There will be no driving privileges for illegal aliens in the Empire State any time soon:
A humbled Gov. Eliot Spitzer — facing an insurrection from New York Democrats — is ditching his controversial plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants that provoked a massive national backlash.
Spitzer will announce he’s “scrapping the plan” after a meeting of the state’s congressional delegation on Capitol Hill this morning, according to his spokeswoman, Christine Anderson.
Spitzer’s epiphany won’t be enough to save his political bacon though, as NY state voters are ready to scrap him when 2010 comes around.
Technorati Tags: eliot spitzer, illegal, immigrant, new yorkYour performance and civility on tonight’s broadcast of “The O’Reilly Factor” (because I don’t watch “American Idol”) has led me to let my subscription to Reason magazine lapse for good.
Let me know when Virginia Postrel or another common-sense libertarian takes the helm, and my subscription money will be in the mail again.
Quite honestly, Reason has been tilting far too leftward for my taste, especially on the illegal immigration issue.
I support immigration reform (but I do NOT support blanket amnesty for those who willfully break our laws), but any attempt at reform won’t mean a damn thing until the government starts enforcing immigration laws currently on the books, demand that Mexico enacts market-based economic reforms and stamp out corruption (before the Socialists “do” it for them). Also, America needs to secure the southern border in order to regulate the flow of LEGAL immigration. NOW.
Update: All comments to this post have been approved, which proves that I can take criticism just as well as I can dish it out. Even libertarians can disagree among each other.
I’ll deal with some of the comments, though:
I think I’ve made it clear that I do support legal immigration. For the record, I also favor drug legalization (which is another topic of discussion).
I welcome immigration reform. However, I do not believe in open borders. Securing our borders does not mean locking immigrants out. The moment we kiss our sovereignty good-bye and let anybody come and go whenever the hell they want (which is currently happening), anarchy sets in.
Apparently, some believe that every country except the United States should enforce their immigration laws.
If our government (of both political parties and many philosophical persuasions) is unwilling to uphold the rule of law, then what good is it? Try going to another country and say “Screw you and your laws. I’ll come and go whenever I please.” Report back your findings.
Should we enact wasteful, feel-good legislation? Of course not! I know what Nick Gillespie said on the “Factor”. I was more annoyed by his condescending attitude than by what he said. Just because I respect his right to speak freely doesn’t mean that I have to agree with everything he says. I guess that’s grounds enough for revoking my libertarian credentials nowadays. How dare I not drink my cup of Kool-Aid and like it!
If I were to emigrate to another country, I would be subject to the immigration laws of that country. I would have to apply for citizenship, meet their requirements for citizenship, learn their common language, and assimilate into their common culture (which doesn’t necessarily mean forsaking my native toungue and heritage). If other countries demand such for their immigrants, why can’t the U.S. require the same?
Yes, we are a nation built by immigrants. We are also a nation founded upon the rule of law. We are not an anarchist state, but a republic of 50 states joined together by a national constitution. The moment we let those from foreign lands blatantly disrespect our laws and ride roughshod over our sovereignty by telling us what to do is the moment we cease being a free republic.
Update 2: I should note that “La Bandera de Las Estrellas”, the Spanish translation of “The Star Spangled Banner” has existed in print since 1919. I do feel, however that the lyrics shouldn’t be “enhanced” to promote a political agenda, as is the case with “Nuestro Himno”. The pop-tinged tune recorded to accompany the pro-amnesty/open-borders movement is not worthy of recognition.
Again, special “feel-good” legislation to shun expressions that we don’t like isn’t necessary, as the Senate has better things to do (which aren’t being done, BTW). I will agree with Gillespie in that regard.
There’s no acknowledgment that crossing a sovereign nation’s borders and using all manner of fraud to make a living there is wrong. There’s no spirit of compromise, no willingness to say, “We recognize that our families are stretching the resources of your school districts, public hospitals and welfare rolls. In exchange for the ability to work here, we’re willing to go along with the growing number of state laws that deny taxpayer-funded services to noncitizens.”Make no mistake, Monday’s marchers believe the federal government should continue to ignore illegal immigration, that the United States of America should have no discernible borders and that citizens of Latin American nations have an unquestioned right to employment and education for their children here — first come, first served; Asians and Indians with engineering degrees will just have to wait — regardless of whether they speak or understand English.
Imagine the reactions to today’s news reports if, instead of seeing Latinos draped in American flags, citizens saw signs that read, “We don’t need no stinking green cards,” “Your laws don’t matter,” “Send my medical bills to your state legislature” and “Bilingualism: It worked for Quebec.”
These opinions are not shared by all Hispanics. The Washington, D.C.-based Pew Hispanic Center and the Center for Immigration Studies point out that Latinos are far from unified on the issue of illegal immigration, and that those who favor enforcement of immigration laws are fearful of being labeled traitors to their culture.
Rather than heed these trends and listen to the concerns of the majority, the U.S. Senate insists on enabling these demonstrators by sabotaging legislation intended to tighten our porous border, restore some congressional control over who may enter and reduce the rapid growth of a net-tax-recipient population that resists assimilation and could one day overwhelm public services, stagnate our economy and lower the quality of life in this nation.
