op ed review 8/15

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

The union that represents rank-and-file field agents at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has unanimously passed a "vote of no confidence" for the agency's leadership, saying ICE has "abandoned" its core mission of protecting the public to support a political agenda favoring amnesty.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/9/agents-union-disavows-leaders-of-ice/print/

The Seattle Times calls for Congress to pass regulations that require the mothers of babies born in the United States to be legal immigrants for one year for the baby to automatically become a United States citizen Babies born in the United States to illegal immigrants would not get citizenship.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/northwestvoices/2012599597_anchorbabiesandthe14thamendment.html

Under current law, in Texas where 1.5 million illegal immigrants are estimated to reside, at least 60,000 babies are born into citizenship annually.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/080810dnmetbabies.2be9a7e.html

Last year at Parkland Hospital in Texas, 11,071 babies were born to women who were noncitizens, about 74 percent of. total deliveries.

http://www.floppingaces.net/2010/08/09/60000-illegal-democrats-born-in-texas-each-year/

But former Arkansas GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee says he is against changing the 14th Amendment to remove birthright citizenship.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40990.html

With less than three months until the November midterm election, 72 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of Congress, with 45 percent having a “very unfavorable” view, according to a recent Rasmussen poll.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70780

Billions of dollars in U.S. rescue funds wound up in big banks in France, Germany and other nations. The U.S. program aimed to stabilize the financial system by injecting money into as many banks as possible, including those with substantial operations overseas. Most other countries, by contrast, focused their efforts more narrowly on their own banks.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100812/D9HHSM180.html

President Obama has abolished the position of White House “ethics czar” and transferred those duties into the portfolio of a partisan ex-lobbyist who previously served as the top lawyer for the Democratic National Committee,

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Obama-closes-curtain-on-transparency-468557-100595914.html#ixzz0wUsvh67P

According to a new survey out Wednesday, nearly 70 percent of all Americans oppose the controversial plan to build the mosque just blocks away from the solemn site in lower Manhattan while just 29 percent favor the construction. Broken down by party affiliation, 54 percent of Democrats oppose the plans while 82 percent of Republicans disapprove. Meanwhile, 70 percent of independents said they are against the proposal.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/11/overwhelming-majority-oppose-mosque-near-ground-zero/

And the motivations of the Ground Zero mosque builders are revealed: “New York Governor David Patterson, in a rare moment of clear-headed thinking, offered to provide state property to the Cordoba House builders if they were willing to move the site farther away…..Patterson was turned down.”

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0810/ahlert.php3

On Friday, at a White House gathering celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the Associated Press reported: “Obama Comes Out in Favor of Allowing Mosque Near Ground Zero”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/13/obama-backs-mosque-near-ground-zero/

On Saturday he quickly backpedaled, saying he was “not commenting on the wisdom” of that project”.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/us/politics/15mosque.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

“No, this is not a joke. In fact, it is instead one of the most brilliant pieces of provocations in recent years. Greg Gutfeld from Fox News’ Red Eye announced via his blog that he is actively speaking to investors and plans on opening a gay bar next to the controversial mosque being built near Ground Zero. “To make matters worse (better?) the bar will be specifically designed to cater to homosexuals of the Islamic faith.”

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/greg-gutfield-to-open-a-gay-bar-next-to-ground-zero-mosque-to-cater-to-islamic-gay-men/

When images of Jean Paul Gaultier-clad First Lady Michelle Obama on a $75,000-a-day Spanish holiday hit the wires, controversy was bound to erupt back home. Her carefully crafted image as "everywoman" was blown. In addition to the high cost, the evolving justifications for the trip offered by the White House's flack were just as dizzying.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/08/12/2010-08-12_royal_treatment_for_the_first_lady_obama_claims_working_class_roots_but_her_styl.html

The number of Americans who have a positive opinion of First Lady Michelle Obama has fallen to 50 percent.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Michelle-Obama-popularity-falls-100520134.html

At a time when workers' pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees' average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/income/2010-08-10-1Afedpay10_ST_N.htm

Advocacy groups are outraged that Democrats are raiding the food stamp program to fund a state-aid bailout that some call a gift to teachers and government union workers.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/10/democrats-advocacy-groups-blast-cuts-food-stamps-fund-m-jobs/

A Republican congressman says all bills introduced in Congress should include a statement setting forth the specific constitutional authority under which a law is being enacted. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) says his Enumerated Powers Act will force Congress to re-examine the role of the national government and curb its "ever-expanding reach." "For too long, the federal government has operated without Constitutional restraint, creating ineffective and costly programs and massive deficits year after year.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70900

