Obama and La Raza: Bypass Congress

Obama, the imperial president, told the National Council of La Raza that he finds it tempting to bypass Congress and change laws on his own.

His audience encourages King Obama, chanting "yes we can, yes we can!"

Alas, Obama acknowledges that's not how government works.

Video.



Transcript, from the White House.

THE PRESIDENT: Now, I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own. (Applause.) And believe me, right now dealing with Congress --

AUDIENCE: Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can!

THE PRESIDENT: Believe me -- believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting. (Laughter.) I promise you. Not just on immigration reform. (Laughter.) But that's not how -- that's not how our system works.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Change it!

THE PRESIDENT: That’s not how our democracy functions. That's not how our Constitution is written.

Thank God.

Of course, Obama does everything he can to skirt the Constitution and its checks and balances.

Obama is a petulant president.
__________________

UPDATE:

Peter Wehner and I think alike.

Obama is petulant. It's not a word I often use, but it perfectly fits Obama.

Read "Our Petulant and Inept President," by Peter Wehner.

Crespin Esquivel, Whitell Graduation Address

Crespin Esquivel is the principal of George Whittell High School in Zephyr Cove, Nevada.

He delivered his graduation address to the class of 2011 in English and then he repeated it in Spanish.

Read more.

Video, from MRC TV:



The graduating class had 30 students. Taken by itself, I don't think it's that big of a deal.

However, the issue of assimilation into American society is a big deal.

Every ethnic group that has come to this country has learned English to advance in our society.

All of my ancestors didn't speak English when they came to America, but they learned.

A common language, communication, is critical to social functioning.

Not learning the language is a barrier. It's divisive. It's expensive.

It was with pride that America was known as the Melting Pot.

Now, it's oil and water.

Year Three: "A Day Without Latinos"

Another May Day is just around the corner.

That means another "Day Without Latinos." This is the third annual event.

Read about the 2007 and 2006 demonstrations.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

For the third year in a row, Voces de La Frontera is organizing "A Day Without Latinos" march on May 1, part of a national effort to push for comprehensive immigration reform.

Last year, Milwaukee had one of the largest gatherings in the country as thousands of people marched through downtown.

"This year, we want to send a clear message to the next president that we want to see comprehensive immigration reform within the first 100 days of a new administration," Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de La Frontera, said at a news conference last week at City Hall to announce the march.

She said advocacy organizations across the country also are asking President Bush to stop the stepped-up raids and deportations that have occurred across the country since the last comprehensive immigration bill collapsed.

This year, there will not be a call for boycotting businesses or asking businesses to shut down during the march, Neumann-Ortiz said.

Employers are being asked to allow employees to attend, and letters are being given to employees to give to employers, asking for the time to march.

Why no boycott or shut down of businesses this year?

It's not really a day without Latinos if that element isn't part of the demostration.

What is Voces de la Frontera?

Voces de la Frontera is a Wisconsin nonprofit that educates workers about their employment rights and organizes to protect and improve the quality of life for low-wage and immigrant workers. We promote grass roots leadership and community and workplace organizing as a strategy to achieve our goals. We operate workers centers in Milwaukee and Racine.

This year's May Day march takes on a bit of a presidential political edge.

May 1, 2008: Yes, we can!

Yes, we can! How Obama-ish!

It's impossible to not connect the event as an Obama-related rally if the tagline is "Yes, we can!"

That slogan was part of the first "Day Without Latinos."

From 2006:

In one of Milwaukee's largest demonstrations in recent years, a mile-long swath of peaceful protesters marched into the city's downtown Thursday chanting, "¡Sí, se puede!" ("Yes, we can!"), carrying Mexican and American flags and signs condemning what they called "anti-immigrant" legislation.

The immigration protesters had it first, but Obama co-opted the rallying cry. He owns it now.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz writes:

Many cities across the nation are organizing mass marches on May 1 as part of a national day of action for a just legalization and an immediate stop to the raids and repression against immigrant families.

The May 1st tradition started in the United States as an international day that recognizes the rights of workers worldwide.

On May 1, 2008 we are counting on everyone who participated in the previous marches, and more, to send another strong message to the world—that we have not stopped fighting, we have not lost our dignity nor courage, and we will keep fighting until our humanity is recognized.

...The three presidential candidates now left for the November 2008 elections all support or supported immigration reform.

It’s important to remember that in our darkest hour, no politician came to save us; we saved ourselves. Though we have not yet achieved a just legalization, we must continue to organize and march because the changes we seek will not be achieved overnight. If we doubt the power of our unity to achieve change; then we will lose an opportunity to win and define the kind of legalization we want.

The May 1st demands this year are more comprehensive of the needs of all low-wage workers: stop the raids & separation of families, just legalization, access to drivers’ licenses, stop Social Security No Match letters, fair international trade agreements for workers, good jobs and health care for all, and end to the war in Iraq.

Despite efforts to isolate the immigrant rights struggle from a larger struggle, the truth is that the struggle for immigrant rights has been, and always will be, part of a larger social justice struggle against poverty and inequality.

While Neumann-Ortiz acknowledges that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain all supported immigration reform, it's hard to get past the "Yes, we can!" association with Obama.

Although she notes that "no politician came to save us," and participants in the "Day Without Latinos" event did chant "Yes, we can" before Obama began leading crowds in the cheer as part of his campaign shtick, it still seems like an Obama endorsement.

The march has a much broader scope than just immigration reform. Ending the war in Iraq is on the agenda, too.

Clearly, the fact that the event takes place on May Day is no accident. There are definitely socialist underpinnings here.

Obama.

Socialism.

May Day.

Makes sense.

ILLEGAL Immigrants Go to Wisconsin for a Fiesta

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Authorities in Kenosha say a slow-moving pickup truck attracted the attention of a sheriff's deputy who pulled the vehicle over and found an alleged human smuggler at the wheel and seven other illegal immigrants with him.

A Kenosha County Sheriff's Department report says the driver and three passengers were in the cab of the pickup and four others were covered by blankets in the bed of the truck, which had Arizona license plates.