Neal Boortz deciphers some of the protest messages:
“No human is illegal.” Quite right. Being a human is not illegal. Humans take actions that are illegal. Coming to this country and then staying here without abiding with our laws is illegal. Their actions are illegal.
“Today we march. Tomorrow we vote!” And don’t the Democrats know it! Why do you think Ted Kennedy and Hillary were in full pandering mode yesterday? Remember, there are movements in areas of Hispanic population concentration for giving non-citizens the vote in local elections. In New York City there are calls for allowing illegal aliens to vote. After the next amnesty agreement the pressure will be on to get these Hispanics, citizens and non-citizens, to the polls.
“We are America.” You are NOT America, neither do you want to be. America is citizens and legal residents who recognize and appreciate our rule of law, and who make every effort to abide by those laws.
“We are not criminals.” Yes you are. You violated the law when you crossed the border. You violated the law when you remained in this country. You violated the law when you obtained a job in this country. You continue to violate the law every day you are here. What is a criminal if not someone who violates the law? Deal with it … you’re criminals.
Boortz also adds:
We have a 2,000 mile long border with Mexico…that is largely unguarded. We could secure it, yet we choose not to. Why? Because politicians don’t want to. They’re either in the pocket of business that wants to maintain the free flow of cheap labor, or are trolling for votes in the Hispanic community.
At the end of the day, if nothing is done about illegal immigration, more and more are going to keep coming and coming. How much is enough? How much before we stand up and stop the madness?
You are watching our country undergoing a profound change … a change that will be very costly. Our elected officials lack the political will to do anything about it.
Technorati Tags : legal, illegal, immigration, sovereignty
Troll a blog, go to prison.
Can’t Congress think of anything else better to do? CNET’s Declan Mc Cullagh comments:
It’s no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.
In other words, it’s OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess.
This ridiculous prohibition, which would likely imperil much of Usenet, is buried in the so-called Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act. Criminal penalties include stiff fines and two years in prison.
Read the entire op-ed.
The cure to across-the-board government SNAFUs: more government.
John D. Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and head of a leading Democratic think tank, says Democrats must start by casting Bush’s brand of conservatism — emphasizing an “ownership society” elevating individualism and private enterprise — as fundamentally flawed and hostile to society’s collective responsibility to help citizens, especially the neediest.
In its place, Podesta says, Democrats must offer an activist, reform-minded government agenda that includes new energy, infrastructure and homeland defense policies.
Katrina “changed the future,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). “Enough is enough: No more Bush-business-as-usual.”
Translation: Individualism bad. Socialism good.
If you were able to heed hurricane warnings and do everything within your power to save yourself and your loved ones before the eye of the storm hit — instead of being totally dependent upon Big Brother to save your ass, shame on you.
Paul @ Wizbang (a Katrina survivor, BTW), has more.
Thought your personal information is protected from prying eyes and would-be scam artists? Think again! PC World has the lowdown on a new public records data service:
Zabasearch.com lets anyone search for information about U.S. residents. The site will give you any available street address and phone number for free. While address and phone number searching isn’t new, the site can dredge up phone numbers and addresses of people who are otherwise unlisted in any other phone directory.Additional fees, which start at $20, get you what the company calls a background check–everything that it can find about the person you specify. Online background checks aren’t new, either. But many companies that perform them say they provide data only to qualified clients–potential employers, insurers, and landlords, for instance. Zabasearch will sell data to anyone who is willing to pay.
The company doesn’t make it easy to remove personal info from its site. You have to send Zabasearch a snail-mail letter requesting the removal of your records. It takes two days for your details to disappear; and even then, if Zabasearch spiders find new records about you from a different source, the company can’t promise that your personal details won’t show up in future searches.
Though the risks to your privacy are serious, they aren’t Zabasearch’s fault. The larger problem is that local and state governments have been publishing public records online for years. If you’re concerned about your privacy, you should, for now, send a letter to Zabasearch. But the most effective way to protect your data in the future may be to send a message to your elected representatives urging them to limit the amount of confidential information contained in public documents posted online.
The San Francisco Chronicle notes that there is a Heaven’s Gate connection to Zabasearch:
You remember Heaven’s Gate. Thirty-nine members of the Southern California cult committed suicide together in 1997. They apparently believed this would allow them to rendezvous with a UFO hiding behind the Hale-Bopp comet.The bodies of the cultists, who had funded their activities with computer work, were discovered in a mansion near San Diego by a former Heaven’s Gate member, Richard Ford, who’d been sent a videotape by cult leaders explaining their rationale for mass suicide.
At the time, Ford was working as a Web designer for a Beverly Hills computer company owned by ZabaSearch’s Matzorkis. About a dozen cult members reportedly had worked for Matzorkis at various times.
Matzorkis couldn’t be reached for comment by e-mail or through Zakari.
But according to news reports, he drove Ford to the mansion to check on the cult’s circumstances. He reportedly waited in the car while Ford went inside.
“They did it,” Newsweek quoted Ford as saying as he returned to the car.
“Did it smell?” Matzorkis was quoted as replying.
