silent, they may come in the evening for us," Peter Johnson, of the Peter Johnson Institute of Non-Violence, said.
"This wholesale idea of just questioning everyone who looks differently or who has an accent or whose eyes look differently than ours is not the way to address this issue," said Cheryl Pollman, president of the National Council of Jewish Women.
The Dallas Tea Party said it will plan a counterprotest for another time.
Phillip Dennis, a member of the group's steering committee, said states have to step up because the federal government has failed to enforce immigration laws. He said he and his wife, who is a legal immigrant from Colombia, are familiar with the process of emigrating to the United States.
"We paid by the rules, we jumped through the hoops, and we paid the money -- thousands and thousands of dollars," he said.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday that a Justice Department review is under way to determine the constitutionality of the Arizona law.
State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, a San Antonio Democrat and former president of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, called the law "extremely damaging and hateful."
Van de Putte predicted failure for any similar measures in Texas and said the GOP would suffer politically for such a move.
Asked about the Arizona law, GOP Gov. Rick Perry and his Democratic challenger, Bill White, emphasized through spokespeople that immigration is a federal responsibility.
Jim Harrington, of the Texas Civil Rights Project, predicted any similar effort in Texas would fail because Texas has "a different relationship with the Hispanic community."
"You can take the political temperature by just looking at Rick Perry being quiet," Harrington said.
Mossberg Plinkster 702 Scope Install
I don't actually have the scope yet, but I do have the scope mounts, the scope itself is the easiest part...
As you can see from the picture above, these are Weaver 1" Medium mounts for rifles with a 3/8" grooved receiver. This type of receiver is common on air rifles and .22's. I picked these up for $6.97 at WalMart. The Weaver part number is 49192.
The picture above points out the portion of the receiver being referenced as grooved.
The picture above shows in better detail the actual attachment points for the scope mounts.
You may have to loosen the flathead screw on the side of the mount in order to make it wide enough to slip into the grooves on each side of the receiver rails.
This isa side view of both mounts installed. I would just snug up the flathead screws on the side of each mount until the positioning of the scope is complete. You are able to move the mounts up and down the rail, but the actual position and attachment points on your scope will determin the best mount placement. In the picture, mine are about as far forward and backward as you can get.
The red lines indicate the location of set screws. When the set screws are undone, the mount is in two halves. The top half is removed on each mount and the scope is set into place and the top halves put back into position and the set screws re-installed. Remember, don't tighten the set screws down completely until the scope is properly positioned from front to back.
Once the scope is properly positioned, you can then tighten down the set screws (not too tight or you will damage the scope tube), and tighten down the flathead screws on the side of the front and rear mount (again, not too tight or you risk damage to either the rail or the mount).
Here is the whole rifle with the mounts installed. WalMart has scopes from about $39.00 to $89.00. Since this is a .22 and I probably won't be shooting more than 100 to 150 yards at the most, I think I can get by with one of the less expensive scopes. When I get it installed I will document it also.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Mexico Issues Travel Warning for Arizona Over Law
Does it surprise anyone that obama wants to overturn this law? He doesn't give a rats ass about the safety of the LEGAL citizens of Arizona.
If the Mexican government is so concerned about it's citizens why doesn't it do something to keep it's people at home? They are telling people to "obey the laws"? The illegal immigrants' inability or unwillingness to obey the laws is what got us in this mess in the first place.
I feel like I am in the twilight zone or something. The reason these people are called illegal immigrants is because IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO CROSS OUR BORDERS ILLEGALLY!! Why is it not ok for Arizona to enforce the law?
The federal governments absolute refusal to fix this problem has led us to this point. Their best idea is to reward millions of people for breaking our laws. We really need a bunch of new people in washington, I think most of the ones we have now are too stupid to be in charge...
From Bloomberg
April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Mexicans in Arizona should carry documentation and “act carefully” after the state passed a law requiring local police to determine the immigration status of anyone suspected of being in the country illegally, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry said the warning is directed toward Mexicans living, studying or planning to travel to the southwestern U.S. state, which shares a border with northern Mexico, according to the e-mailed statement sent today. It comes as members of U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration said they have concerns about the new law and may seek to overturn it in court.
