almost ever after

Another Shariah Law Killing of 13 year old!

2008-11-12T12:46:00.004-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=80733

London fundraisers linked to stoning of 13-year-old
Girl who tells Shariah court of rape is convicted, executed for 'adultery'
Posted: November 11, 2008
9:14 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

LONDON – Britain's MI6 intelligence service has identified a group that raises funds with impunity in London as the organization whose militia members in Somalia imposed a death sentence on a 13-year-old rape victim, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Known as the Shabaab, the ruthless militia is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. The group's leadership was targeted by missile strikes earlier this year.

However, MI6 has revealed that the group operates without restriction in London, funding the fierce guerrilla war against Somalia's long-time enemy, Ethiopia, which invaded Somalia last year.

Until last week, the war attracted little attention in the West. All that changed after a Shariah court in the Somalia southern town of Kismayo handed down a brutal punishment.

A 13-year-old girl, described in an intelligence report as "little more than a pretty child," was sentenced to be stoned to death by the all-male court.

Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin is the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.

It imposed the sentence on Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow after she had complained to the local Shariah court that she had been gang-raped by, among others, her cousins.

But the court found her guilty of adultery and sentenced her to death by stoning.

She was taken from the courthouse to a local sports stadium. There she was buried up to her neck in sand and then stoned in front of a 1,000-strong crowd, the number the local soccer team attracts.

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MY COMMENTS:
This young girl bravely spoke out about the horrible rape she suffered and she is punished with death? Is this what Shariah law stands for? Is this JUSTICE? I'm disgusted...

Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV

2008-08-06T21:17:00.003-06:00

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=121797745642029900

Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
Drop in numbers seeking drivers licenses pegged to new state law
By Steve Law

The Portland Tribune, Aug 6, 2008
Christopher Onstott, Tribune File Photo / Portland Tribune

With a passport and Brazilian drivers license in hand, Roberual Goncalues De Silva waits his turn in 2006 to apply for an Oregon drivers license at the popular DMV office at SE Powell Boulevard and 90th. A new state law requires Oregon drivers license applicants to prove they are in the state legally.
The number of Spanish-speaking people taking Oregon’s driving test plummeted in February, just as Gov. Kulongoski’s executive order took effect requiring test-takers to provide valid Social Security numbers.

In the Portland area and statewide, there was a jump in people taking the driving test in Spanish in the two months after Kulongoski issued his November order – but before it took effect Feb. 4, according to new data from the state Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division. The number of people taking the test in Spanish fell more than 80 percent after his order took effect.

State officials can’t think of any other reason to explain the pattern besides the governor’s order, said David House, DMV spokesman.

Critics of illegal immigration hailed the new data.

“I think that’s reflective of the fact that at one time Oregon had an open door for illegal aliens to get their drivers’ licenses from all over the United States,” said Jim Ludwick, president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform.

Oregon had been one of a handful of states that didn’t require drivers license applicants to prove they were here legally. Oregon also grants licenses for eight years, longer than many states.

Ludwick and others lobbied state officials for years to tighten state procedures, arguing that Oregon’s loose standards made the state a mecca for illegal immigrants anxious to obtain photo IDs.

Kulongoski came around to that view last year, arguing state requirements needed tightening to prevent identity theft and other public safety problems.

“Previously Oregon had been a magnet for individuals from other states coming in and obtaining drivers’ licenses,” said Jillian Schoene, Kulongoski spokeswoman. “I think the changes in the law have been effective.”

Kulongoski put the heat on the Oregon Legislature to approve his plan, by making the executive order take effect the exact day a one-month special legislative session began on Feb 4. Lawmakers complied by passing Senate Bill 1080, which requires license applicants to provide proof they are here legally.

That law took effect July 1, so its full impact is not clear yet, House said. So far, the law is slowing the issuance of drivers licenses, because it requires all applicants to present more documents to prove their identity and legal presence here.

“I’m going to give Gov. Kulongoski credit,” Ludwick said. “He’s the one who issued an executive order and basically forced the Legislature to go along with the process.”

For most of 2007, about 150 people a month took the test in Spanish at the bustling Portland DMV office on 8710 S.E. Powell Boulevard. That bumped to more than 200 a month in December and January, after Kulongoski announced his pending executive order. Then the number fell to 28 people in February, when the order took effect.

The story was the same elsewhere in the Portland area and statewide. At the main Hillsboro DMV office, 398 people took the test in Spanish in January, and then only 69 in February. In Gresham, 215 took the test in Spanish in January, and only 20 in February. Statewide, 4,542 took the test in Spanish in January and 665 in February.

The DMV’s data does not show a clear drop in the number of people taking the drivers test in English, Russian, Vietnamese, Chinese or Japanese. The number of people taking the test in Spanish has remained low each month since February.

“Only one language group declined; all the others remained pretty static,” Ludwick observed.

The DMV data provides dramatic evidence of the influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants to the Portland area. People requesting the drivers test in Spanish amounted to one-third of all test-takers at the Hillsboro DMV from August 2006 through January 2008, one-fourth of those in the Gresham DMV and about one-seventh of those at Portland’s Powell Boulevard DMV.

Ludwick predicted the new state law will reduce methamphetamine trafficking and identity theft in Oregon.

Immigrants rights advocates said the law will harm Oregon’s economy by making it more difficult for undocumented workers to get to their jobs. However, the law’s impact is gradual, because many illegal immigrants have licenses until they expire, and there was a surge of people getting licenses before the executive order took effect.

“That means that little by little, they’re not going to do their work,” said Marco Mejia, Portland-area director of the American Friends Service Committee immigration program. That will have a dramatic impact on Oregon farms, hotels, restaurants and other businesses that rely on immigrant labor, Mejia said.

Ultimately, he said, the law will drive up the cost of food for Oregonians. “The effect is going to be totally negative to the overall community,” he said.

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OTHER'S COMMENTS:
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
Ultimately, he said, the law will drive up the cost of food for Oregonians. “The effect is going to be totally negative to the overall community,” Mejia said.
This is because wages will go up. Those who are working hard will finally be able to demand a decent wage, decent working conditions and rights like the rest of us enjoy. There will be no overall negative effect on the overall community, just on the community of illegal immigrants. Now Portland will have to decide what they will do when pull over a driver with no license, no proof of identity and thus no proof of US citizenry.
There is no reason why one segment of immigrants should receive preference over another. As shown by DMV's numbers, most immigrants follow the laws and come here legally. i.e. the number of Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese had no significant decline.
The next step is the SSN match rule. This will cut down on fraud and theft. Any person who uses a SSN that is not theirs is perpetuating theft and fraud. The SSN belongs to someone else. The SSN is not only used to obtain a job, but also to rent and apartment, buy a car and borrow money.
Ah, before you call me some racist, backwoods hillbilly, let me enlighten you.
I just spent 15 months struggling through the system, separated from my Peruvian wife, to obtain a US visa for her so that she can come here live with me. When I moved to her country 4 years ago I obtained a visa at the port of entry, of course I was not permitted to work and it was almost impossible to obtain a work permit.
Please focus your energy on reforming the immigration system, especially USCIS. This is the most insular US agency I have ever dealt with. They make the IRS look like angels. You have to go through 3 separate government agencies to obtain a visa to the US (USCIS, State Department and FBI). I actually had a USCIS respond to me that they are a normal agency and work on their own terms.
Comprehensive immigration reform is the only answer, in the mean time the laws have to be followed.
"Jota"
(email verified)

Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 12:51 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
I am a Title I teacher who works with the Latino immigrant population. I see the day-to-day pressures that this bill has put on the spouses and children of illegal immigrants (the entire family may NOT be here illegally, and often, the families we have here were originally all legal but let their papers lapse). I have to agree with "jota" above. The system, as it is now, makes trying to follow the rules and go through the steps almost Kafkaesque at times! In the long run, this rule will be a positive thing for many reasons: it will cut down on interconnected crimes like SS# theft (I have been a victim twice, my husband once, made easier because we have a common Latino last name), AND it will force necessary pressure for changes to a system that encourages people to lie or lose work if they want to keep their families together. I cannot tell you how many families I have tried to help renew their legal status before it expired and have had them finally give up in sheer desperation, then disappear into the illegal population. I hate the potential problems in the short-term, and I know there will be plenty of people who will choose to drive without the license because they can't get one. However, the system needs a total overhaul. Let's hope this eventually helps!
"Una maestra de Washington Country "
(email verified)

Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 07:13 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
They should abide by the law if they want to live and work in this country. I have to and I am Irish.
(email verified)

Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 07:20 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
"They should abide by the law if they want to live and work in this country. I have to and I am Irish."
"BJR"
(email verified)

Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 07:28 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
The aren't latino immigrants, they are illegal aliens.
If they aren't applying for state licenses, then it means the system is working. They won't be able to apply for benefits, go into bars etc...
Hopefully this will give them the incentive to GO HOME!
" Steveo"
(email verified)

Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 07:33 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
What took Sleepy Ted so long? Apparently he's enjoying
his "retirement" working at the State Capitol.
"Dale"
(email verified)

Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 08:30 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
Marco Mejia says that the effect will be totally negative. I think this is ridiculous, and the whole "costs will go up" argument is irrelevant as well. If the true LEGAL costs of growing nursery stock or harvesting produce is higher than we are currently paying than the costs should go up.

There are a lot of products that could be sold cheaper if we ignored workplace safety regulations or illegally used materials that weren't up to code, or in many other ways broke the laws that govern how these products should be manufactured and brought to market, but no one seems to advocate that every industry should just ignore the law and only do what is absolutely cheapest at every turn.

However, for some reason, when agriculture breaks numerous laws to cut corners and save a buck, it is presented as if they were engaged in some kind of Robin Hood like moral struggle, and that their breaking the law is a good thing.
It isn't a good thing, it artificially and ILLEGALLY, drives down wages for American citizens and legal immigrants, and creates oppourtunities for criminal activity from ID theft to terrorism so I find it hard to swallow when I am told that something as simple as making sure a person is legally entitled to have a drivers license before we actually give them one is bad for our community
"Don"
(email verified)

Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 09:30 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
I've got no problem with this regulation. Hopefully people without a drivers license (or insurance) will also stay off the roads as well.
However I don't blame people coming to Oregon looking for better work and a better place to live... if there are employers hiring illegal workers here, we should go after the employers, not the workers.
"yeah well"
(email verified)

2 Supervisors Are Arrested After Sweep at Meat Plant

2008-07-04T23:18:00.002-06:00

http://biz.yahoo.com/nytimes/080705/1194791428859.html?.v=19

2 Supervisors Are Arrested After Sweep at Meat Plant
Saturday July 5, 1:34 am ET
By JULIA PRESTON

Two supervisors at a kosher meatpacking plant in Iowa where hundreds of illegal immigrants were rounded up in May were arrested Thursday on criminal immigration charges.
Federal prosecutors said they had also issued an arrest warrant for a third man described by workers as a plant manager.

The supervisors, Juan Carlos Guerrero Espinoza and Martin De la Rosa Loera, were arrested at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, prosecutors said. They were the first employees who were not rank-and-file workers to be arrested since 389 illegal immigrants were rounded up at the plant on May 12, said Bob Teig, a spokesman for the United States attorney for the Northern District of Iowa.

Federal authorities called the raid the largest enforcement operation by immigration authorities at a single workplace. Unions and immigrant advocacy groups had criticized immigration officials for focusing arrests on workers while taking no action against top managers.

The arrest warrant was issued for Hosam Amara, 43. In interviews after the raid, several workers said Mr. Amara was a floor manager with more authority than line supervisors. They said he was a link between workers on the slaughterhouse floors and meatpacking lines and more senior management.

Agriprocessors, which before the raid was the country’s largest producer of kosher meat, is owned by Aaron Rubashkin. Two weeks after the raid, he removed his son Sholom as chief executive.

Most of the illegal immigrants arrested at the plant were from rural Guatemala. In expedited proceedings, 270 workers were sent to federal prison on criminal charges, most for presenting false documents when they were hired.

In a criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday, federal authorities said Mr. Guerrero was the supervisor of four departments in the Postville plant, including a slaughterhouse called Beef Kill. Workers cited anonymously in the complaint said Mr. Guerrero was running a business obtaining fraudulent immigration documents, known as green cards.

In the days before the raid, the workers said, according to the complaint, Mr. Guerrero told them in a meeting that “they needed new IDs and Social Security numbers to continue working at the company.” Mr. Guerrero collected $200 and a photograph from each worker, promising to provide new documents, the complaint says.

A former human resources employee cited in the complaint said Mr. Guerrero regularly brought in fake green cards for applicants.

A separate complaint says Mr. De la Rosa, a supervisor in Poultry Kill, also told illegal immigrant workers shortly before the raid that they needed new identity documents.

The complaints make it clear that a grand jury investigation of Agriprocessors is continuing.

Union officials said the new arrests did not go far enough.

“The arrest of two low-level supervisors, while a start, barely scratches the surface of this company’s bad behavior,” said Scott Frotman, a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which has tried to organize the plant. “What about the allegations of worker abuse? Does anyone really believe that these low-level supervisors acted alone without the knowledge, or even the direction, of the Rubashkins and other senior management?”

On Thursday in Houston, five senior managers of another company that was recently raided, Action Rags USA, made their initial court appearances. Those arrested on Wednesday included Mabarik Kahlon, 45, the owner of the company, an exporter of used clothing, and his partner Rasheed Ahmed, 58. About 160 workers were arrested on June 25 at the company’s plant in Houston.

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MY COMMENTS:
Deport.. Deport... Deport all ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. If you come to the United States LEGALLY then you are welcome... OTHERWISE GO HOME. These scumbags who hire illegals at what should be described as SLAVE wages should have all their assets seized and donated towards the building of the border fence. Being an illegal is a horrible lifestyle and not one anyone should endure. The only way to end this type of abuse is to make sure it can't happen to being with.

Dems want control over U.S. oil flow

2008-06-19T09:35:00.002-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=67490

Dems want control over U.S. oil flow
Hinchey joins Waters, says 'We should own refineries'

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Rep. Maurice Hinchey

The itch to control the U.S. oil industry is spreading among Democrats in Washington, with Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., joining in the chorus to nationalize the energy company assets.

"We (the government) should own the refineries," Hinchey said today, according to a Fox News alert. "Then we can control how much gets out into the market.

WND earlier reported when U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., during a grilling of oil executives by a panel of U.S. House members, threatened to nationalize the industry if executives were unsuccessful in bringing pump prices for gasoline down.

A report by Fox News, captured in a clip posted on YouTube.com, showed Waters challenging the president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister, to guarantee the prices consumers pay will go down if the oil companies are allowed to drill wherever they want off of U.S. shores.

Hofmeister replied: "I can guarantee to the American people, because of the inaction of the United States Congress, ever-increasing prices unless the demand comes down."

The Shell exec said paying $5 at the pump "will look like a very low price in the years to come if we are prohibited from finding new reserves, new opportunities to increase supplies."

Waters responded, in part, "And guess what this liberal would be all about. This liberal will be about socializing … uh, um. …"

The congresswoman paused to collect her thoughts.

"Would be about, basically, taking over, and the government running all of your companies. …"

The oil executives responded, according to Fox News, by saying they've seen this before, in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela.

Fox reported today the latest statements from Hinchey came as Democrats responded to President Bush's call for Congress to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling.

Democrats also said the reason the Appropriations Committee markup, where the vote on an amendment to lift a ban on offshore drilling was to be, was cancelled so that representatives could focus on a supplemental Iraq spending bill.

Hinchey, one of the more ardent opponents of off-shore drilling, simply said Congress will do what is "in the best interest of the American people. Not major corporations."

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MY COMMENTS:
LMAO!!!! HA! Caught ya didn't they Maxine... Ohhhh... too bad... She meant socializing, don't even try to play it off. Your big mouth got you caught didn't it! Ya, we know what you want Maxine... AND IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!

Haditha Marine prepares to sue Murtha over smear

2008-06-19T09:28:00.002-06:00

http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=67434

Haditha Marine prepares to sue Murtha over smear
Congressman had accused soldiers of killing 'in cold blood'
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani
With most of the eight Marines charged in the Haditha, Iraq, incident now exonerated, the highest-ranking officer among the accused is considering a lawsuit against Democratic Rep. John Murtha, who fueled the case by declaring the men cold-blooded killers.

In an interview with nationally syndicated radio talk host Michael Savage, the lead attorney for Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani said he and his client will look into suing Murtha and the Time magazine reporter, Tim McGuirk, who first published the accusations by Iraqi insurgents.

But the attorney, Brian Rooney, said nothing will happen immediately because he wants Chessani, described as a devout Christian and the father of six homeschooled children, completely "out of the woods" legally before any action is taken. The government, through Lt. Col. S.M. Sullivan, today filed a notice that it would appeal the case to the next judicial level.

As WND reported, a military judge at Camp Pendleton in California yesterday dismissed charges that Chessani failed to properly investigate the Nov. 19, 2005 incident in which 24 Iraqi men, women and children were killed.

Rooney, an attorney for the Thomas More Law Center who served a tour of duty in Iraq himself, is urging citizens to tell their representatives in Congress and military officials that they want the case to come to an end.

"At some point you have to have somebody in the chain of command, whether it's civilian or military, saying enough is enough," said Rooney, who served with Chessani in the second battle of Fallujah.

Rooney told Savage the Haditha case is the largest investigation in the history of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, with 65 agents assigned by the government.

The filing of charges against Chessani was approved by Gen. James Mattis, then commander of the Marine Corps Forces Central Command and commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. Mattis has been promoted to commander of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and commander of U.S. Joint Forces.

"This is the most important case since Vietnam, if not before," Rooney said. "There's no doubt about it."

He noted the New York Times featured the case on the front page when it was being compared by war critics to the infamous My Lai massacre in Vietnam. But now, with evidence the Haditha accusations were a smear, the story has been relegated to the back pages.

The military judge, Col. Steve Folsom, dismissed Chessani's charges without prejudice, giving permission for the prosecutors to continue trying to build a case that began in December 2006.

Four Marines were charged with murder and another four with not properly investigating the incident.

Defense lawyers contend insurgents deliberately attacked the Marines from hiding places where they surrounded themselves with civilians to use as shields. The defense insisted Chessani promptly reported the events to his superiors and that nobody in the chain of command believed there was any wrongdoing on the part of the Marines.

Libel and defamation
Rooney acknowledged to Savage it's difficult to sue a sitting congressman, but he believes it can be done.

"If he leaves his realm of speaking from the congressman's point of view … then he can be sued for libel and defamation," Rooney said.

The Time magazine story, according to Rooney, was planted by an insurgent propaganda agent. Publishing of the story was soon followed by a May 17, 2006, news conference by Murtha. The congressman announced he had been told by the highest levels of the Marine Corps there was no firefight and Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

"All the information I get, it comes from the commanders, it comes from people who know what they're talking about," Murtha told reporters at the time.

Murtha's assertions, however, conflicted with results from the military's own investigations. An initial probe by Army Col. G.A. Watt found no indications coalition forces "intentionally targeted, engaged and killed noncombatants." Later, Army Maj. Gen. Aldon Bargewell found no cover-up.

Nevertheless, the Marine Corps eventually brought charges against Chessani and seven other Marines.

But now the cases against Lance Cpls. Stephen Tatum and Justin Sharratt, Capts. Randy Stone and Lucas McConnell and Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz have been dropped. First Lt. Andrew Grayson has been acquitted, leaving only the case of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich untested in court and Chessani prosecutors facing the hurdles of the appeal process.

WND previously reported a military jury of seven officers acquitted Grayson of all charges.

The ruling by Col. Folsom yesterday followed a previous decision in which he confirmed evidence of unlawful command influence.

The evidence indicated two generals who controlled Chessani's case were influenced by Marine lawyer Col. John Ewers, who was allowed to attend at least 25 closed-session meetings in which the case was discussed.

Throwing Marines under the bus
Rooney acknowledged the Haditha case taken a toll on the Marine Corps.

"There's no doubt it's affected recruiting," he told Savage. "How could you have your sons or daughters join the Marine Corps when you're not sure the government will protect them?"

Rooney was asked by Savage why he thought Murtha, a former Marine himself, accused the officers and enlisted men.

"In my opinion, it's clear it was done during the election cycle, it was done to bolster himself in the party," the attorney said. "He was vying for a leadership position, and if he had to throw some Marines under the bus to do so, that was the cost of power for him."

He hopes soon politicians will weigh in on the case in support of Chessani and the others.

"I would think all politicians, especially politicians that have military records, should say something about this case," he said.

"In a horrible and very complex environment, when you have an enemy that's using women and children as shields, you should always give the benefit of the doubt to the Marine or soldier," said Rooney. "You should never bring him back and put him in front of a court martial."

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MY COMMENTS:
Murtha is a fat mouthed lib who protests the war in public, but has no problem taking money for contracts in Iraq. Murtha needs to be put back in his place - which frankly should be behind bars.

Parents warned of 'hate speech' during 'gay' promo

2008-04-27T21:59:00.002-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=62485

Parents warned of 'hate speech' during 'gay' promo
Principal says support for homosexuality approved, but 'condemnation' banned

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: April 25, 2008
12:10 am Eastern

Mass Resistance says hundreds of these pro-"gay" shirts have been distributed free to students in Massachusetts schools on the "Day of Silence"

A principal in a Massachusetts school district with a well-established reputation of promoting homosexuality to students has written to parents to tell them distributing "religious materials" during the school's annual observance of the pro-homosexual "Day of Silence" is not appropriate.

The letter from Michael Jones of Lexington, Mass., High School also confirms "hate speech" is "subject to legal constraints" and messages communicated through slogan T-shirts, buttons or stickers that express "condemnation" are "discouraged." Students with such a message will be counseled by school officials to meet the guidelines of the school handbook, he wrote.

However, groups that have been given his approval are allowed to hand out promotional materials to others and positive messages about the "Day of Silence" such as "Vocal Supporter" and "Silent Supporter" fall under free speech guidelines, Jones said.

The "Day of Silence" is a promotion intended, ostensibly, to make students "aware" of the "discrimination" suffered by homosexuals in society, by having students and teachers remain silent for the day. Such events typically are organized by a school's "Gay-Straight Alliance" group, but the event has been promoted throughout its existence by the special interest group, the massively funded Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network

The event is being recognized tomorrow in many school districts around the nation, although in Massachusetts schools are scheduling the promotion on April 30 because of other school calendar issues.

WND previously reported on a concerted effort by dozens of organizations to alert parents to the indoctrination effects of school observances of such a day, with parents being urged to keep their children home from schools whenever the event is held.

"It's outrageous that our neighborhood schools would allow homosexual activism to intrude into the classroom," said Buddy Smith of the American Family Association, one group on that long list of organizations working to provide information to parents.

"'Day of Silence' is about coercing students to repudiate traditional morality. It's time for Christian parents to draw the line – if your children will be exposed to this DOS propaganda in their school, then keep them home for the day," he said.

The letter from the Lexington principal was being highlighted by officials with Mass Resistance, a pro-family group that is battling a long list of anti-Christian influences in Massachusetts schools.

"He describes the Day of Silence in positive, affirming terms – just the opposite of what parents feel. He then portrays it as a calm, free-speech event that is not disruptive to the education process, violates no one's rights, and which does not constitute the school taking a political position on the issue. That's simply not true," the organization said in a website commentary.

"The act of students (and even staff) being silent all day is a clear disruption of the education process," the group said.

Mass Resistance is one of the main groups that has been monitoring the Lexington district ever since officials there signed a complaint that ended up with a father, David Parker, jailed after he objected to the district teaching his young son homosexual behavior.

His case is being prepared for submission to the U.S. Supreme Court now, but in the latest conflict created by the school's homosexual advocacy, WND reported when the district told another worried father the school district could and would teach students about homosexuality when it chose and without letting parents know or giving them an opportunity to withdraw their children from such instruction.

In the current letter to parents, the principal begins talking about graffiti including a "homophobic" remark that he has reported to police.

"I have asked anyone who has information about this incident to talk to one of the deans or other staff members in the school," he advises. "I assure you that the proper steps are being taken to investigate this matter…"

He then goes on to announce to parents the "annual observance of the Day of Silence" will be April 30th.

"He first discusses some unrelated vandalism, then segues into the Day of Silence and its critics. The subtle hint is that there could be some connection," Mass Resistance said.

Mass Resistance also noted the implication that negative responses to the homosexual promotion could be linked to "hate speech."

"He states that 'hate speech' – i.e., criticism of the Day of Silence or homosexuality – is 'subject to legal constraints.' But hate speech is not defined beyond a vague phrase about 'tasteless communication,' 'threats,' or singling out individuals 'for ridicule or condemnation.' Thus, they define what 'hate speech' is," the commentary said.

The principal's comment that the promotion "is not a school-sponsored event," is "profoundly misleading if not outright false," the group said. "It is school-sanctioned. And it is unquestionably organized by some school staff, as anyone who has observed it in the past could see."

"The homosexual club will be distributing pamphlets, stickers, and other materials. Can other groups do so? No. Only groups that are 'properly registered with the administration' and which have 'approval of the administration' can distribute literature," Mass Resistance said.

The group noted last year a student's father was escorted off campus by police for bringing anti-Day of Silence pamphlets into the school for kids to pass out.

"He says that people may wear buttons or stickers expressing their personal views. A few years ago at Lexington High a girl with a one-man-one-woman marriage sticker was assaulted by pro-gay students on the Day of Silence. And others were severely harassed and intimidated. The school did nothing," Mass Resistance said.

And as for the ban on "religious materials," the group said, "We've seen a lot of blatantly anti-religious material distributed by the homosexual groups. The event itself is essentially anti-religious in the eyes of many parents."

"Our message to parents: Continue to fight back!" the group said.

The campaign in which Mass Resistance is participating that calls for parents to keep their children home of the "Day of Silence" for 2008 has collected the support of a long list of prominent organizations.

Matt Barber, a spokesman for Concerned Women for America, said the day "amounts to educational malpractice."

"Our schools are supposed to be places of learning, not places of political indoctrination. It is the height of impropriety and cynicism for 'gay' activists and school officials to use children as pawns in their attempt to further a highly controversial and polarizing political agenda," he said.

Parents, the coalition says, should find out the date a local district is allowing the promotion, then they should "inform the school of your intention to keep your children home on that date and explain why."

Among the groups already promoting the protest are:

Abiding Truth Ministries
American Family Association
AFA of MI
AFA of PA
Americans for Truth
Christian Information Service
Christian Civic League of Maine
Concerned Women for America
Culture Campaign
Defend the Family International
Exodus Mandate
Illinois Family Institute
Traditional Values Coalition
Indiana Voice for the Family
Informing Christians
Liberty Counsel
MassResistance
Mission America
New Generation Christian Center
Parents' Rights' Coalition
Right March
Stephen Bennett Ministries
Values USA
and Watchmen on the Walls
WND also has reported on other fallout from the "Day of Silence."

A case is pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California that challenges a school district's policy there that allows such slogans as "Stop the Hate," "fags," "queers," "that's so gay" and even "I Kiss Boys," but bans "Romans 1:27."

The case stems from punishment handed down by the Poway Unified School District for student Chase Harper, who was a sophomore in 2004 when the school recognized the "Day of Silence."

But when Harper wore a T-shirt with two slogans: "Be ashamed. Our school has embraced what God has condemned" and "Homosexuality is shameful. Romans 1:27," he was ordered either to take the shirt off or spend the day in the school office, where he was photographed, questioned and challenged by a police officer.

A filing submitted on the student's behalf by the Alliance Defense Fund and Advocates for Faith and Freedom, said school districts are not allowed the privilege of such censorship.

Vento to candidates: No Geno’s? No guts

2008-04-27T21:56:00.001-06:00

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/news_breaking/20080425_Vento_to_candidates__No_Genos__No_guts.html

Vento to candidates: No Geno’s? No guts
By Peter Mucha

On Tuesday, Primary Day, Barack Obama went across the street to Pat's for a cheesesteak.

Same day, Hillary Clinton had a chicken cheesesteak with Italian greens in the Philadelphia suburbs.

To Geno's owner Joey Vento, such decisions showed such a lack of courage that neither Democrat deserves to be president.

"If they don't have the guts to come here and talk about the immigration problem ... they're not capable of running our country," he said.

Tomorrow afternoon, Vento will take on Geraldo Rivera in a soldout debate on immigration at the Inquirer and Daily News Building at Broad and Callowhill Streets. The discussion will be carried live during Dom Giordano's 1-to-4 p.m. show on WPHT (1210 AM, "The Big Talker").

Vento has been something of a national figure since a sign in his restaurant's window started making headlines two years ago.

Still there, it reads:

"This is America. When ordering please speak English."

Last month, the city's Commission on Human Relations ruled in a split decision that the sign did not constitute discrimination.

Geno's doesn't refuse service to Spanish-speaking customers, Vento has said.

The last candidate to stop by Ninth and East Passyunk for a photo op was Republican Rudy Giuliani in October.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, went to Pat's King of Steaks, Ninth and Wharton, where they ordered theirs "Whiz with" - avoiding John Kerry's famed faux pas there four years ago of ordering a cheesesteak hoagie with Swiss.

Hillary Clinton avoided both landmarks, grabbing her chicken steak at Boccella's restaurant while in Conshohocken.

"They're both dummies, as far as I'm concerned," said Vento.

If Obama had stopped at Geno's and just politely listened to Vento's views about illegal immigration, the senator's poll numbers might have shot up 8 points, Vento said.

Obama needn't agree. He could just say, " 'I think I'll take this under advisement,' " Vento said.

"I'm for everything that he's against," Vento said.

Obama's reluctant to wear flag pins, Geno's is full of flags. They differ on abortion. Obama wants to bring the troops home, Vento wants them to finish the mission.

Clinton's gastronomic choice also raised his hackles. "There's no such thing as chicken steak," he said. "... I refuse to sell it. This is beef country. Beef is the backbone of the United States. ... The cattle drives! Rawhide! Clint Eastwood driving the cattle."

"I'm the spokesman for the United States of America," Vento said.

"I'm disappointed in McCain, too, you know," he said of John McCain, the likely Republican nominee.

"What I like about him is he's probably got about 40 percent of conservative left in him," Vento said.

If the Arizona senator stops in, maybe he'd learn a thing or two from Vento and get straightened out, the South Philly politicial whiz said.

"I have no problem with legal immigration," he added. "... You shouldn't be rewarded for not obeying the law."

Trident shadowing boat-load of bombs

2008-04-27T21:54:00.001-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=62477

Trident shadowing boat-load of bombs
Chinese arms dispatched to Mugabe rejected by ports – so far

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: April 27, 2008
11:44 pm Eastern

Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports.

Robert Mugabe

LONDON – A floating arsenal of weapons and bombs dispatched by China in a rust-stained tramp freighter to the pariah state of President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe now is being shadowed by Britain's most powerful submarine, a nuclear Trident, says a report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Freighter officers are desperate to be allowed to unload their cargo of 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades, 2,500 mortar rounds and three million rounds of ammunition for Mugabe's army, intended to be used to further cow the country's starving population.

But it has been turned away by dockers in the South African port who branded it "a ship of shame," as well as ports in Angola and Mozambique.

Now as it wanders around the South Atlantic, the An Yue Jiang, which began its voyage five weeks ago from the Chinese port of Ningbo southwards into the Pacific and across the Indian Ocean, the Beijing Ministry of Defense has been trying to find an African country which would allow it to unload the lethal cargo.

Intelligence sources in London have confirmed that secret approaches have been made to Equatorial Guinea, Benin and the Ivory Coast. But so far none has allowed the ship to dock and offload its weapons.

Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman in Washington, said: "We think that under the present circumstances and the current political crisis in Zimbabwe, now is not the time for anyone to be increasing the number of weapons and armaments available to that country. We will press African nations to refuse the Yue Jiang docking rights or to face worsened relations with the United State."

Naval intelligence sources in London have said the possibility "cannot be ruled out" that the ship could make the journey to Venezuela, whose maverick leader, President Hugo Chavez, has a good relationship with China and is an opponent of the United States.

New Orleans gears up for North American summit

2008-04-18T22:14:00.001-06:00

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5712435.html

New Orleans gears up for North American summit
By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS — Police expect protests but few problems when the two-day North American Leaders Summit gets under way Monday in New Orleans.

It's VIP duty as President Bush, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper get together to talk trade. But for the New Orleans Police Department, it's more of the same in a a string of high-profile, crowd-generating events early in 2008.

The North American summit in Quebec last August drew several hundred protesters vocal on the war in Iraq and what they claimed was a gradual merging of the three countries. There also were marches in New Orleans in 2003, when the city hosted negotiations for the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

Police Superintendent Warren Riley said he expects "some protesters, but not a mass."

"We handle these situations better than anyone in the country," Riley said.

New Orleans police are among the world's most skilled at crowd control. Their methods in handling the up to 1 million people who turn out each year at Mardi Gras have been studied by law enforcement agencies around the world.

Still, there are local tensions that officers will be on watch for _ among them simmering unhappiness about the City Council's decision last December to approve demolition of many large public housing complexes. A small group of protesters clashed with police as the council was debating on the issue. Police deployed chemical spray and Tasers and some arrests were made.

For the summit, they'll get help from state police, National Guard and the Coast Guard, though Riley wouldn't say how many additional security forces will be deployed.

The summit's scheduled events take place in the Central Business District, not far from the French Quarter but distant from neighborhoods hard hit by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. It was unclear Friday whether the visiting leaders would meet with hurricane victims still rebuilding their homes and lives.

For Calderon, a visit to recovering neighborhoods would present an opportunity to meet some of New Orleans' newcomers _ Hispanic craftsmen attracted to the region by the promise of jobs in the massive effort to rebuild homes and businesses.

After a string of events in early 2007 _ the BCS championship and Sugar Bowl college football games, Mardi Gras and the NBA All-Star Game among them _ the summit will turn the international spotlight on the city.

City leaders and tourism interests want to continue sending a message that New Orleans is open for business, said Mary Beth Romig, spokeswoman for the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Bush announced the summit would be held in New Orleans during his State of the Union speech in January. The president was criticized in 2007 for not including the city, or its struggles, in the speech. Despite billions of dollars of federal investment in rebuilding levees, homes and public infrastructure, the initial response to the flooding that swamped the city left a bad taste for many residents. They think the federal government has failed to do enough to bring the city back.

Mayor Ray Nagin, in January said he will meet with the president during the summit.

Not everyone believes New Orleans is the proper venue for the summit.

One target of protesters is expected to be the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. They say the pact, which aims to share information between the three governments and smooth out regulatory differences, is a threat to national sovereignty and an attempt to create a military partnership to enforce the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Jessica Walker Beaumont, an organizer of a People's Summit on North American issues, also wants to focus on concerns such as increased privatization of hospitals and schools _ "a lot of what NAFTA is about," she said.