The passengers told the deputy when stopped on Interstate 94 Sunday that they believed they were "going to Wisconsin for a fiesta."

Deputies found soda cans and food along with pillows and blankets in the truck's cargo area where four men had been riding.

The 26-year-old driver was held on suspicion of being a smuggler of people. The others were put on immigration holds, including a 15-year-old boy with his uncle.

I know Governor Doyle wants to put out the welcome mat for ILLEGAL immigrants, but I didn't realize Wisconsin has become so desirable that it's considered the site of a fiesta.

Maybe Doyle can find a spare room at the governor's mansion for the eight ILLEGAL immigrants. Give them free health care. Give that 15-year-old boy in-state tuition for a college education.

Do people typically go to a fiesta covered with blankets?

Was it a surprise party?

Life Sentence for Ezequiel Lopez-Quintero

Ezequiel Lopez-Quintero is a criminal, a killer, and an illegal immigrant. He has a long criminal history.

Despite a rap sheet going back six years, Ezeiquiel Lopez was never deported. Only after he was charged with killing [Deputy Frank] Fabiano did anyone try to have him kicked out of this country.

Now, he'll spend the rest of his life behind bars.

From the Wisconsin State Journal:

The man convicted of killing a Kenosha County sheriff's deputy has been sentenced to prison with no possible parole.

A life sentence for Ezequiel Lopez-Quintero on a first-degree intentional homicide conviction was mandatory. But Kenosha County Circuit Judge Wilbur Warren had the option Wednesday of setting a parole eligibility date.

Warren said Lopez-Quintero's history of alcohol and drugs convinced him that the defendant should serve life without parole as a way of protecting the community.

If he were to be released, "it's only a matter of time before those factors meet and you either do harm or kill someone else," Warren said.

Lopez-Quintero, 45, of Kenosha, was convicted in March on the homicide charge and a charge of carrying a concealed weapon in the death of Deputy Frank Fabiano, 48, also of Kenosha.

The deputy was shot three times after making a traffic stop of Lopez-Quintero's van last May 16.

Lopez-Quintero told an investigator that he drank tequila and used cocaine that night because he was upset about an affair he thought his wife was having.

Testimony showed Lopez-Quintero fled on foot and was arrested several hours later in a parking lot about four miles away.

Before being sentenced, Lopez-Quintero apologized.

"I'm sorry for what has happened. That's all," he said.

"I don't think there's any doubt you're sorry," the judge told him.

"But are you sorry for the right reasons? Are you sorry because you killed someone, you took a life and you left behind a family? Or are you sorry because you put yourself in a position where you could be incarcerated for the rest of your life?"

Fabiano's wife, Amy, had asked for the maximum sentence.

"It's a relief," Amy Fabiano said later. "I don't have to sit and wonder. It's done. He got life. And that's what we all wanted - life without parole."

Lopez-Quintero didn't apologize himself. An interpreter delivered the comment because the ILLEGAL immigrant from Mexico doesn't speak English.

Amy Fabiano didn't buy that Lopez-Quintero was truly sorry.

After the sentencing, she commented on Lopez-Quintero's statement: "I thought it was disgusting. As far as I am concerned, he is not sorry for what he has done."

Thankfully, Lopez-Quintero will never be a free man again, and Fabiano and her young daughter can try to put their lives back together.

Justice was served.

What troubles me is that Lopez-Quintero should not have been in the country. He should have been deported years ago, long before he murdered Deputy Frank Fabiano.

800,000 New IDs

Wisconsin Democrats are so squeamish when it comes to photo IDs.

The Real ID law and the subsequent need for some people to get their driver's licenses renewed early must be making the Dems ill.

Madison -- About 800,000 Wisconsinites will have to renew their driver's licenses early if they want to use them to board airplanes under a federal anti-terrorism law requiring more secure IDs, according to the state Department of Transportation.

The federal Real ID law requires that the new IDs and licenses be issued by December 2014 to people who have not turned 50 by then, but thousands of already-issued licenses don't expire until after that time. Those drivers will have to come in early to get the federally sanctioned IDs if they want to use them to get on an airplane or enter a federal courthouse.

..."This really is a program that the federal government foisted on the states without any input from the states, just said this is a good idea, you guys go do it," Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday. "There are huge decisions to be made."

I knew Doyle wouldn't like this.

According to Wisconsin Dems, citizens of Wisconsin can't be expected to get a photo ID for the purpose of participating in elections. That's too much to ask.

Now, some people will have to go in early to get the new federally sanctioned ID if they want to use it to board a plane or go into a federal courthouse.

What a disaster!

U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Wisconsin, helped push the Real ID law through Congress in 2005 to help prevent terrorists and illegal immigrants from getting forged licenses. The law will make the process of getting licenses more arduous because people will have to show their birth certificates, passports or immigration documents to get the new licenses, even if they've held a Wisconsin license for decades.

State officials from around the country have complained about the law, saying it would be costly and create long lines. They've also said the law will create technical headaches because it requires all states to share birth and driving records, as well as other data.

In response, Homeland Security released rules this month that it said would make it easier for states to comply with the law.

This Real ID law is going to be messy for Barack Obama, Jim Doyle's presidential primary candidate.

Obama takes big risk on driver's license issue

Sen. Barack Obama easily won the African American vote in South Carolina, but to woo California Latinos, where he is running 3-to-1 behind rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, he is taking a giant risk: spotlighting his support for the red-hot issue of granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

It's a huge issue for Latinos, who want them. It's also a huge issue for the general electorate, which most vehemently does not. Obama's stand could come back to haunt him not only in a general election, but with other voters in California, where driver's licenses for illegal immigrants helped undo former Gov. Gray Davis.

The Real ID law may be an inconvenience for some citizens but it's going to be an enormous problem for Democrats supporting driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

There's No Place Like Baggage Claim

According to TMJ4, it appears that Tatjana Volder, her son, and her mother are still making the airport baggage claim their home.