“There is an adverse political environment for migrant communities and all Mexican visitors,” Mexico’s ministry said. “It’s important to act carefully and respect the local laws.”
The Arizona law makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. without proper documentation. The state has an estimated 460,000 residents living there illegally, the seventh highest total in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Opponents say it will lead to discrimination and racial profiling by law enforcement authorities.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who is running for re- election, signed the bill into law on April 23, saying it would address problems of violence along the border with Mexico and crime due to illegal immigration while protecting individual rights.
‘Murderous Greed’
“We cannot sacrifice our safety to the murderous greed of drug cartels,” Brewer said. “We cannot delay while the destruction happening south of our international border creeps its way north.”
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said during congressional testimony in Washington today that her agency has “deep concerns” about the law and that it will “detract from and siphon resources that we need to focus on those in the country illegally who are committing serious crimes.” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said today that the Justice Department may go to court to challenge the statue.
The law, which goes into effect 90 days after the Arizona legislative session ends, states that police must investigate if they have “reasonable suspicion” that someone is undocumented, according to Gabriel Chin, a professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Police officers may face lawsuits if they fail to do so, he added.
‘Angered and Saddened’
“It’s very hard for me to see how this law can be enforced without discrimination,” Chin said in a telephone interview today from Tucson. “It seems to be inevitable.”
Mexican President Felipe Calderon said April 26 that his country’s citizens are “angered and saddened” by the Arizona law, which he said “doesn’t adequately guarantee respect for people’s fundamental rights.”
About a quarter of Arizona’s 6.6 million residents are of Hispanic descent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
U.S. Democratic Party leaders said last week that an overhaul of immigration law could advance through Congress this year if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can pick up enough support to muscle it through the Senate first, according to April 22 remarks by Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi told reporters that she will find the votes for the measure in the House -- where Democrats have 254 of 435 seats -- if the Senate can clear it.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has been working with Democrats on an immigration overhaul, said rushing legislation this year would be a mistake because it doesn’t have the votes yet to pass.
“The worst thing we could do is bring up immigration reform and have it crash and burn politically,” he told Napolitano. “If immigration comes up this year, it’s absolutely devastating to the future of this issue.”
Debt Commission Gets Started With 'Everything' on the Table, Including National Sales Tax
Washington spends us into this huge mess and we are the ones who will have to pay... How about you dickheads in washington quit spending money? How about you don't spend another penny until you know how to pay for it? Dave Ramsey needs to come up there and kick each of you in the nuts. Don't any of you people in washington have to balance a home budget? Do you even have a check book you have to reconcile? Those of us out here in the real world have to live with all the stupid decisions you people make in washington. We have to figure out how to balance our budgets at home with ever shrinking pay checks, those of us who are lucky enough to still have a paycheck.
Does anyone notice when the recommendations are due to obama? In December, right AFTER the November elections. They know now they are going to screw us, they know exactly what they are going to do, they just don't want us to know until after the elections, then it is too late. We will be stuck with huge new taxes AND the people who gave them to us.
One last comment on this shit. Why does it take 18 people to try and figure this out? In washington does it actually take 18 people to equal one functioning brain? My sixth grade daughter could figure this out by herself... stop spending money you don't have. Maybe if obama hadn't killed NASA some of the rocket scientists could help him figure this out...
From FoxNews
President Obama said Tuesday that "everything has to be on the table" as his newly appointed debt commission goes to work, but he would not entertain questions about whether tax increases, included a value-added tax, or spending cuts will get serious consideration.
"We're not playing that game," the president said.
Among the proposals that have generated attention recently is the idea of a value-added tax, a form of a national sales tax. Though Obama has indicated an openness to considering the tax, he said Tuesday that he would not indulge in any speculation.
"We're not going to say what's in. I'm not going to say what's out. I want this commission to be free to do its work," he said, warning that the country would face a "day of reckoning" if the federal government cannot control its spending.
Former Wyoming Republican Sen. Alan Simpson will join former Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles to lead the elite18-member debt commission convening Tuesday -- a panel appointed by Democrats and Republicans to come up with a plan to save America from its spendthrift ways.