Class distinctions, too, will be in the spotlight.

By coming to impoverished New Orleans, Bush is "having the arrogance to say, This is what prosperity looks like," said Kathleen Chandler, of Buffalo, N.Y., an organizer for the U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization. The group plans a demonstration Sunday.

Immigration breaks backs of taxpaying U.S. citizens

2008-04-18T22:08:00.002-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=61861

Immigration breaks backs of taxpaying U.S. citizens
Posted: April 18, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

Are you having a hard time paying your bills, making your mortgage payments or putting your kids through college? You need to know how much of your hard-earned income the government is skimming off and diverting into handouts to immigrants and illegal immigrants.

You can read the depressing details in the new 70-page document called "The Economic and Fiscal Impact of Immigration" by Edwin S. Rubenstein. A Manhattan Institute adjunct fellow with a mile-long scholarly resume, he has been doing financial analysis ever since he directed the studies of government waste for the Grace Commission of 1984.

The bottom line, which you need to know for your own bottom line, is that U.S. taxpayers are giving more than $9,000 a year in cash or benefits to each immigrant, a third of whom are in the country illegally. That's $36,000 for each immigrant household of four.

Because the U.S. has 37 million immigrants, legal and illegal, the national cost was more than $346 billion last year, which was twice our fiscal deficit. The cost of immigrants is so high because, as Rubenstein writes, "Immigrants are poorer, pay less tax and are more likely to receive public benefits than natives."

Big Brother hasn't told you this bad news, perhaps because the government doesn't want you to know why your paychecks are shortchanged. Even the huge amnesty bill that was defeated last year didn't contain one word about its budgetary consequences.

The financial burden immigrants impose on education starts with the 3.8 million K-12 students enrolled in more expensive classes for the non-English speaking. When we add up the costs of hiring specialized teachers, training regular teachers, student identification and assessment, and administration costs, the total amounts to an estimated $1,030 per pupil, or $3.9 billion.

Of the 48.4 million public-school children, pre-K through 12th grade, 9.2 million or 19 percent are immigrants or the children of immigrants. In the next few years, immigration will account for virtually all the increase in public-school spending.

Look at the $1.5 billion cost of incarcerating 267,000 criminal aliens in federal prisons. That's not the worst of it; prison capacity is limited, so 80,000 to 100,000 other criminal aliens have been prematurely released to prowl our streets.

Criminals also impose heavy private costs on their victims. Rubenstein estimates the losses of income and property, hospital bills and emotional suffering at $1.6 million per assault or property-crime offender.

Rubenstein's report includes all sorts of costs that other observers conveniently ignore, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit. EITC gives an average cash payment of $1,700 per year to 25 percent of immigrant households.

The emergency medical treatment given free to illegal immigrants is another enormous cost, causing some hospitals and emergency rooms to close. Emergency means any complaint from hangovers to hangnails, gunshot wounds to AIDS.

Even after some restrictions were imposed in 1996, 24.2 percent of immigrant households receive Medicaid, whereas the figure for native-born Americans is 14.8 percent. Rubenstein calculates that Hispanics account for 19.2 percent of Medicaid enrollment, while they are 13.7 percent of the U.S. population.

The FHA has had a policy of increasing home ownership among low-income immigrants and, therefore, approved FHA mortgages on homes with a down payment of only $200 to $300 and marginal income. Because buyers have so little invested in the house, they can walk away from it when they can't meet the payments, and this has resulted in neighborhoods of abandoned, boarded-up housing.

Refugees are a large and growing fiscal burden because they become immediately eligible for generous taxpayer-paid benefits. Evidence shows they stay dependent on these programs and start chain migrating relatives under the "family reunification" law.

The Interior Department spends millions of dollars to clean up the mountains of trash discarded by illegal immigrants crossing into California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

Some immigration advocates peddle the notion that immigration will solve the future financial burdens of Social Security. Rubenstein shows how foolish is this prediction because today's low-wage workers will surely become tomorrow's expensive retirees.

Another cost that few talk about is that immigrant workers depress the wages received by native-born Americans, and that causes a $100 billion shortfall in federal tax revenue. Harvard University Professor George Borjas found that each 10 percent increase in the U.S. labor force from immigration reduces wages of native-born Americans by 5.25 percent.

Some liberals are trying to tell us to fight a recession by bringing in more immigrants, but that would only raid the pockets of U.S. taxpayers to support more millions of non-taxpayers. It's hard to say which is more outrageous: The diversion of Americans' personal income into cash handouts to foreigners, or the federal government's policy of concealing the fiscal impact of immigration.

Illegal Immigrant Charged In Rape Of Girl, 15

2008-04-18T22:03:00.002-06:00

http://www.kpho.com/news/15915499/detail.html?rss=pho&psp=news

Illegal Immigrant Charged In Rape Of Girl, 15

POSTED: 3:47 pm MST April 17, 2008
UPDATED: 4:06 pm MST April 17, 2008

GUADALUPE, Ariz. -- An illegal immigrant has been arrested on suspicion of raping and kidnapping a 15-year-old girl at her Guadalupe home, Maricopa County sheriff's deputies said.

The MCSO Special Victims Unit arrested Jose Dolores Montoya Sanchez, 24.

Sanchez was booked into the Maricopa County jail late Wednesday on one count of sexual assault, one count of kidnapping and two counts sexual abuse.

Sheriff's deputies said they began investigating the case when the victim disclosed that Sanchez sexually assaulted her at a Guadalupe home.

The 15-year-old was immediately taken to a local hospital for medical treatment, MCSO said. A forensic evaluation confirmed an assault, according to sheriff's investigators.

Sheriff's deputies said Sanchez has been in the country illegally for the past 10 years.

"This suspect sexually assaulted a young innocent girl and this is yet another example of a violent crime committed by an illegal alien in Maricopa County," Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. "The deputies working in Guadalupe did a professional and thorough investigation."

----------------------
MY COMMENT:
Ya, and the Pope, Hillary and Obama (maybe McCain) I don't have much hope.... They would all say they are all hard workers who just come here to work and provide a beter life for their families. What a bunch of SH*T! Creeps like this should be castrated and thrown in with the murderers. Prison is no place for a child molestor.

'Terror plot' to blow up transatlantic flights out of London

2008-04-04T02:24:00.001-06:00

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3672067.ece

'Terror plot' to blow up transatlantic flights out of London
Sean O'Neill, Crime and Security Editor

A British terrorist cell planned to detonate suicide bombs on seven transatlantic flights over North America, causing catastrophic loss of life, a court was told yesterday.

The flights chosen by the alleged terrorists – based in Walthamstow, East London – were scheduled to leave Heathrow Terminal 3 one afternoon carrying almost 2,000 passengers and crew.

Peter Wright, QC, opening the prosecution case against eight men accused of the plot, said that the attacks would have had “a truly global impact”.

The seven aircraft were destined for six American and Canadian cities: New York, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and Montreal.

Related Links
'Men with cold-eyed certainty of fanatics'
Recipe for terror: batteries, camera, drink
DPP: longer terror detention 'not needed'
Mr Wright said that the eight defendants shared a common interest in “inflicting heavy casualties upon an innocent civilian population, all in the name of Islam”.

He told Woolwich Crown Court that the key component of the bombs was a liquid hydrogen peroxide explosive carried in 500ml bottles of soft drinks.

The devices would have been carried in hand luggage, along with detonators made from batteries and disposable cameras.

No date had been finalised for the series of attacks but the alleged conspirators had conducted detailed research on flights leaving London between August and October 2006. The date range included the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

The jury was told that the alleged plot was thwarted when police made a series of arrests on August 9, 2006. That operation prompted a massive security alert at airports worldwide. Passengers were banned from carrying hand luggage and many flights were cancelled. Chaos ensued at airports around the world and international travel ground to a halt. The continuing restrictions on carrying liquids on aircraft are a direct result of security measures imposed after the alleged plot.

Mr Wright named the key plotters as Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 27, and Mohammed Gulzar, 26. He said that Mr Ali and the five other defendants – Waheed Zaman, 23, Tanvir Hussain, 26, Ibrahim Savant, 27, Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, and Umar Islam (aka Brian Young), 29 – were prepared to be suicide bombers along with as many as 12 other plotters.

“They are men with the cold-eyed certainty of the fanatic, prepared to board an aircraft with the necessary ingredients and equipment to construct and detonate a device that would bring about not only loss of their own lives but also of all those who happened to be taking that journey,” he said.

The defendants all deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion on an aircraft. The trial continues.

British Muslims 'planned to kill thousands by bombing SEVEN transatlantic airliners in one go'

2008-04-04T02:21:00.001-06:00

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=555465&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

British Muslims 'planned to kill thousands by bombing SEVEN transatlantic airliners in one go'
By CHARLOTTE GILL and SAM GREENHILL - More by this author »

A gang of British Muslims planned to blow up seven planes within hours in the biggest terrorist atrocity since 9/11, a court heard yesterday.

Two thousand passengers would have died in the plot by eight fanatics working "in the name of Islam", the jury was told.

It could have involved up to 18 suicide bombers. And they were almost ready to strike.

The jets they targeted would all have been bound from Heathrow to cities in the U.S. and Canada, it was claimed.

Once the first had exploded the authorities would have had to watch, powerless, as the six others were downed.

Plastic soft-drink bottles were to be the murder weapon - filled with explosive and connected to a detonator.

The alleged plot led to a ban on liquid containers bigger than 100ml which is still in force at UK airports.

Had it been successful, the death toll would have far eclipsed the 52 killed on July 7, 2005, when four suicide bombers detonated their rucksacks on the London transport system.

And if the conspirators chose to blow themselves up over land, the number of casualties in the air and on the ground could have exceeded the Twin Towers attacks in which nearly 3,000 died.

Yesterday eight men went on trial at Woolwich Crown Court in South-East London accused of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to commit an act of violence likely to endanger the safety of an aircraft.

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said: "What these men intended was a violent and deadly statement of intent which would have a truly global impact.

"These men were actively engaged in a deadly plan designed to bring about what would have been, had they been successful, a civilian death toll from an act of terrorism on an almost unprecedented scale.

"If each of these aircraft was successfully blown up the potential for loss of life was indeed considerable.

"And there would be little if any chance of saving any of them from their impending disaster.

"For when the mid-flight explosions began the authorities would be unable to prevent the other flights from meeting a similar fate as they would already be in mid air and carrying their deadly cargo."

He described the defendants as having the "cold-eyed certainty of the fanatic".

The alleged plot was foiled on August 9, 2006 when two of the key gang members - Abdulla Ahmed Ali and Assad Sarwar - were arrested by police in a town hall car park in Walthamstow, East London following several months of surveillance.

A series of arrests followed including that of Mohammed Gulzar, 26, the alleged third key member of the plot, and led to chaos, cancellation and delays at airports across the UK as a huge security crackdown swung into operation.

The court heard that at the time of the arrests, the bombers were "almost ready to put their plot into practice".

Police found a USB computer memory stick in Ali's pocket which held information on flight timetables and security advice on restricted items for hand luggage and other information about Heathrow Airport.

All the flight details saved on the stick were for outbound flights only and not return trips.

It listed United Airlines, Air Canada and American Airlines flights to Toronto, Montreal, San Francisco, Washington and New York, all leaving from Terminal 3 at Heathrow.

The planes targeted were 777, 767 and 763 jets which could carry between 241 and 285 passengers. All the scheduled flights left Heathrow within little more than two and a half hours of each other between 2.15pm and 4.50pm.

Terror: Prosecutors said the alleged plot would have targeted seven flights operated American Airlines, United Airlines and Air Canada

The plotters' main interest was with flights leaving between August and October 2006.
Ali, 27, married with a young son, also had a pocket notebook in which a "blueprint" for making the bombs and carrying out the plot was written.

Plastic Oasis and Lucozade bottles were to be used by the plotters to make their liquid bombs.

A hypodermic syringe would be inserted into the base to draw out the drink and the bomb mixture would be injected in its place.

A homemade detonator called hexamethylene triperoxide and also known as HMTD would be made from a mixture of household and commercial ingredients and disguised in AA batteries.

Bulbs and wires would connect the bomb mixture with disposable cameras to trigger a charge to set it off.

Of Ali and Sarwar, Mr Wright said: "They shared a common interest.

"It was an interest in which they were actively engaged at the time of their arrest, an interest that involved inflicting heavy casualties upon an unwitting civilian population, all in the name of Islam.

"The means by which they intended to inflict heavy casualties upon ordinary civilians was by the carrying out of a series of coordinated and deadly explosions.

"These men were, we say, indifferent to the carnage that was likely to ensue if their plans were successful.

"To them, the identities of their victims was a complete irrelevance. It is the prosecution case that they intended to cause a series of explosions on board a selected number of transatlantic passenger aircraft.

"The devices were to be smuggled on to the aircraft and detonated in flight by a suicide bomber, a bomber prepared to lose his or her life in this way.

"Inevitably, such an event would also have fatal consequences for the various passengers and crew who happened, quite by chance, to be flying to North America on the day selected by them to commit this atrocity."

Mr Wright said the conspirators plotted to detonate seven bombs on planes leaving from Terminal 3 at Heathrow but that the "extent of their ambitions" went wider.

"A coordinated strike upon the aircraft engaged in these seven flights by the onboard detonation of improvised explosive devices was capable, we say, of producing quite catastrophic consequences for passengers, crew and, indeed, anyone who happened to be in the path of a stricken or disintegrating aircraft, if it plummeted to earth over a populated part of northern Europe or North America.

"Terrifying, we say, though this concept alone may be it is the prosecution case that the conspirators did not confine themselves and did not confine their ambitions merely to the coordinated destruction in mid-flight of these seven aircraft.

"In conversation between two of the main participants, reference was made to 'different terminals', and as many as 18 suicide bombers being involved."

The accused are Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Waheed Zaman, 23, Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, all from Walthamstow, East London, Ibrahim Savant, 27, from Stoke Newington, North London, Mohammed Gulzar, 26, from Barking, East London, Assad Sarwar, 27, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, Tanvir Hussain, 27, from Leyton, East London and Umar Islam, 29, from Plaistow, East London.

All deny the charges. The case continues.

'Condoms and porn' in luggage
A bomb plot "blueprint" scrawled in a diary was seized by police from one of the alleged masterminds, the jury heard.

It set out in chilling detail how mid-air carnage was to be achieved using everyday objects.

And it revealed that the fanatics hoped to hoodwink airport security officers by putting pornographic magazines and condoms in their hand luggage to indicate that they could not be Muslim zealots, the court was told.

Anti-terror police were said to have found the recipe for mass murder in an address book diary belonging to Abdulla Ahmed Ali, one of the alleged ringleaders of the plot.

It revealed plans for the gang to hold a summit five days before their deadly mission, the court heard.

Scribbles seemed to suggest that the gang would each take two bottles of their liquid bombs through security in case one was taken off them.

Ali wrote: "One drink use, other keep in pocket, maybe will not get through."

There were also rambling references to bomb ingredients and how to mix them.

Jury members were shown pages from the diary in which Ali apparently wrote about disguising hydrogen peroxide ('HP') with food dye to make it look like Lucozade.

He wrote: "Lucozade red 1.5 drops", and "Check time taken to dilute in HP".

In an apparent reference to a detonator, Ali allegedly wrote in his diary: "Decide on which battery to use for D, small is best", and "Keys and chewing gum on the D in the electronic device."

Elsewhere, seemingly planning a final meeting with his co-conspirators, he wrote: "Select date, five days B4. All link up."

The diary apparently tells how security staff would be fooled by "dirty mags" and condoms in the gang's hand luggage, the court heard.

A scrawl in Ali's diary said simply: "Prepare dirty mag to distract, condom."

Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said Ali "chose to lie" and said he could not remember when police asked him about the significance of these diary entries.

The prosecutor dubbed the entries a "blueprint" of clear significance to the plot and contained details of how it was to be carried out.

They included lists of various items which could be carried on aircraft without arousing too much attention.

From soft drinks to deadly explosives
Bombs would have been made from everyday items like soft drink bottles and batteries
The bottles and disposable camera batteries, the jury heard.

Liquid explosives disguised with food colouring and mouthwash would be smuggled past security and on to the flights.

There they would be hooked up to homemade detonators powered by tiny camera batteries and set off to cause mid-air carnage, the court heard.

After the alleged plot was uncovered, in August 2006, the authorities banned passengers from carrying most liquids on board aircraft.

The main ingredient of the homemade bombs was said to be hydrogen peroxide, commonly used as hair bleach and easily available on the high street, mixed with other chemicals which the Daily Mail is not naming.

The plan was to drill small holes in the bottom of 500ml plastic bottles of Oasis and Lucozade and pour away the drinks, the jury heard.

Then the conspirators would use a syringe to inject the ready-mixed explosive liquid into the bottles. Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said the hole would be closed with glue to give the appearance of a "factory sealed" bottle.

Once on board the aircraft, the improvised bombs would be hooked up to a detonator disguised as a standard AA 1.5-volt battery, containing a substance known as HMTD - produced from a mixture of household and commercial ingredients which are freely available.

The detonator would be ignited using metal wire, a small bulb or the flash from a disposal camera, said Mr Wright.

He said improvised bombs using similar ingredients had been used in other terrorist attacks.

Website targets racist Hispanics

2008-04-04T02:18:00.001-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50001

Website targets racist Hispanics

Aims to 'counter the false information
dished out by Mexican hate groups'

Posted: May 01, 2006
4:40 pm Eastern
By Ron Strom
© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com

Mexica Movement activists protest in L.A.
A website run by opponents of illegal immigration highlights the tactics of Hispanic activists who defend unlawful aliens, including the use of hate speech, profanity and calls for whites to be deported.

WeHateGringos.com begins with a warning that the site "contain graphic examples of hate and racism that has and is occurring in large cities and small towns across America."

States the site: "The website WeHateGringos.com is dedicated to exposing the other side of illegal immigration ... the side our president, many in Congress, the media and especially the racist hate groups do not want us to see."

WeHateGringos.com is meant as a response to the League of United Latin America Citizens, or LULAC, which reportedly created a website called WeAreRacists.com.

"It had photos of our friends, portrayed as racists. We were infuriated and decided to build a website," the newer site states.

While WeAreRacists.com is currently not an active website, records indicate it is licensed to LULAC.

"WeHateGringos.com is online to counter the false information dished out by Mexican hate groups and spoon-fed to Americans by the mainstream media," states the site.

An introductory Flash video includes audiotape of speakers at rallies denouncing whites and proclaiming that Latinos will take power in the United Sates.

States one pro-illegals speaker on the video: "We're here to show White Anglo-Saxon Protestants of L.A., the few of you who remain, that we are the majority; we claim this land as ours. … If anyone is going to be deported, it's going to be you!"

Another protester shouts: "Go back to Europe where you came from; go back to England!"
Many photos of signs used in pro-illegals rallies are included in the presentation, including "Minutemen, you've taken on a fight larger than you can imagine," and "We are standing in Mexico here!" – presumably at a rally in California.

Besides vulgar chants that cannot be reprinted, one crowd shouts in rhythm: "Our land, our continent, we're taking it back!"

Explains the FAQ page on the site:

"The photos and soundtrack (that make up the intro video) are from real events that happened in California and Virginia. It was never shown on the news, talked about on radio, or written in the newspaper. We knew it was about time to let all Americans know what we know. Illegal aliens are not all 'good people looking for a job.' Federally funded racist Hispanic organizations are not simply 'educating' their people, they are inciting illegal aliens to riot and to demand 'rights' that they do not deserve."
The site is run by married couple Nathan and Linda Muller. Linda has worked for the campaigns of Patrick Buchanan and Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., the leading opponent of illegal immigration in Congress.

Included on the site is a message board, with one thread discussing today's rallies in favor of amnesty for illegals across the nation.

Posted Linda Muller: "I put off all my shopping for groceries, gas and other needs until today. I want American business to know we do not need illegal aliens. I almost wish I needed to go to the motor vehicle department, the bank, or even the hospital. What a pleasure it would be not to have to compete with illegal aliens for services.

"The roads will be safer and less congested, too. Maybe other Americans will notice that our country is better off without illegals and decide deportation is not a bad idea after all.

"It's a great day in the USA!"

As WorldNetDaily reported, the Mexica Movement helped organize a large Los Angeles pro-illegals rally in March. The organization believes it is the "non-indigenous," white, English-speaking U.S. citizens of European descent who have to leave what they call "our continent," not illegal aliens.

China reveals Iran's nuclear secrets to UN

2008-04-04T02:05:00.000-06:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/02/wiran102.xml

China reveals Iran's nuclear secrets to UN
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:51am BST 04/04/2008

China has betrayed one its closest allies by providing the United Nations with intelligence on Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear technology, diplomats have revealed.

Concern over Tehran's secretive research programme has increased in recent weeks after officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, discovered that Iran had obtained information on how to manufacture nuclear-armed weapons.

A heavy-water nuclear facility in Arak and a security guard at an Iranian nuclear enrichment facility

Beijing is believed to have decided to assist the inspectors after documents seized from Iranian officials included blueprints for "shaping" uranium metal into warheads, the testing of high explosives used to detonate radioactive material and the procurement of dual-use technology.

Much of the new material was presented to the governors of the Vienna-based IAEA in February. That meeting is said to have triggered China's change of heart.

Ahmadinejad on National Nuclear Day
Diplomats described Beijing's decision to provide material related to Iran to the IAEA as a potentially significant breakthrough.

Chinese designs for centrifuges that refine uranium into a "weaponised" state have been found in Iran but these are thought to have come through a network controlled by the disgraced Pakistani scientist AQ Khan.

John Bolton, the former American ambassador to the United Nations, said suspicions over the leakage of technology from China to Iran had long centred on uranium enrichment technology and their bilateral ballistic missile trade.

A spokesman for the IAEA said it did not comment on intelligence it received from its members.

Beijing has long-established ties with Iran's clerical regime and has emerged as one of the country's biggest customers for oil and gas.

It has allied itself with Tehran's attempts to prevent the IAEA referring Iran to the UN Security Council, which can impose sanctions.

China has not used its veto powers to block US and British sponsored sanctions but it has ensured the measures were watered down.

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The council has levied three rounds of financial sanctions on Iran in an attempt to force the country to declare all its nuclear activities.

IAEA weapons inspectors report that Iran has not provided full co-operation.

An American intelligence assessment judged it likely that Iran stopped efforts to produce a nuclear weapon in 2003 but there are strong fears it has resumed the work under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Michael Hayden, the director of the CIA, said this week that he believed that Iran is still developing a nuclear bomb.

Meanwhile, Israel has accused Iran of setting up listening stations in Syria to eavesdrop on its military communications network.

Main street parade to honor Muhammad

2008-04-04T02:00:00.002-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=60653

Main street parade to honor Muhammad
Binghamton, N.Y., grants permit for Milad-un-Nabi event

Posted: April 03, 2008
11:15 pm Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Muslim leaders at an encampment at the Catskill Mountains called "Islamberg" have been granted a permit by the city of Binghamton, N.Y., to hold a parade on Saturday in honor of Muhammad's birthday.

The holiday is called Milad-un-Nabi and is being celebrated by a group of families who live at the nearby property owned by Muslims of the Americas, Inc.

The city has the parade scheduled on its calendar from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the downtown area, including its main street, and a report in the local Press & Sun-Bulletin said the celebration previously held on the group's own property this year is being expanded.

"We're trying to do an interfaith thing, we're reach out to the community to do a program based on unity," Maryam Rahim, a spokeswoman, told the newspaper. "We haven't been very well known …. We want everyone to come out and celebrate, may ask questions."

City spokesman Andrew Block said the group secured the appropriate permits to hold the celebration and the city will close down one lane of the downtown's main street for the parade.

Other events will be held in front of the old Broome County courthouse, officials said.

Rahim told the paper some Muslims claim the celebration is not important, but others classify it alongside Eid-ul-Fitr, the celebration that concludes the month of Ramadan for Muslims.

The newspaper said Muslims of the Americas was formed in the 1980s when several families migrated from New York City to make a new start. There now is a mosque and a private school on the land.

However, there are others who describe the location as a training facility for the Pakistani terrorist group Jamaat ul Fuqra.

As WND reported earlier, a covert visit to the encampment found neighboring residents deeply concerned about military-style training taking place there but frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities. The visit was conducted by the Northeast Intelligence Network, which worked with an Internet blogger, "CP," to publish an report.

The neighbors interviewed, who asked not to be identified, said in the report compiled only two years ago they feared retaliation if they were to make a report to law enforcement officials.

"We see children – small children run around over there when they should be in school," one neighbor said. "We hear bursts of gunfire all of the time, and we know that there is military-like training going on there. Those people are armed and dangerous."

The resident said his household gets "nothing but menacing looks from the people who go in and out of the camp, and sometimes they yell at us to mind our own business when we are just driving by."

"We don't even dare to slow down when we drive by," the resident said. "They own this mountain and they know it, and there is nothing we can do about it but move, and we can't even do that. Who wants to buy property next to that?"

Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or "community of the impoverished," was formed by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani in New York in 1980. Gilani, who refers to himself as "the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," has stated his objective is to "purify" Islam through violence.

Sheik Mubarak Gilan
Gilani also is the founder of a village in South Carolina called "Holy Islamville."

"Try to walk down the street where their community (Islamberg) is and you will be greeted by a man armed with a rifle. I have witnessed this on more than one occasion (even prior to 9/11) on Roods Creek Rd. when passing by slowly as I headed out to the Cannonsville reservoir," said a nearby resident who also asked for anonymity.

Fox News earlier reported that the compound has remained shrouded in mystery and fear, partly because it sits near the huge reservoir system that provides New York City with most of its drinking water.

The report said New York State police authorities confirmed they've had the group on file for years.

The compound is on 70 acres of remote land and residents have expressed concern for the gunshots they hear.

"They are training for war, either for war here in this country or against our troops," said one neighbor.

Jamaat ul-Fuqra itself openly recruits through various social service organizations in the U.S., including the prison system. Members live in compounds where they agree to abide by the laws of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, which are considered to be above local, state and federal authority.

An investigation of the group by the Colorado Attorney General's office in the early 1980s found several of the communities operate covert paramilitary training compounds, including one in a mountainous area near Buena Vista, Colo.

Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization, has been directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra. The organization operates communes of primarily black, American-born Muslims throughout the U.S. The investigation confirmed members commonly use aliases and intentional spelling variations of their names and routinely deny the existence of Jamaat ul-Fuqra.

U.S. authorities have probed the group for charges ranging from links to al-Qaida to laundering and funneling money into Pakistan for terrorist activities. The organization supports various terrorist groups operating in Pakistan and Kashmir, and Gilani himself is linked directly to Hamas and Hezbollah. Throughout the 1980s, JF was responsible for a number of terrorist acts across the United States, including numerous fire-bombings.

Gilani was at one time in Pakistani custody for the abduction of American journalist Daniel Pearl. Intelligence sources have determined Pearl was attempting to meet with Gilani in the days before he disappeared in Karachi. Intelligence sources also suggest a link between Jamaat ul Fuqra and Richard Reid, the infamous "shoe bomber" who attempted to ignite explosives aboard a Paris-to-Miami passenger flight Dec. 22, 2001.

----------------
MY COMMENTS:
The secrecy of hese groups is what leds to fear. Hopefully we have nothing to fear and have to trust that the government knows what is going on and will protect us.

Obama was 'quite religious in Islam'

2008-04-04T01:54:00.002-06:00

Obama was 'quite religious in Islam'
Contemporaries, records dispute campaign
claim that he was never 'practicing Muslim'

Posted: April 03, 2008
12:40 am Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

JERUSALEM – Was Sen. Barack Obama a Muslim? Did he ever practice Islam?

The presidential candidate officially rejects the claims, but the issue of Obama's personal faith has re-emerged amid conflicting accounts of his enrollment as a Muslim during elementary school in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Widely distributed reports have noted in January 1968, Obama was registered as a Muslim at Jakarta's Roman Catholic Franciscus Assisi Primary School under the name Barry Soetoro. He was listed as an Indonesian citizen whose stepfather, listed on school documents as "L Soetoro Ma," worked for the topography department of the Indonesian Army.

Catholic schools in Indonesia routinely accept non-Catholic students, but exempt them from studying religion. Obama's school documents, though, wrongly list him as being Indonesian.

After attending the Assisi Primary School, Obama was enrolled – also as a Muslim, according to documents – in the Besuki Primary School, a public school in Jakarta.

The Loatze blog run by an American expatriate in Southeast Asia who visited the Besuki school, noted, "All Indonesian students are required to study religion at school and a young 'Barry Soetoro' being a Muslim would have been required to study Islam daily in school. He would have been taught to read and write Arabic, to recite his prayers properly, to read and recite from the Quran and to study the laws of Islam."

Indeed, the Israel Insider online magazine points out in Obama's autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," he acknowledges studying the Quran and describes the public school as "a Muslim school."

"In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Quranic studies," wrote Obama.

The Indonesian media have been flooded with accounts of Obama's childhood Islamic studies, some describing him as a religious Muslim .

Speaking to the country's Kaltim Post, Tine Hahiyary, who was principal of Obama's school while he was enrolled there, said she recalls he studied the Quran in Arabic.

"At that time, I was not Barry's teacher but he is still in my memory" claimed Tine, who is 80 years old. The Kaltim Post says Obama's teacher, named Hendri, died.

"I remember that he studied 'mengaji (recitation of the Quran)," Tine said, according to an English translation by Loatze.

Mengaji, or the act of reading the Quran with its correct Arabic punctuation, is usually taught to more religious pupils and is not known as a secular study.

Also, Loatze documented the Indonesian daily Banjarmasin Post caught up with Rony Amir, an Obama classmate and Muslim, who describe Obama as "previously quite religious in Islam."

"We previously often asked him to the prayer room close to the house. If he was wearing a sarong (waist fabric worn for religious or casual occasions) he looked funny," Amir said.

The Los Angeles Times, which sent a reporter to Jakarta, quoted Zulfin Adi, who identified himself as among Obama's closest childhood friends, stating the presidential candidate prayed in a mosque, something Obama's campaign claimed he never did.

"We prayed but not really seriously, just following actions done by older people in the mosque. But as kids, we loved to meet our friends and went to the mosque together and played," said Adi.

Obama's official campaign site has a page titled "Obama has never been a Muslim, and is a committed Christian." The page states, "Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ."

But the campaign changed its tune when it issued a slightly different statement to the Times stating Obama "has never been a practicing Muslim."

An article last month by the Chicago Tribune seems to dispute Adi's statements to the L.A. Times. The Tribune catches up with Obama's declared childhood friend, who now describes himself as only knowing Obama for a few months in 1970 when his family moved to the neighborhood. Adi said he was unsure about his recollections of Obama

But the Tribune found Obama did attend mosque.

"Interviews with dozens of former classmates, teachers, neighbors and friends show that Obama was not a regular practicing Muslim when he was in Indonesia," states the Tribune article.

It quotes the presidential candidate's former neighbors and 3rd grade teacher recalling Obama "occasionally followed his stepfather to the mosque for Friday prayers."

Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, notes the Tribune article – cited by liberal blogs as refuting claims Obama is Muslim – actually implies Obama was an irregularly practicing Muslim and twice confirms Obama attended mosque services.

In a free-ranging interview with the New York Times, Obama described the Muslim call to prayer as "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”

The Times' Nicholos Kristof wrote Obama recited, "with a first-class [Arabic] accent," the opening lines of the Muslim call to prayer.

Israel Insider's Reuven Koret notes the first few lines state:

"Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!
Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that Muhammad is his prophet... "
Some attention also has been paid to Obama's paternal side of the family. His father, described in some reports as an atheist, polygamist and alcoholic, was buried in Kenya as a Muslim. Obama Sr., also named Barack Obama, had three sons with another woman who reportedly all are Muslim.

Obama's brother Roy is described as a practicing Muslim.

Writing in a chapter of his book describing his 1992 wedding, the presidential candidate stated: "The person who made me proudest of all was Roy. Actually, now we call him Abongo, his Luo name, for two years ago he decided to reassert his African heritage. He converted to Islam, and has sworn off pork and tobacco and alcohol."

Still, Obama says he was raised by his Christian mother and repeatedly has labeled as "smears" several reports attempting to paint him as a Muslim.

"Let's make clear what the facts are: I am a Christian. I have been sworn in with a Bible. I pledge allegiance [to the American flag] and lead the pledge of allegiance sometimes in the United States Senate when I'm presiding," he told the UK's Times Online earlier this year.

-------------------
MY COMMENTS:
I think everyone knows he's a Muslim. Devote I don't know, but Muslim.. yes.

TIME TO PROTEST ABSOLUT VODKA!

2008-04-04T01:51:00.002-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=60642

Company 'gives away' U.S. Southwest to Mexico
Vodka ad shows 'Absolut world' in which California, Arizona, others secede

Posted: April 03, 2008
5:16 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A new ad for Absolut vodka reconfigures North America according to the aspirations of many Mexicans, who believe the U.S. Southwest was stolen and should be returned.

Over a redrawn map of the U.S., the ad by the Absolut Spirits Co. declares, "In an Absolut World," noted columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin.

Major Hispanic civil rights groups in the U.S., such as the National Council of La Raza, are tied to movements advocating a "reconquista," or reconquest, of territory lost when Mexico signed the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo at the end of the Mexican-American War.

As WND reported in 2006, Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., called on La Raza to renounce its support of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan – which sees "The Race" as part of an ethnic group that one day will reclaim Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs. In Chicano folklore, Aztlan includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas.

In 2002, a prominent Chicano activist and University of California at Riverside professor, Armando Navarro, told WND he believed secession is inevitable if demographic and social trends continue.

"If in 50 years most of our people are subordinated, powerless, exploited and impoverished, then I will say to you that there are all kinds of possibilities for movements to develop like the ones that we've witnessed in the last few years all over the world, from Yugoslavia to Chechnya," Navarro said.

"A secessionist movement is not something that you can put away and say it is never going to happen in the United States," he contended. "Time and history change."

Navarro said one could argue "that while Mexico lost the war in 1848, it will probably win it in the 21st century, in terms of the numbers," "But that is not a reality based on what Mexico does, it's based on what this country does," he insisted.

In a 1995 speech to Chicano activists, Navarro said demographic trends are leading to "a transfer of power" to the ethnic Mexican community in the Southwest. He notes that most studies show that within the next 20 to 30 years Latinos will comprise more than 50 percent of the population of California. This fact, and other cultural and social developments, are opening the door for "self-determination" and even "the idea of an Aztlan," he said in his speech.

