Mexico, a Failed-State:but let's leave our borders wide-open.

And people still object to the US sealing it's borders? There's a lot we can can change regarding immigration but the first thing that must be done is to control the borders. Funny how the very people who are for regulating everything are against regulating borders. These same people who don't see limits on what government officials can do to regulate our lives: don't open new McDonalds, put on your seat belts, eat more vegetables, don't do this, don't do that think that we shouldn't know who enters our country.

What a load of nonsense.





What can we do about the narco state below our borders? One thing we can do is start legalizing drugs, take the power and money away from illegal entities and have them taxed and regulated. Notice how few gang killings we have over the sale of beer and whisky compared to the 1920s?

UPDATE: 10/28/2010

Entire police force in Los Ramones, Mexico quits after gunmen attack headquarters

The entire police force in a small Mexican town abruptly resigned Tuesday after its new headquarters was viciously attacked by suspected drug cartel gunmen.

All 14 police officers in Los Ramones, a rural town in northern Mexico, fled the force in terror after gunmen fired more than 1,000 bullets and flung six grenades at their headquarters on Monday night.

As the President of Mexico Felipe Calderón, who, in 2009, angrily denied that Mexico was becoming a "failed state," described the situation in February 2010 as a fight for "the very authority of the state."

What does the term "controversial" mean?

Once again the media is stirring up trouble, focusing more on promoting a particular point of view than in giving their readers a greater understanding of the issues at hand, yellow journalism at its best. A law is going through the Arizona Legislature that allows: police to make a citizenship/residency check of people already detained for another unrelated offense. The media is calling this a controversial bill and fanning division by falsely saying that the bill allows police to stop people on the grounds of race or accent or accent. This is an outright lie.

What is the first thing a peace officer asks when making contact: "Do you have ID?" If you do, you're on your way (assuming you're not under arrest for the reason he stopped you). If you don't have an ID you're asked to provide your name, date of birth, and Social Security number. What are things most illegal immigrants don't have: Social Security numbers, Driver's Licenses or State IDs. At this point, and only at this point, police officers can determine if the stopped individual is a citizen or a legal immigrant.

One may or may not agree with the bill. One may see problems with this. I do. But simply calling it controvesial every time one mentions the bill is a clear example of media bias.  What exactly does it mean to be controvestial when, according to a Rasmussen Report,  70% of Arizona Voters Favor New State Measure Cracking Down On Illegal Immigration including over 50% of Democrats.

So what does controversial mean? It means that the writers and editors involved in publishing the article are trying to sway public opinion. They don't like the bill and are trying to delegitimize the bill by implying that it's support it limited to a fringe element.

The irony of it all: that Che supporters would find something wrong with wanting something out of the mainstream.

It's a solution without a problem

The Senate Finance Committee Democrats rejected a proposal which required that immigrants prove their identity with photo identification when signing up for federal healthcare programs. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said that current law and the healthcare bill under consideration are too lax and leave the door open to illegal immigrants defrauding the government using false or stolen identities to obtain benefits.

Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico, disagrees. He thinks that the type of fraud Grassley said he wants to prevent is highly uncommon. "The way I see the amendment, it's a solution without a problem," Bingaman said.

If it's highly uncommon then why not agree to it? You calm a fear and perhaps get more votes for the total bill, all in exchange for agreeing to something that isn't a problem in the first place.

Immigration: Open front doors, closed windows.

I have thought about immigration reform for years. The short of it is that first things first we have to have control of our borders. It has always been important, but in a world dominated by international terrorism and the possibility of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons it must become a priority. We cannot have people entering this country without knowledge of who they are.

It is good that the debate has become public. We should expand this public debate to have referendums regarding citizenship and the road to citizenship. We’ve all heard the term “ugly American,” well now we have the “ugly immigrant.” It is surreal to hear that people who want to come and live and be part of the United States consider it to be racist that they learn English. We must also change our immigrant policies. No longer should it be policy for relatives of newly minted citizens to have priority over others who wish to come. We should take a page from Canada and value some skills over others.

Immigration and Borders

I'm tired of watching TV documentaries that portray people who are against unfettered immigration as racist. You can be pro-immigration and not in favor of "unregulated" immigration. Before 9/11 my feeling was that immigration is a good thing; that we should promote it as much as possible.

I still think immigration is a good thing. I still think we should promote it as much as possible but now I think we need to KNOW who is entering our borders. We cannot have unregulated borders. I think this is a risky scheme in the post 9/11 world.

I also love the fact that I can throw the words "unregulated" and "risky scheme" back into the faces of those who so over use them.