Back on Christmas Day Tatjana Voloder and her family were in the airport baggage claim, where they had lived for more than a week. But then they mysteriously disappeared - for days. Until Sunday.

We caught up with Voloder at a Walgreens drug store near the airport. Several viewers called our newsroom saying she was there.

Voloder said she left the airport because of illness. "I'm so sick, my mom's sick too, and my son he's not ok too," she said.

It was Christmas day when we first found the family living in the baggage area at Mitchell International. She said the family had been there for 8 days. They claimed they lost their tickets to Kansas City.

Voloder now says she is not trying to get to Kansas City. "No, I will stay here, because I have a chance for this apartment."

Now the Bosnian family says they are living at a hotel near the airport - although we couldn't confirm that.

But an airport employee said as of Sunday morning the family was still living in the baggage claim area.

If true, that's illegal. The sheriff's department doesn't want them at the airport and has offered to take the family to a shelter.

A shelter has to be more comfortable than the airport. I don't know why the family is resisting.

I also don't know why this is being tolerated.

Authorities can't force the family into a shelter, but they can keep them from living in the airport.

Perhaps Gov. Jim Doyle could get involved. He wants to help immigrants. Give the Bosnian family in-state tuition at UW-Madison and let them live in a dorm.

IDs for ILLEGAL Immigrants in San Francisco

San Francisco will be issuing ID cards to immigrants.

That would be reasonable if the cards were for immigrants. They're not. They're for ILLEGAL immigrants.

That means people breaking our laws and in our country illegally will get cards.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The mayor signed legislation Wednesday requiring the city to issue identification cards to undocumented immigrants and other residents who can't or won't apply for driver's licenses.

The IDs would not enable cardholders to drive in San Francisco, and they would not stand in for a work visa or Social Security number for those seeking employment. But the IDs would qualify them for health services at city-run clinics, public library privileges and resident discounts at museums and other cultural institutions, according to Mayor Gavin Newsom.

In effect, Newsom signed legislation to grant privileges to lawbreakers. The privileges come at taxpayer expense.

The ILLEGAL immigrants will even receive discounts at museums!

Good grief!

Do the ILLEGALS, members of the cheap labor forces who supposedly do the jobs that Americans refuse to do, have the time and money to be wandering through San Francisco's museums?

Despite the strong emotions the immigration debate arouses, Newsom said, he sees the ID card program as a practical move that will make it easier for San Francisco citizens to qualify for local services and for city government workers to determine who is eligible to receive them.

ILLEGAL immigrants shouldn't be receiving any local services.

They're in the country ILLEGALLY. They aren't entitled to services for citizens or LEGAL immigrants.

The IDs are supposed to make it easier for city workers to determine who is eligible for services.

If someone has a card that identifies him or her as an ILLEGAL, shouldn't that mean the individual should be returned to his or her home country?

"San Francisco does more than most other cities in the United States for its residents, but you need to prove you are a resident and there's no easier way to do it than having one card," he said. "I don't think it's that big of a deal and I think it's inevitable in other cities."

Yes, but ILLEGALS aren't citizens. They're squatters.

And unlike Newsom's claim, it is a big deal.

He has rendered our immigration laws null and void by legitimizing ILLEGAL immigrants.

Who needs comprehensive immigration reform when you've got a mayor like Newsom making the entire process of immigrating to America irrelevant.

Come one, come all.

The path to citizenship runs through San Francisco.

If you issue cards, they will come.

Spitzer Gives Up on Licenses for Illegals

I wonder if Hillary Clinton is breathing a sigh of relief now that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is dropping his plan to give driver's licenses to ILLEGAL immigrants. The issue caused her so much trouble.

Maybe she's really ticked off that her defense of Spitzer's proposal derailed her campaign. She was thrown off balance for nothing.

She looked like a slimy, indecisive, word-parsing politician because she couldn't answer a simple question: Driver's licenses for ILLEGAL immigrants -- YES or NO?

Now it doesn't matter.

From the New York Times:

Gov. Eliot Spitzer is abandoning his plan to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, saying that opposition is just too overwhelming to move forward with such a policy.

The governor, who is to announce the move formally on Wednesday, said in an interview Tuesday night that he did not reach the decision easily. “You have perhaps seen me struggle with it because I thought we had a principled decision, and it’s not necessarily easy to back away from trying to move a debate forward,” he said.

But he came to believe the proposal would ultimately be blocked, he said, either by legal challenges, a vote by the Legislature to deny financing for the Department of Motor Vehicles or a refusal by upstate county clerks to carry it out.

“I am not willing to fight to the bitter end on something that will not ultimately be implemented,” the governor said, “and we also have an enormous agenda on other issues of great importance to New York State that was being stymied by the constant and almost singular focus on this issue.”

Mr. Spitzer’s plan touched off a national debate over whether issuing licenses to illegal immigrants would make the state more secure or improperly extend a privilege to them that should be reserved for legal residents.

Opposition to the proposal sent his poll numbers plunging and stalled his broader agenda.

The decision is likely to be a relief to many of his fellow Democrats in Albany and in Washington, who feared the issue could haunt them into next year’s election season.

In the interview, the governor sounded disappointed but resigned. He acknowledged that he would be criticized for changing course on the issue for the second time in three weeks. (“You think so?” he said facetiously when a reporter suggested as much.)

“Part of leadership is listening to the public’s opposition,” he said. “Having heard that, and assessed the realities of implementing this policy, part of leadership is realizing that getting results is more important than sticking to what may be a principled position.”

Spitzer isn't a leader.

He's a follower, a follower of the polls.

His poll numbers plunged, so he flip flopped.

Contrary to what Spitzer says, part of leadership is sticking to a principled position in the face of opposition.

I don't think Spitzer and other Dems were prepared for the public's outrage over issuing licenses to ILLEGAL immigrants.

...Mr. Spitzer’s decision to abandon his plan comes as a poll released Tuesday by Siena College found that seven in 10 New York voters who had heard about it — and more than 80 percent of the 625 registered voters polled had — opposed it. It also found that for the first time, more people viewed the governor unfavorably than favorably.

