posted 01-09-2004 02:27 PM            

No-one is saying it, but this could be a great way to identify and later deport aliens. First you give them a temporary work permit, they work for awhile (6 months, a year, whatever). Then you know where they are so when it comes time to renew it is easy to say "No" and deport them. At least you know where they are.

But nowhere is anyone talking about making citizens of 8 million illegals.

posted 01-09-2004 03:25 PM            

At least most Americans (and some in Congress) do not like the idea of increasing legal immigration to the U.S. and legalizing illegal immigrants.
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040107-112928-8976r.htm

Americans oppose increase in immigration
By Stephen Dinan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Most Americans adamantly oppose both increasing the amount of legal immigration to the United States and legalizing those immigrants now here illegally, the two key elements in President Bush's immigration overhaul proposal.

On no other foreign policy issue do average Americans disagree more with government and business leaders and other "elites" than on immigration.

"The number of people who want immigration increased is very small," said Steven A. Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies. "If 55 or 60 percent of the public wants less immigration, a third wants it the same and 7 percent wants it more — [Mr. Bush] is going for that 7 percent."

The issue cuts across party lines, but already yesterday opponents in Congress were lining up.

Mr. Bush proposed allowing illegal aliens already in the United States and foreign residents to apply for legal work status here, as long as an employer has certified he would employ the person and no U.S. worker is readily available.

The president also proposed increasing the level of overall legal immigration, and though he didn't specifically guarantee that the guest workers would get legal permanent residence, members of Congress said they expect the two will have to be tied together somehow.

But a Gallup poll from June found only 13 percent of Americans thought immigration should be increased, while 47 percent said it should be reduced and 37 percent said it should be kept at its present level.

Opposition has remained high for several years. A Zogby poll from 2002 found that 58 percent of Americans wanted to reduce immigration, 65 percent disagreed with amnesty and 68 percent felt the United States should deploy military troops to the border to curb illegal immigration.

Meanwhile, 60 percent of Americans believe present immigration levels are a "critical threat to the vital interests of the United States." But when the poll asked the same question of government officials, business leaders and journalists, only 14 percent thought so.

When asked whether immigration levels should be kept the same, increased or reduced, 55 percent of Americans opted for a reduction, while 18 percent of the poll's sample of "elites" thought so, according to an analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies.

Also, proposals that are seen as soft on illegal immigrants have come back to bite politicians before.

Just last year, California Gov. Gray Davis was hurt in his bid to stave off a recall when he signed a bill to let illegal immigrants obtain state driver's licenses. The new governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, pushed a repeal of that provision through the legislature.

An exit poll commissioned by the Federation for American Immigration Reform showed that 30 percent of California voters said they were somewhat or much more likely to vote against Mr. Davis because he signed the law. Only 8 percent of voters were somewhat or much more likely to support him because of it.

"How did Davis get it so wrong?" Mr. Camarota said. "The reason is, he and people like George Bush live in an echo chamber of elites, where the received wisdom on immigration is all the same."

"But once you get out of the Beltway, or leave the offices of the Chamber of Commerce, the number of people in the U.S. who think it's a good idea to give legal status to illegal aliens, or more generally to increase immigration, is very small," Mr. Camarota said.

Still, guest-worker proponents say that if they get a chance to explain their plans, they can win over the public.

"The difference here is some people see this being portrayed by the Pat Buchanans of the world as launching a new wave of immigration, whereas we see it more as acknowledging the wave that has already happened," said Rep. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican, who is sponsoring one of the leading guest-worker proposals pending in Congress.

His proposal, which he is sponsoring along with two fellow Arizona Republicans — Sen. John McCain and Rep. Jim Kolbe — would allow an illegal alien to pay a fine and apply for legal work status and after completing two terms, they could apply for permanent legal residence.

Mr. Flake pointed to a poll of Arizona voters that found after Mr. Flake's proposal was explained, it garnered 59 percent support. The poll was conducted by KAET-TV and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

And Don Stewart, spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn, the Texas Republican who has his own guest-worker program pending in the Senate, said he expects the public perception to change now that the president has put something specific on the table.