The commission's charge is to produce a deficit no bigger than $550 billion by 2015, an amount equal to about 3 percent of the total U.S. economy. That would require deficit savings in the range of $250 billion or more.
The deficit for last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, was $1.4 trillion. Many projections show the yearly deficit not dipping below 4 percent of the economy over the next decade.
Peter Orszag, White House budget office director, said in prepared remarks to the commission that persistently high deficits could eventually stifle the economy.
"The options to further reduce the deficit may not be popular, but they are necessary," he said.
Simpson said he doesn't know what will make the final recommendations -- due Dec. 1 -- but he is not going to take anything for granted, including the VAT, which would add a charge on all stages of production of a good for sale in the United States.
But Simpson said the VAT should not be an additional tax on top of the income tax.
"To drag this specter of the value added tax like a dead rat through the room without doing something with the income tax is a fakery," Simpson told Fox News on Monday. "What is this value added tax? I haven't the slightest idea but if you're going mess around in that area or flat tax, you're going to adjust the other tax in accordance."
The VAT is commonly used in Europe and adds about 17 percent to the price of a good sold in the United Kingdom.
Obama said last week that he was listening to arguments for a VAT, but those against it say that it reduces consumer purchasing power.
"It's like carbon monoxide, you can't see it you can't smell it, but it kills you just as effectively," said British author James Delingpole, who wrote, "Welcome to Obamaland."
But finding consensus among the panel -- composed of 10 Democratically appointed commissioners and eight Republican appointees -- will be an especially challenging task because it takes 14 votes out of the 18 members to approve a recommendation.
"This is a suicide mission," Simpson, R-Wyo., said on "Fox News Sunday."
The options for curbing the deficit -- cutting spending on popular entitlement programs and broad-based tax increases -- are politically toxic, part of the reason, Simpson said, the panel set its deadline after the November midterm election -- so the recommendations couldn't be used by politicians seeking a congressional seat.
The hope is that the commission can insulate itself from politics and that the requirement for bipartisanship would give both sides political cover. With few exceptions, most successful deficit reduction efforts have been bipartisan.
"Let's see if we can persuade people to trust each other, come together, and really take some of these tough stands to bring down spending," Bowles, said on "Fox News Sunday." "Everything has to be on the table, whether it's revenue or spending. I personally would like to go after spending first."
Simpson said there are no sacred cows when it comes to taxes or spending because the minor economic comeback so far this year can do nothing to sustain the rate of debt.
"If that's the wind, that's got to be a sparrow belch in a typhoon. We can't grow our way out of this. Double rates the growth in 30 years wouldn't grow out of this," he said, adding that the United States is going to borrow to pay for war, homeland security, education and veteran benefits not to mention the cost of obligations through Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
But finding common ground will be the biggest challenge as 12 of the commission members -- six Democrats and six Republicans -- are currently members of Congress appointed by their party leaders. The other six -- Simpson, Bowles, former Young and Rubicam CEO Ann Fudge, former Federal Reserve Vice Chairwoman Alice Rivlin, Service Employees International Union chief Andy Stern and Honeywell Corp. Chief Executive Dave Cote were appointed by the president.
Already, interest groups on the left are weighing in, urging Democrats to avoid cutting spending on popular benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare.
"Simply put, Social Security has not contributed one thin dime to the current deficit. It should not be used as a piggy bank to pay our way out of the fiscal hole we find ourselves in," said Barbara Kennelly, president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
There hasn't been a significant deficit-cutting effort since 1997, when a GOP-led Congress and newly re-elected Clinton came together to produce a balanced budget plan combining a relatively painless set of spending cuts with tax cuts sought by Republicans and a new children's health plan embraced by both parties. That deal was greatly helped by improving deficit projections.
But the fiscal gap confronting the commission is considerably more daunting. Executive Director Bruce Reed says the debt panel will try to close the 2015 budget deficit from the $793 billion projected by the Congressional Budget Office for Obama's budget down to $520 billion or so.
Obama will meet privately with the panel for 20 minutes or so and make brief remarks afterward. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and Obama's budget chief Peter Orszag will also address the panel.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