Throw the Book at 'Em: Judge Sentences Three Men to Learn English or Go to Jail

2008-03-28T15:42:00.002-06:00

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342312,00.html

Throw the Book at 'Em: Judge Sentences Three Men to Learn English or Go to JailThursday, March 27, 2008

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — A judge known for creative sentencing has ordered three Spanish-speaking men to learn English or go to jail.

The men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs, Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said.

The men, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo, plus a fourth defendant, Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, all needed translators when they pleaded guilty Tuesday.

"Do you think we are going to supply you with a translator all of your life?" the judge asked them.

The four, ranging in age from 17 to 22, were in a group that police said accosted two men on a street in May. The two said they were asked if they had marijuana, told to empty their pockets, struck on the head, threatened with a gun and told to stay off the block.

Attorneys for the men said they were studying the legality of the ruling and had not decided whether to appeal. One of the attorneys, Ferris Webby, suggested that the ruling was good for his client, Guzman-Mateo.

"My client is happy," Webby said. "I think it's going to help him."

The judge sentenced the four men to jail terms of four to 24 months. But he gave the three men, who already had served at least four months, immediate parole. Reyes-Rosario remains imprisoned on an unrelated drug charge.

Olszewski ordered the three to return with their parole officers in a year and take an English test. "If they don't pass, they're going in for the 24 (months)," he said.

Olszewski is known for outside-the-box sentencing.

He has ordered young defendants who are school dropouts to finish school. He often orders defendants to get full-time employment. But he also has his staff coordinate with an employment agency to help them find the jobs.

--------------------------
MY COMMENTS:
While I like creative rulings... paroling these men is a slap on the wrist.
Are these men LEGAL IMMIGRANTS???? That's my main question. If they are illegals.. they should serve their jail time and then be deported.

"The men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs."

Ummmm... I don't see how this is punishment....

Texas Authorities Struggle Against Wave of Undocumented Workers

2008-03-28T15:35:00.002-06:00

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/usworld/news-article.aspx?storyid=105474

Texas Authorities Struggle Against Wave of Undocumented Workers

HOUSTON, TX -- Police in Jackson County, Texas are hoping new funding will help them stem the tide of illegal immigrants being smuggled through their jurisdiction.

Sheriff's deputies, police and even game wardens have been taking par in recent round-ups, but they say they're simply overwhelmed by the number of illegal immigrants they're encountering.

"It seems there are seasons when they're coming and when they're not," said Louderback. "Most of the jobs they're after are construction, outdoor-related, manual labor jobs. Those come available in the summer."

"We're a main corridor," said Louderback. "We recently had some that were from China."

Louderback said dealing with these border-related problems can, at times, strain a department with only eight deputies and three investigators.

With the spring and summer months here, Sheriff Louderback expects an increase in human smuggling.

"It's an organized effort. There's money to be made from trafficking humans," said Louderback. "They're headed to Houston. Houston is the draw that they're headed to."

Louderback also said there have been times when his deputies spotted so many car loads of illegal immigrants on the road at the same time they had to let some of them go because they just didn't have the manpower to chase down all of the cars.

Jackson County is now getting help through the Governor's Border Star program, which gives grant money and extra resources to all border counties.

Jackson County is the tail end of the Coastal Bend region and will get more $200,000 specifically to help combat human smuggling.

Last year alone, Jackson County arrested close to 670 illegal immigrants, but also report approximately another 680 got away.

-----------------------
OTHERS COMMENTS:
Fool on the hill
Petaluma, CA
Well, I'm glad to see some governmental agencies are finaly begining to wake up. They won't realize that there is a problem until they try to put a stop to it and now they are trying to put a stop to it.

mick
Dallas, TX Where is the Gov Perry while this invasion continues? He is meeting with Mexico to inport even more Illegals!

American K
Cheyenne, WY this problem has been going on such a long time now. at least cities are finally starting to take notice and fight back. our government has failed us so far. i hear half of houston is hispanic and i'm willing to bet half of those hispanics are illegal.
it's horrible that so many of our tax dollars are spent trying to catch these illegal aliens but it has to be done. i'd much rather have my taxes go to law enforcement and get these invaders before they settle and have anchor babies. when they do that they get all the benefits.
i heard on the news today that the amt of food stamp recipients has gone way up since 2001. guess who's really been invading like crazy since that time. guess who's population has grown immensly since that time. yes, the hispanic population!!
you know what really ticks me off is that the media keeps reporting about the fastest growing minority, but NEVER differentiates between the illegal and legal hispanic population. why is this? it's to keep americans in the dark.
well, i think americans are finally seeing the light.
stop the madness!! end the invasion!! go after the employers and deport all of the illegal aliens. oh, and fix the 14th amendment. the loophole has been abused for way too long.

Madhatter
Hemet, CA
Wonder why all these illegals are overwhelming us?
Because of the last AMNESTY!
As well as the lack of immigration enforcement.
They've even allowed loans for illegal aliens!
The new worthless candidates have opened their big mouths about another amnesty so now millions more illegals are trying to make it in to win this big prize.
Nothing but worthless politicians in the U.S.

Ex_OC
Nampa, ID
The illegals are also coming from AZ and OK which have the best anti-illegal alien laws so far. TX is being bombarded on all sides. And yes, definitely, HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM! With all the illegals in Houston, it must look like a dump.

Bobby
Long Beach, CA
Some liberals are always blaming the U.S. and saying, well it's because of NAFTA that illegal aliens come here, etc. Absolutley TRUE. Ross Perot said there would be a giant sucking sound of jobs and money heading south. Question, does the Mexican government ever have any responsibility when it comes to "THEIR" poor. NAFTA, pushed by Bill Clinton and Hillary, has ruined many Americans also. We are going to have to fix it. The problem is the three shills for Corporate America running for President aren't going to do it. Dr. Ron Paul would but that's another story. Americans are too ignorant to even know what he is talking about.

Bobby
Long Beach, CA
I have to add another thing to my previous post. Just because illegal aliens come here looking for work, does that automatically imply that they should be allowed to stay here? They don't care about this nation. The Gran Marches in which they attacked, verbally and physically American citizens across the nation proved that. Also, why do taxpayers have to pay for their enormous social services while they work here, when so many Americans are themselves sturggling. Is the Bush Administration supported by the Democrats trying to replace Americans with a "New" people?

Still think there is no RECONQUISTA agenda?
Check out what these so called Americans have to say.
We have a mayor of Los Angeles, a speaker of to CA. state assembly, two professors, a Chairman of CA. Democratic Party, a CA. state Senator…( don’t know if they currently hold these positions)

http://nau.vodpod.com/video/1021472-the-natio...

GPO profits go to bonuses and trips

2008-03-28T15:29:00.001-06:00

http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080327/NATION/338588834/0/BUSINESS

GPO profits go to bonuses and trips
Part two of a three-part series on the outsourcing of passports.

When the government's main printing agency booked $100 million in unexpected profit it went on a spending spree: large bonuses to top managers, trips to Paris and Las Vegas, and an official photo of the boss that cost $10,000.

The bonuses, some nearly as high as $13,000, and travel are raising questions among congressional investigators and Government Printing Office officials about whether the agency is misusing its newfound wealth and whether it received the proper authority for some of the larger compensation payments from the Office of Budget and Management.

Additionally, investigators are looking into whether Public Printer Robert C. Tapella paid close to $10,000 for photographs of himself for his office and during his swearing-in ceremony in November.

The spending comes as GPO recorded record profits of about $100 million over the past 16 months by selling blank passports produced by its printing and binding services to the State Department at more than twice the cost. The investigation also has raised security concerns about the use of overseas companies for components and assembly of the computerized electronic passports.

GPO spokesman Gary Somerset said the process for "goal-based performance" bonuses began five years ago and enables employees "to earn bonuses based on performance of the agency as a whole" as well as individual job performance.

The bonuses are part of a 2005 plan by GPO, which is a monopoly printer for the U.S. government, to generate greater revenues under the assumption that a private-sector business model is more efficient, GPO documents show.

Mr. Somerset said all travel was authorized in line with government regulations and funded through GPO's operating budget.

"GPO officials from all business units are continuously researching ideas and innovations in order to stay on the cutting edge of new technology for the 21st century," he said. "That requires GPO officials to travel domestically and internationally to pursue new manufacturing techniques, participate in conferences supporting the agency's mission of digitizing government documents, and meeting with officials from other countries ensuring the interpretability of the e-passport with supporting countries."

Mr. Somerset initially denied Mr. Tapella spent nearly $10,000 for a singled framed photograph.

Later, however, Maria S. Lefevre, GPO's chief of staff, said the work contracted for Mr. Tapella's official portrait, "was expensive," but said the high costs came from securing copyrights for five photos from the photographer. She said the costs were similar to what other government agencies pay for such portraits.

Ms. LeFevre said the purchase order for the photo for $10,000 included about $8,900 for the portrait, and an additional $2,600 for commercial photographs taken at Mr. Tapella's swearing-in ceremony Nov. 6.

Bonus question
Bush administration officials and congressional investigators said they are concerned about some of the travel by senior GPO officials and the bonuses they received.

Investigators say that at least 25 GPO officials received bonuses of between $2,000 and $12,920 that totaled $181,593. The bonuses were paid for fiscal 2005 and fiscal 2006, but have not yet been paid for 2007, investigators said.

Initially, the bonuses were only given to senior level executives, but later payments were given to other officials.

Ben Brink, the GPO official in charge of making secure documents like the e-passport, received a $5,000 bonus. Mr. Brink was the official who worked out a deal with the staff of Sen. Trent Lott, Mississippi Republican, to shift the location of a secure passport production facility from Nevada, to Mississippi's Gulf Coast, an area devastated by Hurricane Katrina and vulnerable to severe weather.

Steven Shedd, GPO's chief financial officer, was paid a $12,920 bonus, and William Boesch Jr., the GPO comptroller, was paid $12,128 in bonuses. GPO Chief Information Officer Reynolds Schweickhardt, was paid $8,816 in bonuses, and Bruce O'Dell, director of technology integration and transformation at GPO, was paid about $8,500 in bonuses.

Gregory Brower, the GPO general counsel until last year, also received a $7,500 bonus. Mr. Brower, now U.S. attorney in Nevada, made a key legal opinion that permitted GPO to make large profits from the sale of passports to the State Department, despite laws restricting GPO to operating at basically a break-even business model.

Chief Human Capital Officer William Harris was paid $10,792, and a GPO production manager, Robert Schwenk, was paid $11,400. Another production manager, Jeffrey Bernazzoli, was paid $9,645.

Beth Telford, secretary to the public printer, also received a $2,000 bonus. Judith Russell, GPO's superintendent of documents was given a $7,500 bonus, and Veronica Meter, GPO's public relations director was given a $6,336 bonus.

Profit limits
Critics, however, said generating large profits is not part of GPO's allowed operating regulations, which limit the agency to operating at a break-even business model.

The pressure to generate GPO revenue has brought results. Investigators say overall revenues generated by GPO increased sharply from $775 million in fiscal 2006, to $888 million last year to a projected level of just over $1 billion this year. All the added revenues come from GPO's Security and Intelligent Document unit, which makes the blank e-passports.

"Encouraging increased revenues is proper for the private sector," said one administration official close to GPO. "But for a government monopoly, it translates into higher costs for customers and for the American taxpayer."

Additionally, records obtained by congressional investigators show unusual travel by senior GPO officials to conferences and other events in such places as Las Vegas; Atlantic City, N.J.; London; Paris; Hamburg, Germany; and Tokyo, among other locations.

Mr. Brink, the assistant public printer for Security and Intelligence Documents, for example, traveled to Paris in June 2006 for an electronic-passport forum that cost more than $5,000. He also traveled to London in May 2006 for a trip that cost $3,800.

Mr. Brower, who was the general counsel and acting inspector general, also traveled extensively throughout the United States, and Rick Grasso, GPO's information technology specialist, made trips to London; Osaka and Tokyo, Japan; Bangkok and numerous domestic U.S. trips between 2003 and 2007, totaling more than $50,000.

Former Public Printer Bruce James logged about $22,000 in travel including a trip to Paris in June 2006 that cost more than $15,000.

James A. "Tony" Ogden, a GPO lawyer and adviser, also made extensive travel costing more than $21,000, including a 2004 trip to Hawaii and a 2006 trip to Paris. He also traveled to Hamburg and Milan, Italy, in 2006. Mr. Ogden is currently the GPO inspector general.

Mr. Tapella, the current public printer in charge of GPO, also traveled extensively when he was GPO chief of staff, spending more than $50,000, including two trips to Paris in 2006 that cost $17,000.

Security question
Additionally, The Washington Times' investigation disclosed that the security of the blank-passport production involves computer chips purchased in Europe and then shipped to Thailand for outfitting with a wire antenna that transmits personal data to an electronic scanner at U.S. border entry points. Security specialists said the use of foreign chips and assembly abroad makes the blank passports, a key travel document, vulnerable to theft or counterfeiting.

GPO officials, however, insist the production process is secure.

A Dutch company that assembles e-passport covers in Thailand, Smartrac Technology Ltd., said it could not guarantee steady production of passports and warned in its annual report that social unrest in Thailand could halt production.

Internal GPO documents obtained by The Times revealed that GPO has faced security problems related to passport production, including the use of unsecure FedEx couriers.

Officials at GPO, the Homeland Security Department and the State Department said they review security of overseas suppliers and that the production process is secure.

GPO said it chose foreign suppliers over U.S. chip manufacturers because no U.S. companies could make the chips needed.

U.S. Based Revolution Muslim Website Spreading Messages of Hate

2008-03-28T15:25:00.002-06:00

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,341811,00.html

U.S. Based Revolution Muslim Website Spreading Messages of Hate

NEW YORK, N.Y. — On any given day, log on to RevolutionMuslim.com and a host of startling images appear:

— The Statue of Liberty, with an ax blade cutting through her side;

— Video mocking the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl, entitled "Daniel Pearl I am Happy Your Dead :) ";

— Video of a puppet show lampooning U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq;

— The latest speech from Sheikh Abdullah Faisal, an extremist Muslim cleric convicted in the UK and later deported for soliciting the murder of non-Muslims.

Even more surprising is that RevolutionMuslim.com isn't being maintained in some remote safe house in Pakistan. Instead, Yousef al-Khattab, the Web site creator, runs it from his home in the New York City Borough of Queens.

And, because al-Khattab enjoys the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, all the authorities can do is watch.

Formerly known as Joseph Cohen, al-Khattab is an American-born Jew who converted to Islam after attending an Orthodox Rabbinical school, which he later described as a “racist cult.”

The 39-year-old New York taxi driver launched RevolutionMuslim.com with the mission of “preserving Islamic culture,” “calling people to the oneness of God” and asking them to “support the beloved Sheik Abdullah Faisal, who’s preaching the religion of Islam and serving as a spiritual guide.”

In 2003 Faisal was convicted in the U.K. for spreading messages of racial hatred and urging his followers to kill Jews, Hindus and Westerners. In sermon recordings played at his trial, Faisal called on young, impressionable Muslims to use chemical weapons to “exterminate unbelievers” and “cut the throat of the Kaffars [nonbelievers] with [a] machete.”Authorities believe Faisal’s sermons have influenced 2005 London transport bomber Germaine Lindsay and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, who attended mosques where Faisal preached.

At times, al-Khattab's postings are farcical, such as a picture of him holding the book "Nuclear Jihad" with a wry smile on his face. Other messages call for radical Muslim rule worldwide.

Al-Khattab claims the Sept. 11 terror attacks were an “inside job,” and he blames U.S. foreign policy for spawning the terrorism that carried out the attacks.

He calls Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and beheaded in 2002 by Islamic extremists in Pakistan, “a convicted spy.”

“I could care less about Daniel Pearl,” al-Khattab said in an interview with FOXNews.com. “I’m happy to see that he’s gone.”

The content changes constantly. One reason is that the fast flow of information allows messages to spread through cyberspace quickly. Another, terrorism analysts say, is to make it difficult for law enforcement to monitor the site.

Despite his radical anti-Western views, al-Khattab says he does not support terrorism of any kind.

Yet, RevolutionMuslim.com claims to be the official site of “North American representatives” for Sheikh Faisal, and it appears dedicated to spreading his radical doctrine.

He says Faisal “never said to kill innocent people” and was unjustly imprisoned. He says the real terror organizations are the U.S. Army, the CIA, and the FBI — and the National Coast Guard, “to a lesser extent.”

According to RevolutionMuslim, Faisal — who was deported to his native Jamaica in 2007 — is now receiving donations solicited on the site, including money for a new laptop and DVD burner to spread his message.

It's not illegal to post these messages or collect money for Faisal, but it would be if Faisal were designated a terrorist by the U.S. government. He currently is not listed on any government terror list; a Department of Justice spokesman could not confirm or deny if Faisal is being investigated for any terror related activity.

RevolutionMuslim may look amateurish when compared with other extremist Web sites, but it is no less of a threat, says Mia Bloom, political science professor at the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs.

“It may lead people who become radicalized by it to turn to other, more dangerous Web sites,” such as those run by terrorist organizations, she said.

Bloom characterized al-Khattab’s message as “narrow” and “misinformed” and said he is attempting to “proselytize or radicalize people who share some of these same ideas.”

“[He] has obviously been duped or is duping others because that’s not what Islam preaches,” she said.

On his site al-Khattab appears to condemn the very democracy that guarantees him the freedom to express himself — a freedom he cites in a disclaimer on his homepage:

“We hereby declare and make absolute public declaration that revolutionmuslim.com operates under the first amendment right to freedom of religion and expression and that in no way, shape, or form do we call for war against the U.S. government or adhere to the enemies of the United States elsewhere.”

Under the law FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said it is difficult to bring criminal charges against the operators of Web sites like RevolutionMuslim.com unless specific threats are made against an individual or individuals.

Kolko while not speaking directly about RevolutionMuslim said radical sites like these are not often prosecuted.

"It's usually a First Amendment right if they don't cross the threshold of making any threats," said Kolko. "There's nothing we should or could do."

“Until the rhetoric reaches the point in which it’s no longer protected speech under the first amendment, it’s hard to stop it,” said security expert, Harvey Kushner.

--------------------
MY COMMENTS:
DEPORT THIS MAN IMMEDIATELY. There is a difference between freedom of speech and inciting hate.

Charges dropped against Marine in Haditha case

2008-03-28T15:21:00.003-06:00

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080328181017.afmb9h69&show_article=1

Charges dropped against Marine in Haditha case
Mar 28 02:11 PM US/Eastern

Charges against a US Marine allegedly involved in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha were dropped on Friday ahead of his trial, the military said in a statement.

A court martial for lance corporal Stephen Tatum had been due to start on Friday on charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault.

However in a statement released from the Marines Camp Pendleton base outside San Diego, the military said the charges had been dismissed "in order to continue to pursue the truth seeking process into the Haditha incident."

It was not immediately clear if fresh charges could be laid against Tatum at a later date or whether the soldier may now cooperate with prosecutors.

Tatum had been accused of shooting dead two unarmed children as Marines cleared houses near the scene of a deadly roadside bombing in Haditha, 260 kilometers west of Baghdad, on November 19, 2005.

The deaths were part of a grim civilian toll from the Marines' actions in Haditha. Four soldiers were initially charged with murder and four officers accused of staging a cover-up.

However, since charges against the soldiers were first announced in late 2006, prosecutors have struggled to make the allegations stick.

Four of the eight have had charges against them dropped, while charges of murder were replaced by the lesser offence of manslaughter in the cases of Tatum and his squad leader Sergeant Frank Wuterich.

The military investigator overseeing Tatum's pre-trial hearing had recommended all charges against the soldier be dismissed.

The killings in Haditha are the most serious allegations of war crimes leveled at US forces since the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

-----------------------
MY COMMENTS:
Do the reseacrh folks. THERE WAS NO MASSACRE AT HADITHA! IT WAS ALL A LIE!!!! These men did their job and did it well. These is video eveidence from drones to support this fact, and I hope the public will get to see the videos soon.

Doubting Global Warming Is Man-Made Is Akin To Believing Earth Is Flat

2008-03-28T15:12:00.004-06:00

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/27/60minutes/main3974389.shtml

Gore's Message To Climate Change Skeptics
Tells 60 Minutes That Doubting Global Warming Is Man-Made Is Akin To Believing Earth Is Flat

Gore On Climate Naysayers
Al Gore says that thinking climate change isn't manmade is like believing the moon landing was staged and that the earth is flat.

(CBS) Self-avowed "P.R. agent for the planet" Al Gore says those who still doubt that global warming is caused by man - among them, Vice President Dick Cheney - are acting like the fringe groups who think the 1969 moon landing never really happened, or who once believed the world is flat.

The former vice president and former presidential candidate talks to 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl in an interview to be broadcast this Sunday, March 30, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Confronted by Stahl with the fact some prominent people, including the nation’s vice president, are not convinced that global warming is man-made, Gore responds: "You're talking about Dick Cheney. I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view, they’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the world is flat,” says Gore. "That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off," he tells Stahl.

Gore’s campaign to make the world more aware of man’s role in global warming won him the Nobel Peace Prize last year. He donated the $750,000 prize money to The Alliance for Climate Protection, the non-profit he started to help him on his quest. He and his wife, Tipper, tell Stahl they not only matched the Nobel money with their own, but they are also donating to the organization the significant profits from his book and Oscar-winning documentary film about global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth." The funds will help The Alliance for Climate Protection execute a new $300 million ad campaign on global warming set to start next week.

Some of the ads will feature unlikely alliances to drive home the message that people of all stripes are concerned about global warming. These include the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Pat Robertson, Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks, and Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich.

----------------------
MY COMMENTS:
WHAT A BUNCH OF WACKOS! If you honestly believe that mankind is the cause of global warming (if indeed there is such a thing as global warming which I doubt) you are a moron. The arth goes through natural cycles of warming and cooling. We have nothing to do with these cycles. Not saying we shouldn't try to help our enviroment, but passing ridiculous laws and all this PC green garbage is really starting to get downright annoying.

Iran Youths' Hair Raising Rebellion.

2008-03-26T21:48:00.000-06:00

Iran Youths' Hair Raising Rebellion.The strict dress codes imposed by Iran's religious leaders mean there is little room for personal expression for the country's youngsters.

Iran to build power plant in Nicaragua

2008-03-26T21:46:00.000-06:00

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=599_1205389628

Iran to build power plant in Nicaragua
Thu, 13 Mar 2008 05:38:17

Iran will build a power plant in Nicaragua.
Nicaraguan Energy Minister Emilio Rappaccioli says Iran has approved financing to construct a power plant in the Central American country.

An Iranian firm will build the hydroelectric project which is expected to cost $120 million, Reuters reported on Thursday.

The construction of the power plant is expected to be finished by 2011.

Despite US warnings, the Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has developed strong ties with Iran and Venezuela.

The Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has also sent large electricity generators to Nicaragua this year that have helped shorten the blackouts in the country.

MGH/RA

www.presstv.com

Silver Star to SPC Monica Brown

2008-03-26T21:45:00.000-06:00

Vice President Dick Cheney presented the Silver Star to SPC Monica Brown in Afghanistan, March 20, 2008

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Vets for Freedom Banned From High School

2008-03-26T21:44:00.000-06:00

Vets for Freedom Banned From High School
The socialist vermin prove everyday what side they are really on.

Outsourced passports netting govt. profits, risking national security

2008-03-26T21:26:00.003-06:00

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080326/NATION/840186493/1001

Outsourced passports netting govt. profits, risking national security
By Bill Gertz
March 26, 2008

FAKES: Experts fear the U.S. Government Printing Office's practice of outsourcing the manufacture of passports could lead to fakes like these counterfeit European Union passports.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the first in a three-part series on the outsourcing of passports.

The United States has outsourced the manufacturing of its electronic passports to overseas companies — including one in Thailand that was victimized by Chinese espionage — raising concerns that cost savings are being put ahead of national security, an investigation by The Washington Times has found.

The Government Printing Office's decision to export the work has proved lucrative, allowing the agency to book more than $100 million in recent profits by charging the State Department more money for blank passports than it actually costs to make them, according to interviews with federal officials and documents obtained by The Times.

The profits have raised questions both inside the agency and in Congress because the law that created GPO as the federal government's official printer explicitly requires the agency to break even by charging only enough to recover its costs.

Lawmakers said they were alarmed by The Times' findings and plan to investigate why U.S. companies weren't used to produce the state-of-the-art passports, one of the crown jewels of American border security.

"I am not only troubled that there may be serious security concerns with the new passport production system, but also that GPO officials may have been profiting from producing them," said Rep. John D. Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Officials at GPO, the Homeland Security Department and the State Department played down such concerns, saying they are confident that regular audits and other protections already in place will keep terrorists and foreign spies from stealing or copying the sensitive components to make fake passports.

"Aside from the fact that we have fully vetted and qualified vendors, we also note that the materials are moved via a secure transportation means, including armored vehicles," GPO spokesman Gary Somerset said.

But GPO Inspector General J. Anthony Ogden, the agency's internal watchdog, doesn't share that confidence. He warned in an internal Oct. 12 report that there are "significant deficiencies with the manufacturing of blank passports, security of components, and the internal controls for the process."

The inspector general's report said GPO claimed it could not improve its security because of "monetary constraints." But the inspector general recently told congressional investigators he was unaware that the agency had booked tens of millions of dollars in profits through passport sales that could have been used to improve security, congressional aides told The Times.

Decision to outsource
GPO is an agency little-known to most Americans, created by Congress almost two centuries ago as a virtual monopoly to print nearly all of the government's documents, from federal agency reports to the president's massive budget books that outline every penny of annual federal spending. Since 1926, it also has been charged with the job of printing the passports used by Americans to enter and leave the country.

When the government moved a few years ago to a new electronic passport designed to foil counterfeiting, GPO led the work of contracting with vendors to install the technology.

Each new e-passport contains a small computer chip inside the back cover that contains the passport number along with the photo and other personal data of the holder. The data is secured and is transmitted through a tiny wire antenna when it is scanned electronically at border entry points and compared to the actual traveler carrying it.

According to interviews and documents, GPO managers rejected limiting the contracts to U.S.-made computer chip makers and instead sought suppliers from several countries, including Israel, Germany and the Netherlands.

Mr. Somerset, the GPO spokesman, said foreign suppliers were picked because "no domestic company produced those parts" when the e-passport production began a few years ago.

After the computer chips are inserted into the back cover of the passports in Europe, the blank covers are shipped to a factory in Ayutthaya, Thailand, north of Bangkok, to be fitted with a wire Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, antenna. The blank passports eventually are transported to Washington for final binding, according to the documents and interviews.

The stop in Thailand raises its own security concerns. The Southeast Asian country has battled social instability and terror threats. Anti-government groups backed by Islamists, including al Qaeda, have carried out attacks in southern Thailand and the Thai military took over in a coup in September 2006.

The Netherlands-based company that assembles the U.S. e-passport covers in Thailand, Smartrac Technology Ltd., warned in its latest annual report that, in a worst-case scenario, social unrest in Thailand could lead to a halt in production.

Smartrac divulged in an October 2007 court filing in The Hague that China had stolen its patented technology for e-passport chips, raising additional questions about the security of America's e-passports.

Transport concerns
A 2005 document obtained by The Times states that GPO was using unsecure FedEx courier services to send blank passports to State Department offices until security concerns were raised and forced GPO to use an armored car company. Even then, the agency proposed using a foreign armored car vendor before State Department diplomatic security officials objected.

Concerns that GPO has been lax in addressing security threats contrast with the very real danger that the new e-passports could be compromised and sold on the black market for use by terrorists or other foreign enemies, experts said.

"The most dangerous passports, and the ones we have to be most concerned about, are stolen blank passports," said Ronald K. Noble, secretary general of Interpol, the Lyon, France-based international police organization. "They are the most dangerous because they are the most difficult to detect."

Mr. Noble said no counterfeit e-passports have been found yet, but the potential is "a great weakness and an area that world governments are not paying enough attention to."

Lukas Grunwald, a computer security expert, said U.S. e-passports, like their European counterparts, are vulnerable to copying and that their shipment overseas during production increases the risks. "You need a blank passport and a chip and once you do that, you can do anything, you can make a fake passport, you can change the data," he said.

Separately, Rep. Robert A. Brady, chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing, has expressed "serious reservations" about GPO's plan to use contract security guards to protect GPO facilities. In a Dec. 12 letter, Mr. Brady, a Pennsylvania Democrat, stated that GPO's plan for conducting a security review of the printing office was ignored and he ordered GPO to undertake an outside review.

Questionable profits
GPO's accounting adds another layer of concern.

The State Department is now charging Americans $100 or more for new e-passports produced by the GPO, depending on how quickly they are needed. That's up from a cost of around just $60 in 1998.

Internal agency documents obtained by The Times show each blank passport costs GPO an average of just $7.97 to manufacture and that GPO then charges the State Department about $14.80 for each, a margin of more than 85 percent, the documents show.

The accounting allowed GPO to make gross profits of more than $90 million from Oct. 1, 2006, through Sept. 30, 2007, on the production of e-passports. The four subsequent months produced an additional $54 million in gross profits.

The agency set aside more than $40 million of those profits to help build a secure backup passport production facility in the South, still leaving a net profit of about $100 million in the last 16 months. GPO was initially authorized by Congress to make extra profits in order to fund a $41 million backup production facility at a rate of $1.84 per passport. The large surplus, however, went far beyond the targeted funding.

The large profits raised concerns within GPO because the law traditionally has mandated that the agency only charge enough to recoup its actual costs.

According to internal documents and interviews, GPO's financial officers and even its outside accounting firm began to inquire about the legality of the e-passport profits.

To cut off the debate, GPO's outgoing legal counsel signed a one-paragraph memo last fall declaring the agency was in compliance with the law prohibiting profits, but offering no legal authority to back up the conclusion. The large profits accelerated, according to the officials, after the opinion issued Oct. 12, 2007, by then-GPO General Counsel Gregory A. Brower. Mr. Brower, currently U.S. Attorney in Nevada, could not be reached and his spokeswoman had no immediate comment.

Fred Antoun, a lawyer who specializes in GPO funding issues, said the agency was set up by Congress to operate basically on a break-even financial basis.

"The whole concept of GPO is eat what you kill," Mr. Antoun said. "For the average taxpayer, for them to make large profits is kind of reprehensible."

Likewise, a 1990 report by Congress' General Accounting Office stated that "by law, GPO must charge actual costs to customers," meaning it can't mark up products for a profit.

Like the security concerns, GPO officials brush aside questions about the profits. Agency officials declined a request from The Times to provide an exact accounting of its e-passport costs and revenues, saying only it would not be accurate to claim it has earned the large profits indicated by the documents showing the difference between the manufacturing costs and the State Department fees.

Questioned about its own annual report showing a $90 million-plus profit on e-passports in fiscal year 2007 alone, the GPO spokesman Mr. Somerset would only say that he thinks the agency is in legal compliance and that "GPO is not overcharging the State Department."

Mr. Somerset said 66 different budget line items are used to price new passports and "we periodically review our pricing structure with the State Department."

Public Printer Robert Tapella, the GPO's top executive, faced similar questions during a House subcommittee hearing on March 6. Mr. Tapella told lawmakers that increased demand for passports — especially from Americans who now need them to cross into Mexico and Canada — produced "accelerated revenue recognition," and "not necessarily excess profits."

GPO plans to produce 28 million blank passports this year up from about 9 million five years ago.

A State Department consular affairs spokesman, Steve Royster referred questions to GPO on e-passports costs.

Congress to weigh in
GPO's explanations have not satisfied lawmakers, who are poised to dig deeper.

Mr. Dingell, the House Commerce chairman, said The Times' findings are "extremely serious to both the integrity of the e-passport program and to U.S. national security" and he has asked an investigative subcommittee chaired by Rep. Bart Stupak, Michigan Democrat, to begin an investigation.

"Our initial inquiry suggests that more needs to be done to understand whether the supply chain is secure and fully capable of protecting the manufacturing of this critical document," Mr. Dingell told The Times.

Mr. Stupak said that considering the personal information contained on e-passports, "it is essential that the entire production chain be secure and free from potential tampering." He added: "The GPO needs to make every effort to ensure that future passport components are made in America under the tightest security possible."

Michelle Van Cleave, a former National Counterintelligence Executive, said outsourcing passport work and components creates new security vulnerabilities, not just for passports.

"Protecting the acquisition stream is a serious concern in many sensitive areas of government activity, but the process for assessing the risk to national security is at best loose and in some cases missing altogether," she told The Times.

"A U.S. passport has the full faith and credit of the U.S. government behind the citizenship and identity of the bearer," she said.

"What foreign intelligence service or international terrorist group wouldn't like to be able to masquerade as U.S. citizens? It would be a profound liability for U.S. intelligence and law enforcement if we lost confidence in the integrity of our passports."

--------------------------
MY COMMENTS:
Outsourcing ANYTHING dealing with our National Security is INSANE! WHat the hell, it doesn't take a genius to figure this out. What the hell is going on in Washington?

AT&T CEO says hard to find skilled U.S. workers

2008-03-26T21:22:00.002-06:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080327/tc_nm/att_workforce_dc

AT&T CEO says hard to find skilled U.S. workers

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - The head of the top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc (T.N) said on Wednesday it was having trouble finding enough skilled workers to fill all the 5,000 customer service jobs it promised to return to the United States from India.

"We're having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs," AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson told a business group in San Antonio, where the company's headquarters is located.

So far, only around 1,400 jobs have been returned to the United States of 5,000, a target it set in 2006, the company said, adding that it maintains the target.

Stephenson said he is especially distressed that in some U.S. communities and among certain groups, the high school dropout rate is as high as 50 percent.

"If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn't put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down," he said.

Gone are the days when AT&T and other U.S. companies had to hire locally, he said.

"We're able to do new product engineering in Bangalore as easily as we're able to do it in Austin, Texas," he said, referring to the Indian city where many international companies have "outsourced" technical and customer support workers.

"I know you don't like hearing that, but that's the way it is," he said.

Stephenson said neither he nor most Americans liked the situation, and the solution was a stronger U.S. focus on education and keeping jobs. Business needed to help, such as AT&T's repatriation of service positions and education grants, he added.

(Reporting by Jim Forsyth; Editing by Gary Hill)

-----------------------------------
MY COMMENTS:
This article is a joke. Perhaps if AT&T wasw illing to pay a decent wage to American workers they'd find the "skilled workers" they are looking for. Only a person without a college degree is going to work for $8.00 an hour. Pay a decent wage like $15.00 min. an hour and you'll find more than burger flippers sending in job aps.