"People have been polling in the abstract, now they're polling on something specific, and the numbers will change accordingly," Mr. Stewart said. Mr. Bush's guest-worker proposal closely tracks the bill Mr. Cornyn is sponsoring in the Senate.

Even proponents like Mr. Kolbe said they don't expect to pass their bill this year.

"It's probably likely we will not see legislative action before 2005," he said.

Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican and an opponent of the proposals, said sufficient opposition exists among rank-and-file Republicans on key committees that Mr. Bush would have to make a serious effort to convince Congress to act.

"I think it'll take a push from leadership, and it just depends on whether the president can put enough leverage on the speaker and on [House Majority Leader] Tom DeLay," Mr. King said.

Mr. King said whatever happens, he and other Republicans will fight it.

"I can tell you it will be a gloves-off fight all the way through," he said.

Mr. DeLay last night said he supports a guest-worker program to grow the economy and enhance security, but said he remains "skeptical that [Mr. Bush´s plan] constitutes sound public policy."

"I applaud President Bush for his leadership and courage in addressing this complex and difficult issue, but I have heartfelt concerns about allowing illegal immigrants into a U.S. guest-worker program because it seems to reward illegal behavior," he said.

posted 01-09-2004 03:50 PM            

Even Bill O'reilly and mainstream conservatives are starting to turn their backs on gun-grabber, China loving, open-border BUSH.......

posted 01-09-2004 04:33 PM            

LINK:

posted 01-09-2004 05:06 PM            

By Guy Taylor
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040108-111913-5195r.htm

Hundreds of Mexican citizens suspected of committing violent crimes in the United States have escaped justice by slipping across America's porous southern border into Mexico, which refuses to extradite suspects facing the death penalty or life imprisonment.
Authorities have identified more than a dozen cases in which illegal aliens were accused of injuring or killing a U.S. law-enforcement officer but are believed to have fled to Mexico.
President Bush's plan to grant legal status to millions of illegal immigrants employed in the United States raises questions about whether Mexico may agree to start extraditing suspects in all U.S. crimes.
"One of the things would be cooperation on extraditions," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank supporting tighter controls on immigration.
Mr. Bush heads Monday to the Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico, and a White House spokesman yesterday did not know whether the president plans to discuss extradition with Mexican President Vicente Fox. Mr. Fox has been seeking greater access to U.S. jobs for Mexicans and praised Mr. Bush's immigration proposal Wednesday.
U.S. officials don't have information on the number of violent criminals hiding in Mexico, but they believe the number is at least in the hundreds. District attorneys in most states don't keep records of crimes committed by illegal aliens, even ones who have fled.
In California, officials estimate some 350 violent felons have fled south seeking protection of a Mexican Supreme Court ruling that the death penalty and life in prison without parole represent cruel and unusual punishment.
Sen. Diane Feinstein, California Democrat, introduced a Senate resolution last month calling on Mr. Bush to put pressure on Mexico to ensure suspects wanted for serious crimes can be extradited.
"Many of these people are living free and unpunished in Mexico," she told reporters in California. "In some cases, we even know where they are."
Perhaps the most high-profile case is the April 2002 murder of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff David March, who was shot execution-style during a traffic stop. The prime suspect is Mexican national Armando Garcia, said to have fled south after the murder.
"He's believed to be somewhere in Mexico," said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Mrs. Gibbons said the office has been working so far unsuccessfully with federal officials in the State and Justice departments to get Mr. Garcia and others returned from Mexico for trial.
"We feel that if a person commits a crime here, especially if they kill someone here, that they need to be brought back here to be brought to justice," she said. "This is where the victims are."
Mrs. Gibbons noted Mexico's refusal to extradite criminals applies only to Mexican citizens. There have been cases, she said, of non-Mexican nationals who have been extradited and tried in the United States.
A recent case in Burbank, Calif., involved extradition of David Garcia, the top suspect in a November murder of Burbank police Officer Matthew Pavelka.
Mexican authorities arrested Mr. Garcia on Thanksgiving in the border city of Tijuana. As a U.S. citizen, he was extradited almost immediately to the United States, where he most likely will face the death penalty.
Mrs. Feinstein said a survey last year by the National Association of District Attorneys determined that in addition to the California cases, there are at least 60 others being held up nationwide by Mexico's refusal to extradite.
Wrangling over extradition between U.S. and Mexican authorities is nothing new. Fifteen years passed before Rudolph Romero, the gunman who fled to Mexico after the 1988 killing of Phoenix police Officer Ken Collings, was caught, brought back for trial and sentenced.
Mexican authorities didn't agree to look for Romero until 11 years after the killing, and when they caught him, he wasn't returned to the United States until prosecutors in Phoenix guaranteed he wouldn't face the death penalty.
U.S. authorities say that is an accepted part of the process of arresting fugitives in Mexico. It's not exclusive to Mexico though.
"I know of no countries that have a no-death-penalty statute who will extradite on a death-penalty case without the assurance that we won't seek the death penalty," said Chris Dudley, chief inspector of international investigations for the U.S. Marshals Service.
However, Mr. Dudley, and others, including U.S. Marshal Geoff Shank, who heads investigations for the Northeast United States, said Mexico's extradition policy "has not negatively affected our relationship with Mexico at all."
Mr. Shank said the Marshals Service, which routinely hunts fugitives in foreign lands, gets along with Mexican police "better than anyone else."