The governor and his aides said that they were not reacting to the slumping poll numbers, but acting pragmatically. That the dispute had even tripped up Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who stumbled to answer a question about it in a presidential debate, “was symptomatic of where we were,” he said.

What a load!

Of course Spitzer was reacting to the poll numbers.

Do you think for one minute that he would have abandoned his plan if his poll numbers had been soaring?

I think it's funny that it's noted even Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton stumbled to answer a question about the proposal, as though if the brilliant Hillary couldn't handle it, no one could.

The reason she tripped up was because she was trying to defend an indefensible plan. Simple.

Paradise Wisconsin

Saul Arellano and Children in the Immigration Movement

If you doubted whether ILLEGAL immigration proponents and poster girl Elvira Arellano were exploiting her son Saul to advance their agenda, you can put your doubts to rest.


U.S.-born Saul Arellano, 8, poses with his passports after updating his citizenship documents at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007 file photo. The boy has become a star attraction at pro-immigration events since his mother took refuge in a Chicago church before she was deported to Mexico.(AP Photo/David Oziel)

Saul looks like a hostage being trotted out before cameras, holding a ransom note, or a current newspaper.

Yesterday, little Saul "led" a protest over his deported mother. However, at times, he didn't really appear to be into it.

WASHINGTON -- An 8-year-old boy whose mother was deported to Mexico led a chanting crowd of about 150 pro-immigration activists through the halls of Congress on Wednesday. Capitol Police arrested two demonstrators for disorderly conduct.

Saul Arellano and other children carried a banner that read: "Born in the USA. Don't take our moms and dads away."


Saul Arellano, center, and others, walk in the hall of the House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday Sept. 12, 2007. Capitol police arrested two demonstrators for disorderly conduct. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

...In Tijuana, Mexico, across the border from San Diego, Elvira Arellano spoke about her son to several dozen demonstrators. Saul was scheduled to join her there Thursday.

"He is a boy who has been suffering because the U.S. government told his mother she couldn't stay in their country anymore because she was undocumented," she said.

In Washington, activists clashed with police outside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, chanting and shouting for her to lead on immigration reform. Saul appeared to get enveloped in the shoving crowd.

...The crowd went to Pelosi's office after a news conference where they prayed, denounced deportations and broke into chants of "Si, se puede!" or "Yes, we can!" Saul drew on a piece of paper and sometimes ducked behind a desk. Asked by a demonstrator whether he wanted to speak, he shook his head no.


Saul Arellano second from right, and others, walk on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday Sept. 12, 2007. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)


The boy, wearing baggy jeans and a striped shirt and looking distracted, then joined other children at the front of an unruly procession through the halls and basements of two House office buildings. Behind him someone carried an icon of the Virgin of Guadalupe and two others held large flags, one Mexican and one Puerto Rican. At one point, a child hesitated to board an escalator, creating a bottleneck.

It's really sickening that the ILLEGAL immigration movement is using Saul as a political pawn to demonstrate the purportedly heartless policies of the U.S. government.

Elvira Arellano attempts to play on the heartstrings of Americans, highlighting the trauma of Saul being ripped away from his mother.

Of course, Saul can be with his mother. Their separation is purely by choice. No one is stopping him from being with her in Tijuana; but that's beside the point.

And as noted, Saul is scheduled to join her there today.

I agree that this child is suffering, but it's not just at the hands of the U.S. government as Elvira Arellano and her ILLEGAL immigration allies claim.

They are adding to his suffering by putting him in situations that clearly make him uncomfortable.

During the protest at Nancy Pelosi's office, amid chanting and shouting, "Saul appeared to get enveloped in the shoving crowd."

Not a good place for a little boy to be.

After the group's news conference when they "prayed, denounced deportations and broke into chants of 'Si, se puede!' or 'Yes, we can!' Saul drew on a piece of paper and sometimes ducked behind a desk. Asked by a demonstrator whether he wanted to speak, he shook his head no."

I don't think that there's any question that this poor child was suffering. Drawing during the protest, and ducking behind a desk, not speaking -- Saul was hardly leading the charge or enjoying himself as he fights for immigration reform.

The description of his experience reveals a frightened little boy caught in a mob.

"The boy, wearing baggy jeans and a striped shirt and looking distracted, then joined other children at the front of an unruly procession through the halls and basements of two House office buildings."

What is that about? This poor child is being abused. He's a prop. His mother is allowing him to be used as a political prop.

He and the other children were caught in an unruly procession. Saul looked "distracted." Does that really mean "frightened"? Did his caregiver forget to give him his ADHD meds?

I would never allow my children to be placed in such a situation.

"Behind him someone carried an icon of the Virgin of Guadalupe and two others held large flags, one Mexican and one Puerto Rican. At one point, a child hesitated to board an escalator, creating a bottleneck."

One of these poor kids is afraid to get on an escalator, yet the child is supposedly up for fighting the U.S. government.

Shame on the adults for traumatizing these children.

Shame on the adults for being more interested in their political cause than for the safety and well-being of these children.

These kids are put into position at these protests as if they were among the useful inanimate objects, like placards, banners, and flags.

It's disturbing that the movement claiming to be fighting for these children, "Born in the USA. Don't take our moms and dads away," is actually exploiting them, inadequately tending to their needs.

It's the height of selfishness.
__________________

There were plenty of children at the protest in Milwaukee yesterday, too.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Thousands gathered on an expansive, grassy hillside at Mitchell Park on the city's south side Wednesday to rally against measures designed to crack down on illegal immigrants and employers who hire them.

Milwaukee's rally was part of National Day of Action, which took place in more than 15 cities across the country. It was sparked, in part, by a series of new initiatives announced last month by the Department of Homeland Security designed to crack down on illegal immigrants and their employers.

Many participants carried signs that read "Immigrant Workers Essential Workers," "We Make America Stronger" and "Legalize Don't Criminalize."