Leaders push PR campaign for North American Union

2008-03-06T22:59:00.001-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58244

Leaders push PR campaign for North American Union
Business council members to confront and refute critics of trilateral agenda

Posted: March 06, 2008
9:30 pm Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

The controversial Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP, continues closed-door meetings with business leaders while the heads of state of the U.S., Mexico and Canada now openly urge them to launch a public relations campaign to counter growing criticism of the trilateral cooperative some fear is a step toward a North American Union.

The information is contained in an internal memo from Canada's Foreign Affairs and Internal Trade ministry, obtained by WND under an Access to Information Act request.

The text of the undated memo is an internal government summary of the third SPP summit meeting held Aug. 20-21, 2007, in Montebello Quebec.

The redacted memo does not disclose the author or the date the memo was written.

The first sentence of the memo makes clear, as WND previously reported, the North American Competitiveness Council, or NACC, was the only participant invited to meet behind closed doors with the SPP bureaucrats. The SPP consists of 20 working groups plus the attending cabinet officers from each country and the heads of state.

"Leaders had a successful meeting with the members of the NACC, which had been launched at the leader's meeting in Cancun in March 2006, to counsel governments on how they might enhance North American competitiveness," the memo begins.

The NACC is a largely secretive SPP advisory council of representatives of 30 North American corporations selected by the Chambers of Commerce in the three nations.

The NACC has issued no press releases disclosing specific recommendations made to the SPP trilateral working groups tasked with "integrating" and "harmonizing" administrative rules and regulations into a North American format.

Nor have any minutes of SPP meetings with NACC participants ever been made public.

The PR offensive is clearly discussed in the third paragraph of the internal memo, where following an initial redacted sentence, the paragraph discusses comments made by the three heads of state in the closed door discussions, noting, "He also urged NACC members to assist in confronting and refuting critics of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP)."

The "He" in the sentence is not identified.

The fourth paragraph continues the PR theme: "In closing, all leaders expressed a desire for the NACC to play a role in articulating publicly the benefits of greater collaboration in North America."

Later, the memo admits, "Leaders discussed some of the difficulties of the SPP, including the lack of popular support and the failure of the public to understand the competitive challenges confronting North America."

After a redacted sentence, the memo continues, "Governments are faced with addressing the rapidly evolving competitive environment without fueling protectionism, when industry sectors face radical transformation."

The memo then documents a comment made by President Bush: "In terms of building public support, President Bush suggested engaging the support of those who had benefited from NAFTA and from North American integration (including small business owners) to tell their stories and humanize the impressive results."

The document says, regarding import safety, "President Bush underlined the importance of tackling the issue more broadly and showing that governments are ahead of this issue in order to prevent a trade protectionist backlash, especially against China."

Toward the end, the memo reinforces the public relations theme, emphasizing, "NACC members should have a role in communicating the merits of North American collaboration, including by engaging their employees and unions."

Meanwhile, the SPP ministers and trilateral working groups continue to pursue a policy of secret, closed-door meetings, where the press and the public is not invited to participate or observe the process.

In a meeting that was virtually unreported in the U.S. and Canada, a SPP ministerial meeting Feb. 27-28 in Las Cabos, Mexico, was disclosed openly in the Mexico City newspaper La Jornada.

The report in La Jornada said Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez visited Mexico City prior to the Los Cabos meeting "to renegotiate NAFTA" by offering to Mexico that undisclosed U.S. corporations and the U.S. government are planning to put as much as $141 billion in new investments in Mexico under Mexico's National Infrastructure Project 2007-2012.

A press release on the U.S. Trade and Development Agency website published Feb 21 presented the agenda for a Feb. 26-28 meeting in Mexico City at which Secretary Gutierrez planned to announce USTDA grants totaling more than $1.7 million were being made "to promote the development of transportation, energy and environmental projects under Mexico's National Infrastructure Program (NIP)."

A separate press release on the USTDA website documented that Mexico's National Infrastructure Program, launched by President Calderon in July 2007, was intended to create $141 billion in new infrastructure investment opportunities for U.S. firms by 2012.

An announcement posted on the homepage of the Department of Commerce's SPP website Feb. 28 confirmed Gutierrez and Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff traveled to Las Cabos to meet with their Mexican and Canadian counterparts in a ministerial meeting, preparing for the fourth SPP annual summit meeting scheduled for New Orleans April 21-22.

The SPP press release also confirmed the NACC attended the Los Cabos closed-door ministerial meeting.

Several other important points were disclosed in the Foreign Affairs and Internal Trade document obtained under the Access to Information Act request.

The document confirmed a much-rumored concern that the Harper government intended to downplay the SPP summits, as part of a strategy to defuse the intense criticism the effort has received from the political left in Canada.

"Prime Minister Harper described the SPP as a worthwhile project driving numerous low-profile, but important initiatives," the documents noted under the heading, "SPP Management."

The document further disclosed Harper's recommendation that each government appoint a single lead minister with overall responsibility for managing the trilateral bureaucrats involved in the 20 SPP working groups.

The commerce minister in each country, or "prosperity minister" as identified by the document, was tasked with this responsibility.

Until the document had come to light, the three governments had not given a clear explanation of the tasks or areas of responsibilities of each of the three ministers assigned in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to SPP.

Now, it appears the foreign minister representative, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the United States and her counterparts in Mexico and Canada, represent the top state-level official among the three, a designation that clearly places the SPP within the top foreign policy diplomatic level in each country.

Commerce Secretary Gutierrez and his counterparts would be considered the "SPP Prosperity Ministers," while Secretary Chertoff and his counterparts would be considered the "SPP Security Ministers," with overall management of the SPP coming under the "Prosperity Ministers" sphere.

Also, the document disclosed President Bush's continuing determination to favor only a virtual fence, not the placement of a physical fence, along the U.S. border with Mexico.

"President Bush outlined his vision of the border, with a strong emphasis on the use of technology," the document stressed.

As WND previously reported, an amendment submitted by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, gutted the Secure Fence Act of 2006 by leaving the building of a 700-mile double-layer fence along the border with Mexico up to the discretion of the Department of Homeland Security and Chertoff.

WND has also reported Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., author of the fencing provisions of the Secure Fence Act of 2006, has introduced new legislation in the House of Representatives to put back the requirement of constructing double-layered fencing along the Mexican border within six months.

Murtha granted exemption from explaining

2008-03-06T22:57:00.000-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58123

Murtha granted exemption from explaining
Judge: Congressman won't testify about Haditha accusations
Posted: March 05, 2008
9:25 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A member of Congress who publicly condemned U.S. Marines fighting the war on terror in Iraq for killing civilians in "cold blood" is being granted an exemption that means he will not have to answer questions about his statements, including his earlier explanation that his information came from the highest levels of the Marine Command.

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani

The exemption has come in a military court proceeding against Marine Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, one of four Marines still facing charges in the battle that erupted when a team of his Marines was attacked by insurgents in the city of Haditha.

Murtha's statements are key to the defense of Chessani, according to officials with The Thomas More Law Center, which is representing Chessani against the charges.

"If you go back [to Murtha's description] there was no [Improvised Explosive Device], there was no firefight, it was like there was a phantom menace," said Brian Rooney, a spokesman for the center, told WND.

"However we have the firefight on video. You can't deny it," Rooney told WND after a recent two-day motions hearing in Chessani's case came to a conclusion.

But now the hearing officer, Col. Stephen Folsom, has exempted Murtha from having to answer any questions.

"Military Judge Col. Stephen Folsom's, USMC, ruling yesterday refusing our request to take the deposition of Congressman John Murtha, D-Pa., is the latest indication that it will be impossible for Marine Lt. Col. Chessani to get a fair trial regarding [the] Nov. 19, 2005, Haditha incident," said Richard Thompson, chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center.

"This entire prosecution is politically motivated and stinks to high heaven. Denying us the right to take Murtha's deposition so that we could show undue command influence, as well as denial of our request for production of documents in the possession of Lt. Col. Chessani's superiors makes it impossible for us to render this loyal Marine officer the effective assistance of counsel he deserves – they are attempting to throw him under the bus," Thompson said. "In many ways this is a trial like the one in 'Alice in Wonderland'' – the verdict first and then the trial."

Chessani is accused of "dereliction of duty" and "orders" violations for the terrorist attack in Haditha, Iraq. At the time, Chessani was battalion commander of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, which is one of the most decorated battalions in the nation's history.

There were 14 Marine casualties, one Marine killed in action and 13 others injured. The insurgents were hiding amongst women and children in civilian homes, and 15 civilians died in the firefight between the Marines and insurgents.

But the law center said months before the investigation was finished, Murtha "made the rounds on TV news programs claiming there was no firefight in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005, and that the Marines killed innocent Iraqi civilians in 'cold blood' and officers 'covered it up.' Murtha publicly stated he received his information from the highest levels of the Marine Command – this statement in itself is enough to cause a dismissal of the charges because of undue command influence."

Murtha, the law center noted, "holds significant influence over military appropriations and in the past has boasted he can get the Pentagon to do what he wants."

Murtha also has ties to Navy Secretary Donald Winters, who assigned five dozen investigators to look into the Haditha allegations.

"In the next couple of weeks we will reveal startling facts tracing the impetus for this prosecution to the highest levels of military and civilian command," Thompson said.

"We remain undaunted despite these latest rulings. We will continue to vigorously defend Lt. Col. Chessani against this politically driven prosecution. At least one more motion hearing is scheduled in April, and we intend to file several more motions that will be argued during that time," Thompson said.

The law center had wanted to question Murtha, the same congressman who was caught on tape negotiating bribes with Arab sheiks during the FBI's 1980 Abscam investigation and was an unindicted co-conspirator in the case, about his comments because of his well-known anti-war stance and the fact the Haditha claims were ammunition for his political perspective, the law center said.

The defense team had presented five motions in the hearing. They included: a motion to compel the deposition of Murtha, a motion to dismiss all of the charges due to their constitutional vagueness, a motion to dismiss some of the charges because the same allegations have been charged in multiple ways, a motion to compel discovery that the government has kept from the defense because the government judged it was not relevant, and a motion for a new Article 32 hearing because the last hearing was defective.

Brian Rooney, a Marine veteran and attorney for the Law Center, said the most dramatic testimony during the motions hearing came from Marine intelligence officer Maj. Jeffrey Dinsmore.

He said Dinsmore told the judge about the intelligence provided to the Marines that they should expect an attack, and the video showed the attack and provided confirmation that the attack had been carried out by insurgents in Iraq.

He said Dinsmore provided to the judge the same "story board" Marine intelligence officers used to brief Chessani after the attack.

Rooney said the documentation showed how the insurgents' IED exploded, killing one Marine and injuring several others, and how the Marines tracked the fleeing insurgents through several homes, eventually leading to a home Chessani ordered attacked.

"The followup showed one of the insurgents escaped, hid in a house, and Col. Chessani ordered the house surrounded. When he [the insurgent] finally came out, he was carrying a baby, with a family around him," Rooney said.

At the time the attack happened, the case was investigated through the Marine chain of command with no allegation of inappropriate action. But then months later, a Time magazine story, "planted by an insurgent propaganda agent," according to the law firm, raised the profile of that particular battle, prompting Murtha to make his public accusation that Marines murdered civilians in "cold blood."

The actual court-martial for Chessani is scheduled to start April 28, 2008.

Chessani, who grew up in Rangely, Colo., and graduated from the University of Northern Colorado, was one of eight originally accused in the case.

Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum also has been ordered to be court-martialed and the case against Cpl. Andrew Grayson also remained pending, as does the case against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, although the charges against him were reduced.

Two other officers, Capts. Randy Stone and Lucas McConnell, have had their charges dismissed. Charges against Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz also were dismissed, as were charges against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt.

Report: China trying to crack U.S. computers, buy nukesStory

2008-03-06T22:56:00.000-06:00

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/03/03/pentagon.china/?iref=mpstoryview

Report: China trying to crack U.S. computers, buy nukesStory
Officials worry China is trying to hack into U.S. military computers

"Intrusions" have already happened, officials say, though info was not classified
From Mike Mount
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Chinese military continues to increase spending on efforts to break into U.S. military computer systems, expand its Navy, and invest in intercontinental nuclear missiles and weapons to destroy satellites, according to the latest U.S report on China's military power.

Chinese military officers after a meeting about the People's Liberation Army in 2007.

The annual report from the Pentagon to Congress says China's total military spending in 2007 was between $97 billion and $139 billion, but it is hard to tell exactly how much was spent and on what.

In comparison, the U.S. military budget request for 2008 is $481.4 billion, not including war requests.

Pentagon officials said a chunk of China's spending went to cyberwarfare, because 2007 saw several "intrusions" believed to be from the Peoples Liberation Army. In the incidents, unclassified U.S. military computer systems were broken into and information was taken, according to Pentagon officials.

While the information taken was not classified, Pentagon officials said the worry is the Chinese hacking required many of the skills and capabilities that would also be required for a computer network attack.

Last summer, a cyber-attack on Department of Defense computer systems took down the e-mail capability of hundreds of staffers for weeks, but the Pentagon still will not comment on who initiated the attack. It is widely believed among the military to have been the Peoples Liberation Army.

China is also investing heavily in and fielding improved nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles and antisatellite missiles, according to the report.

The United States expressed its concern last year after China fired a missile at one of its old satellites and destroyed it, sending thousands of dangerous pieces of space debris into orbit.

The United States conducted a similar strike last month on a broken U.S. spy satellite before it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. U.S. officials said the satellite was hit and broke into thousands of small pieces that burned up as they re-entered Earth's atmosphere.

The United States is also concerned about the purchase of more submarines by the Chinese navy as well as plans for more aircraft carriers. The Chinese once had a small Navy. Now the United States is keeping an eye on the growing service amid concerns over Taiwan.

The concerns include "China's near-term focus on preparing for contingencies in the Taiwan Strait, including the possibility of U.S. intervention, which is an important driver of its modernization," the report says.

Additionally, the Chinese have placed about 100 more short-range missiles on the shore opposite Taiwan in the past year, it says.

Pentagon officials worry the continued increase in Chinese military spending is slowly tipping the balance of power between China and Taiwan in China's favor. The United States has said it would help defend Taiwan if China invaded.

The report also says the Peoples Liberation Army is "pursuing comprehensive transformation from a mass army designed for protracted wars of attrition on its territory to one capable of fighting and winning short-duration, high-intensity conflicts along its periphery against high-tech adversaries."

Such an army, the report says, would have "the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States and field disruptive military technologies that could, over time, offset traditional U.S. military advantages."

The United States says the lack of transparency by the Chinese on its spending poses "risks to stability by increasing the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation," and that China has yet to explain to the international community the purpose of its military expansion, Pentagon officials said.

Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Corbett testifies and jury begins deliberations in murder case

2008-03-06T22:52:00.001-06:00

http://www.svherald.com/articles/2008/03/05/news/doc47ce3f453d4ea988386918.txt

Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Corbett testifies and jury begins deliberations in murder case
By Jonathon Shacat
Herald/Review

Published on Wednesday, March 05, 2008

TUCSON — U.S. Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Corbett took the stand in U.S. District Court on Tuesday to tell jurors what happened when he fatally shot an illegal immigrant last year, saying he did so in self-defense.

But he was unable to recall or explain some parts of the story.

Francisco Dominguez-Rivera was shot on Jan. 12, 2007. (Submitted) On Jan. 12, 2007, while Corbett was apprehending four Mexicans who had illegally entered the United States between Naco and Douglas, he killed Francisco Dominguez-Rivera with his service pistol. The prosecution claims the slaying was unjustified, while the defense says the action was self-defense.

Corbett was one of two witnesses the defense called on Tuesday. It was the first time he’s spoken publicly about the incident. He did not speak with investigators about the incident, but did speak to other Border Patrol officials about it, according to reports.

On Tuesday, the prosecution also called two rebuttal witnesses. The jury then heard closing arguments and began to deliberate for about 30 minutes before going home for the evening.

Corbett testified that he pulled up near Dominguez-Rivera, his two brothers and one brother’s girlfriend, put his Chevy Tahoe in park and saw the victim bend down and pick up a rock that he described as about the size of a softball but not as rounded.

Corbett, who is about 6 feet 4 inches tall and who weighed 250 pounds at the time, opened the door and exited the vehicle. He drew his weapon, headed around the back of the vehicle and confronted Dominguez-Rivera, who was 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 145 pounds. He told the victim in Spanish to “sit down,” but Dominguez-Rivera began walking toward him until they got within 3 feet of each other.

The agent said Dominguez-Rivera had an expression of “hatred” on his face.

The defense showed the jury an artist’s rendition of how the defendant and the victim were standing at the time of the shooting. In the drawing, Corbett is holding the gun in his right hand and pointing it down and toward the left side of the victim’s body. Dominguez-Rivera is holding a rock in his right hand, and Corbett is stretching out his left arm to block it.

Corbett denied statements by eyewitnesses that he shot the victim from behind or while the victim was kneeling down. He also denied he struck the victim in the back of the neck with his gun or pointed the gun while he was driving his vehicle.

Sean Chapman, the lead defense attorney, asked Corbett why he shot Dominguez-Rivera, and he replied, “Because he was going to smash my head in with a rock.”

Three Border Patrol agents testified last week regarding what Corbett said took place when he shot Dominguez-Rivera. One other agent testified during a preliminary hearing in August. They gave varying accounts as to what happened, but none gave a description that matched Corbett’s testimony.

During cross-examination, Grant Woods, the lead special prosecutor, asked Corbett if all four of them were “wrong” about what occurred.

“Yes. They had the wrong impression,” Corbett replied. And, Woods countered, “You are the only one who had it wrong.”

John Maciulla, a criminalist employed by the Arizona Department of Public Safety, was called by the prosecution as a rebuttal witness. He had testified last week that the bullet fired by Corbett entered the victim under his left arm, but it made a hole through the chest area of his sweater. Attorneys suggested that the sweater was moved to the left side either because one of the victim’s brothers pulled on his sleeve or if Corbett grabbed the victim and shoved him down.

On Tuesday, Maciulla said that if Corbett were pushing his left arm against the right shoulder of the victim, then the sweater would move in the opposite direction of the left armpit.

During another part of his testimony, Corbett said he did not announce the shooting over his radio. But, last week, Steve Berg, the Border Patrol agent who was the first to arrive on the scene, testified that he heard a “shots fired” call from Corbett via his hand-held radio. Woods asked Corbett if he recalled hearing that testimony from Berg, but said he could not remember it.

Corbett also was unable to say which direction his body was facing at the time of the shooting after Woods asked him several times to describe and explain the situation.

Also Tuesday, the defense called Elmer Pellegrino, director of the police academy at Fullerton College in California, who testified that officers involved in shootings may experience framing or tunnel vision. As a result, they may distort some facts as a result of undergoing the stressful situation.

Pellegrino said he was retained by the defense at $250 per hour, plus $125, and he had worked a total of 35 to 40 hours.

The other rebuttal witness that the prosecution called was Justice of the Peace David Morales, who presided over the preliminary hearing in August in Bisbee. He testified that he did not observe anybody coaching the three eyewitnesses during their testimony.

His statement contradicts a claim from Dove Haber, a public information officer for Border Patrol, that she saw Oscar de la Torre, the Mexican consul in Douglas, make gestures in order to lead the witnesses. But on cross-examination from Chapman, Morales acknowledged that his attention was not completely focused on members of the audience in the court room.

Last week, prosecutors made the court aware that they wanted to present evidence of prior bad acts committed by Corbett that shows violence or propensity toward violence. On Tuesday, Judge David Bury refused to allow the prosecution to do so basically because the evidence was not disclosed prior to the start of the trial.

Reporter Jonathon Shacat can be reached at 515-4693.

-------------------------
OTHER'S COMMENTS:
Sick and Tired wrote on Mar 6, 2008 11:29 AM:
" All of you Border Patrol haters should come on down and spend some time alone in the desert chasing groups of five to 40 plus "poor migrants" by yourself. It might give you a new outlook on how quickly things can go bad. These "poor migrants" do not care about our laws, our values or our families. They leave family members, including children and babies, alone in the desert if they can't keep up/get lost. All for the not so mighty dollar. America has no idea what really goes on down here. "

RLEE wrote on Mar 6, 2008 10:22 AM:
" All Border Patrol Agents need to band to gether and officially resign, thereby forcing the federal government to send troops to the borders. The Mexican/American border will never be secure as long as one country is more corrupt than the other. America needs to send a bill, not aid to Mexico for all the costs related to that countrie's continued negligence and border safety/security. BP Agents-just resign! Hey Grant Woods-you working for or against the citizens of America? Sounds like you're working for Mexico. "

Don wrote on Mar 6, 2008 10:08 AM:
" This short man had an equalizer, a rock that can kill, break bones, and cause permanent physical damage. If this illegal alien, or any other person for that matter, is stupid enough to approach a law enforcement officer with a rock, threatening physical harm, he can expect to get shot. Law enforcement officers, just like you and me, have a right to defend themselves. "

Wildfire wrote on Mar 6, 2008 10:04 AM:
" Let’s look at this another way: if this had happened in Mexico, with a Mexican “Border Patrol” and the illegal had been from Guatemala: Would prosecution been so important to the Mexican Government?
Then Mexico shouldn’t expect any better treatment than is dished-out to their illegals. "

Paul wrote on Mar 6, 2008 10:00 AM:
" If this happened more often then crossing the border illegally would stop.
If they keep putting our Border Patrol Officers in jail for protecting our border the US will be over run with illegals. They MUST respect our laws. "

GOP senators to introduce toughest-yet immigration package

2008-03-06T22:50:00.000-06:00

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immig5mar05,0,2074519.story

GOP senators to introduce toughest-yet immigration package

Bills would mandate prison time for illegal border crossings and compel English in dealing with federal agencies.

By Nicole Gaouette, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 5, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans are set to announce today the hardest-hitting package of immigration enforcement measures seen yet -- one that would require jail time for illegal immigrants caught crossing the border, make it harder for them to open bank accounts and compel them to communicate in English when dealing with federal agencies.

Most of the bills stand little chance of being debated in the Democratic-controlled Congress. But the move by some of the Senate's leading Republicans underscores how potent the immigration issue remains, particularly in a presidential election year.

The bills give Republicans a way to put pressure on the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to take a tougher stance on immigration. They also reflect a shift toward harsher immigration rhetoric and legislative proposals from both parties since Congress failed to pass a comprehensive overhaul in 2007.

The package -- an enforcement smorgasbord assembled by at least eight lawmakers -- consists of 11 bills, but it could expand to as many as 14. Some elements echo House bills, but others go beyond House proposals.

One would discourage states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants by docking 10% of highway funding from states that continue to do so.

Another would extend the presence of the National Guard on the border, and a third would end language assistance at federal agencies and the voting booth for people with limited English ability.

A bill by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who is leading the effort, would impose a maximum two-year prison sentence on someone caught illegally crossing the border a second time.

"The point is to reinforce the idea that most of us here feel that we need to make enforcement and border security a first step to solving the overall problem," said Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), one of the sponsors.Although Congress usually avoids tough legislation during an election year, Vitter insisted that he and his colleagues could still get something done. "There are concrete steps we can take. None of us see any reason to waste this time," he said.

Other bills in the package would:

* Block federal funding to cities that bar their police from asking about immigration status.

* Give the Department of Homeland Security the authority to use information from the Social Security Administration to target illegal immigrants.

* Require construction of 700 miles of fencing along the southern border, not including vehicle barriers.

* Impose sanctions on countries that refuse to repatriate their citizens.

* Deport any immigrant, legal or illegal, for one drunk-driving conviction.

* Enable local and state police to enforce federal immigration laws.Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said the Republican proposal "falls far short of what is needed." Democrats want to combine enforcement with a guest-worker program and a way to deal with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Reid "continues to support legislation that is tough on people who break the law, fair to taxpayers and practical to implement," Manley said.

But Democrats have also begun embracing a tougher stance on immigration. A confidential study assembled for the Democratic leadership earlier this year urged them to start using tougher language. Democrats have focused on offering opportunity to immigrants, but the study by two public-policy groups urged them to begin speaking in terms of "requiring" illegal immigrants to become legal and about what's best for the United States.

Many House Democrats have gone a step further, endorsing an enforcement-only bill by freshman Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) that would bolster border security and require employers to verify their workers' legal status with an electronic verification system.

The SAVE (Secure America through Verification and Enforcement) Act has drawn 140 cosponsors, 48 of whom are Democrats, many of them vulnerable freshmen who won seats from Republicans.

The Democratic leadership dislikes Shuler's bill and has refused to schedule a debate. Republican leaders are considering collecting signatures for a special petition that requires House leaders to bring a bill up for debate if 218 members sign. There are 198 Republicans.

Angela Kelley, director of the Immigration Policy Center, said Senate Republicans might be trying to match their House colleagues. "They might feel they're being upstaged by House Republicans," she said. But she also suggested that the Senate bills could provide political protection to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has clinched the GOP presidential nomination.

Conservatives consider McCain soft on immigration. McCain, along with Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, has backed giving illegal immigrants some form of legal status, which conservatives consider "amnesty."

If McCain endorsed the Senate package, that could "create a platform for McCain to look tough on immigration, create distance from Ted Kennedy [D-Mass.] and erect a shield around the amnesty charge," Kelley said.

Besides Sessions and Vitter, the bills are being introduced by GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

----------------------
MY COMMENTS:
VOTE REPUBLICAN!

N.M. Town Split Over Immigrant's Removal

2008-03-06T22:45:00.002-06:00

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/ROSWELL_IMMIGRATION_FLAP?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

N.M. Town Split Over Immigrant's Removal

By DEBORAH BAKER
Associated Press Writer

ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) -- Karina Acosta's senior year at Roswell High came to an abrupt end after she was ticketed for blocking a fire lane outside a school and driving without a license.

The officer who stopped her - a Roswell policeman assigned to the school - asked her for proof of legal U.S. residency. Acosta, an illegal immigrant, had none. The officer telephoned immigration authorities, and Acosta, 18 and pregnant, was sent back to Mexico.

The episode has caused a furor in town, with teachers and others complaining that Acosta's treatment violated the spirit, if not the letter, of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that has all but made the nation's public schools safe havens for illegal immigrants.

"The school was considered a place you could come and not have to worry," said Coreta Justus, a teacher at 1,300-student Roswell High. She added: "My job is to educate whoever walks in my classroom."

Complaining of racism and unfair treatment, students demonstrated on Main Street and drew adult counter-protesters. Irate parents confronted school officials. The police officer was taken off the school beat, and the program that put him on the high school campus was suspended. At least one teacher reported a few students stayed away for weeks after the incident, afraid they would meet the same fate as Acosta.

Three months later, Acosta's case is still dividing people in Roswell, a town 200 miles north of the Mexican border that has built a tourism industry around a rumored UFO crash in 1947 that was supposedly covered up by the government. Roswell, population 45,000, is at least 44 percent Hispanic.

Officer Charlie Corn reported that he spotted Acosta blocking a fire lane in late November while she was dropping off a youngster at a middle school. Corn, who was on traffic duty at the school, followed Acosta to the high school nearby, discovered she had no license and ticketed her.

He gave her several days to produce proof of legal residency, after which he called her into his campus office and contacted immigration authorities. They immediately took her to a juvenile detention center, and she agreed to be sent back to the Mexican state of Chihuahua rather than fight deportation.

A 1982 Supreme Court ruling guarantees children who are in the U.S. illegally the right to a public education, and says schools cannot inquire about their immigration status. Federal authorities have a policy of not enforcing immigration laws on school grounds.

But the question of whether police may do so is murkier.

Marisol Perez of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund said Corn's actions were "certainly questionable and problematic." She said the case was "just as egregious" as that of three students who were arrested at an Albuquerque high school in 2004 on immigration charges. The students sued the police, who later settled.

Jennifer Moore, who teaches international, human rights and refugee law at the University of New Mexico, said making students vulnerable to deportation at school is "making a mockery" of their right to public education.

And it is occurring "in the very place where they have the greatest chance at getting the skills they need to participate in this society that they are living in," she said.

Roswell's interim police chief, Scott Douglass, defended Corn, saying that the 10-year veteran was investigating a crime and that officers may ask people in the course of a criminal investigation about their immigration status.

But the chief said that in the future, "Enforcement action like that would probably be taken after school hours and off of campus."

Assistant School Superintendent Mike Kakuska told parents immediately after the incident that the school system didn't support the officer's actions and had protested Acosta's arrest to immigration authorities.

The legal question aside, some of Acosta's former teachers said she was wronged.

Dolores Fresquez said her former student was well-behaved, had good grades and held down a job. Fresquez, who teaches Spanish and English as a second language, estimated that up to 90 percent of the students in the old, yellow brick high school are Hispanic, and perhaps 40 percent of those are illegal.

"The thing that made me angry is that schools are supposed to be safe for any student, regardless of what nationality, what age they may be," the teacher said.

But others in Roswell resent the influx of Mexicans who are in the U.S. illegally and complain the newcomers are using resources such as hospital emergency rooms without paying enough in taxes.

"They're here freeloading, and that's exactly the reason I think they should not be allowed in the school system," said Gene Warren, a retired telephone repairman.

An Acosta family friend, Rosie Delgado, said that Acosta's mother, who has also been living in Roswell, was terrified after the incident and that the girl's two younger sisters were afraid to return to school for a week or so. Delgado said family members don't want to talk to reporters, and she would not disclose their whereabouts.

The Rev. Juan Montoya of St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church said many in his congregation live in fear of being picked up by police in Roswell.

"It's not just about Karina. Karina is just one of many," said Montoya, a Mexican-American. "I know people who have been picked up - didn't break a law, they didn't pass a stop sign, they didn't do anything."
-------------------------------

MY COMMENTS:
I feel for the girl, but if you are'nt here legally why should we foot the bill? Better yet. She's freeloading a public education, and being pregnant would most likely have free medical care as well. Sorry, but I'm fed up.

3 imprisoned for hiring illegal immigrants for cleaning firm

2008-03-06T22:42:00.000-06:00

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpillegal0305pnmar05,0,4670611.story

3 imprisoned for hiring illegal immigrants for cleaning firm
By Sally Apgar | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 5, 2008

A West Palm Beach man was sentenced Monday to more than four years in prison and ordered to pay $16 million in unpaid taxes for his role in a nationwide tax scheme that employed illegal immigrants as janitors to clean for restaurant chains like Hard Rock Cafe, Dave & Busters and Yardhouse.

Scott Cunningham, 44, the former vice president of Rosenbaum-Cunningham International (RCI), was sentenced to four years and three months by U.S. District Court Judge Paul Maloney in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Along with Cunningham, the company's former president, Richard M. Rosenbaum, 61, of Longwood, was sentenced to 10 years and ordered to pay $16.9 million. A third defendant, Christina A. Flocken, 60, who once served as RCI's controller, was sentenced to 2 1/2 and ordered to pay $15.7 million.

Maloney also ordered the three to forfeit bank accounts, life insurance policies and cash totaling more than $3 million that prosecutors said was derived from their illegal activities. Cunningham is expected to forfeit a home in the gated community of Ibis Golf and Country Club.

In handing down the sentence, Maloney said the crimes involved a "massive tax scheme involving illegal aliens."

Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security Julie L. Meyers said, "For too long, unscrupulous employers like those who owned and operated RCI have been able to undercut their competition by building their work force with illegal labor."

Myers added that "targeting employers who profit from illegal hiring is a key component to stopping illegal immigration."

Prosecutors said that between 2001 and 2005, RCI was paid more than $54 million and evaded $15.7 million in federal taxes.

In February 2007, the three were charged in a 23-count indictment with conspiracy to defraud the United States, evading federal employment taxes and harboring illegal immigrantsfor profit. If convicted on all charges, they each faced 15 years in prison.

Just before the indictment was handed down, more than 200 undocumented workers from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and Haiti were rounded up in a raid on 63 RCI job sites across the country, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They were detained pending deportation proceedings.

After a plea agreement was reached in November 2007, Cunningham and Flocken pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to defraud the government and harboring illegal immigrants. Rosenbaum reached a similar agreement in October 2007.

The indictment said that illegal immigrants were "essential to the success of their scheme" because they were willing to be paid in cash, could be fired without legal recourse and were "highly unlikely to report the irregular nature of their employment."

Sally Apgar can be reached at sapgar@sun-sentinel.com or at 561-228-5506.

Next on school agenda: TEACHING COMMUNISM

2008-03-06T22:40:00.000-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58061

Next on school agenda:
Teaching communism
Family advocate: 'Just when we thought
indoctrination couldn't get any worse'

Posted: March 04, 2008
10:47 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who led his nation through decades of communism

A new plan by a California lawmaker would allow schools to be used to promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, and let teachers in public district classrooms "inculcate in the mind of any pupil a preference for communism," according to a traditional values advocacy organization.

"Just when we thought the indoctrination in California's public schools couldn't get any worse, state lawmakers introduce bills that will further brainwash innocent children," said a statement from Capitol Resource Institute, a traditional values and family advocacy organization based in California.

"We're in California. Of course it has a chance of succeeding," CRI spokeswoman Karen England told WND. "These people get bolder and bolder every year."

Her organization, along with several others, already has been battling over lawmakers' orders, already placed in law, that public schools in the state teach nothing but positive messages about homosexuality, transsexuality, bisexuality and other alternative lifestyles.

Those plans are being challenged in court, by citizens' attempts to place the issue on the 2008 election ballot and by family advocates who say the best option is for families to abandon public schools for private schools or other alternatives.

Now comes the plan, SB 1322, from state Sen. Alan Lowenthal, a Democrat elected from the state's 27th District, including the towns of Artesia, Avalon, Bellflower, Cerritos, Downey, Lakewood, Long Beach, Lynwood, Paramount, Signal Hill, South Gate and others.

"This bill would actually allow the promotion of communism in public schools," CRI said.

That's because the state's Civic Center Act already requires a school district to grant the use of school property, when an alternative isn't available, to nonprofit groups, clubs or associations set up for youth and school activities.

"But the law also states that the property may not be used by anyone intent on overthrowing the government," CRI said. Now, the group said, "SB 1322 would delete the requirement that an individual or organization wanting to use the school property is not a Communist action organization or Communist front organization.

"This bill would also strike the law that a public school or community college employee may be fired if he or she is a member of the Communist Party," the group said.

Worse yet, the group said, "the bill would also strike the law that prohibits a teacher giving instruction in a school or on public school property from teaching communism with the intent to indoctrinate or to inculcate in the mind of any pupil a preference for communism," CRI said.