posted 01-09-2004 07:09 PM            

So far, no one is calling this what it is: perhaps the biggest act of treachery in American history. Online polls so far show from 80-97% of respondents want illegals deported immediately. But Bush...the non-elected hand-puppet zionist-controlled Illuminati Bonesman ...is executing the 'plan' perfectly. The country is bankrupt, the states are bankrupt, the cities are bankrupt, the schools are destroyed, the health care system is failing, etc, etc, ...largely due to illegal immigrants - of several races and cultures certainly, but inarguably 70% of which are from our 'neighbor to the south.'

These 'emigrants' are essentially Mexico's lowest level denizens, and the great majority do NOT come here enamored of American history, its culture and its ideals with a dream of becoming AMERICANS. Instead, they come here for the biggest gravy train of handouts, services, and welfare on the planet, and, of course, to send money back to Mehico. It's not Arnold's 'hasta la vista, Baby' anymore, it's 'Viva La Raza, amigo.' Money from Mexicans sent 'home' is Mexico's number TWO source of revenue after oil. I'll bet you didn't know that. All money which should stay here to help our economy come back from fiscal oblivion.

Further, Bush's 'reform' will instantly remove MILLIONS more jobs from Americans. The argument that 'they only do the work Americans don't want' is a putrid monumental fiction not to mention an insult to American citizens of all races and creeds who have built this nation over the past two plus centuries and who desperately need work in this current period of massive unemployment.

There will now be a HUGE charge over the nearly non-existent border by millions MORE 'immigrants' as they mockingly stride and stomp across the Bush-betrayed corpse that once was a magnificent experiment in nationhood...once the 'light to the world.' How ironic that our nation is finished off, not by a pin-headed, bleeding heart 'liberal' in the White House, but by a tinhorn 'Republican conservative' front man for Globalist imperialism. There will be no longer be a penalty for invading this country...just show a 'job' on paper and get a three year ticket to ride on the biggest gravy train in history. And then get three more years via a renewal, simply by showing one is still 'employed.' And then three more...and three more...can we spell 'p-e-r-m-a-n-e-n-t'? And does this also mean the deluge of Mexican babies born here during these 3 years are automatically American citizens?

This is the final blow, basically and all of it was predicted years ago. Bush's handlers have been consumed with wiping out the middle class and bringing America down to second, and then third world status. True globalism would never function with a strong, independent America. The middle class had to be destroyed...which has been accomplished...and the fiber of our culture had to be diluted and shredded by countless spray-painting, hyper-reproductive hordes whose sole mission is 'Reconquista'.