And many of the participants were children.

They weren't in school. Instead they were lined up, and given signs to carry. Organizers and their parents used them like props, as part of the staged protest.

TMJ4 reports:

There was a lot of passion and emotion as thousands of Latinos stayed home from work and kept their children home from school to protest what they feel is more unfair treatment against illegal immigrants.

Baldermer Marcis says he came to fight for his people’s civil rights.

“It’s really important that I am here because people need to do something for justice,” Marcis said.

Marcis was one of thousands who came to a “No Work, No School, No Purchases” rally at Mitchell Park.

Media coverage included plenty of images of children, the little soldiers in the struggle.

Children can really come in handy when it comes to advancing a political agenda.

Don't forget the banners, the flags, and the sweet, innocent kids.

Ambassador Elvira Arellano

Illegal immigrant and felon Elvira Arellano wants to serve her country, Mexico, as an ambassador.

She wants the president of Mexico to appoint her "peace and justice" ambassador so she can return to the U.S.

MEXICO CITY -- The recently deported illegal migrant and activist who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year, has asked the Mexico's president to appoint her "peace and justice" ambassador so she can return to the United States.

..."What I'm asking for is a diplomatic visa so that I can be an ambassador for peace and justice because I'm not a terrorist and the United States can't continue treating undocumented migrants as terrorists," Arellano told reporters after meeting with President Felipe Calderon at the presidential residence, Los Pinos.

In a news release, the president's office said Arellano asked the Mexican government to help her get a visa so she can enter the United States but it did not mention Arellano's request for a diplomatic appointment.

Arellano really is not a good face for "the movement."

Statements like "[T]he United States can't continue treating undocumented migrants as terrorists," make her seem like a complete nutjob.

I don't think she's winning over any hearts and minds with such rhetoric.

Enforcing our immigration laws and deporting felons are perfectly legitimate actions by the U.S. government.

ILLEGAL immigrants aren't being treated as terrorists, unless the ILLEGAL immigrants are suspected terrorists.

Arellano has made it very clear that she thinks she is above the law.

She's not.

Poverty in America

There's some good news.

U.S. poverty rate declines significantly

The nation's poverty rate dropped last year, the first significant decline since President Bush took office.

The Census Bureau reported Tuesday that 36.5 million Americans, or 12.3 percent — were living in poverty last year. That's down from 12.6 percent in 2005.

The median household income was $48,200, a slight increase from the previous year. But the number of people without health insurance also increased, to 47 million.

The last significant decline in the poverty rate came in 2000, during the Clinton administration. In 2005, the poverty rate dipped from 12.7 percent to 12.6 percent, but Census officials said that change was statistically insignificant.

The poverty numbers are good economic news at a time when financial markets have been rattled by a slumping housing market. However, the numbers released Tuesday represent economic conditions from a year ago.

The poverty level is the official measure used to decide eligibility for federal health, housing, nutrition and child care benefits. It differs by family size and makeup. For a family of four with two children, for example, the poverty level is $20,444. The poverty rate — the percentage of people living below poverty — helps shape the debate on the health of the nation's economy.

For Milwaukee, there's some bad news.

Milwaukee has 8th-highest poverty rate

Milwaukee has the eighth-highest rate of poverty among large cities in America, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Around one in four Milwaukee residents (26.2%) live in poverty. Higher rates were recorded in Detroit, Buffalo, N.Y., Cincinnati, Cleveland, Miami, St. Louis and El Paso, Texas.

On a positive note, Wisconsin's poverty rate is below the national average. That's in spite of Milwaukee's high placement on the most impoverished cities list.

Overall, Wisconsin's poverty rate is 11%, with 591,850 people in poverty.

Lots of numbers.

What does it really mean to live in poverty in America?

I'm not saying it's pleasant, but it's certainly not as bad as living in poverty elsewhere in the world.

Robert Rector gives some details on what it's like to be poor in America.

In the past, [John] Edwards has claimed that poverty in America is a “plague” which forces 37 million Americans to live in “terrible” circumstances. According to Edwards, an amazing “one in eight” Americans lack “enough money for the food, shelter, and clothing they need,” caught in a daily “struggle with incredible poverty.”

However, examination of the living standards of the 37 million or so persons, the government defines as “poor,” reveals that America’s poverty “plague” may not be as “terrible” or “incredible” as anti-poverty crusader Edwards contends.

If being “poor” means (as Edwards claims it does) a lack of nutritious food, adequate warm housing, and clothing for a family, then very few of America’s 37 million official “poor” people can be regarded as actually poor. Some material hardship does exist in the United States, but, in reality, it is quite restricted in scope and severity.

The following are facts about persons defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau, taken from a variety of government reports:

---46 percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.

---80 percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

---Only six percent of poor households are overcrowded; two thirds have more than two rooms per person.

---The typical poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)

---Nearly three quarters of poor households own a car; 31 percent own two or more cars.

---97 percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.

---78 percent have a VCR or DVD player.

---62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.

---89 percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a more than a third have an automatic dishwasher.

As a group, America’s poor are far from being chronically undernourished. The average consumption of protein, vitamins, and minerals is virtually the same for poor and middle-class children and, in most cases, is well above recommended norms. Poor children actually consume more meat than do higher-income children and have average protein intakes 100-percent above recommended levels. Most poor children today are, in fact, super-nourished and grow up to be, on average, one inch taller and ten pounds heavier than the GIs who stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II.

Rector also notes that poverty in America can be traced to a few specific factors, such as the absence of fathers in homes.

Nearly two thirds of poor children reside in single-parent homes; each year, an additional 1.5 million children are born out of wedlock. If poor mothers married the fathers of their children, nearly three quarters of the nation’s impoverished youth would immediately be lifted out of poverty.

Yet, although work and marriage are reliable ladders out of poverty, the welfare system perversely remains hostile to both. Major programs such as food stamps, public housing, and Medicaid continue to reward idleness and penalize marriage. If welfare could be turned around to encourage work and marriage, the nation’s remaining poverty could be reduced.