It was Matzorkis who subsequently insisted that the San Diego Sheriff’s Department be notified.
Zakari, who was working with Matzorkis at the time, served as Ford’s lawyer after the bodies were found.
Neither Matzorkis nor Zakari was a Heaven’s Gate member.
Nevertheless, Matzorkis quickly negotiated a deal for ABC to make a TV movie about Heaven’s Gate. It never got off the ground. He also gave numerous interviews to reporters about finding the bodies.
Well ain’t that ducky?
At least some of us aren’t going to take Zabasearch lying down…
It’s not easy being the Superintendent of Schools — especially when the Transportation Security Agency insistently has one’s name on a terrorist watch list.
The superintendent of the Clark County School District is not THAT Carlos Garcia.It’s a point local public schools leader Carlos Garcia has been trying to make to the Transportation Security Administration and Southwest Airlines for half a year now, with little success.
He’s provided the government with notarized copies of his passport, his driver’s license and his school district identification in an attempt to show he’s an educator by profession, not an international terrorist.
But nothing has been able to stop the red flag from rising nearly every time he travels by air.
“I think it’s important to have security, and I don’t want to seem unpatriotic by questioning that,” said Garcia, who oversees the nation’s fifth-largest public schools system.
“But my biggest frustration is that there’s got to be a way to get off the list, and no one seems to know what it is,” Garcia said. “If that’s the case and there isn’t one, then this is a flawed system that needs to be corrected.”
Yet another reason why John Ashcroft should be sent packing.
We have despots in our midst who want to destroy American civilization as we know it, and President Bush (whom Ashcroft reports to) thinks the greatest threat to America is…pornography??
I hate to say it, but I don’t view Larry Flynt or Ron Jeremy as terrorists, and I do not fear Jenna Jameson’s “weapons” of mass silicone. No one is threatening Americans at gunpoint and forcing them to indulge in adult media. In a free market, individuals, not the government, and definitely not the porn industry, are ultimately responsible for the consumer choices they make. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. Don’t want your kids exposed to Skinemax after dark? Block it or drop it. Offended by goods and services whom you feel are using sexual innuendo to shill their swag? Vote with your wallet.
We have bigger fish to fry here — and the government thinks we need to revive the Salem witch trials. Because of such, it’s getting harder from folks like me who support Bush on national security issues to hold our noses and vote for him 7 months from now — especially when the alternatives are even worse.
(link via Classless Warfare)
Related: James Hudnall comments.
I just found out in today’s paper that the Patriot Act Tour will be in town tomorrow morning.
It isn’t often that I agree with Gary Peck of the local ACLU, but there’s always room for exceptions — especially when citizens are being “asked” by the federal government to give up a little bit of freedom in exchange for a little bit more “security”.
Given her anti-SUV stance, acts of domestic terrorism, such as this one, would be condoned and/or encouraged by the would-be governor.
Clue Bat for John Ashcroft: Instead of undermining our civil liberties with the Patriot Act, how about going after terrorists in our own backyard for a change?
Domestic terrorists such as ELF need to be crushed. Now.
Related: SUV owners speak out.
John Poindexter calls it quits.
Congress decided against making the PATRIOT Act permanent.
Whoop. De. Doo.
I just want to know when they’ll get around to repealing the whole damn thing.
(link via Heretical Ideas)
According to The Center for Public Integrity, the DOJ “is preparing a bold, comprehensive sequel to the USA Patriot Act.”
The CPI has uploaded a copy of the draft to its website (Warning: Due to rightfully high server traffic, the PDF file may take a while to download).
Judging from the heavy web traffic, concerned Americans want to know what Ashcroft & Co. are up to. Blogosphere reactions to it so far from both sides of the political spectrum have been negative (again, rightfully so!).
More personal commentary to come, folks, so hold your water. Libertarians prefer to be calm, cool, and rational (well, at least this one tries to be).
Related: Assorted commentary from Jesse Walker, Jim Henley, Talk Left, Oliver Willis, Cobb, and Glenn Reynolds.
(also posted to The Liberty Dogs)
I know I promised personal comments on “Patriot Act II”. However, George Paine of War Blogging did a better job of putting my feelings into words than I ever could on the subject. Go there now and read it in its entirety.
After you’ve finished reading, take action. Write to your congress members and tell them that you won’t take DSEA lying down.
This is not just a liberal, conservative, or libertarian issue at hand here. It is an AMERICAN issue, affecting ALL Americans. Our country was founded and built upon freedom, and it’s time for Americans to stand up to President Bush and John Ashcroft with a firm “Hell no!”.
This the land of the free and the home of the brave. Let’s work NOW to keep it that way.
That terror scare in Florida this morning? Looks like it was nothing but a sick joke.
“Notwithstanding whether it was done in jest or if it was done on purpose, the result is the same,” said Tim Moore, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. “A lot of Floridians were in a state of alert and we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to do what we had to do.”The Miami Herald, citing unidentified federal investigators, said the men were playing a joke on a patron who gave them a suspicious look.
According to authorities, one of the men said Americans “mourned on 9/11 and they are going to mourn again on 9/13.” They also said the target of “possible terrorist activities” was in the Miami area.