"SB 1322 is simply shocking," said Meredith Turney, legislative liaison for the affiliated Capitol Resource Family Impact. "The socialist members of the legislature are now advocating that communism, one of the most brutal forms of government in history, be taught favorably to government school students. Anyone espousing communism, which does advocate for the violent overthrow of existing government, will be permitted to not only use government property, but work in schools and colleges, and teach their freedom-hating propaganda to impressionable young people."

"Less than 20 years after the fall of the communist Soviet Union, California lawmakers are eager to once again begin advancing a political ideology responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people," England said. "Instead of promoting communism in our schools, lawmakers should be focused on actually teaching students to read, write and think for themselves."

On a blog on the Red County website, Mike Spence concluded: "I know there is plenty of indoctrination goin' on already but I gues (sic) they won't be staisfied (sic) until all school children are gay loving (SB777) and Communist. If only they could all read at grade level."

The bill itself explains that it would delete provisions "regarding a person who intends to use school property on behalf of an organization to deliver a statement, signed under penalty of perjury, that the organization is not a Communist action organization or Communist front organization required to be registered with the Attorney General of the United States or does not, to the best of that person's knowledge, advocate the overthrow of the government of the United States or of the State of California by force, violence, or other unlawful means."

The plan also outlines it would drop provisions that school and college employees could be dismissed for being a part of the Communist Party and drop a ban on "teaching communism with the intent to indoctrinate or to inculcate in the mind of any pupil a preference for communism."

The proposal itself noted that the teaching about the facts of communism was allowed, and the previous requirement banned teaching "for the purpose of undermining patriotism for, and the belief in, the government of the United States and of this state." However, the new plan drops that.

Also deleted was: "For the purposes of this section, communism is the political theory that the presently existing form of government of the United States or of this state should be changed, by force, violence, or other unconstitutional means, to a totalitarian dictatorship which is based on the principles of communism as expounded by Marx, Lenin, and Stalin."

Also deleted was the conclusion from the California Legislature other nations already had fallen into totalitarian dictatorships through the establishment of communism as well as the recognition that "the successful establishment of totalitarian dictatorships has consistently been aided, accompanied, or accomplished by repeated acts of treachery, deceit, teaching of false doctrines, teaching untruth, together with organized confusion, insubordination, and disloyalty, fostered, directed, instigated, or employed by communist organizations and their members…"

Also tossed out of California law was the recognition that communism even presents "a clear and present danger."

The earlier school indoctrination into alternative sexual lifestyles has prompted creation of Rescue Your Child a coalition of various groups encouraging parents to withdraw their children from the state's public school system.

That's the result of the California Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who wrote and signed into law Senate Bill 777 and Assembly Bill 394 as law, plans that institutionalize the promotion of homosexuality, bisexuality, transgenderism and other alternative lifestyle choices.

The Discover Christian Schools website reports getting thousands of hits daily from parents and others seeking information about alternatives to California's public schools.

WND reported leaders of the campaign called California Exodus say they hope to encourage parents of 600,000 children to withdraw them from the public districts this year.

The new law itself technically bans in any school texts, events, class or activities any discriminatory bias against those who have chosen alternative sexual lifestyles, said Turney. But there are no similar protections for students with traditional or conservative lifestyles and beliefs, however. Offenders will face the wrath of the state Department of Education, up to and including lawsuits.

"SB 777 will result in reverse discrimination against students with religious and traditional family values. These students have lost their voice as the direct result of Gov. Schwarzenegger's unbelievable decision. The terms 'mom and dad' or 'husband and wife' could promote discrimination against homosexuals if a same-sex couple is not also featured," she said.

England told WND that the law is not a list of banned words, including "mom" and "dad." But she said the requirement is that the law bans discriminatory bias and the effect will be to ban such terminology.

"Having 'mom' and 'dad' promotes a discriminatory bias. You have to either get rid of 'mom' and 'dad' or include everything when talking about [parental issues]," she said. "They [promoters of sexual alternative lifestyles] do consider that discriminatory."

Illegal Immigrant Jailed for Shooting at Raleigh Officer

2008-03-06T22:36:00.002-06:00

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/2524755/

Illegal Immigrant Jailed for Shooting at Raleigh Officer

Posted: Mar. 4, 2008

Raleigh, N.C. — Hector Hernandez was sentenced Tuesday to 33 months in federal prison for the shooting at an off-duty Raleigh police officer in 2007.

Hernandez, an illegal immigrant who had previously been deported, was arrested July 19, 2007, after a shooting at El Deso nightclub at 7429 Capital Blvd. in Raleigh. The officer, who was working security for the club, observed shots being fired from a white van. When he pursued and pulled the van over, Hernandez fired towards the officer.

A handgun was recovered from the van, and Hernandez was arrested

Man Butchers 15-Month-Old Nephew in Jeddah Supermarket

2008-03-04T21:50:00.002-06:00

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=107428&d=3&m=3&y=2008

Man Butchers 15-Month-Old Nephew in Jeddah Supermarket
Samir Al-Saadi, Arab News

JEDDAH, 3 March 2008 — Early morning shoppers at a supermarket in Jeddah were left reeling yesterday, with some falling unconscious, after a well-built Syrian man clinched a knife and decapitated his 15-month-old nephew in front of his mother in the store’s fruit and vegetable section.

In a brutal murder that has shocked the city, the 25-year-old man beheaded the boy, who was out shopping with his mother — in full glare of shoppers and staff at Al-Marhaba supermarket on Sari Street around 9.30 a.m. The man, who is the boy’s maternal uncle, apparently killed the boy following a dispute with his sister and brother-in-law.

Eyewitnesses said that the man picked up a knife from inside the store and severed the boy’s head. The mother and a shopper standing close by fainted, while several other stood in shock and disbelief over what had happened.

A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Arab News, “The murderer was in a dispute with the boy’s mother and her husband. He chopped off the boy’s head in front of the mother to get back at her.” He added that the mother has been left traumatized and is in hospital. The boy’s father was at work at the time of the incident.

Following the murder, police sealed off the supermarket while forensic experts gathered evidence. Ambulances were also called to the scene. The supermarket reopened for business at around 1.15 p.m. “It happened so quickly. Before people could intervene, the man had cut more than half way through the child’s neck,” said Abu Muhammad, a grandfather in his mid-60s.

A Saudi till attendant at a nearby cafe said, “One of my colleagues went to see what was going on and returned shivering. He saw the kid’s body and so we gave him the day off. He was in a bad state.”

An eyewitness, who lives in the neighborhood, said that the victim’s family lived close by and frequented the supermarket. “I’ve seen the murderer carrying the same child and playing with him on a number of occasions,” he added.

“No one could bear the gruesome sight of the boy’s decapitated body lying on the floor,” said Muneer, a Turkish car mechanic, who works at a garage close by. “How could someone do such a thing? I just can’t understand it... I still can’t believe it,” he said, shaking his head.

When the store reopened, employees were still in a state of shock. A guard, standing at the entrance, stood frozen and oblivious to the rush of shoppers. Pain and anguish were writ large on his face.

-----------------------------------
MY COMMENTS:
This is just horrifying. My condolences are with the family. This man was definately insane! Before everyone jump in saying how all Muslims are crazy please know that these occurances are not commonplace and that just like in America there are crazy people everywhere. I am a firm believer that most people are good regardless of religion, but a few rotten apples can ruin a whole bunch.

Texans ponder where superhighway might take them

2008-03-04T21:48:00.001-06:00

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/03/04/texans_ponder_where_superhighway_might_take_them/

Texans ponder where superhighway might take them
By Peter Canellos
Globe Staff / March 4, 2008

REFUGIO, Texas - With an abandoned Wild West-vintage town of storefronts slumbering just a block from old US 77, tiny Refugio is a place where myth and reality coexist in a ghostly silence.

And now this South Texas outpost is swept up in one of the more intriguing tests of myth vs. reality in today's political life: the battle over the so-called NAFTA Superhighway.

Local residents came together last week for one in a series of public hearings on the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor, a massive public works project that in this area would take the form of a superhighway from the Mexican border to the Arkansas border, with special trucking lanes and rail lines, along with communication and utility cables.

Texas officials say the superhighway is necessary to relieve chronic road congestion. Local opponents say it will cut through their ranches and destroy the area's ecology. And politicians like US Representative Ron Paul, Republican of Texas, and national commentators like CNN's Lou Dobbs have condemned it as a betrayal of American interests - the very road by which American jobs will move out of the country.

"This is a major conduit for getting cheap imported goods into the heartland," insisted Hagan Parmley, a local property owner who is also part of Corridor Watch, an opposition group of residents who gathered in the Refugio community center late last month.

Parmley said Texas business interests support the highway because it would allow Asian-manufactured products to be shipped to deep-water ports in Mexico and then quickly brought into the United States. With reduced transportation costs, it would be even easier for businesses to move American manufacturing jobs to Asia or Mexico.

Parmley's newsletter, which he distributed to the 80 or so residents at the Refugio hearing, expressed excitement that Dobbs, whose television show is devoted to attacking global trade deals and illegal immigration, has taken up the cause of defeating the Trans-Texas Corridor.

But given all the portentious state-of-the-world rhetoric that has surrounded the project, the big surprise at the Refugio hearing was how comfortingly normal the objections seemed.

"I think it's overkill," said Wilson Toudouze, a San Antonio rancher whose mother lives in Refugio. "I think there's probably better alternatives than taking this enormous amount of private property and giving it to the state."

"This wasn't what we were sold in the original I-69 - all those pipelines and train lines," added Melvin Santiago, who came down from the Houston area to express his opposition. "People are a little worried."

Indeed, the state of Texas has had trouble settling on a precise route. In the northeastern part of the state, officials had to bypass Houston's sprawl. Down by the Rio Grande they had to avoid several giant ranches that have been preserved as heritage areas.

The people who gathered in Refugio were, by their own description, the inheritors of the Texas of John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" - large men and women of late middle age, almost all wearing boots, some with cowboy hats, and many with waistlines proudly bulging out of their tight jeans.

One stood up and proclaimed that his family has been on the land longer than there's been a Texas, and that he figures he can take better care of it than the government can.

Preserving property rights was a far bigger concern than the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994, which some concede has benefited Texas. Others mentioned the trade deal not as an evil in its own right but as evidence of the selfish motives of the business interests backing the highway.

One group was not heard from. Refugio County is almost half Hispanic, and recent immigrants make up the bulk of the workers in town. For them, the highway represents a different kind of threat - bypassing US 77, whose truckers give the town its only economic lift by stopping for food and fuel.

But the translator brought in to assist Spanish-speaking residents wasn't needed. Only the property owners had their say.

"Right now we get $70,000 per month in sales tax revenue that is generated by traffic through the town," explained Karen Watts, a selectwoman. "If we're bypassed, that number will drop tremendously. We're a community of people who are aging and we're a poor community. We have some large ranches but they don't help most people."

NAFTA may get the goat of national commentators, but to the people of Refugio, the superhighway battle is more about land and money - just like in the old days.

Peter S. Canellos is the Globe's Washington bureau chief. National Perspective is his weekly analysis of events in the capital and beyond.

China speeds pace of military buildup

2008-03-04T21:46:00.000-06:00

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080303/NATION/507590403/1001

China speeds pace of military buildup
By Bill Gertz
March 3, 2008

China is speeding up its military buildup and developing high-technology forces for waging wars beyond Taiwan, according to the Pentagon's annual report on Chinese military power.

"The pace and scope of China's military transformation have increased in recent years, fueled by acquisition of advanced foreign weapons, continued high rates of investment in its domestic defense and science and technology industries, and far-reaching organizational and doctrinal reforms of the armed forces," the report states.

The report also warned that China's expanding military forces "are changing East Asian military balances; improvements in China's strategic capabilities have implications beyond the Asia-Pacific region."

The new weapons include road-mobile long-range nuclear missiles.

The report to Congress is required under 1999 legislation and is the only U.S. government publication providing a close look at China's military strategy, and force structure and recent advances in technology.

The report stated that excessive secrecy by China about its motivation and decision making and key weapons systems are prompting fears over the threat posed by the buildup.

"Absent greater openness and transparency, international reactions to China's military growth will understandably hedge against these unknowns," the report said.

The report said U.S.-China defense ties are improving and that Beijing agreed Friday to set up a telephone communications link between the U.S. and Chinese military that could be operational this month.

Key finding of the report include:

• China's military spending continues to increase by double-digit figures and that official Chinese claims of spending $45 billion are short of actual spending, which could be as much as $139 billion

• China has deployed between 990 and 1,070 CSS-6 and CSS-7 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) to garrisons opposite Taiwan and is adding more than 100 missiles per year, including more advanced systems.

• Chinese computer hackers have launched sophisticated strikes on computer networks around the world in the past year, including U.S. government networks, that might be the work of the Chinese government.

• China's strategy of defense includes conducting pre-emptive attacks "if the use of force protects or advances core interests, including territorial claims, for example, Taiwan and unresolved border or maritime claims."

• China's anti-satellite weapon test in January 2007 shows that the military's space warfare capability is “more than theoretical.” Additional space weapons include jammers, laser blinders and microwave weapons to disable satellites and ground stations.

• China is engaged in "wide-ranging espionage" targeting officials, businessmen and scientists prompting more than 400 U.S. investigations..

• China's military buildup is shifting the cross-Strait military balance in its favor, through a long-term expansion designed to fight "local wars" with high-tech weapons using speed, precision targeting, mobility, and the role of information technology as a force multiplier.

The report counters the findings of U.S. intelligence analysts who have sought to play down China's buildup by saying it is limited to preparing to fight a war against Taiwan.

The report stated that while the near-term focus is on a Taiwan conflict. "long-term trends suggest China is building a force scoped for operations beyond Taiwan."

However, the report said that China's military currently lacks the ability to defend sea lanes that carry oil to China from the Middle East, but is discussing ways of doing so in the future.

Alleged FBI 'InfraGard' program prepares businesses to “shoot to kill” during martial law

2008-02-14T12:13:00.000-06:00

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=268_1202678840

Alleged FBI 'InfraGard' program prepares businesses to “shoot to kill” during martial law
FBI Director Robert Mueller addressed an InfraGard convention on August 9, 2005.

The FBI Deputizes Business

Matthew Rothschild -- The Progressive

-- Jan. 7, 2008 -- Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public does -- and, at least on one occasion, before elected officials. In return, they provide information to the government, which alarms the ACLU. But there may be more to it than that. One business executive, who showed me his InfraGard card, told me they have permission to “shoot to kill” in the event of martial law.

InfraGard is “a child of the FBI,” says Michael Hershman, the chairman of the advisory board of the InfraGard National Members Alliance and CEO of the Fairfax Group, an international consulting firm.

InfraGard started in Cleveland back in 1996, when the private sector there cooperated with the FBI to investigate cyber threats.

“Then the FBI cloned it,” says Phyllis Schneck, chairman of the board of directors of the InfraGard National Members Alliance, and the prime mover behind the growth of InfraGard over the last several years.

InfraGard itself is still an FBI operation, with FBI agents in each state overseeing the local InfraGard chapters. (There are now eighty-six of them.) The alliance is a nonprofit organization of private sector InfraGard members.

“We are the owners, operators, and experts of our critical infrastructure, from the CEO of a large company in agriculture or high finance to the guy who turns the valve at the water utility,” says Schneck, who by day is the vice president of research integration at Secure Computing.

“At its most basic level, InfraGard is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the private sector,” the InfraGard website states. “InfraGard chapters are geographically linked with FBI Field Office territories.”

In November 2001, InfraGard had around 1,700 members. As of late January, InfraGard had 23,682 members, according to its website, www.infragard.net, which adds that “350 of our nation’s Fortune 500 have a representative in InfraGard.”

To join, each person must be sponsored by “an existing InfraGard member, chapter, or partner organization.” The FBI then vets the applicant. On the application form, prospective members are asked which aspect of the critical infrastructure their organization deals with. These include: agriculture, banking and finance, the chemical industry, defense, energy, food, information and telecommunications, law enforcement, public health, and transportation.

FBI Director Robert Mueller addressed an InfraGard convention on August 9, 2005. At that time, the group had less than half as many members as it does today. “To date, there are more than 11,000 members of InfraGard,” he said. “From our perspective that amounts to 11,000 contacts . . . and 11,000 partners in our mission to protect America.” He added a little later, “Those of you in the private sector are the first line of defense.”

He urged InfraGard members to contact the FBI if they “note suspicious activity or an unusual event.” And he said they could sic the FBI on “disgruntled employees who will use knowledge gained on the job against their employers.”

In an interview with InfraGard after the conference, which is featured prominently on the InfraGard members’ website, Mueller says: “It’s a great program.”

Hillary Clinton, Walter Cronkite and World Government

2008-02-14T12:11:00.000-06:00

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=903_1202919850

Hillary Clinton, Walter Cronkite and World Government
Ever heard of the World Federalist Association (they changed their name to Citizens for Global Solutions)? They OPENLY support one world government and that's what they call it themselves. I have a video right here of Walter Cronkite receiving an award from them and HILLARY CLINTON congratulating him. Don't believe me? Here's the video:

Listen Cronkite says, "First we Americans are going to have to yield up some of our sovereignty, and that to many is going to be a bitter pill."

Cronkite goes on to say, "Today we must develop federal structures on a global level. To deal with world problems, we need a system of enforceable world law. A democratic, federal world government." AND THEN he bluntly states that the other 200 sovereignties in our "global village" are going to have to give up sovereignty to the greater, better union. Followed by applause. Walter Cronkite was the anchor-man on the CBS evening news for 19 years. He was also the voice at Bohemian Grove. You know, where they give those evil sounding sermons and perform mock human sacrifices for Moloch (a demon out of the bible who eats children).

He also talks about how some politicians pander to the religious right-wing and stand in the way of world government. Then he says, "Join me, I'm glad to sit here at the right hand of Satan." That might be funny if he was really joking and didn't actually support world government and participate in rituals and mock-human sacrifices to demons. (Google: Bohemian Grove)

Watch the video all the way to the end, where Hillary Clinton congratulates him, and then Michael Douglas can be seen walking up to make a speech.

Like I said, anybody who denies the push for world government is in complete and utter denial.

Mexican president foresees friendlier U.S. stance on Immigration

2008-02-08T10:48:00.000-06:00

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-calderon7feb07,0,3213962.story

Mexican president foresees friendlier U.S.
In a wide-ranging interview, Felipe Calderon sees a better chance for immigrants to gain legal status in the next administration.
By Héctor Tobar, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 7, 2008

MEXICO CITY -- President Felipe Calderon said Wednesday that a shifting political climate in the U.S. could improve the chances that a new administration in Washington will help bring a comprehensive reform law that would legalize the status of Mexican immigrants.

In a wide-ranging conversation with The Times, Calderon, scheduled to visit California next week, also addressed the decline of the government-owned oil fields and the war against drug traffickers that has claimed thousands of lives.

"My hope is that whoever the next president is, and whoever is in the new [U.S.] Congress, will have a broader and more comprehensive view" of the immigration problem, Calderon said. Speaking at the presidential residence Los Pinos on the morning after the Super Tuesday presidential primaries in the U.S., Calderon said he took heart from the results, though he did not mention specific candidates.

"It seems to me that the most radical and anti-immigrant candidates have been left behind and have been put in their place by their own electorate," Calderon said.

He arrives in Sacramento on Feb. 13 on the final leg of a five-day U.S. trip that will also take him to Chicago, Boston and New York to visit local officials and representatives of Mexican immigrant communities.

In Sacramento, he is scheduled to meet with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Latino legislators. In Los Angeles the following day, he is to meet Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and migrant groups' representatives assembled by the nine Mexican consulates in California.

He will tell fellow Mexican citizens "that we are actively working to defend their human rights," Calderon said. "No matter their immigration status, they are human beings with dignity and rights that should be respected. We are working, with the full effort of the government, to bring a halt to the campaigns that harass migrants."

Calderon said one goal of his trip, which will include a talk Monday at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, was to build public support for an immigration reform law that would allow millions of Mexicans to work in the U.S.

He said Americans would recognize "sooner or later" that the health of the U.S. economy is linked to integration with its neighbor and "the increased flow of goods, services, investment" between the two countries "and also greater freedom in labor markets."

Such liberal economic orthodoxy also informs Calderon's beliefs about the policies that can best create jobs in Mexico and slow the annual flight of thousands of his countrymen northward.

Despite criticisms from farmers that the North American Free Trade Agreement is ruining Mexican agriculture and spurring migration to the U.S., Calderon said he remained a firm believer in the power of free markets to improve the lot of Mexico's rural poor.

"The truth is that exports from the Mexican countryside have increased fourfold since NAFTA" was implemented, Calderon said.

Still, the federal government will continue to provide $20 billion in annual farm subsidies. And to ameliorate the effect of the U.S. economic slowdown on the Mexican economy, Calderon is proposing a massive series of public works projects and other measures.

On Wednesday, Calderon announced the creation of a $25-billion fund to build highways, bridges and other infrastructure projects so that "we don't have to depend on the external motor of the U.S. economy" to keep Mexico growing.

Calderon also warned that the Mexican people faced difficult decisions related to the declining production of the country's oil fields, the government's main source of foreign revenue.

With reserves in its aging offshore Cantarell field diminishing, the state-owned oil company Pemex needs funds to pay for exploration in the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The money, Calderon said, could come only from two sources: reducing government spending for public services or looking to the example of China, Norway and Brazil, where the state-owned oil companies benefit from private investment.

Private investment in Pemex has been a political poison pill in Mexico, where the publicly owned natural resource is considered by many a pillar of national sovereignty.

"This is a problem we should resolve now so as not to place future generations in danger," Calderon said. "I've always worked from the assumption that Pemex will not be privatized. But I am sure there will be a more understanding environment to objectively evaluate what's best for Pemex."

Whereas declining oil revenue is a long-term challenge, the most immediate threat Calderon faces is organized crime. Violence linked to drug trafficking has claimed more than 2,000 lives since Calderon took office in December 2006.

Despite progress, including the arrest of more than 20,000 organized-crime suspects and huge hauls of illicit drugs and cash, much work remains to be done, Calderon said.

Drug traffickers are a dominant presence in several border cities and many rural towns.

"Victory will be achieved when the authorities have complete control over their own territory . . . when the authorities have total command over and complete faith in the police forces," he said.

U.S. legislators are debating a $550-million proposal by the Bush administration to assist Mexico and Central America in the battle against traffickers.

"This is a battle in which Mexico obviously needs the help of the United States to win," Calderon said.

hector.tobar@latimes.com

------------------------------
MY COMMENTS:
MEXICO - YOUR PROBLEMS ARE TOO MANY FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO FIX. Take some responsibility and your oil reserves and fix the problems yourself. Everytime you look to American to fix your problems you are causing the rift between us to widen.

He will tell fellow Mexican citizens "that we are actively working to defend their human rights," Calderon said. "No matter their immigration status, they are human beings with dignity and rights that should be respected. We are working, with the full effort of the government, to bring a halt to the campaigns that harass migrants."

I KNOW HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM - SEND THEM BACK TO MEXICO and guess what... THEIR RIGHTS WILL BE PRESERVED. When you come here illegally you HAVE NO RIGHTS in my opinion.. you chose a life of hiding. YOU CAN GET IN LINE AND COME HERE LEGALLY, GET A GOOD JOB LEGALLY, PAY TAXES LIKE THE REST OF US, AND THEN YOU GET YOUR RIGHTS.
Welcome to the United States of America, don't forget your green card.

Anti-illegal immigration Hazleton mayor running for Congress

2008-02-08T10:46:00.000-06:00

http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2008/02/07/2008-02-07_antiillegal_immigration_hazleton_mayor_r-1.html

Anti-illegal immigration Hazleton mayor running for Congress THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, February 7th 2008, 2:48 PM

Hazleton, PA. Mayor Lou Barletta.
HAZLETON, Pa. - Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who has gained a national following with his get-tough approach to illegal immigration, is running for Congress.

Barletta announced Thursday that he will seek the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent 12-term Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski, who represents a heavily Democratic district in northeastern Pennsylvania.

"I realized that I'm not just fighting for Hazleton any more. I'm fighting for people all over the country who want their voices heard," Barletta said.

"I've done as much as I can fighting illegal immigration as the mayor of a city. I need to take this fight to Washington, because that's where the problem needs to be fixed."

Barletta, who was courted heavily by Republicans and had been widely expected to run, announced his entry into the race Thursday afternoon at a news conference packed with supporters.

Kanjorski, who defeated Barletta in 2002 by more than 13 percentage points, did not immediately return a phone call.

In a statement Thursday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee accused Barletta of favoring the privatization of Social Security and "gambling with our seniors' retirement savings," a line of attack Democrats hope will resonate in a district whose population is largely elderly.

Barletta said voters want change.

Kanjorski is "not my enemy, but he represents what Congress is about," said Barletta, who just began a third term as mayor. "Congress has failed us. People recognize that every time they fill their car up with fuel, or look at their paycheck. You can't fool the American people any longer."

Premising his campaign on opposition to illegal immigration, Barletta said he wants to secure the nation's borders, airports and seaports; target criminals who supply fraudulent documents to illegal immigrants; go after "sanctuary cities" that shelter them; and "crack down on businesses that are hiring illegal immigrants, who are profiting from cheap labor and depressing the wages of the American worker."

Barletta has sought to make his city of 30,000 inhospitable to illegal immigrants, whom he says are responsible for violent crime, graffiti, and overburdened schools and hospitals.

At Barletta's urging, Hazleton City Council in 2006 approved the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, which sought to deny business permits to companies that employ illegal immigrants, fine landlords who rent to them and require tenants to register and pay for a rental permit.

Anti-illegal immigration activists hailed Barletta's approach, and he became a fixture on cable TV and talk radio, advocating his view that illegal immigrants are wrecking the country and that local governments can no longer wait for federal action to do something about it.

Federal courts have split on the question of whether cities and towns may take steps to curb illegal immigration. A federal judge in July struck down Hazleton's ordinance as unconstitutional, but another judge upheld a similar measure in Valley Park, Mo., last week.

Critics say Hazleton-style measures discriminate against Hispanics and trample on the federal government's exclusive power to regulate immigration.

Kanjorski's district is a largely blue-collar area where illegal immigration is a hot-button issue. Anticipating that Barletta would run, the incumbent in recent months has sought to portray himself as tough on illegal immigration.

He sent a four-page color mailer to constituents in October headlined "Congressman Paul Kanjorski: Tough on Illegal Immigration." And he recently told an audience in the Poconos that "closing the border is practical."

Ed Mitchell, Kanjorski's longtime campaign consultant, said he believes he would prevail in a rematch with Barletta.

"The congressman has a dynamic record of delivering to the people of the 11th District," he said. "Mr. Barletta's candidacy seems to be premised on his record on illegal immigration, but even Mr. Barletta has said there is very little difference between the congressman and his record on this issue."

Kanjorski, who has yet to announce his re-election, had about $1.5 million in his campaign account as of Dec. 31. Barletta starts out his campaign more than $153,000 in debt, but he said he now has a national donor base and can raise money quickly.

"I believe there are a lot of people around this country who are looking for this kind of leadership," Barletta said.

-------------------------------
MY COMMENTS:
I'd VOTE FOR YOU FOR PRESIDENT!!! GO FOR IT!!!!!!

Climate Change: Not every scientist is part of Al Gore's mythical "consensus."

2008-02-08T10:44:00.000-06:00

http://ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=287279412587175

The Sun Also Sets
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Thursday, February 07, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Climate Change: Not every scientist is part of Al Gore's mythical "consensus." Scientists worried about a new ice age seek funding to better observe something bigger than your SUV — the sun.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in 1991, before Al Gore first shouted that the Earth was in the balance, the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study using data that went back centuries that showed that global temperatures closely tracked solar cycles.

To many, those data were convincing. Now, Canadian scientists are seeking additional funding for more and better "eyes" with which to observe our sun, which has a bigger impact on Earth's climate than all the tailpipes and smokestacks on our planet combined.

And they're worried about global cooling, not warming.

Kenneth Tapping, a solar researcher and project director for Canada's National Research Council, is among those looking at the sun for evidence of an increase in sunspot activity.

Solar activity fluctuates in an 11-year cycle. But so far in this cycle, the sun has been disturbingly quiet. The lack of increased activity could signal the beginning of what is known as a Maunder Minimum, an event which occurs every couple of centuries and can last as long as a century.

Such an event occurred in the 17th century. The observation of sunspots showed extraordinarily low levels of magnetism on the sun, with little or no 11-year cycle.

This solar hibernation corresponded with a period of bitter cold that began around 1650 and lasted, with intermittent spikes of warming, until 1715. Frigid winters and cold summers during that period led to massive crop failures, famine and death in Northern Europe.

Tapping reports no change in the sun's magnetic field so far this cycle and warns that if the sun remains quiet for another year or two, it may indicate a repeat of that period of drastic cooling of the Earth, bringing massive snowfall and severe weather to the Northern Hemisphere.

Tapping oversees the operation of a 60-year-old radio telescope that he calls a "stethoscope for the sun." But he and his colleagues need better equipment.

In Canada, where radio-telescopic monitoring of the sun has been conducted since the end of World War II, a new instrument, the next-generation solar flux monitor, could measure the sun's emissions more rapidly and accurately.

As we have noted many times, perhaps the biggest impact on the Earth's climate over time has been the sun.

For instance, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar Research in Germany report the sun has been burning more brightly over the last 60 years, accounting for the 1 degree Celsius increase in Earth's temperature over the last 100 years.

R. Timothy Patterson, professor of geology and director of the Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Center of Canada's Carleton University, says that "CO2 variations show little correlation with our planet's climate on long, medium and even short time scales."

Rather, he says, "I and the first-class scientists I work with are consistently finding excellent correlations between the regular fluctuations of the sun and earthly climate. This is not surprising. The sun and the stars are the ultimate source of energy on this planet."

Patterson, sharing Tapping's concern, says: "Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on Earth."

"Solar activity has overpowered any effect that CO2 has had before, and it most likely will again," Patterson says. "If we were to have even a medium-sized solar minimum, we could be looking at a lot more bad effects than 'global warming' would have had."

In 2005, Russian astronomer Khabibullo Abdusamatov made some waves — and not a few enemies in the global warming "community" — by predicting that the sun would reach a peak of activity about three years from now, to be accompanied by "dramatic changes" in temperatures.

A Hoover Institution Study a few years back examined historical data and came to a similar conclusion.

"The effects of solar activity and volcanoes are impossible to miss. Temperatures fluctuated exactly as expected, and the pattern was so clear that, statistically, the odds of the correlation existing by chance were one in 100," according to Hoover fellow Bruce Berkowitz.

The study says that "try as we might, we simply could not find any relationship between industrial activity, energy consumption and changes in global temperatures."

The study concludes that if you shut down all the world's power plants and factories, "there would not be much effect on temperatures."

But if the sun shuts down, we've got a problem. It is the sun, not the Earth, that's hanging in the balance.

Heads to roll? Mexican trucks in U.S. sparks firing call

2008-02-08T10:43:00.000-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=55778

Heads to roll? Mexican trucks in U.S. sparks firing call
Transportation secretary 'breaking law' by allowing foreign vehicles

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: February 06, 2008
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A poster urging the firing of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters on display at the Navy Yard Metro stop near the DOT building in Washington, D.C.

Teamsters are launching a nationwide campaign to fire U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters for what they say is her "unlawful decision" to keep the American border open to Mexican trucks.

As WND reported, the Bush administration has decided to ignore a provision passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush as part of the 2008 omnibus spending bill that was intended to remove funding from the 2008 DOT appropriations bill for the Mexican truck demonstration project.

"It's a disgrace that Mary Peters is still in office," said Teamsters General President James Hoffa in a news release today. "She has broken the law and defied the will of the American people by exposing them to dangerous trucks from Mexico."

The Teamsters have created FireMaryPeters.com, a website complete with downloadable "Fire Mary Peters" windshield signs, recommended actions and an e-mail component urging citizens to ask their elected representatives to find Mary Peters in contempt of Congress.

The Teamsters have mailed a "Fire Mary Peters" bumper sticker to thousands of union members and supporters.

"Transportation Secretary Mary Peters is the latest member of the Bush administration to break the law," the Teamster website proclaims. "She continues to give dangerous Mexican trucks access to our highways despite overwhelmingly bipartisan measures passed by Congress and signed by President Bush."

The Teamsters have also placed posters and floor graphics in the Navy Yard Metro stop in Washington, D.C., near the DOT building.

Planned as well is a leafleting campaign at the Metro stop, where DOT employees will be handed cards asking them to call a "Fire Mary Peters" hotline to report other laws Peters has broken.

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters is labeled 'lawbreaker' in this bumper sticker campaign

A "Fire Mary Peters" radio ad prepared by the Teamsters can be heard on the website.

A series of videos on the website shows a Teamster rally at the San Diego border and testimony Hoffa has given Congress opposing NAFTA.

The "Fire Mary Peters" campaign has a special focus in Peters' home state of Arizona, where letters and bumper stickers have been mailed to thousands of Teamsters, urging them to take action.

Although not yet announced, widespread rumors persist that Peters is planning to run for governor of Arizona in 2010.

In a separate legal action, the Teamsters Union will argue in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Feb. 12 that Peters broke federal laws aimed at ensuring American voters are not endangered by allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. roads.

WND telephoned the Department of Transportation asking for comment on this story, but received no return call.

Religious police in Saudi Arabia arrest mother for sitting with a man

2008-02-08T10:36:00.000-06:00

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3321637.ece

Religious police in Saudi Arabia arrest mother for sitting with a man

A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three is seeking justice after she was thrown in jail by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh.

Yara, who does not want her last name published for fear of retribution, was bruised and crying when she was freed from a day in prison after she was strip-searched, threatened and forced to sign false confessions by the Kingdom's “Mutaween” police.

Her story offers a rare first-hand glimpse of the discrimination faced by women living in Saudi Arabia. In her first interview with the foreign press, Yara told The Times that she would remain in Saudi Arabia to challenge its harsh enforcement of conservative Islam rather than return to America.

“If I want to make a difference I have to stick around. If I leave they win. I can't just surrender to the terrorist acts of these people,” said Yara, who moved to Jeddah eight years ago with her husband, a prominent businessman.

Her ordeal began with a routine visit to the new Riyadh offices of her finance company, where she is a managing partner. The electricity temporarily cut out, so Yara and her colleagues — who are all men — went to a nearby Starbucks to use its wireless internet. She sat in a curtained booth with her business partner in the café's “family” area, the only seats where men and women are allowed to mix.

For Yara, it was a matter of convenience. But in Saudi Arabia, public contact between unrelated men and women is strictly prohibited.

“Some men came up to us with very long beards and white dresses. They asked ‘Why are you here together?'. I explained about the power being out in our office. They got very angry and told me what I was doing was a great sin,” recalled Yara, who wears an abaya and headscarf, like most Saudi women.