A nationwide survey of 1,000 likely voters found that 59 percent of Democrats think that members of Congress should consider the opinions of homosexual advocacy groups over the opinions of top military commanders when considering a repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”. The survey also showed that half of Democrats support penalizing soldiers opposed to homosexuality, including those who oppose it for religious reasons.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70876

The American Bar Association adopted a resolution this week calling for same-sex marriage nationwide, and urging government at every level to “eliminate” any restrictions on homosexual unions.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/71018

U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who ruled last week that a voter-approved amendment to California’s constitution that limited marriage to the union of one man and one woman violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, based that ruling in part on his finding that “a child does not need and has no right to a mother. Nor, he found, does a child have a need or a right to a father.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70722

A group of high school students attending a conservative leadership conference in Washington, D.C. said they were ordered by a security guard to stop singing the national anthem during a June 25 visit to the Lincoln Memorial. “

http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/10/students-told-to-stop-singing-national-anthem-at-lincoln-memorial/

Andy Griffith, the former TV Sheriff of Mayberry and guardian of small town America, is now the national spokesman for ObamaCare.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/the_deadly_pact_how_obamacare.html

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Investor’s Business Daily 8/10

After suing Arizona to assert federal supremacy over states on immigration, it turns out that ICE, Washington's immigration cop on the beat, isn't enforcing the law at all. This is amnesty by another name.

Oh, what a hullabaloo the Justice Department made last month over Arizona's SB 1070, arguing before a federal district judge that the law must be struck down because the federal government has "pre-eminent authority to regulate immigration matters." Arizona's effort was depicted as some sort of secessionist usurpation of federal prerogatives, despite the fact that SB 1070 mirrored federal law. Incredibly, Judge Susan Bolton, an appointee of President Clinton, agreed and issued an injunction on those grounds.

In practical terms, her decision means that Arizona's 15,000 lawmen could not help federal agents enforce the law on America's largest and most dangerous immigrant-smuggling corridor. Now it's obvious why: The Justice Department isn't interested in enforcing the law.

Last week, 259 representatives of the union that represents 7,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents handed down a unanimous vote of "no confidence" in ICE leaders, whose policies keep them from doing their job. Based on those policies, agents can no longer arrest illegal immigrants even if they announce their status on a sandwich board.

According to a June 29 memo from ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton, ICE must now "prioritize the apprehension and removal of aliens who only pose a threat to national security and/or public safety, such as criminals and terrorists." Given that all police agencies look for such targets, such a premise is absurd. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, after all, was arrested by a traffic cop, not a fancy anti-terror strike force, in 1995.

And aside from wondering why terrorists are being released at all across a border they'll have no trouble recrossing, Morton's policy effectively means no one is looking for illegal immigrants once they make it past the Border Patrol. This is taking pick-and-choose law enforcement to an extreme and runs counter to best police practices, such as James Q. Wilson's "broken window" theory of criminology. This holds that enforcement against minor crimes in an area helps prevent an escalation into more serious crime.

ICE's Morton claims the agency has limited resources, so it can deport only 400,000 illegal immigrants a year. From a government agency with a $2.6 billion detention and removal budget, that comes to about $6,500 per deportee, a de facto statement of government inefficiency and waste. And it affects only 4% of all illegal border-crossers.

For ICE agents, such policies mean danger no lawman should have to put up with. With the only people being deported now criminals and terrorists coming out of jail (provided their jailers have placed an "immigration hold" on them), the next stop is spa-like immigration detention centers built with federal stimulus funds and run by ICE. There, hardened criminals are treated to bingo nights and dancing lessons — as immigration activist groups advise, according to Morton's memo. As the criminals enter these centers, their jailers aren't permitted to search them for weapons, drugs or other contraband, creating peril for the ICE agents. Such lunacy is further proof that our immigration system is broken, no matter what the White House says.

The White House is loudest in calling the system broken. Yet its policies make it so. What's going on right now is dereliction of duty under the pretense of policy priorities. Under any other name, that's amnesty.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/543312/201008101851/Amnesty-In-Disguise.aspx

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"While many of us are struggling, the First Lady is spending the next few days in a five-star hotel on the chic Costa del Sol in southern Spain with 40 of her 'closest friends.' According to CNN, the group is expected to occupy 60 to 70 rooms, more than a third of the lodgings at the 160-room resort…..Estimated room rate per night? Up to a staggering $2,500. Method of transportation? Air Force Two…Transporting and housing the estimated 70 Secret Service agents who will flank the material girl will cost the taxpayers a pretty penny. Perhaps it could be that the Obamas, who seem to fancy themselves more along the lines of international celebrities than actual leaders, espouse a different view of sacrifice. ... In January, President Obama insisted that 'everybody in the country is going to have to sacrifice something, accept change for the greater good. Everybody is going to have to give. Everybody is going to have to have some skin in the game.' If sacrifice is the precursor to change, what will the family that ran on change offer up? Elitist doublespeak won't cut it."