These are NOT the immigrants of a century ago who came here, legally, proudly, to study and revere American history and its culture and social values. This new lowest class is filling out the bottom end of the world's newest banana republic. There will be the rich...and the poor. And a forelorn remnant of a middle class. The great $6-$10 trillion dollar losses in the stock market crash of a couple years ago pounded our middle class. No accident, that. And now the turkey American public is pumping up the absurdly overvalued US stock market to even more ludicrous highs. This next crash will erase another massive chunk of wealth among the middle class which is just now figuring out how it will NEVER get out of credit card debt and how outsourcing white collar, high-tech and service industry work will push it into the dusty pages of history.

Rather than work to restore America and its values and infrastructure, Bush is ensuring its final collapse. Chump America has been sold out, betrayed, dumbed down, duped and made the hated laughing stock of the planet. America...drowned, broken, crushed, its very identity now awash in the primitive 'culture' of countless millions who seek to reclaim the entire Southwest, not by firing a single shot but by breeding...breeding...breeding.

By breeding...breeding...breeding. Death by peasant semen.

posted 01-10-2004 02:18 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by JerseyBluEyz:
Letxa: Give it some time. The REAL plan of action will eventually be revealed.

---

That is where you are leaving established fact and entering the realm of speculation so quickly adopted by conspiracists. You have your beliefs but there is no evidence to support it. If anything, I still believe it could actually help eventually deport them since we'd at least know who and where they are. My belief is just as valid as your belief since neither of us have any evidence, just gut feelings.

quote:

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I hate to break it to you, but our Immigration System is already failing. I've worked with Immigration Attorneys - I've seen what goes on!

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I know the immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed. I'm not even sure I support the immigration proposal, but it's certainly not an effort to make voting citizens out of illegals... and certainly not in time for the 2004 election.

Please understand that when I correct you people it's not because I support the opposite position. It just rubs me the wrong way to see reality intentionally distorted by some people.

quote:

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Do you think people aren't ALREADY staying in this country (illegally) with expired work or student Visa's - come on! I know of a few myself!

---

posted 01-10-2004 09:49 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by letxa2000:
If anything, I still believe it could actually help eventually deport them since we'd at least know who and where they are.

---

We know where a good percentage of illegals are right now (registered and nonregistered)! There would first have to be a system overhaul and then (God forbid!) jobs created so that the temporary immigrants can be properly monitored and deported.

quote:

---

Originally posted by letxa2000:
Please understand that when I correct you people it's not because I support the opposite position. It just rubs me the wrong way to see reality intentionally distorted by some people.

---

posted 01-10-2004 10:53 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by JerseyBluEyz:
I figure this comment is directed at me since you’ve posted it in the midst of replying to my post. Please note, I am NOT “intentionally” distorting anything.

---

Not you specifically, but to many people. Mech especially, in some cases BoomerChick.

posted 03-22-2004 06:00 PM            

COMING TO AMERICA
Convoy of illegals tries to run down agents
Border officers stop 6 of 12 pickups, 165 aliens found in truck beds

Posted: March 22, 2004
5:00 p.m. Eastern

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
A convoy of 12 pickup trucks crammed with illegal aliens barreled over the U.S.-Mexico border and attempted to run down approaching Border Patrol agents.
In the unprecedented move, six of the pickups were stopped, while six escaped back to Mexico, reported the Tucson Citizen. In the vehicles authorities were able to stop, agents found 165 suspected illegals in the beds of the trucks, said Greg Maier, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson sector.
"Smugglers are getting desperate in their attempt to enter the United States illegally," David Aguilar, chief patrol agent of the Tucson sector, told the paper. "Their options are dwindling, and now they are making bold and dangerous moves to get their human cargo over the border."
An anonymous caller to the Border Patrol station in Casa Grande Wednesday night alerted agents to the convoy near the town of San Miguel, west of Tucson, Maier said, adding this type of daring convoy had not been seen before.
One of the trucks got stuck in sand, and agents were approaching it on foot when the driver of a second truck gunned his engine and headed toward the agents, Maier told the Citizen.
Agents shot at the oncoming truck, which changed direction and darted back into Mexico.
According to the report, none of the 165 suspected illegal aliens were injured, nor were any Border Patrol agents.

posted 03-23-2004 09:45 AM            

I don't think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America.. Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America; and see what happens. Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door. Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.