The men were from Saudi Arabia's Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, a police force of several thousand men charged with enforcing dress codes, sex segregation and the observance of prayers.

Yara, whose parents are Jordanian and grew up in Salt Lake City, once believed that life in Saudi Arabia was becoming more liberal. But on Monday the religious police took her mobile phone, pushed her into a cab and drove her to Malaz prison in Riyadh. She was interrogated, strip-searched and forced to sign and fingerprint a series of confessions pleading guilty to her “crime”.

“They took me into a filthy bathroom, full of water and dirt. They made me take off my clothes and squat and they threw my clothes in this slush and made me put them back on,” she said. Eventually she was taken before a judge.

“He said 'You are sinful and you are going to burn in hell'. I told him I was sorry. I was very submissive. I had given up. I felt hopeless,” she said.

Yara's husband, Hatim, used his political contacts in Jeddah to track her whereabouts. He was able to secure her release.

“I was lucky. I met other women in that prison who don't have the connections I did,” she said. Her story has received rare coverage in Saudi Arabia, where the press has been sharply critical of the police.

Yara was visited yesterday by officials from the American Embassy, who promised they would file a report.

An embassy official told The Times that it was being treated as “an internal Saudi matter” and refused to comment on her case.

Tough justice
— Saudi Arabia’s Mutaween has 10,000 members in almost 500 offices

— Ahmad al-Bluwi, 50, died in custody in 2007 in the city of Tabuk after he invited a woman outside his immediate family into his car

— In 2007 the victim of a gang rape was sentenced to 200 lashes and six years in jail for having been in an unrelated man’s car at the time. She was pardoned by King Abdullah, although he maintained the sentence had been fair

-------------------------------
OTEHRS COMMENTS:
Oh yes! Lets have Sharia law in the UK! More violence and hatred please! I would love to be in fear of my life! -Chris, UK,

The more I read about cases like this the more I think that these people are mentally deranged. What a sad reflection on humanity in the 21st century that this type of thing still happens. It is nothing short of disgusting and shameful.
William, Padstow, Australia

Take a long hard look at your politicians. They support the Saudi Government. They support repressive regimes across the mideast, so that you can have cheap oil.
Seth Delackner, Tokyo, Japan

As much as I hate to say it, Saudi Arabia is a sovereign nation and they have a right to enforce these kinds of laws. I hate how so many self-professed "tolerant liberals" can be so amazingly intolerant of cultures that are unlike their own.
Jordon, Tulsa, OK

how says is not in the Koran? please read the koran, read sharia law, check the "declaration of human rights in Islam" if cuba and rusia where comunist, and noone doubts it, why would you say that Iran and Arabia Saudi are not real Islamic? how much more Islamic can they get?
Islam is not peace, the word Islam means "submission" literally, (submission to the will of allah).
Less excuses and more reality check.
rufo, London,

I believe, this is a matter of sovereignty. Do the Saudis have the right to write their own laws or not. In absolute terms this is unbelievable and should obviously not exist in the 21st century, but who are we to tell the Saudis, what is right in their country. As the saying goes: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". If you don't like it, get out.
Karl Pongs, Corona, California

Well, as crazy as the whole story sounds, The lady knew the laws and rules in Saudi. If she doesn't like it, leave. Otherwise, dont whine and complain when something like this happens.
Jeff, Russellville, Alabama

I'll never get over the irony that these ultra-conservative islamo-fascist officers have no greater friends in the world than the ultra-liberal leftwing in the West.
Matt, Chicago, IL

Why is there no official comment from NOW, so called National Organization for Women... is it because this would actually be a fight for justice and not just an easy way for them to get their names in the media?
Fern, Monterey, USA

And this is the Sharia law so many many of our MP's and bishops say we should be considering so that we can be all inclusive!! God help us!
Ann, Oxford, UK

Maybe those crazies have got it right! Even our western bible says women are here to serve men. It's mainly the women who complain. You don't hear any Saudi men complaining about it do you? So maybe they are right. It is a mans world and maybe women are only here to serve men. Show me any religious text that contradicts that! So, instead of gabbling on with your feminist mantras, howabout observing the thousands of years of history that show us man is the superior gender and just do what you're told! And show a little respect to the man's world and God's laws.-Simon Peter, Toms River, USA

Another example of the "religion of peace and love??"
Tony, Tampa, Florida

Immigration charges stem from HPD death

2008-02-08T10:30:00.000-06:00

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5519957.html

Immigration charges stem from HPD death
Federal grand jury indicts a landscaping owner who's suspected of harboring an illegal immigrant accused in an officer's killing

By CINDY GEORGE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Complete coverage of immigration issues A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted a landscaping owner on federal immigration law charges, accusing him of harboring an illegal immigrant who was later charged with capital murder in the death of a Houston police officer.

Robert Lane Camp, 47, was arrested last month on a criminal complaint that accuses him of taking significant steps to help Juan Leonardo Quintero remain on the job at Camp Landscaping in Deer Park before the September 2006 killing of officer Rodney Johnson.

Camp is charged with encouraging or inducing Quintero to enter the country illegally and later harboring the immigrant in the Houston area. Quintero worked for Camp for at least 11 years, according to an affidavit filed by the investigating immigration agent.

Camp appeared before a federal magistrate last month and posted $50,000 for his release.

The affidavit and indictment accuses the entrepreneur of a decade of assistance to Quintero. In August 1998, Camp posted a $10,000 bond for the immigrant after he was jailed on a charge of indecency with a child and hired an attorney to defend him. After the worker was deported in May 1999, Camp sent him money in Mexico and later bought him a plane ticket from Phoenix to Houston after Quintero re-entered the U.S. illegally through Arizona. Camp then bought a home in Houston and rented it to Quintero, who is listed in federal court records as Juan Leonardo Quintero-Perez, the affidavit says.

In September 2006, officer Johnson stopped a truck owned by Camp's company for a traffic violation and arrested Quintero after the worker could not provide a driver's license.

As Johnson prepared a report in the front seat of his patrol car, Quintero pulled a pistol overlooked in a body search and shot Johnson four times in the head, police said. Quintero is scheduled for trial later this year.

Camp faces up to 10 years in prison.

---------------------------------------
OTHERS COMMENTS:

brownbow wrote:
Mc'Cain wrote the Amnesty (OOP'S...I mean "pay two grand and your in") bill...
And he plans on shoving it up your @$$*$! around this time next year if he's elected.That is, after he "secures the borders first!" Oh boy! secures the border and vows to "crack down on employers who hire illegal aliens!" then, in the next breath, pleadges to give a "path to citizenship" to the illegal aliens that he's going to crack down on the employers for hiring???... Thanks, John.

Knana60 wrote:
Hallelujah! If more of this kind of thing were done maybe the employers wouldn't be quite so quick to hire illegals, especially ones that have committed crimes. What was Robert Camp thinking? He certainly wasn't thinking of the safety of the people in the community. There should be more indictments like this.

donny3times wrote:
I think this guy Robert Camp was having some kind of brokeback Mountain, rump ranger, dunky monkey relationship with this murderin' Mexican Quintero. I hear illegal aliens be doing all kinds of perverted things to stay in the country and make money. I think Robert Camp and Juan Quintero were definitely paraamours and did indeed make holey moley, I hope he gets 10 years in prison the traitorous pervert.

Rose22 wrote:
Fedup_Madchi wrote:
".....keep the hard working, honest people behind."
****************************************************
If they are illegal then they are not honest, or they would have come here the LEGAL way. I agree with you some, they should start with the criminals, the criminal employers that is. ;)

____________________________________________
MY COMMENT:
This man should be behind bars! THE BORDER SHOULD BE CLOSED! All other countries protect their boarders, so WHY THE HELL SHOULDN'T WE! PUT HIM BEHIND BARS AND LET THE ILLEGALS IN THE JAILS SHOW HIM JUST HOW THANKFUL THEY'LL BE.

Mother of two happy to be alive after losing legs to ILLEGAL ALIEN DUI

2008-02-08T10:17:00.000-06:00

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/02/07/news/local/doc47aabc95e4442607939612.txt

Mother of two happy to be alive after losing legs in accident
By MARSHA DORGAN
Register Staff Writer
Thursday, February 07, 2008

The Napa woman whose legs were crushed when she was hit by a drunk driver Sunday night has a long, tough road to recovery.

Doctors at Queen of the Valley Medical Center operated on Lilian Clark the night of the crash, amputating both of her legs just above the knee, according to her husband, John Clark.

Clark, 38, is the mother of two boys, 4 and 6. She was pinned between the rear bumper of her car and a 1990 Plymouth driven by Francisco Pacheco, 24, of Napa.

The crash happened around 6:30 p.m. Sunday on South Terrace Drive, north of Shetler Avenue.

After the crash, Pacheco put his car in reverse and sped away from the scene. Neighbors followed him to his house about a block away, where they held him until police arrived and arrested Pacheco on felony DUI, hit and run and driving without a valid license. Pacheco has a prior misdemeanor DUI conviction from January 2007. He is on probation.

He is being held in the county jail on $100,000 bail.

Pacheco does not have auto insurance.

“I have no idea at this time what will be involved in Lili’s recovery. I know there will be months, maybe years of rehab, and she will have to be fitted for prosthesis,” her husband said.

A fund has been set up to help the family with medical expenses and to bring Lilian Clark’s family from Chile, where they live, so they can help out with the children and their family member’s recovery.

Donations may be made at Washington Mutual Bank, 699 Trancas St., Napa, 94558. The account is under the name Lilian Clark and Children.

Clark said that on the night of the accident, his wife had double-parked her car and was putting their sons, Jake and Sam, in their child safety seats.

“She went around to the back of the car to get to the driver’s door. I was right there. I said ‘see you later,’ and within a split second I heard tires screeching and saw this car come roaring down the street about 50 miles an hour and just slam into the back of Lili’s car, pinning her between the two bumpers,” Clark said.

With the impact of Pacheco’s car, John Clark said, “The trunk popped open, and she flew inside. Then, the guy threw his car in reverse and left. Lili just fell to the ground in a heap. The neighbors ran out of the house. I was yelling ‘Call 911.’ They said they already had and asked me which way the guy went. They followed him in their car and found his car parked in front of his house down the street.

“I was holding Lili. She was conscious. All she kept saying was ‘Check the kids.’ Her legs were crushed, and she was just worried about the kids,” he said. “The kids were crying and saying ‘What happened to Mommy?’ The neighbors helped me and we kept the kids from seeing what happened. Just horrific, horrific is the only way I can describe it.”

Doctors amputated her legs that night. “There was no way they could save her legs.” She had over 60 breaks in her bones, Clark said.

Clark said his wife had undergone her third operation on Tuesday. “She knows what has happened. She’s such a strong woman, I just can’t believe it. Like I said, her main concern is the kids.

“They took the tubes out Tuesday and she got to see the kids. They need to know that mom is going to make it. Lili is in good spirits. She feels very fortunate to be alive. That woman is just remarkable,” Clark said.

Lilian Clark is from Chile.

“I met her when I was visiting friends in Chile in 1996. We struck up a friendship which blossomed. I tried everything to get her a visa to live in America. Nothing worked. I was finally successful in getting a fiancé visa. She came to Napa in 1999, and we got married,” Clark said.

Lilian Clark had worked as temporary office employee. More recently, she has been a stay-at-home mom.
--------------------------------------------

OTHERS COMMENTS:
frenchtoast wrote on Feb 7, 2008 2:19 PM:
" This story is heartbreaking, but Lily sounds as if she's got the strength,heart and soul to deal with the loss of her legs, knowing she can still be a mother to her children and wife to J-M. It sickens me this guy was on the road and tried to run for it. Maybe people will call a cab the next time they ponder whether to get behind the wheel after thinking about this tragedy -- one that could have been entirely avoided. My prayers are with the Clark family. "

NVR Moderator wrote on Feb 7, 2008 11:01 AM:
" Many comments to this story have been deleted because they address the issue of illegal immigration.
There is nothing in this article about immigration issues.
Comment guideline No. 1 refers to this, stating in part "Keep comments ... focused on the topic in the story." "

GregN. wrote on Feb 7, 2008 7:24 AM:
" Wow, this story is just awefull. I hope that Mr. Pacheco get the book thrown at him (and hopefully it hits him in the legs). I for one, bank at wamu, and am planning on giving a little next pay period to their fund mentioned above.
For those of you who dont understand, Mrs. Clark will probably not be getting ANY help financially from Mr. Pacheco considering he is not insured, and from the sounds of it, is probably not legally here.

--------------------------------------
MY COMMENTS:
I particularly love how they accidentally left out that this man was an illegal (according to World New Daily) and was already on probation for a previous DUI, had no insurance and fled the scene. THIS MAN SHOULD BE TOAST (literally)! These "hard-working" illegals (who broke the law coming here) are not going to obey our other laws. THEY HAVE NO RESPECT FOR LAWS AND HEY SINCE WE ALLOWED HIM TO STAY WHY WOULD HE! All illegals should be deported and forced to wait in like with the millions of people waiting to come to this country the right way and obey our laws. THIS IS INSANE that he wasn't deported after his first DUI. WHY WAS HE ON PROBATION? This makes no sense. If I were this woman I'd sue the state for negligence and for unequal treatment under the laws. I PRAY THIS WOMAN and her family (who will forever be harmed by this negligence will get JUSTICE!)

Schoolgirl to aliens: Learn our language

2008-02-08T10:11:00.000-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=55847

Schoolgirl to aliens: Learn our language
'We're not going to turn America into a bilingual country to accommodate you'
Posted: February 07, 2008
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A Texas schoolgirl has a message for aliens coming into the United States: Learn our language.

The message comes from Ashleigh Allison, who has insisted on studying France and its language even though her Grapevine-Colleyville school district curriculum requires her to take Spanish, according to a report in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

And her mother agrees. "We're not going to turn American into a bilingual country to accommodate you," she said. "She (Ashleigh) wants to be the one voice that forces them to learn English."

K.C. McAlpin, a spokesman for ProEnglish, a Virginia-based group that is trying to preserve English as the common language of the United States, said there's no opposition to teaching foreign languages.

"But it would be naïve to think that the country does not face the growing threat of bilingualism because of the massive influx of mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants. They're coming in faster than the country can absorb them," McAlpin said.

In Texas, schools are required to offer "to the extent possible, languages other than English" for elementary children. Monica Martinez of the Texas Education Agency said the simple fact is for most, Spanish is the language of choice.

Grapevine-Colleyville district spokeswoman Megan Overman told the newspaper that the intent is to provide students the experience that "prepares them for success in our diverse world" and there's been no opposition in the past.

But McAlpin said forcing Spanish on students promotes bilingualism and could cause harm.

"Every place in the world where societies have been divided about language, there have been conflicts that many times lead to violence or antagonism that we have so far been able to avoid in this country," he told the newspaper. "Why break the successful mold of the melting pot?"

Rudy Rodriquez, retired from the bilingual education program at the University of North Texas, said a "bilingual brain" actually has better function.

But Allison told the Star-Telegram her family isn't anti-immigration: They're just pro-English.

"This is not saying, you cannot speak your native tongue," she told the paper. "Grasp your tradition and your culture. But when you are outside your front door, you must speak English. We have to understand you."

Allison said her daughter's school now has 54 percent Hispanic students, up from 13 percent 10 years ago.

She said when Principal Cody Spielmann told her Spanish is required and there were no other options, she reacted.

"Ashleigh feels the course would be a waste of her time since she has no aspirations in the future to have a career requiring bilingual talents," she wrote the principal, "nor does she feel compelled to accommodate those who live in our country who refuse to learn the primary and current native tongue of English."

The issue came to a head when the school refused to make any accommodations, and Allison kept her daughter out of class. She ended up filing a grievance, and reached an agreement with Deputy Supt. Jim Chadwell to allow her daughter to study and report on a country of her choice.

Without a teacher, she hasn't been able to pick up any but the most common French phrases, the newspaper reported, and Allison still is seeking a formal policy change.

--------------------------------
MY COMMENTS:
Good for her. She belives something with so much passion she isn't willing to cave in to the demands of others. RIGHT ON GIRL! Too bad many adults sit back and complain, but do nothing to change the situation. If we all banned together and fought these pro-alien groups then America would be better off in the long run. And who knows... We may even be able to pressure the Mexican government to change things to make it better for them to go home.

Hillary still in bed with '96 scandal

2008-02-08T10:03:00.000-06:00

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/NATION/942016032/1001

Hillary still in bed with '96 scandal
By Jerry Seper
February 8, 2008

As first lady in 1997, Hillary Rodham Clinton was joined by U.S. Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, now a top Clinton fundraiser, on a tour of Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres' official residence in Lisbon.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nearly one in five "HillRaisers," the elite big-money fundraisers for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, have ties to the 1990s fundraising scandal that tarnished her husband's presidency by offering Democratic donors sleepovers in the Lincoln Bedroom and other perks inside the White House.

Hillary seeks youths' votes with her visions of change
Forty-nine of the Clintons' Lincoln Bedroom guests are among the 250 HillRaisers listed on Mrs. Clinton's campaign Web page, who have pledged to gather, or "bundle," at least $100,000 in donations. Some have promised to raise $1 million or more for the 2008 campaign, the most costly in U.S. history.

Some of the HillRaisers are longtime friends who have given millions to the Clintons over the years, including Washington socialite Beth Dozoretz, who played a key role in the controversial, last-minute 2000 pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.

A Lincoln Bedroom visitor, Mrs. Dozoretz, raised $2 million for Mr. Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign, $1 million for the Clinton presidential library and hosted a "rally-around-the-president party" that raised $1 million for Mr. Clinton's legal defense in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Mrs. Dozoretz dismissed concerns about the overnight visits — raised by Mrs. Clinton's Democratic primary rivals, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina — saying the Clintons had simply opened up the White House to friends.

"It is an experience that can be extraordinary, and Bill and Hillary Clinton sought to share it with a great number of people," she told The Washington Times. "They believed the White House was the people's house, and they shared it with as many people and in as many ways as possible.

"Having friends stay at the White House was in no way a quid pro quo for those who had contributed. No way," she said.

So far in the 2008 campaign, Mrs. Dozoretz has given $20,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), $2,300 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, $12,650 to other Democrats and $4,200 to Mrs. Clinton, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Clinton spokesman Phil Singer did not answer questions e-mailed to the campaign this week about the overnight visits and the HillRaisers. Instead, he responded with an e-mail saying, "The only commitment Hillary Clinton has made is to be the best president she can be for the American people."

Mrs. Clinton, who has raised more than $118 million so far for her 2008 race, has acknowledged that campaign donors were invited to spend the night in the second-floor Lincoln Bedroom but denied that the visits were in exchange for campaign donations.

"There's certainly no basis for believing that they are anything other than what they are, which is friends and supporters," she told reporters in 1996. "There just really isn't any reason for anybody to raise any questions about it. The Lincoln Bedroom was never sold."

Broken system
According to a study by the Committee for Responsive Politics (CRP), a bipartisan watchdog group, 15 of the Lincoln Bedroom guests in 1996 who are now HillRaisers also contributed $130,000 to Mrs. Clinton's 2000 Senate race. Those same high rollers forked over $1.4 million to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and to other Democratic candidates.

The donations flowed despite complaints that the Lincoln Bedroom mattress was lumpy.

Collectively, according to the records, the Lincoln Bedroom guests, which totaled 938 including spouses and children, contributed $10.2 million to Democrats, including Mr. Clinton, an average of $10,847 each.

Mary Boyle, spokeswoman at Common Cause, a Washington-based campaign-finance watchdog group, said the influence of wealthy special interests in the funding of campaigns has eroded public trust in the nation's political system and discouraged political participation.

"Sure, we're always concerned about large donations in presidential races, whether for Hillary Clinton or anyone else," she said. "Bundlers are the power brokers of this presidential campaign.

"The bottom line is our campaign-finance system is badly broken and must be fixed," she said. "We need to restore the presidential public-finance system so our presidential races are not so much about who can raise the most money but who has the best ideas, policies, most support among voters."

'Caricature of itself'
According to White House records and documents collected during separate Senate and House inquiries, the big donors in the 1996 re-election campaign not only were given overnight accommodations, but they were also ushered into the Oval Office for coffees, lunches and other meetings with Mr. and Mrs. Clinton, took rides on Air Force One, received invitations for golf with the president, got Cabinet members for fundraisers, and were put in touch with top policy-makers throughout the Clinton high command.

Republicans first raised questions about the propriety of the coffees and sleepovers, but so did the Justice Department's campaign-finance task force.

Its hand-picked chief, federal prosecutor Charles G. LaBella, recommended in July 1998 after a two-year investigation that Attorney General Janet Reno, a Clinton appointee, seek an independent counsel to probe accusations of White House fundraising abuses.

In a 94-page report, Mr. LaBella said the "intentional conduct and the willful ignorance uncovered by our investigations ... resulted in a situation where abuse was rampant, and indeed the norm."

He said White House officials, including the president and the first lady, had a "desperate need to raise enormous sums of money" to offset losses to Republicans in 1994 and relied on the "calculated use of access" to the Clintons "as leverage to extract contributions."

"At some point, the campaign was so corrupted by bloated fundraising and questionable contributions that the system became a caricature of itself," Mr. LaBella said.

A November 1997 memo by FBI Director Louis J. Freeh said a "core group" of White House and Democratic National Committee officials were involved in "an all-out effort" to raise campaign cash — which led, in part, to the White House coffees and the overnight stays. In the 22-page memo, he said it was "difficult to imagine a more compelling situation for appointing an independent counsel."

Miss Reno rejected the recommendations.
Mr. LaBella, now in private practice in San Diego, said this week that he could not comment on the Clinton presidential campaign but added that "the report speaks for itself."

Big bundles
Mrs. Clinton's HillRaisers are part of a political landscape used by many politicians to bypass federal laws that cap, or limit, contributions. By bundling donations, a single fundraiser can gather contributions from employees, clients, acquaintances and special-interest groups to effectively circumvent federal limits and restrictions.

While the HillRaisers are committed to raising $100,000 each, many have been encouraged by the Clinton campaign to gather as much as $1 million apiece.

Several of them represent large corporations, many of whom do business with the government. Others have been identified as U.S. lobbyists working for foreign governments, including Matthew Bernstein, who represents Dubai and Turkey; John Merrigan, Dubai, Turkey and Ethiopia; Thomas Siebert, the Kurdistan Regional Government; Timothy Chorba, China; Gordon Giffin, Canada; and former Sen. Robert Torricelli, Taiwan.

Mr. Torricelli of New Jersey served a single term in the Senate after 14 years in the House but decided not to seek re-election after being implicated in a bribery and campaign finance scandal involving David Chang, a Korean businessman who was imprisoned.

Other HillRaisers and Lincoln Bedroom guests were William Brandt Jr., a Chicago bankruptcy lawyer and Democratic fundraiser who was investigated and later cleared in a $10,000 per-couple fundraiser he held for Mr. Clinton's 1996 re-election; and Michael Turpen, former attorney general in Oklahoma investigated but not charged in 1998 in his solicitation from an Indian tribe of a $100,000 donation to the DNC in exchange for coffee with Mr. Clinton at the White House.

At least 16 HillRaisers have given $120,000 to Mrs. Clinton's political action committee, HILLPAC.

The sleepovers began as part of a re-election strategy by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, who sought to raise $100 million using coffees, overnight stays and other White House perks. The plan was personally approved by Mr. Clinton, who said in a January 1995 handwritten note: "Ready to start overnights right away."

The White House coffees became so frequent during the Clinton administration that in a Jan. 19, 1996, memo, Evelyn Lieberman, White House deputy chief of staff, notified staff members who routinely briefed the president that they should be "flexible during this period and accept that their briefings may be considerably truncated or eliminated."

Mrs. Lieberman now serves as chief operating officer of Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign.

In his report, Mr. LaBella did not accuse the president, first lady or Mr. Ickes — who served as Mrs. Clinton's top campaign adviser in her 2000 New York senatorial race — of any criminal acts, but cited a "pattern of conduct worthy of investigation" by an independent counsel.

The report was not made public by the Clinton White House for more than two years, but was released in June 2000 by the House Government Reform Committee.

Former HillRaiser Norman Hsu was sentenced in January to three years in prison in a $60 million fraud. He had raised $850,000 for Mrs. Clinton's 2008 campaign, which has since been returned. Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, said at the time that the campaign returned the money "out of an abundance of caution."

WHITE HOUSE SLEEPOVERS
Nearly one in five big-money contributors to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, known as "HillRaisers," are the same donors who surfaced in a 1996 White House scandal involving sleepovers in the Lincoln Bedroom and other perks to help re-elect President Clinton. The following are the names of donors who got to spend a night in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley
Leonard Barrack
William Brandt
Ron Burkle
John Catsimatidis
Ellen Chesler
Betsy Cohn
Barbaralee Diamonstein
Beth Dozoretz
Mike Driver
Voda "Betsy" Ebeling
Debra Farar
Sim Farar
Geraldine Ferraro
Michael Goldberg
Stephen L. Green
Brian Greenspun
Steven Grossman
Fred P. Hochberg
Kaki Hockersmith
Jill Iscol
John "Duke" Kinney
Christopher Korge
Cynthia Leesfield
Ira Leesfield
Thomas Leonard
Philip Levine
Matthew Mallow
Gary Mauro
Kevin O'Keefe
Alan J. Patricof
Lisa Perry
Richard Perry
Steven Rattner
Gov. Edward G. Rendell
Cheryl Saban
Haim Saban
Elaine Schuster
Gerry Schuster
Stanley S. Shuman
Roy Spence
Steven Spielberg
Ambassador Carl Spielvogel
Michael Turpen
Susan Turpen
Mark Weiner
Carol Shields Westbrook
Hugh Westbrook
Maureen White
Source: HillaryClinton.com

-----------------------------------------
MY COMMENTS:
Mrs. Clinton (AKA Royal B*tch): As you so wonderfully put it the white house is the house of the people. Therefore, I will be expecting my sleepover invite in the mail is you are elected to the office of President. I'll even bring my own sleeping bag.

Archbishop calls for Sharia law in Britain

2008-02-08T09:59:00.000-06:00

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23436203-details/Church+backlash+as+Archbishop+of+Canterbury+calls+for+Sharia+law+in+Britain/article.do

Church backlash as Archbishop of Canterbury calls for Sharia law in Britain
Last updated at 15:22pm on 08.02.08

Under fire: Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams
The Archbishop of Canterbury today faced growing calls to resign from his own clergy in a ferocious backlash over his endorsement of Sharia law.

In an astonishing attack, one senior Church of England clergyman demanded Dr Rowan Williams step down immediately and branded him "gullible".

Meanwhile, the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, claimed it would be "simply impossible" to introduce Sharia law in Britain.

The clergyman was put under police protection last month after receiving death threats following his claims that parts of Britain are 'no-go areas' for non-Muslims.

Today he claimed that Sharia would be "in tension" with current laws, including the rights of women.

Dr Nazir-Ali, who holds dual British and Pakistani citizenship, also added that Muslim women's groups had blocked an attempt to introduce Sharia in marriage dispute cases in Canada.

Debates on Sharia "are not an argument for disturbing the integrity of a legal tradition which is rooted in the quite different moral and spiritual vision deriving from the Bible," he concluded.

In a separate attack, a clergyman identified only as a long-standing member of the Church's governing body the General Synod, told The Times that many people had now lost confidence in the Archbishop.

"I am just so shocked, and cannot believe a man of his intelligence could be so gullible," he said.

"I can only assume that all the Muslims he meets are senior leaders of the community who tell him what a wonderful book the Koran is.

"There have been a lot of calls today for him to resign. I don't suppose he will take any notice, but yes, he should resign."

The comments followed the Archbishop's statement that it seemed "unavoidable" that some form of Sharia law will be introduced in Britain.

This morning, the Bishop of Southwark the Right Reverend Tom Butler was the first to break ranks and publically attack Dr Williams.

He said: "It will take a great deal more thought and work before I think it's a good idea."

Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme whether the Church of England leader, Dr Rowan Williams, should have been more diplomatic in his speech which sparked the controversy, Dr Butler said: "The Archbishop has a way with language but this was a very heavy lecture."

He admitted that the Dr Williams had entered a "minefield" with his views on Sharia law and it was not clear whether he would backtrack on behalf of the Church of England, on this issue.

He said: "Like all bishops I'm waking up this morning to a shoal of emails from clergy asking what's going on."

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham also launched a ferocious backlash against the Archbishop of Canterbury's claims about sharia law.

The Cabinet minister warned against such a radical legal shake-up in the UK stressing it would be a "recipe for social chaos".

Dr Williams faced a barrage of criticism for arguing that Sharia law should be given some form of legal status in the UK.

Voicing the views of many MPs, Mr Burnham said: "This isn't a path down which we should go. The system, the British legal system, should apply to everybody equally.

Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali: He today condemned the Archbishop of Canterbury's comments

"You cannot run two systems of law alongside each other. That in my view would be a recipe for chaos, social chaos. British law has to be based on British values.

"If people choose to live in this country, they choose to abide by that law and that law alone.

"It has got to be fundamental and a cornerstone of our country and our democracy that everybody is equal before that one system of British law."

This morning it also emerged that Sharia crime courts are already operating in parts of Britain.

According to a youth worker, a group of Somali youths were arrested by police on suspicion of stabbing another Somali teenager.

But the victim's family told officers the matter would be settled out of court and the suspects were released on bail.

A Sharia court was convened and elders ordered the assailants to compensate the victim.

The Archbishop of Canterbury caused consternation yesterday when he called for Islamic law to be recognised in Britain.

He declared that Sharia and Parliamentary law should be given equal legal status so the people could choose which governs their lives.

This raised the prospect of Islamic courts in Britain with full legal powers to approve polygamous marriages, grant easy divorce for men and prevent finance firms from charging interest.

Brutal: Elements of Sharia law are known for being barbaric
His comments in a BBC interview and a lecture to lawyers were condemned at a time when government ministers are striving to encourage integration and stop the nation from "sleepwalking to segregation".

The Prime Minister rapidly distanced himself from Dr Williams's view. Gordon Brown's spokesman said: "Our general position is that sharia law cannot be used as a justification for committing breaches of English law, nor should the principles of sharia law be included in a civil court for resolving contractual disputes.

"The Prime Minister believes British law should apply in this country, based on British values."

Dr Williams's words opened a chasm over Islam between senior leaders of the Church of England, who are already trying to deal with an Anglican war over gay rights which broke out after he was appointed archbishop.

The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, is facing death threats following his warning last month about Muslim "no-go areas" in Britain.

And the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu, who has been fiercely critical of Muslim extremists, said last year that "the imposition of sharia law, Britain as a Muslim society - that will never happen".

In his lecture, 57-year-old Dr Williams said that "we have to think a little harder about the role and rule of law in a plural society of overlapping identities".

He added that it would be possible to develop "a scheme in which individuals retain the liberty to choose the jurisdiction under which they will seek to resolve certain carefully specified matters, so that power-holders are forced to compete for the loyalty of their shared constituents.

"This may include aspects of marital law, the regulation of financial transactions, and authorised structures of mediation and conflict resolution."

The archbishop attempted to distance himself from the extreme legal systems run in Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, where adultery can be punished by death and women who behave independently risk harsh punishments.

"Nobody in their right mind, I think, would want to see in this country a kind of inhumanity that sometimes appears to be associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states - the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women as well," he said.

Dr Williams pointed out that Jewish Beth Din courts already operate in Britain. But these, like sharia arrangements currently existing in Muslim areas, are voluntary understandings conducted with the agreement of participants.

Alternative sharia courts as proposed by the archbishop would dish out enforceable law.

Muslim groups responded cautiously to Dr Williams's proposals. A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said: "We will need to look carefully at the archbishop's lecture."

The Ramadhan Foundation youth organisation said the scheme would help build respect and tolerance.

Its director Mohammed Shafiq said: "Sharia law for civil matters is something which has been introduced in some western countries with much success; I believe that Muslims would take huge comfort from the Government allowing civil matters being resolved according to their faith."

But he added: "We are however disappointed that the Archbishop of Canterbury was silent when Bishop Nazir-Ali was promoting intolerance and lying about no-go areas for Christians in the UK by Muslim extremists.

"Unless he speaks out against this intolerance, Muslims will take his silence as authorisation and support for such comments."

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said Dr Williams's comments gave "succour to extremists".

"He needs to understand that his words carry enormous weight," he said in a Channel 4 interview.

"What he seems to be talking about is a situation in which people are treated differently under the law according to their religion. People cannot be treated differently. Everyone should be equal in the eyes of the law.

"I don't doubt the archbishop's desire to accommodate diversity, but we cannot do so at the expense of our common values."

He described Dr Williams as "muddled" and "dangerous".

Mr Phillips was the first prominent Labour figure to condemn multiculturalism, the Left-wing doctrine which promotes different cultures.

He declared that under its influence Britain was sleepwalking to segregation.

Yesterday he said the "implication that British courts should treat people differently based on their faith is divisive and dangerous.

"It risks removing the protection afforded by law, for example, to children in custody cases or women in divorce proceedings.

"The first people who would suffer would be ethnic-minority citizens. Follow the logic of this extreme multiculturalism through and where do we end up?

With a group of white Christians in Barking and Dagenham deciding they had a conscientious objection to nonwhite Muslims in their neighbourhoods - and seeking the support of the courts?"

Mike Judge, of the Christian Institute, said: "I am appalled that the head of the Church of England is advocating that parts of sharia law should be introduced into British law.

"The idea that you can have the moderate bits without the nasty bits coming along at a later time is naive."

Tory backbencher David Davies, an Anglican, said: "I am astounded. Dr Williams is a nice enough man, very intellectual, but he has clearly lost the plot.

"He's one of the most influential Christian prelates in the world and he's supposed to be standing up for Christianity.

"What he's doing is abandoning his own religion. If people come to this country they should be prepared to compromise their own traditions to fit in with the host country.

Tory cohesion spokesman Baroness Warsi, a Muslim herself, said: "The archbishop's comments are unhelpful and may add to the confusion that already exists in our communities.

"Freedom under the law allows respect for some religious practices.

"But let's be absolutely clear. All British citizens must be subject to British laws developed through Parliament and the courts."