-Andrea Tantaros

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LEFTIST WATCH

The Socialist Party of America says that 70 Congressional democrats currently belong to their caucus. This admission was recently posted on Scribd.com.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/socialist_party_of_america_rev.html

As far as some New Hampshire Democrats are concerned, there was only one thing wrong with the plane crash that killed former Senator Ted Stevens in Alaska: Sarah Palin wasn't on board:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/you_stay_classy_dems.html

The known members of JournoList, a conspiracy to manipulate media coverage to favor leftist positions, now number 151. Which means that about 2/3 of the list remain covert operatives, still functioning without public knowledge of their membership. A complete list is here:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/journolist_update.html

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GLOBALONEY

Fruits and vegetables are not ripening in California because of record cool weather.

http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_15723011#ixzz0wDRj0zsz

The UN wants us to eat bugs to save the planet. Gives new meaning to the word “grub”.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1301970/GOOD-GRUB-GUIDE-The-UN-says-eating-creepy-crawlies-save-planet---Our-girl-finds-hard-swallow.html#ixzz0wOyu0tFs

Al Gore is a bitter man. In a conference call with his supporters, Gore all but conceded defeat over getting a climate bill out of Congress this year while unleashing a tirade against cap-and-trade’s opponents. In a somber and seething voice, Gore told callers that, “this battle has not been successful and is pretty much over for this year.” He bitterly denounced the Senate and federal government stating several times, “the U.S. Senate has failed us” and “the federal government has failed us.”

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38512

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ACTIVISM

Home Depot fired employee Trevor Keezor for wearing a button reading "One Nation Under God" to support his country and his 27-year-old brother who is serving in the military in Iraq. The slogan is straight from the Pledge of Allegiance, but a Home Depot spokesman said the button “expressed his religious beliefs” which violates company policy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/28/trevor-keezor-florida-man_n_337875.html

Take action here:

http://action.afa.net/Detail.aspx?id=2147497324

Liberal protestors have been demonstrating outside Target Corp. or its stores almost daily since the retailer angered gay rights supporters and progressives by giving money to help a conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota. Liberal groups are pushing to make an example of the company, hoping its woes will deter other businesses from putting their corporate funds into elections.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Liberal-groups-push-to-apf-2321043209.html?x=0

On 6/20 I reported that reader Lois Gustafson had been coordinating an effort to support two army trauma nurses in Afghanistan. They rescued and adopted a local dog named SOPHIE and needed $4000 to get her home to El Paso, TX. The bad news: they only raised half that amount. The good news: the widow of the late Michael Landon heard about this effort and wrote a significant check covering the balance on Sophie, and three other dogs as well. Miracles do happen!! To those who contributed, THANK YOU!!

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ARTICLES

If the GOP gains control of one or both Houses of Congress in the November midterm elections, and then does not make good on its promises to reverse and counter the Democrats' socialist agenda, we could hear the death knell that signals the end of the Grand Old Party.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/how_a_gop_november_victory_cou.html

Some leading tea party activists are concerned that their efforts to reshape American politics, starting with the 2010 elections, are being undermined by a shortage of cash that’s partly the result of a deep ambivalence within the movement’s grass roots over the very idea of fundraising and partly attributable to an inability to win over the wealthy donors who fund the conservative establishment.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40800.html

What’s in Michele Bachmann’s future? The Republican congresswoman from Minnesota formed the Tea Party Caucus in the House last month, increasing her visibility as a leader among the Tea Party faithful. Then she filed papers last week to start her own political action committee, MichelePAC, something befitting a person with a national following. She’s now signaled to Tea Party leaders that she’ll sign the Contract from America, a list of legislative priorities from Tea Party activists that’ll endear her even more to the movement that sees her as a rock star.

http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/10/tea-party-sees-national-role-for-minnesota-rep-michele-bachmann/

“For all the strange details to emerge in the Maxine Waters bank-bailout scandal, this one might be the most surprising: It turns out members of Congress are prohibited from doing “special favors” for anyone, even if they receive nothing of value in return. Who knew?”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-12/maxine-waters-whacked-barney-frank-untouched-jonathan-weil.html

“The economy is stalling, unemployment seems stuck at European levels of idleness, the federal deficit and the national debt are at historic highs, public confidence in Congress is at its lowest-ever level and big majorities of Mainstream Americans say Obama has the country on the wrong path. Obamanomics has failed miserably and it's time for everybody in this town to admit it so we can move on.”