I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, that is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE?

I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion.

I have the right "NOT" to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off.

When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling, it is the Law of Probability.

I believe that if you are selling me a milk shake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English! As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen, you should have to speak English!

My father and grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours. I think the police should have every right to shoot your sorry self if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can't understand the word "freeze" or "stop" in English, see the above lines.

I don't think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, trinket store, or any other business.

We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document; and open to their interpretations.

I don't hate the rich. I don't pity the poor. I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn't stop you from watching them.

I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that's better, and put your name on the building. Ask your buddy that invented the Internet to help you. (Al)

It doesn't take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid; and smack their little behinds when necessary, and say "NO!"

I think tattoos and piercing are fine if you want them, but please don't pretend they are a political statement. And, please, stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don't want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries!

I am sick of "Political Correctness." I know a lot of black people, and not a single one of them was born in Africa; so how can they be "African-Americans"? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don't go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was from Europe. I am proud to be from America and nowhere else.

posted 03-23-2004 02:38 PM            

quote:

---

I don't think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America.. Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America; and see what happens. Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door. Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.

---

Andy Rooney has never been the victim of being of a different color, so it is not a voice of experience. Guns have one purpose-to kill, either offensively or defensivly! Baseball bats can bat balls, hit someone with, and pound cabbage into sauerkraut.

quote:

---

I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, that is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE?

---

Ambivalent on this one. Well, maybe isolationism is Rooney’s worst trait.

quote:

---

I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion.

---

Ah yes, people slinging opinions around carelessly. Bush says, “It’s my opinion”, and we have fabricated wars and Un-Constitutional Constitutional Amendments. Again, walk a mile in the shoes Andy, and then make a statement.

quote:

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I have the right "NOT" to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off.

---

Likewise with you Andy. Does Andy think he is “normal”. Another aspect of isolationism.

quote:

---

When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling, it is the Law of Probability.

---

99.9 % of Skinheads and KKK Members are white. This is not racial profiling, it is probability. I knew a former FBI agent who quit because of the blatant racism that exists in the FBI. Did you know that Philadelphia is the Klansmen capital of the world? I have heard from the mouths of white people, their hatred of anything other than white, especially my brother-in-law, who is a real life Archie Bunker. Expand that to a larger level, and you have institutional racism, and White Superiority.

quote:

---

I believe that if you are selling me a milk shake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English! As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen, you should have to speak English!

---

Maybe Andy should learn Navajo! Isolationism again. Frankly, I have learned catch phrases in other languages, and it doesn’t bother me as much as other people.

quote:

---

My father and grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours. I think the police should have every right to shoot your sorry self if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can't understand the word "freeze" or "stop" in English, see the above lines.

---

Right, Rooney! The crime and the punishment REALLY fit in that scenario. An innocent person decides not to give an ID or stop, so you shoot them! I wonder if Andy would think the same if it was him on the receiving end of an over-zealous officers baton or gun?

quote:

---

I don't think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, trinket store, or any other business.

---

Agreed! If you pay US taxes, you should be entitled to anything any other American gets. I absolutely do not want illegal aliens coming into this country, while jobs are exported to 3rd world countries. I notice old Andy did not mention that.

quote:

---

We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document; and open to their interpretations.

---

Well, France fought to help America 228 years ago, and look what people thought about them. The Constitution is pretty explicit, and should stay that way.

quote:

---

I don't hate the rich. I don't pity the poor. I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn't stop you from watching them.