-------------------------------
OTHERS COMMENTS:

He swears allegence to God, Queen and country.If people live in Great Britain then they should obey one law and one law only BRITISH
- A Tucker, glasgow south

I think the Queen, as defender of the faith, should remove that man from his position.
- John, Ohio USA

WHO WILL RID US OF THIS TURBULENT PRIEST? I'm not sure which planet the Archbishop is from, but I wish he would go back there. What utter nonesense he talks - can he not be sacked or retired - he is surely not all there.
- Stephen, London

Lou Dobbs alert: Illegal immigrants may get rebates

2008-01-30T18:14:00.000-06:00

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0108/Lou_Dobbs_alert_Illegal_immigrants_may_get_rebates.html

Lou Dobbs alert: Illegal immigrants may get rebates

In their bipartisan zeal to quickly cut a deal on an economic stimulus bill, GOP lawmakers overlooked something that will certainly inflame the conservative base _ illegal immigrants could receive a tax rebate check from the government.

But late Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee was scrambling to fix the problem _ contained in the House bill _ by only allowing taxpayers using legitimate Social Security numbers to receive rebates.

The text of the House passed bill contains language making "non resident aliens" _ illegal immigrants _ ineligible for the tax rebates. But every year, hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants use individual taxpayer identification numbers, known as ITINs, to file income tax returns with the IRS. These ID numbers are used instead of Social Security numbers. There are no exact statistics for how many illegal immigrants file tax returns, but this New York Times story from last year details the significant increase in use of ITINs. This story also lays out the issue.

Immigration advocates point out that many legal immigrants use ITINs, so it would be impossible to tell who is legal and who is not from those who use these IDs. The Senate version of the bill would prohibit use of ITINs, meaning some legal immigrants would not receive rebates.

Republicans who were involved in negotiating the bipartisan economic stimulus package would like to avoid the illegal immigration debate as the $146 billion bill comes to the Senate this week. Congressional aides say the problem is that the IRS is not a law enforcement agency, so it doesn't check immigration status when people file tax returns.

"The reality is that those who filed a tax return will be eligible" for tax rebates of $600 to $1,200, said Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.). "This [issue] has not been addressed" by the senators writing the bill.

The issue has certainly caught on in the conservative blogosphere, though, and you can bet a few conservative senators will bring this up as the stimulus bill hits the Senate floor. CNN's Lou Dobbs will probably have a field day with the issue as well.

A spokesman for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) points out that illegal immigrants are ineligible for any rebates and are committing tax fraud if they fraudulently obtain taxpayer ID numbers to file tax returns. Republicans also issued a memo Wednesday trying to defuse any controversy over immigrants and tax rebates.

"The bill includes language similar to the provisions included in the 2001 and 2003 tax relief bills designed to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving benefits," Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said. "There is no language in the measure that would enable illegal immigrants to receive a tax rebate.”

Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative organization, says the problem is not with the economic stimulus bill but with the lack of coordination between the IRS and immigration enforcement agencies.

"If the IRS was cooperating with Social Security or DHS [Homeland Security] ... they would know who the illegal immigrants are who file tax returns," Krikorian said.

It's not clear if the Senate fix will stay in the bill as the legislation heads to the Senate floor tomorrow.

-----------------------------
OTHER'S COMMENTS:
If they filed a tax return, they should be eligible for the rebate.
Posted By: | January 30, 2008 at 01:44 PM

This is only a sign of things to come. today the US government/corporation cares more about illegals than it does about its own citizens
Posted By: Juan McCain | January 30, 2008 at 01:44 PM

All U.S. citizens should be concerned about this for various reasons. The fact that it will be mostly conservatives who will object to this should itself be of concern. Also, perhaps Martin Kady II might consider doing some real reporting and looking into the seemy underbelly of ITINs. You know, follow the money like they used to do in the olden times.
Posted By: LonewackoDotCom | January 30, 2008 at 01:47 PM

Nobody asked the illegals to pay taxes. They shouldnt get a refund. How about instead of a refund, if your an illegal you get a one way boat ticket back where you came from.
Posted By: DK | January 30, 2008 at 02:00 PM

Wake up people. Lawbreakers do not deserve a tax refund. They are breaking the law by being here illegally and also by filing false returns!! Those of you who think this is ok are the real racists. Don't back down America.
Posted By: Joey | January 30, 2008 at 02:01 PM

if the check is sent to them in their home country, as the article indicates, how does that stimulate the U.S. economy?
Posted By: Lilly | January 30, 2008 at 02:03 PM

North-of-border link finishes NAFTA superhighway grid

2007-12-18T22:30:00.000-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59267

North-of-border link finishes NAFTA superhighway grid
Atlantic-Pacific route would allow cross-continental goods deliveries

Posted: December 18, 2007
10:07 p.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Canada has announced a plan to extend the NAFTA Superhighway network north in a way that would finish a continental grid designed to accommodate an anticipated tsunami of containers from China and the Far East.
The Canadian Intelligent Super Corridor, or CISCOR, is a national transportation route designed to reach from the West Coast ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert to Montreal and Halifax.

As WND has documented, recent articles published in The Nation and Newsweek magazines have attempted to characterize the NAFTA Superhighway as a "conspiracy theory."

Yet, the CISCOR case study provides strong evidence that the continent's ports, highways and rail lines are being reconfigured into an inter-modal system emphasizing technological logistics and "inland smart ports" designed to meet the demands of world trade, largely driven by the relocation of North American manufacturing to China.

Inter-modal is a transportation economics reference to containers that can be transported on several different modes of transportation, including container ships, trucks and trains, without having to be unloaded or repacked.

According to the CISCOR website, the Saskatchewan-based CISCOR Inland Port Network of the cities of Regina, Saskatoon and Moose Jaw is designed to serve "as the central logistics and coordination hub, creating a Canadian east-west land bridge connecting three major North American north-south corridors: North America's SuperCorridor, or NASCO, the Canada-America-Mexico Corridor, or CANAMEX, and the River of Trade Corridor Coalition."

A multi-color North American continental map on the CISCOR website leaves no doubt the Canadian super corridor is designed to interface with the NAFTA Superhighway, extending down into Mexico.

The CISCOR map strongly models the continental map displayed by NASCO on the trade group's website in 2005.

The CISCOR website confirms an earlier WND report documenting the Canadian national transportation plan to open Prince Rupert and Vancouver as deep-water ports capable of handling the new class of 12,500 container-capacity post-Panamax ships now being built for China.

The CISCOR strategy falls under the umbrella of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative as defined by Transport Canada, the Canadian counterpart to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

WND previously documented how the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railroads are included in Canada's Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative, positioned to operate as NAFTA railroads.

Under the CISCOR plan, the Saskatchewan cities are defined as an "inland smart port," as are Kansas City, San Antonio and Denver in the U.S.

The CISCOR website cites the University of Texas Center for Transportation research to define an inland port as follows: "An Inland Port is a physical site located away from traditional land, air and coastal borders with the vision to facilitate and process international trade through strategic investment in multi-modal transportation assets and by promoting value-added services as goods move through the supply chain."

The plan to make the Saskatchewan cities an inland port centers on utilizing the West Coast deep-water ports in British Columbia as the input point for millions of containers from China and the Far East.

American companies have taken advantage of cheap labor in China that in some cases functions at slave or near-slave levels. Communist Chinese prison camps also continue to make goods for the U.S. market, despite human rights pressure.

Reconfiguring the transportation infrastructure of North America into NAFTA Superhighways or Super Corridors drastically reduces the cost of transporting the containers from China

A quick look at the continental map shows the physical location of the Saskatchewan cities qualifies them to be an "inland port" because the area can function as a switching center, with easy access either to CANAMEX or to what NASCO refers to as the NASCO Corridor, the complex of Interstate Highways 35, 29 and 94.

Containers can be unloaded by crane in Saskatchewan and placed in giant warehouses. There they await pick-up by truck or train to be transported to the next regional warehouse for delivery to the final destination in North America.

An inland port is considered to be a "smart port" when technology – such as Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID systems – are utilized to facilitate customs clearance, security, warehouse distribution, multi-modal trans-load operations, empty container management and advanced container logistics tracking.

As WND reported, the Chinese ports management firm, Hutchison Ports Holdings, is working with Lockheed Martin in a joint venture with NASCO to place RFID sensors along I-35 to track inter-modal containers from China that enter North America through the Mexican ports of Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo.

An 87-page business analysis archived on the CISCOR website lays out the case for developing Saskatchewan as an Inland SmartPort in the following points that begin the report's Executive Summary:

A majority of the new containerships entering the world fleet in the next five years will be post-Panamax vessels ready to transport cargo from China, Southeast Asia and India to North American ports already strained with capacity.

The Panama Canal is approaching operational capacity and the U.S. transportation network is struggling to meet the predicted 15 percent annual rise in Asian container traffic.

In response to the rapid growth in North American trade, the shift in the global freight supply chain and the increased congestion at U.S. ports and along the inter-modal system, shippers are now routing a growing share of cargo via Canadian ports.
The CISCOR business report Executive Summary concludes, "Canada can serve as the North American gateway at the intersection of three powerful and shifting trade networks – the north-south North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the European-NAFTA, and the highly-utilized trans-Pacific route."

"The desired result is a fully-integrated, seamless cargo transport corridor moving cargo from the ports to rail and highways and to an inland port logistics center that serves all North American markets," the CISCOR Executive Summary concludes.

To open the connection to the European Union, CISCOR envisions extending the Canadian Intermodal Network to the east coast port of Halifax.

Students struggle as immigrants do (BULLSH*T LIBERAL AGENDA AGAIN)

2007-12-18T22:21:00.000-06:00

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/12/15/OLHSCLASS.ART_ART_12-15-07_B1_M08PJ5M.html?sid=101

Students struggle as immigrants do
Saturday, December 15, 2007 3:18 AM
By Holly Zachariah
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Erica Vieyra's Spanish students at Olentangy Liberty High School present their projects on immigration -- the culmination of three weeks of pretending to go through the steps that Latino immigrants take to come to the United States, legally or illegally.

POWELL -- The students had a role-play project: assume a Latino identity, build an imaginary life in your home country and develop a workable plan to immigrate to the United States.

Try it legally, Erica Vieyra told her 40 senior Spanish students at Olentangy Liberty High School. Fill out the correct documents, follow the proper steps. And then, after they spent days completing the actual paperwork from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, she took out her red ink pad and stamped a big, fat DENIED across every request.

Now, she told the students, come illegally. Forge your documents, find a way across the border. Then, research real ads and find a place to live in Columbus. Figure out what it would cost, how to get food. Plan how to survive.

The students had to go to real businesses and ask for Spanish-language job applications. They had to visit a bank and ask for new-account documents written in Spanish.

Vieyra promised them that the process -- even in make-believe -- would frustrate them. But they would gain, she hoped, an understanding of what is one of the most important political and humanitarian issues facing the U.S. government today.

After three weeks of work, the students presented their projects yesterday and discussed their conclusions. Most said it was a grueling experience to even pretend to walk in an immigrant's shoes.

"I can't begin to fathom how they can survive here," said Yana Lyon, 17. "Everywhere you turn if you try to become legal or help yourself, there's a roadblock."

For her project, Yana assumed the identity of 28-year-old single mother Margarita Sola, a barmaid in Tijuana, Mexico. Yana had Margarita stay at a Columbus Knights Inn until she found a $7.50-an-hour job at Chipotle. Eventually, she rented a Town Street apartment for $320 a month because it was close to a bus stop. She quickly found a man to marry to gain legal residency.

At first, Yana didn't want to participate. She said as much to her father one night. She told him it was stupid, a bunch of busywork. He walked away from her and emerged from the basement a few minutes later with a faded box. It contained the paperwork from Yana's adoption from a Russian orphanage in 1994. Yana knew about it, but she'd never seen the papers.

"You tell her you already did it," Robert Lyon told his daughter as he handed her the box. He was supportive of the project, Yana said. But he sensed his daughter's trepidation at exploring a subject sure to be emotional for her.

"This project was about me," Yana said. "I realized that, for a grade, I was about to re-create what my parents had to endure to give me the opportunity to live the American dream. That scared me."

This is the fifth year that Vieyra has assigned this project to students in her Spanish V class. Each year someone, a teacher perhaps, maybe just a friend, cringes: "They say, 'That's such a hot topic. Are you sure you want to go there?' "

She always answers yes. But she cautions that the point isn't to sway the students, only to teach them a little empathy.

"These kids will become our leaders, maybe even the people who make the laws," she said. "At the very least, they'll certainly be the people who vote on them. Shouldn't they learn something about it all now?"

-----------------------------
MY COMMENTS:
I think it's very unwise to teach kids that they cannot enter the U.S. legally (because their liberal teacher seems to think every request is denied). The reason they are denied is because we only allow a certain number of immigrants from different countries every year so the numbers across the board stay the same and no group becomes more dominate than another). However, when you have large amounts of people breaking the law and abusing our system than we can allow fewer LEGAL entries per year. YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED TO COME TO AMERICA, YOU ARE NOT BREAKING JUST ONE LAW WHEN YOU COME HERE ILLEGALLY, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE UNLESS YOU COME THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR!!!!!
Go home and get in line like everyone else who loves this country and is willing to wait to be blessed to live here. It's worth the wait believe me!!!! IF YOU BREAK THE LAWS OR JUMP IN LINE I SAY DEPORTATION BABY AND DON'T LET THE DORR HIT YA ON THE WAY OUT!

'Mosque' uncovered on college campus

2007-12-18T22:15:00.000-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59245

'Mosque' uncovered on college campus
'For all practical purposes, this is essentially a Muslim prayer room'

Posted: December 17, 2007
4:00 p.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

A Japanese garden on the campus of Normandale Community College in Minnesota
A Minnesota community college has "a Muslim place of worship" featuring "a schedule for Islam's five daily prayers," according to a local newspaper columnist who visited the campus.

Tax-supported Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minn., also has a "sign requesting that shoes be removed" and a barrier that divides men's and women's "prayer spaces," writes Katherine Kersten of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

College officials denied it was anything more than a "meditation" room available for "all faiths."

The description of the facility, however, led one faculty member to tell Kersten the room is "unprecedented" and "goes beyond religious toleration."

"For all practical purposes, this meditation room is essentially a Muslim prayer room," said Chuck Chalberg of Normandale's history faculty.

WND has reported on "accommodations" for Muslims in public institutions, such as schools and airports, and the outrage triggered by the expenditure of public funds on a religion-specific facility.

At Normandale, Kersten reported, an "arrow informed worshippers of the direction of Mecca, and literature urged women to cover their faces."

She reported college officials converted a racquetball court into a "meditation" room during remodeling of some school facilities, which held another "meditation" room for students' use.

Her description continues:
A row of chest-high barriers splits the room into sex-segregated sections. In the smaller, enclosed area for women sits a pile of shawls and head-coverings. Literature titled "Hijaab [covering] and Modesty" was prominently placed there, instructing women on proper Islamic behavior. They should cover their faces and stay at home, it said, and their speech should not "be such that it is heard."

"Enter into Islaam completely and accept all the rulings of Islaam," the tract read in part. "It should not be that you accept what entertains your desires and leave what opposes your desires; this is from the manners of the Jews."

"[T]he Jews and the Christians" are described as "the enemies of Allaah's religion."

The document adds: "Remember that you will never succeed while you follow these people."

A poster on the room's door advertised a local lecture on "marriage from an Islamic perspective," with "useful tips for marital harmony from the Prophet's ... life." Other fliers invited students to join the Normandale Islamic Forum, or participate in Ramadan celebrations.

One thing was missing from the meditation room: evidence of any faith but Islam. No Bible, no crucifix, no Torah.

Normandale President Joe Opatz did not take a reporter's call with questions, instead deferring to college spokesman Geoff Jones, who said the article is "not accurate."

College chief Joe Opatz
Jones said the school is open to "diversity in terms of beliefs, values and cultural backgrounds."

The room, he said, was "created for use by any person for meditation purposes."

Jones confirmed it does have a partition that partially divides the room "that is something that was placed there."

But he denied there are any brochures, information or religious symbols or representations in the room.

"When I visited the room … there were no postings other than announcing it was a meditation room," Jones said.

"We've always sought to have persons of all cultures and backgrounds welcome here. As such we have student clubs and speakers from the community … that promote the dialogue and the discourse," he said.

"As a public institution, we have a responsibility to allow freedom of speech and freedom of religion. This is America," said Jones.

But he also confirmed there is no set schedule for the various groups to use the room.

"It's just been the ebb and flow [of meetings]," he said.

Opatz, on his website welcome to the school, called Normandale the "crown jewel" of the community college system.

He suggested the "clubs, student government, recreational sports and other organizations" provide "a winning combination for a lasting success."

The school website lists the Baha'I Club, Campus Crusade for Christ, College Democrats, Dental Hygiene, Ethiopian Student Union, Gay & Straight Student Alliance, Latter-day Saint Student Association, Muslim Student Association, Oromo Student Union, Somali Student Association and other special interest groups active on campus.

Ralph Anderson, dean of student affairs, told Kersten the college not only prepared the room but also posted signs at the room's entrance asking students to remove their shoes, which is a Muslim custom.

Anderson called it, "basically a courtesy to Muslim students."

He also told her the room is divided by sex, because "Muslim students prefer that. …"

Anderson refused to respond to questions about such segregation in a public facility.

"I don't want to comment on that," he said.

Chad Lunaas, a former student at the school, told Kersten he frequently on Fridays would discover that "every sink and toilet stall had someone washing his feet."

He said he was intimidated by Muslims who "seemed to be in charge." The student also said Muslims took over the meditation room.

"They made people who are not of the Muslim religion feel very uncomfortable, especially if they were female," he said.

Comments on Kersten's column blog were vehement.
"Each and every time this topic comes up I see my former Liberal friends compromising their principles of 'Separation of Church and State' by supporting the open display of religion in public places when it concerns any religion other the Christianity," said on. "Again, if you are against the public display of religion you are against ALL public displays of religion, PERIOD."

Another poster asked, "Why is a publicly funded instituion (sic) providing any accomodation (sic) for any religion on its campus? If you want religious accommodation (sic), go to a private educational institution that will accomodate (sic) this religion."

WND also has reported on a decision by officials at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., to appoint a practicing Hindu to head the college's religion department.

The issue of Muslim accommodations in public facilities such as airports already has attracted attention in Indianapolis, Phoenix and several other locations.

In a letter to Indianapolis officials, Rev. Jerry Hillenberg of Hope Baptist Church asked for a meeting over plans being developed by the airport authority to install footbaths on the airport property.

"I still desire to speak personally with you about this issue. It cannot go unchallenged and unattended to," he wrote. "It remains a concern of the public at large, and certainly is a concern of this pastor and our congregation.

"All of the input that we have received from the citizens of this city, county, surrounding counties, across the country, and around the world; has run 10 to one against the installation of these religious implements," he said.

"Most realize that public property, owned by the taxpayers, cannot be used by Christians for religious displays or implements of their religiosity. Then, the question amongst them becomes: Why can it be used for Muslims?"

Global Carbon Tax Urged at UN Climate Conference

2007-12-13T20:41:00.000-06:00

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=d5c3c93f-802a-23ad-4f29-fe59494b48a6&Issue_id=

Global Carbon Tax Urged at UN Climate Conference
December 13, 2007

Posted By Marc Morano – Marc_Morano@EPW.Senate.Gov – 5:35 PM ET
Over 100 Prominent Scientists Warn UN Against 'Futile' Climate Control Efforts
Skeptical Scientists Urge World To ‘Have the Courage to Do Nothing' At UN Conference ]

Global Carbon Tax Urged at UN Climate Conference
BALI, Indonesia – A global tax on carbon dioxide emissions was urged to help save the Earth from catastrophic man-made global warming at the United Nations climate conference. A panel of UN participants on Thursday urged the adoption of a tax that would represent “a global burden sharing system, fair, with solidarity, and legally binding to all nations.”

“Finally someone will pay for these [climate related] costs,” Othmar Schwank, a global tax advocate, told Inhofe EPW Press Blog following the panel discussion titled “A Global CO2 Tax.” Schwank is a consultant with the Switzerland based Mauch Consulting firm

Schwank said at least “$10-$40 billion dollars per year” could be generated by the tax, and wealthy nations like the U.S. would bear the biggest burden based on the “polluters pay principle.”

The U.S. and other wealthy nations need to “contribute significantly more to this global fund,” Schwank explained. He also added, “It is very essential to tax coal.”

The UN was presented with a new report from the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment titled “Global Solidarity in Financing Adaptation.” The report stated there was an “urgent need” for a global tax in order for “damages [from climate change] to be kept from growing to truly catastrophic levels, especially in vulnerable countries of the developing world.”

The tens of billions of dollars per year generated by a global tax would “flow into a global Multilateral Adaptation Fund” to help nations cope with global warming, according to the report.

Schwank said a global carbon dioxide tax is an idea long overdue that is urgently needed to establish “a funding scheme which generates the resources required to address the dimension of challenge with regard to climate change costs.”

'Diminish future prosperity'
However, ideas like a global tax and the overall UN climate agenda met strong opposition Thursday from a team of over 100 prominent international scientists who warned the UN that attempting to control the Earth's climate was "ultimately futile."

The scientists wrote, “The IPCC's conclusions are quite inadequate as justification for implementing policies that will markedly diminish future prosperity. In particular, it is not established that it is possible to significantly alter global climate through cuts in human greenhouse gas emissions." The scientists, many of whom are current or former members of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), sent the December 13 letter to the UN Secretary-General. (See: Over 100 Prominent Scientists Warn UN Against 'Futile' Climate Control Efforts – LINK)

‘Redistribution of wealth’
The environmental group Friends of the Earth, in attendance in Bali, also advocated the transfer of money from rich to poor nations on Wednesday.

“A climate change response must have at its heart a redistribution of wealth and resources,” said Emma Brindal, a climate justice campaigner coordinator for Friends of the Earth. (LINK)

Calls for global regulations and taxes are not new at the UN. Former Vice President Al Gore, who arrived Thursday at the Bali conference, reiterated this week his call to place a price on carbon dioxide emissions. (LINK)

In 2000, then French President Jacques Chirac said the UN’s Kyoto Protocol represented "the first component of an authentic global governance." Former EU Environment Minister Margot Wallstrom said, "Kyoto is about the economy, about leveling the playing field for big businesses worldwide." Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper once dismissed Kyoto as a “socialist scheme.” (LINK)

'A bureaucrat's dream'
MIT climate scientist Dr. Richard Lindzen warned about these types of carbon regulations earlier this year. "Controlling carbon is a bureaucrat's dream. If you control carbon, you control life," Lindzen said in March 2007. (LINK)

In addition, many critics have often charged that proposed tax and regulatory “solutions” were more important to the promoters of man-made climate fears than the accuracy of their science.

Former Colorado Senator Tim Wirth reportedly said in 1990, "We've got to ride the global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing — in terms of economic policy and environmental policy." (LINK)

------------------
MY COMMENTS:
It's nothing more than a scheme people... THERE IS NO GLOBAL WARMING!!!!!! It's just another tax... Those that own and regulate carbon own life!!!!

Gore hits at US over climate change

2007-12-13T20:39:00.000-06:00

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0dd147ec-a97e-11dc-aa8b-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Gore hits at US over climate change
By John Aglionby in Nusa Dua, Bali and agencies

Published: December 13 2007 13:35 | Last updated: December 13 2007 14:52

Al Gore savaged the US government’s “obstructing” attitude and urged delegates at the UN conference on climate change to ignore Washington if necessary to pursue the “moral imperative” of a new global regime.

“My country is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali,” the former US vice-president told 2,000 of the 12,000 people attending the conference on Thursday. “[But] over the next two years the United States is going to be somewhere it is not now.”

EDITOR’S CHOICE
Emissions deal aimed at key sectors - Dec-13Bali leaders move towards agreement - Dec-12Asia acknowledges climate-change role - Dec-12Deal close on reward scheme to save forests - Dec-11UN warns on climate change-related conflict - Dec-11UN chief hits at China, India on climate - Dec-10The Bali meeting is trying to reach an agreement to start negotiations that will culminate in 2009 with a new global deal to tackle climate change. The US is due to elect a new president in November 2008 and the majority of the frontrunners have a more proactive attitude to climate change than the Bush administration.

European Union nations said they might boycott a U.S.-led climate meeting next month unless Washington compromises to achieve a deal on Bali.

‘‘No result in Bali means no Major Economies Meeting,’’ said Sigmar Gabriel, top EU environment official from Germany, referring to a series of separate climate talks initiated by President Bush in September. ‘‘This is the clear position of the EU. I do not know what we should talk about if there is no target.’’

The US invited 16 other major economies, including European countries, Japan, China and India, to discuss a program of what are expected to be nationally determined, voluntary cutbacks in greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr Gore, fresh from receiving the Nobel peace prize jointly with the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said delegates must “find the grace to navigate around this enormous obstacle, the elephant in the room that I have been undiplomatic enough to name.”

The US delegation in Bali has repeatedly said it is committed to finding a consensus and reaching a deal but numerous countries have accused it, as well as Japan, Canada and Saudi Arabia, of blocking progress.

A substantial part of Mr’s Gore’s hour-long address was a recap of material he has used on numerous occasions since making An Inconvenient Truth, his Oscar-winning film, in 2006. He described how scientists are warning of a rapidly escalating crisis unless greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced.

He sought to inspire the audience by telling them they had the privilege of being some of the few people in the world who can make a difference in saving “the world’s civilisation”.

“The way ahead from Bali is difficult,” he said. “The truth is that is the maximum now considered possible even here in this conference is still far short of the minimum that will really solve this process. So we have to expand the limits of what’s possible. We must have the moral imagination of humankind to see ourselves as the symbol of global civilisation.”

-------------------
MY COMMENTS:
Al Gore is the largest contributor to global warming... If he just closed his mouth he'd save the world from all his hot air.

Huck, Mitt, Rudy, McCain blame you for global warming

2007-12-13T20:35:00.000-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59176

Huck, Mitt, Rudy, McCain blame you for global warming
GOP frontrunners all believe climate change serious threat

Posted: December 12, 2007
6:59 p.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

The Republican presidential candidates shown leading the race in recent polls all believe global warming is a serious threat and caused by human activity.

Audience members listen to Republican presidential candidates at debate in Iowa (courtesy: Des Moines Register)

When asked at today's Des Moines Register debate in Iowa to raise their hands if they believed climate change were indeed a real problem caused by people, Sen. John McCain, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Gov. Mitt Romney all responded in the positive.

"Climate change is real. It's happening. I believe human beings are contributing to it," Giuliani said, calling for a "Manhattan Project" to wean America off foreign energy sources.

McCain chimed in, saying, "More than contributing, my friend."

"But let me put it to you this way: Suppose that climate change is not real and all we do is adopt green technologies which our economy and our technology is perfectly cable of. Then all we've done is given our kids a cleaner world," McCain said. "But suppose they're wrong and climate change is real and we've done nothing. What kind of a planet are we going to pass on to the next generation of Americans?"

Mitt Romney, who has fallen behind the surging Mike Huckabee in Iowa, said the United States could not act alone.

"We call it 'global warming,' not 'America warming,'" Romney said. "So let's not put a burden on us alone and have the rest of the world skate by without having to participate in this effort. It's a global effort."

Those not raising their hands on the original question of global climate change being a serious threat caused by human activity were former Sen. Fred Thompson, Reps. Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter, and Ambassador Alan Keyes.

When Keyes was asked his thoughts, he gave a long answer condemning the betrayal of U.S. sovereignty, elite politicians and the destruction of the Constitution.

Thompson jumped in to say: "I agree with Alan Keyes' position on global warming."

As the audience laughed, Keyes said: "I think the most emission we need to control is the hot air emission of politicians who pretend one thing and don't deliver."

Amendment to check lawmakers' past dies in Senate

2007-12-13T20:34:00.000-06:00

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071212/NEWS24/712120439

Amendment to check lawmakers' past dies in Senate
By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF

COLUMBUS - Republican state senators yesterday shut down debate on a proposed Democratic amendment that would have subjected lawmakers to the same criminal background checks they were about to impose on a menu of other professionals.

The move was in response to a House bill authorizing criminal background checks for license applicants for accountants, dentists, funeral directors, optometrists, pharmacists, doctors, chiropractors, massage therapists, veterinarians, and numerous other professions.

"We ought to hold ourselves to the same standard that we're holding them," Sen. John Boccieri (D., New Middletown) said.

The GOP majority balked, voting 19-13 to block Democrats from offering the amendment. The bill passed 30-2 with the bulk of Democrats joining in to support the final version.

Afterward, Senate President Bill Harris (R., Ashland) said the chamber voted to block the amendment because it hadn't been vetted through the usual committee process.

"I think certainly if it had gone through the committee process and been passed by the committee, we'd have a vote," he said. He added that the vote was not a suggestion that any legislator had something to hide.

The refusal to consider the Boccieri amendment occurred just moments after the chamber accepted a floor amendment that was not in writing that removed barbers and barber shops from the background-check list. The vote counted on legislative staffers to later work it into the bill.

"They're just making up the rules as they see fit …" said Senate Minority Leader Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo). "They allow the process to happen when it's convenient … It seems we're over-regulating many different areas. Over-regulation may have a slippery slope."

The Ohio Constitution grants authority to the General Assembly to decide whether anyone convicted of a felony may serve in either chamber.

The Boccieri amendment, like the bill for other professions, would not have disqualified any lawmakers from running or serving if elected based on their background. But it would have required all candidates for the Ohio House and Senate to undergo background checks when they file with county boards of election. The bill returns to the House for approval of the Senate changes.

Sen. Bill Seitz (R., Cincinnati) said the boards and commissions involved in the bill are obligated under state law to consider a person's criminal record when it comes to licensing decisions.

"All the bill does is give those boards and commissions the ability to conduct the criminal background check to allow them to verify what the applicant tells them," he said.

Most Republicans joined Democrats in balking at the provision that included barbers and barber shop operators in the same category as anesthesiologist assistants, dental hygienists, psychologists, physical therapists, and social workers subject to background checks. Sen. Eric Kearney (D., Cincinnati) said he knows a barber shop operator who's worried he'll lose his license because of his criminal past.

"What is the purpose of this legislation?" he asked. "Are we afraid the public will somehow get injured by clippers, rubbing alcohol, or talcum powder? ... It's just too much."

Contact Jim Provance at:
jprovance@theblade.com,
or 614-221-0496.

'Where's the fence?' activist asks Congress

2007-12-13T20:31:00.000-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59159

'Where's the fence?' activist asks Congress
Budget amendment 'threatens' border security plan

Posted: December 12, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Steve Elliott, the president of Grassfire, says he still wants to know, "Where's the fence?"

Elliott, in a telephone interview, told WND an amendment submitted by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, for the Department of Homeland Security 2008 budget would gut the already-approved Secure Fence Act, which was adopted with the promise hundreds of miles of physical fencing would help secure the U.S. border with Mexico.

But the budget bill now in a conference committee contains the Hutchinson amendment, and Elliott says it simply would drop the requirement for the security project.

(Story continues below)

"After the Secure Fence Act of 2006 was signed into law by President Bush in October 2006, millions of Americans had a right to expect a double-layer fence would be built along our border with Mexico," Elliott said.

"Now, if the Hutchison amendment gets signed into law that fence is never going to be built," he said.

Elliott said the language of the amendment from Hutchison (S. Amdt. 2466) specifically would exempt the Department of Homeland Security from having to build any fence at all.

The Hutchison amendment reads, in part, " … nothing in this paragraph shall require the Secretary of Homeland Security to install fencing, physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors in a particular location along an international border of the United States, if the Secretary determines that the use or placement of such resources is not the most appropriate means to achieve and maintain operational control over the international border at such location."

"By slipping the Hutchison amendment into the DHS funding bill, Hutchison intends to give DHS total discretion to build a fence or to not build a fence in any particular location. That is not what the American people were led to believe would happen when Congress passed the Secure Fence Act in 2006," Elliott said.

In a special report filed on the Grassfire website titled "Border Fence Funding Hoax of 2006 and 2007," Elliott argues Hutchison first suggested this type of legislative modification on the very day the Secure Fence Act of 2006 was passed.

"A deal had already been struck to basically un-do the Secure Fence Act before the vote was ever taken," Elliott said.

In the report, Elliott says the Secure Fence Act was a carefully staged public relations event designed by Republicans "to create the impression that Congress was clamping down on illegal immigration.

"You see, Republicans were just a few weeks away from the '06 elections and were desperately looking for an issue that would save them from defeat," Elliott wrote.

Hutchison spokesman Matt Mackowiak objected.

"This statement by Grassfire.org is factually inaccurate," Mackowiak told WND in an e-mail. "Sen. Hutchison supports the border fence and voted for the Secure Fence Act."

Mackowiak further told WND that the main purpose of the amendment was to require DHS to consult with the Border Patrol and citizens along the border before beginning construction.

"Sen. Hutchison recognizes that the federal government has limited resources and border patrol agents manning the border know best where to put fencing to prevent illegal immigration and to thwart drug cartels," Mackowiak told WND. "Those decisions should not be left to legislators who have never even visited our border."

On Nov. 6, DHS released a "fact sheet" that appears to confirm Elliott's accusation.

The fact sheet notes that DHS has completed 76 miles of "pedestrian fence" and plans to build 670 miles of "pedestrian fence" by the end of 2008.

Yet, the DHS fact sheet makes no reference to the double-layer fence mandated by Congress in the Secure Fence Act of 2006.

On Aug. 23, WND has reported, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., wrote a letter to President Bush noting only 17.9 miles of the 854 miles of fencing called for in the Secure Fence Act had been completed as of Aug. 10, stressing that the Bush administration was falling behind the timetable mandated by Congress in the bill.

Yesterday, Hunter's office confirmed to WND the importance of building the double-layer fence as originally called for in the bill.

"The Secure Fence Act was clear in that it required two layers of fencing separated by a road and monitored by lights, cameras and sensors," Joe Kasper, communications director for Hunter, told WND in an e-mail.

Kasper acknowledged the Hutchison amendment will change the definition of the fence required by the Secure Fence Act of 2006.

"This new requirement no longer mandates that fencing be double-layered," Kasper wrote. "Given that double-layered fencing has worked so well in San Diego County, it is difficult to understand why this design wouldn't be replicated at other fencing locations along the border."

According to an Associated Press report, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, defended DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, arguing that DHS in letters prepared to go out this Friday is giving Texas landowners opposed to the border fence "one last chance" to allow access to their land before DHS goes to court.

"Sen. Cornyn is among the strongest advocates for increased border security in the Congress," Brian Walsh, communications director for Cornyn, told WND in an e-mail.

Still, Cornyn's office defended the demand in the Hutchison amendment to give flexibility to DHS in building the fence.

"Sen. Cornyn believes that it is important to consult with those who actually live and work on the border instead of simply relying on legislators and bureaucrats in Washington who have never even visited the border," Walsh wrote.