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Time-to-admit-Obamanomics-has-failed-1008050-100154469.html#ixzz0wJB1dSDr

“The panic that propelled Mr. Obama to the presidency has waned. There is deep concern, to be sure. But the Obama strategy has lost the consent of the governed……The magic of 2008 can't be recreated, and good riddance to it. Slowly, the nation has recovered its poise. There is a widespread sense of unstated embarrassment that a political majority, if only for a moment, fell for the promise of an untested redeemer—a belief alien to the temperament of this so practical and sober a nation.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421363005578460.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

“Have a read of this terrifying article by Professor Laurence Kotlikoff of Boston University, which using recent IMF analysis pretty convincingly demonstrates that the US is as fiscally bankrupt as a busted flush. As Professor Kotlikoff notes, the entire Federal tax base amounts to 14.7 per cent of GDP, so to close the gap from a revenue perspective would require the authorities to double the rate of taxation in the US.”

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jeremywarner/100007268/why-the-us-is-as-busted-as-a-busted-flush/

“I am bullish on polygamy. It has a bright future. Now that The Very Reverend Vaughn Walker, High Priest of the Church of Political Correctness, has cleared the way for the creation of the oxymoronic idea of “homosexual marriage,” polygamy's life just got a whole lot easier….”

http://townhall.com/columnists/AllenHunt/2010/08/09/polygamy_the_new_growth_stock/page/full

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

Must see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTb6qdPu8JE&feature=player_embedded

“When politically correct and culturally diverse societies agree to 'the reasonable' Muslim demands for their 'religious rights,' they also get the other components under the table. Here's how it works…”

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/04/islam-what-it-i.html

The anti-mosque ad is a powerful ad with images evoking 9/11 designed by a group which strongly opposes the construction of what's being called the "Ground Zero Mosque". The controversial ad was designed, paid for, and presented to the MTA a month ago, but the MTA refused to approve the campaign, so the ad's sponsors decided to bring the fight to court.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/

The stunning decline of Barack Obama: 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in meltdown

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100050412/the-stunning-decline-of-barack-obama-10-key-reasons-why-the-obama-presidency-is-in-meltdown/

Leo Grin has a blog “for conservative movie lovers”

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/author/lgrin/

Rush and Kathryn Limbaugh release wedding photos

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30710&id=136264019722601&ref=mf

“Intense compilation of nuclear bomb explosions”

http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos.do;jsessionid=F062AE421D75EC35903310D9FB8B6138?displayContent=218301&ESRC=dod.nl

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LATE NITE

Jay Leno: The New Orleans Saints visited the White House. They presented President Obama with a Saints jersey with the number 44, in honor of his approval rating......President Obama announced this month that he created 70,000 new jobs. The bad news is, they are all vacation planners for him and his family….. Plans are being finalized for Mexico’s bicentennial. On Sept. 15, over 70 million Mexicans will celebrate, and that’s just in Los Angeles…....The U.S. Postal Service reported a $3.5 billion loss in the last quarter, which established it as the federal government’s most successful enterprise……Experts said that eventually, the post office could turn a profit if this e-mail thing turns out to be just a fad……A team of British engineers have developed a car that runs on human waste. I’ll bet that new car smell doesn’t last very long……

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WISE WORDS

“The evil in the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it.”

-Ayn Rand

"Throughout history, government has proved to be the chief instrument for thwarting man's liberty. Government represents power in the hands of some men to control and regulate the lives of other men. And power, as Lord Acton said, corrupts men. 'Absolute power,' he added, 'corrupts absolutely.' State power, considered in the abstract, need not restrict freedom: but absolute state power always does."

-Barry Goldwater

"We should always remember that our strength still lies in our faith in the good sense of the American people. And that the climate in Washington is still opposed to those enduring values, those 'permanent things' that we've always believed in. ... Washington is a place of fads and one-week stories. It's also a company town, and the company's name is government, big government. ... In the discussion of federal spending, the time has come to put to rest the sob sister attempts to portray our desire to get government spending under control as a hard-hearted attack on the poor people of America."

-Ronald Reagan