---

It’s when rich people get rich from unscrupulous means when it bothers me. Cheney, Bush, and that crew come to mind.

quote:

---

I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that's better, and put your name on the building. Ask your buddy that invented the Internet to help you. (Al)

---

Bill Gates didn’t invent anything. He is not a genius, Windows is an inferior operating system to Unix, BeOS, Linux, and Mac OSX. He got rich selling snake oil, and the public went along with it, and his gift back to the public is the TCPA/Palladium horror show, and Windows XP blows open all the back doors to the NSA.

quote:

---

It doesn't take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid; and smack their little behinds when necessary, and say "NO!"

---

Since I don’t have kids, I won’t say as much. However, my parents never hit me once, and I did not need to be smacked around to realize the values I still hold.

quote:

---

I think tattoos and piercing are fine if you want them, but please don't pretend they are a political statement. And, please, stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don't want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries!

---

Rooney didn’t like Long Hairs in the 60’s, and the influence of the Hippies and Peaceniks are still being felt today. I guess his Nixon Blue Suit is still hanging in his closet, ready to come back in style.

quote:

---

I am sick of "Political Correctness." I know a lot of black people, and not a single one of them was born in Africa; so how can they be "African-Americans"? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don't go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was from Europe. I am proud to be from America and nowhere else.

---

You are not a true American Andy, your genetics came from Europe. We are all either African or Asian, or if a Creationist, Middle Eastern. If believer in Starseed, then extraterrestrial. Even so-called Native Americans are Mongolian in origin.

quote:

---

And if you don't like my point of view, tough. DON'T PASS IT ON!!

---

posted 03-23-2004 02:48 PM            

Chipping Away at Andy Rooney

10Meters News Service

February 13, 2002 – Andy Rooney, the curmudgeonly commentator on TV's "60 Minutes" news magazine, has been challenged to "chip" his words.

Rooney quipped during his segment on the February 10 show that he would be willing to have a chip implanted under his skin, if that would help speed up and assure security at airports.

"We need some system for permanently identifying safe people. Most of us are never going to blow anything up and there's got to be something better than one of these photo Ids," Rooney said. "I wouldn't mind having something planted permanently in my arm that would identify me."

Applied Digital Solutions, of Palm Beach, Fla., lost no time in responding. On Monday, the advanced technology firm invited Rooney to join a select group of people to "get chipped" – as in being implanted with its identification system, the VeriChip microchip.

Launched as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions on February 8, VeriChip produces a miniaturized, implantable identification device aimed at medical, security and emergency applications.

The chip, approximately the size of the point of a typical ballpoint pen, is embedded with a unique identification number and other critical data. Requiring only local anesthesia and a tiny incision, it can be inserted in an outpatient setting. No sutures are necessary.

The data on the chip is activated by an external scanner. It then utilizes radio frequencies to transmit the information for display on the scanner. Data can also be transmitted via the telephone or the Internet to an FDA-compliant data-storage site.

As far as Rooney's chip-quip, he's not the only one curious about the idea of implants.

A family in Boca Raton, Florida, has contacted Applied Digital Solutions to volunteer as chip "guinea pigs." Driving the family effort is Derek Jacobs, a 14 year old, who said he is fascinated by the idea of technology that links humans with machines.

Applied Digital Solutions CTO Keith Bolton told Wired News that more than 2,000 kids have emailed the company to be added to the implant list. "They think it's cool," Bolton said.

The only catch, for the kids or for Rooney, if he chooses to accept the challenge: the company is in the process of getting FDA approval to "chip" people.

posted 04-28-2004 08:32 PM            

Apr 27, 2:11 PM (ET)

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040427/D827A4P00.html

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ

SASABE, Mexico (AP) - After a four-year decline, illegal immigration from Mexico is spiking as several thousand migrants a day rush across the border in hopes of getting work visas under a program President Bush proposed. Many also are trying to beat tighter security to come in June.

The U.S. border patrol told The Associated Press that detentions - which it uses to judge illegal migration rates - jumped 25 percent to 535,000 in the six months ending March 31 compared to a year ago.

Near Sasabe, a town bordering the Arizona desert that's the busiest illegal border crossing area, an average 2,000 people arrive daily.