Another factor in poverty is ILLEGAL immigration.

Another important factor boosting poverty in the U.S. is our broken immigration system which imports hundreds of thousands of additional poor people each year from abroad through both legal and illegal immigration channels. One quarter of all poor persons in the U.S. are now first generation immigrants or the minor children of those immigrants. Roughly one in ten of the persons counted among the poor by Census is either an illegal immigrant or the minor child of an illegal. Immigrants tend to be poor because they have very low education levels. A quarter of legal immigrants and fifty to sixty percent of illegals are high-school dropouts. By contrast, only nine percent of non-immigrant Americans lack a high school degree.

As long as the present steady flow of poverty-prone persons from foreign countries continues, efforts to reduce the total number of poor in the U.S. will be far more difficult. A sound anti-poverty strategy must not only seek to increase work and marriage among native born Americans, it must also end illegal immigration, and dramatically increase the skill level of future legal immigrants.

I'm not dismissing the issue of poverty in the U.S., nor am I suggesting that people have no moral obligation to help the disadvantaged.

However, I do think it's important to understand what the poverty figures mean.

I also think it's extremely important not to be bamboozled by John Edwards' rhetoric (lies).

I strongly believe that government handouts aren't the answer to poverty. In fact, we have decades of proof that entitlements create a culture of poverty.

Welfare is not a family business to be handed down to the next generation.

Elvira Arellano is Cindy Sheehan

GIVE ME A BREAK!

TIME's depiction of Elvira Arellano and her plight makes me sick.

Elvira Arellano, like many other advocates for immigration reform, must have been frustrated. There hadn't been a hint of Congressional action on comprehensive immigration reform since the Senate compromise collapsed in late spring. In early August, the Bush Administration moved unilaterally to stiffen enforcement, with Department of Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff announcing more fines and penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegals as well as an increased border crackdown.

So Arellano, an undocumented immigrant who had spent a year holed up at Chicago's Adalberto United Methodist Church while defying a deportation order, made a risky move: she emerged from the storefront church, drove from Chicago to Los Angeles, and gave a series of very public speeches over the weekend. By Monday, the 32-year-old single mother was in Tijuana, having been arrested and deported in one fell swoop.

Imagine that. A woman who stole someone's identity and was flaunting her ILLEGAL immigration status was deported.

Wow. What a horrible country!

The news buoyed opponents of illegal immigration, who have long had Arellano in their sights. There had been rumors of citizens' arrests or other Minutemen-style interventions once word spread that Arellano was planning to leave her sanctuary, where the feds typically will not try to arrest illegal immigrants. But the fact that the normally supine federal government did the job for them made the news even sweeter. "Elvira felt entitled to special treatment," says Bob Dane, press secretary of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors tougher border security and enforcement. "She had a mistaken impression that the U.S., unlike any other country on the planet, isn't interested in enforcing its immigration laws."

Oo00h! Those scary rule of law people!

But Arellano was not just another person facing deportation, and her personal setback may not turn out to be the harbinger of victory that activists like Dane hope it to be. She was the pro-immigrant caucus's poster alien, their best chance to highlight the cruelty of the current status quo. Her deportation will effectively separate her from her American-born son, Saul, 8, at least temporarily. While his mother was living at the church, it was Saul who represented her case at rallies and events around the country, and he is now in the care of the Chicago church's pastor and his wife. Arellano's allies hope that the story of the family's separation will put a face on the millions facing deportation.

"The cruelty of the current status quo"?

NO FAMILY WOULD EVER FACE SEPARATION IF MEMBERS DIDN'T BREAK THE LAW.

Not that Arellano herself is the ideal figure to rally around. Yes, her son was born here and therefore is an U.S. citizen. But Arellano had already been deported once, years before she ever had a child (she snuck back in after her first deportation a decade ago). Arellano's ambitions to work illegally in the U.S. predate her status as a fugitive mother who only wants to be with her citizen son. Her case and her cause have also at times been handled inartfully — the aggressive use of her young son as a mascot for the movement at times bordered on being exploitative. And finally, as opponents of Arellano rightly point out, she could always simply get Saul to come live with her in Mexico.

Is this Nathan Thornburgh's attempt to make his article appear fair and balanced?

While he acknowledges that Arellano is less than a perfect face for "the movement," he's clearly doing it from a sympathetic angle.

"Her case and her cause have also at times been handled inartfully."

Thornburgh sounds like he's a candidate's campaign advisor. He's her promoter and spinmeister.

The case of John Edwards' haircuts has been handled inartfully.

Hillary Clinton's early '90s plan for socialized medicine has been handled inartfully.

Barack Obama's foreign policy inexperience has been handled inartfully.

For now, Arellano will continue to work for immigration rights from the southern side of the border, and to fight for a private bill in the U.S. Congress that would give her a special permission to return to the States. In the meantime, she and her allies are hoping she'll become a symbol for all those facing deportation. "The blood of the martyrs," says Rev. Salvatierra, quoting old scripture somewhat extravagantly, "is the seed of the church."

In the meantime, the lib media will portray Arellano as a heroine.

They'll follow her struggle.

She's a mother, a lone voice, trying to make a difference. Her love for her son is what motivates her. Her concern for mothers like her will push her to keep fighting.

In effect, Arellano is Cindy Sheehan as she was portrayed in the summer of 2005.

For now.

I predict that clinging to Arellano's plight will backfire on the lib media and other proponents of "the movement."

I don't think it will take long for Arellano to become the marginalized Cindy Sheehan of 2007.

Not good for "the movement."

Elvira Arellano Reunites with Son Saul

Tragedy? What tragedy?

TIJUANA, Mexico -- Elvira Arellano was reunited here with her 8-year-old son Monday, but the illegal immigrant and activist said the boy will return to Chicago to live with his godmother and begin third grade.

''We've all been living together. He knows his mom is OK. He's going to be sad sometimes,'' said Emma Lozano, the godmother and an activist in her own right.