"Consultation with local landowners and officials has already produced ideas that will help better secure the border," Walsh continued. "Consultation will avoid lawsuits and other delays, and will lead to more effective measures to enforce our laws."

But will consultation lead to building the double-layered fence Congress mandated in the Secure Fence Act of 2006?

"I don't think so," Elliott told WND. "We're getting a lot of consultation and very little double-layered fence building. Where's the fence?"

"The Hutchison amendment should not be in the final bill," Elliott told WND. "We are encouraging our Grassfire.org members to call the conferees to tell them to take this amendment out."

Grassfire.org currently is running a campaign to encourage people to fax Congress to demand "the fence be built as promised."

Cornyn is listed as one of five co-sponsors to the Hutchison amendment.

President Bush signed the Secure Fence Act of 2006 on Oct. 26, 2006.

Dems: Amen to Ramadan, but forget about Christmas

2007-12-13T20:27:00.000-06:00

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59171

Dems: Amen to Ramadan, but forget about Christmas
9 House members praise Islamic faith, won't recognize Christian observance

Posted: December 12, 2007
8:55 p.m. Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

U.S. Rep Diana DeGette, D-Colo.

Only weeks after voting for a resolution that "recognizes the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world," nine Democrats in the U.S. House refused to vote for a Christmas resolution that condemns the worldwide persecution of Christians.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., was on the list of those who endorsed the statement recognizing Islam but refused to support the Christmas resolution that noted the holiday "is celebrated annually by Christians throughout the United States and around the world."

The Christmas resolution, like the Ramadan resolution, decried the violence that targets religion around the world.

A spokesman for DeGette told WND her vote was because the Ramadan resolution, which she endorsed, was about "rejecting religious extremism and promoting of religious tolerance."

The spokesman, Chris Aaron, however, said DeGette is a "strong supporter of separation of church and state and her view was that Congress should not favor one religion over another.

"She felt this resolution (recognizing Christmas and condemning persecution of Christians) promoted Christianity over other religions," he told WND.

Other Democrats who supported the acknowledgment of Islam's Ramadan but refused a similar recognition for Christianity's Christmas included Gary Ackerman and Yvette Clarke of N.Y., Alcee Hastings, Fla., Barbara Lee, Fortney Stark and Lynn Woolsey, Calif., Jim McDermott, Wash., and Robert Scott, Va.

Both resolutions, carrying similar wording, ultimately were approved. But the American Family Association of Pennsylvania also raised the issue of representatives supporting Ramadan, but refusing to offer the same support for Christmas.

"We are very pleased that 17 of our 19 congressmen voted to recognize the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith. Congressman John Murtha was one of 40 who did not vote and unfortunately Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz decided to simply vote 'present' rather than take a stand on such a controversial issue as Christmas," said Diane Gramley, president.

She noted on Oct. 2, Schwartz "did not hesitate" to vote for a resolution to support the religion "of the 19 hijackers of 9/11 who brought down the World Trade Center, flew their airliner/missile into the Pentagon, and caused the death of the crew and passengers of Flight 93 as it crashed into a field outside Shanksville, Pa."

"I believe there are more Christians in her district than Muslims and they deserve an explanation for her vote last night," Gramley said.

According to Liberty Counsel, the Christmas resolution was approved with nine "no" votes. Ten others voted "present" and 40 refused to vote at all.

"Amazingly, all but two of the representatives who answered "present" or voted against the Christmas resolution voted in favor of a resolution recognizing Ramadan, even though much of the language was similar," the group said.

The Ramadan resolution began:
Whereas Ramadan is the holy month of fasting and spiritual renewal for Muslims worldwide, and is the 9th month of the Muslim calendar year; and Whereas the observance of the Islamic holy month of Ramandan commenced at dusk on September 13, 2007, and continues for one lunar month: …"

The Christmas resolution started:
Whereas Christmas, a holiday of great significance to Americans and many other cultures and nationalities, is celebrated annually by Christians throughout the United States and the world... Whereas on December 25 of each calendar year, American Christians observe Christmas, the holiday celebrating the birth of their savior, Jesus Christ...Whereas many Christians and non-Christians throughout the United States and the rest of the world, celebrate Christmas as a time to serve others:"

The Ramadan resolution then acknowledged "the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world," expressed "friendship and support for Muslims," noted "the onset of Ramadan," and rejected "hatred, bigotry, and violence directed against Muslims." It also "commends Muslims … who have privately and publicly rejected interpretations and movements of Islam that justify and encourage hatred."

The Christmas resolution continued to acknowledge "the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world," expressed "continued support for Christians," noted the historical importance of Christmas, the role "played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States," and rejected "bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide."

"Notice that the Christmas resolution uses similar language. It is astonishing that those who supported the Ramadan Resolution would vote against the Christmas Resolution," Liberty Counsel said.

The group suggested voters check the lists for votes by their representatives. "If they voted against Christmas and in favor of Ramadan, respectfully point out their hypocrisy," the group said.

Concerned Women for America said the true message of Christmas is under assault in the U.S. Shari Rendall, director of the group's legislation and public policy divisions, noted Congress earlier approved not only the endorsement of Ramadan but also another resolution concern the Hindu religion.

"It astounds me that any member of Congress would oppose legislation that recognizes the important of Christmas in our country, particularly in light of the fact that earlier this year Congress passed two separate resolutions honoring the Hindu and Islamic religions…"

U.S. slams "massive" U.N. budget rise

2007-12-11T23:36:00.000-06:00

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1151309020071211?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true

U.S. slams "massive" U.N. budget rise

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States urged the United Nations on Tuesday to cut spending and make tough decisions on its priorities to offset a "massive increase" in its proposed budget for the next two years.

The U.N. budget is typically settled through negotiations with major contributors like the United States and the European Union. Two years ago, Washington demanded U.N. reforms before the final figure was agreed.

U.S. ambassador Mark Wallace urged member states at a budget committee on Tuesday to delay approval of a proposed $4.2 billion initial budget until next year when full details are provided of additional items.

Such items already identified would take spending to $4.8 billion, Wallace said, and the final figure including other proposals and foreseeable costs could rise to $5.2 billion. That compares to $4.17 billion in 2006/2007.

The budget does not include peacekeeping costs which are forecast to rise from $5 billion to around $7 billion, fueled by the cost of a planned force for Darfur.

Wallace criticized what he called the "piecemeal" approach to budgeting and said U.N. budget hikes of recent years outstripped increases in the budgets of donor countries and of other international organizations.

"With the largest budget increase in history ... the credibility of the U.N. is at stake," Wallace said.

U.N. payments are assessed according to a nation's wealth. Washington has withheld contributions in the past and has been leading a drive for more transparency and efficiency.

One diplomat said the United States had not threatened to withhold funds or make payment of its contributions conditional on reforms, as it has in the past.

Wallace proposed voting to allow the United Nations to continue its activities but postponing the final vote until early next year.

In the last two-year budget, the United States contributed around 22 percent, Japan nearly 20 percent and the nations of the European Union a combined 38 percent.

"The great challenge before us is for member states to find the political will to truly prioritize and to identify meaningful offsets or to ask the SYG (Secretary General) to make such recommendations," Wallace said.

The 27-nation European Union said earlier this year the likely total of $4.8 billion after additional items already identified was a "very substantial increase."

One EU diplomat said the bloc was concerned about the budget but did not see a need to delay the vote.

Book Excerpt: In New York, illegal immigration took a back seat to making the city safe

2007-12-11T23:29:00.000-06:00

http://www.examiner.com/a-1097819~In_New_York__illegal_immigration_took_a_back_seat_to_making_the_city_safe.html

Book Excerpt: In New York, illegal immigration took a back seat to making the city safe
Filed under: WASHINGTON , Bill Sammon , Meet the Next President

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Rudy Giuliani says he wanted to deport all 400,000 illegal immigrants from New York City when he was mayor, but ended up welcoming most of those who were “causing me no trouble.”

In an interview for the new book “Meet the Next President,” Giuliani lamented that the Immigration and Naturalization Service deported only 700 to 1,500 of the city’s 400,000 aliens each year during his mayoralty. Giuliani said it was obvious the INS was not about to increase deportation “from 700 or 1,500 to 400,000.”

“If they could, I would have turned all the people over. It would have helped me. I would have had a smaller population. I would have had fewer problems,” the Republican presidential candidate told The Examiner in an interview. “But the practical reality was, they were going to make an infinitesimal, statistically insignificant contribution to the problem. I was stuck with it. And no matter what their promises, they weren’t going to do anything about it.”

In fact, according to Giuliani, the INS told his predecessor, David Dinkins, to stop reporting criminals for deportation. Dinkins complied, even though he had re-issued an executive order by his predecessor, Ed Koch, that called for the reporting of illegals suspected of “engaging in criminal activity.”

When Giuliani took over as mayor, he too re-issued the Koch order.

“Why don’t you throw out the people who are drug dealers, that are coming out of jail? And before they hit the streets, we can turn them over,” Giuliani recalled telling the INS. “We couldn’t work that out with them. They wouldn’t do it for us.

“They wouldn’t do it for us because they had, you know, some professor with a visa first, and they had two restaurant workers, and three gardeners. Now it may or may not be right for them to be here, but they’re not threatening anybody. These drug dealers are threatening people. I couldn’t get them to do that, so I had to handle the thing myself. And I handled it.”

Giuliani handled it by cracking down on illegals who broke more than immigration laws. Meanwhile, he adopted a laissez-faire attitude toward everyone else who entered the United States illegally.

“The ones that are causing me no trouble, I’m going to leave them alone,” he told The Examiner. “They’re contributing to the lawful part of the city. I’ve got so many citizens — legal immigrants, and then some illegal immigrants — committing crimes that I’ve got to pay attention to them.”

Similarly, Giuliani concluded that going after school-age illegals would be an empty political gesture.

“I had sixty-[thousand] to seventy-thousand children in school who were illegal immigrants,” he said. “So for the purpose of protecting my backside, I would turn over the names to the immigration service so I could sound like a tough guy? I would end up with fifty-[thousand] to sixty-thousand kids on the street. And crime would go up in New York, not go down.”

So the mayor resigned himself to the federal government’s inability or unwillingness to deport illegal immigrants. In the process, he absolved himself of any blame for the city’s ongoing status as a haven for 400,000 illegals.

“That’s the federal government’s problem,” he told The Examiner. “If you’re not hurting anybody in my city, I don’t care.”

But Giuliani’s “I don’t care” attitude toward illegals sometimes morphed into unabashed cheerleading, as if he were rolling out the red carpet for them.

“Some of the hardest-working and most productive people in this city are undocumented aliens,” the mayor said at a 1994 press conference. “If you come here and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you’re one of the people who we want in this city. You’re somebody that we want to protect, and we want you to get out from under what is often a life of being like a fugitive, which is really unfair.”

The Examiner asked Giuliani why it was unfair to apply fugitive status to someone who broke the law to enter the United States.

“We were going to treat them as a fugitive if they committed a crime,” he replied. “And we weren’t going to treat them like a fugitive if they were being calm and responsible and decent.

“And finally, it didn’t much matter what I did with them,” he added. “The turning over of names to the immigration service was a mere formal act. It was absurd to think that they could possibly handle it. It continues to be absurd.

“In order to deal with the 12 million illegals that are in this country, you would have to take the entire federal, state and local criminal justice systems and multiply it by some factor of seven or eight or nine.”

Instead of attempting such an impossible task, Giuliani said he would concentrate on securing the U.S.-Mexico border if elected president.

Although Giuliani has been savaged by rival Republicans for his record on immigration, he insisted to The Examiner that “immigration is an issue that is not a negative with any Republican voters for me.” He said he wants voters to view his immigration stance in the context of his tough-on-crime credentials.

“My objective was to make New York City safe,” he said. “Illegal immigration and the problem of illegal immigrants was just one of many problems that were part of that whole. So the real question is, did I deal with it intelligently, and did it result in the city becoming much safer? Or did I deal with it stupidly and the city became much more dangerous?”

He believes the answer to that question will calm any fears that voters might harbor about his immigration stance.

“I end up being the strongest candidate on immigration, for the reason that I ran a city and made it real safe,” he concluded. “And I don’t see any opponent that I have who has ever done nearly as much about bringing down illegality as I have.”

-------------------------
OTHERS COMMENTS:
Examiner Reader said:
Rudy and the rest of you East Coast Liberals, with so called good intentions,--you haven't the slightest idea of what's going on in the southwest, come to the Arizona border and get a good look, I dare you!!! you're out of your Universe. You'll be next, vote for the 2nd ammendment.

Examiner Reader said:
Before deporting all the illegals we need to secure the borders ASAP. Once the borders are secure then we can start fining employers and tightening the purse strings to ensure any illegal is not entitled to any services. If an illegal ends up in a hospital their employer should be charged if the illegal can't pay. After the illegal has been sidentified, then the entire family needs to be deported. I'm tired of my taxes picking up the illegal tab! We also need to change the policy where if an illegal alien has a child in this country then the child automatically becomes an American citizen! If we as a country don't start taking care of our borders, we're not going to have to worry about illegal aliens. People from third world countries don't run to other third world countries. While we're at it we also need to make the United States' official language English. If you don't speak it...learn it.

Examiner Reader said:
I for one do not wish to be taken over by a foreign sovereinty. America is Ameica. It is what we (American Indians and ancestry, African descendants of slaves, white profiteers, jewish slave traders who control a lot of wealth in this day an age, and so on have made it.) Something wonderful is made in America out of all these struggles and evils. I dont' want to see is stolen by those that can take it so easily by sheer numbers. I am a Black American female and I will vote for one who upholds the laws of our country -- the Constitution. Its the only thing that will keep us safe and sane.

Better way guy said:
Rudy is being coy, cute or is just incompetent, because a much better way has existed for a long time, rather than "deporting" all the illegals. You get them to voluntarily go. And to do that, you concentrate on the *employers*. This is not political rocket surgery, these laws exist right now and aren't being enforced. Ten grand a head per illegal for employers who hire illegals, start arresting and prosecuting the employers, the bosses, the owners. Slap some of those mega fines around, the jobs will dry up within a week, the illegals will go home and those nations can sort out their own problems and learn to pay a living wage to their own people so they won't have to leave in the first place. And then the same employers can learn to pay a living wage *here*, because there isn't a job out there that the born here's won't do, if it pays a bare minimum enough to live on somewhat easily. I work full time on a farm, so I don't want to hear that "anglos" won't do hard manual labor

Examiner Reader said:
Joe - I agree that securing our borders is essential, but since the federal government refuses to do so, here's what the state and local governments can do: (1) no free medical care without proof of citizenship (I understand this is what Canada does). Non-citizens would have to pay upfront cash or with a credit card; (2) no enrollment in public schools without proof of citizenship (3) no social services (food stamps, housing vouchers, etc.) without proof of citizenship; (4) no job without proof of citizenship. In a nutshell, eliminate the welfare state and job market for illegals and they have no reason to stay or continue to come here. If certain industries, however, do need temporary workers they can petition the government to allow X number of workers to come for X number of months. Any temporary worker convicted of a crime or applying for public assistance would be immediately deported. We can put a man on the moon so why can't we figure out how to do that? Come on, get real

Scarlett said:
Joe Crandall is right. You cannot deport people without giving them due process. Ask any Immigration lawyer. When arrested, an illegal gets a summons to go to court. They never show up of course. But you can't just shove somebody on a bus and drop them of in Northern Mexico just because they have an Hispanic accent and anything more than that would cost way more than a simple bus ticket.

Examiner Reader said:
I believe that there is a conspiracy among the ones who control the wealth and those south of the border. You do the math. Who is for amnesty and illegal usurpation of our country to their own goals or future goals, including control of our military to promote their causes. Who controls the wealth and media?America is at a cross roads don't be fooled by those who would beguile you by their deceptions. Vote America first, whoever would maintain our majestic and courageous heritage and not be manipulated. Good old fashioned common sense is all it takes!

Examiner Reader said:
He's a liar. Both are the same safe borders, protect the law and implement the law.

Examiner Reader said:
I love where Rudy stands on a lot of issues, but his immigration stance is the one thing that worries me. If he would come out with a strong statement that seperated his past actions from future policy, then I would vote for him enthusiastically. As it stands now, I am trying to decide if I should hold my nose and vote for Rudy or possibly look elsewhere.

Father killed daughter for not wearing hijab, her friends say

2007-12-11T23:25:00.000-06:00

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=071211175557.p3d3kaah&show_article=1

Father killed daughter for not wearing hijab, her friends say
Dec 11 12:56 PM US/Eastern

Muslim Man Kills Daughter For Not Wearing Hijab

Friends and classmates of a 16-year-old girl who police say was murdered by her devout Muslim father in a Toronto suburb told local media Tuesday she was killed for not wearing a hijab.

Police said in a statement they received an emergency call at 7:55 am local time Monday from "a man who indicated that he had just killed his daughter."

The victim, Aqsa Parvez, was "rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries, but tragically passed away late last night."

Her father, Muhammad Parvez, 57, was arrested at the scene and will be formally charged with murder when he appears in court Wednesday, said police.

The girl's friends, meanwhile, told local media she was having trouble at home because she did not conform to the family's religious beliefs and refused to wear a traditional Islamic head scarf, or hijab.

"She wanted to go different ways than her family wanted to go, and she wanted to make her own path, but he (her father) wouldn't let her," one of her classmates told public broadcaster CBC.

"She loved clothes," another of her friends, Dominiquia Holmes-Thompson, told the daily Toronto Star. "She just wanted to show her beauty ... She just wanted to dress like us, just like a normal person."

According to her friends, Aqsa had worn the hijab at school last year, but rebelled in recent months.

They said she would leave home wearing a hijab and loose-fitting clothes, but would take off her head scarf and change into tighter garments at school, then change back before going home at the end of the day.

The victim's 26 year-old brother was also charged with obstructing police in the investigation.

------------------------
MY COMMENTS:
What a peaceful religion... These b@stards should rot for what they did to this beautiful girl. Real peaceful loving Muslims should speak out against this type of crime. However, I don't hear anything coming out from CAIR so.... I guess we know where they stand.

UN chief: World risks oblivion without deal to battle global warming

2007-12-11T23:22:00.000-06:00

http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/ap/20071211/tap-as-gen-bali-climate-conference-5th-l-d3b07b8.html

UN chief: World risks oblivion without deal to battle global warming
By JOSEPH COLEMAN,Associated Press Writer AP - Wednesday, December 12

BALI, Indonesia - The human race faces oblivion if it fails to confront global warming, the U.N. secretary-general said Tuesday, as delegates to the U.N. climate conference haggled over a new document strengthening a call for deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by rich nations.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived on the resort island of Bali to preside over the final days of the two-week conference, which aims to set an agenda and deadline for talks that will lead to a climate change pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.

Ban urged quick action as negotiators worked on a final conference decision document. A version obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday included guidelines for industrialized countries to cut their emissions overall by 2020 by between 25 percent and 40 percent.

"The situation is so desperately serious that any delay could push us past the tipping point, beyond which the ecological, financial and human costs would increase dramatically," Ban said in a speech to delegates.

"We are at a crossroad," he added. "One path leads to a comprehensive climate change agreement, the other to oblivion. The choice is clear."

The latest draft of the document, to be released at the conference's conclusion Friday, included a new mention of "quantified national emission limitation and reduction commitments" for industrialized countries.

The United States rejected the 1997 Kyoto pact in part because it included mandatory emissions cuts, and Washington has supported only voluntary targets. The word "commitment" _ which was not in an earlier draft obtained over the weekend _ was likely to draw opposition from the U.S. delegation.

The United States has publicly opposed mentions of targets or emissions cuts guidelines in the Bali document, arguing that it was premature to state goals at such an early date. Negotiations for a post-Kyoto pact are to last at least two years.

U.N. officials, however, say the numbers are only guidelines to be hashed out in coming talks. The European Union, developing countries and environmentalists have argued strenuously in favor of including general goals in the Bali declaration.

The latest draft included dozens of changes from the earlier version, suggesting that negotiators were far from reaching agreement on a final wording. In past years, talks on the declaration on the last day have dragged on into the night to the next morning.

Stavros Dimas, the European commissioner for environment, said emissions guidelines were crucial to prevent global temperatures from exceeding 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over preindustrial levels. The European Union has committed itself to 20 percent to 30 percent reductions below 1990 levels by 2020.

"We need this range of reductions by developed countries," he told reporters Tuesday. "Science tells us that these reductions are necessary. Logic requires that we listen to science."

Australia, despite its sudden embrace of the Kyoto pact, has shied away from supporting the emissions goals yet, saying it must await the conclusion of a study sometime next year.

"We recognize the need for an interim target," said Penny Wong, Australia's minister for climate change. "We have a clear process of scientific and economic analysis to determine what that interim target should be."

Canada and Japan also oppose inclusion of the suggested figures.

Environmentalists urged them to reconsider.

"This is not the direction we need to be going in. The stakes are too high for this kind of political games," Alden Meyer, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said earlier in the day.

In one of the first concrete results of the talks, negotiators said Tuesday they had agreed on the oversight structure of a fund to help developing countries build seawalls and take other steps to adapt to the effects of climate change.

Delegates decided to let the Global Environment Facility _ a U.N. body that helps developing countries with environmental projects _ run the fund, though some countries accuse the facility of being slow to distribute money.

The GEF has only about US$60 million (�40 million), though the World Bank has estimated some tens of billions of dollars (euros) a year will be needed for adaptation. Nothing has been done at Bali to develop new sources of revenue.

The struggle over targets coincided with the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Kyoto accord on Dec. 11, 1997, in Japan. The U.N. cut up a giant birthday cake to mark the occasion.

The Kyoto pact requires 36 industrial nations to reduce carbon dioxide and other industrial, transportation and agricultural gases blamed for global warming by an average 5 percent below 1990 levels in the next five years.

The U.S. is the only major industrial nation to reject Kyoto. President George W. Bush contended the emissions cuts would harm the U.S. economy, and should have been imposed on China, India and other fast-growing poorer economies.

--------------------------
MY COMMENTS:
Can anyone else say scam...! It's just another get rich quick scheme, much like the food for oil program!

Venezuelan, Guatemalan and Brazilian immigrants have made South Florida their home

2007-12-10T10:01:00.000-06:00

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbenclave1209sbdec09%2C0%2C4594756.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout

Venezuelan, Guatemalan and Brazilian immigrants have made South Florida their home
Region's growing immigrant enclaves change faces of cities
By Tal Abbady, staff writer
December 9, 2007

In Caracas, Venezuela, Weston has a reputation as a safe, spotless city.

In Espiritu Santo, Brazil, residents know Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach as Brazilian enclaves where owning property and having stable jobs, unattainable for many in Brazil, are part of life.

And residents of Jacaltenango, Guatemala, enjoy electricity and tote around cell phones thanks to remittance money from Jupiter, making Palm Beach County cities natural destinations for Guatemalan immigrants.

Population increases of Venezuelans, Guatemalans and Brazilians in Broward and Palm Beach counties
Cross-border ties like these have given rise to sprawling immigrant enclaves that have brought profound local changes. There are multiple reasons that set immigrants on the trek to Florida, home to the country's fourth-largest foreign-born population: the hope of finding steady work, convincing calls from family members already here and political stability.

Three South Florida communities showcase the tales of struggle and success among South Florida's immigrants.

This is the fifth in an occasional series exploring how shifts in demographics, immigration, culture, our economy and mobility have changed the way we live.

"WESTONZUELA"
While Miami was the Venezuelan jet-setter's preferred destination in the early 1980s, a few families were lured by the relative quiet of Broward County, now home to 22,471 Venezuelans. By the mid 1990s, Venezuelans were investing in second homes in Weston — Arvida's picture-perfect American community. Those few investors turned into thousands looking for permanent homes after President Hugo Chavez was voted into power in 1998 on a platform of socialist reform. "Weston gained this reputation as the Beverly Hills of Miami," said Igor Acosta Rubio, a Miami-based Venezuelan real estate agent who has traveled to Caracas to sell property in Weston.

Acosta Rubio says Weston quickly became a magnet for high-end clients from wealthy Caracas neighborhoods.

"If you wanted to be Venezuelan in Weston, you had to own a Hummer and a Rolex," he said.

Mauricio Meneses' family was among the first wave of arrivals to Broward County from the oil-rich nation. Meneses, 35, began visiting Bonaventure, a small city later annexed by Weston, when he was 8 years old. Weston was then a 10,500-acre tract of land overrun with Brazilian peppers, cow pastures and alligators. The Meneses family has had ties to the area since.

Today, Meneses owns Panna Express Cafe, a small restaurant built into an Exxon station on Weston Road where he serves traditional Venezuelan pastries and sandwiches. He moved to the city from Miami one-and-a-half years ago. Every Saturday, Meneses stands with a throng of Venezuelan soccer dads and moms cheering on their kids at Weston's Regional Park.

"To those of us from Latin America, Weston is impeccable," said Meneses. "In terms of urbanization, Caracas is a disaster. You have mansions sitting next to ranchos. I might have more fun living there, but you take risks that can turn your life upside down. In Weston, the news of the day might be that a car hit a cat."

But the buying craze has subsided with the housing slump, according to Acosta Rubio, and Panama has become the new hot spot for Venezuelans moving abroad.

Maitane Zozaya, 43, doesn't mind that the crush of Venezuelan buyers has slowed.

"The whole point of this place is that you're separated from the bustle of life," said Zozaya, a homemaker and the mother of three sons. The family moved to Weston in 2001.

"This is the perfect place to raise kids," said Zozaya, who says she will never return to Venezuela.

Her longing to leave her troubled homeland began 11 years ago, before Chavez' rise, when she was briefly kidnapped at gunpoint in Caracas. With Chavez' election and self-styled socialist revolution, she says moving back is out of the question. Today, her husband is a partner in a Miami publicity agency and the family's weekends are filled with children's soccer and basketball games.

"It's true; we're living in a bubble," Zozaya said about the idyllic, landscaped communities and tree-lined streets she calls home. "You don't see what's outside this world. You're surrounded by parents who give their children brand new cars on their 15th birthdays."

Over the years, Weston has seeped into Venezuelan lore and pop culture, sometimes unflatteringly as the home of a pampered group of expatriates.

A character in Venezuelan writer Isaac Chacron's new novel, Personal Pronouns, declares, "Westonzuela, the paradise of our compatriots, the empire of tranquillity, security and mediocrity."

Westonzuelans themselves laugh at the stereotype. Mappy Salcedo, a real estate agent, moved from Venezuela to Weston in 1996. She misses aspects of Caracas, where she could afford a live-in maid and other luxuries. But like many expatriates, she says Weston's calm and order exceed that of any Caracas neighborhood.

"People look at this place and say it's out of a cartoon. It's not a real city. It's a fantasy," she said.

GUATEMALANS IN PALM BEACH COUNTY
Many of the earliest immigrants arrived in the 1980s, refugees of a civil war that ravaged Mayan villages throughout Guatemala. Today Mayan culture and dialects such as Mam and Qanjobal are part of daily life in parts of Palm Beach County where about 17,339 Guatemalans live, work and celebrate their heritage.

Most are concentrated in Lake Worth, Jupiter and West Palm Beach, cities that drew migrants who initially worked picking crops or in the garment industry in California. In the 1980s, many headed to Immokalee and Indiantown, where they knew crop-picking jobs were abundant. Over the years, Guatemalans trickled south into Palm Beach County in search of better jobs in construction and landscaping, according to Jeronimo Camposeco of the Jupiter-based community group Corn Maya.

The cultural and economic ties between Palm Beach County and Guatemala have grown strong. Remittances have improved the quality of life for villagers in Guatemala. In 2006, El Sol Neighborhood Resource Center, a labor center for undocumented workers that caters to many Guatemalans, opened in Jupiter.

Guatemalans help keep afloat the county's landscaping and maintenance industries, and work amid Palm Beach County's posh residential communities.

"This place has opened doors for me. Who knows what would have happened had I stayed home during the war," said Ervin Arevalo, 48, of West Palm Beach.

He left Guatemala in 1977 but didn't arrive in West Palm Beach until 1984.

"The Guatemalan community was a tiny minority back then," he recalled. "Now it's spread out from Indiantown [Martin County] to Jupiter to Lake Worth. Guatemala is in my blood, so I feel very comfortable here."

He spends his days surrounded by wealth in the exclusive Town of Palm Beach, where he works as a maintenance supervisor at a condominium.

"We have to recognize that there's a wide divide between the rich and the poor here. But if you adapt to the system, you can get ahead," he said.

Not everyone has found a welcoming haven here. Many of the county's Guatemalans are undocumented, which has stoked anger in some circles. Before El Sol opened in 2006, angry Jupiter residents called for the deportation of day laborers, many from Guatemala, who gathered on street corners waiting for contractors to ride up in their pickup trucks.

Patricio Silvestre left his native town of Jacaltenango in 1989 in the midst of civil war. Cousins in Jupiter told him he could easily earn a living in Florida, and to this day he describes Palm Beach County as "a place of movement and opportunities."

Silvestre, 39, works for a landscaping company and volunteers for Corn Maya, which helps new Guatemalan immigrants adapt to life in the United States. On weekends, he joins Jupiter's lively amateur soccer scene as a member of Estrellas del Sol, Guatemalan immigrants who usually play against teams consisting of Mexicans or other immigrant groups.

But the team spirit of the soccer field doesn't always extend to the community at large. A patchwork of Guatemalan groups provide services to new arrivals, but Silvestre says there's little unity.

"Everyone is pushing their own agenda. What we need is more solidarity, like the Cubans have achieved," Silvestre said.

Hoping to be a business owner one day, Silvestre is trying to set up a business with his cousin, a coffee grower from Jacaltenango, to import coffee from Guatemala to Jupiter.

"Your financial standing is very important here," he says of life in Palm Beach County. "But you also have the peacefulness and the good climate. I'd say I've assimilated pretty well."

BRAZILIANS IN BROWARD COUNTY
Walk into any number of Brazilian stores or cafes along Sample Road in Pompano Beach or Federal Highway in Deerfield Beach, and you'll likely hear talk of Brazil's samba schools, soccer teams and national politics.

Many of Broward County's 19,816 Brazilians began arriving in the 1990s, from Brazil's southeastern region, with a large number from the state of Minas Gerais.

At the time, high inflation and an economic slump made for a bleak future back home. Most followed job prospects or the call of relatives already living here.

Today, their presence in Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach is evident in strip malls dotted with Brazilian stores, jazz clubs and restaurants.

Many in Broward County's Brazilian community say they feel welcome, perhaps because of the country's famed cultural exports.

"Everybody loves a good Brazilian steakhouse. And most of the audiences for local Brazilian jazz concerts consist of Americans," said Maria Fulfaro, chairperson of the Broward chapter of the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce. Of the Miami-based chamber's 900 members, about 30 percent are in Broward County.

The Brazilian government also has promoted Brazilian culture in South Florida, naming the Broward Center for Performing Arts a "point of culture" in 2000, Fulfaro said.

"Brazilian culture in itself is a charm," Fulfaro said. "That's what we contribute."

Joao Batista de Oliveira, part-owner of Brazilian Grill on Federal Highway in Deerfield Beach, moved to Deerfield Beach a year ago after living in Boston since 1994. He became a partner in Brazilian Grill three months ago.

On evenings and weekends, customers crowd into the strip-mall restaurant for its caldos, or thick soups, and traditional fish stews called muquecas. Brazilian soap-operas and soccer games beam from a giant television screen.

"Being in Deerfield Beach is like being in Brazil," said de Oliveira, 40, who is from the southeastern state of Espiritu Santo, where he says both Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach are well-known names among residents. "Brazil is the country of the sun, and the Florida is the state of the sun."

The author of several books published in Brazil, including a romance novel, Garoto Publico, or Public Boy, de Oliveira says moving to the United States forced him to "grow up."

"If you really work for it, you can have the nice car and the big house," he said.

As a restaurateur, he adds, "Brazilians add a lot to this state of tourists. We bring our food, our music, our spirit."

Staff Writer Tal Abbady can be reached at tabbady@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4523.

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MY COMMENTS:
America is the land of opportunity. You have the right to pursue happiness (it will not be given to you). If you work hard you can achieve your dreams. As long as you come to America LEGALLY then you are welcome.. If not, leave as you have broken our laws and are not welcome in this beautiful country.

Interpol chief warns of virus attack at sports event

2007-12-10T09:48:00.000-06:00

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1919012007

Interpol chief warns of virus attack at sports event
RICHARD ELIAS

POLICE across the world say there is no doubt that terrorists are planning to release a plague virus at a major sports event.

Experts are convinced that the bacteria will be distributed using something as simple as a child's plastic horn.

With the Beijing Olympics just months away and the World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2010, there are plenty of opportunities for an attack.

Although it is more than six years before Scotland hosts the Commonwealth Games, its organisers say they are not taking anything for granted. A conference, codenamed 'Black Death' and organised by Interpol, was held last week in Lyon, France.

Ronald Noble, Interpol's general secretary, told delegates about the threat posed by bio-terrorists.

He said: "We will deal with a worst-case scenario of global proportion - terrorists that produce large amounts of a deadly bacteria, [or] plague - and disseminate it using hundreds of simple horns, the kind which children use at sporting events. In their wake are mass casualties and even greater disruption to society."

Security sources say the idea of terrorists using toy horns to distribute a deadly virus is a significant possibility.

One insider told Scotland on Sunday: "This has come from information received from the authorities in Indonesia, where references to such a form of attack were discovered."

He said it was simple and "very straightforward but potentially, absolutely deadly".

Noble said the threat needed to be addressed by everyone in order to prevent the terrorists from succeeding.

He said this type of attack "does not rely on advanced scientific expertise, large amounts of money or elaborate laboratories. This is the truly frightening form aspect of bio-terrorism. It is the perfect storm of opportunity and motivation".

The subject of targeting major sporting events was also identified recently by experts at Indiana University.

The authors of a report called 'Bio-terrorism and me' wrote: "Biological and chemical toxins can be released in several different ways.

"For practical purposes, certain delivery methods are more likely to be used than others. If the goal is to launch an unforeseen attack on the population of a certain region causing the highest possible number of deaths, an aerosol delivery of the agent is the most likely choice."

A spokesman for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games said: "Security is our number one priority and we will be liaising extremely closely with experts constantly throughout the build-up to the games.

"With a track record of regularly hosting major sporting, cultural and political events, the police and security services in this country have the knowledge and capacity to make sure that security is something that will not impinge on the Games' experience of competitors, spectators or the media."

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COMMENTS:
Scary stuff.. but if we stay at home and change our living habits the terrorists win.. so GO ENJOY LIFE and LIVE IT TO IT'S FULLEST!