On a recent day, at a break in a barbed-wire fence outside Sasabe, about 300 migrants scrambled out of 10 trucks and four vans within 30 minutes with their smugglers, who led crowds along a worn trail. As the sun set, they disappeared into rolling hills that hide the treacherous desert.

Raudel Sanchez, a 22-year-old farm worker, said he wanted to get back to his job at a Minnesota ranch.

Sanchez crossed into the United States through Sasabe three years ago, but says the journey is getting more difficult. He walked three days in the desert and was out of water when he was caught in Arizona and deported.

Undeterred, he said he planned to take a bus to Altar, a northern city about 70 miles from the border where migrants hire smugglers. From there, he planned to head back to Sasabe and cross again.

"It's already very hard to cross, but it's going to be even harder," he said in Nogales. "I need to try again, at least one more time, and if I fail, I'll go back home."

Many migrants are betting on the approval of Bush's migration proposal, which faces an uphill battle in Congress. About 75 percent of those arrested are Mexican, while the rest are from Central America and other places, U.S. customs officials said.

In January, Bush proposed a guest-worker plan that would give legal status to undocumented migrants already working in the United States and to those outside the country who can prove they have been offered a job.

Because it's hard to get a job offer while in Mexico, many are heading north now, hoping to get settled before a program is in place.

Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that favors stricter immigration policies, said the rise in illegal migration also shot up in 1986 when an amnesty was announced.

"Illegal aliens will respond to the messages the government sends," Krikorian said. "When we send the message that we are thinking about amnesty, they decide it may be worth it to try to cross."

Illegal migration had been declining along the U.S.-Mexico border since 2000. U.S. border patrol figures show detentions dropped from 1.6 million in 2000 to 905,000 in the fiscal year that ended last Sept. 30.

There is no exact data on the number of people crossing illegally. But in an indication of increased traffic, 535,000 illegal migrants were arrested along the U.S.-Mexico border from Oct. 1 to March 31, said Gloria Chavez of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bureau.

In the same period, the border patrol's Tucson sector detained 70,000 more people, an increase of 49 percent.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert Bonner attributes part of the jump to increased security. "The main reason we're seeing an increase in apprehensions is because the border patrol is more effective, particularly in the Tucson sector," he said.

But Mexican officials are also seeing an increase. Grupo Beta, a Mexican government-sponsored group that tries to discourage migrants from crossing and aids those stranded in the desert, said 56,000 migrants went through Sasabe in March compared to 41,000 in March 2003.

In Altar, a farming town that has become the gathering point for those heading to Arizona, street vendors sell backpacks, water jugs and salt pills by the thousands.

The modest homes around the plaza, crowded with triple-decker bunk beds, serve as makeshift motels for migrants. They're almost always at capacity, said Francisco Garcia, a former mayor who now volunteers at the town's only migrant shelter.

"We're a town with a population of 6,000, and there have been weeks when we have twice as many people," Garcia said.

Under new security measures, about 300 more U.S. border agents will be deployed by June 1 along the Mexico-Arizona border. The number of border agents assigned to the Tucson sector will eventually increase from 1,800 to 2,500, Bonner said.

Many of the additional agents already have been sent to the Tohono O'odham Indian reservation, an area west of Sasabe where illegal migrant traffic has ballooned, said border patrol spokesman Charles Griffin.

The heightened border security is driving more migrants to more treacherous desert routes between Sonoyta and San Luis Rio Colorado in western Arizona, said Enrique Enriquez, an agent with Mexico's Grupo Beta.

"Migrants are telling us they're crossing through Sonoyta because there are fewer border patrol agents there," Enriquez said. "But with the new changes, we expect more migrants will start going west of there," where there are even fewer roads and people to help stranded migrants.

Grupo Beta plans to assign rescuers to Sonoyta in May, Enriquez said. Every year, hundreds of migrants die in the desert, where temperatures soar above 100 degrees in summer.

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"The interests behind the Bush Administration, such as the CFR, the Trilateral Commission - founded by Brzezinski for David Rockefeller - and the Bilderberg Group have prepared for and are now moving to implement open world dictatorship within the next five years."