Lozano drove 8-year-old Saul from Los Angeles to Tijuana, where Elvira Arellano is staying with a friend after being deported from the United States to Mexico.

...Mexican authorities did not know the identity or whereabouts of the boy's father, said Luis Cabrera, Mexico's consul general in San Diego.

...Mexican authorities said the deportation highlighted a need to overhaul U.S. immigration laws.

''It's tragic when a mother is separated from her son,'' Cabrera said.

Well, it looks like that tearful, dramatic goodbye between mother and son was a rather brief separation.

Arellano is choosing to live apart from Saul. It's a choice, not a forced separation.

Too bad, Saul can't be with his father.

No one seems to know his name or whereabouts.

That happens, I guess.

I'm sure Saul's godmother will take good care of him. He'll be with his friends at school.

Besides, if he gets really "sad," I would think the church that gave Arellano sanctuary for a year could come up with the funds to fly Saul down to Tijuana. It wouldn't cost much more than a John Edwards haircut.

Bottom line:

There's nothing "tragic" about this separation of mother and son.

The fact that they aren't really separated kind of wipes out the tragic aspect.

Mauro Cisneros: Another Illegal Immigrant Arrested

Elvira Arellano isn't the only ILLEGAL immigrant in the past couple of days to be held accountable under U.S. law.

Yesterday, Mauro Cisneros was arrested in Sheboygan.

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) -- A gang member already deported once could face up to 20 years in prison for illegally returning to the U.S.

Sheboygan police arrested Mauro Cisneros, whose aliases include ages between 30 and 33, during a Monday traffic stop.

Officers pulled over his minivan after witnesses reported seeing young children jumping around in the back, Sgt. Scott Mittelstadt said. They found five children not wearing seatbelts.

A police check identified Cisneros as a deported felon, but did not give details on his conviction or deportation. Online court records in Wisconsin show only an extradition order from 2002.

Cisneros belongs to the California-based Sureno 13 gang, which has a branch in Sheboygan, police said. A police database check showed he has previous arrests in Dallas and Las Vegas on charges including robbery, drug trafficking and kidnapping.

...Sheboygan police are holding Cisneros at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A conviction for returning to the U.S. as a deported felon carries up to 20 years in prison.

Cisneros also could be charged with several traffic violations and three counts of obstruction as a result of the traffic stop, Mittelstadt said.

Why didn't Cisneros seek sanctuary in a church?

Why didn't the amnesty for "undocumented immigrants" proponents come to his aid?

Why aren't media outlets across the nation telling Cisneros' story -- a man roughly the same age as Arellano who obviously can't bear being separated from his beloved gang?

Why not make Cisneros the face of the movement?

Gee, do you think his "work history" in the U.S., (the robbery, drug trafficking, and kidnapping), might have something to do with it?

Arellano is being held up as a human rights heroine for fighting U.S. law.

Cisneros is fighting U.S. law, too.

Cisneros the hero. Cisneros the activist.

Free Cisneros!

That doesn't work out too well, does it?

Elvira Arellano

Elvira Arellano: Above the law

Elvira Arellano is an ILLEGAL immigrant.

Her supporters consider her to be a heroine, the embodiment of the ILLEGAL immigration movement. They believe that the cold-hearted U.S. government is harassing her and infringing on her rights. She's an innocent victim.

She just wants to be with her 8-year-old American born son.

Arellano's supporters don't care about her disregard for the law. This is about evil President Bush scheming to separate her from her little boy. It's about an impotent Congress.

LOS ANGELES -- Federal authorities Sunday arrested Elvira Arellano on a downtown city street, ending a yearlong standoff that intensified recently after the illegal Mexican immigrant began what was to be a nationwide campaign to push for new immigration reforms.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Arellano, 32, shortly after 2 p.m. Los Angeles time (just after 4 p.m. Chicago time,) as she and her supporters were leaving a downtown church where she sought sanctuary after slipping unnoticed out of the church on Chicago's Northwest Side where she had avoided deportation since August 2006.

As Arellano, her 8-year-old son Saul and others headed in a sport-utility vehicle along Main Street toward another leg of their trip in Northern California, several unmarked cars swarmed the vehicle, ordering her to get out as they grabbed the driver and handcuffed him, said Chicago activist Emma Lozano, who was with Arellano.

Before surrendering, Arellano asked for time alone to console her crying son, telling him: "Calm down. Don't have any fear. They can't hurt me," Lozano said. The entire incident lasted about two minutes, she said. The driver was released.

Arellano was taken in handcuffs to a nearby federal detention center, from which she was to be routed to Tijuana, according to Mexican officials. Lozano and others vowed they would fight to keep her from being deported.

..."We have several lawyers already working on it," Lozano said, her eyes red as a group of Arellano supporters sat in stunned silence inside the Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church at "La Placita," the historic center of Mexican Los Angeles. The Catholic church is among about a dozen in several states that have served as sanctuaries for illegal immigrants who, like Arellano, have already been ordered out of the country.

Federal authorities have begun the deportation process for Arellano, who was originally ordered to leave the country in 1997, according to a statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement put out after the arrest.

...Arellano spent most of her day Sunday urging audiences of several hundred parishioners inside four separate churches to lobby House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other congressional members from California to take up immigration reform immediately after returning from summer recess. Between stops, she donned a pair of sunglasses and slipped into the back of her group's electric blue sport-utility vehicle with her son.

"It's important that we are unified so that we can bring out the message that we're all struggling together," Arellano said at the Angelica Lutheran Church, inside Los Angeles' Pico-Union neighborhood, a port of entry for Central American immigrants. "The hate you are seeing build around the country has no boundaries."

Arellano talks about hate.

Huh?

Is it hateful to expect U.S. law and the boundaries of the U.S. to be respected by American citizens and non-citizens in the country?

She talks about the struggle.

Struggle to do what? Avoid U.S. authorities? Change the laws to suit her wants?

The fact is this activist is deflecting attention from the reality of her situation.

U.S. immigration laws are not the only ones that she has broken.

From the Associated Press:

Arellano came to Washington state illegally in 1997. She was deported to Mexico shortly after, but returned and moved to Illinois in 2000, taking a job cleaning planes at O'Hare International Airport.

She was arrested in 2002 at O'Hare and convicted of working under a false Social Security number. She was to surrender to authorities last August.

She ILLEGALLY entered the country. She was deported. She ILLEGALLY entered the country again, and got a job using a false Social Security number. She was arrested again.

Apparently, Arellano believes that she's above the law. She believes it's OK for her to lie. Screw the laws of the country if they get in her way.

She wants to be here and she doesn't feel the need to do it LEGALLY. Why bother becoming a U.S. citizen and actually getting a Social Security number legitimately?

It's so much easier to act like a victim of an inhumane system rather than to behave responsibly.

"From the time I took sanctuary the possibility has existed that they arrest me in the place and time they want," [Arellano] said in Spanish. "I only have two choices. I either go to my country, Mexico, or stay and keep fighting. I decided to stay and fight."

Is staying and fighting supposed to be the brave and noble thing to do?

It's neither. She didn't have to break U.S. laws repeatedly to be an activist for LEGAL immigration reform.

She chose to disregard the rule of law again and again.

Here's more.

Congress failed to pass immigration reform legislation in its last session. Arellano and activists want lawmakers to place a moratorium on deportations and hammer out reforms that would allow undocumented immigrants to remain in the country, at least temporarily.

''We cannot wait for another election,'' she said. ''We can't wait, sitting with our arms crossed, while our families are being separated.''

A few things--

Arellano isn't a U.S. citizen.

She has no right to vote in our elections.

If she wants to whine about the president, she should be whining about the president of Mexico. Why doesn't she use her energy to get her government to improve living conditions in her own country?

The United States is NOT her country. It could be, but she doesn't want to do what's necessary to make it so. She doesn't think the law should apply to her.

She's not a LEGAL immigrant. She's a law-breaker. That's her choice.

The U.S. government isn't in the business of separating families. Arellano chose to follow an ILLEGAL path. It's her own fault.

Furthermore, she doesn't have to be separated from her son. She could take him to Mexico. No one is ripping them apart. They can be together. There's no forced separation here.

What sort of example is she setting for her son?

He's learning that breaking the law is OK.

I have no doubt that Arellano loves her son, but I think she's using him as a pawn; trotting him out before the cameras, the dramatic goodbye.

It's so staged. The little boy without his mother is meant to tug at our hearts. Arellano is exploiting him to garner sympathy. In my opinion, that move backfires.

Think of all the children without a parent due to illness and accidental death. That's truly heartwrenching.

Arellano is choosing to be separated from her son.

She has no one to blame but herself.
______________________

UPDATE:

LOS ANGELES -- An immigration activist who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her son has been deported to Mexico, the church's pastor said.

Elvira Arellano was arrested Sunday afternoon outside Our Lady Queen of Angels church in Los Angeles. She was deported several hours later, said the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, where Arellano had taken refuge.

"She has been deported. She is free and in Tijuana," said Coleman, who said he spoke to her on the phone. "She is in good spirits. She is ready to continue the struggle against the separation of families from the other side of the border."

Arellano is in good spirits in Tijuana.

That's nice.

I hope her son is in good spirits, too.

Blue Star Deli

As Martin Luther King said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

What's happening at Blue Star Deli in Farmers Branch, Texas is wrong.

Read more and find out how to help.

The Democrats, the Rule of Law, and Immigration

The Democrats are blabbing about the Bush administration blatantly disregarding the rule of law.

Sen. Joe Biden, D-Delaware, presidential candidate
“Today, President Bush demonstrated the lengths he would go to, ensuring that even aides to Dick Cheney are beyond the judgment of the law. It is time for the American people to be heard — I call for all Americans to flood the White House with phone calls tomorrow expressing their outrage over this blatant disregard for the rule of law.”

Former Sen. John Edwards, presidential candidate
“Only a president clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences could take the action he did today.... George Bush and his cronies think they are above the law and the rest of us live with the consequences. The cause of equal justice in America took a serious blow today.”

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, presidential candidate
“There is a reason we have laws and why we expect our Presidents to obey them. Institutions have a collective wisdom greater than that of any one individual. The arrogance of this administration’s disdain for the law and its belief it operates with impunity are breathtaking."

Some questions:

Is it OK when ILLEGAL immigrants blatantly disregard the rule of law?

Is it acceptable for ILLEGAL immigrants and their supporters to consider themselves to be above the law?

I guess these Democrats think it is.

In other words, when it comes to the libs' professed concern about the rule of law and how that relates to ILLEGAL immigration -- NEVER MIND.

Giuliani: Border Security and Terrorism

The attempted terror attacks in London and the attack in Glasgow, Scotland prompted Rudy Giuliani to link border security and terrorism.

NEW ORLEANS -- The car bomb scare in London and the attack Saturday at the Glasgow airport underscore the need for secure borders for the United States, Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani said Saturday.

"This is the United Kingdom," he said. "They have security that is at least equal to ours; they have intelligence services that have even had more experience with terrorism than ours has, you know, they have to be subjected to this. We're in an era in which we need to know everyone who's in the United States."

Giuliani, who was mayor of New York at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, said the federal government needs to ensure that its borders are secure.

"We need to end illegal immigration," he said. "If we do, a lot of things can happen, in terms of how you resolve everything here. But if you don't end illegal immigration, almost nothing is possible, because no matter what you do, things are going to get worse."

Giuliani is proposing "tamper-proof" ID cards and a database that would track people in the United States from foreign countries. He also suggested strengthening enforcement at border crossings.

I don't think enough people connect ILLEGAL immigration and our porous borders with the terrorist threat.

A crucial aspect of the War on Terror is securing our borders.

Isn't it a no-brainer that we have to know who is coming into the U.S.?

How we deal with the immigration issue is directly related to how well we're able to protect the homeland.

Giuliani gets it.